Weekend Surprises

One of my favorite things about a weekend away is coming home and checking out what has been going on in my garden:

My first zucchini of the year!!

Yellow Pear tomatoes growing

Squash growing on the vine... I'm hoping this will prove to be dumpling squash, and not pumpkins. At my job, I just take whatever plants are leftover from the plant sales and sometimes they are not labeled. So it's usually a bit of a surprise to see what grows!

Lemon cucumbers!!

I let my cilantro bolt, and I'm very excited to save the seeds for future plantings, and to eat.

Blackberries ripening over the chicken coop.

And lastly, lots of (very dirty) eggs!

This PNW weather has definitely been a learning experience for me. I never would have guessed that at the end of July I'd only just be harvesting my first zucchini, and still holding my breath for the tomatoes to ripen... I'm still waiting for the fruits of summer, but I just started planting for fall -- some more kale, cabbages, brussel sprouts and celery root.

I'll post pictures of the new plants later, but for now there are some zucchini and eggs waiting to be eaten!

Going Green Summer 2010

I have considered myself to try to live "green" as best as possible for several years now, but this past year I have learned a lot and made many changes, with even more slated for the summer. This comprehensive post was inspired by hip mountain mama's anniversary give away. So, in no particular order, just as they pop into my head, here's a little run-down of my doings so far and plans for the summer.

• I am growing my largest garden ever this year! I've gardened some in the past, but have moved so frequently it's been hard to keep up with consistently. But now my yard is a patchwork of garden beds, and it makes me so happy! I wake up in the morning and first thing go outside to see how my plants are doing. I'm growing tons of greens, onions, tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons, cucumbers, three kinds of berries, grapes and so much more. I am so happy to be able to pick produce from my yard and make a meal. And my current project is planning out my fabulous fall and winter garden.
• As of three months ago, I have chickens!! Their eggs are so delicious, and they love wandering around my yard and pecking at bugs and slugs. They also love flying over the maze of fencing I've put around the garden and eating all my kale. :( But I just don't have the heart to clip their wings.

• I don't own a car and so I ride my bike to work, or take the bus. This probably would not have happened if I hadn't moved to Portland, OR last fall! Sometimes I really miss having a car (biking to get groceries in the rain), but ultimately it's worth it. I've found that I feel a lot better emotionally and physically from getting that exercise every day too.

• Hanging my laundry out to dry. I used to do this all the time when I lived in AZ, but over the rainy Portland winter I've been slacking. Now that it's (finally!) summer I'm hanging my clothes on the line again, and will rig up a rack or line inside for this winter.

• I'm jamming and canning!  I usually make a couple batches of jam in the summer, but this year I'm way more ambitious. I've already made lots of strawberry jam, and up next are blueberry, blackberry, and plum. I'm so excited to make pickles and can tomato sauce, and I'm also going to learn to ferment! 

• I've been greening my personal care products -- hardly ever wearing make up and going no poo. Next up: homemade toothpaste and deodorant!
• Gifts: so far this year all the birthday gifts I've given have been handmade by me, or purchased from local artisans or farmers.
• I've eliminated all foil, paper towels and disposable plastic bags/wrap from my kitchen, except those pesky plastic produce bags. I often remember to take my own containers to the store for bulk goods, but not always. Also, my boyfriend is a chef and is very picky about his produce. He doesn't like it in cloth bags instead of plastic. Of course, harvesting more veggies from our gardens is helping with this issue!
• I've been doing this for so long that I almost forgot to mention, but of course I frequent the farmer's markets and buy almost everything organic at the store. I struggle to make it fit into my Americorps budget, but I really try to make buying local and organic a priority.
• I write letters and call my senators about environmental issues that are important to me.
• I do pretty much all my clothes shopping, and most home goods shopping at thrift stores. The only things I don't buy used are underwear and socks. I started doing this long ago for budgetary reasons, and the fact that I appreciate vintage style. Now, I do it for my pocketbook and the earth! I love giving a second life to used items.
• I've dropped my showering to every other day (for the most part) and use an adjustable low-flow showerhead.
• I moved a few months ago, and just the other day thought about the fact that the water is really hot, and perhaps we should turn it down... When we looked at the water heater, it was set to 160!! We quickly turned it down to 120. I will be interested to see how much of an impact this has on the bills...
• I use baking soda and vinegar for all household cleaning purposes.
• Of course, my job is environmentally friendly as well. I work with a fantastic nonprofit called Village Gardens. We work in two low-income communities to empower community leaders through gardening, skills training and leadership. I spend a lot of my time with the two children's garden clubs and in the community gardens. Check out our new blog and facebook page for pictures. I truly feel honored to work with such an amazing organization. Our latest venture is to open a non-profit, community run, local, healthy grocery store in an area that currently has no grocery stores. It's going to be awesome!!

Quarter Century

This weekend was a breath of fresh air.

I must admit that one of the hardest adjustments for me in moving to Portland is the lack of outside time. Being used to the warm sunny deserts of Tucson AZ, I'm not very enthusiastic about camping in the rain. Also, it takes so much longer (and so much driving) to get to a good hike. I miss being able to drive 15-20 minutes to Pima Canyon or Sabino Canyon or Saguaro National Park and get out on the trails...

But N and I took four days this week and drove up to the Olympic Peninsula for my 25th birthday. It poured down rain on the drive up and back, but the weather was gorgeous while we were there. We took a short hike into the Quinault Rainforest, where I was super duper excited to see berries ripening!! This time of year I always have my berry vision on, my eyes eagerly scanning the trail for bright spots of red or blue. N gets a little annoyed after a couple hours of me pointing out every berry I see!

We saw some huckleberries, and some thimbleberries and salmonberries just beginning to ripen.

Then we headed out to Oil City to backpack on the beach. Oh, the weather was beautiful. I wore shorts and actually got to run barefoot and splash in the waves! We saw barnacles, and touched squishy sponges and poked starfish and stared at anemones. We climbed on huge old trees washed up on the beach and found one eyed monsters in the rocks. N balanced rocks and drift wood. One of the things I love about being with N is how well we play together.  We are goofy and silly and excited as kids.

We had some exciting times because we were trying to hike impassable portions of the beach at pretty much high tide. We ended up racing the waves down the beach and pretty much rock climbing along the face of the cliffs to get past. I was missing the security of my harness! But what's a birthday without a little adrenaline, right? We had a lovely campsite to watch the sunset.

After we hiked out from the beach, we headed over to Olympic Hot Springs. I neglected to take any pictures of the springs themselves, because I was just too relaxed soaking in the warm water and listening to the river rushing below. I did take some pictures of our tasty dinner though. Fanciest backpacking dinner I've ever eaten. :) We totally splurged and brought heavy food.

Here we are heating tortillas and roasting sweet potatoes and onions in the fire.

The finished product with some homemade tomatillo salsa. YUM! All in all, a wonderful birthday. I'm one lucky gal.

Also, I can't wait to get back to the Olympic Peninsula for some more adventures!

One Small Change Update

Wow, this post is long overdue! I was busy moving and settling in in April, and things are definitely not slowing down at work as summer approaches. I've been doing my changes each month, just not blogging about them. So here is a quick rundown of the past few months:

March - The change to the family cloth went really well. I'm still keeping up with it at the new house. I didn't say anything to the roomies, just quietly put my two little boxes in the bathroom and went about business as usual. I love it! So clean and comfortable.

April - I switched to 100% renewable energy on the electric bill. Believe it or not, this is actually the first time I've had a utility in my name. Every other house I've lived in, I just paid utilities to the owner, and not directly to the power company. It adds about $7 to the bill monthly. Not bad!

May - This is a big one; so big that I will be carrying it into June. I decided to tackle my personal care products. I consider myself to not use that many, by normal cultural standards. Here is a picture of the products I used on a regular basis:

In the past I've tried to use natural products as much as possible, as well as keeping it cheap. I'm on an Americorps stipend, after all. I also just plain don't use very much. I've had that deodorant and face wash for about a year and a half now. Anyway, a quick rundown: natural shampoo and conditioner, handmade natural soap, St. Ive's facial scrub, Neutrogena face wash, mascara, eyeliner, powder foundation, mousse, facial lotion, and Tom's toothpaste/deodorant.

My May challenge was to use even less of these products, and to try replacing them with homemade/more natural alternatives when they ran out. For one, I wanted to stop rubbing hormone-disrupting, cancer-causing chemicals in the form of pthalates (or "fragrance") into my face and scalp. I also wish to cut back on my consumption of plastics.  Check out this link for more info: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/31/chemical.dangers/index.html I figure that the extra money I will probably spend on natural products will even out with the money I save on making some of the other products at home.

My first change was to go no poo, which I've been doing for about three weeks. I'm doing the baking soda/apple cider vinegar combo, and it's working great! I don't find my hair to smell like salad, and I only use it about 3 times a week. The other times I just rinse my hair. My only complaint is that I have naturally wavy hair, and I feel like it doesn't curl as well with the baking soda/vinegar.

I've cut way back on how much makeup I wear. I mean I don't wear that much normally, but I used to feel compelled to wear makeup every day. I'd feel naked/ugly without it. When I was in college, I might roll out of bed and go to class in my sweats, but I always took a minute to swipe on some concealer and mascara first.  Now I am very happy that I feel comfortable with a bare face. I think living in Portland has helped with this. There are many women here that I think are beautiful that don't wear a bit of makeup. It was just how I grew up that made me think I had to cover up my face every day. Now I wear it maybe half the time?

Now here is my question for you: Do you have any tried and true recipes for homemade products like deodorant, face washes and scrubs? Please do share! And if you can recommend some natural/organic makeup products, that would be great as well... I need to do more research in this area.

One other change I've made is my toothbrush.  My old one was getting nasty, so I switched it out for an Ecodent toothbrush, which saves money and plastic over it's lifetime because you only have to replace the head, not the whole handle. Genius!

And here's a bonus for making it all the way to the end of this post: one of my fierce little hens. She has so much sass.

You Know You're A Gardening Nerd When...

You get really excited about free zoo poo!!

That's right folks, one of the big highlights of my week was picking up three truck loads of zoo poo. I work for a small nonprofit in North Portland called Village Gardens. We work in two low-income neighborhoods to empower leaders in the community through gardening and other programming. We've been trying to find an affordable way to get some fertilizer on our gardens, so I was really excited when my Master Gardener class announced that the zoo would be giving away free poo!

We drove down to the zoo on a rainy day, and there were huge piles of hot composted poo. As the front end loader shoveled into it, the piles steamed into the cold gray air. It was a good consistency - looked like it had been composted with straw and wood chips - and didn't smell bad at all.

That afternoon, I had the garden club kids help unload it into the garden. They actually got really into it, and had so much fun mixing it into the soil in our raised beds. Occasionally they would yell out, "I just found a big chunk of lion poo!" Or "Here's some elephant!!" It was awesome. I loved it because it was free, because we were reusing some unexpected materials, and because it will help make our gardens fertile and productive this year. Win win win. We also got on the zoo's list to be contacted in summer when they have more zoo poo ready. Perfect for a little side dressing on our corn.

I should note that we've been really enjoying this whole "zoo poo" thing. We've been keeping a tally of how many times we say "zoo poo" in a single meeting. A tradition at Village Gardens is to start all of our community meetings with a check-in question that everyone answers. Last week, our check-in question was "If you could be any kind of zoo poo, what kind would you be?" hehe. I love my job.