One Piece (and Day) at a Time

Look around the table. If you don't see a sucker, get up, because you're the sucker. 

- Amarillo Slim

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I just got back from a nice run on this sunny Sunday morning.  A beautiful start to the day, and some nice views of Balboa Park, downtown San Diego, and the South Park neighborhood to enjoy.  About a half mile from home I saw a few chairs on the side of the street that have been there for at least a year.  I've passed these chairs regularly on walks or runs through the Golden Hill neighborhood and never stopped to pick them up and put them in the trash.  Although it annoyed me that someone would just throw furniture on the side of the street and let it rot I didn't do anything other than be annoyed and think how someone should clean up the mess.  Of course, that someone would be an anonymous cleaning person, or the city, or some concerned neighbor (that wasn't me).

I picked up two of the chair backs today and plan to get the rest of that pile over the next few days.  One small act, and there is a lot more litter and trash on the streets, alleys, and canyons nearby to be picked up.  I plan to continue making a small effort to address the mess in my neighborhood and city.  Hopefully if you're reading this you'll consider doing the same.  Even a small item like a gum wrapper or a cigarette butt helps, especially if we all do a little every day.

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Commentary:

My first few posts on this blog were about picking up litter on my walks with Eva when she was still a newborn (hence the name of this blog, Walking Miss Eva).  I try to pick up at least two pieces of litter, big or small, everyday.  I don't always succeed in this effort.

Although I've written about litter before I think it's well worth revisiting.  The world is increasingly complicated every day - new inventions, new problems and solutions, etc.  But many basic principles still apply and when it comes to helping improve our environment it's hard to find a more tried and true way to do your part than by not littering and helping to clean up the litter left by others.

I hope you have a great day and encourage you to take a moment to pick up some piece(s) of trash you come across on your street today.  

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Suggested action steps:

1. Don't litter
2. Try to pick up at least 2 pieces of litter each day
3. Enjoy the cleaner, more healthy street, neighborhood, and city you've helped to improve

Thank you!

(Here's a photo of the chair backs I picked up today.  I'm planning to use them for trellising in the yard/garden.  Should make for an interesting look and I'll post some photos when they're covered with bougainvillea or another climbing plant.)

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P.P.S.

Couldn't get this song out of my head on the run this morning.

Awesome Bread Sequel - Awesome Pizza

A couple of months ago I posted about our family's effort to make our own bread for 2012.  We continue to enjoy the bread (current tally: 30 loaves made, 2 bought) and tonight I made blood orange and strawberry bread with dark chocolate - I'm excited to see how it turns out tomorrow.  One baked item we had continued to buy at the start of the year was the crust for pizza.  We love pizza and it's fun to make at home - you can experiment with different toppings and it's easy to make.  Amelia found a great recipe for making pizza crust and so since February we haven't bought any pizza crusts and love the taste of the fresh homemade pizzas.

Below is the crust / pizza recipe and a video demonstration of making the pizza.  If you try it out this weekend let me know what you think.  Enjoy!

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Awesome Pizza Recipe

Ingredients (crust):

• 1 package active dry yeast (.25 ounce) 
• 2.5 cups flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Ingredients (toppings):

The following is an example, use any toppings that you like and experiment

• .5 lbs mozzarella cheese
• .25 lbs ricotta cheese
• 3 medium tomatoes
• 8 oz crushed tomatoes
• 1.5 cups mushrooms
• 1 small onion
• .5 cups fresh basil
• .25 cups fresh oregano

Hardware:

• Large Mixing Bowl
• Sheet pan (with raised edges)
• 1 cup measure
• 1 Tbsp measure
• 1 tsp measure
• Knife and cutting board

Below is a video demonstration of making the pizza recipe above - the first 1.5 minutes shows how to make the crust.  Hopefully it's helpful and worth a good laugh at my expense too.

Although pizza might not be the healthiest food in the world we've been trying to cook more at home in general to better understand what goes into our food, and to prepare what we can at home instead of purchasing everything at a store.  Plus, this recipe tastes much better than the crusts we were buying and also costs a lot less (about $1.62 per crust compared to $3 or $4 to purchase).

We try to always use something from our garden on our pizzas and have used arugula, basil, oregano, green onion, and tomatoes (yellow and red) so far.  Using something from the garden each day is a great way to ensure we use what we're growing and reminds us to step outside and see how things are going in the yard.

I hope you enjoyed the post and more importantly, that you enjoyed your pizza!

Stretching the Plant Budget with Craigslist - It's Not Just for Casual Encounters Anymore

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit. 

 ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

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Yesterday's post was about making a monthly budget dedicated to plants and gardening.  Today's post expands on that theme with a great way to get more for your plant money by using Craigslist.  In addition to being a great resource for plants and other items for your yard, Craigslist tons of items for free, or greatly discounted, that may be of interest to you.  (This may be old news to some, but if you're already familiar hopefully it's a good reminder to check out what's going on in the Craigslist world today.)

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Commentary:

Craigslist is a community-oriented website that allows users to create posts about items for sale, job openings, and much more.  (I've bought and sold cars on the site, searched for apartments, and tried to purchase chicken coops among other activities.)  The site has separate pages for many cities and regions in the United States and around the world.  Included on the main Craigslist page for each area is a link to the 'Free' items section (located in the middle column, under the 'For Sale' heading).  In the 'Free' section you'll find all kinds of things people are looking to get rid of - firewood, pianos, cabinets, clothes, plants, and nearly anything else you can imagine.  

The 'Free' section is great resource if you have something you're not using and want to get rid of, especially if it's heavy or hard to move.  You can help out someone else and also get it moved out of your house for free.  Of course, caution should be exercised when inviting people into your home and I would recommend making sure you have someone else with you when they show up and talking to the person on the phone before arranging a pick-up.  My experience with Craigslist has been great, other than the flaky people you can run into that don't show up when they say they will. 

I've been able to pick up a number of fantastic plants and trees on Craigslist for free - some of them I had to dig up, others were in pots and just needed to be picked up.  In addition to free items, checking out estate and garage sales has been a good resource for purchasing plants for cheap.  Below are photos of some of the plants that I've gotten for free on Craigslist.

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Suggested Action Steps:

1. Visit the 'Free' section of your local Craigslist website to see if there are any plants or other free items you would enjoy
1. There is also a 'Farm and Garden' section under the 'For Sale' heading that often has great deals on plants and related items.  (Labelled as 'farm+garden')
2. If you find an item you like, contact the poster via the email or phone number included in their post to arrange pick up
3. Enjoy the additions to your home or yard.  
1. Give yourself a pat on the back for helping to keep items out of the landfill and/or trash.
4. Utilize Craigslist to get rid of your own unwanted items and benefit your local community

Camellia trees, in the trunk of our Oldsmobile Alero. 

Norfolk Pine Tree.  Planted Halloween 2011.  This is a tall tree.

Mexican fan palm.  Heavy.

Cherimoya tree.  I'm really hoping it will fruit next year - delicious!

Planting is a Habit - Budgeting for Nature

Budgets bring to mind spreadsheets, bank accounts, and reducing expenditures.  At their root, I believe budgets are a tool we use for accomplishing a goal.  Whether that goal is to reduce our weight using a food budget, to save for a vacation, or pay off a mortgage budgets can be useful to ensure we stay on the right path to meet our goals.

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Commentary:

Over the past few years I have developed an affinity for plants and working in the yard / garden / alley / apartment.  At some point along the way Amelia decided we needed to put a limit on how much to spend on plants so we created a plant budget.  (I admit I was not a proponent of this plan but life, and especially marriage, is full of compromises.)  We decided on a budget of $30 per month on plant purchases and any unused balance could be rolled over to the following month to allow for larger purchases like trees.  We've adjusted this budget over time and today it is $50 a month - the increase is partially because we have been able to reduce our food bill by growing a garden and partially because I have pitiful puppy dog eyes.

I wasn't very excited when we put the plant budget into place but my view has changed over time.  At first I looked at the budget as a limit on what I could spend on plants, which it is.  But it is also a commitment to regularly making an investment in our yard and garden.  Now we have a monthly trip to the nursery, farmer's market, or garden store and can plan for what we'd like to grow in our garden or what flowers would look good in the front yard.  It's good motivation and a reminder to think about the outdoors and engage on a regular basis.  I'm looking forward to when Eva can help us pick out which plants to try and help with watering and seeing them grow.

Another benefit of having this regular commitment to investing in our yard and garden is the opportunity to try new things.  We probably wouldn't be inclined to try planting borage or yarrow in our garden on a whim - I still don't know what they are going to look or taste like.  However, since we had extra funds in our plant budget last month we picked up these plants for a couple of dollars each and now can learn how they grow, what they look and taste like, and how well they do in our climate.  It's a learning experience in addition to being a part of our yard to enjoy.

If you're looking to learn more about plants, gardening, or landscaping I highly recommend creating a monthly budget / commitment to spend a set amount on plants each month.  Whether it's $5 or $100 a month it's a great reminder to get out in the yard and enjoy the weather.  Making regular visits to the nursery will also teach you a lot about the seasons what should be planted when.  If it gets too cold in the winter you can try something for indoors - an herb for the kitchen or trailing plant for the mantle or windowsill.

Another reason I think it's important to make a regular commitment to plants is to remind us of their importance.  We all rely on plants for food, air, shelter, many of our goods like furniture, to clean our air and water, and for many other purposes and uses.  Despite all that plants do for us I think we know relatively little about the plants that surround us in our own corners of the world, as well as plants that exist in other parts of the world.  Despite the importance of plants to all of us I think in general we spend very little, if anything, on helping plants to thrive and learning more about them.  Especially when compared to the amounts we spend on cable and other discretionary purchases I think spending a comparatively small amount on plants provides a handsome return of knowledge and enjoyment.

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Suggested Action Steps:

1. Create a monthly plant budget
2. Spend your monthly budget at a local nursery or garden store
1. Consider native plantings to attract local wildlife to your yard
3. Enjoy the fruits of your labor in the form of fruits and vegetables, shade, a quieter yard, or more birds and squirrels

Here are a few of the recent additions to our yard.  Thank you to Seeds in the City and City Farmers Nursery here in San Diego for these plants, and for all the information you've shared with me and others!  If you live in San Diego you have to take a trip to City Farmers - it's an amazing place with so many plants (and animals!) to see and learn about.

Bush Monkey Flower (California Native) 

Basil, Mexican Elderberry (California Native), Eggplant - Rosita variety (Puerto Rico)

Reusable Containers at the Seafood / Meat Counter

Last week I finally got rid of my last use of plastic bags at the grocery store - for purchasing seafood.  In previous posts I noted how we eliminated trash bags, plastic shopping bags, and plastic produce bags.  Big thanks to Sprouts Market for the help in cutting the cord on ending this disposable habit.  If you have a Sprouts in your area I highly recommend them for their great selection of produce, bulk items, and organic products.

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Commentary:

A couple of years ago Amelia purchased a set of glass containers to use for packing lunches for work.  I had an old set that were plastic, but we were in the process of reducing the use of plastic in our home (especially in the kitchen) and wanted something that worked better.  The plastic set had become discolored over time and had picked up some smells from past uses.  We've had the glass set for over two years and they have been awesome.  Easy to clean, haven't retained any odor or colors, and have a snap-lock lid that seals really well.  Other than washing in the sink as with other dishes, the only extra cleaning step has been to boil the lids every 6 months or so since they are a bit harder to clean in the lid grooves.

Makin it happen - one fish at a time

I'd been encouraged by how easy it was to stop our use of disposable grocery and produce bags while shopping but had been stuck on how to end our use of the paper and plastic wrappings for our seafood purchases.  Then a few months ago I read about using containers at the meat counter and was excited to give it a try.  I took in our largest size glass container (about a half-gallon size) and asked the gentleman behind the counter if I could use it to make a purchase of 1 pound of haddock.  He responded that was no problem and put the container on the scale to measure the empty weight, then added my fish and totaled the cost.  He even cut the 1 pound into four smaller portions so it was ready for cooking without additional prep.  I asked if a lot of people brought in their own containers and he said I was the first in over a year he'd worked there.  So I suppose that's not very encouraging but maybe I can start a trend.  (Hint, hint . . .)

It was really easy and quick to use my container, and my car (and trash can) didn't pick up the smell from the fish and wrappings.  I take Eva to the San Diego Zoo on the way home from the weekly grocery trip since it's on the way home, so this could sometimes be an issue depending on how warm the day was and my particular selection.

As always, I'm excited to make our lives a little less disposable and do our little part to help make the planet a little greener.

Suggested action steps:

1)  Purchase a set of glass containers with tight, snap-lock lids

2)  Put one or two with your reusable grocery and produce bags in bicycle basket or vehicle trunk

3)  At grocery store, ask seafood / meat counter attendant to place your order in your container

4)  Enjoy the lack of odor in refrigerator, ease of cleaning, and reduced impact on the environment

In related news: 

Solana Beach became the first city in San Diego County to pass a plastic bag ban with a unanimous City Council vote on April 25, 2012. Cheers on helping to reduce the 100 billion plastic bags (Wall Street Journal estimate) Americans produce every year, many of which end up in the oceans.  Please consider supporting similar measures in your community to make our country and planet a more healthy place to live.

After all, if Rwanda has had a national plastic bag ban for years already can't we make a similar effort with our ample resources?