One Small Change: December

Well, it's no surprise that this month's change would have to do with Christmas, this year I'm going to try not to buy any more Christmas paper goods- wrapping paper and wrapping accessories, cards, napkins, paper plates, even bows though I know they're not paper- still they're disposable, and I have enough of them.

In addition to cutting back for the environment's sake- this will help me on a personal mission to de-clutter, I have tons of wrapping paper, and bags- I inherited some with the house, I've saved all the baby and wedding present bags, it's taking up precious Christmas storage space and its time to start fresh anyhow. I love the idea of pretty packages, but this year I'm just going to make do with what I've got, which considering the size of my stash, is actually quite a bit.

It's a small sacrifice so I'm adding another one- no plastic toys for N this year- none from us anyhow- it'll be fabric or wood, or handmade in the hopes that it will cut down on some of the noxious toys we've got here. This is part of a bigger ideal of mine- no plastic toys, but it's a tough one- some of the toys we have are great- educational, long lasting, durable, quiet- even though they are plastic, I' d love to have a fully natural toy chest- but it'll take some time- in the mean while I'll take a few small steps towards it.

How are you making Christmas more Eco-friendly this year?

One Small Change: November

This month for One Small Change, I plan to bring some of the outside in, by starting to keep houseplants. This probably seems like nothing- so many people do this naturally, with out giving it a second thought, but I have cats, and my cats disturb things, or so I thought before I brought in some Herb Plants. I started with some thyme on my kitchen counter, and when they left that alone, I added some tarragon, then I started some chives, all of these have done fine, so apparently my cats don't like herbs. Now I've stepped it up a bit, and brought my Rosemary and Peppermint in from outside. I have no idea if this will work, if they will thrive inside or be left alone for long by my feline friends, but I think it's Worth a shot.

Indoor plants are really good for the air quality of your home, and if these ones work, they could also serve as natural air fresheners, the mint smells heavenly when you brush it, and they're tasty to boot. So I'll follow some directives for growing herbs indoors, and if all goes well maybe I'll even try to grow some greens for eating.

Pickled Peppers

In the spirit of my One Small change for September- (storing my harvest-properly) I've been trying to get a handle on my veggies this week- Pickling peppers, freezing eggplant and parsley, chopping Basil, and ripening tomatoes.

Here's the rundown on what I've done so far- I roasted the eggplant, sliced with olive oil- for about 20 min in a hot oven- then froze it in a single layer, and put it in baggies, I think it'll be easy to use for Eggplant Parmesan- when I take it out- I'll just layer it with the tomato sauce and cheese and finish the baking time.

The Serrano Peppers- I've pickled using this method- They're very good and as a health bonus this recipe has no salt in it and you don't miss it so that's a plus.

The Basil leaves were chopped up in a food processor with some olive oil - then I froze some in ice cube trays and put some in jars in the fridge with some extra oil on top, it seals it the air out so the basil says green and fresh and lovely. You can use this mixture for all sorts of methods and is probably even good uncooked- I've used it on pizza and foccacia bread so far- all with stellar results. Just scoop what you need out of the jar and then even the mixture out and put more oil on top - if you don't do this the basil will brown- I don't know how long this keeps though I expect it'll be good for a couple of months.

I chopped some of the Parsley and froze it in ice cube trays with a small amount of water and also froze some just as it was in zip lock bags.

I still have tomatoes, carrots, melons and potatoes in the garden which need a bit of dry weather to be dug up in- so hopefully I'll get to them this week. I also have Bell Peppers to chop and blanch and freeze and Tomatoes to skin and seed and freeze- though I've read about people who just pop tomatoes right into the freezer as is- has anyone tried this? does it just make more work when you want to use them?

Okay... I have a chocolate Zucchini cake to make...enjoy your weekend!

One Small Change: September

My One Small Change for this month is going to do with the garden, I would like to use and properly store as much from the garden as I can. This may seem like a no brainer- but actually last year- the onions and potatoes we harvested froze in the garage while we were trying to sort out a space inside for them- it was such a shame, I'm determined not to let it happen again.

My onions are already out, and they're hanging to dry in the shop, the beets have been harvested and are being stored in damp sand in a rubber maid container, and we've frozen enough corn on the cob to last us all year. I've grated and frozen zucchini, beets, and Swiss chard, and I still have more to do. I've bought burlap sacks for potatoes and we've got some bins for the squash. But for the most part what I need to focus on is learning a space for everything- we've got a room downstairs that is just storage, and I need to tidy and organize to make space for everything. Fall is perfect for this I think, I'm actually kind of looking forward to clearing out some spaces and giving them a new purpose.

Saving seeds

So far this month my seed saving has been from flowers- which is super easy- the seeds are usually just under the petals, or the seed heads are dry and easy to see. Then you just label and store in an envelope in a dry dark space. More directions can be found here.

I'm planning on using the fermentation method for tomatoes when my tomatoes ripen here with these directions.

For beans and peas I'm doing this, basically just allowing the beans to dry in situ, and then storing.

I was planning on saving squash seeds but after reading this about the possibility of disgusting hybrids, I decided not to- maybe next year I'll try to be more selective about planting and pollination, but for this year I'll just leave it.

I'm pretty happy to have collected what I've got so far- I think I won't need to buy flower seeds next year, which is great- though I'm not super sure what will come of them, because of open pollination I don't know if the colour of the flowers will stay true, but it'll be interesting to see what comes out anyways.

One Small Change- August

I keep on forgetting what month it is! I was all set to do a little recap on how my composting is going ( I'm really enjoying it- and I have a cute little bucket under the counter and everything) and then I realized that it's august- and I need to do another change! how the time flies. This month I'm going to save my seeds.

Usually I buy garden seeds- and I plan to buy some next year- but mostly I'd like to save some from the plants I enjoy this year. I've planted mostly Heirloom seeds so it shouldn't be a problem- I'm going to do a bit of research which I'll share about how my seed saving is going. Seed saving doesn't have a huge environmental impact but every little bit helps I suppose- it's a bit more of a financial change- plus I'll be assured that all my seeds are chemical free for next year and I think that any step closer to organic is a good one.

One Small change- July

This post is really late- but I have been doing my change for the month up until now as well. It's a simple one- Composting. As our garden grows- I've been more aware of how important it is to compost- the soil needs it-if only to improve texture.

One boost that I've noticed in the last week is that I no longer have any veggie waste. I am a notorious veggie waster, My husband says I allow them to 'languish'- which is true- for whatever reason- it's much the same as my inability to return library books- something that seems like it would be easy for me to change- but for whatever reason I just can't do it ( I don't have a library card- but I read a lot- and lately I've been wondering if I can handle the responsibility of one- I mean my god- I do have a child that I manage to take care of- surely I can handle lent books?!?).

This is the best part of composting- my languishing vegetables now have a purpose, and this ability of mine to allow half a watermelon to get to that sticky syrupy phase means that for a household of just 2 adults- we produce a whole lot of compostable matter- It's almost enough to assuage my guilt over spoiled food (almost, but not quite- I was raised catholic after all).

One Small Change- June

I've decided to join in the one small change challenge hosted by Hip Mountain Mama. The premise is simple- every month choose one small thing to change about your life that will positively affect the environment, the idea being that by changing one small thing at a time we can make a bigger impact more easily.

So my June change is going to be no more Paper Towels, I plan to make up some cloth towels, from re-purposed fabric that we can use as we would the disposable kind, mopping up floor spills or other things that the tea towels are just not up to. I'm already washing diapers and wipes, so what's one more thing to launder right?

I'll let you guys know how it goes, I expect that my honey will be hard to convert, as he's used to having them and will specifically ask for them if I'm shopping- (also I'm much more okay with using hand towels on the floor to clean up big messes, what can I say? he's the neat one), but we'll see if the cloth replacements can live up to paper.

Any other ideas for small changes?