Reusing a body puff?

I'm all for eco ideas, but I have trouble with even continuing to use body puffs after a couple of uses.  I like wash cloths for that.  You use them, then wash them.

So this idea seems cool... but gross to me.  Knitting a pot scrubber out of a used loofah?  What do you think?

The Good Life

There was this very cute series in the UK once upon a time called "The Good Life" (apparently renamed "Good Neighbors" in the US, but I prefer the original title).  When I watched re-runs as a kid I didn't get the social significance of what this cute couple was doing.  I just thought they were eccentric and loved gardening a little too much.

A few days ago I was looking on Netflix for something to watch instantly to kill my boredom during kitchen chores.  I found this show and put it on for nostalgia's sake.  I found myself not only laughing loudly at the jokes, but suddenly understanding what it's all about!  These guys were urban homesteaders before it was eco-chic to farm your own land.  Here's a clip from the first episode when they decide to leave the rat race to beat "it".

Building a green life, part 2

Here are some photos of some of the stuff I've been doing.

I've been doing serious clean up.  Our yard needed it badly after being neglected all last year.  And that included cutting back some trees/bushes.  I had all these amazing branches from that that I wanted to use, so I built Regin a garden fort.  I want to eventually train some vines or something over it, maybe even edibles like peas or something, but I wanted him to enjoy it right away, so I threw a sheet over it...

It was all I could do to convince him to get in there for the photo.  Then he rushed back inside to get on his new wooden tricycle that he received from his Abuela for his birthday.  Oh my gosh he loves that thing!!

Isn't it cute?  I love it.  It's so great.

Back to gardening... So I also bought a bunch of starts for indoor/outdoor veggie gardening.

This is batch one.  I have since bought batch two.  At first they seemed to be loving life, even after I moved them over our fireplace (behind our projector screen) and put grow lamps in there.  Now all of a sudden half of them are looking really sad.  I don't know if they are getting too much light from the lamps.  They are also getting natural light when I raise the screen and our blinds every day.  Maybe it's overwatering, which I tend to be guilty of when I get excited about new plants (later that shifts to under-watering, or no watering at all.)  Or maybe it's because I haven't made sure there was some air-circulation going on.  I need to put a small fan in there.

I have also started some seeds...

It's very exciting.  Most of them are purchased organic seeds, but one third, the ones on the left, are all from seeds I collected from our food.  Specifically those are butternut squash on the left.  I'm collecting seeds from everything we eat right now.  Especially the organic stuff.  If you're wondering about the red-brown powder all over, that's cinnamon.  Apparently it has fungicidal properties.  Sadly I needed it because my forest green thumb (that's gotta be somewhere between green and black, right?) caused there to be mold or "damping off" on these seeds.  And I already lost a few swiss chard seedlings.  Another natural fungicide is weak chamomile tea!  Go figure!

Building my green life

So I have been working on getting stuff ready for the indoor and outdoor veggie/edible gardening.  I have been watching/reading everything I can get my hands on that's related to food production on one's land and permaculture.  My indoor plans don't fit in with that.  I'm sure real "permies" would be dismayed that I'm using grow lamps and may even get a warming mat for the basement.  But you know what?  I'm not allowed a greenhouse, so this is what I can do.  Actually there's a lot I'm not allowed to do on my land.  Technically I'm not allowed a vegetable garden, green house, or compost.  I'm not allowed chickens which are so invaluable for self-sufficiency in food production.  Not only do they give us eggs, and possibly meat down the road, but they control pests and fertilize as they forage around the garden.  

In Colorado we're also not allowed to have a grey-water or rain-catching systems for various silly and outdated reasons.  Ugh!

I think it should be a basic human right to be able to grow one's food on their land.  In fact, I think it should be illegal for anyone to try and tell us otherwise.  I want to change things in this neighborhood.  I want to try and get the HOA to reconsider the limitations I've mentioned and other limitations such as not being allowed to hang my laundry out.  This community's rules are not eco-friendly.  That needs to be changed.  In my dreams I also go national and try and get a law established protecting the individual's right to grow food.  In a country that gives me the right to bare arms, I should also have the right to bare food on my land!  Of course there are all sorts of controversial things going on right now that suggest the possibility that food production will be strictly controlled in the future.  The Future of Food (a film I recently watched and want you ALL to see) shows how scary the situation is with GMOs and patents on plants.  Seems like pretty soon you will only be able to get GM seeds and only through Monsanto.  And the whole GMO thing turns out to be scarier than I thought.  It's worth looking into if you haven't already.

There is also supposedly some sort of bill trying to be passed somewhere right now that would effectively make it illegal to do backyard food growing.  Ack!  Can this be true?

One of my concerns beyond laws and HOA rules is that my neighbors are pumping my surroundings full of scary herbicides and pesticides.  I know they must be spraying my plants that start sending shooters to their yards.  And I get water runoff from the properties behind us.  How much pesticides then am I getting through that?  I became afraid to eat anything near the borders of our yard.  But the way our land is landscaped, it would be difficult to plant our edibles anywhere else.

I've also been reading Food Not Lawns.  As you guys already know, I am very interested in this idea that we are wasting the resources on this planet, and a lot of those wasted resources are going to our lawns, which don't even provide food.  So the movement is to replace at least part of our lawns with food-producing or otherwise useful plants.  I'm also reading How to Grow More Vegetables (than you ever thought possible on less land than you can imagine) and it talks about a 99% sustainable system (which is as sustainable as it gets) and the thing is EVERYTHING has to go back to the earth, (food scraps, and even human waste if possible).  And not only that, but something like 60% of your crop has to be for little more than soil-building.  Apparently grain fits the bill.  So I'm thinking of growing wheat instead of grass in the back.  We'll cut it short for part of the summer, since wheat grass is just like grass, then let it go to seed later in the season.  Too bad we can't use the grain since our diet is grain free, but I suppose one of you might be able to make use of it.  

In the front we're talking seriously about ripping out the smaller lawn and replacing it with a spiraled "flower bed" that will contain "ornamental plants" that just so happen to be edible.  We're also talking about taking out the ugly bushes in the front and replacing them with blueberry bushes.

Another part of this is putting in lots of fruit and nut trees.  But we have very established trees and bushes which I would hate to take out now, so I don't know we can do anything with that.  But I'm thinking of getting some nut trees to put on my parents' property.

There's a lot to do.  I hope I can produce a significant amount of food this year even though we started planning this really way too late.  Our food budget really needs to go WAY down and RIGHT NOW.  

Let's take care of the Earth we've got.

Happy Earth Day!

First things first. George did not get picked for jury duty (thank goodness). He was stuck there from 8am till after 6pm while they decided who they wanted. Thank GOODNESS it wasn't him. Anyway...

I have been watching YouTube videos on permaculture, locavorism, and hyperlocavorism. I've seen videos on homesteading, and tips for easy vegetable gardening. The big theme for me right now is that it is irresponsible, wasteful, and vain to use your land (only) for something other than food production. And part two of that theme is it's easy and very possible to feed many adults from a average-sized, suburban plot of land. Not only that, but the gardens that result can be lush and beautiful!

Did you know that the White House lawn once had sheep grazing on it? Did you know that "lawns" were invented by aristocracy who wanted to show that they were so stinking rich they could waste the land they had on something as frivolous and useless as grass? Did you know that Victory Gardens were planted in the US during the World Wars and that it was actually patriotic during that time to produce your own food? Did you know that there is a shortage of arable land in the world? Knowing that, how can we waste what we have and not produce any or much food?

There have been multiple recent movements for the White House lawn to be used for food production to encourage a change in the rest of the country.  I supported it. It actually worked! There is now a good-sized organic vegetable garden there. I personally wish it were bigger, but baby steps I guess.

Unfortunately I am not ALLOWED by my Home Owner's Association to have a full-on vegetable garden.  I have been bending that rule a bit over the years and incorporating vegetables and fruits into our landscape, but now I want something more extreme and it will not be allowed.  I'm working on getting up the energy to try and change that.  In the meantime I'm learning about indoor vegetable gardening.  It doesn't solve my problem of wasting the resources I have on a silly lawn, but it does help cut down my food bill (which is desperately needed right now) and does provide me with the possibility of home-grown food year round.

Here's some videos to inspire you.  I don't have the video on indoor gardening that really inspired me.  For some reason it was removed from YouTube.  If I see it again in the future, I'll post it.

Here's one of the movements for food to be produced on the White House lawn:


This one is SUPER inspirational.  Look how much food you can produce on .1 acres!

They feed 4 adults (up to 80% of their diet) plus sell surplus to local restaurants and caterers from their tiny plot of land!

More from this family:


It's so easy:


So, so easy:


And with a little more work, maybe some help from friends...


Activism:


More Activism:

This Lawn is Your Lawn from roger doiron on Vimeo.



As for me. I've started my indoor gardening. I have some seeds, a grow lamp, some established plants and motivation. I'm planning my attack for the outdoor gardening and how to green up our lives. What are you guys doing?

Earth Hour TODAY!

Don't forget today is Earth Hour! Turn off all lights and other electrical things for one hour starting at 8:30 pm! Check out EarthHour.org for more details

Penang -- Week 16 -- It's Not Easy Having/Being Green

SATURDAY/SUNDAY, June 28th & 29th
Another weekend of not feeling great, and so we cancel on Shanti last minute again to babysit for us.  Ugh.  I feel guilty, but I'm also dreading the upcoming hint-dropping she'll do.  I'm sure I'll hear lots about her money woes after this.  Still, what am I going to do?  I'm totally unwell and unfit to dance or even go to the movies.  Am I going to invite her over and pay her to hang out with us?  Not sure we can afford that.  And after doing a budget this weekend, I'm not sure we can afford any babysitting.  Man!  We're spending a scary amount on our groceries and eating out -- two things that are supposed to be unbelievably cheap here.  But even if we cut back pretty hard, we're still left with only $45 a month for a travel fund.  Yeah, that'll get us far!  So much for living here almost for free!  Guess what?  The bills at home are just the same as they were, house is still not rented, car is still not sold, and we do have real expenses here.  And now we have a big medical bill to deal with on top of the rest of it!  Next time... MUCH MORE PLANNING AHEAD IS NEEDED!

We go to kill two fabric birds on Sunday.  Bird one:  Buy some sling fabric, preferably batik.  Bird two:  check out something cultural/local, such as the batik factory.  Turns out, the batik factory is nothing more than a surprisingly expensive gift shop on days when the batik artists aren't in.  We're told to come back another day.  Also, I'm not inspired by the fabric for sling usage, so we head off to find the fabric store.

Kamdar, the fabric store, is outrageously big, and I have no idea what I'm doing there.  You can barely move there are so many fabrics packed in, but they look mostly to be fabric designed for the typical (old-fashioned) muslim/Malay outfits, which I'm guessing now are largely homemade.  Some fabrics have the fiber content written on the sign, many do not.  We wander around and on what is probably our fifth lap around the store, a man spots us and tries to help us find our fabrics.  We ask for flannel (I'm planning to make some new cloth wipes) and he shows us some, but it's pretty thin.  I ask if they have any other flannel and he asks another employee standing nearby.  They speak in Malay for a couple of minutes and there are some gestures towards other areas in the store, then he turns back to me and says, "no."  Hunh.  I wonder what was lost in that translation!

I finally choose some fabric to try out and there is no cutting table to take it to.  Instead you have to hunt down a boy with a yard (meter) stick.  I ask for an amount, the boy stands there with his yard (meter) stick and measures my amount, eyeballs another two inches or so, folds the fabric, and with the fabric hanging down from his hands, he cuts downward to the floor.  I ask for another piece of fabric that's yellow for my sling, he unrolls the amount I want, and there are dirt marks all over it (it's one of several rolls that are on the floor).  At first he shrugs and expects me to take it dirty.  His shrug reminds me an awful lot of the shrug I was given by the sofa delivery guys when they left dirty finger prints all over my new white sofas.  When I am unwilling to take it dirty, he unrolls the whole roll to find that the whole piece is dirty.  I opt for the dark red version of the same fabric. 

You know, this whole DIY/green thing is a pain!  I love it, but I just wish that there were more supplies available to me.  Thing is, I am tired of consuming disposable plastics and papers.  I've been making strides already to ween myself off of them.  Crunchy Chicken and others have enlightened me on further ways to do so.  And this leads me to making my own cloth wipes.  I had some cloth wipes already, but have decided (after almost 15 months) that terry cloth is not appropriate for wipes.  I looked online and discovered that flannel is the way to go, and indeed some people are using flannel instead of TP!  I'm not ready for that yet, but my new mode of avoiding purchases of things I can make myself has led me here to the fabric store and looking for flannel.  But I'm not sure I can find anything I can use!  And this is not a Penang thing.  When I bought my sewing machine last year,  I was all excited to start making my own clothing but when my inspiration took me to the fabric store I found hardly anything that my fashiony mind craved.  Am I just not able to see the potential in these seemingly frumpy fabrics? 

I'm also having trouble with being green in general.  I have this huge collection of plastic bottles on our balcony and a big box of empty cans that are waiting for us to figure out exactly what to do with them.  The apartment building janitor says he wants the cans, but what to do with the plastic?  George says he thinks there is a small bin to drop off recyclables at the gas station.  They don't make it easy here!

I'm so bummed to realize, Sunday evening, that we missed the Little Penang Street Market that I loved so much last month.  I will have to wait a whole nother month now to go again!

DIY morning

I still haven't finished those Father's Day photos -- got side-tracked with scanning old family photo negatives, which is just too fun -- so the Penang journal is on hold for another couple of days.  In the meantime, I have other topics to discuss, believe it or not!

Today I stepped away from the computer.  (It happens on occasion.)  I decided to do a couple of 5-minute DIY projects I've been meaning to try.  First, I made a 1-step baby sling/wrap.  Instructions:

1. Cut a 4.25 meter piece of fabric in half width-wise (about 25 inches or so).

Unless you're worried about frayed edges, that's it!  Now I can try this backpack style of babywearing I've been dying to do:

What I've learned:  It's better to have a lightweight piece of fabric, mine is too heavy/bulky.  

Then on to my next project.  While Regin and I were having lunch, I decided to work out my arms a little and make some butter!  I got the idea from Crunchy Chicken, one of the eco/green-living blogs I subscribe to.  It's the easiest, funnest science experiment I have ever done!  Instructions:

1. Fill a jar with leftover cream (I used whipping cream).
2. Cover and sing the following disco song with me:  Shake, shake, shake!  Shake, shake, shake!  Shake your cream!  Shake your cream!
3. Eventually the butter starts to separate from the buttermilk and you shake some more until there is a big old lump in the jar.
4. Drain the butter, lightly squeezing the buttermilk out of it.
5. Add salt if desired.
6. Eat!

Woah!  So fun!  First it went thick, then grainy after a few minutes, then seconds later it separated and the lump and thin liquid appeared.  Here are some pics of my experiment.

The draining lump of butter.

Sampling the results.  Yum!

What I learned:  Make sure the jar is half empty so you have lots of air to shake up the cream, otherwise you'll be shaking much longer.  I still have to figure out how to drain/squeeze off the buttermilk without losing the butter through the strainer.

I've been thinking more and more lately that we've been scammed into believing that we can't make things for ourselves, that it's too difficult and we need to buy things in the store instead.  These two projects are part of my proof that it's all BS!  The babycarrier industry is sucking you dry for no reason!  Those slings and carriers are SO expensive, but you can just tie a piece of $5 fabric around you and that's all you need!  And why do I need to buy butter, when I could just buy cream cheaper, and make butter with the leftovers.  It could be part of my workout!  (Though it doesn't really take long enough to be a workout.)  And by the way, it's the tastiest butter you've ever had.