Environmentally Friendly Floor Soap

It had crossed my mind whilst planning to machine-clean my carpets that there might be an environmental option out there. However, in the few seconds of contemplation I allotted I quickly decided that, if there were a good option, it would require special order of some sort, and further delay of the months-late project.

While trying to avoid spending my money at WalMart (and growing progressively more certain that they were the only store in town selling the soap I wanted), I found myself in Home Depot staring at this:








All it took was a scan of the ingredients to convince me. I'm not foolish enough to think that "everything natural is good," but check out the list:









It doesn't specifically advertise itself as something to use in Bissell carpet cleaners, but I threw caution to the wind.

Should you be interested, the results:

GACK!

Thanks to my brother, Vin, I now know why I've never tasted peanut-butter yogourt.

It is not good.

Almond-butter yogourt is not better.

Global Worming 2

There has been quite a lot of rain in the days since beginning my worm trench. I've been worried that there isn't enough bedding to keep the worms from drowning. I pulled aside a few layers after the third day (or so) of rain and immediately found a happy worm. The leaves a few inches down weren't even wet, so perhaps they are redirecting the moisture effectively enough to prevent drowning.

Peeked again on Friday, August 21st and, although I did find a live worm, it didn't seem too happy. Sluggish, even. The leaves had been entirely saturated by the precipitation.

A better place 2

We have a small kitchen. Space is always a problem. Particularly when a few meals go by without a total cleanup. My brother Mike and his wife Wendy noticed this and made a plan one day last summer to come over with some scraps of wood, some tools, and plenty of ideas for improvement. Among other things, they helped us remove the non-functioning dishwasher, built extra shelving into our cupboards, screwed in various hooks, and tore out the tiny wall at the top of our cupboards so we could access the space above for storage. Noting the now empty space the old dishwasher had occupied, they went on their way. Again, this was last summer.

A few days ago I pull into their driveway and this is waiting:

I won't go into great detail on the effort Mike put into restoring this, but it is a perfect fit, both in the space and in our lives.
















Oh, and these apples are delicious! Could all this fruit be FREE?

A better place

I have a great family: four generations of loving, interested people who go to incredible effort to be around one another. I've got a kind, emotionally aware, understanding, beautiful wife who encourages me to indulge my whims and chase my dreams. And I've got some really good friends; the kind that survive spans of time and distance without seeming to lose any of the feeling of mutual excitement, respect, and comfort of being around each other; the kind to whom you can say the dumbest thing and not lose credibility or respect (we all seem to assume that any failure to communicate will be short and inconsequential - one of those self-fulfilling prophecies).

I feel thankful. So much that it seems obvious to me that anyone in my near vicinity should see gratitude dripping from my pores on a regular basis. But I guess I've not always been that adept at communicating that thanks in socially expected ways. I like the idea of giving cards, but I don't like the physical reality of them. I thoroughly enjoy giving gifts, but money is often scarce, and I don't like attaching a materialistic element to gratitude. Then there's my infinite potential for self-distraction. No excuses, here. I own it. But it is tricky.

This set of posts, "A better place", will be my attempt to notice and appreciate both the forest and the trees.
How do the people in my life make it a better place to be?

When they hear a question, they seek an answer. When they have a question, they ask it. When I have a problem, they seek a solution. When I need an extra pair of hands, they put on their work gloves. When I'm feeling reclusive they urge me out. When I need money, they lend it. When I'm lonely, they visit. When I'm late, they hold off. When I'm successful, they share in my bounty. When I'm chaotic, they bring order. When I'm slow, they wait up. When I'm cranky, they clown. When I'm wrong, they forgive me. When I hug, they hug back.

Global Worming

Inspired by my attendance at environmental events and workshops and my reading over the past year-or-so of such fantastic sites as Bentley Christie's
http://www.redwormcomposting.com/
and others of similar earthy appeal, I determined to look into how to set up my own family vermicomposting system (optimistically figuring that perhaps a background in the arts would be as useful as one in biology...). Having barely mentioned this to some friends, family, and coworkers, I was offered some two hundred worms for FREE by a kind associate of mine!

I frantically read up on every possible way to store and feed my new worms and eventually settled on a large Rubbermaid bin as a starter home. Holes drilled around the sides, potting soil, compost, waste food, and shredded newspaper bedding prepared, I added some 3/4 of my worms to their new home, reserving the rest in the smaller original container as backups should I decimate their brethren. Contrary to my fears, continually pulling back my layer of moist shredded newspaper to add more family waste food was all that was really necessary to promote a population explosion over about two months that I would estimate to be at least tenfold.

The worm bin has been what I consider to be a great success. It only occasionally smells worse than I think it should, it encourages some pretty interesting conversation, it's allowed me to share some worms with family, and it's even got my mother saving bags of waste food in the freezer for my bi-weekly-or-so visits.

Having put out feelers for a possible restaurant to supply me with large amounts of waste food for my outdoor experiments, I was told by a friend that the head chef at a local restaurant called Calories would be happy to meet with me. He was, and my excitement about attempting my own version of the trench composting idea was met with equal enthusiasm. The chef described municipal waste management strategies in Germany that demand separation of food from other garbage prior to pickup on penalty of large fines. He very much supports local environmental initiatives and has given me a sense of affirmation where many others give either confused or bemused looks.

I wanted to be sure that this wouldn't become an uncomfortable situation for the restaurant (particularly the kitchen staff) so we discussed having four labeled 16 litre buckets on rotation that I could pick up each time two were filled. Wanting the process to be as simple as possible, I printed my cel number on the labels themselves with instructions to simply text "Full" to my number any time they were ready for pickup. The chef suggested that they could sit outside overnight, and that anytime I can't make it, all I need do is let the staff know with a phone call that the buckets should go into the cooler (if I would be there within ~48 hours) or the trash (if I couldn't make it within a reasonable period). Later I met with the owner, as well, and she was also on board with the plan.


So far my pocket has buzzed "Full" multiple times, I have added some of the restaurant waste to a typical back alley compost, and I've poured seven 16 litre buckets of waste food into three sections of trench in my backyard. One section has had red wiggler worms from my indoor vermicomposter added and the other two have not. More detailed descriptions of the worm bins themselves, as well as the trenches and my experience with restaurant composting, will follow in future posts.

Would you like to see a picture?

Yeah...me, too. Ponder for a moment that plugging my camera into the computer and pressing a few buttons and keys often feels like "too much effort." What world am I from? And how many of you non-existent readers catch yourselves thinking the same? Well. Here's to tomorrow and a post complete with uploaded photos (sips from empty mug).

Boiling water for hot chocolate takes too long. At least tonight.

Ugh (the 1st) Let's start with a stream of consciousness:

Save these, they can go out of the way for(ever)now.
Fix that, it's still good.
Do this right now, and this? And THIS?
Future's full of do it nows.
And boxed spaces.
See them while they're in town.
Ask her before you forget.
Nobody takes these.
The trash collector does.
Write it down (add to list? start new?)
Pocket buzzes a reminder (5 min snooze).
Call before they're closed - how much is it there?
List lined pockets.
What is needed to finish this?
Sleep on it.
Clean up first.

So begins Lessbad, my attempt at chronicling, cataloguing, and ranting about my various attempts at achieving balance in my life, family, and environment. I expect that even the act of doing this is going to throw off that balance, but here goes...