It's Easy Being Green

Thanksgiving might be a week behind us but I’m still pretty pleased with our decision to go local this year.  Instead of elbowing the crowd at the freezer case at the local grocery store, we located a nearby farmer who raises natural and fresh turkeys for the Thanksgiving holiday.

This is something we’ve done before when we lived in northern Arizona.  Our tradition was short-lived however because the farm bowed out to developers and sold their acreage.  It was disappointing but just another real world example of how small local farmers are edged out of the market every day.  Last year we were new transplants to the Tri-State area and didn’t have much time to begin looking for a locally and naturally raised bird to feast on.

After a call to the River City Food Co-Op, they directed me to Uebelhack Farms located in Mt. Vernon, Indiana.  The family has been raising turkeys for the past 40 years and is not one of those factory farms that inhumanely and unnaturally treats the meat that will end up on our tables.  They took my order, asked if I wanted fresh or frozen and gave me a date to swing by the farmhouse and pick up my turkey.  It was a bit off the beaten path and more expensive than a frozen, store-bought turkey but it was well worth it.

We felt even better about our decision to buy locally sourced meat after watching an eye-opening documentary called Food, Inc. The documentary, co-produced by Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma), takes a look at how Americans consume meat that is fast, cheap and tasty (or at least that’s what we’re led to believe).  It follows meat from the breeding process in a lab, to the farm, to the slaughterhouse, to the store and eventually onto your table, showing you exactly what you’re eating.

I’ve always been a big proponent to eating locally sourced food but have found it both difficult and cost-prohibitive to find locally sourced meat.  I’ve been talking with another local farmer over at Stonewall Farms in Evansville, Indiana who sells shares of organic, pasture-fed beef, pork, lamb and goat.  After watching that documentary, I think we’re ready to make the leap in 2010 and support a local, organic meat producer.

For more information about Food, Inc. you can visit their website by clicking this link.

Popularity: 2% [?]

I am a coffee fiend.  Notice I did not say that I’m a coffee addict although I’m sure my friends and family would make a very different testament regarding that label.  My everlasting search for a good “cuppa joe” exceeded my expectations at my favorite local coffee shop yesterday.

Yes, I said a local coffee shop.  I do frequent Starbucks and am a fan when I can’t locate a local barrista to pour me the perfect cup.  My favorite local shop here in Evansville, Indiana is the Penny Lane Coffeehouse. Located in the historic downtown arts district, Penny Lane is an eclectic collecting place for people seeking art, organic vegan eats and of course organic, fair-trade coffee drinks and tea.

These are the composting coffee cups and sleeves used by one of my favorite local coffee shops and made by World Centric

My cup of coffee sent me over the moon yesterday when I realized they had switched up their paper to-go cups.  Emblazoned across the bottom of the paper cups are the words “100% Compostable – Paper with BioPlastic Lining”.  If you read my blog regularly, you know I have a compost heap going in our tiny backyard and divert most of our organic garbage to that oasis of renewal.  Paper coffee cups and drink cups have always bothered me when you think about the amount of waste involved and that’s why I always try to take them home and put them in the recycle bin.

With these new cups though, the environmental impact becomes even easier because I can simply toss them in my composter when I get home, only to feed my garden several months down the road.  I wondered how truly compostable these paper coffee cups were, so I visited the manufacturer’s website.  World Centric claims their cups will break down in a home composter in just 2-4 months.  While most paper cups are lined with polyethylene, a plastic that isn’t recyclable or bio-degradable, World Centric’s paper cup is lined with polylactic acid or PLA.

That PLA lining is made with starch (e.g. corn, potato, tapioca etc), cellulose, soy protein, lactic acid and other ingredients that are said to break down without any hazards or toxins left behind.  The cups are made with sustainably harvested fibers and they say they use Elemental Chlorine Free bleach to whiten the cups.

I’m going to see just how long it takes for World Centric’s paper cups to break down in my compost pile.  I’ve tossed them in and I’ll let you know what kind of results I notice.  Meanwhile, I do like the fact that someone is trying to produce to-go containers with less of an environmental impact than Styrofoam, plastics or non-recyclable papers.  Maybe I’m going to see just how long it takes for World Centric’s paper cups to break down in my compost pile.  I’ve tossed them in and I’ll let you know what kind of results I notice.  Meanwhile, I do like the fact that someone is trying to produce to-go containers with less of an environmental impact than Styrofoam, plastics or non-recyclable papers.  Maybe Starbucks can jump on that bandwagon and really evoke some world change with their cups of joe!

Popularity: 5% [?]

It’s that time of year when the skunks start coming out of the woodwork and interacting with the friendly wildlife we call pets living in our yards.  T had a near heart attack the other night when she heard our dog going crazy outback and opened the door to the most pungent skunk spray smell ever.  We’re pretty used to the odor coming from Flagstaff, AZ.  We practically had a skunk wander by our bedroom window just about every night regardless of what house we were living in there.

T remarked that the odor was so bad her eyes were watering and she was almost certain the dog had been sprayed because of the way she was acting.  Co-workers told me to pickup lots of cans of tomato juice on the way home, with extra to make a Bloody Mary to enjoy during the bathing process.  While I’ve heard good things about the tomato juice, I’ve heard it takes several washes and wondered if there was anything better and not chemically based for getting rid of the smell.

That’s when I sent a good friend of mine back in Flagstaff a message to see what he’s used.  He had the unfortunate experience of having both his dogs sprayed and then they ran into the house, fumigating his two story abode with the smell of woodpussy.  He got back to me with his favorite and effective green skunk deodorizer recipe and here it is:

Green Skunk Wash Deodorizer Recipe

-  1 bottle of hydrogen peroxide

-  1/4 cup of baking soda

-  A few drops of liquid dish soap

Mix all ingredients together and get to washing!

As it turns out, I got home and the dog did not get sprayed, thankfully.  It seemed as if the creature simply wandered through the yard and was quite smelly but never deposited it’s fragrance on my four-legged beast outback.  Do you have a good home remedy or green recipe for getting rid of a skunky smell?  Leave a comment with your recipe or email me and we’ll post it in a future article!

Popularity: 5% [?]

As the nights get cooler and the days get shorter, apples that ripen in the Fall are finally ready to come off the tree.  We have several U-Pick apple orchards in the area and enjoy going to fill up a bag or two as we wander down the rows of apple trees.  Inevitably we come home with more than we can simply eat so naturally, we look for ways to preserve a piece of Fall.

Last year I dug out the apple slicer and corer.  It took about an hour or two to make my way through the entire harvest and get them ready for preserving.  We left several of the jars of apples plain and packed them in sugar water.  I used another batch of apples to make jars of apples packed in cinnamon red hot syrup.

Both have proven to be a winner and have their own special uses.  The regular apples I use for baked goods, pancakes or waffles and main dish recipes like Pork Chops with Apples.  The cinnamon red hot apples are good for desert toppings and breakfast treats like waffles.

Yearning to celebrate the changing of the seasons this weekend, I cooked up Baked Pork Chops with Apples and a side of Baked Sweet Dumpling Squash.  Both were delicious and I will put them in our seasonal recipe collection.  I’ll share those recipes later this week.  In the meantime, if you’re looking to can some apples, here are the two recipes I use.

Apples In Syrup

courtesy: Ball Complete Book of Preserving

Ingredients:

-  10 to 12 lbs. apples, stemmed, peeled, cored and quartered (to prevent browning submerge apple slices in 1/4 cup lemon juice and 4 cups water)

-  1 batch of hot syrup (I used a light syrup recipe because I wanted to preserve as much of the nautral apple flavor & sweetness as possible.  Make by combining 2 & 1/4 cups of granulated sugar in a large pot with 5 & 1/4 cups water.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Reduce heat to low and keep warm until needed, making sure you don’t boil the mixture down)

Directions:

1)  Prepare canner, jars and lids.

2)  In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine apples and syrup.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat to medium-low and boil gently for 5 minutes, until heated through.

3)  Using a slotted spoon, pack hot apples into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of top of jar.  Ladle hot syrup into jar to cover apples, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Remove air bubbled and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot syrup.  Wipe rim.  Center lid on jar.  Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

4)  Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process both pint and quart jars for 20 minutes.  Remove canner lid.  Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Apples in Cinnamon Red Hot Syrup

courtesy:  Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

Ingredients to make 8 pint jars:

1 & 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup cinnamon red hot candies

2 cinnamon sticks

2 tsp. whole cloves

1 tsp. ground ginger

2 cups water

1 & 1/2 cups vinegar

2/3 cup light-corn syrup

2 tbsp. red food coloring (optional)

24 medium apples, peeled, cored, sliced and treated according to directions above

Directions:

1)  Prepare canner, jars and lids.

2)  In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine sugar, cinnamon candies, cinnamon sticks, cloves, giner, water, vinegar, corn syrup and red food coloring, if using.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently.  Add apples and stir gently over medium-high heat until apples are heated through, about 6 minutes.  Discard cinnamon sticks.  Turn heat off, but leave saucepan on heating element while filling jars.

3)  Using a slotted spoon, pack hot apples into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of top of jar.  Ladle hot syrup into jar to cover apples, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot syrup.  Wipe rim.  Center lid on jar.  Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

4)  Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process for 15 minutes.  Remove canner lid.  Wait 10 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Now let the fruits of your labor cool for a couple of days and coming up later in the week, I’ll share the delicious recipe I used for Baked Pork Chops and Apples and Sweet Dumpling Squash.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Are you looking for an environmentally friendly way to get rid of those tires that may be piling up in your Vanderburgh County yard?  If so, Tire Amnesty day is coming up, allowing you a free opportunity to drop off old and used tires and not have to pay a thing for it.

Each year we discard tires at about the rate of one per person.  Vanderburgh County alone throws out about 175,000 tires a year which is a huge environmental waste.  Instead of throwing them in a creek or letting them rot in your yard, have those old tires recycled at the Tire Amnesty Day on Saturday, October 3rd.  The event will be held at the Civic Center in downtown Evansville from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The first four tires will be accepted for free and recycled.  Any additional tire beyond four will be accepted with a nominal $1 fee per extra tire.  Make sure mud and water has been drained from the tires and remove from the rims if possible.  They will only be accepting car and light truck tires.  No business tires or commercial vehicle tires will be accepted.

It’s nice to see Vanderburgh County taking some steps to keep tires out of local yards and other places of beauty throughout the county.  Left sitting around, old tires are a detriment to the environment and people should take more care in disposing of them.  It appears this event is catching on with local residents.  At their event in the spring, the county collected about 2,000 tires for recycling.

If you have any questions about the event, contact the Vanderburgh County Solid Waste District at (812) 436-7800.

Popularity: 3% [?]

This last week I ran across a desk that popped up on Freecycle.  I’ve been working off of a tiny desk that was barely big enough for my monitor and the keyboard since moving to Indiana last year.  The only challenge was the desk was about a 30 minute drive from the house so it was going to require some advance planning to find a morning I could sneak out early and pick it up.

Wild sunflowers bloom alongside one of the many gravel roads leading in and around Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area in northern Warrick County.

I chose Wednesday, a day when we don’t have much going on other than me going to work, and made plans with the Freecycler to come cart their old desk away.  I woke up early, loaded the car with recyclables to drop off on my way out of town, grabbed a free coffee at McDonald’s and then headed out.  I was supposed to call the Freecyclers just to warn them I was headed out so they would be ready for my arrival.

A typical grassy meadow borderd by forest and found throughout the Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife area

Needless to say, I wasn’t really surprised when nobody answered the phone and I didn’t get an immediate call back after leaving a message.  I wasn’t too concerned though since I needed to stop and drop off my recyclables before heading out to the desk.  After 10 minutes of sorting recyclables and getting them into their correct bins at the recycling center, I decided to drive around in the general area waiting for my return phone call.  It just didn’t make sense to drive all the way back home only to turn around and head back out that direction again.

Wildflowers of all different shapes and colors bloom in the grassy praires and even right alongside the guard rails on all of the gravel roads

Sometimes the magic of just driving around on the roads less-traveled is enough to keep me occupied.  I love seeing the land and discovering little hidden corners and hideaways.  As I was driving along on two-lane farm roads, I discovered a gravel road that veered off the pavement and up a hill.  I decided to meander up the road and check it out.    It ended up running into the nearby Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area, a network of prairies, woods and lakes that attract all sorts of local game.

Reflecting on their serene view, wildflowers bob and sway in the breeze at Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area

I parked the car and decided to turn my frustration at a flaky Freecycler into some good mind clearing fun.  I wandered down the gravel roads, checking all sorts of native wildflowers blooming just about everywhere you looked.  Since I”m a horticultural nut, I also spent some time collecting seed pods off of the different wildflowers so maybe next year I can grow some of my own and cultivate them.  The quiet and solitude of that 30 minutes was just what I need to rejuvenate my mind for the rest of the day.  The only man-made noise was from a plane passing overhead.  The rest was the breeze blowing through the reeds, fish jumping for bugs, insects and frogs chirping and whirring away and a heron swooping in over one of the lakes to setup his observation post, looking for his next meal.

Even dried flower pods are colorful. These ones are covered with bright orange and black beetles that look like cousins to the squash beetles that attacked my zuchinnis and cucumbers

I started out angry at yet another Freecycle Flake who says one thing and then does another but was able to turn the wheel down the road less-traveled and cleared my mind with nature.

A beautiful Monarch butterfly stops for a sip of nectar on one of probably thousands of purple thistles blooming in the area

Popularity: 6% [?]

The so-called “Dog Days of Summer” are paying off in the veggie garden this week. My wife and I have spent quite a bit of time outside pulling weeds, smashing squash beetles, plucking Tomato Hornworms and giving our little 10×4 foot plot of wholesome paradise some good ‘ol TLC. Mother nature has been a big help too, squeezing some much needed rain out of a passing cloud or two at least once a week. That’s apparently a rarity out here in southwestern Indiana during August but who’s complaining? We’ll gladly take the free water!

Our collander is brimming with Friday's tomato harvest, sporting a fresh batch of roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and slicing tomatoes.

On Friday I had to make a mad dash through my tomato patch to harvest what was ripe before the plants sucked up all the rain water. I’ve been having a big problem with tomatoes expanding way too quickly with all the rain and then splitting just as they ripen. Since I’ve been picking preemptively, they’ve been faring much better though. Our roma tomatoes are producing a bumper crop of pear-shaped goodness that will be perfect with pasta. The cherry tomatoes haven’t let up either, gifting us with a fresh flush of fruit every couple of days.

On Saturday our baby was fast asleep for an afternoon nap so we decided to hit the garden again and do some cleanup. Squash beetles totally annihilated both of our zucchini plants. They bore into the stems of the plants and kill their ability to suck up water. They eventually get the wilt disease and die. I would normally be sad about it but those two plants each produced about ten pounds or more a piece of fresh summer squash.

A weekend bounty of fresh vegetables for the picking. Clockwise from top left: Handfuls of cherry and roma tomatoes, lemon cucumber, bell peppers and an Orange Oxheart heirloom tomato.

While we were out there dealing with the squash beetles we harvested another basket full of produce. Saturday’s take included more roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, bell peppers and an Orange Oxheart heirloom tomato. All have really taken off and produced wonderfully in southwestern Indiana. We can’t wait to enjoy the fresh tastes of each of them.

My failures were definitely sweet corn, yellow squash, pickling cucumbers and pumpkins. I’ve been struggling with powdery mildew spreading from one cucumber vine to the next and then it spread onto my pumpkins. Both are still putting on fresh leaves and trying to set fruit but the mildew just marches on. My sweet corn growth was very stunted and produced some very tiny ears of corn, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. I didn’t follow proper planting recommendations by planting at least four rows so that was probably the cause there. Yellow squash were attacked by squash beetles early on and never really had a chance.

We still have another three months to go before the first average fall frost so I think our harvest days are far from over. I’m also going to try my hands at growing some fall vegetables this year and am getting ready to tackle that project this week.

Popularity: 3% [?]