Trash Talk

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!

This is probably my favorite awareness day all year long. Two years ago I wrote about some simple steps towards more sustainable living that give you very quick and easy little tips to live a more sustainable, earth-friendly life. Today, I want to talk a little more deeply on one specific area that we've been focusing on in our home: trash.

Trash is an inevitable part of our lives, but what we do with it can make all the difference. You probably remember being raised with the Three R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, but now it's commonly the Four R's with repair/repurpose added in. Using these four principles, you can greatly reduce what of your waste becomes trash to sit in our landfills.

Reduce

This is the first, biggest, most important step in reducing waste. The concept is to reduce the potential trash that makes it into your home. Here are some tips to reduce your waste:

• Borrow instead of buy. Ask a friend to borrow a dress for a formal occasion. Borrow that tool that you only need once a year from a neighbor. Borrow books from the library. Rent movies from a local video store. By buying less, you'll have less waste coming into your home from packaging, receipts, tags, etc.
• Buy used. Check out pawn shops, consignment shops/sales, garage and yard sales, church rummage sales, etc. for things you need and will use often. Kids clothes are a great item to buy used as they out grow each size so fast that there's usually a plethora of used kid's clothes that are hardly worn. Check out garage sales for appliances that need replacing or for unique housewares.
• Buy in bulk. Buying in bulk can help reduce the packaging that comes into your house. Just don't get fooled by bulk packages that are really just multiples of the normal package with extra packaging holding them together.
• Don't buy single use items. Paper plates, napkins, and towels, plastic cups, flatware, and bags- these convenience items are a terrible drain on our resources. Whenever possible, use reusable alternatives and if you have to buy one-time use items, try to recycle or compost them afterwards. (Go the extra step and eliminate single-use diapers, toilet paper, or feminine hygiene products.)
• Bring your own packaging. Bringing your own shopping bags is becoming more and more popular, but you can also bring your own reusable produce bags or mason jars for loose items.

Reuse

Reusable items can make any home more sustainable with minimal extra effort. Most items will simple need to be washed in between uses. Here are some reusable items to consider: cloth diapers, un-paper towels, cloth snack and sandwich bags for kids' lunches, glass food storage instead of plastic bags, cloth rags instead of paper towels for cleaning, cloth menstrual pads, menstrual cups instead of tampons, cloth wipes instead of toilet paper.

Also, reuse items that are designed to be single use. 

• Save gift bags you receive to use again when you have a gift to give.
• Rinse and reuse plastic food containers.
• Save bread and tortilla bags and reuse to hold snacks or as trash bags for road trips.

Repair or Repurpose

How many times has something around the house broken and you immediately thought to go buy a new one rather than repair the one you have? It's an easy thing to do and we've been told for over a generation that we shouldn't have to repair old things. Whenever possible, repair broken items or buy a replacement part rather than replacing the whole thing. Learn how to fix a busted seam and sew a button back on. Ask friends to lend their skills to help you fix appliances or tech as it breaks. See if there's a trade school in your area that would like to have the item to teach students.

When something is truly past repair, repurpose the item. Find it something new to be. Many household items can be changed into interesting planters or lawn art. Cut up worn out clothing for cleaning rags. Shred magazines for packing material. There are craft projects on Pinterest to cover just about anything from bottle caps to burnt out light bulbs. Before tossing something in the trash, make sure you can't find some sort of use for it.

Recycle
Most of us think of taking bags of plastic bottles and soda cans to big green dumpsters when we think of recycling, and while that is an awesome way to reduce your trash output, there are other ways to recycle things around the house as well. If you're just getting started, check out these tips on recycling.

Composting is the ultimate green recycling. Home composting can take your kitchen and yard scraps and turn them into glorious dirt, perfect for growing your own organic veggies. There are plenty of ways to compost and I'm sure you can find a system that works for your household. (Foods that can't be composted can usually be sent through the garbage disposal instead of doing in the trash bag.)

Return food packaging to the producer when appropriate. Local egg farms usually love for you to return your egg cartons as they can be pretty pricey to buy new. Some companies will take back their glass bottles to refill them (many companies stopped this program some time ago, but there are still some accepting bottles, check with any local bottling plants).

You can do it!
We just took our trash can to the curb to be picked up for the first time in over a month (maybe about six weeks). It took us that long to fill the can up. It may seem cumbersome at first and it can be trying, but if you just take it one step at a time, you can significantly reduce the amount of trash your household produces.

Here are some Pinterest boards to help you find tips and tricks to reduce your trash output:

• Tips to Reduce Waste: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/waste-less-reduce/
• Reusable items: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/reuse-no-more-disposable/
• Composting: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/compost-creation/
• General "green" tips: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/greener-life/
• Canning Info (great way to keep food from being waste!): http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/canning/
• Cloth Diapering: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/cloth-diapering-crazies/
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/reduce-reuse-recycle/
• Earth Day Activities for Kids: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/earth-day-activities/

Our Garden!

I'm so excited to finally have a yard to garden in! I have big plans for our yard. This year we won't be able to have quite as big of a garden as I would like, but we've got a few little plants in the ground and plans to get ready for next spring!

Here is where I plan to build our raised beds.
I'm leaning towards using cinder blocks for the bed. 

Here is our persimmons tree. It had fruit on it pretty
well into the winter. I'm hoping it'll liven up again soon.

Eventually I will clear this out and use this bed as well.
I'd like to try some hardy herbs in this spot.

This bed was cleared out and is home to our
little garden for this year. Next year I'd like to make this the
boys' plot and let them pick what they'd like to grow.

Here's Alex with our little garden!
We've got two tomato plants and four pots of leaf lettuce.
We got the plants from a local nursery: Deep Roots Nursery
which uses heirloom seeds and natural growing methods.

What's going into your garden this year?

Compost!

As part of our gardening plans and attempts at a more sustainable lifestyle, we've started a compost! Now, at first, I really liked the idea of a simple, open air compost, but then Alex hit the toddler stage and I realized I wouldn't be able to let him in the backyard without worrying he'd come running up with some rotting banana peels.

So I started looking at composters and oh my goodness were they expensive! I can't believe people pay over $100 for a box to put trash in. It just blows my frugal little mind! Obviously, the commercial composters weren't for us. Luckily I come across several others who seemed to have the same problem as we did and had found a solution!

After reading multiple articles and blogs, I had a plan, and my husband had a job to do! :) We (and by "we" I mean "he") made a compost bin out of an old storage tub. Bonus: the tub has locking handles!

It really is simple, though maybe a bit time consuming.
Take a dark colored plastic storage bin and drill holes in all
sides, bottom included. This allows for proper airflow and drainage.

I can't wait until we have usable compost! Does your family compost? What kind of container do you use, or do you?

Bacon Pancakes!

When a post about bacon pancakes came across my husband's Facebook feed, it was determined that I must make this coupling of his two favorite breakfast foods. I'm pleased to say that it was rather easy and tasty. We decided it could use something a bit sweet to match the bacon's saltiness (we don't generally use syrup) so next time we're going to add chocolate chips to the pancake mix first.

Cook the bacon as you would normally, try to keep it flat.
Mix up your pancakes using whatever recipe/mix you like.
After the bacon is fully cooked, lay it out on the griddle
(you could use a skillet but that would take much longer).
Then pour your pancake mix over each slice.

Flip the bacon pancakes and keep cooking until the pancake is done.
Whole foods- use a homemade pancake mix with whole flours
Vegetarian- use a meat-less bacon
Vegan- meat-less bacon and a vegan pancake mix
(non-dairy milk and egg substitute)

Enjoy! 

It really was that simple! These would be great for potluck brunches, breakfast after a little kid sleep over, Father's Day treats, really any time you'd like to serve bacon and pancakes and make it just a little fancier.

International Women's Day

Check out today's Google Doodle for an awesome tribute to women! I love that the doodle includes women of all different backgrounds! The theme of this year's International Women's Day is "Inspiring Change" focused on encouraging positive moves towards equality.  I'd like to encourage you to embrace International Women's Day and celebrate the women in your life and their contributions to our collective life. Consider ways that you might help to make your home, workplace, or church more equitable between the sexes and then take action!

Alex's First Haircut!

We had a big milestone today. It was Alex's first haircut! We hadn't cut Alex's hair at all and it had gotten really long. I had put off the haircut for as long as I could, but I couldn't style Alex's hair out of his face any longer so it was time to bit the bullet and let the hair fly!

Here's Alex a few weeks ago with his long blonde hair.
Many of these hairs have been there since birth.
Some were even seen on his ultrasound!

My grandparents were in town to meet Locke and were glad to accompany us to Alex's first haircut. We went to the local Cool Cuts. Alex did great! He got a little antsy but he never cried or got upset. The stylist did a great job and was really quick. I was quite impressed with how she handled him and the facility was very neat and clean. (Abilene folk- it may be expensive, but it's worth it for a hassle-free and low-stress event, which with little ones, can be worth a lot more than a haircut!)

We also got a little lock of hair in a special certificate/photo page keepsake thing. It's kinda sad to think that my first boy is growing up so fast. He's not a baby anymore, but he's growing into a very fine young lad.

My First Basket!

I just picked up my first Bountiful Baskets basket. I don't know that I've ever been so excited about produce. Seriously, I got excited about seeing what veggies I'd get and I'm not a veggie-lover.

Bountiful Baskets is a food co-op that supplies produce as well as some other foods. The baskets are the main item and can be conventional or organic. Here's the catch: You don't know what will be in your basket until you pick it up. It'll be about half fruit and half vegetables but that's really all you know. You can order add-ons that are specific foods or food types but the main baskets are a surprise. (How's that for adding some surprises to your meal planning!)

Here's my first basket:

This is a conventional basket so it was $15 plus the processing fee and the one-time first basket fee. It ended up being right around $20 for all that produce! Included this week: two bags of carrots, one pineapple, one acorn squash, two heads of lettuce, several bananas, one bunch of spinach, one bag of apples, three avocados, one bunch of leeks, five tomatoes, eight tangerines, and eight new potatoes! It all came looking great!

Oranges, apples, and bananas will be snacks and breakfast fruits. The spinach, lettuce, and tomato will be used for salads. The carrots will be steamed for Alex (maybe I'll toss a few in the salad, but don't get your hopes up). Pineapple will likely be snacks or saved for Alex. I have no idea what to do with the acorn squash, avocados, or leeks. I have never cooked acorn squash or leeks and generally don't enjoy avocados. The new potatoes will also be interesting as we usually eat plain white potatoes.

I'm really excited about planning our meals for the next two weeks now!