Weekend Waste War II -- Results

I apologize for the delay… sometimes I feel like Labor Day winds up putting on more pressure than it relieves… Oh well, the abbreviated work week that follows is always welcome.

Alvaro, our roommate, and I debated about how we could compost… from the second story… without the stank… while having the bin as convenient as the trash can (if not more so). We don’t mind going the extra step to compost our food scraps outside, but we knew our guests would be more apt to do it if they were faced with the choice outright-- both receptacles right next to each other!

Here’s what we decided on:
- A 5-gallon bucket in the kitchen (sans worms), as accessible as the trash can. We leave the lid off when actively using it; close it when our grubbin’ is done. We continue adding newspaper to cut down on odor, but it never really gets stinky anyway, since we empty it every other day or so.
- The bucket’s contents get transferred to the downstairs vermicomposting bin. Every other week, we use an old screen to sift the processed compost (AKA worm shit) from the food scraps.
- We save the resulting rich fertilizer in a bucket for use in the garden all year round. If we create more than we can use, nearby friends and community gardens can take it off our hands.
- The recycling bin is a bigger version of the trash can (hand-me-downs from Alvaro’s parents). Richmond’s curbside recycling service occurs every two weeks, so we periodically transfer its contents downstairs to the large bin the city provided.

*Photos are a comin’ soon, sorry!

MIND MUNCHIES:

Do you compost?
If so, how? If not, what’s stopping you (living arrangements, etc.)?

Note: I will not be waging a Weekend Waste War for the blog this weekend... but fear not, the war continues...

Weekend Waste War II -- Kitchen Scraps

Happy Friday of Labor Day weekend, fellow laborers.

I’m sick and tired of not keeping up with composting. We have vermicompost outside in the backyard we share with our downstairs neighbors, but the trick is keeping a compost container accessible and convenient in the kitchen, which we fill and then every week or so take downstairs to the worms. (Here's a great local link about how to compost with worms)

This weekend, I’ll be tackling food waste at home (remember, food waste is the theme for THIS UPCOMING ZERO-WASTE WEEK!). My goal is to improve the efficiency of our composting system to fully eliminate our kitchen’s contribution the city’s trash. I’d also like to learn how to better store our goodies; I’d be afraid to know how many spoiled edibles we end up throwing out over time… or all the wasted funds they represent.

I’d also like to get my whole house on board with avoiding the use of trash bags. If you really think about it, virtually all wet waste you create in the kitchen can be composted! Lend me your ideas for reducing kitchen rubbish!

Here’s to bigger compost bins, smaller trash cans, fatter wallets, fuller bellies, and a happy Mama Earth. (Phew, is that too much to for one toast?)

Cheers!

Lessons from Costa Rica -- Redefining Natural Gas

Welcome to the first installment of a new mini-series, Lessons from Costa Rica. Alvaro and I and a dozen others studied abroad in this incredible country in 2011 and learned more than we ever could have imagined in a mere two-and-a-half weeks. We stayed at numerous eco-lodges and with families, immersing ourselves in a whole new perspective on sustainability. [See first post about the Costa Rica trip here].

At La Finca Educativa de Don Juan in La Fortuna, this commitment permeated every single activity on the land, from the most minute to the largest actions, leading to truly holistic responsible land stewardship. For one, they were able to provide 100% of the kitchen's cooking gas... without having to pay a natural gas company hundreds of dollars to fetch it from thousands of feet underground! What was the source, then, you ask? Two cows. Yes, you herd me correctly (couldn't resist).

Basic diagram of a biodigester

The cows are fed each meal at a specific trough...

...those meals leave the other end, landing on a special platform...

...where they then find their way into the biodigester 'bubble': where the gas / slurry is collected and released methane is captured. It is then sent to the kitchen via the green pipe.

For your viewing displeasure...




Surfing trash in Indonesia


 Read article here.

Weekend Waste War I -- Results

The beautiful Lakeside Market

 Alvaro and I split our shopping between the Lakeside Farmers' Market and Whole Foods. We were virgins to both locations. We went to the market first to get what we could from local, responsible farmers, and what we couldn't find there, we'd get at Whole Foods. Their bulk section blew my mind! Build you own trail mix? Bulk honey and agave nectar? I was too
impressed. Does anyone else remember their *first time* to bulk heaven?

Farmers' Market bounty

Here's the waste count for both trips:

Total Waste (Lakeside):
- 2 berry basket 'nets'
- 1 plastic produce bag: one farmer tucked our zucchini and squash into one when we weren't looking, after we'd already asked for none. Oh well, old habits die hard I guess. We give these bags as many lives as we can, but I count 'em as waste since they'll eventually find their way to a landfill =(
-Beef bratwurst packaging
(On our next visit, we'll return the berry and potato baskets for future use.)

Whole Foods bounty

Total Waste (Whole Foods):
-3 plastic bulk bags
-3 twisty ties
-1 metal tie from the coffee bag
-2 small plastic ramekins from samples =/
-4 stickers on which items and PLUs were written
-1 wine cork

    We definitely need to take more jars next time. We had no idea, either, that you're supposed to take your own containers to Customer Service to get them tared prior to shopping... oops. We did that on our own at the bulk scale and really confused the cashier.

Bulk coffee bag from Whole Foods

Room for improvement:
-We'll refuse the berry basket nets that are meant to keep the berries from spilling. We tried in vain to think of any other uses for them. Ideas?
-Take more jars!
-Make bags for produce out of old clothes or pillow cases
-Don't use stickers, just write with... washable marker? Grease pencil? What's best?
-How to avoid trash from sampling:
       -Turn them down next time (unthinkable)
       -Have the sample person drop the goodies right into our hands (too messy)
       -Bring our own little cups (BINGO)

MIND MUNCHIES:

How do you think we could have done better?

What garbage do you create by grocery shopping that you hadn't really thought about before?

Random: Why do our palms get sweaty when we're up high? That doesn't seem like a good survival adaptation. When grabbing onto something is a life or death situation, that's when I need my hands to be drier than the Sahara.

Weekend Waste War I -- Grocery shopping

I'm waging this weekend's war on grocery shopping waste.

Every weekend, I will choose an area of my life or specific activity in which I feel I create unnecessary waste. Then, I'll tackle that challenge like London Fletcher and report the outcomes here.

The battle doesn't stop on Monday, though-- the real challenge is to perpetuate these efforts throughout the coming weeks and months, gradually turning them into life-long habits! Wish me luck; this one may be tough.

Richmond: Where do you do the bulk of your bulk shopping?

Lit Lit series is here

Introducing bi-weekly posts of literature on fire!

These excerpts and artful works ignite my soul & remind me why I do what I do. I'll also sneak in some media sometimes, such as inspiring videos, visual art, and presentations.

Today's radiance was written by Kahlil Gibran:

"All things in this creation exist within you, and all things in you exist in creation; there is no border between you and the closest things, and there is no distance between you and the farthest things, and all things, from the lowest to the loftiest, from the smallest to the greatest, are within you as equal things. In one atom are found all the elements of the earth; in one motion of the mind are found the motions of all the laws of existence; in one drop of water are found the secrets of all the endless oceans; in one aspect of you are found all the aspects of existence."

I wanna know: what artists light you up?