2 Choices are Better than 1.
Sep/101
I understand this is going to sound very weird, but I have always liked the toilets at IKEA.
Let me explain:
Kristi and I are proponents of making choices for our home and lifestyle that are economically and environmentally sound. We think the best and wisest use of our resources is stewarding them through informed decisions. If you’ve read any of our blog posts, you already know this.
So, whenever we go to IKEA and I make a trip to their restroom, I always think about their dual-flush toilet. It’s such a simple idea that I wish was standard on every toilet in America — a different flush for different business. You get to choose whether you need a lot of water, or a little.
Since we’ve already adopted other methods in our house to conserve water (e.g., our rain barrel, using a bucket to save the pre-heated shower water for plants, etc.) getting a dual-flush converter for our toilet was a no-brainer.
It turned out to be an economical solution as well. We were able to score this guy on Amazon for $20, and I got it installed in less than 20 minutes. What’s great is that it’s a cleaner look on the toilet than the standard handle, and we now have the ability to use less water for uses that don’t need to drain the full tank.
The only recommendation I have for people who decide to install one of these devices — do the calibration/testing after actually using the bathroom. It can take a couple flushes to get everything set correctly, so there’s no sense in wasting the water you’re hoping to save.
Also, a neat trick for saving even more water — fill up an empty half-gallon milk jug with water and sit it in your toilet tank (we do this in both our bathrooms). It displaces water, so your tank fills less each time. We’ve been doing that even before the dual-flush conversion, and never noticed any issues.
Now if only my workplace would install toilets like this (or maybe even a flush-less urinal system for the guys).
Errands by Two Wheels.
Aug/100
This past June, Trevor received two panniers as a birthday present. These bags hang on either side of the rear wheel of his Surly, and allow him the ability to transport stuff via bike.
One of his first legitimate uses of these panniers ended up being a grocery shopping errand. Not only do we live close to a grocery store, but now we can pick up small amounts of groceries with two man-powered wheels instead of four gas-powered ones.
Other handy uses of these bags will be for Trevor’s commutes to work, allowing him to bring a change of clothes with him from home, and pack his lunch on his bike. Or just bring an extra Arnold Palmer to quench his thirst.
Farm Tour.
Jun/100
I shared on Twitter the man-crush I developed for Farmer John (one of the owners and operators of Elmwood Stock Farm), as well as another post diving into my feelings about urban vs. rural living. But, I never really gave details about the farm/tour itself. So, for all those interested in the back-end production of our lovely CSA items, here’s the scoop.
Kristi and I have had a backyard garden for the past two growing seasons — learning a lot each year and trying new things to get (hopefully) edible veggies to grow on our own piece of land. The visit to Elmwood was a wonderful experience not just for the sights and sounds, but also for the many things we learned about the farm/growing operation. Not all of it is feasible for what we’re doing at home, but a lot of it might apply to the community garden we’re going to be part of soon at church (check back for a post on that) and it definitely increased our knowledge overall.
For instance, Elmwood makes use of a special irrigation/mulching system that not only helps prevent weeds, but also delivers water more efficiently to the plants, reducing water usage and evaporation. They also have some wonderful covered tunnels that allow the plants to “experience” outside living, but still protect them from harsh weather, while increasing the growing season (and, in the case of the strawberries we’ve been getting, produce some amazingly delicious treats). This system also helps protect plants from some varieties of diseases that thrive in damp conditions (because the leaves and stems aren’t gathering excess water — everything is delivered close to the roots).
They also rely on two greenhouses to grow transplants for the planting season. The best insight we gained was their process of pulling out the transplants and letting them acclimate to outside conditions through a “shocking” process — getting used to full-sun and harsh (compared to the greenhouse) weather. This year we tried to grow some veggies and herbs by seed, and this is a great idea for integrating not only store-bought transplants, but grown seedlings.
Elmwood also utilizes several methods of crop and livestock rotation, not just for the benefit of production — but to allow the land to rest and refresh itself. It was a beautiful, natural example of Sabbath rest — which was also intensely practical when it comes to restoring the nutrient rich soil as well as benefiting the animal’s natural diet (no corn-fed beef on this farm!)
My favorite part of the tour was learning that, while the farm is organically certified, it didn’t have to jump through tons of hoops or implement any grandiose changes — most of its original operations we’re already as good as it gets. This of course made sense when you learned that their farming methods were the ones that had been passed down from generation to generation (it’s a family-owned farm). Who would have thought that a local farm, having been run by a real farming family for years and years, would know how to produce efficient, effective, and environmentally-friendly food? (That question should of course be read with a hint of sarcasm.)
As you can tell, visiting the farm was an overall positive experience. I can’t wait to get to go back — not necessarily because anything will have changed, but to hopefully get an opportunity to learn more, or explore different parts of the farm we didn’t see this time.
If you’re able, we’d highly suggest making the investment in a CSA. It supports local agriculture and business while delivering healthy, fresh food every week. If that’s too big a commitment (because it is a large up-front cost), then hit up your local Farmer’s Market (Lexington has one almost every day of the week at different locations).
Perhaps the most important part of any decision you could make, regarding food or any lifestyle choice, is to get educated. Every choice Kristi and I make is founded on investigation. Don’t believe the hype (even from us) — find out for yourself. An educated person is an empowered person. And, any activism you engage in with a foundation of reason will be a successful one.
Happy eating/learning/growing!
Digging the CSA Thing.
May/101
It’s a mystery box! What on earth could be inside? (hint: not tomatoes!)
Well you won’t have to wonder too long… the reveal is about to come!
The box contained our first week’s worth of our CSA share. Never heard of a CSA? CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. I’ll quote from the website of our CSA farm, Elmwood Stock Farm, what they have to say about CSAs:
CSA members participate in their own food supply by committing to share in the harvest of a local farm. Members purchase shares in the spring, and each week receive seasonal vegetables: a subscription to the farm’s weekly harvest. A CSA creates a unique relationship between the consumer and the producer – nowadays, not only do many people not know what country or what state their food comes from, they certainly don’t know the farmer who picked the tomatoes they are eating. By joining a CSA you express your support for locally grown food, for clean food, and for the farmers that grow it. CSA may not replace patronizing a farmers market. It does guarantee your access to the best of each week’s harvest. This is a way to be a part of something positive for you and your community.
We had a desire to be more “green,” community-focused, and healthy. The idea of joining a CSA fell into place as a great way to achieve these goals: it is more green because it is local (and therefore, seasonal); it is community-focused because it supports local business; it is healthy because the majority of the produce is organic. Shares were sold in the spring, both “mini” shares, “regular” shares, and “robust” shares for different prices. They also had optional egg, chicken, and beef add-ons. We opted to split a regular share with Chad & Karen (sister and bro-in-law), which was cheaper than getting individual mini-shares AND gives us the greater variety of produce that comes in the larger share.
Our regular share came out to around $24 dollars a week, or $12 for each couple. For this price, we get 22 weeks of fresh, locally harvested, organic produce, from May 10 – October 4. While this is more than we might usually spend on produce at the grocery weekly, we believe the additional cost is worth the stretch in our budget. We’re caring about our community, and caring about our bodies by choosing organic. This is an investment worth making. This investment isn’t just a sacrifice of money – it’s also a sacrifice of choices. We don’t choose what we get in our box each week; this depends on what is growing and in season, and also depends on if the harvest is plentiful this particular year or not, which is highly dependent upon weather conditions. This requires us to be satisfied with new foods we may not have chosen for ourselves (and the fun part: learning how to cook them). It also forces us to give up foods that must be imported at great cost from other climates where they are grown; we will have to adapt to a simpler palate in some cases. The quantity is also not in our control, so we will learn to be satisfied with what we get each week.
Well, if up to this point you’ve been bored hearing about the “why” behind buying a CSA share, we’ll turn to the “what”: what was hiding in our mystery box for week 1?
Week 1 CSA Share:
-Garlic Greens (organic)
-Baby Lettuce (organic)
-Radishes (organic)
-Fresh Sage (organic)
-Strawberries (organic)
-Over wintered Spinach (organic)
-Asparagus
-Dried Beans (organic)
-Over wintered Rutabagas (organic)
One final note: there is another great benefit to going with a CSA. You eat produce that was harvested that same day. The freshness of the food is unparalleled to what you’ll find at groceries, where most of the produce they have on hand had to be picked before it was ripe to survive the time it takes to ship it and stock it in your local store. The benefit? Rich flavors you can’t get anyway else unless you were to grow it in your own backyard! Check back this weekend to see how we’ve been enjoying the bounty.
Yard Fun: Project Transplant.
May/100
We’ve already had plenty of inquiries about the status of our seedlings, and what we were going to plant in our newly built raised bed. Well, now is the time of the big reveal! The fourth yard project involved transplanting the veggies into the raised bed and herbs into pots.
We have roughly 5 rows for veggies. In the photo below, bottom to top, we have the newest batch of spinach seedlings, 2 mini bell pepper plants, 4 brussel sprout plants, the older batch of spinach, and lastly 4 broccoli plants.
Here is a close up of one broccoli plant taken the day it was planted, roughly 3 weeks ago:
With the raised bed full of potting soil and compost, all we added was about a quarter cup of blood meal as an organic fertilizer and a little bit of organic plant food when transplanting them. We had to cover the bed with a tarp one night to protect them from frost, but by now we hopefully are in the clear for the rest of summer with no additional threat of frost.
With the herbs, we’ve opted to keep them in pots on our deck for easier access. We kept three of the italian herbs – rosemary, thyme, and oregano – together in one pot, and gave basil, cilantro, and spearmint their own pots to grow in. (Tip: Spearmint grows and spreads rapidly. To prevent it from taking over a bed or suffocating other herbs, contain spearmint in its own, separate pot.)
Unfortunately, with the latest rain storm, some of these herb seedlings simply took a beating and may not survive. The backup plan, currently in operation, is to have more herbs starting from seed to replace any that won’t make it. It seems that trial and error has already begun!
10K Training
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Trevor's Training Mileage:
Good Reads
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