It's Easy Being Green

Our society seems ripe with abandonement. Apparantly many individuals believe that when the going gets tough, get rid of it. Because of that thinking, we see abandonement just about everywhere we go in America. It could be that Sears refridgerator dumped out of the back of a pickup truck in an empty lot. It might be the junked Toyota Corrola pushed over the edge of a canyon, coming to rest in the middle of a stream. It could also be the fluffy persian cat, silently dumped in the middle of the night behind the tv station. Or, in the saddest of circumstances, it’s the infant left on the front steps of the local fire station. While my most recent run-in with abandonement is worth a chuckle, it’s kind of sad at the same time.I took the recycleables out to the recycling dumpster this afternoon when I was greeted by the most unusual “freebie”. Left by the side of the dumpster stood an indoor palm tree…a houseplant. This palm tree had certainly seen better days. I’m not one to let any abandoned object, sitting beside the dumpster, go unnoticed. So, I went in for a closer look. The tall spindly palm tree was tied to itself. Five shoots came out from the soil. Two of those shoots had perfect green leaves on top of them. Another shoot had a brand new leaf, ready to unfurl and spring forth with new life. The other two were as brown as cowhide and crispy. The palm was sitting in a rather large terra cotta pot, complete with a terra cotta drip tray. The pot looked as if a mere sneeze would turn it to dust. Lines of calcium stained the rim and sides of the clay. Another spot almost seemed to ooze blood, like the damn thing had been shot at in one last fit of rage between the plant and it’s owner. The soil was covered with dead leaves…like the thought never occured to simply throw them out.

Abandonement: A houseplant tossed out of the very house it tried to pump oxygen into. It’s not as if the damn thing has given up the ghost, not wanting to grow or participate in life. No. This palm has two good fronds and another on the way! But why bother cut the dead and decay from this horrible plant? I’m just going to place it gently by the dumpster and walk away, hoping someone will save this tragic thing.

And so, I waited until darkness fell around the dumpster and his leafy mate. I skulked through the parking lot, almost fearing for the harsh reaction of the neighbors. The neighbors who would recoil at the thought of picking up someone’s abandoned house plant. With the crumbling pot firmly in my arms, I carried the poor palm back to our front step. Bathed in the porchlight, I knew yet another abandoned object had come to our home to stay. A stay that will breathe new life in the abandoned potted palm. At the same time, I feel sorry for the poor sap that just gives up on their houseplant.

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Most of us know and understand that our society is a “throw-away society”. People just discard things instead of trying to figure out ways to use them completely. This is one of the many ideas I’ve studied a lot as I learn to live a more sustainable life. One way you can be especially resourceful is around food. No, I’m not talking about just freezing your leftovers for use in future meals. I’m talking about appreciating a harvest to its fullest extent.

We recently started buying whole fryer chickens at Sam’s Club to cook up for dinner. My girlfriend stumbled upon an amazing recipe called Salt Crust Roasted Chicken. It’s awesome and we’ve probably enjoyed the meal three times in the last few weeks. If you’re interested in the recipe head to her blog, Harvest of Daily Life. Once you pick the roasted chicken of the drumsticks, thighs and breasts many people would just consider throwing the rest out. But that chicken carcass still has at least two cups of perfectly good meat left on the bones! Think about all the possibilities for that meat: chicken soup, chicken stock, chicken quesadillas, enchiladas or chicken salad. Anything that would use shredded chicken is perfect.

Here’s the process:

1) Take your chicken carcass and place in a stock pot. Fill the pot with water so most of your chicken carcass is covered and start boiling away. Throughout the process add a couple cut carrots, stalks of celery, onion and some garlic. Just let the mixture boil away on your stove while you do other things. The longer you let it boil, the more rich and intense your chicken stock is going to get. Once it’s boiled for a couple hours, you’re done with the first step.

2) Next, pour your stock out of the pot and into a bowl fitted with a strainer. It will catch all the loose meat and bones. Put your strained stock off to the side. Now take a couple minutes to work your way through the bones, picking off the bits of meat. Discard all the bones, skin and pieces of gristly fat leaving you with a nice helping of chicken meat. At this point, you could recombine your fresh stock and chicken meat to make soup (chicken & rice or chicken noodle) or chicken & dumplings. You can also freeze the chicken stock in small containers for use in other recipes and freeze the chicken meat in small Ziplock baggies for use later too.

Last night, we boiled down the leftover chicken carcass and turned it into fresh chicken noodle soup. It made a huge pot of soup though, more than the two of us could eat in a couple nights! But, that’s ok. Yesterday we spent the day canning our leftover soup so it can be stored in the cupboard just fine. If you don’t want to go through the process of canning, you could also freeze the soup in containers and reheat them in the microwave. While we were at it, we also processed some butternut squash soup that we had stored in the freezer. In the end we came out with 4 quart jars of chicken noodle soup and 2 quarts of butternut squash soup! That will make a lot of meals and save us a lot of money. Plus, the feeling I have from keeping that food from going to waste is so good.

If you’re looking for a great recipe book with complete instructions on home preserving, I recommend the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I’ve been using this book for more than a year now and I have discovered several recipes to use up extra fruit or other food items before they spoil. One of my favorites is the strawberry lemonade concentrate mix that you make from frozen or fresh berries and bottled lemon juice. Simple and refreshing. I’ll post the recipe below.  I had to buy mine piece by piece at the local hardware store. That kit would have saved me a lot of time!

Do you have a favorite way to make the most out of the food you buy and cook? Tell us about it and share your recipes!

Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate

Courtesy: Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

You will need 6 cups hulled strawberries (I use the cheap bags of frozen berries), 4 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice and 6 cups of granulated sugar.

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids for water bath canning.

2. In a blender or food processsor fitted with a metal blade, working in batches, puree strawberries until smooth. Transfer to a large stainless steel saucepan as completed. Add lemon juice and sugar and stir to combine. Heat to 190 degrees F (88 C) over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Do not boil. Remove from heat and skim off foam.

3. Ladle hot concentrate into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch (0.5 cm) headspace. 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 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

5. To reconstitute, mix one part concentrate with one part water, tonic water or ginger ale. Adjust concentrate to taste.

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Who knew an activity that sounds so dirty on the surface could be so beneficial, not only for our planet but also for yourself?  This morning a dumpster dive find that required really no diving came in especially helpful.

Jack, our orange tabby cat, decided to projectile vomit all over the beige carpet this morning.  In a feined attempt I tried to catch him and get him to a solid surface instead of puking on the carpet.  Instead I was left cleaning up quite a mess, hoping it wouldn’t add another stain to the already pet stained by the previous owner carpet.

After cleaning up the chunkies, I sprinkled the vomit with Borax (I’ve just discovered in my greeness it can be used for virtually any cleaning task you might have) and let it soak for a couple of hours.  Then I used the nifty carpet steamer we found by the dumpster the other day to suck it up and scrub it down.  We found out the reason it was put by the dumpster is because the hot water container leaks all over the place when you attach it to the steamer.  The simple fix is to just hold the container and squirt the water you need on the spot and then scrub it and suck it out of the carpet.  It may not be as convenient but the machine still works and doesn’t need to clog up our landfills anymore than they already are.

The free carpet cleaner we found sitting by the dumpster. It still works!

Another great dumpster find I made was back in Arizona when we lived in an apartment complex there.  Someone who moved out had left a 32″ TV by the dumpster and a portable, rolling Rediwhip freezer like you’d see in the grocery story.  Both worked so how can you pass up extra freezer space and a bigger TV for free?!

The free Reddi-wip freezer I found next to a dumpster in Arizona. The working items people throw out is sickening!

Have you found any great finds that someone else put out for the trash?  Don’t be ashamed, share your story!

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We all know times are tough and our money just doesn’t stretch quite as far as we want it to these days. For all those people who have stretched themselves as thin as they possibly could have, I think this economic contraction is something they need to go through.

We all know who these people are and more than likely you have one of them as a neighbor. I’m talking about the family who drives nothing but large trucks and SUV’s, has the brand new toy hauler trailer with living compartment that is stuffed to the gills with ATV’s (one for each family member), a boat, motorhome and just about any other largely expensive toy you can think of.

Back in Arizona, there were more of those types of people than I could count on my hands just living within a block or two of us. I know that none of it was actually purchased with cash. Most was probably bought with some whopping huge credit lines that they’ll be paying on for the rest of their life. I’m glad to see that some of them are struggling enough that they’re finally giving all that “stuff” up. Sure part of it is probably selfishness on my part but the rest is some sort of hope that people will quit over-extending themselves and buying unnecessary crap.

Indiana has been an eye-opener for the same sort of reasons, looking and listening to each neighbor up and down the block taking care of their yard. Each person has a lawn mower, leaf blower, weed whacker, edger and any other accessory to dominate their patch of land with. It makes me think what a waste it is for each person to go out and spend their money on their own lawn mower and accessories.

That’s why the idea of Neighborrow has perked my interest. It’s based on neighbors working together, sharing the resources they may have with another neighbor. It’s an I’ll share my lawn mower with you if you share your weed whacker with me principle. Why the idea hasn’t caught on more is beside me but I think it’s great. My Freecycled lawnmower isn’t working at the moment but my next-door neighbor has been letting me borrow his. He doesn’t have to look at an overgrown lawn next door and I even mow his section of yard bordering our shared pond every now and then.

Speaking of my non-working mower, I’ve been on the lookout for someone who repairs mowers for a living. I found one and dropped in to have a conversation with him about my mower. I’m not too keen on spending a lot of money to get it fixed. After all, it is a gas guzzling, air polluting mower and I’ve been eying some of the electric or push variety for a few months now. Instead of paying full price for a repair, I asked him if he would consider taking my old mower and selling me one of his repaired ones at a discounted rate. It would be like a trade-in credit at the car lot. Not a straight barter but I’d get something and so would he.

He said no. It left me to wonder how bad he was really hurting in this economic downturn. Shouldn’t we be thinking about more smart and creative ways to interact and help each other out other than just the straight transaction of cash from one person to the other? What do you think?

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If you’re not an avid 60 Minutes watcher or missed Sunday night’s episode, you missed a great interview and profile of Alice Waters, the so-called mother of the slow food movement.  Shamefully, I have a couple of books with forwards by Alice Waters but didn’t know who she was until last night.

Alice is a staunch advocate of local farmer’s markets and stands strong in support of sustainable agriculture.  Her L.A. based restaurants, including the world reknowned Chez Panisse, utilize price fixed menus that change daily as farm fresh produce becomes available and goes out of season.  She’s also spearheaded the planting of a vegetable garden outside San Francisco’s city hall, a new classroom program that gets kids outside into a garden teaching them how to grow their own fresh and sustainable food and how to cook it and recently a call to plant a victory garden outside the White House.  You too can sign the petition to the Obamas by clicking that link.

If you didn’t get to see the story, I recommend you click this link and watch it now:

Alice Waters’ Crusade for Better Food

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I’m glad to say we’re safe and sound following the major ice storm that just ripped through the Midwest this past week.  It’s been a stressful time and that’s why I haven’t popped much up onto the blog in a few days.

We were some of the lucky few that have had power all the way through this event.  The night of the storm, our power went out for a few minutes while transformers and power lines blew all around us.  We laid awake in bed thinking that was the last we’d see of the power for a few days but luckily it came back on a short time later.  People living just around the corner though are a different story and down in Madisonville, KY it looks like a warzone.

This event has proven once again that people need to take steps to prepare themselves for the worst.  It seems like as much as this message is pounded into people’s brains, a majority of them choose to ignore it or believe an event like this will never happen to them.  The lines of people trying to cue up after the storm and get gas for generators, cars and heaters is just proof that people choose to deal with the event after it happens and panic in the process.

I got to thinking that we’re not as prepared as we should be.  We have  large cache of food staples stored in the basement and probably have enough to last us a month or maybe more if we rationed it well.  I have several large 5 or 6 gallon jugs for water but don’t have them filled up at the moment.  While I don’t let my pet’s food supply completely dwindle down before buying more, I probably couldn’t provide for them for an extended period of time if we were stuck somewhere.

I got to thinking about generators too because we don’t have a generator.  But then I remembered about our motorhome.  It has a propane stove, oven and fridge and it has a gas powered generator.  That made me feel better since we basically have a rolling disaster kit should another problem strike.

I know I want to take even more steps to make sure I can provide for myself and my family should luxuries like electricity disappear for a few days or even weeks.  What steps have you taken for yourself and your family?  Please share with us by posting a comment below.

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A World Naked Bike Ride Event

I’m having a good chuckle while waking up to my first cup of coffee this morning.  Heads were apparently turning in St. Louis Saturday night, while hundreds of mostly nude bicyclists protested society’s dependence on oil.  It was all part of the “World Naked Bike Ride” which stretched for 10 miles through the city.  So far 70 cities across the globe have unknowingly been host to one of these political rides.  Officers with the St. Louis Police Department checked to make sure the bike riders were within the decency laws, wearing minimums like pasties, body paint, loin cloths and thongs.

For more information about organizing your own World Naked Bike Ride, check out their website.  There is also an entertaining video of what the rides look like.  You can also Google search for pictures using the ride’s name.  It’s quite entertaining.  I’d really like to see one of those come to Flagstaff!

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