canning planning

Sheesh, I guess time has gotten away from me...

Not much new on the home front. I've been working on a sewing project that is finally completed and should be posted soon (completely for showing off :) ), with a thousand more sewing projects planned.  Able-Bodied Boy has already been mowing the lawn and planting seedlings. Looks like beans, peppers, swiss chard, carrots, and beets this year.

We have a list on the fridge of things we'd like to make/preserve this year. Many of these involve dozens of pounds of tomatoes, and yet we are not growing any ourselves until at least next year. Looks like the CSA and neighborhood farm stands will suffice. In any case, our list this year includes hot sauce (although we are not growing hot peppers), ketchup, salsas, strawberry-rhubarb preserves, drying mint, pepper jelly (thanks to my SIL's sister), canned tomatoes (if there are any left in the county after we make salsa and ketchup), and salsa zucchina. A tall order, but Able-Bodied Boy has PROMISED to help with canning this year. Especially for those items he is begging me for (most of them).

Over at Two Frog Home, I read a neat little post about her grandmother's cookbook (The Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, 1953) and the Food Preserver's Creed she found therein. She posted it and I'm hoping she doesn't mind that I share it with you here.

  
How beautiful is this? How amazing that we have all forgotten these simple principles? To feed our family year-round from the bounty that surrounds us? To take joy in the process, learning and developing the skills necessary to provide safe, nutritious foods?

I would love to be able to can/freeze/dry all the foods we would need for the year during the times in which they are in season, but I know I'm not quite ready for that. I think it was an old post from Sharon over at The Chatelaine's Keys (who has a wealth of knowledge!) that prompted me to starting thinking of food preservation for beginners. The suggestion was to take your top few meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and start there...

Dinners... We already freeze homemade lasagnas, although the ingredients therein are not always seasonal. We buy and freeze lamb seasonally. We freeze batches of cilantro pesto, not seasonally. We freeze some veggies. We put together a tomato/zucchini sauce base. We could/should probably do more for seasonal preservation of dinners, like tomato-based sauces, stored/grown root cellar vegetables,

Lunches/snacks/condiments.... We have (or will have) pickles, salsa, fruit spreads, frozen fruits. We freeze soups (some seasonal, some not). We eat a lot of frozen "burgers" (mostly veggie, salmon, or turkey) and most of those are store bought, but could be seasonally put together and frozen. We can make our own bread/rolls, but don't always. We could make our own mayo as needed, but don't (yet).

Breakfast... We now have the option of freezing blended eggs and greens as fritatta ingredients. We are stocked with smoked breakfast meat for a year. We do breads on occasion, including a wonderful English Muffin recipe (and homemade Hollandaise which IMO tasted like heaven - mostly because I made it from scratch perfectly on my first try). I know how to make homemade butter, buttermilk, and fresh cheeses.

I'm sure I'm missing a few ideas and/or pantry items we already have, but you get the idea. Start with what you eat, and see what you can do to do it for yourself. Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life is a wonderful book if you're at all interested in learning what it takes to do it full force (she and her family resolved to only eat what they could produce/obtain locally for one year).

I would love to be there, but I'm not. But what is life if not the striving for better...?


What are you striving for these days?

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl


  

csa & foodie updates

So, no photos of the haul from last week or this week. But plenty of other photo goodness (in as much as my photos are "good").

Last week, we got spring greens, escarole, carrots, cucumbers, kale, summer squash, celery, and flowers. I also picked chamomile and epazote.
This week, carrots, cucumber, beets, summer squash, green beans, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and cabbage.

Also, the chickens have upped their production... so we've been eating a lot of fresh, wholesome food :)

Notice how the egg yolks differ greatly in color and size? This particular week, Mac had been staying up late to chase beetles and lightening bugs, while Ginger went to bed early. Funny how the diet can affect the eggs so much, eh?

Homemade Flax Seed Bread, topped with Blueberry Butter, Sauteed Swiss Chard with Sausage spices, and Scrambled Eggs. Sorry, it was too good not to take a bite before photos :)

Stewed Escarole with Feta, topped with Poached Eggs. The only ingredients with unknown source are the olive oil and feta cheese.

The Ladies apparently want onto the deck for a nice dip in the hot tub. Chicken Stew, anyone?

Kale, Tomato, and Garlic Scape Frittata. The only ingredients with unknown source are the butter and mozzarella cheese.

We also managed to avert the first opportunity to buy chemical cleaners since Able-Bodied Boy's support of the Natural Cleaner Replacement Program (which I will start to detail at some point). I gawked at him in the store, but admitted I hadn't looked into any replacements yet. But he agreed to avoid the purchase, and researched that a vinegar-water solution would do the trick. Go Able-Bodied Boy! (I can take no credit, besides being a nag.)


I'm staying in the A/C, cooking up our yummy eats. How are you keeping cool this summer?

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl


PS. i'm getting really tired of eating eggs. might need to start baking. zucchini bread!!!

mid-week weigh in/check in

Well, I hopped on the scale this morning and I'm 9lbs down from where I started. So way to go me!

I've reduced my daily intake (to compensate for my woeful lack of cycling - due to rain and very occasional laziness and frequent time constraints) and have been watching my snacking. If I overeat, I fill my belly with ice cold water later when it claims to be hungry.

In short, I've been good about eating :)

What I have not been good about it posting. I have a lot of excuses for you... but you deserve better than that. I'm trying not to judge myself against other bloggers that give you something to chomp on nearly daily. But I've gotten such wonderful positive feedback from so many people that I feel encouraged to write again. "Again", meaning all those years I didn't write, or if I did it was whiney or personal or ranting and I didn't think about my audience, my purpose. You know, all those things an English major is trained to consider....

I have to remind myself that winter was a time of darkness, inner reflection, huddled against the warmth of hearth and home. Boring, basically. There's time to write. Time to plan. Time to share.

Spring? Not so much.

Summer? I hate the heat and Able-Bodied Boy has tons of travel. So I'll be home with dear sweet (when she's not attacking our friends... oh rescue woes) Bella , tending crops, processing foods, and writing more about all that. Plus chickens. Don't forget the chickens!

In the meantime, I'm eyeballing my Clean Hippie page for a new project (and feel free to comment there with list suggestions!)...

What do you want me to try next? Homemade deodorant? Replacing paper towels with cloth? Labeling current chemical cleaners with their future replacement (mixes of baking soda, vinegar, etc)? Or re-designing this damn blogger page :)?

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl


  

laundry hang-ups

One of the first big steps I took in greener/sustainable living was to stop using the clothes dryer.

Back in 2008, as many of you know, I was living in New Zealand for a few months, decompressing. (Or balancing home-sickness with absolute love for the kiwis, whichever you like.) I was living a fairly nomadic existence for the first few weeks, and had to keep my baggage light, so I only had about one week's worth of clothes with me. Which means lots of febreeze and/or a weekly load of wash, with no time to wait for drying.

I found this to be particularly difficult to accomplish because nearly every place I stayed had no clothes dryer. I was staying with other 20-something kiwis, mooching couch/futon/floor space while looking for an opening in a flat. But no one had dryers. And the people that did, didn't use them.

WTH? For most people, this is a necessity! How did they survive??? Well gosh, they hung their clothes to dry. On racks and outdoor clothes lines. Wellington can get very very damp, and the clothes might not dry for several days. But this was just the way it was. You planned for it and moved on with your life. As I spoke with friends and flat-mates about it, they talked about the wear the dryer put on clothes, not to mention the expense of getting one and the energy costs to run it.

Now, I admit that I did not hang my clothes to dry while I was there. As I said, I didn't have a ton of clothes with me (or extra money to buy more, or to buy a rack of my own), and only one set of sheets and pjs. So quick laundry was a must, and I was lucky enough to be in a "modern" apartment with an in-frequently used dryer.

Once I got home, I really wanted to go without. To save the energy, to save wear and tear on my clothes, and to show myself that I don't have to be as reliant on modern, energy consuming technology. Able-Bodied Boy was immediately on board, and here's how we make it work...

Get a rack (or two)
Our first rack sucked, but I finally found what I wanted at Ikea - no assembly required (boo!).  It folds up nicely to be out of the way when it's not being used, but opens up to hang a couple dozen items up top and plenty of room for socks and undies below. We use the not-so-great one for spillover or draping sheets & duvet covers.
The other option is to start an outdoor line for the nice-weather months. We opted not to, do to having enough space to stay indoors year-round (see below), but I/we would have absolutely no problem setting up an outdoor line if life necessitated it.

Find the space
Depending how often you'll do a load, you may need a semi-permanent spot to keep a rotation of drying going on. We are lucky enough to have a spare room where we can leave it set up all the time. Which we don't need to do, but we get lazy and/or out-of-sight-out-of-mind and leave dry laundry hanging until we're ready for the clothes, the room, or the drying space.
To maximize our space, I have started hanging wet clothes back up on their hangers and lining them up in doorways (also gives your house a fun fort-like feel when you have to stoop to get in a room under the wet clothes :)  This probably isn't the best option for fabrics that will stretch out from their own wet weight, but it's another option nevertheless.

Change your schedule
Most people I know do laundry in batches, every week or so. They'll do 2-4 loads at a time and get it all out of the way. By hang-drying, you'll end up spreading that out more. You'll want at least a day for drying, so plan on no more than a load every other day. It'll be hard at first since your clothing rotation has been everything-at-once, but once you get in that rotation, you'll find that you'll have enough darks for a dark load, then your whites will have plenty, then delicates, etc.
For us, we have enough space in that room to keep sorted laundry piles. Every few days, we'll sort our in-bedroom dirty clothes into the laundry room piles. Once a pile is big (or contains some must-have) we'll throw it in the wash and then hang it up. Sometimes we have the time to do a load every few days and keep up with the folding/putting-away; sometimes the laundry gets backed up and I'll do a massive push of all the laundry over just a couple of days, maximizing all hangers and racks and the dryer (yeah yeah yeah, keep reading below about that).
This might be a blessing in disguise. If you really don't like laundry days and would rather spread out the burden, this is perfect for you! One day you'll throw a load in the wash, then hang them up an hour later. A couple of days later, pull those down, rinse, repeat.

Don't sweat the jean and towels
I first thought I could militantly transition to no dryer. NO MORE, I said. But then I put on my first no-dryer pair of jeans after toweling off with a no-dryer towel. Yeah, I'm having none of that crap. For the most part, jeans and towels end up in one load of wash (or two washes in the same day) and those items get dried in the dryer. If we hang-dry the jeans, it's not too bad - they're just a little stiff. But scratchy towels are terrible. So in the dryer they go.
I don't sweat this. 80-90% of our loads are done dryer-free. And can only think of one occasion when there was an item I needed immediately and used the dryer. The only other uses I have for the dryer are drying pillows when I wash them on occasion, and warming up a blanket on really really cold nights.
I'm really happy with this decision. It's the new normal, and I can't imagine going back to the old rotation of washer-dryer.

Have you used an outdoor line or indoor rack before? If so, are you still using it now?

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl


  

green - growing - life - living

I heard someone say once that plants make a home feel lived-in and loving. That, in order for the plants to be there at all, there must be someone present to nurture them. I've never looked at a household the same since then.

Can't you just feel the difference??

What grows in our home?

• 1 syngonium on the butcher cart in the kitchen. Very happy. In a beautiful mosaic pot, given to me by Able-Bodied Boy.
• 1 aloe plant on the window sill in the kitchen. Looking worse for the good wear of use, but happy. I'm hoping I can convince the old girl to sprout some new babies this year.
• 1 philodendron (I believe) on a shelf in the master bathroom window. Currently unhappy. My first attempt at a water-only growth, and I'm thinking it might be time to find a pretty pot with some good soil. It's a south-facing window, with a thin white curtain blocking direct sunlight, so I think that's a good thing.
• 6 baby spider plants in the upstairs spare room, south-facing window. Looking meh. Pretty soon I'll transplant these into a couple pots for throughout the house. Hoping for more life that is hearty (ie, I can't easily kill it)
• Countless baby worms and soon-to-hatch eggs. I just made another bed in the vermicomposter and pulled out the semi-mature compost, and found them while transferring everything around. While some of the eggs and young worms made it into the fresh bed, I'm sure plenty are going into the garden soon. Which will make for a very happy garden!

I think that's it. Not really the extensive list I'd like to have. We've tried other plants and they've all managed to die. Our living room is north-facing, with a covered porch over the front windows, two skylights for ambient light, and no florescent normally in use. Not the best of lighting situations, and I have yet to find anything that stays happy for very long. Of course, it's probably me :)
I'm hoping the spider plants are an exception! I want them hanging off the tops of bookshelves and on end tables and on the top of the hutch-style desk and in guest rooms and everywhere making everything look alive.

Of course, that means remembering to water plants that are out-of-sight-out-of-mind.

 Spider plants in the living room. Baby steps.

What grows in your home? What have you had great success with in low lighting?

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl


ps. have you signed up for email updates yet?

mattress purchase update: the east coast organic mattress company

This has been a sustainable homesteading weekend, for sure. Yesterday we attended a class on backyard chicken operations, in preparation for the long-discussed egg layers we want. (More on that later!) The class was an hour from home, and I figured since we were already so far from home, we might as well detour another hour to one of the only eco-friendly mattress stores in our region, The East Coast Organic Mattress Company.

Now, it must be said that we got a little bit of flack for this. We were called hippies by one friend, and got blank stares from others. Able-Bodied Boy got the obligatory pats on the back in sympathy. "Seriously?!!?! Organic mattresses? Dude, have fun with that."

Really people? I honestly don't understand how this can be so weird. You opt to buy the organic veggies in the market sometimes, right? The organic dairy products? And they aren't all that different from their regular counterparts; they don't taste extraordinarily different, or have different textures. They are a little more expensive, but are conveniently located next to their counterparts, and sometimes you decide it's worth it. You might even drive over to the natural foods store to buy more products like it.

It's the same with mattresses, I suppose. The end result is that you get a bed that is comfortable, feels the best for your body type and sleep patterns. You might pay a bit more, but you have decided it's worth it.

That being said, to be honest, I think Able-Bodied Boy and I were both a little skeptical about going to a store specializing in organic mattresses. I mean, what makes a mattress organic, and can the types of materials they use compare to standard materials, and what about the durability, or the variation in firmness? I had hopes that they would be worthy of the long trip, but felt a bit of everyone else's skepticism. What if it was all just lumpy organic-wool futon pads on top of sustainably-forested wood, sold by rabid hippies that smelled vaguely of patchouli? Eeee gads!

We were oh-so-pleasantly surprised! Leona, the owner, patiently led us to each bed, explained the materials, the density of the mattresses, waited for us to comment and ask questions, and even brought me a selection of organic pillows when I mentioned noticing they had quite a variety on all their beds. Anecdotally, they sounded very durable and worthy of consideration.

And the beds, oh they were so comfortable! Some were soft and quilty, some were very very firm. They had toppers and pads and multiple layers of different densities and they could even make each side different if you had two different sleep needs. They had foam mattresses and spring mattresses and a variety of foundations to match each mattress. Each mattress used a different combination of materials, but all organic (or we-can't-afford-the-certification-but-really-are-quite organic) and/or sustainably-sourced.

I won't detail all of their materials, how they are sourced, how they are made and put together, or even which ones we liked. A mattress purchase is personal, and I'm sure you'll learn everything you want/need to when it comes time.

photo from the East Coast Organic Mattress Store website

But I have to say I was really extraordinarily impressed with the East Coast Organic Mattress Store, and Leona. No stinky mattress fumes, and no patchouli :) We will definitely be considering our favorites from their store as we continue our search and decide which sort of mattress is best for us.


Have you ever gotten those skeptical looks before when you decide to try something a little outside the box? Was it worth it?

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl


  

i wanna be an urban homesteader!

It's Urban Homesteaders Blog like a Pirate Day!! If you haven't heard about this issue, read Crunchy Chicken's post (and the comments, which tell more of the story) about the Dervaes family trademarking the widely-used term Urban Homesteading. I am constantly reading the blogs of urban homesteaders and I am in awe of all they do. In honor of the day and in taking up the issue with my heroes, I'm reposting my i wanna be a farmer post with some Urban Homesteading changes/twists!

Do you have one of those completely unrealistic visions for yourself? A dream beyond dreams that seems so easy and yet completely unattainable?

I want to be an Urban Homesteader. Hiding the smell of manure, sweating in the garden, finding attractive rain barrels, worrying about city regulations while trying to raise chickens, fighting with the neighbors, making due. Oh it's all so romantic in my mind.

I read about it. Daily. A myriad of bloggers. I regularly read gardening and farming and urban homesteading books. I research composting and starting seeds and naturally taking care of pests and plant diseases and how-tos for everything under the farmers sun and moon. And all I've concluded is that I need some hands-on instruction. Live-in instruction, really, over the course of many many seasons. And a lot more time.

I think I could live very happily on an Urban Homestead, in the midst of all the culture and excitement of a city while coming home to fresh eggs and garden. Ha! Not at all realistic, but that's what dreams are for, eh?

I read Chile Chews and Casaubon's Book and Adventures in Urban Sustainability and APLS and arduous blog and Cage Free Family and Community for a Sustainable Future and Contemplating Change and Living the Frugal Life and The Green Phone Booth and Throwback at Trapper Creek and Tiny Choices and Towards Sustainability and Two Frog Home and so many other blogs that inspire me to want to do all these things, and show me that it is indeed possible.

Maybe one day, slowly but surely, I'll find a happy medium between my black thumb in the rural farmland and the vibrancy of a rural life surrounded by city life. But the progress is so slow, if at all, that I think this might just have to stay in the 'dream' category.

Are you an Urban Homesteader?

Much Love,

Able-Bodied Girl

  

i wanna be a farmer!

Do you have one of those completely unrealistic visions for yourself? A dream beyond dreams that seems so easy and yet completely unattainable?

I want to be a farmer. Up to my elbows in manure, sweating in the garden, birthing goats, worrying about the weather, raising chickens, cutting wood in the winter, making due. Oh it's all so romantic in my mind.

I read about it. Daily. A myriad of bloggers. I regularly read gardening and farming and homesteading books. I research composting and starting seeds and naturally taking care of pests and plant diseases and how-tos for everything under the farmers sun and moon. And all I've concluded is that I need some hands-on instruction. Live-in instruction, really, over the course of many many seasons. And a lot more time.

I think I could have lived very happily as a farmer's wife, birthing babies and feeding goats and slaughtering the lambs. Ha! Not at all realistic, but that's what dreams are for, eh?

I was very amused with Sharon Astyk's blog post the other day on Casaubon's Book, where she described "realistic farm tours". I was all ready to take her seriously, and she only amused me with her irony and sarcasm. And made me fall in love with the idea even more. *sigh* But I want to take these classes!!

"Pick a buttload of little tiny things." You've always dreamed of being a farmer, right. Now you can enjoy the real experience - picking a whole lot of little annoying things for 9 hours in the sun. No matter what the season from early spring (dandelion blossoms for wine) to late spring (chamomile blossoms) to high summer (currants) to late summer (beans) to autumn (every last damned cherry tomato), there is always something small that needs to be picked, and picked some more. Learn new curse words to describe the idiot who planted these things and thought it would be a great idea to sell them! Bonus activity - wash an endless number of eggs that birds pooped on!

I think it might be the learning experience, the sum of so many intricate parts that all fit together to make that sort of life work, as it has for thousands of year. The rotation of crops and of the animals in the fields and the manure into compost. Sharon, in her other blog The Chatelaine's Keys, reposted something she had written before about the diversity and interconnectedness of the animals on her farm. It intrigues me, not only that everything can be so tied together to those animal's habits, but also that there is such a body of knowledge that I have no concept of. I just amazes me.

I do have a friend, Barnhenge Momma, who lives about as close to my dream as I think I could ever acheive. I'm hoping one of these days she'll grace us with a post about her homesteading life. All the canning and pickling and growing and life at her home makes my soul come alive, and gives her this wonderful mother-earth glow.

Maybe one day, slowly but surely, I'll find a happy medium between my black thumb of plant death and the vibrancy of a life surrounded by life. But the progress is so slow, if at all, that I think this might just have to stay in the 'dream' category.


What are your dreams? Do you have any hope of achieving them?


Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl


  

compromise and eco-comfort

I mentioned earlier that Able-Bodied Boyfriend and I were in the process of looking for a new mattress.

When he first brought it up, my mind immediately went to all the "bad" things I've heard about mattresses. Unsustainable, rainforest-killing latex procurement; the use and off-gassing of petrochemicals; toxic fire retardants; concerns about the effects of these materials being put into landfills. I expressed these concerns.

Of course, I have a terrible memory for details, so I expressed these concerns poorly. Very, very poorly. "Ewwww, a regular mattress? They're, ummm, bad. They can give you cancer!! Can we get an eco-mattress? They're better! Because they're, um, green."

Funny enough, a couple days later, arduous blog posted about trying to find a green mattress in their area. I took it as a sign; if I can actually get my act together, we should try to find one of our own.


Now, Able-Bodied Boyfriend and I are mostly, well, complete opposites. We handle things and make decisions in different ways, and not always in ways that are complementary. You have to choose your battles, so we mostly end up doing the divide & conquer thing or at least let one person take the lead on any given project.

He's a researcher. He can sit for hours on end, browsing and reading everything on a given product or topic. After sitting all day at work in front of computer, I'm more of a skim-a-few-of-the-most-popular-articles sort of person. And since the mattress was his idea, he has definitely taken the lead on researching and figuring out what we need to do in order to make this decision.

He wants something comfortable and durable/long-lasting. I want something eco-friendly, or at least not overtly eco-unfriendly. I did a bit of research on the main points of concern (material sources, chemicals used, how easily they break down/off-gas, and if the main materials used will decompose easily and without toxicity), and asked Able-Bodied Boyfriend to add that to his research. We're also looking for mattress recycling programs, both through the manufacturers and other organizations.

It was a bit of a struggle at first. He was concerned about comfort and durability, and even availability. I did some research and found some eco-friendly mattress stores in the region that are less than 2 hours away, which we plan to go to for some additional mattress-testing. Every time we spoke, he had done more research and seemed more open to them, but less optimistic that we'd be able to find one that was comfortable and durable. So we'll see...


My main fear, though, is just being ok with a regular old toxic mattress. Because I always have been ok with them, and because it's easy to let things like that into your life and never think about it again. Sure, the first few stinky weeks would bother me, but annoyances fade and you get used to the smell and feel of the purchase and it becomes another thing faded into the background of your life.

That's not to say that I would be in green heaven all the time if it were a greener mattress - ok, maybe the first few weeks I'd grin from ear-to-ear every night, nudging Able-Bodied Boyfriend with a "hey, this make me feel good about our part in this world" - but after a while, it would become normalized.

Question is, which will it be? A normal life of the toxins we let in? Or a normal life of eco-logical/-nomical decisions?

I'll keep you posted.

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl


 

how to have an un-green day

After writing yesterday's post (several days ago, mind you), I found myself feeling a bit defeated by life. Might have just been a mood, or some other personal things weighing me down, but sustainability suddenly felt more like a burden and a curse than a positive lifestyle to strive for.

My composting worms (aka, the wormies) got overwhelmed with Thanksgiving goodies, so I don't really give them anything these days, since they are thriving with what they have and we don't have the space to expand too much further. Before real composting occurred we used to just throw the food waste into the brush at the edge of the property...

So, I felt pretty defeated with every onion peel I casually tossed into the trash.

Rather than walking the extra 10 feet to grab a rag, I used paper towels to clean up every little mess in the kitchen. We don't compost these either, so into the trash they went...

Grocery purchases had HFCS or unpronounceable ingredients, things I normally check for and make consideration of before going to the check-out. We didn't even think to bring our reusable canvas bags. I wasn't bothered by it when I forgot to wash my non-organic vegetables. Lately, we've been turning up the heat because I've been cold.

Able-Bodied Boyfriend is talking about buying a new mattress set for us soon. I'm concerned about the materials used to make mattresses, and tried showing him some information.  He's willing to entertain "eco-friendly" mattresses, but only if they're of good, lasting quality; this definition did not make organic or sustainably-produced products seem like a viable option for him. I'd sacrifice the durability for peace-of-mind, but this is not my decision alone. I nearly cried when we walked into the local mattress store, choking on the smell of the chemicals, feeling defeated again. If I can't express my views in a way that inspires him, how will I in any way show you that there are options worth considering? (There will definitely be more on the mattress purchase later...)

Time after time this weekend, I found myself wasting something that was preventable, not making those simple every-day choices that I have been able to make in the past. For one day I totally failed, and felt every failure as a scar on my not-earth-friendly-enough soul. Yes, yes, I'm being dramatic. Even Able-Bodied Boyfriend noticed and took his lunch in another room. But this isn't the person I want to be, dammit!  I want to care and put forth the effort 24/7!

Maybe I need days like this to remind me how far I've come, and how far yet I have to go. Reminders of all the little choices that are becoming normal, that for one day were punted back in time to the days when I didn't care how much crap went to the landfill or what I put in/on my body. Reminders that I'm not perfect, and that not making these choices doesn't make me or anyone else imperfect or evil or a pawn of the establishment or some nonsense.

I'm also reminded of all the things I do now, that I don't even think about anymore.  That I couldn't possibly not do because they're completely normal to me now. These are the things that are comforting on days like this.

Choices. They are what make us. Choose based on your priorities, on your needs, and on your vision of you and the life you want to lead. And every once in a while, it's ok to have an opposite day to remind yourself why you liked those decisions in the first place :)

Do you have bad days that turn out to be reminders of all that is good?

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl

life amongst the pastures

We live rural, with all the curses and all the blessings. I have struggled with accepting our distance from "civilization", but have been adapting, and finding that the distance at times can encourage my self-sustaining vision of life.

Able-Bodied Mom & Dad live atop a rural country mountain now, in their retirement, with the self-reliance needed when 4-inches of snow and wind can create house-bound conditions (what a lovely holiday it was last month!). Dad mentioned that he suspects a bit of Amish in our blood, and I too feel the pull towards a simpler way of life. Growing raising sowing nurturing cycling through the seasons. Staying home to care for plants and animals and others and self.

But this just isn't feasible or practical at this point in our lives. I feel defeated saying that, but it is what it is, and we do try to add little bits of the earth back into our concrete lives.

These are the little things, the small choices, the habits we form when we can; the things that make us feel more connected to the earth, to our food, to our friends family and neighbors, and to each other.

Using our own two hands, we do what we can. Making foods from scratch, growing our favorite foods, keeping more out of the landfills, being conscious of the impact of our purchases - from the origin of source material to the disposal of the item.

I want to tell you all about these things: not about the choices we make, but the journey into those decisions.

What sparked me to stop using a clothes dryer, and how have we managed to keep up with that habit? Will we ever give up paper-towels for reusable cloth? Will we ever be able to make satisfying compost? How will our first CSA experience be this year? Will I ever convert our household to more natural cleaning products? Will we ever overcome the cold weather to trim back the old blackberry growth; will I ever overcome my "ugh" of the heat and truly commit to our vegetable garden? Can I be a No-Poo sort of girl? What new sorts of things can I put-up (canning)? When there is furniture to be bought, repairs to be made, vacations to be had, what sort of new information and consciousness can I bring to those activities to make them environmentally- and pocket-friendly? What about those chickens we keep talking about? Can I really make my own clothes? Will I ever find my green thumb (cuz even the houseplants cry when Able-Bodied Boyfriend leave town)?

These are the little things that make me feel like life is sustainable, that we use less, need less, and ask less of the world. They aren't for everyone and aren't intended to be. But maybe we can discuss the consideration, the process, and the information that leads to choice and change.

I want to ask: how does me, being me, affect the world?
How do you affect the world?

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl


 

w/mo2h #1: down and dirty on the driveway

So, a few weeks ago I decided to attempt something that I had never done completely 100% solo.  Able-Bodied Boyfriend was away and virtually incommunicado, but it had come time to do the deed and we had a break from the freezing temperatures.

I changed my car's oil, with no help (save the inter-webs).

Now, this is not entirely new to me.  Around the time I was acquiring a drivers license, Able-Bodied Father insisted on teaching me many things; among them, how to drive a stick shift, how to change a tire, and how to change my oil.  But oil changes are not always easy on every car, so I dutifully went to the local lube shop every... ummm... whenever I remembered...

My newest car, as we have discovered, is super easy to deal with.  The oil pan plug and the oil filter are very accessible, so it's just a matter of getting them off and back on again.  So for the last two years, all but one oil change have been done in the driveway of our house.

And for all but the latest oil change, I needed help; the oil plug was just too tight for me.  Normally, I would give up and ask Able-Bodied Boyfriend (who is most likely hovering nearby anyway) after just a few tugs.

But this time I figured that if I couldn't get past that first step, I wouldn't really be in a pinch.  I would just be sad that I couldn't do it myself.

So I dove under my car on a warm, rainy morning.  Discovered a new direction from which I could easily leverage the wrench to get the plug off, and I was just fine!  I used the inter-webs a couple of times when I hit minor insecure moments of "oh shit, do I really know what I'm doing?!?" but came through unscathed and with a happy car.

Why would I do this when I could have someone else do it?

First, it's cheaper!  I spent $4 for a filter and by shopping the sales, I can generally get 5qts of synthetic oil for $25 or less.  After having my used synthetic oil tested by Blackstone Labs, I was told I can use it for 13,000 miles between changes.  I can spend less than an hour getting happy-dirty-sweaty twice a year, rather than get overcharged for synthetic oil, or sit in the smelly waiting rooms four or more times a year.

Second reason I do it?  I CAN.  Do you know how many times I've purchased my oil and filter from the auto parts store down the street and have gotten odd looks and offhand comments?  Yeah, this Bud's for you.  I can also change a flat, replace my air filter, clean my battery, check and replace all my other fluids, and drive and/or roll-start a manual transmission.  Go me.

Ok, that sounds like I'm doing it for some feminist reason.  It's not that.  It's knowing that I have some basic understanding of this thing I bought, I'm still paying for, I'm using, that's pretty much worth more than everything else I own.  Both in terms of monetary value and intrinsic value (getting to/from work, my first new car, etc).  It's mine, so I really feel much better having some understanding of it's functions and maintenance.

A colleague mentioned a recent survey just prior to this oil change, and I managed to find some trace of it at this link.  No supporting/source information included, but just thinking of it made me smile as I lay on a piece of cardboard with grease on my hands...  "Women say having THIS makes them feel independent..."   Tools.  Rock on.


Have you ever changed your oil?  Changed a tire?  Any other car repairs?  If you haven't, what is keeping you from doing so?


Here's my challenge to you.  When I do this again in late spring or early summer, you should join me.  Bring your car over and we can take a look at it to see how feasible it would be for you to change your own oil.  Some cars are indeed a pain in the ass, some are better.  You can watch/help as I do mine.  And hell, maybe we'll run to the shop, grab some oil and a filter, and do yours too... who's in?!?!

Much love,
Able-Bodied Girl