Adventures in Eco-Living

Adventures in Worm Composting

After weeks spent researching and years spent pondering, I have finally decided to do worm composting. This past summer we had a regular composting bin going, but now that our land is covered in over a foot of snow, I had to come up with an alternative solution for our food scraps. I remembered my grandpa used to have a bin full of worms in his basement which he gingerly took care of (although my grandma was repulsed by them).  At the time I was half grossed out, half fascinated. Twenty years later, I'm thinking he was on to something.

One of the coolest worm composting sites I've found on the internet is called Red Worm Composting. Here I learned a few important facts about worm composting that anyone just getting started needs to know:

• Worm composting is known as vermicomposting.
• Contrary to regular composting, vermicomposting can be done just about anywhere, including indoors, in tiny apartments, and in other urban situations that otherwise are not suitable for composting.
• You cannot use regular old earthworms for composting. They are burrowing, solitary worms and will die if put into a composting bin with a bunch of other earthworms.
• The most common worm to use in vermicomposting is the red worm (Eisenia fetida), but, much to my delight, you can also use its larger cousin, Eisenia hortensis, also known as the European Night Crawler, which is a very popular bait worm. Luckily for me, in my tiny rural town, we have 3 stores: a grocery store, a local diner that reads "Good Food" on its sign, and Conroy's Bait Shop. My worm experiment will begin this weekend with worms from Conroy's (assuming they are still open in winter, which I am assuming they are, since ice fishing is one of the few winter pastimes around here).
• The two Eisenia worms congregate in the surface layers of decomposing material.  Therefore it is common to find them in manure piles on farms. They live on the microorganisms that are decomposing organic debris, not on the organic debris itself.
• A standard Rubbermaid storage bin (the opaque kind) will work as the worm bin. I used an old bin I had in my basement that is about 5 gallons. We drilled 3/8" holes around the rim and into the lid, at about 2" intervals (I am a little worried that the worms may try to crawl out, but I will just have to wait and see).
• The bottom layer of the bin should be a couple of inches of shredded cardboard, egg cartons (the cardboard kind, of course), newspaper, and paper towels. This shredded paper should be soaked in water, squeezed out so it is just barely damp, and added to the bottom of the bin.
• Food scraps, including vegetables, fruits, coffee, and tea  can be collected and mixed with some shredded material, then added to the bin.  It is apparently a good idea to let the scraps sit around for a week to let microorganism activity begin (this is the stage I am currently at). I've also read at various sites that a layer of damp shredded paper can be used to just barely cover the food scraps. Things that should NOT be added include meat, dairy, oil, and starchy foods.

I am currently at the end of my week of gathering food scraps. I have created a layer of damp, shredded paper and added small amounts of food scraps each day. So far, this has all been extremely easy and totally free (by using an old bin that I no longer needed for storage). Tomorrow I'm off to Conroy's to see if they have night crawlers. I'll be back to add updates on my adventures in vermicomposting......

 

Persnickety Persimmons

I have a secret love affair with persimmons. As autumn evenings slowly chill down and turn into cold wintry nights, I start scouring the stores for persimmons. Their sweet, nutty, gooey fruit is like nothing I've ever had before. I first tried them in Japan (where they are known as kaki), and have been hooked ever since. They are soft and slimy when fully ripe, like a mango almost, and remind me a bit of the flavor of walnuts, only sweeter and, of course, juicier. They are super-healthy, and they are sadly only available for a handful of short weeks in early winter. I wait all year for persimmon season to arrive (it's almost more exciting than Christmas, seriously).

It was certainly easier to find persimmons in Chicago, where we had dozens of stores within a reasonable driving distance to choose from. But not so here, in rural Michigan, where I can't even get a zucchini at the grocery store in town if it's not summer. And even when I finally did find them (at Walmart of all places), I still got funny looks and a "What on earth is this?" from the cashiers when I went through the checkout line.

Until recently, I thought there was only one kind of persimmon, and this is a mistake that you DO NOT want to make yourself. Because one kind of persimmon is a heavenly treat, and the other can make you think you have been poisoned and are going to die a slow and painful death. And of course, I had to learn the hard way...

See, I went back to my local source (Walmart, unfortunately) last week, all excited to pick up some more persimmons before the season ends. This time, though, there were two different kinds, fuyu, which I usually eat, and hachiya, which was more acorn-shaped than the regular fuyu, and on this particular day, looked much plumper and fresher than my regular kind, though I had never even heard of the hachiya until then.

I was actually excited to get the hachiya (foolish me) persimmons, because they looked so plump, and promptly set them out on the counter to ripen (or blet, as it's apparently called). I checked them every day, and when I woke up this morning I discovered that one had finally gone slightly soft, like how I like them. I cut it up into pieces, with the skin still on, to eat them like orange slices. I picked the biggest, juiciest slice I could find and well, basically, just shoved the whole thing in my mouth. There was a split second during which my brain was trying to tell me something was wrong, but I had waited so long for this moment that I actually convinced myself that it was fine, it was great, in fact, because this, after all, was a persimmon, and I love persimmons.

That lasted about 3 seconds. I gasped in horror, the persimmon rind fell to the floor, and I ran to the sink to spit out the flesh that seemed to be cementing itself to the roof of my mouth. Was that my throat closing up? I tried to spit out the fruit, but it was like it had suddenly turned to stone and was just sticking to my mouth, my gums, my throat. It was the most god-awful sour, bitter taste I had ever had in my mouth.  What kind of horrible, horrible trick were they playing at Walmart, putting this item in the food section and calling it a persimmon? I tried to scream for Alex and tell him to get the car ready to go to the emergency room because I most certainly must be having an allergic reaction and was probably going to die. I prepared myself to start feeling dizzy, nauseated, and perhaps, just perhaps.....I was ready for the worst.

After a minute or so (a very long, unpleasant minute), I started to feel the return of saliva. I was able to spit, and I drank as much water as I could stand. And when I realized that, yes, I was going to live, I plopped in front of my computer and started looking up hachiya persimmons. It turns out that you cannot eat hachiyas unless they are extremely over-ripe. Before that they have unpleasantly (to say the least) high levels of tannins, hence the bitter, bitter, awfulness. And apparently once they are so ripe that they squish like a water balloon when you squeeze them, then they will be sweet and sticky and delicious (I have yet to experience this, but I will consider trying them one more time, if I can still get them at Walmart). But I will need to recover a bit from this traumatizing experience, which hopefully has not ruined persimmons for me (like how some very, very mean older brothers sometimes ruin Santa Clause).  In the meantime, I urge you to try a persimmon (a fuyu persimmon, that is), unless you are very brave, brave enough to take on the hachiya....

(Note: To learn more about persimmons, check out Wikipedia's fact-filled page.)

Of Mice and Men... and Cats

     My cat, Bo Jangles, has started going down to the basement on her own. Usually she just follows me down, hangs out while I do whatever it is I have to do down there (sometimes I just forget why I'm there, and hang out til I remember), and then follows me up (she follows me everywhere lately, now that the weather has turned yucky and she can't be outside as much).  But last week I noticed she was missing, and awhile later, up she came from the basement. I was still wondering what mischief she could be getting up to (she attacks and chews on everything, like a little puppy) while lying in bed the other night, when I heard it.... squeak, scuttle, scuttle, scratch. And then it hit me, the mice have started moving indoors, which means, without  a doubt, winter is here.
     So if you live in the city, like we used to, you probably think, oh gross, mice in your house? And then maybe wonder what sort of dumpy state our house is in. But it turns out that this is an inevitable part of country life (lucky us), along with fruit flies, mosquitoes, shrews, gnats, ticks, woodchucks, ladybugs galore (somehow they're not as cute as when I was little), weird little swimmy bugs in our pool, mosquitoes, fleas, flies, did I mention mosquitoes, stink bugs, yellowjackets, hornworms, aphids, beetles, snakes, mud wasps, caterpillars, Japanese beetles, and more mosquitoes. And that's just off the top of my head.  My friend Kim came to visit and she said while she was outside she got dive-bombed by a bug the size of a bird. She didn't come back for nearly a year, and I think I still see her glance around cautiously every time we go out the door.
     So back to the mice, which, by the way, we were totally unprepared for last year. Little did we know that the mice would infiltrate our basement, show up in our pantry, nest in our VW camper ductwork.  By the time we realized what had happened, there were scratchy scuttling sounds at night in our walls, in our attic, in our dreams. Our futile attempts at setting mouse traps was met with tiny mousy laughs.  By the time we had caught a dozen or so in traps (which I still refuse to empty, that's Alex's job), it was nearly spring and the migration reversed itself, back to the outdoors.
     So this year we have a new secret weapon: Bo Jangles. She is the hunter of hunters. She can stop a bird in mid-flight 5 feet off the ground (she can also jump up to my chest and hang on with her claws, not so pleasant). I think she chased a raccoon up a tree one night, because she came home covered in what I presume to be raccoon poop, tail fluffy and big as a bat. She brought home a shrew nearly every day last week, a bluejay, a chipmunk, and a few smaller birds. So now I wait and hope... will she find the mice?
     And so I am presuming that her forays into the basement are in search of mice, which perhaps she hears or senses somehow. I have not noticed them, other than those late night rustling sounds I heard once this week in the walls, but her senses are oh-so-keen. This summer she sat on the woodstove staring at the stove pipe for two hours before I finally investigated and realized there was a sparrow trapped in there.  We cannot put out mouse traps this year, because Jangles can climb up/under/ behind just about anything, so I am a hedging all my bets on her to be able to round up the dozens of mice that will inevitably find their way into our warm and cozy home...but you know, as they say.... the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.... the question is, whose plans will be foiled??

Wholesome Food and a New Sense of Community

I recently went on a hunt for organic, grass-fed, and, ultimately, healthy beef (more about the problems with supermarket beef to come). I live in an agricultural community, so you'd think it would be easy. Not so. There is no organic, free-range, or grass-fed meat at any supermarket I could find within about 30 miles of my house. An extensive internet search turned up 5 farms within an hour and a half that could sell organic beef by the 1/4 side or by the 1/2. That meant that we had to have an extra freezer (which we did) and a solid generator (which we didn't), in case the power should go out (which it does, all the time, the last episode lasting a full two days this summer, and last summer we lost power almost a dozen times).

So it just so happened that not too much later, we came into a new generator, and I started calling farms. The first one I called 8 times, left 3 messages, and heard not a word back...  must have no beef. The next farm I called said that they had unfortunately lost their farm and so no longer had any beef to sell. I stumbled over an apology for their tragic circumstances and said good-bye.  The third farm did have some beef, but it turns out their beef was only finished on an organic pasture. Hmmmm... I didn't realize there was a start and a finish in cattle raising, but I investigated further, and that apparently means they purchase their calves from somewhere in the spring, and then raise them until late fall, when they slaughter them. So the majority of their life is spent on organic pasture, but if I was going to support organic livestock farming by buying a 1/4 side of beef, I really wanted to support a farm that had fully invested in sustainable and organic agriculture, and was giving birth to and raising their own cattle.

I had one other farm on my list, Lake Village Homestead.  Now here was an interesting farm. It was actually a sort of modern commune (but before you start making assumptions, disregard any connotations the word "commune" may create in your brain- they are probably remnants of 60s counter-culture). This homestead is a group of 15 or so families living on a communally-owned tract of about 300 acres, who are seeking to get back to the simple life, to working the land, raising crops and livestock, living a healthy and sustainable life, and educating others about their efforts. They raise cattle, goats, chickens, turkeys, and I think a few pigs, as well as raising organic produce for their own consumption. They also make maple syrup and cheeses and raise honeybees for honey. I decided we had to check this place out, both because this was the kind of food I wanted to eat, and these were the kinds of things I wanted to start doing on our own farm.

Lake Village Homestead is located just on the outskirts of Kalamazoo, about 45 minutes or so from our house. When we arrived, Tony Kaufman, one of the Homestead's residents, showed us around their lands and buildings. From the moment we arrived, their was a simplicity and goodness to this place that both my husband and I were drawn to (perhaps in another parallel life we would have met there, living and working on the commune?). We didn't get to meet anyone else, but from all we saw and heard, I believe it is a place of strong community. I believe it is a place full of people who want to return to a simpler life, work with their hands and with the land, build and farm and cook, and use skills that, in many urban areas, have been lost for decades now. I was fascinated by this place!

We ended up purchasing our side of beef, which came out to roughly 85 pounds after it was all butchered, for approximately $450. That is about $5.50/pound for organic, grass-fed, healthy, and delicious (it is oh so delicious!) beef, including ground beef, various cuts of steak and roasts, and some liver and salami. I think it's a fabulous deal. But I like it even more when I think about where it came from. I now know one of the homestead residents who helped raise my cow. Imagine that, for it is a subtle but revolutionary idea for me, knowing exactly where my meat came from, being able to picture the face and the place of it all. This is what America was raised on- small farmers who supported local communities.

How did our agricultural industry stray away from that? When did mega-farms and factory farms, that mass produce meat and vegetables as if they were plastic or some other synthetic consumable, take over? How did we just turn away and ignore the facts that we no longer know where our food comes from, that ecological travesties were committed to clear the land and keep it oh-so-bug- and weed-free, and that animals have become mere objects from which to profit?  Food was, once upon a time, a thing to be celebrated, it was something you worked at, you harvested, you raised, and it was something that often brought a community together during all of these processes. That is what I liked best about Lake Village. The sense of community they created, the way they invited others to come and share in their journeys by becoming a part of not only the finished product (wholesome food), but also the process. In the upcoming months, I have been encouraged to, and intend on, visiting again and learning about how things are done. We are members now of the cooperative, and can go back and ride in their horse-drawn buggy, learn how to raise goats, saddle horses, tap maple trees. We are now a part of their community.

I know we are not the only ones who are seeking to connect more deeply to the food we are eating. I have noticed a small surging movement, in the form of urban residents who buy their produce at local farmer's markets, who join Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms, and who are trying to create roof-top and other alternative gardens. It is a good thing, to build a community around food. What a simple, but wonderful, concept!

(If you live in or near southwestern Michigan and are interested in learning more about Lake Village Homestead, visit their website: www.lakevillagehomestead.org)

Why Natural? Some Compelling Reasons to Reconsider the Green Life

It wasn't so many years ago that you could find dozens of products containing synthetic and toxic chemicals in my home. I had believed in leading a more natural, greener lifestyle for quite some time, but the actual transformation was slow to come. I had thoughts swirling around my head, like "Am I going to compromise cleaning quality with a natural cleaner?", "Can I afford to switch to natural products, which seem more expensive?", and "What is so really so bad about the synthetic chemicals in my household products?" It is these questions and more that I will attempt to answer in this section.
            

                                                                       

If you are reading this, then chances are you are at least considering making a change to a greener lifestyle, if you haven't already. You've probably read or heard something that suggests that some, if not many, of the products in your home (or at least in the average American home) may be hazardous to your family's health. That's the point I was at a few years back, when I started seriously reconsidering the kinds of chemicals by which I was surrounded in my own home.

            

We've been hearing a lot about product safety in the news lately. Most recently, some lipsticks were found to contain lead, particularly disturbing since at least some of the applied lipstick eventually gets ingested. A popular antibacterial ingredient, Triclosan, has been recently found to react with chlorine in tap water to produce, among other things, chloroform, an extremely toxic substance. In addition, the legitimacy of using antibacterial agents (outside of hospital environments) has come into question, as the death toll from drug-resistant staff infections topped an annual 19,000 this past year (which, by the way, is more than the number of annual deaths due to AIDS/HIV). These "super-germs" are becoming resistant to drugs due to the overuse of antibiotics- and that includes antibacterial soaps! But even more shocking is the list of other products that contain Triclosan (toothpaste, cutting boards, even certain brands of socks and deodorants!). Read all about it in "Problems with Triclosan".

            

If we were to create a list of all of the potentially harmful synthetic chemicals found in everyday cleaners and toiletries, we would have hundreds of entries. These chemicals include neurotoxins, carcinogens, allergens, central nervous system depressants, heavy metals, and other agents that cause or contribute to a wide range of health concerns, including cancer, respiratory problems, reproductive abnormalities, allergic reactions, and behavioral problems, among other issues. Check out Seventh Generation's helpful Glossary of Household Hazards for descriptions of some of the most common household culprits.

            

As I started slowly switching to natural alternatives for my household products, I realized many things:

            

1. Natural cleaners are often concentrated solutions, and so even though they appear more expensive, the product actually lasts longer, provided economical savings in the long run.

            

2. The fragrances used in many household cleaners are now quite irritating to me, as I have become used to gentler, more natural fragances.

            

3. The natural cleaners have been consistently effective in meeting my everyday cleaning needs.

            

4. Finally, I am left wondering why we have, as a society, become accustomed to using toxic chemicals, when there are so many natural solutions to cleaning problems that have been used effectively for centuries. For example, tea tree oil has natural antibacterial properties, as does honey and garlic, but does not pose a health risk due to over-use. Baking soda and vinegar are natural fabric softeners, hydrogen peroxide has whitening and disinfecting properties, and citric acid (lemon and grapefruit) naturally cut grease.

            

There is much controversy as to exactly how harmful a chemical is. It is very difficult to link a substance to cancer, except in large doses. The rumors that SLS and SLES, found in many shampoos, toothpastes, and soaps, cause cancer is being strongly denied by the American Cancer Society, even though it is a known irritant. (Read about it in Debunking the Myth.) Other chemicals appear more hazardous, but again, without conclusive evidence. My conclusion is that if there is a natural substance that is known to be safe, gentle and effective, why risk the potential hazards of a synthetic substitute? Why do companies even use synthetic substances instead of safer, gentler natural ones?

            

Ultimately we are an economy driven by profit. Once a manufacturer finds a way to mass-produce a synthetic substance, it is often far cheaper to use that than a pure, naturally-extracted alternative. It is interesting that people often wonder why natural products are more expensive. The answer lies in the same reason that fast-food companies use fillers in their meat products, why 100% juice is more expensive than juices that are merely high fructose corn sweetener and water, or why artifical vanilla is cheaper than 100% pure vanilla. More often than not, you get what you pay for when it comes to quality.

            

Each of must decide for ourselves what our health is worth, and how much of a threat to our health these synthetic chemical cleaners present. I have decided to be safe, and to make choices I can feel good about, knowing I am not contaminating my home, my natural environment, and our waterways with toxic substances that could have been avoided. I feel good knowing that our clothes do not contain the residues of bleach, optical brighteners, phosphates, and other harsh chemicals rubbing against our skin. I feel safe knowing that when my pets walk on my floors, or my cat jumps in the sink, or my husband sets his sandwich on the counter, they are not coming into contact with harsh chemicals that will stick to their hands, paws, and food. And I feel responsible making these choices, because they are not just for me and my family, but for our world, and our children's world.

If you are interested in learning more about why it is important to go natural, you may want to check out some of these useful links:

"Make a Difference"
              *Make your own natural cleaners and learn about some of the harmful effects of synthetic-based household cleaners.

             

"Good, Clean Fun"
*Learn about toxic ingredients, natural recipes to make your own cleaners, and some of the top natural products available.

            

"Problems with Triclosan"
            *A must-read for anyone who has ever felt the urge to use anti-bacterial soaps and cleaners in their home.

            

"Debunking the Myth"
*There has been widespread controversey surrounding the popular ingredients sodium lauryl lsulfate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulfate (SLES). Though they are known irritants, the American Cancer Society has published this article in an attempt to disprove the claim that they cause cancer. A must-read for anyone who wants to be informed on this issue, especially since so many products contain this ingredient (including some of Mrs. Meyer's hand soaps and lotions).

            

"Are Leading Brand Laundry Detergents Environmentally Friendly?"
            *Read about common ingredients found in many laundry detergents and their potentially harmful side-effects.

            

"Housecleaning Goes 'Green' with Simple Products"
            *A good summary of the why and how of going green.

            

Glossary of Household Hazards
*Seventh Generation, a leading manufacturer of green products, has provided useful information about many common household ingredients.

            

Toxic Ingredients in Cleaning Products
How to handle some of the most common household cleaning issues (mold, bacteria, etc.), and when to avoid (and not to avoid) using bleach and other harsh cleaning chemicals.

            

10 Synthetic Ingredients to Avoid in Body Products
            A list of some of the most harmful ingredients in body and beauty products.

            

Green Cleaning Products
            Natural Tips on How to Clean Up the Planet and Your Home from  Deidre Imus, author of Green This!.
            

I'll Have a Cup of Corn, Please

I've just been working on a list of cool green living items on the website ThisNext.com, where I talk about my favorite green products. Not exotic and unnecessary luxury items, but the kinds of things we use everyday. I think for me, that was a good place to start when I began trying to live a little bit greener. Cleaners? Switched to non-toxic and natural. Plastic bags? Bought recycled. Coffee mug? It turns out that reusable mugs can now be made from 100% (US-grown) corn instead of plastic. Yes, I said corn... there is now readily available a plastic alternative made from corn! (Check it out: Eco-Friendly COffee Mug)

Can you imagine the implications? Not only can products now be made from a safer, biodegradable material (plastic is made from petroleum), but we can also support our farmers, reduce our dependency on foreign oil, possible lower the cost of petroleum products by reducing demand (surging worldwide demand is perceived to be one of the major factors affecting rising oil prices, particularly the growing demand in China), and drastically reduce the amount of non-biodegradable plastic waste doomed to exist for eons in landfills.

There are actually lots of products made from oil (petroleum) that you use in your everyday life. Plastic is one example, polyester is another. The Petroleum Research Institution made a cute little drawing for kids to show them just how much we use oil in the manufacture of our everyday products. So if we can make mugs from corn, imagine what else could be produced from corn. Plastic dinnerware, reusable Tupperware, game pieces and toys (worried about toxic toys these days? Wouldn't corn be a great alternative?), take-out food containers, plastic bags, toothbrushes, razors, storage units... the list goes on and on.

So how does this corn plastic work? First, after corn is milled, dextrose is extracted from the starch. The starch is then turned into lactic acid (a by-product of fermentation and, in animals, respiration) using large fermenters. The lactic acid is then converted to lactide, and the lactide is linked into long chains or polymers, known as polylactic acid (PLA). Though it cannot replace polyehtylene terephalate (PET) in every application because of lower melting point, there are still many possible applications. One major benefit of PLA is that it is compostable- and here's the catch - under commercial composting conditions, which means a composting facility that can maintain an internal composting temperature of 140 degrees for ten days straight (so you would not want to throw PLA into your backyard compost). Unfortunately, in a landfill, though no one is certain,  it is predicted that PLA might last almost as long as PET. Currently there are about 118 commercial composting facilities around the country. This is definitely a number that needs to be expanded.

We will also need to pay close attention to the way we dispose of PLA containers as they become more popular. PLA and PET are somewhat like oil and water: they do not mix when melted. Therefore, PLA is actually a "contaminant" in the PET recycling process. In the small amounts that are intermingled in recycling now, it is not an issue. But as PLA becomes more predominant, consumers will have to start paying close attention to what kind of plastic they are disposing of and how they are disposing of it.

On the plus side, some of the major benefits of PLA include using 65 percent less energy to produce and generating 68 percent fewer greenhouse gases during production. PLA also contains no toxins and comes from a renewable resource. Though some people have argued that we should not be using a major food source to produce plastic when so many people in our world go hungry, it turns out that most of the corn used in the manufacture of corn is low-grade, the kind used in animal feed, not for human consumption.

The ability to refine petroleum (which first began in 1859) was a major factor in the Industrial Revolution, and has played such a major role in the course of history and of our country. I am not trying to belittle the importance of petroleum.  But the benefits now carry a heavy cost with them too: pollution, wars fought over control of major oil sources, and the destruction of vital ecosystems in the search for new sources of oil. The time has come for alternative sources of energy, plastics, and other traditionally petroleum-based products to replace petroleum whenever possible (and no, it is not possible to replace petroleum entirely, of course). We are entering an age of concern in which profit margins will no longer necessarily be the over-riding factor in resource choice. If we as consumers demand safer and less-toxic materials in the products we purchase and use every day, then the supply will follow. 

Who Am I, and Where on Earth Did I Come From? The Story of My Journey...Just The Facts, Ma'am, About Me, Myself, and I

So how did I get into the whole "green scene"? Well, I'm going to tell this story backwards, just for the fun of it, so let's start at the present (I almost said "end", but of course we are nowhere near the end!)....

My husband and I live in rural Michigan on a sort of "hobby farm in-the-making", which means we moved from the Big City (Chicago) to pretty much the middle of nowhere, to get away from that cramped and always-running-around feeling, to have gardens and fresh air, and room to skip and play for our kids, and cozy fires in the wood stove, maybe some animals (goats perhaps?), and that "slow down and just breathe" kind of quality of life. But really we didn't know a thing about what we were doing. So it's a slow process, but one that evolves and grows every day, and teaches us to be thankful for what we've learned and get ready for our next lesson. But I digress...

I started using natural alternatives to things like Fantastic, Tide, Tilex, and the like a few years ago and have never looked back. I had this eye-opening realization that every time I watched a commercial that tried to tell me that good cleaning is when my tile becomes sparkling white in 2 seconds with no scrubbing, that I was being duped. Duped into believing that the major household products corporations weren't in a race to produce new synthetic chemicals that made more money, duped into thinking that I shouldn't have to even get my hands wet to clean, duped into believing that it was very good to use a toilet brush once and then throw it away, and duped into thinking that I am suddenly surrounded by germs that must be destroyed. Because those ideas cause people to run to the store and spend more money on products that are toxic, wasteful, and have disastrous effects on the environment, but feel good because they have "clean" homes. But I am do not mean to be preachy here, so I will get back to the matter at hand. These are simply the thoughts that I started thinking.

As friends and family came to visit our little homestead, they would often ask about the natural products I was using. Did they work? How do you use them? Where can they be purchased? At about the same time, my school district fell into a million dollar deficit and had to cut the most recently hired teachers (one being me). Dissappointed, but feeling a serendipitous pull, I decided that perhaps it was time to combine my passion for living a healthy life with my need to make a living. And so The Greater Green (my eco-friendly e-retail business) was born!

So I said I was going to tell this story backwards, so backwards we go... After college, I moved to Japan, to see new lands, to adventure to new unknowns, but officially, to teach English. While there, I somewhat dejectedly gave up my vegetarianism of 15 years, mostly because I could not even determine whether many of the foods I ate were animal or vegetable, but also in a desire to try new cultural experiences, food being a very important one. But while there I also opened my eyes to many new and healthy foods: I learned how to make homemade miso soup (so healthy!), I finally learned to appreciate natto (initially, the most repulsive but one of the healthiest foods on the planet), I started to truly appreciate the art and essence of tea, I learned to make homemade Bulgarian yogurt (strange, I know, for Japan), and discovered some unusually unrecognizable vegetables like burdock and devil's tongue. I wandered through Buddhist temples and learned to experience life the ancient way: slowly, simply, and with a quiet awe and reverence for what we have been loaned in this life: a beautiful planet, a healthy mind and hopefully body (if we are fortunate), and the incredibly human ability to appreciate the subtle beauty of a sunrise, of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, of a prism of colors trapped in one tiny dewdrop. It is this passion for the sometimes subtle, sometimes grand beauty in this life that started me on a path of greener living. I cannot choose how or when I was brought into this world, but I can choose what kind of impact I will make on it. In the end, our legacy is all we will leave behind, be it through children, through those whose lives we have touched, or through our footprints on the earth. Tread lightly, you may have heard before, so that others may continue to tread...

And going back even further, back to my childhood, I was originally raised on tofu and homemade baby food, Tiger's Milk bars and organic vegetables, before organic was a common household term. But somewhere along the way, the way got lost, somehwere in the Big City. I think my mom eats mostly microwave dinners now, because they're easy, and Tilex makes cleaning the bathroom a breeze in her hectic life (she is a workaholic). So I am trying to reconnect her with her roots, with her passion for healthy living, with the soul inside her that used to live by example, all of which were my examples to live by as I grew. And I think it's working. Because we are learning together (I am most definitely still learning!), and because we feel so good about it, and because living naturally really does make you feel better, whether we change just a few aspects of our life, or whether we pursue natural living wholeheartedly. If I can help someone else capture that feeling, that knowing that you've done something positive for yourself and feeeling good and proud and energized by it, then I have succeeded!

Wherever your journey may take you, I wish you a happy and healthy one. If you have made it this far into my ramblings, thank you! And if you have something to share, something that could maybe inspire me or just make me laugh or appreciate life a little more, please do!

And So Begins the Tale of Our Eco-Adventures....

This is not the beginning of the adventures, but it is the beginning of the tale.  I've decided it's high time I started blogging, if for no one other than myself, to help me balance the mistakes I've made with what I've learned from them.

I lived the majority of my 30 years in Chicago (minus 3 in Japan and 5 in Miami), right in the heart of the hustle and bustle, a city girl to the core. Or so I thought. A serendipitous day spent on an organic farm in Wisconsin got me and my husband to thinking.... we could do this...not only do it, but love it. We could quit our jobs, leave our families, pack up our lives, and head to the countryside to try our hand at creating a homestead, even one day maybe a  small farm. Somehow the boldness of it all made it seem simple.

And so, not 3 months later, we found ourselves the proud owners of a 23-acre "ranch" in rural Michigan. I say ranch, mostly out of what we dream it to one day be, rather than what it already was. There was a modest house, a pole barn that was being used as a garage,  4 acres of cleared grassland, and just under 20 acres of woods. We dreamed of vegetables and fruit trees, of chickens and goats, of tractors and fields of wildflowers. We even dreamed of a small store that centered around eco-friendly living and organic produce.

But where were we to begin? How does one turn a piece of grassland and forest into a small farm? (The answer to that, by the way, is still in the process of revealing itself to us.) I gobbled up all the stories of rural homestead living I could find, which were very useful, but many of them involved adventurous souls who bought an already (at least somewhat) functioning small farm and converted it to their liking.  I felt lost and overwhelmed. I had  (and still have) much learning to do. We wanted to start at the beginning, but where was the beginning anyway?

So I guess this will be the story of the mistakes and grand discoveries we have made already, and the ones we are in the process of making as our journey continues on. I've recently made a huge leap for the future of our homestead, leaving my teaching career in order to spend more time trying to make a living off of our land. It still remains to be seen whether or not that can be done, technically, but my heart tells me there is no doubt. It can be done. It must be done. Because we have chosen a path that provides us with much more quality of life, because it is  exhilarating, because I wake up feeling just a tad bit younger these days, and because I truly believe that when you follow your heart, you have chosen the right path, no matter how winding it may be.