Compact 2010...A New Way to Shop

So far so good in my attempt to buy nothing new for all of 2010, even though I have been tempted on a few occasions. These occasions came when I was out shopping with my husband as he picked up essentials he needed for work or with my son as he replaced clothing he had grown out of. On these shopping excursions, I couldn't help but wander off to one of my favorite stores to check out their offerings and in no time at all, I would find myself trying things on in the dressing room or slipping my feet into a new pair of shoes. At these times, I would usually tell myself that I quite possibly did need a new outfit for my son's upcoming college graduation, or that my current jeans were ill-fitting and it would be OK to break the Compact for that reason.

But I didn't break the Compact that I had made with both myself and the earth, and didn't bow to temptation, even when confronted with a pair of Frye boots on sale- something I have been longing to own for several years. Time and time again over the last three months, I have simply walked away, telling myself I could always go back if I really needed to, but never actually doing it.

The walking away was made easier in part because I discovered a real gem in my area- a thrift store that sells wonderful high quality clothing. I have been shopping at thrift stores and garage sales for clothing since my 22 year old son started school and have found many nice things over the years, but never before have I found a store with such a nice selection. Another benefit is that many times the clothing I find at my local thrift store is of a higher quality than what I could find at the mall. On a recent weekend tagging along as my husband shopped for new suits at a local mall, I decided to look for something to wear to my son's graduation. I was dismayed at the flimsy material on a outfit I saw at a J.Jill store and happily found a much nicer outfit the following week at the thrift store. Based on the quality, the thrift store outfit would cost much more new than I would ever consider spending which ultimately allows me to spend less to look better.

The pictures above show just a few of the things I have picked up in the last few weeks. I visit the thrift store once a week to check out their current stock and pick up those things I may need for this season or next winter, expanding my wardrobe without impacting the planet. I find it fun and challenging to shop this way and love the thrill of the hunt. All of the women that work at the thrift shop purchase their clothing there and it is amazing to see the fantastic outfits they come up with. It inspires me to try new and different things myself.

Even though I find it easier to find great outfits at my thrift store here than some of the other stores I have tried in the past, I do know that something essential or unique can be found at any thrift store you try. From cloth napkins to books to furniture....I have found it all at a thrift store. Give it a try...you never know what is going to turn up!

Thrift Shop finds...

The breakfast bar in the house we are renting has been without bar stools ever since we moved in six months ago. At one point around Christmas, when our dining table was covered with my son's winter village scene, I found myself standing before a display of low quality expensive bar stools at Target, contemplating a purchase so that we would have somewhere to sit and eat during the holidays. Luckily, I thought long and hard about the decision and ultimately decided against it, hating to bring more unnecessary crap into the world.

Today, as I strolled through a local thrift shop, I was rewarded for my decision. There before me stood two vintage bar stools, strong and sturdy, ready for a new home. I knew immediately they would fit in with my decor which is comprised of a combination of antique shop, flea market, and thrift shop finds. The stools had a special quality about them, their style reminding me of my Grandmother's cottage in northern Michigan.

Within a matter of minutes, the stools were mine and I was on my way home to have my dog Layla give the chairs a sniff and offer up her stamp of approval. I wonder about the people who owned these chairs before me and the stories the stools could tell. I look forward to adding my family's stories to the bank of collected tales these chairs hold within.

Credit Card Companies Benefiting From Haiti Donations

Soon after the earthquake in Haiti, Huffington Post raised some concerns that credit card companies were charging transaction fees on relief donations and earning up to 3% of each contribution. After this was brought to light, most of the credit card companies changed their policies and said they would no longer deduct fees from donations being made for relief in Haiti. After hearing this news, I simply assumed that all donations made to Haiti with a credit card would be exempt from transaction fees and that 100% of my donation would go to those who need it most.

What I didn't realize is that there are stipulations on which type of donations will not be charged transaction fees. Only the larger relief organizations such as the American Red Cross, AmeriCares, Save the Children etc...will be exempt from having transaction fees deducted. Other smaller, lessor known organizations will still be charged the transaction fees in most cases. Each credit card company has a different policy on how they will handle your donation. For example, I sent money online to the United Nations Central Emergency Relief Fund (UN CERF Fund) using my VISA card. According to VISA, only 97% will go to the UN CERF Fund (because CERF is not on the list of VISA's transaction fee exempt relief organizations) and the other 3% will go to the American Red Cross because VISA is donating all of their transaction fees to the Red Cross. While I have nothing against the Red Cross, I really wanted all of my money to go to the UN and don't like knowing someone else decided where part of my money would go. On the other hand, Master Card will only waive fees to the larger relief organizations so if you donate to a smaller one, that organization will only receive 97% of your total donation, Master Card will get the rest. For information on how your credit card is handling Haiti donations, refer to this article written by Leslie McFadden at Bankrate.com or check with your credit card company.

My younger son has decided he wants to make a donation to the canine program through Virginia Task Force 1, a search and rescue group from Fairfax Virginia currently in Haiti using dogs to search for survivors. So that 100% of our donation goes to the Virginia Task Force, we will send our money the old fashioned way- by check.

The realization that big American credit card companies can be profiting in some financial way to the crisis in Haiti frustrates me. Shows me how crass some big businesses really can be.

Supporting family traditions

This wonderful wooden carved Santa was on hand to welcome us to the Jones Family Farm this morning as we arrived to cut down our Christmas tree. After discussing with my husband and son the environmental impacts of cutting a tree and possible alternatives, we decided to continue with tradition and head out to the tree farm. My thirteen year old son has never known a Christmas where we didn't find and cut our own tree, so of course his vote was to do what we have always done. My husband mentioned that the many other environmental practices we participate in would balance out this particular indiscretion. As I saw it, within the realm of having a natural tree, we had three options.

1) Cut boughs from local evergreens and bring them inside. This option was quickly nixed by my son and husband as not providing the proper Christmas atmosphere. While I felt this would be the best zero waste option, I had to agree with them that it would not be the most rewarding option after establishing a tradition that involved enjoying the sight and smell of a real Christmas tree in our home.

2) Purchase a tree from Whole Foods. The pros behind this decision would be that we could walk to get the tree and bring it home. Also, Whole Foods would plant five new trees to replace the one we purchased through their Trees for the Future program. The cons would be that the trees would not be local and were transported long carbon producing distances.

3) Purchase a tree from the Jones Family Farm. We ultimately decided to go with this decision because it would allow us to support a local farmer while spending some quality time together as a family. The drawback to this decision would involve us driving quite a distance to the tree farm, but we figured our overall reduction in driving since moving to this area far outweighed the impact this one trip would make.

This exercise in considering my impact in regard to a Christmas tree has made me decide I would rather not change meaningful family traditions for the sake of eliminating any potential environmental impact. Family traditions contribute to the joy of living and should be preserved when possible, as long as they are not overly impactful. Any environmental cost of maintaining these traditions can be offset by reducing yearly miles driven, energy used, or waste generated. The pain from reducing my household heat or buying less will be easier felt than changing those traditions our family holds dear.

I just want to be an urban farmer

Many of my close girlfriends, as they approach fifty, have been wondering what they want to do with the remainder of their lives. They have tended to children and husbands and careers, but now they want to tend to themselves. To accomplish something that will bring a new sense of meaning to their lives. Something just for them. This restlessness my friends feel has slowly seeped into my brain as well and made me wonder about what great project I would like to tackle in the second half of my life. For the last month, I have been pondering this idea. Ideas spinning around and around without any kind of concrete conclusions.

That was until today. As I headed into a local Barnes and Noble, I was drawn to the nature section and subsequently to a book called "Farm City, The Education of an Urban Farmer" by Novella Carpenter. I immediately sat down and as I read the first chapter, I found parts of myself within its pages. It was a reminder to me of who I was and where I wanted to travel to. That I wanted to continue to pursue a sustainable lifestyle, much as I had when living in Chicago, but that I also wanted to figure out a way to expand this desire to others living in an urban setting.

Providing a way for city dwellers to be sustainable was work I thought would be rewarding, but being new to the New York City area, I was unaware of any organization providing this sort of support. As it should happen, just this morning, my husband sent me a link to an environmental organization called The Council on the Environment of NYC (CENYC). The mission statement of CENYC is as follows:

"The Council on the Environment of NYC (CENYC) is a hands-on non-profit which improves New York City’s quality of life through environmental programs that transform communities block by block and empower all New Yorkers to secure a clean and healthy environment for future generations."

CENYC accomplishes its mission by participating in environmental education, encouraging recycling, establishing community gardens, etc... and it is exactly the type of organization I would love to be part of at some point.

It seems my recent move somehow derailed me from my path, but buried beneath all of my recent upheaval, was a desire to continue in much the same way I had orginally set out on many months ago. To find that as I settle into my life here, I settle back into myself.

Finding Local Food in the Winter

Our outdoor Farmer’s Markets closed down at the end of October around here, but that didn't mean the end of being able to find local produce, dairy and meat. Because we live in the far western suburbs of Chicago and are perched between high density suburbs and farmland, it only takes a couple of minutes for us to get out into the country filled with its many farms that grow or raise food. This proximity to farmland works to our benefit, especially when it comes to being able to buy our food year round directly from its source.

Yesterday morning, my husband and I headed over to Heritage Prairie Market to pick up some milk and honey. Heritage Prairie, located on a beautiful farm, just minutes from our house, is a unique market in that many of its offerings come from local farmers in Illinois and Wisconsin. Very little is trucked across the country to come to the store which saves on fossil fuels and also provides us with fresher products.

On this winter day, grass fed beef was available along with chicken, eggs, cheese, milk, butter and many cold weather crops including beets, spinach and winter squash. Additional offerings included locally made muffins, pumpkin butter, and other treats. The honey produced at the farm comes from the hives of honey bees I have seen foraging for nectar in my own backyard. Pretty cool!

With our milk and honey purchased, we headed over to the Inglenook Pantry to check out the Green Market’s Winter Farmer’s Market and pick up some meat from a local farmer. Inglenook Pantry is a restaurant that serves organic and local food and houses the Green Market on Saturday mornings in the winter. Here it is possible to pick up locally grown vegetables, herbs, apples, mushrooms, cheese, milk, and meat during a time of year when it is usually impossible to obtain local food. At the market, we talked to Mark of Farm Direct Black Angus, the farmer who raises our meat. We have been buying from him for several years now and it is nice to have a relationship with the person growing our food. We also ran into Beth of Erehwon Farm who runs a local CSA but was offering up freshly baked breads and vegetables on this winter day.

If you are interested in finding out what local sources of food may be near you, check out the website Local Harvest. This national site lists where one can find CSA’s, farmer’s markets, family farms, and organic food in many parts of the country. It was through this site that I discovered what local foods were available to me and hopefully you will find a source of local winter food as well.

Are Some Sustainable Peaches Poisonous?

Yesterday morning, I picked up these peaches from a farmer at my local Farmer's Market. The farmer was wearing a shirt and hat that said "Sustainable Farm" just under the name of his orchard which made me, and I am sure many of the other folks lined up to buy his produce, think his sweet cherries, raspberries, and peaches were raised organically. When I asked the farmer if his peaches were organic, he told me that they were not, and that he used Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods on them, which tended to result in the use of less chemicals than conventionally grown peaches. He explained that all chemical use fell on a spectrum, from organic chemicals falling in the -5 range to conventional chemicals falling just below the 100 range. He said that his IPM methods placed his peaches in the 30 range, meaning that his peaches had far less chemical residue than conventionally produced peaches. I asked him if I bought his peaches and peeled them before I ate them if it I would remove all of the chemicals and he told me that I would- that the chemical could not get beyond the peel.

Having always understood sustainable to mean organic, I then questioned this farmer about the sustainable farm label on his shirt when he clearly wasn't an organic farmer. He explained that he could call himself sustainable because he used sustainable practices to care for his land, which I felt was really a misnomer given that you can't possibly be caring for the land when you are polluting it with toxic chemicals. I am not sure if was my hunger for fresh local peaches or the farmer's convincing argument that I would not be harmed by the peaches if I peeled them, but I soon found myself carting home some fresh peaches to enjoy.

Problem is, something didn't set right with me, and later that night, I began to do some research. I had two nagging questions:

1) How could the farmer call himself sustainable if he used chemicals?

2) Are peaches that have been doused with lower doses of chemicals using IPM methods really rendered harmless by peeling their skin before eating?

I soon had the answer to my first question when research on the Internet told me that sustainable really was more of a philosophy than a set of rules. Farms had to be certified to be organic, but they did not have to be certified to be called sustainable. I found the following helpful information on a website called Sustainable Table: http://www.sustainabletable.org/intro/whatis/

"Sustainable agriculture is a way of raising food that is healthy for consumers and animals, does not harm the environment, is humane for workers, respects animals, provides a fair wage to the farmer, and supports and enhances rural communities.
Characteristics of this type of agriculture include:

Conservation and preservation. What is taken out of the environment is put back in, so land and resources such as water, soil and air can be replenished and are available to future generations. The waste from sustainable farming stays within the farm’s ecosystem and cannot cause buildup or pollution. In addition, sustainable agriculture seeks to minimize transportation costs and fossil fuel use, and is as locally-based as possible.
Biodiversity. Farms raise different types of plants and animals, which are rotated around the fields to enrich the soil and help prevent disease and pest outbreaks. Chemical pesticides are used minimally and only when necessary; many sustainable farms do not use any form of chemicals.
Animal welfare. Animals are treated humanely and with respect, and are well cared for. They are permitted to carry out their natural behaviors, such as grazing, rooting or pecking, and are fed a natural diet appropriate for their species.
Economically viable. Farmers are paid a fair wage and are not dependent on subsidies from the government. Sustainable farmers help strengthen rural communities.
Socially just. Workers are treated fairly and paid competitive wages and benefits. They work in a safe environment and are offered proper living conditions and food.

In 1990, the US government defined sustainable agriculture in Public Law 101-624, Title XVI, Subtitle A, Section 1683, as “an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term, satisfy human food and fiber needs; enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends; make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls; sustain the economic viability of farm operations; and enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.”

The confusion with sustainable agriculture is that the definition is more a philosophy or way of life than a strict set of rules, and farmers can interpret the meaning differently. In addition, there is no legal obligation to follow any of the criteria for sustainability, so food can be labeled sustainable when in actuality it isn’t. Many terms that describe this type of food, such as natural or cage free, do not have a legal or clear definition (though the USDA is currently working on this). For example, cage-free chickens might not be raised in cages, but they could be raised in overcrowded conditions in indoor barns, which is still inhumane. That said, we must stress that the vast majority of sustainable farms are run by family farmers who are hardworking, honest and sincere people. They work all hours of the day and night to bring you the freshest, tastiest, best quality food available."

Because, sustainable agriculture is more a way of life than a law or regulation you can't assume that produce being sold by a sustainable farmer is organic.

Researching a bit further, I found the answer to my second question. I discovered on the Environmental Working Group website that peaches are one of the worst fruits you can eat given their pesticide load. There are some excepts from an article http://www.ewg.org/node/22569 on their website, discussing the hazards of eating conventionally grown peaches:

"In order for a regular peach to make it to a supermarket in good-looking condition, it's been sprayed, usually more than once with (possibly with a total of nine different) pesticides. In fact, the Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org), a primarily foundation-funded, Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization made up of scientists, engineers, policy experts, lawyers and computer programmers had peaches topping its "Dirty Dozen," a list of the most pesticide contaminated fruits or vegetables.
How did peaches, or any other fruit or vegetable get on that list? According to EWG the list was: "... based on the results of nearly 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2000 and 2005."
Thanks to peach's soft skin, pesticides easily migrate into the fruit. Washing peaches and other soft-skinned produce minimally alters the pesticide under the skin. Organic fruit and vegetables, by law, must be grown without synthetic pesticides, synthetic fertilizers or sewage sludge, and cannot be genetically engineered or irradiated.
So what rounds out EWG's Dirty Dozen? In descending order: apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, grapes (imported), spinach, lettuce and finally, potatoes."

So, there you have it. If your choice is to eat organic, and you have always believed that sustainable meant organic, you should do some research before you eat any sustainably grown produce, because sustainable does not necessarily mean grown without chemicals. Through this experience, I have learned that it is important to ask lots of questions and to do lots of research. Things are not always as they appear to be.

Garlic Harvest

I have never grown garlic before and my first attempt turned out wonderfully! I think that I will become a garlic farmer and grow only garlic from now on, especially after the failures I have been experiencing in the lettuce department this year. Last year my swiss chard, black seeded simpson lettuce, and beets were fantastic. This year they failed, even after two tries. I hope to replant them later this summer in another spot. At least my mesculan mix and mustard are doing well and lucky for me that I like spicy lettuce!

Natural Doggie Treats

Woof! Welcome to my garden. This is where my mom grows my most favorite food of all...tomatoes! I first discovered fresh vine grown tomatoes about two years ago when I wrapped my mouth around what I thought was a red ball. My mom told me to keep my paws off the goods but I didn't listen.
Now that it is summer again, I keep watch over the tomato patch each day, sniffing around the vines and waiting. I know it won't be long before it is filled with those warm wonderful red orbs. My mom is so sweet, growing these treats especially for me.

Holding my breath...

Each year as I open my seed packets to plant my garden, I am in awe of how such tiny seeds can result in large abundant plants. It always feels a bit like a miracle when the plants begin to poke out of the ground after germinating. Here is a picture of my garden in that "holding my breath" stage, wondering if the plants will come up or not.

My planting was delayed by two weeks this year due to a cold and wet spring. Then, the day after I put my garden in, heavy rain fell and I wondered if my seeds were going to be washed away. Now, two weeks after planting, many of my plants are up and out of the ground but they seem small compared to last year. I wonder if the constant rainstorms we have been getting is having a negative impact on them.