Using Craigslist

Many of you have basements full of the type of stuff in the picture above. We have been slowly but surely moving things out of our basement recently, some items going to the recycling center, some getting thrown out, some going to our kids, and surprisingly lots going to paper recycling. But we had another pile: the donation pile. Usually I just put these items in a bag, call Purple Heart or St. Vincent DePaul and have them taken away. This time, however, we had a wide variety of things to donate, not just clothing, and we wanted to come up with a way to get these items to those who could use them (reuse!). So we took photos of 4 items (a popcorner, an old VCR, a small coffeemaker and a Robocub) and put them on Craigslist, in their free section. Within 3 minutes I had at least 15 e-mails, and all of the items were taken. Today, between 3 and 4 PM, we arranged for all of it to be picked up. Many other items we had set out were taken also. So before you think of disposing of an unwanted item, consider this option!

A small point about the Prius

We all know that the Toyota Prius is a relatively small car - it is certainly not a van or SUV. Many people have told us that they would like to buy one, but they need a bigger car to haul stuff. In particular, I remember one conversation with someone who wondered where they would put their rocking chair, if it ever had to be moved. I wondered how often they had to pack up and move a rocking chair, but got the bigger point -- "I need a car big enough to move my stuff."

So Tom and I have owned this little Prius for a few years now, and we have found that, in addition to great mileage, it can haul more than you'd think at first inspection. We really tested its capacity this weekend when we arrived at the mall to pick up our new chair (and this one is full-sized, upholstered, not a little wooden chair). We had forgotten to drive our bigger car that does do most of our hauling (cause hey, we're just like you!), and decided to give the Prius a chance to make it into the hauling hall of fame. As you can see from the relatively un-artistic picture above, our baby pulled through for us.

Next, we're going to try moving our rocking chair - just for the heck of it.

Brennans Strike Gold!

It's leaf-gathering time again! Yes, I know most of you are raking up your leaves right now and putting them out on the curb to be picked up. And let me take the time to say: Thank you! We are taking advantage of your generosity and whisking away your bags soon after they hit the curb. The reason? Leaves are gold to us. A couple of years ago we bisected our backyard with a dry creek, and decided to convert half the yard to a woodlands. This way we'd have less grass to fertilize, cut and water. We covered the existing grass with wood chips and lots of leaves that first year, and each subsequent year we add at least 6 inches of additional leaves. That's why this time of the year is so exciting for us...free ground cover, packaged and waiting for us to come pick it up. We pilfered 41 bags from our unsuspecting neighbors this year, up from last year's count of 27.

Milkweed in November

Two seasons ago we planted a rain garden with tiny plants from the Native Plant Nursery in Ann Arbor. Greg sold us a rain garden kit, about 50 plants for about $35. These plants were about 1-2 inches - we were mostly buying roots. The first year they grew modestly, but the second year they just exploded in size, with many of the plants getting as high as 5-6 feet.

Last week we were outside doing some late fall gardening and Tom took this picture of one of our milkweed plants, just as the seeds were emerging from the pods. As we looked around the garden, we saw seeds scattered among our other plants as well. The milkweed is such a wonderful plant. It is a host plant for monarch butterflies and produces a beautiful flower mid-summer. As you can see, it has its own beauty in the fall as well.

Cork Flooring

At last week's Tuesday meeting, we heard Denny's somewhat depressing report about his search to find a place to recycle old carpeting. First, he could not find anyone who was willing to recycle his carpeting, and then, after doing a bit of research, he found out that carpeting that goes to landfills takes approximately 20,000 years to decompose! I would say that poses a problem - most of us will replace carpeting at least a couple of times in our lifetimes.

Tom and I were at that point this fall. We own a group of 6 condominiums in Longboat Key, Florida, and the carpets in the bedrooms were stained beyond repair and needed to be replaced. The problem for us was the fact that we have never had luck with carpets in rental units - they are stained within months of installation, and within 5 years or so they need to be replaced. We really didn't want to put more carpeting in, knowing that it would have to be replaced within a short period of time. So what to do? Most people like carpeting in their bedrooms.

We decided to follow the example of the IHM Motherhouse in Monroe and go with cork flooring. We knew, after walking on the floors at the Motherhouse, that cork was soft on the feet and quite beautiful, in addition to coming from a sustainable source [cork is considered a rapidly renewable product]. So the flooring was recently installed and the results are beyond our expectations! We love the look, the feel is soft on the feet, there is no echo-factor in the room. We didn't even feel the need to add scatter rugs. We have to see how they will wear, but for now we are quite pleased. By the way, we bought our flooring online at floormall.com, and the type we purchased was Valencia.

Composting

It has taken us a while, but we finally have our composting routine down, so I thought I would share it with you. The composting bucket, pictured above, is kept under the counter, and is pulled up when we're making meals. We toss any food scraps in it, with the exception of meat and dairy. While in Wales this summer, we also learned that you can put any paper towels or napkins in there too. Once a day, or once every other day, we empty this bucket into the bigger bucket in the garage (this one is just a reused kitty litter container with a snap lid). Then once a week we take the garage compost bucket out to our compost bin at the corner of our yard.

You'd be amazed at how much less garbage you take out every week if you compost and recycle paper and plastic. We are down to 2 bags a week. And somehow the compost doesn't smell...

A Visit

Last week the Brennans and Bradleys headed up north to enjoy the beautiful autumn weather and to visit with Mike and Kate Winnell. Mike and Kate live up in the Petoskey area in a home tucked into the woods and surrounded by sunshine and wildlife. We wanted to visit them because Mike has been doing important work classifying aquatic invertebrates for the past 34 years, and we wanted to learn more about what this process has been like. We learned that Mike receives samples gathered by state governments and private organizations, and his responsibility is to take the sample, examine every part of it, and classify all of the species he finds. What great work! Mike's findings are used in studies all across the country - he is considered a nationwide expert.


Best of all, he and Kate are just wonderful people who were kind enough to share an afternoon with some intrepid travelers. After seeing Mike's work space, we were invited to meditate with them in their meditation room, and then had coffee and cake.

The Devil in the Details

I think the story of my coffee mug is a great example of the process we are all going through trying to live a more green lifestyle. A little background: Over the past couple of years, I have read 2 books about garbage (please hear me out...I know I have already lost credibility with any sane person reading this!). First I read Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage by Heather Rogers, and then, apparently compelled to read more on the subject, I read Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash by Elizabeth Royte. The one important message I derived from both books was: Recycling is OK, but the real deal, the thing you absolutely have to start doing, is REDUCE the amount of stuff you consume. One small way I decided to do this was to use a reuseable mug when buying a drink outside of my home. This should be simple, right?

Wrong! First, I actually had to remember to bring my mug with me (helps to carry a bigger purse), and then, a while back when I had my mug with me, I went to a Starbucks and asked them to put my coffee into my mug. I got rewarded with a 10-cent discount, and then watched as the barrista made my coffee in a disposable cup, poured it into my mug, and threw out the cup. Great.

So the next time I went to a Starbucks, I handed my mug to the clerk and said: 'Can you make me a coffee in this mug without using another cup?' 'Sure,' was the reply I received, and when I explained the situation from last time, they told me that the person was not trained correctly, and that their policy is not to use cups just to throw away.

I know this seems microscopic in the grand scheme of things, but it represents decisions and conversations I have every day in so many areas. A big part of the work is just KEEPING AT IT.

Bioneers 2007

We had a great time at the Bioneers Conference this weekend at Marygrove College. Our rain barrel presentation was well attended with 35 participants! At the end of the day, all the barrels were gone. Most important, we found so many others to connect with. We found over 25 people interested in hearing more about our group...maybe it was the cookies!

Another lasagna garden

Another lasagna garden in Troy... I'm preparing it now to let it cook during the winter.
You can see the whole sequence on the lasagna gardening page.

Benefits of Transportation Alternatives

I found this chart today on the No Impact Man blog. It shows the benefits of walking, cycling or using public transportation, as opposed to driving a car, in relation to the obesity rates of various countries. The author of the blog, Colin Beavin, is on month 10 of a year-long project to live more sustainably, and he and his family have not driven since the project began, and so have all lost weight. I can attest to the fact that during the time I lived in Japan and used public transport only (or just my feet), I never had to use a formal exercise program.

Lasagna Gardening, Part III

We thought it might be interesting for you all to see the end result of our lasagna gardening work this year. I'm calling this Part III because we have talked previously about building lasagna gardens, then the planting and growing process, but we have not as yet arrived at the best part -- making delicious food from the harvest. The picture above shows Maureen, Tom and Molly cutting up butternut squash to make soup. We had so much this year we had to make a double recipe. We now have soup for both their household and ours, and it should last until NEXT summer's harvest, looking at the huge amounts we have frozen. If you'd like the recipe, you'll find it on the recipes page.

Techno Trash

We have been working at cleaning stuff out of our house, a little bit at a time. I have taken used books and video tapes to the library, but ended up with some homemade tapes, or tapes missing the boxes, and didn't know what to do with them. In the past I have just thrown them in with the regular trash, but a few years with this group have made me think twice about that option. I googled 'videotapes recycling' and came up with a site called GreenDisk. This company wants all of your techno-trash (see list of acceptable trash), and they promise to "...safely and securely destroy your old data, recover reusable components, and recycle..." it. So I gathered together some old video tapes and threw in a couple of outdated portable disc players, weighed it, boxed it, and went to their site to order a mailing slip for $6.95 (their processing cost). Then I took the box to the post office this morning and paid another $15.46 to send it (note: The post office employees told me that it could have been much cheaper if I had not included the CD players - live and learn). So I'm out about 20 bucks but my conscience is a lot clearer.

Dual Flush Toilets

When we studied water last year, one of the things we discovered was that toilets consumed more water, on average, than anything else in the typical home. This fall we remodeled a bathroom in our home, and decided to take the opportunity to add 2 dual-flush toilets and see how they work. I'm happy to report they are great! In case you are not familiar with these toilets, the picture above shows how they work. You push the smaller button (.9 gallons per flush) if you are flushing down liquid waste, and the larger button (1.6 gallons per flush) for solid waste. This model is a Toto Aquia Dual Flush Toilet.

September 2007 Conversation- Mediterranean Cooking

Last night we experienced a feast for the senses. Erica gave us a lesson in low-impact, Mediterranean cooking. We started preparing foods at about 4, and were finally serving the meal around 7. We learned to make herb-stuffed eggs, sweet peppers with tuna, grilled eggplant and zucchini, swiss chard/spinach fillo quiche, tomato sauce with fresh herbs, a mixed green frittata, and for dessert, filled peaches. We learned to talk to our food, and to listen. When we asked to set a timer for the stuffed peaches, Erica responded: 'Don't worry - they will talk to me.' It's also important to know that we don't need to pity the tomatoes when we squeeze the juice from them - Erica assured us that they are fine. More pictures: September 2007 Conversation. Here are the recipes. Here's a sample of the evening:

Michigan State Recognition for Green Leadership

Four colleges and universities have received the 2007 Campus Sustainability Leadership Award from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

The winners, who were honored at the Greening of the Campus conference at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., were Michigan State University, East Lansing; Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt.; Green Mountain College, Poultney, Vt.; and Chandler-Gilbert Community College, Chandler, Ariz.

The awards recognize schools that have made substantial commitments to sustainability in governance and administration, operations, curriculum and research, campus culture and community outreach.

Michigan State received the award for four-year schools with more than 7,500 students. Among the university's efforts: Developing an expanded recycling center; incorporation of LEED design practices into campus construction standards; using design strategies for parking lots to reduce storm water run off and frequency of mowing; switching all farm equipment and university-owned diesel trucks on campus to bio-diesel fuel; adding 15 hybrid vehicles to the campus fleet; opening a full-time bike center; updating its campus plan to call for a coordinated bicycle system that includes convenient and appropriately sized storage facilities, bike lanes within roadways, and pathways where appropriate.

For the full story:

Green School and University

TerraCycle

Here's a great new company (about 2 years old) out of Trenton NJ founded by a couple of Princeton guys Terracycle. This is a plant fertilizer made entirely from composted garbage and, yes, worm poop. Even their packaging is recycled. They package the product in 20 oz pop bottles that are collected by groups (esp. schools) around the country. The spray tops are from other companies' leftovers as are the boxes they use for shipping and bottle collection. I'm going to go get some of their products and give them a try. Check out the site - it's great! --- Martha

I also found a great product at Ace Hardward for ridding me of those pesky Japanese beetles. This trap attracts the beetles with a scent and then they fall into the bag and can't get out. I've already caught around a hundred of them and this is not the height of the beetle season. I'll put another out next spring when they begin to hatch. NO PESTICIDES!!!

Biking at night

Many of us are trying to bike as much as possible, and one of the limitations of bike riding, especially in the fall or spring (my favorite weather!), is that the days become a little shorter, and it may be more dangerous to ride early or late. I bought a new bike light that has a strobe feature, and was anxious to try it out, so the other day Tom and I met Helen and Tom for a little CSA-vegetable exchange and stopped to partake in some ice cream. As is usual, we had such a good time talking, we discovered that we were going to have to ride home at dusk. No problem! Take a look at the video and see what I mean. Who's going to miss me when they see this light? By the way, this is a CatEye light and I bought it at REI. They have a wide selection of lights.

Eating locally

Our lasagna gardening project is producing food in abundance! This past Sunday, Tom and Peggy trooped out to the garden to harvest tomatoes. We had to whack our way in, mainly because the 2 squash plants have decided to take over. You can see from the picture that some of the broccoli has gone to flower, but we have been able to harvest quite a bit of it first. The broccoli made a delicious cream of broccoli soup, and with the tomatoes we were able to make a fantastic spaghetti sauce. Yum.

Summer Reading

This summer I read'' Animal, Vegetable, Miracle'' by Barbara Kingsolver and I was quite impressed with the book. The author and her family moved from Arizona to an inherited farm in western Virginia and decided to 'live off the land' for a year. This means that they grew their own fruits and vegetables, and even raised their own chickens and turkeys for consumption. They also agreed that to supplement their diet, they could buy organic foods grown within a 100-mile radius of their home. The book is arranged sequentially, from April to the following March, and tells about the process of growing, raising and finally eating foods seasonally. Many of us have joined CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture groups), and reading this book has been a great affirmation of that decision. I have the book to loan out if anyone would like to read it.

Wales

Tom and Peggy took a trip to London and Wales to visit a number of centers/organizations for sustainability: Bioregional in London, Centre for Alternative Technology in in Machynlleth, Wales, and Sustainable Wales in Porthcawl, Wales. Here are our notes: Wales Trip. Take a photo tour on our Great Lakes Green Initiative Flickr page.

The Rain Garden

I wanted to take this picture to show how big our rain garden plants are. We planted them last year as tiny plugs, and this year they are....well, you can see these milkweed plants are just about the same size as Tom. The monarch butterflies are loving it. We got our plants from the Native Plant Nursery in Ann Arbor.

Watering Can

I received a new watering can for Mother's Day, and it's great for the rain barrel. It's hard to see in this picture, but it has a nice wide opening at the top for the water to pour into, and a great spout for sprinkling flowers. It came from Bordines.

Rain Barrel BBQ

On Saturday, June 16th, we gathered in the Bradleys' garage for the 2nd annual rain barrel bbq. We made 14 barrels, and have orders for 4 more. Take a look at the Rain Barrel Barbecue - June 16th page for more pictures from the day.

Stenciled rain barrel

Our first experiment with stencil... please look at it and give me some feedback. (Thanks to Toni for let me use her rainbarrel)-- Erica
- Very artistic! tom.

Bulbs

Recently it came to our attention that the newer compact fluorescent bulbs were perhaps more trouble than they were worth, given the fact that they contain mercury and could pose a hazard if they broke in your home (mercury is a toxic substance). Helen did a little research on this, and found that they contain only a tiny fraction of the amount of mercury found in an old-fashioned thermometer. That was good news. In a bit of serendipity, Tom received an e-mail from his favorite bulb supplier, 1000 Bulbs, and they were promoting a new Neolite Compact Fluorescent that has the smallest amounts of mercury available (1 mil. vs. 5 mls.). This is very encouraging. These bulbs still have to be recycled, not in your recycling bin, but they need to be taken to SOCCRA and disposed of as hazardous waste.

Storm Drains Project

On Saturday, June 2, a group of us traveled to 3 neighborhoods in Troy and marked their drains to remind residents not to dump any foreign material into their storm sewers. We had 3 kids helping us, Caroline, Anna and Miyo, and they placed door hangers on doors with information and links to our 7 Simple Steps to Clean Water page. After we were done, we joined the River Day Project in Troy for lunch. It was a great time, and we decided that we'd love to do another storm-drain-marking day in the fall. Click here for more pictures: Storm Drain Marking Pictures.

Using Organic Fertilizers

We are beginning our second year of organic fertilization, and thought we'd show you that the lawn looks just as good as when we were using a chemical fertilizer. We put corn gluten on in the spring and chicken manure on in the fall. We do have to pull out a few dandelions at the beginning of the season, but that's the only difference we have noticed so far.
Learn more about organic lawn care

Rain Barrel

This spring we have planted about 120 native plant plugs, in addition to a number of other flowers, and have not turned on the hose yet. When we need to water, we just fill up a bucket or watering can at our rain barrel. It takes just the tiniest rainfall to fill it up. We still have not turned our sprinklers on, either, and we think we'll keep going as long as we can without using them.

Learn how to make a rain barrel

Reuseable Shopping Bag

I bought this bag at Urban Outfitters to take with me while shopping at the mall, or any place other than a grocery-type store. I keep it in the trunk of my car and use it for all of my purchases. Last time I was at the mall, I made 4 stops and everywhere I went the salesclerks wanted to know where I got the shopping bag. They all thought it was a good idea - they themselves indicated that they feel the plastic bags or big shopping bags are a waste.

And if you want to see how mainstream reuseable bags are, please note that Oprah has her own bag that she is now distributing.

My bag was $16. It is made of a material that feels like oilcloth.

Gesu Garden Site Visit

Martha and Tom headed down to Gesu Elementary School to check out the children's garden and to meet with Michelle, the science teacher who is overseeing this project. Tom was able to firm up a couple of dates to get some work done. We will be installing some gutters and a rain barrel on the garage that is located across the parking lot from the garden (about 100 yds.), helping to improve the soil conditions by adding compost, soil and mulch, and putting in some lasagna gardens.

Visiting the Clinton River Watershed

On Tuesday Dan Keifer, development director of the Clinton River Watershed Council, hosted a group of us at their offices in Rochester. What a great guy...very knowledgeable and committed. He started by explaining about the 10,000 year history of the Clinton River Watershed. The glaciers made the river and the moraine landscape. The Clinton River is very unique in that it is so close to Detroit, yet it has the natural characteristics of a northern Michigan River. Dan talked about the great progress that has been made from the days when the Clinton River was known as one of the worst rivers in Michigan to now when the trout and salmon have returned. The challenge now is dealing with all the development pressures on the river. Dan is personally meeting with developers and trying to find an eco-economic balance where both business and river can thrive. He believes that we have been disconnected from the natural world that surrounds and sustains us and that it is vital for both ourselves and for our environment that we begin to reconnect. This is a personal mission of Dan's that is very inspirational.

Mass Transit on Vacation

We've lately been trying to combine vacation travel with an opportunity to use public transportation. This past week we went to Washington DC for 5 days and used public transportation only. We used trains to get us to and from the airport, and to get us everywhere we needed to go. DC has an excellent transit system and it's pretty inexpensive - $6.00 per person for a daily pass. That's a whole lot less than renting a car. And where would you park in this city, anyway? Here we are boarding one of our trains.

One more thing: rolling luggage and backpacks help immensely.

Raising Gardens with Fallen Trees

This past Saturday, the Brennans and the Bradleys went to work building the frames for lasagna gardening. After trooping through the woods next to the Brennans' home to gather the fallen ash wood, they laid out the logs, cut them to the length they wanted (3 for each side - 12 in all), stacked them on top of each other, drilled down into all 3 layers, and then put bamboo stakes into the holes to hold them together.

Restaurant leftovers....what to do?

I mentioned at our Tuesday meeting that we have had some success with the Rubbermaid collapsible containers we bought for leftovers from restaurants. They are so flat...

...you can keep them in your purse. When it's time to take some of that food home...

...you just pop it open and put your leftovers in. I bought mine at Kroger, and you can also get them at K-Mart. One more step towards a no-styrofoam world.
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