CLOSING IN ON THE CHALLENGE FINISH LINE

Day 5 of the challenge and I spent the day at home, preparing for the 4 days of rain that will be starting this evening.  Working and eating at home kept my trash load to a minimum, and the food from my home garden is key to it all.

The daily beer cans show a pattern

This is my actual landfill waste, although

the foam cup and lid will probably

be washed and reused out of a sense

of environmental duty

With 2 days to go until I weigh my household waste, I'm feeling pretty good.  Other than the TV, my waste is fairly minimal.  Knowing that I'm weighing it all has helped me to make a few better (less wasteful) choices.  The bag in the photo above was popping corn (expired 2 years ago), and I chose it over the microwave package in the pantry (plastic wrapper and bag) that I would have to deal with if I chose that route.  The popcorn might have been a bit "weevely", which is why I am not reusing the bag.  My mom always said a few weevels never hurt anyone, but this might be going to far.  

Be well, be sustainable and happy gardening!!

TV TRASHES TRASH CHALLENGE

Day 4 starts with the knowledge that even though my trash (by weight) was minimal,

Everything here can be recycled, 

repurposed, or composted.

the 70 lb. tv and 2 lbs. of batteries and remotes put me way over my 4.4 lb. per person per day, but I'm no quitter so I will see this out to the end.

BTW, while dropping off my electronic waste I took a moment to speak with the attendant helping me.   Old TV's are crushed and become waste.  No recycling, no reusing of parts, no "after life".  Sad news for sure, and something I'll be mindful of in the future.

There was actually a paper plate, napkin and fork from a celebration I attended, but someone whisked them away while I was chatting with my cuz.  I don't know if I would have actually brought the paper plate home or not, but the napkin and fork would have definitely  made it into my purse for composting (napkin) and reusing (fork).  I'm always looking for ways to save money (and the planet) and when it comes to waste, you snooze, you lose.

Here are a few ways I keep my landfill waste to minimum

Food Bags

I decided to stop buying storage bags until I ran out of free options.  That was probably a decade ago. Free options include cereal bags, bread bags, tortilla bags, etc.  I shake any crumbs into the kitchen counter bin to be sent to the compost pile, and store the bags for future use.  

Storage containers

Reusing plastic storage containers keeps them out of the landfill longer and cuts out the need for plastic wrap.  While it is a hassle, consider taking one with you to a restaurant if you know you'll be packing something to take home.  Some plastics can be dangerous in the microwave.  Be cautious or better yet, transfer to a glass bowl before heating.

Plastic bags ready to tumble out

I bring reusable bags when I shop.  In fact, there's an 10¢ bag charge at stores in our area if you don't bring your own, and I'd be more likely to hand carry my items out then I would be to pay the dime if I forgot to bring a bag.  So really, where do all of these bags come from????  The answer:

EVERYWHERE!!!  Everything is wrapped in plastic, comes in plastic, gets stored in plastic.  It's beyond me why anyone would BUY plastic with all of opportunity to reuse what comes to us.  I use smaller (hand size) bags for picking up anything yucky (morning walk with the dog), medium size bags for storage, (especially when traveling) and larger ones line household trashcans.  If I ever run out, I'll buy some...but it's been more than 2 decades since I bought household trash bags so it certainly won't be happening anytime soon.

Cloth is King (or Queen) in our home

Cloth napkins are always the norm here, and make every meal more festive.  They take up very little room in the washing machine, and can be a perfect addition when you just need a few more items for a full load.  

Cloth handkerchiefs are my go to, but not my husbands.  I love how soft they are and they're easy to wash and reuse. If I'm sick, I'll opt for disposable, but the tissues get thrown in the fireplace to be burned on a chilly night.

Be well, be sustainable and happy gardening!!

THE CHALLENGE GETS CRUSHED (AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY)

Day 2 didn't bring a lot of waste, per se.  Early morning saw me (literally) in my bathrobe, syphoning water out of buckets.  This was followed by a few hours on the computer.  No waste.  My afternoon was spent at a sporting event.  My waste included a beer can, a water bottle, a cardboard box and a plastic fork. I'm blaming my husband for the fork.  It was nachos, finger food, darn it.  You're killing me.  I'm not sure if the sports arena recycles the can and cardboard, however,  I did bring the water bottle, paper napkins and plastic wrapper from the fork home.  The napkins are super easy to compost or reuse.  The water bottles will be returned for the deposit and recycled.

Wow.  What's going on with all of that 

PLASTIC!!

Yikes!! What's up with all of the water bottles??  I do have a bit of an explanation.  The sparkling water bottles in the back row comprised part of my "earthquake preparedness" kit.  I had over 100  bottles of filtered water from my refrigerator dispenser stored in a cabinet in my garage.  I kept the water bottles rotated for freshness and I used this bottled water to fill my coffee maker in the morning.  To tell the truth,  I had a mental image of the "Big One" hitting, my house sitting in a pile of rubble, all utilities cut off, but I had water. While the earthquake scene will most likely still happen sometime in the future, the "Big One" that hit was that my old, inefficient refrigerator has stopped filtering water.  I'm now using up my earthquake preparedness water and my fingers are crossed that what I've saved so carefully for my emergency kit won't be needed anytime soon.  Or ever, for that matter.

The bottles will be recycled.  The 

wrapper is landfill bound.

I'd be feeling REALLY good right now, except I've had a challenge disaster.  Today is our citywide electronic waste drop off day.  I've had a TV to get rid of for months, and it's too old to donate or give away.  

This TV must weigh 70 lbs.  

Batteries and remotes not included.

I would love to be able to "not include" this.  After all, it's an old tv, used by 4 people, divided by many years, responsibly discarded, etc. Blah, blah, blah.  It is waste, and as such, will be included in my weekly totals.  Bummer.  On the bright side, it does take the stress out of next weeks Bunco party. It's hard to top over 70 lbs in one day.  Despite the set back, the challenge goes on.  

Be well and happy gardening!

COFFEE

I can’t imagine starting the day without coffee.  In fact, I walk straight to the coffee maker first thing every morning. It’s my favorite way to begin the day and I usually take my last cup outside to enjoy while making my morning gardening rounds.  This means that my first chance of the day to be eco-friendly is with coffee grounds, aka “kitchen scraps”.  I know a few people who flush this wonderful source of garden magic down the garbage disposal, or worse yet, they throw it away (gasp!).  While the debate rages on as to whether coffee is actually healthy or hazardous to us humans, those tiny grains are great to reuse around the house and garden.  

Reusable pods are easy and economical

1.     Add the used grounds, including the paper filter to your compost bin or pile, and let mother nature turn it into compost.

2.      Add to your worm (vermicomposting) bin.  Coffee grounds help worms digest their food.

3.      Scratch or dig used grounds into the soil around any plants that prefer acidic soil conditions such as blueberries, Azaleas and Rhododendrons. Coffee grounds contain many nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, copper and iron. Yummy!

4.      Use as a mulch around plants that prefer acidic soil.  A coffee ground mulch will help to retain moisture, suppress weeds and deter crawling insects while leaching nutrients that your plants will appreciate.  It’s a win-win-win!!

5.       Use between stepping stones in a pathway garden. Large sources can be obtained from your local coffee house (be sure to bring some buckets).  The dark colored grounds look beautiful, suppress weeds, and smell fantastic.

6.      Coffee grounds repel slugs and snails.  Scatter a thick layer around your plants and you can fertilize and prevent damage without the use of chemical products. 

7.      Keep cats from using your garden as a potty by spreading coffee grounds around your plants.

8.      Ants hate coffee grounds.  Sprinkle used grounds on anthills, around your lawn, or anywhere you see ants forming.

9.      Sow carrot seeds mixed with dry coffee grounds when planting.  Coffee grounds make the small seeds easier to sow and some studies suggest that it may also help to repel root maggots. 

10.  Clean and exfoliate your hands after gardening.  My favorite garden soap and a pinch of used grounds is all that’s needed to remove a morning of caked on soil from wrists and hands, leaving my skin soft and smooth as a baby’s…

11.  Use on indoor plants.  A small amount scratched in to the soil surface can give your plants a bit of a boost. 

12.  Help Fido fight fleas.  Rub used and cooled coffee grounds in to your dogs coat after shampooing, then rinse off completely and let the fur dry.  The coffee grounds also help eliminate dog odors.  Be careful that your dog doesn't lick or consume any grounds.  Coffee can be toxic to dogs. 

13.  Use as an air freshener.  Set out a small bowl on your counter or in your refrigerator.  

14.  Use as a scrub (with soap) after handling smelly items such as garlic and fish, to get rid of the unwanted smell.  While your hands may end up smelling a little like coffee, it’s a whole lot better than smelling a lot like fish.  

Keep the used grounds nearby and you'll 

find ample opportunities to reuse them 

15.  Use to scour pots, pans and baked on dishes.

16.  Use as a natural dye on fabrics. 

17.  Use as a natural hair dye or rinse.  If your color is coffee brown, you are definitely in luck. 

18.  Use coffee grounds (fresh or used) to tenderize meat.  Add to your favorite steak rub and allow the meat to marinate for a bit before cooking.  Your steak will be flavorful on the outside with a slight coffee taste and tender on the inside.  I know eating coffee grounds sounds unusual, but trust me, the flavor is amazing!

19.  Use as a natural stain on dark woods.  Add a small amount of vinegar to used grounds.  Let this sit for a day or two before using on wood.  You may need more than one application. 

20.  Before cleaning the ashes out of the fireplace, sprinkle them with damp grounds.  The ashes will be easier to remove and you won’t stir up as much dust. 

21.  Add the grounds to your curbside green bin and let them go to your local composting facility. 

By the way, if you don’t drink the last bit of coffee in the pot, don’t dump it down the drain-pour it on your plants!  Your blueberries (or Rhododendrons) will enjoy it as much as you did.

DID YOU KNOW???
2.25 BILLION PEOPLE (64%) DRINK COFFEE DAILY. 
Being eco-friendly starts early.  How are you going to reuse your coffee grounds?
Be well and happy gardening!

I'M ALWAYS HAPPY WHEN IT RAINS!!

We don't receive that much rain here in Southern California.  About 16 inches is the annual average.  This year is off to a big start, and what is usually a wonderful situation for a gardener, and for California as a whole, is sadly a tough time in the recent burn areas.  My thoughts and prayers go out to all who are affected by the fires, and to the heroic men and woman who gave of their time to fight the fires this past season.

With rain in the overnight forecast I made sure I was set up to harvest as much rain water as possible.  I couldn't wait for dawn to check my progress.

Ready for round 2

Spreading the wealth

I managed to empty the buckets before the 2nd round started.  I should be able to empty the barrels again before I head out for the day.  

DID YOU KNOW??  Soil does an amazing job of capturing and storing water.  Especially if your soil contains a lot of organic material (compost anyone??).  Find ways to keep this precious natural resource on your property.

Be well and happy gardening!

 By early morning I was syphoning of water into the waiting 5 gallon buckets

KEEPING WASTE WHERE IT BELONGS

As a full time tree hugger, keeping my waste to a minimum isn't all that hard.  Taking a picture and showing it to everyone is a little on the creepy side, but in this day and age is anything really over the top??  Knowing my trash is my responsibility keeps me in check (as does knowing it will be viewed), and I had to pause before my "one and done" soup for dinner last night.  Between the plastic wrapper, plastic bowl and plastic lid, it was a waste nightmare.  I did enjoy a fresh from the garden salad that was local, seasonal and organic, so I guess it wasn't a complete failure.

Why, oh why didn't I unwrap my

2019 calendar last week.  

The cardboard and can aren't too tough to deal with, and the bowl and lid will be a greenhouse seed starting pot by tomorrow.  

Be well and happy gardening!

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO??

I haven't added a new post to my blog site in ages.  Lest you think that I've stopped gardening (never), living sustainably (never, ever), or, worse yet, somehow set off for the big garden in the sky, I want to let you know that I am alive and well.  We've added more eco friendly elements to our home and garden, including rooftop solar panels that were installed in December.  We've yet to see much of a change in our electric bill, but we hope to make better progress in the longer (and sunnier) summer months.  We've surrounded our 5 downspouts with rain barrels.  Mother nature doesn't give us much precipitation here in Southern California, but a few hours of cooperation from the clouds (and a bit of a soaking to me as I'm syphoning water into 5 gallon buckets) and I can capture approximately 1000 gallons of water for future use.

Empty trash containers can be repurposed

to hold water during a heavy rain.  

Make sure the containers are clean

if you'll be using the water for edible crops.

If you can't contain it, store it in the soil.  

Your soil can hold an amazing amount of rain.

Much of our household waste is recycled via 7 compost bins, 2 compost tumblers, and 3 worm bins, and I use all of it, along with a healthy amount of purchased organic soil in our raised beds.

Compost Alley!!

Compost bins located next to my raised beds

make it easy to convert garden waste to

black gold!!

Future projects include a backyard shed and pergola constructed of salvaged materials and a chicken coop with (of course) chickens!  Unfortunately, I have more ideas than I actually have time, materials and money, so some things on my list will have to wait a bit longer.  Luckily, one thing that doesn't have to wait is my continued commitment to live as close to a  "waste free" life as I can.  Yeah, I know, that's impossible, right?  I get it.  How can anyone live a waste free life?  Well, actually, it was done for years, and it wasn't all that long ago.  In fact, some of the backyards on my street actually have old incinerators for burning trash.  Crazy, but true.  Now days, with our "one and done" mentality, we barely think about what we throw out.  It goes from our hands to the can, and someone whisks it away so we don't have to think about it again.  Did you know that the average American generates 4.4 lbs of trash daily? That's over 1600 lbs of waste per year, with much of that suitable for reuse, recycling or composting.  Think about how much you throw out each and every day.  What if your trash was sitting in your driveway instead of being hauled away? How much trash would you have, and, more importantly, how would you get rid of it?   What a yucky thought.  All your trash sitting in your yard, smelling up your driveway, attracting rodents and animals.  Wow.  Not cool.  But no one wants a landfill in their back yard, so it really is up to all of us to see how much we can keep out of the waste stream. If you'd like to lower your trash footprint, but don't know where to start, your in luck.  I've been working at this for years, and I'm pretty good at this recycling/reusing/upcycling thing.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I don't make 4.4 lbs of trash a week.  Or do I??

I'm setting out to see HOW LOW CAN I GO!!  Yep, I'm reusing, upcycling, recycling, or whatever it is I need to do to NOT throw away my trash.  At the end of the week, I'll be weighing my trash (and recycling, for that matter) to see where I stand on the tree hugger branch.  I hope you'll follow me and see how I'm doing.  But wait!!  That's not all.  After the weigh in, I'm going to see if I can go even lower.  This is going to be tough.  For starters, I'm already doing quite a bit, but that's my week to host 23 ladies for pot luck and Bunco.  How can I keep the trash count low when it's party time?  Good thing it's not my first party rodeo.

Keeping it trash free means skipping 

the paper and plastic 

 Won't you join me in the challenge and see how low you can go? 

Be well and happy gardening!