Flat screen goes green

Just found out about the new "Eco TV" from Philips- a 42 inch flat panel LCD with 1080p resolution, that promises to sip rather than guzzle electricity. It's getting decent review on the gadget sites (CNET named it it's pick of the Consumer Electronics Show 2008), although some complain about it's lack of some of the bells and whistles (I think it has plenty, but I don't use a cable card anyway). Retails at about $1400, it is supposed to use less than 100 watts of power (less than a freaking lightbulb). It's energy star qualified, packed in recycled packaging, and meets RoHS standards (meaning it has low/no levels of some dangerous chemicals in it, like lead, mercury, etc).

A nice choice if we didn't buy a flat screen last year while I was on bed rest...

Costco Electronics Recycling and Trade-In Program

I just found out that Costco has a program through Greensight that allows you to "trade-in" your old electronics (MP3 players, computers, digital cameras and camcorders, games, lcd monitors, and PDAs) . The trade-in estimator online will tell you how much your item is worth, and then they pay for shipping for you to ship it to them. If your item has no trade in value, they will accept it for recycling, and still pay for shipping. (They also accept, for recycling only, fax machines, CRT monitors, and printers).

And the items really are truly "recycled"! Here's what they say about their recycling program: Our recycling program employs a zero tolerance landfill policy meaning all of the material that is subject to recycling is disassembled by hand, carefully separated and eventually utilized as feedstock for various raw material extraction processes (including smelting and refining).

You do have to be a Costco member...

Cheese

Our dairy forgot to drop off our cheese order, and the farmer's market was days away, so I went looking for some local cheese. On my way home from work, I stopped at Cowgirl Creamery, a place that looks way too hip for me, but is rumored to have excellent artisan cheese. I passed the front checkout area with its coolers and shelves of drinks, cheese accompaniments, and prepared sandwiches, and headed back to the counter identifiable as the cheese counter by the large hunks of cheese on pedestals (and the giant sign saying "cheese"). I was a little disappointed when the chef-jacketed cheeseman behind the counter explained that their local cheese options are a little limited (or more so than I expected), but they do have enough. I walked out with some creamy, local cheddar (I know the cheese snobs are thinking: boring. But we have a toddler! And I'm not as adventurous as I could be with my cheese choices). Anyway, it's on the higher end of price: I wouldn't say overpriced for gourmet cheese, but a bit pricey for our weekly shopping. I really like cheese but am not enough of a connoisseur that I appreciate all the nuance.

Strawberries & Pizza (but not together)

So the first of the pick-your-own season is upon us- coming late this year due to some cooler weather (so I am told), the local pick your own strawberries were not ready until after Memorial Day (my own few garden strawberries had come and gone by then, so I guess i have early bloomers).

Anyway, 2 flats of strawberries became:

• several desserts (including homemade strawberry shortcake, complete w/ homemade whipped cream and homemade "shortcakes")
• a quart of frozen (hull, cut, toss with sugar, put in freezer bag)
• 8 half pints of jam (next time I'm going to try a low-sugar pectin), and
• 4 pints of strawberry-lemonade concentrate (canned with lemon, sugar, and strawberry puree).
  

I think next up are the cherries. I may attempt pie, the baked dish I find most difficult to do right.

I also had some good luck making pizza this weekend (and some bad luck too- one of my pizzas fell to the bottom of the oven while i was taking it out and burned a bit- my friend graciously said, "it's just smoky"). Anyway, the pizza stone I got really helps make a nice crisp-outside, soft inside crust. I used my CSA spring onions in a carmelized onion/prosciutto one, and tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil, and homemade mozzarella in my "almost all local" one (farmer's market garlic, tomato, and garden basil).

Farmer's Market

The farmer's markets are all in bloom these days- in the past week I've picked up potatoes, shelled peas (turned into a side dish with butter from the local dairy and mint from the yard), cherries (early yet, but irresistible- turned into chocolate covered cherries, plus plenty eaten "as is"), lots of greens (mixed with garden lettuce, purple ruffles basil, and cinnamon basil for a salad), garlic scapes (made into garlic scape pesto with walnuts and olive oil, and also mixed with ground beef and local spring onions to toss with pasta). Quite a variety for this early.

The past week I made rosemary bread, raisin bread, drop biscuits, and two different kinds of cornbread. I bought yeast in bulk. I have plenty of flour. We'll see how productive I can be once I go back to work this week, but I've been learning recipes for good baked goods that are easy to make.

This promises to be a good week, work aside. The CSA box arrives on Thursday (with eggs), and on Wednesday our local milk, cheese, grass-fed beef, and chicken will be delivered to our milk box. Tomorrow we gather strawberries at a pick-your-own for eating, canning, and freezing. So more blogging about food adventures to come!

Homemade Mozzarella

Today I used the cheese kit to make mozzarella. It really did only take 30 minutes. Here were the things that suprised me:

• so much whey left over- not much cheese... this has nothing to do with the kit, but just the amount of solids vs liquids that make up the milk. I used the whey to make bread, and pizza crust for the pizza. The crust had a warm. sweet flavor. The bread didnt rise quite right, but also was sweet(er). Even with making a double batch of bread and two pizza crusts, I had about a half gallon of whey left over. Seems like a lot of whey-ste (sorry, bad pun).
• The milk and cheese have a very sweet smell while cooking- not really a smell I've associated with mozzarella before, more with hot cocoa.
• I think I need to add lipase powder- this is an optional powder that you can add to make your italian cheeses more flavorful. The mozzarella I made without it was fine, but kind of bland. I used a bit more salt than recommended, but it still needed something else. But it was great on the pizza.

For the pizza, I made the dough using the whey, shredded the cheese, and made a sauce from fresh tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, garlic and herbs from the garden (mint, basil). It worked out to be pretty tasty.

The kit

Heating the milk

The cheese

The pizza

How Does Your (Herb) Garden Grow

In other homesteading news my organic herbs arrived today from Mulberry Creek Farms. I love them because they have so many varieties of herbs, but I think next year I will try to buy from my local farmer's market instead. I've noticed some great options each time I go, but I've had to hold off on buying b/c I had already ordered with MCF. Next year, I'll go local and cut down on the fossil fuels and packaging (plus MCF does take a while to ship when they are busy in the spring- I ordered about a month ago and they just got here).

Anyway, because we joined the CSA for the summer, and the CSA has alot of tomatoes and cukes (what I usually grow), I've decided to focus most of my growing space (which is not much- our neighborhood has wonderful century-old trees that keep our yard in partial shade) on herbs.

I already had two kinds of rosemary that just keeps on growing and growing, as well as mexican oregano that grows like crazy. Added to that I locally bought peppermint and spearmint, and am trying chocolate mint from MCF as well (for brownies, ice cream, tea, coffee). The mint is the spread out because it grows anywhere, and can deal with the partial shade, and os I can try to harvest seeds that wont have hybridized mint flavors. In the sunny patch of garden, I have lots of pesto basil (mammoth and genovese), lime basil (for chicken, salads, fruits, etc), purple ruffles basil (more for looks), and cinnamon basil (again for fruits, salads, desserts?). There's cilantro (also makes coriander), and a compact dill. A small bit of chives that lasted the winter, and two stevia plants, which I plan to experiment with as a non-caloric sweetener. All in all 12 plants in the ground today- hoping that I can use these herbs in combo with the CSA stuff to make some good summer meals!

Suburban Homesteading: Yogurt

So last night I made some yogurt, keeping track of the cost of the ingredients going in to compare with store-bought. It took me about 20-30 minutes. basically: heat milk to 180 degrees to kill bacteria, cool to 118 degrees, mix in 4 tablespoons of organic plain yogurt, and let it sit in a thermos or other set-up that will keep the milk warm (I've heard of using the oven, a crock pot that you turn on and off, a heating pad, etc- I personally have a Yogotherm, which is basically a yogurt-making thermos that cost about $35. It's not a necessity keeps the temp consistent and holds a large quantity).

In doing the math for the raw ingredients, I ended up making organic, plain yogurt for less than 7 cents an ounce, even with the high price of organic milk. This cost is about 40 percent cheaper than storebought, even in large quantities. There were a few things I could have done to make it even more cost-effective- making larger batches (a gallon of milk is cheaper than a half-gallon, per ounce), and using my own homemade yogurt as a starter (instead of storebought). You can use your own yogurt as a starter, which cuts the production cost by about 205. I've seen it recommended that you freshen the starter with store-bought yogurt or freeze dried starter (much more expensive) about every month or so, to keep the organisms in balance.

For the kids, I don't like to let the yogurt sit too long because it gets more tart the longer it sits. On the other hand, it also gets firmer, so it's a delicate balance. It firms up fine for us (more so than the local dairy version, which we loved but vetoed because it had HFCS in it!) but I've heard you can add gelatin or powdered milk for a firmer consistency. I may try the powdered milk, as it's not too pricey and you can get it organic.

As the younger starts eating more solids, I see lots of yogurt in our future, and I think this is a great easy way to get healthy, inexpensive yogurt with a minimum of additives. I think I'll continue to make in bulk, but to use up the larger quantities I may dabble in frozen yogurt and dips and sauces. I envision a tzatziki using the yogurt, the dill from the garden, cucumbers from the CSA, and locally-grown garlic.

In addition to the yogurt, I have vinegar culturing away in the basement (away from little hands). My next project is going to be cheese- I'm going to try the 3o minute mozzarella kit from New England Cheesemaking supply.

So we hit the local farmer's market yesterday. It's still a little thin, being the beginning of the season still. Only a few stands- got some garlic scapes, lettuce, chives, and free range eggs. Some organic, all locally produced. Hard choices between organic and local (I'd like to get both whenever possible, but will take local over organic if it's a) a farm that uses IPM but doesn't have organic cert, or b) its not a heavy pesticide product. Still, a hard balance to strike.

This was my first time cooking with garlic scapes, but they are awesome. I love garlic, and they have a garlic flavor, but it's much more subtle. I mixed it with some walnuts and olive oil to make some pesto, then mixed it with ground beed and whole wheat pasta. Threw in some local greenhouse cherry tomatoes, and it was pretty yummy! Although the 85% local eating thing we want to do is still in it's infancy, and most of the other stuff was not local, I still like the challenge of starting with an ingredient and making a recipe, than starting with a recipe and collecting ingredients. I may hit up a larger local market tomorrow and see what they have...

Suburban Homesteading

So I've decided my new life mission is to localize, localize, localize. Not sure how this will all pan out with going back to work and having less time, but it's important to me so I'm going to make it work. Let me step back and say that I was accused of being elitist because I think people should buy local/sustainably grown foods, unless they are truly impoverished. Hey, that's just my point of view, given the intangible costs to us all that come from the global warming (fuel consumed for growing conventional foods, fuel consumed from shipping out-of-season foods to our shelves year-long, etc), the lack of crop diversification, the pesticides and other chemicals, etc etc etc. If people think they cant afford food now, wait a few years into climate change, crop failures (due to homoginization of crops that leads to failures, etc). I understand that folks make choices- and we're not talking about truly impoverished people who have to choose between food and shelter, but people who make reasonable middle-class choices- maybe to work less and spend more time with kids, or to take an enjoyable but lower paying job, or to have cable tv or internet or other "luxuries"- but these same people then complain that they cannot afford organic/local foods. I think this comes from the way we generally think of food in this country- it is a commodity, fungible with any other food of the same type, and thus looking for the cheapest bottom line seems to make sense. I just wish more people understood the health and environmental issues that factor into "cost."

Additionally there are ways to make local foods cheaper for you. For example, one family who is having a hard time making ends meet has made the choice to have one adult in the couple stay home to save on daycare costs, and not to take an evening or weekend part time job. Although this voluntarily reduces their income, it also opens opportunities to save money and still eat local/sustainably. For example, there is a CSA in our area that allows you to get a week's worth of fresh produce at no cost, save 4 hours of labor at the farm (not necessarily hard labor either- bookkeeping and other office jobs count). Or that partner could get a part-time job for a few hours a week at a local food coop or organic food store, getting discounts, extra cash for quality food, and adult time out of the house. Or the time could be spent gardening (granted, that only works if you have a place to grow food). Am I privileged because I make enough money to buy local/sustainable without sacrificing other things in my life? I suppose so, but I work crazy hard to be able to do that. Would I love to stay home and care for my kids? Sure! But I don't make that choice because other things - stability and security for my family, good healthy food on the table, access to the world outside our little city- are also important to my family. That's my choice. It's all about choices, so I'm not sure that most middle class or lower middle class folks who say they can't afford sustainable local produce actually mean they don't want to make the choices necessary to do so, whether that means working more (which I understand why many people are loathe to do this), or putting more elbow grease into their food (including preserving and putting away local food while in season), or buying what is local and seasonal rather than what fits your recipe, or other creative choices (like the CSA work share, giving up internet, etc). Healthy, sustainable food really should be that important!

That said, rather than continuing in this negative space, I want to use this blog to document my attempts at what I'll call "suburban homesteading." To me, this means putting my own efforts into saving and even producing foods and products that we use. Why?

• To allow us to consume a significant amount of local food, even when it is not in season. By buying more local food, to know better where our food comes from, how it is grown and treated, and who makes it.
  
• To allow us to reduce the amount of unnecessary preservatives and additives in our food. To allow my kids to learn that producing and obtaining food is a process that goes beyond driving to the store.
  
• To save energy by buying fewer products that require packaging, or that are shipped over long distances.
  
• To save money by buying locally in season when things are plentiful and cheap, and saving them for later
• To have healthier foods with fewer pesticides and preservatives, and that have more fresh nutrients
• To be gentler on the environment by limiting our own use of foods that are hard on the environment in so many ways
  
• To honor and resurrect (and teach the kids) about "old-fashioned," simpler methods of food creation and preservation- methods that require time, patience, and attention, rather than just a stroll down the aisle with a squeaky cart. And some that might even be fun or good family activities!

It's going to be a journey with many missteps, I'm sure. And I'm looking forward to it.

Are My Family Vacations Ruining the World?

We're a family of travelers and travelers-to-be. Although I didn't get my first passport until I was 15 years old, I have made up for lost time by traveling where I can, when I can. One of my major life goals was to travel to thirty different countries by the time I turned thirty- by squeaking in a last minute trip to Canada for my thirtieth, I made it, with exactly 30 countries. I want to raise my kids to be travelers too- Boy #1 has already been to Thailand and several stateside locations, and both boys have been to the Virgin Islands. I am proud to be a "traveler", one that packs light (I did a month-long trip to Hawaii, Japan, and Fiji with only a carry-on), and one that tries to really appreciate the locations we visit and take away some lessons for personal growth. I am proud that I embrace other cultures the best that I can, try to avoid being an ugly American at all costs, and always go home knowing more about someone and somewhere else as well as myself. But I also just like to get away, and rest, taand see new and interesting things.

And I want that for my kids. In addition to giving them life experiences to remember and exposure to some of the worlds most beautiful and interesting places, I want them to learn patience, to appreciate other cultures and lifestyles, and to learn that the United States is not the freaking center of the universe. Can they learn these lessons closer to home? Of course. Was our beach vacation in St. John the source of some deep meaningful lessons? Probably not. But I love travel and I want them to be good travelers too.

BUT... traveling is hard on the environment. Something I've avoided thinking about until now. In less than a week we leave on a vacation that involves a cross-country flight AND a cruise. In terms of carbon emissions, flying is terrible for the environment. And cruises? Well, the consensus is that they are worse.

There's also the issue of resources used once at your location- absent an eco-resort or other eco-aware lodging you're almost always going to use more and have a larger impact on the planet than at home. And there's also this dilema - is it better to go to a more developed nation which may already have eco-friendly environments (like hotels or even whole cities that get their power from renewable resources) or at least eco-friendly options, or is it perhaps better to put your money into an economy where a lack of infrastructure and resources leads to practices that are heavier on the environment (like slash and burn farming or poaching of ecological resources) in the hopes that building a tourism industry will help provide incentives for more earth-friendly practices or, at a minimum, provide alternative sources of income.

So I struggle with the right answer, but I think like other earth-impact issues, the answer is complex. I know that for one thing, we won't be giving up our travel anytime soon- it's just to precious to me. We may take more trips closer to home, and maybe check out the train once in a while, but I want my kids to see the world if we can continue to afford it. But making sure there is a world left to see is important to, so I think we will start with these baby steps:

• carbon credits to offset flights and cruises- I do have some doubts about exactly how carbon offests work and whether they really do make a difference, but it's worth a try (even if they do turn out to be just conscience clearers)
• make a concerted effort to stay in eco-friendly lodging where possible
  
• to be more aware of our impact generally- small things like trying to use reusable travel bottles instead of buying throw away "travel sizes" and purchasing fewer one-time convenience products
  
• to try to bring at least one reusable bag with us on trips, just like we [try to] do at home (this is actually just a smart travel tip, depending on where you are going- many European or Asian stores, food stalls, etc do not provide the bags we find ubiquitous here- so this also keeps you from the hassle of trying to fit a baguette, a block of cheese, and a bottle of wine in your jacket pockets)
  
• use public transport when we can, and do walking tours over buses or similar (ths is actually a bit of a cheating one, as that's what we prefer to do anyway)
• renting smaller and/or hybrid cars when we do car rentals

Good links:
Planeta
Carbon Offests (Wikipedia)
Carbon Offest Consumer Guide (PDF)
Responsible Travel

Pre-School Environmentalism

Yes, I admit it. I am a recycling freak. It drives me insane when I see a can or a bottle or other recyclable in the "regular" trash. Last weekend, Boy #1's cooperative preschool had an open house and sold soda by the can. There were a ton of empties around, but they just got stuck in the regular trash. I didn't notice it until we were about to leave, but it drove me nuts. I think next time I'll offer to provide a recycling bin and take the empties home for curbside recycling.

They also use bleach-based and lysol and other chemical nastiness for daily cleaning. Now we'll use bleach on rare occasion if necessary, and there are a few "regular" cleaning products that we haven't yet been able to replace- like the Swiffer Wet Jet. But for the most part we use Seventh Generation and Method products around the house. I used to be a big fan of bleach, but now I think it's just not necessary 95% of the time. One of the other moms (the other lesbian moms, in fact) bring their own cleaner. I think I might do the same- although the other parents may think we're part of some weird lesbian Seventh Generation cleaning cult. Being new to the school, I anticipate (or hope) that I will learn more about the planet-friendly tings the school does do...

So what do some other local schools do to be more environmentally friendly?

• The Friends Community School- used to be right up the street, but just moved to a brand new environmentally friendly, LEED certified straw-bale building.
• The Burgandy Farms Day School- has a bunch of environmental education programs, including a West Virginia Campus for outdoor education, as well as in-school environmentally-friendly programs, like "waste-free" lunch requirements (all lunches brought to school must not generate any waste- have reusable napkin, etc etc)
• Often through parent- or teacher-led initiatives, more schools are seeking recognition under the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education Green Schools Program which requires modeling of good practices among other things,
  

Best additional resources for greener schools:

• Building Green Schools (U.S. Green Building Council)
  
• One Teacher, 20 Preschoolers, and a Goldfish (NAEYC Journal- discusses one preschool teachers integration of environmental awareness into the classroom)
• Green Schools Initiative (includes 7 steps to start to "green" your school)
  

Soda

Soda is the one thing I just can't give up. First, I worried about the sugar/HFCS, so I only drink diet. Then sodium, so I prefer to drink Hansen's rootbeer (no sodium). Now I'm worried about the lining in the cans, the carbonation, and just generally setting a terrible example for the kids, given the amount of soda we suck down each day. Water's fine but just not the same, juice has empty calories for the mos part- what other options do I have? I'd like to cut traditional soda out of my diet by the time the boys get old enough to know they want it . . .

First Topic- Bisphenol A (BPA)

So there's much debate out there on the internets and mainstream press about whether or not the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) poses a health risk when/if it leaches from baby bottles, food-can linings (including resins that line forumal cans), and other plastics that come into contact with foods or drinks. Some say it does some say it doesn't- a quick review of Google News results for BPA highlights both sides of the debate (although the critics of BPA seem to be getting more press time these days...)

Anyway, although I know some don't agree, we've decided to minimize BPA in our house. It's been hard to research the best way to do this with an infant who needs bottles and a toddler who breaks glasses, but here's what we came up with:

• No baby bottles with BPA in them, which required a bit of a financial sacrifice since ALL of our bottles from Boy #1 were Avent, which have the "hard clear" plastic that causes BPA concerns. Instead, we are using Born Free, which, apart from a weird yellow tint and an extra valve piece to wash, are a reasonable, if pricey substitute. Other BPA-free bottles we've found include the Mam Ultivent, and the tempered glass Evenflo. (If we used glass, I think we'd add the Siliskin for extra protection). For milk storage we are using Medela bottles, which are also BPA free.
• No microwaving in plastic- that means take out containers or reusable plastics. We either use our regular dishes (ceramic) or glass containers. My favorites are the Frigoverre, but that could be because I'm Italian!
• For the toddler, we use BPA-free options if we are going to be storing and/or carrying along drinks. We are using (and loving) the new Thermos Foogo thermoses, (is that redundant?) which also have the advantage of keeping drinks cold for a long time. We are using the straw version, but they also have a sippy cup version. We also have some Sigg bottles (that's what I use for myself), but Boy #1 finds the spout a little more difficult to open. I've also heard raves about the Kleen Kanteen, but we're making the move to straws and regular cups (rather than spouts) anyway. We use a ceramic two handled cup for the occasional hot chocolate.
  
• We still use some plastic toddler cups for cold juices and water with meals at home- if we were buying from scratch we wouldn't, but we're hoping Boy #1 will move on to a regular cup soon and it would be really pricey to buy enough BPA-free options to have a cup for every meal and snack (without washing tons of cups).
• We don't eat that much canned foods, and we don't use formula, so we haven't thought about what to do for the can lining issue. Hmmmm....

Best source for more info? This blog, thesoftlanding.wordpress.com, has a ton of detail on different BPA-free options for bottles, cups, and items I never thought about, like teethers and toys. The Green Guide, published at National Geographic, gives a run down of different plastics and their other potential risks for use as food storage and can be found here. (Note this does not include BPA-risks, but covers more cold-food storage)

Welcome!

Welcome to Crunchy Consumer Incorporated- a place for me to discuss my attempts to incorporate things like green living, healthy and responsible food consumption, and green parenting into my typical middle class lesbian family of four.