So last week Mateo and I were in Stephenville house sitting for my parents. They were in Fort Worth while my dad had surgery for his prostate cancer. (Everything went well.) Mateo and I kept barely any schedule at all - sleeping and eating whenever our hearts desired. Mat was definitely spoiled with having a tv in our bedroom, something we don't allow at home. It was a nice break actually, as I'm usually pretty schedule driven, as most of you already know. I especially enjoyed having my friend from high school JoBob and his wife Caris (also a friend, not just the wife) over one evening.
We returned home in time for the weekend, during which we didn't work ourselves too hard. Rafi worked on the sprinkler system (he's been tweaking it lately), and I barely worked in the garden. Gosh it's so hot lately! And summer has only just begun.
We did managed to take our amassed recycled goods to Texas Ecology Action downtown. It's really easy and quick, so if you live in the area - even the surrounding ones - it's totally worth the once a month (or less) trip to recycle your goods. And if you don't live near Austin, find out what's available to you in your area!
I just wanted to update that since we instituted our new "recycling center," we have cut the amount of trash that actually goes to the curb each week in half. I really think it's less than half now that I think about it. I just brought our first full trash bag to the can almost 5 days after our trash pick up. That's pretty good progress, I'd say!
So it seems that I do not have a green thumb for broccoli. After nurturing four broccoli plants, only two of them produced anything before flowering, and even those would've offered *maybe* two bites each. Pretty sad. So out they went. And in came green beans. Gotta love green beans. My zucchinis are looking really great. Tomato plants are ultra happy. I have to keep a watchful eye on Mateo who likes to pull the green ones off and declare them "apples." We recently lost our first bell pepper to little fingers, too.
And in other news, our "recycling center" is now set up in the garage. Here I can recycle glass, plastics #3-7, cardboard, and paper. We'll be taking our bins about once or twice a month to Ecology Action of Texas. In the kitchen I have a recycle bin for aluminum and plastics #1 and 2. These are picked up each week along with our regular trash. Once again I'm still waiting on the rain barrel and composter. Our neighborhood does have a weekly "organic matter" recycling pickup, so I've been meaning to see if that includes composting kitchen scraps or not. I'd still rather have homemade compost for our yard and garden versus buying it each year.Soon, hopefully.
On my mind lately has been urban homesteading. What a neat concept, and how awesome is the way this family lives! Okay, so where do I start? First, I'll need to add more gardens, a place for chickens and my huge rain irrigation system. I will sew things, bake all our bread, get into canning, and make all my own cleaning products. I will learn how to make biodiesel. I'll need some Pygmy goats for milk and cheese. Oh! And bees! I'll need lots of bees. I might even cover our entire roof with solar panels and get a wind turbine. If I got one of those water filters they use in third world countries, we could be off the grid! Such aspirations! Such dreams!
But alas I live in reality. Oh how I wish I had the backyard space to do this (okay, maybe not the chickens and goats), but doing so would pretty much nix any "running around" room my son and dogs have. Plus I really do hate the smell of chickens, and I've never been good at sewing, despite my repeated efforts. As for the solar panels, well, I doubt my HOA would like that, nor would we likely recoup the cost in the time we have left in this house. Can solar panels be moved with you?
So what's a girl to do? Well, I can start with *thinking* about putting in another garden space - if I can find another sunny spot. I can add the rain barrel we've been wanting. I do like to bake on occasion, and I'd love to try this recipe for no-knead bread I've had bookmarked for a while.
Well, anyway it's fun to daydream about living off the land. Sure seems like a lot of work though. And besides, did I mention I hate the smell of chickens?
Recently we celebrated Earth Day. Rafi and I try to be conscious of our waste, but we could do so much better. We do have a compost bin in the works (still choosing one) as well as a rain barrel. (Need to get gutters for that last one.) We're growing our own vegetables organically. I clean with cloth rags instead of paper towels. (The Sham-Wow works well for that.) We primarily use non-chemical cleaners, but once those run out I was considering making my own with lemons, vinegar, and baking soda. I always bring my own bags for grocery shopping, and I very, very rarely use paper plates. So overall we're making some effort.
Now here's where I'm struggling, people. I have an addiction to plastic Ziploc freezer bags! We buy in bulk at Costco, and I sort out the meats into smaller portions. Or I repackage items in a freezer bag to cut down on the cardboard bulk in our freezer. I use sandwich bags for Mateo's snacks. I know this is so wasteful, but it's so eeeeasy! I've seen online the oilcloth-type alternative, but I really can't see how that will keep my Veggie Booty from getting stale. And if I freeze things with plastic containers, the insides get burned or the lids pop open. Or both!
So if anyone has some good suggestions, let me know. Oh, and don't bother recommending to wash them out. I don't mind rinsing snack bags, but I'm not washing out meat bags. If it can't stand up to ultra high heat in the dishwasher, then forget it.
Until I find a good solution, I suppose I'll keep doing my part if only to counteract the devastation my freezer bag addiction will cause.
