On the first Monday of every month, we take on a ‘mission’ – a shift or habit or inspiration – to work on together. There’s strength (and support) in numbers! On the last Thursday of the month, we reconvene to see how far we’ve come.

#6

Are you aware of how much plastic passes through your kitchen? Me, I consider myself a pretty savvy shopper – I buy in bulk, I shop at co-ops and produce stands, and I rely primarily on whole, unprocessed foods. Still . . .

Somehow, each month, I’m filling up trash bags with discarded plastic. Margarine tubs. Yoghurt containers. Lids and pull tops and safety seals. Juice/smoothie bottles. Snack wrappers. Gallon jugs. CLAMSHELLS! (ooh I hate those non-recyclable monsters so much!). That’s a lot of plastic, and plastic is oil!

Of course, I’m sure you’re recycling all that plastic, right? But I’ll tell you what’s even better than recycling: never even using. If you can omit it in the first place, you’re leaps and bounds better than trying to re-use it. And so that’s our goal for this month: Reduce the Plastics in Our Groceries.

This Mission is not about perfection, because it would be damn near impossible – now – to eliminate plastic completely. But, this Mission IS about choices. We can’t all do everything, always (and nor should we try). But what we can do is be aware. We can move with intention. When faced with the option of ‘glass bottle X’ vs ‘plastic bottle Y’, we can make the mindful choice. We can alter our habits to suit our ambitions, oh yes we can.

Are you old enough to remember the 80’s, when styrofoam was everywhere? (I am!) It was everywhere! Styrofoam is so antiquated now, virtually non-existent and totally taboo. That’s because of consumer demand; a campaign by people just like us. We can eliminate plastic too, and end our dependency on petroleum. It starts out small to make a snowball . . .

[Here's the one exception: the bulk bin allowance. For the sake of this Mission, it's okay to use plastic bags for bulk/produce as long as you are re-using them. So no grabbing a brand new baggie, but yes bring your used plastic bags / plastic tupperwares, and fill them from the bins. Fair?]

So, my socially conscious, totally fabulous friends: do you choose to accept this Mission??

BONZAI!

Oi there, Happy weekend!!! That means it’s time to relax, and it’s time once again for comments, critiques, thoughts, support, and suggestions.

So, what’s tickling your noodle? What has inspired you lately? What’s one new thing you want to try this month? I want to know what’s exciting you guys, what YOU’re interested in!

We’re working on building a community here, and every voice counts. Every weekend the Feedback Forum remains at the top of the page, so you can have your say whenever you feel like it. If you’ve got an idea or a question or you just want to introduce yourself and say ‘Oi!’, come back here to have your say!

And don’t forget, this Monday is the final day of this month’s MMM, so make sure you stick with it and see it all the way through.

In the meantime, have a fantabulous weekend!

On the first Monday of every month, we take on a ‘mission’ – a shift or habit or inspiration – to work on together. There’s strength (and support) in numbers! On the last Thursday of the month, we reconvene to see how far we’ve come.

This month’s mission was all about eating. Specifically, making better choices towards a healthier, more sustainable food system. Each Monday, omnivores were challenged to go vegetarian, vegetarians were asked to eat vegan, and vegans (that’s me!) were becoming loca-vores. It sounded simple enough, but for me it wasn’t so easy, after all.

I checked in after the first week to go over some of my issues. At that point I decided to approach being a loca-vore more like I approached my month of RAW. See, with veg*nism, you either are or you aren’t. You either eat ‘X’ or you don’t, period. But eating RAW, and eating locally, can necessitate concessions. (I can get raw olive oil, but I can’t get local olive oil. I can get local tofu, but I can’t get raw tofu. Etc.) A Raw Foodist is one who eats over 80% raw foods, and when I was raw I maintained a 95+% raw diet. So I treated eating locally the same, and I’ve maintained a 95+% local diet each Monday since then.





Monday 17 August 2009

I started this day better prepared, having visited the co-op the day before, this time. What a difference a little foresight makes! Breakfast was a big bowl of watermelon and a glass of OJ. I had a midmorning snack of a nectarine (my fave!), and lunch was that incredible plate shown above. All from my garden, red and yellow tomatoes and Italian basil. I also had an entire plate of my mutant carrots – all of them! An afternoon snack was another bowl of watermelon and the last of the foraged blackberries.




Dinner was quite the feast! Homemade Indian stew (Aaloo Channa Masala?) with potatoes, local chickpeas (score!), onion, tomatoes, spinach, and garlic. I served this over farro and accompanied by my homemade garlic naan bread (local whole wheat flour, w00t!). It was divine.

Things I used that were NOT local: The OJ, which I poured and drank on early-morning autopilot before I even realized it, oil (cooking and olive), vinegar, 1 tsp sugar + 1 tsp yeast + 1 tbsp rice milk for the naan.







Monday 24 August 2009

I didn’t really eat meals, so much as constantly grazed all day. From morning through evening I ate 2 peaches, 3 apples, a foraged pear, and lots of local trail mix. Dinner was a veritable smorgasbord of Mediterranean goodness. I whipped up some homemade roasted garlic hummus with those local chickpeas, I oven roasted a zucchini (from my in-laws garden), I tossed up a little salad of garden cherry tomatoes and [in-laws garden] cucumber, served some sliced onion and raw spinach on the side, and finally, some more homemade bread – pita pockets this time. It was fantastic!

Things I used that were NOT local: olive oil, some lime juice and a scoop of tahini for the hummus, a bit of sugar and yeast for the pitas, and some cranberry juice (it’s medicinal, ya know?)





So, how did it go for all of you guys? Were you successful in your new dietary ambitions? What have you been eating?

Just a reminder that this coming Monday is still a part of August. I’ll be announcing the next Monday Mission so we don’t have to wait ’till the 7th, but I’ll also be finishing up this mission and eating all local. I hope you’ll join me next Monday and see this all the way through to completion. You guys are awesome!

Strawberry propagation is super easy – in fact it happens naturally in each crop. And as the hands-on horticulturist that you are, it’s up to you to make sure it happens efficiently and successfully in your garden!

Like all flowering plants, strawberries reproduce sexually through pollination and fertilization. But strawberries also reproduce asexually, by budding new plants that are clones of their parent. They do this via long stems, called stolons, which shoot out a new bud. If the bud is lucky it will take root and a baby bush will grow. But our gardens rely on more than just luck, right?!

Here’s a guide for getting your strawberries going. Just 5 simple steps, like so:




1.  Find the stolon! It will be an extra long ‘runner’ stem with a small bud at the tip.

The teeny bud with baby leaves.

2.  Move the stolon off its natural trajectory, and set aside. Dig a shallow groove along the stolon’s natural path.

3.  Lay the stolon into the groove and cover with dirt. Only the little bud should stay above ground.

4.  Water and fertilize and then let rest. Check up on the plant a week or so later to see that the bud is growing. True leaves should be emerging.

5.  Eventually you’ll need to check to see that the new plant has taken on roots of its own. I waited 3 or 4 weeks just to be sure. To check that your strawberry is truly independent, grasp the leaves and give a gentle tug. It should stay firmly in the ground.

Success! And more strawberries next year!

Itty Bitty Bonzai is a collection of tiny tips and tricks for living a life more mindful. Small actions, collectively and compounded, become a powerful force of change.

#11 We can all agree on the profound importance of recycling, right? For example, if each US resident would recycle 1 newspaper / week, we could save 36 million trees. How’s that for profound??

I think it’s safe to assume you readers are avid recyclers. (right?!?)

But what about the flipside? Recycling won’t mean a thing if there’s no use for recycled paper. It’s up to consumers (us!) to speak with our dollars and create a demand for post-consumer products. This does double duty environmentalism, as it saves both resources and energy. For example, newspaper made from recycled newsprint only requires half the energy input!

When buying recycled writing and printer paper, try to find the highest post-consumer content. 30% is a good ratio to aim for. Make sure the product is made without chlorine, as this toxin is a major pollutant. Also seek out sustainable fibers such as bamboo.

BONZAI!