Ways to Minimize Trash

We have our kitchen trash bag use down to once per week, due in no small part to the variety of items that can be recycled in our area. But less trash is better than recycled trash so I have been finding ways to minimize overall.

Food packaging is the biggest category of trash in many families, mine included. The more prepared, processed food I buy, the more trash I produce. Pretty simple. Almost all the cooking I do is from scratch , so to speak. After taking a look at my "from scratch" I decided to see what ingredients I commonly purchased that would be simple for me to prepare myself, thus saving on packaging. (Is it really THAT obvious I don't have a job and thus have plenty of time for these ruminations?)

All the summergarden canned items will have to wait for a few months. But what about things like croutons, bread crumbs, granola cereal, pasta, ice cream, dried fruit, cookies, frozen pretzels dough, all varieties of canned beans, salsa, yoghurt, soft cheese, sour cream...... ad infinitum. So many, so little time. Many of these aforementioned items are things that were not even available for purchase at a grocers two generations ago or less. Self sufficiency in the kitchen is almost a lost art, you might say. I've been working on this quite diligently of late. I will blog about the results at some later point but for now I am just having fun with it and spending an awful lot of time in my kitchen.

.....................days later................................

I was going to write about how bloody cold it has been since our return from Idaho and about the trials and tribulations of keepings one's feet warm while riding a bike with a wind chill factor of minus 10. But I waited too long and now it is in the low 60s and I have almost forget the pain; so whats the point? I complain bitterly about missing out on all the fantastic, fluffy, snow-white bounty going on in I-dee-ho but running in shirt-sleeves in January ain't so bad either. I am one of those grass is always greener gals. Can you tell? It's one of my many character defects. My husband will tell you all about it.

PETA: Big Hearts with Urban Perspective

After some thought and an evening of inspecting its website , I changed my original title accusing PETA of being small minded: PETA: Big hearts, small minds. This is unfair. But I would be willing to bet that a vast majority of its card carrying members have yet to step foot in actual cow manure, let alone spend time on a real farm. Petting farms don't count.

I was sent a link for a video clip entitled "Meet your Meat" that was produced by the good but sometimes misguided folks at PETA. I can't find the link again but I went to their website and found the video clip. http://www.peta.org/ It is alarming to watch, to say the least. Their message is, of course "Don't eat meat. It is immoral." I just don't buy it.

I love animals. I grew up on a small dairy goat farm in north east Ohio. I am more inclined to put my favorite, old, beloved pet down rather than pay for hip replacement surgery or some other such absurdity. It is my humble opinion that the farm animal's purpose on earth is for farmy sorts of objectives: food and work.

Big agriculture has bastardized this concept in the name of profit. Thus the animals in this video suffer unspeakable and unimaginable cruelty. Animals raised using sustainable farming practices lead peaceful, happy lives and then they die. It is NOT a subtle difference.

On our continuing journey to live lives that require only one earth to sustain us (refer to previous article entitled On a Quest http://idahodirtbagtravel.blogspot.com/2007/10/on-quest.html ) we have changed our eating habits and food-shopping habits considerably. In particular we have decided to only purchase meat and dairy that is not raised in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) and limit our meat consumption to twice per week. When we are back in Idaho I am hoping to convince a couple of families to split a locally raised cow and pig with us. This will save on the exorbitant price per pound that is charged at grocers for this type of meat.

Cooking without meat takes a little more time and forethought for me. It is just so quick and easy to whip up a steak, hamburger or chicken breast. It is easy to replace a lot of meat-based recipes with cheese-based recipes but that sort of defeats the purpose, eh? Here is a sample of last week's menu. In each recipe that calls for cheese I use about 1/3 of amount called for and increase the veg items. All dinners include something from my mad, new bread-making skills since meals without meat just aren't as satiating.

Margherita Pizza and salad
Quiche Lorraine (using prosciutto) and Goat cz/tomato quiche, salad
Mexican Migas (egg dish) with beans and rice, tomato and avocado salad
Lentils and sesame sauteed vegetables
Whole wheat pasta with vegetables and organic chicken and mushroom sausage, salad
Black eye pea and collard greens soup, salad
Huevos Rancheros, garbanzo bean salad and a sweet, whole wheat walnut bread(a yeast bread)......this is tonight and so I have no idea how this new bread will turn out.

All of these were quick meals except the quiche, which required extra time for the crust.

Milestones

#1 I hit 2,000 miles of bicycle commuting in St Louis on my odometer earlier this week. It is fitting that this occurred on the same day that Owen and I nearly got hit (once again) by an inattentive driver. I slammed on my brakes and Owen ran into the back of me and fell over in the road.

Fact: "No Turn on Red" stoplights create a dangerous situation at pedestrian crossings.

Why? Think like a driver: You are at a red light, in a hurry (that goes without saying actually), and there is no reason you should not be able to turn right on red at this intersection (according to your pea-brain) because a hundred opportunities to safely do so have presented themselves so far. "When is this stupid light going to turn green?", you say to yourself.

Unfortunately for anyone not encased in metal who is trying to cross same said intersection, the much anticipated moment of green light relief coincides with the flashing pedestrian-crossing- permitted sign. Near-disaster ensues in many instances.

Now I must be perfectly honest. I have become quite adept at recognizing the blank, empty look of non-recognition that is present on 80% of motorists I come across. By the way, that is a generous estimate. I am feeling charitable. I definitely recognized that look in aforementioned case. I warned Owen to stay directly behind me. I slammed on the brakes with much drama well out of the way of the turning motorist. But I scared the hell out of him and I was glad for it. Passive aggressive? Maybe a little.

#2 Warm, delicious, loafy perfection. I have been baking a loaf of bread every other day or so for the past 2 months on a quest to attain the perfect loaf of bread. It had eluded me thus far. Yesterday was my day. Uniform carmel color, crisp yet flaky crust, slightly chewy inside and aesthetically, it could easily have graced the cover of any cookbook and I would not have blushed. Ahhh yes, life's little pleasures.

Been a While

I am always writing posts in my head as I obsess on various issues. Sometimes they have a negative or sarcastic quality as I look around me and get frustrated, depressed, annoyed and/or angry at the political, economic and social culture here in the good 'ole US of A. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the beauty and goodness of life and my mental musings reflect this outlook. Currently I am neutral. For the moment.


I missed writing for the entire month of December. I meant to write about the awesome trail race I did at Pere Marquette State Park and about my realization that there is a hole in my psyche that is the result of not running...which is a result of the stand I have taken on not driving unless truly necessary. So I am running again, but not on trails. Boo hoo.

Much of December was spent at home in Idaho Falls. It is a veritable bastion of progressiveness these days. I jest, of course. But progress is being made. Of late there is a Drinking Liberally chapter, the first ever Peace Rally/War Protest, food co-op in the works, Community Pathways Organization(pedestrian advocacy) and a decent selection of organic food at Fred Myers. These offerings are in stark contrast to what was available in 2003, when we arrived in the state. Warms the cockles of my heart.

I just finished Edward Abbey's The Fools Progress. In it his main character makes his way back home to West Virginia to die and on his way passes through the heart of Missouri. He are some of his impressions (written in 1980):

"We roll through the towns, the franchise strips, the Sonic Happy Eating and Radio Shacks and Pizza Huts and Serve-Ur-Self Gas and Good Will Pre-used Cars and the candidly usurious glass-boxy banks with no pretense at anything but money. As usual the most stately dignified house in town has become the "Funeral Home."....Everything that is beautiful decays from neglect; the cheap, false, synthetic transitory structures inspired by greed spread along the highways like mustard weed, like poisin ivy, like the creeping kudzu vine. The vampires of real estate, the leeches of finance, the tapeworms of profit, have fastened themselves to the body of my nation like a host from Hell. No wonder the land, the towns and villages, the old homes and farms and so many of the people wear the worn-out used-up blood-sucked bled-white look. Ill fairs the land. The aliens are here. The body snatchers have arrived."

And this refers to twenty five plus years ago. He should see it today.