Attitude of Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you enjoy your day!

Here are a couple of simple tips to help make this Thanksgiving a green one.

If possible try choosing organic and locally grown or produced items for your meal tomorrow!

Try an Organic Turkey from a Local Farm. If you haven't picked one up yet and you're in the Madison area, Willy Street Coop has fresh, all natural, free range turkeys from Bell & Evans
http://www.bellandevans.com/index.cfm?act=about_us
and frozen organic birds from Organic Prairie
http://www.organicprairie.com/?gclid=CLmBjp3xuaUCFQNrKgodpWzHZg.

Plus you don't need to pre-order so even if you haven't planned ahead you can swing by and pick up your bird for tomorrow!

Make a Homemade Pie with local ingredients! It should be easy to find some local pumpkins and apples. My mom is making our homemade pumpkin pie today. I'm so grateful!
Here's a simple recipe to try!
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/real-homemade-pumpkin-pie/Detail.aspx

As always if you can, get your vegetables local and organic. I'll be making my creole roasted yams tomorrow with organic olive oil and yams!

If possible, visit your local bakery today to grab some locally made items like rolls and bread for stuffing!

Save your leftovers! I don't eat turkey but I can still remember how much I loved cold turkey sandwiches the days following Thanksgiving.
Pack your leftovers in your empty containers (your #5 plastics that you've been saving to drop off at Whole Foods perhaps) and send them away with family and friends.

If you are throwing away leftovers, try to pitch them in the compost bin instead of the garbage. According to the EPA, food scraps, yard trimmings and wood waster are the largest component of our trash and make up over two-thirds of the solid waste that ends up in landfills.


Got plans for the day after Thanksgiving? How about celebrating Buy Nothing Day! According to the BuyNothingDay website, the Friday after Thanksgiving is your special day to unshop, unspend and unwind. Relax and do nothing for the economy and yourself, at least for a day!

http://www.buynothingday.org/buynothing.html

Buy Nothing Day, is an international day to protest consumerism. The first organized celebration was in 1992.
Take some time for yourself, stop, breath, and examine your consumption. I plan on taking a yoga class and cleaning my house on Friday. My sister has planned a day to decorate the house for the holidays with her kids (ages 2 and 4)
She has prepped herself with some good music and champagne for a morning mimosa. Sounds divine!

Plastic State of Mind - Love this!

Seriously

I just wrote Mike an email that began: "Hey Mike, Hope your day is going well! It was nice biking into work with you today...even though it was really cold and windy and otherwise unpleasant."


It is not nice outside. Truth.
November 19th and we are still biking into work. Styling the gloves, warm wind-breakers, skiing socks and on some days the long underwear (long-johns).
In my opinion Gore Bike Wear carries some of the best biking gear available.
http://www.gorebikewear.com/remote/Satellite/HomePage

If you're not looking to shell out a lot of cash, Bike Nashbar is a great websites for deals.

Bike Nashbar: http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/TopCategories_10053_10052_-1?cm_mmc=Google-_-Non%20Brand-_-G_Nashbar_Official_Site-_-BikeNashbar


Today I was lucky enough to ride in with Mike since we were leaving for work at the same time. He is stronger than I am and the cold doesn't seem to faze him as much as it does me.

As we biked along he said, "your biking fast." I laughed and replied, "because it's cold out!" After another minute or so he said, "do you think it's in the the 40s?" And I exclaimed, "It's 32 degrees!".

I'm not sure how long I'm going to make it!

_______________________________________________________

My office building is very bike friendly and we have numerous options for bike parking. I choose to park my bike at the designated bike racks in the parking garage. It's so nice to know that if it's raining outside my bike is protected. Today as I was heading towards the door from the parking garage to the building I could smell cigarette smoke. Someone was smoking in the parking garage, and not just in the garage but right next to the door.

I was asking myself who would smoke right next to the door like that..and why?! Probably because it's too cold to smoke outside.

Seriously...If people can bike to work when it's 32 degrees, work outside when it's 32 degrees, and the unfortunate homeless population in town can sleep outside when it's 32 degrees, than one would think people should be able walk 25 feet away from the building and stand there for 2 minutes to enjoy their cigarette. I know and love several people who smoke, so I'm not judging this personal choice ..however, have some respect people!

I was fortunate enough to ride the elevator up with the perpetrator and had my face not been completely frozen I might have said something to her directly.
Though, I've never been good at confrontation and I probably wouldn't have said anything. So instead I will post my dissatisfaction here today and maybe later I'll file a complaint.

Co-op Grocery Stores

It is common today to walk into a standard grocery store or super-market and find vegetarian, vegan, natural, local and organic options. Thirty years ago things were a little different and thus Food Cooperatives were established to help make natural and organic options more affordable to members. A Co-op can purchase larger quantities of these goods and supply them at a discount.

I've grown up a co-op member. As a child, my mother would frequent both Willy Street Co-op and Mifflin Street Co-op with my sister and I in tow.

Willy Street Co-op, http://www.willystreet.coop/, affectionately and simply referred to as Willy Street or just The Co-op by many has been a landmark on Williamson (Willy) Street in Madison since the 1970s. It has changed locations several times in the last 30+ years but has always remained on Willy Street and has grown into probably the most successful business in the neighborhood. My mother would take us to The Co-op when it was located at 1202 Williamson Street (currently the Social Justice Center). The aisles were narrow but the space was bright and lively. I remember being excited to help pick snacks from the bulk bins...sesame sticks were my favorite. I wonder if perhaps this was a favorite snack of mine because I associated them with Oscar and my other friends on Sesame Street. Even at this smaller location the Coop offered a corner for children to play while their parents wondered the aisles.

The Mifflin Co-op opened in 1969 as a grassroots way of taking back the food supply. And though it was a neighborhood gem for decades in Madison it unfortunately closed 5 years ago due to financial struggles. I have fond memories of this Co-op as well...it was cozier than Willy Street and offered different items, like candy. I remember one trip in particular. I was begging my mom to buy me some chocolates that were wrapped in colorful aluminum foil. The chocolates looked like shiny coins in pink, yellow and purple! Oh my my! Now, I wasn't the type of child to throw a fit, but I desperately wanted to enjoy some of these fabulous shiny chocolates. My mother didn't buy us traditional sweets, so I knew that if we were going to get some candy it would be some "healthy" candy from the co-op. After begging and pleading my case my mother had to finally explain to me that the object of my 10 year old desire, these shiny coins were not chocolate candies but shiny condoms. I'm sure I argued, surely this was candy and my mom was trying to pull a fast-one on me. She was clearly making this up. After that episode and the conversation to follow, my sister and I stared in awe at those shiny coins every time we went into the Mifflin Street Co-op.

...That was then and this is now.

Mike and I currently belong to the Willy Street Co-op and the Regent Street Co-op, http://www.regentmarketcoop.org/?page_id=30. The Regent Street Co-op was founded in 1998, but the store has been a grocer since 1924. I love this neighborhood co-op. It does carry a lot of organic and natural items, but not specifically. You can still find Heinz ketchup and Lays Potato Chips if these are items you enjoy. The Regent Street Co-op's strength is definitely in its deli. The deli offers fabulous meat and fish options and if you stop by on a Saturday morning you may be able to see one of the oldest butchers in town. Stop by, say hi and grab one of his wife's homemade brownies before they're all gone! This is still truly a neighborhood grocery store!

Willy Street Co-op, has just opened its second location in Middleton!
I'm very excited for the new Willy Street location. It is located at 6825 University Ave. at the corner of Park and University, in Middleton. Hopefully the new location will help ease traffic and parking concerns at the original location and gain even more members on the West side! Our home is right in between the two Willy co-ops, so we'll have options now! Willy Street's strength is definitely its bulk section and I'm driven to start buying more in bulk to help drive down our waste (cans, jars, bags) and help drive up our percentage of local and organic groceries.


From sesame sticks to shiny condoms, I have a soft spot in my heart for co-op grocery stores and I always will.

Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index | Video on TED.com

Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index | Video on TED.com

Eating Local

What a nice weekend! The weather in Madison has been absolutely unbelievable. It has been in or near the 60 degree range for the past 4 days. I could get accustomed to this kind of weather in November.

Last weekend was REAP's Pie Palooza.
I had a wonderful time volunteering and met up with friends after my volunteer shift to try some pie for myself! I tried a delicious slice of spinach quiche and a fabulous slice of sweet potato pie. Our two pieces came with salad, beverages and an added bonus...Sassy Cow Creamery Ice Cream! http://www.sassycowcreamery.com/Index.htm

Mike and I also went to a dinner party this past weekend where we were fortunate enough to eat a wonderful Mexican meal made with local ingredients. Our friends grilled local venison meat and we had home-made salsa from locally grown tomatillos, peppers and tomatoes. What a treat indeed!

In Wisconsin we are getting ready for a long and cold winter (though recent temperatures don't show it). As the temperatures dip and the days get shorter the growing season ends.
So what can we do to ensure that we keep eating local?

1. CSA Winter Shares. I just realized that some CSA farms have a winter option that extends your CSA season into December. Winter shares typically include cold-hardy crops like spinach, broccoli, and kale, as well as storage crops like carrots, potatoes, squash, onions and garlic. I will definitely be looking into a winter share next year!

2. Indoor Farmers Markets. Many farmers markets move indoors in the colder months. It may take some research to find out what is available in the area, but it is well worth it!
In Madison, the Dane County Farmers Market moves indoors this weekend to the Monona Terrace. Some items that are likely to be found are;

Fruits (Apples Cider, Jams, jellies, and preserves; Pears; Pear and apple butters; Raspberry products), Stored Vegetables (Carrots, Garlic, Potatoes, Shallots, Turnips), Fresh Vegetables (Chard, Greens, Kale, Lettuce, Micro-greens, Radish, Spinach, Tomatoes), Meats Beef, Bison, Brats and sausage, Chicken), Cheeses (Flavored cheeses, Goat cheese, World-class aged cheeses, Fresh cheese curds) and Baked Goods (Biscotti, Cheesecake, Pastries, Cinnamon rolls, Breads) Specialty Items (Mushrooms, Maple syrup, Wool products, Candles, Honey, Pesto, Vinaigrettes, Eggs, Hot sauces, Flavored sea salt, Goat milk soap, Salsa, Yarn, Sheepskins, Hides and leather, Soups, Pasta sauce, Fresh-ground whole wheat flour, Herbal vinegar)

3. Preserving: Canning/Pickling/Freezing/Drying. If the proper equipment is available preserving is a wonderful way to extend the use of local vegetables and fruits. Meats, fish, and berries can be easily stored in the freezer. Herbs, mushrooms and some vegetables can be dried using a dehydrator. Fruits and Vegetables can be canned and cucumbers, carrots and beans can be pickled. I'm not a "canner" but here is a link to helpful tips. http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/

4. Think beyond locally grown. Don't forget to focus on locally produced and supplied items in the winter. Even though our growing season is limited, there are plenty of companies that produce breads, sauces, salsas, pastas, milk,(etc.) all year long!


The challenge to eat local will increase in the next 6 months but I'm excited to see what kind of things Mike and I can come up with to keep our local/organic percentage as high as possible.

REAP's Pie Palooza Brunch

This Sunday - November 7th, REAP (research, education, action and policy on food group) is holding their annual Pie Palooza at the Goodman Community Center in Madison!





I've never been to this event, but this year I'll be volunteering and hope to sit down for brunch after my shift.

Local chefs and bakers create recipes for pies that range from very savory to very sweet! Some of the local chefs and bakers come from my favorite Madison restaurants. Hubbard Avenue Diner, Monty's Blue Plate, Crema Cafe and Lombardino's are all on the list of contributors! From the pie varieties on the REAP website, I'm hoping I can try the Autumn Harvest Quiche (w/ squash, onion, parsnips, spinach, and sweet potatotes) and the Pumpkin Pie (with hickory nuts and caramel)!

http://www.reapfoodgroup.org/Programs-Events/pie-palooza.html

Tickets are $16.00 and can be purchased online. Pie is served in three separate seatings; 9:30-10:30am, 10:30-11:30am, and 11:30-12:30pm.

All proceeds support REAP programs in Southern Wisconsin. REAP is a local non-profit organization that supports sustainable agriculture. Their local programs help bring fresh local produce to classrooms and link farmers with business owners to get local produce into our restaurants. Events like this one help our community build a sustainable food system!

Sounds like a perfect way to warm up on a chilly Autumn morning!

Today

Update: I broke down this morning and I turned the heat on. I did so for two reasons;

1. it is going to get cold tonight (25 degrees F)
and
2. it is my birthday. And damn it, I deserve to be comfortable on my birthday.

It's set at 56 degrees..but it is on today. I will contemplate turning it off tomorrow.

Community Supported Agriculture

Buying Local:

Our grocery bill has increased in the last few weeks as our CSA has ended for the year. If you're unfamiliar with a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture it is (from Wikipedia) a socio-economic model of agriculture and food distribution. A CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation where the growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production. CSAs usually consist of a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables and fruit in a vegetable box scheme, sometimes including dairy products and meat.

This was our second year buying a CSA share from Young Earth Farm. http://www.youngearthfarm.com/
We went with Young Earth as our CSA provider because they deliver their produce boxes to the co-op grocery store a block from our house. Typically Farms will offer a full share and half share option. Some farms deliver produce boxes every week and some farms have a twice-a-month option. Mike and I have gone with the half-share which delivers every other Thursday from the end of May to the beginning of October.

Joining a CSA, is a great way to help local farmers, feed your family fresh organic produce, save money and try new foods! Most of the local CSAs in Dane County range from $300 for a half share to $700 for a full share. This may seem like a lot of money but I've determined that the amount of money I would spend if I bought all this produce locally and organically would far exceed my investment in the CSA. For example, in the middle of August we are usually surprised with two large bags of tomatoes in our CSA box. It would cost me probably over $75 to purchase the equivalent in organic tomatoes from the grocery store!

Also, a lot of health insurance companies will reimburse you a portion of your expense! Mike and I get reimbursed a total of $200 through our separate insurance companies, so we're left only paying $100 out of pocket for boxes and boxes of fresh, organic produce!!!





I must admit that on occasion, we were left scratching our heads looking at some of the items we receive in our CSA. I am not a fan of beets or brussel sprouts and even when reading the recipes provided by our farm, I still don't want to prepare and eat them. Luckily, most of the foods we receive are standards that we would purchase in the store anyway and the odd things we try to give away to family and friends.

It makes so much sense to try and purchase local vegetables when possible, not only from an environmental perspective but also a nutritional perspective! Research continues to prove that the more fresh a vegetable is, the more nutrients it contains. Some research shows that as soon as you pick a vegetable or fruit it begins to lose it's nutritional value and other research shows that as soon as you cut a fruit or vegetable it begins to further lose it's nutritional value.

To me it just makes sense that if we don't have the space, time or ability to grow our own vegetables...we should be getting our vegetables from our neighbors!
Now that the growing season has come to an end, we are left with rummaging through the grocery store aisles, reading labels to ensure that our vegetables are organic and if possible from a country closer than Syria.

Next year if you're in or around Dane County and interested in finding a farm to support, check out MACSAC, Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition.
http://www.macsac.org/index.html
Here you can look up farms, prices, and drop-off sites. They also host an open house every spring where people can come out and meet the farmers, ask questions and sign up for their CSA.

Here comes the Challenge

Drive Less:

Brrrr. It's cold this morning. 28 degrees with frost on the grass and the car when I left the house. It was the kind of morning when I spend 15 seconds debating whether to wear my bike helmet or my knit winter hat. Only 15 seconds because the obvious choice this morning was the winter hat!

It is obvious to me today that this Green Faster Challenge is going to become a much bigger challenge in the up-coming months. It's easy to stand tall and declare, "I bike to work everyday", when it's 75 degrees and sunny. It is a bit harder to do that with a smile on your face when the temperatures dip below 35 degrees in the morning. Luckily today it should hit 65 for the commute home...so my cold-weather bike challenge is cut in half, as only one leg of the ride is uncomfortable. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to continue biking to work, but I'm going to try to go as many days this fall and into the Winter as possible. I'll keep you posted. :}

My co-worker, Aaron, is trying to promote winter biking in Madison. Chicago has an established community of winter bicycle commuters who promote winter biking by holding frequent meetings and workshops. They also put on fun events like the "Santa Rampage", in which bikers dress in their finest Santa inspired costumes and bike around down-town Chicago on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. http://bikewinter.org/main.php
Chicago's group is quite intense and it seems that Milwaukee has a decent size group as well. However Madison, which has been coined one of the best biking communities in the country hasn't established itself as a powerful winter bicycling community. My co-worker Aaron is trying to help change this and he has set up a kick-off meeting on November 3rd. Check it out! See the Madison link on this page. http://bikewinter.org/




Reduce Energy Use:

We've not yet turned on the heat, which has lead to some cold mornings getting ready for work. Again, the day will warm up and the house will be comfortable when we get home, so it hasn't been too much of an issue to date. Mike and I haven't discussed yet exactly when we will turn on the heat this year, but I'd like to try to make it through October at least without! I'm tempted to turn it on to a minimum of 55 degrees or so just to keep my sanity.

I received our MGE utility bill on Wednesday and was surprised to see that it was $20.00 less than it has been all summer! We only used 233 kwh last month, where we had been standing strong at 320 kwh each month this summer. I think the power-strips have been paying off! (plugging multiple appliances into one strip and shutting the whole strip off when not in use). We have also been unplugging the television when it's not on to kill the small light. . Another thing we've been working on is using task-based lighting in the kitchen. When I'm working at the stove or kitchen sink, instead of turning the over-head kitchen light on, I will work with only the stove light or the kitchen sink light on. As the sun sets earlier in the evening...the lighting challenges in the house will begin...but I think we're ready!

Bike Racks

Drive Less

Long time..no blog. Mike and I were out in California visiting family last week. We had an amazing time, beautiful weather, surrounded by wonderful people. Now we're back to the grind in Mad-town.

I weighed our garbage today for the week...and I was shocked that we had 10 lbs of garbage and 9 lbs of recyclables. I'm not sure how that happened....but this coming month we will be focusing on Wasting Less! We've done some things to decrease our waste production, like eliminating paper towels completely and eliminating plastic zip-lock bags. I guess those two items don't weigh all that much though so we haven't seen a big decrease in garbage weight.

Last month our challenge was to drive less. It has been really easy for the past 8 months with the early spring and beautiful summer now turning into a beautiful fall. We haven't had any rainy days this month to prevent us from biking into work. Soon enough though I know it will get cold and it will start snowing and we will be challenged. I will be taking the Madison Metro Bus to work this winter. For some, the thought of sitting outside waiting for a bus when the wind is gusting and the temps are freezing does not sound like a great way to start the day. I know it's not my favorite way to start the day!! Madison Metro has some helpful tools on their website to reduce wait time. My favorite is the real-time bus tracker!


http://www.cityofmadison.com/Metro/planyourtrip/transitTracker.cfm

I just choose Stop Tracker (Using Dropdown Menus) and choose my route, my direction and my stop and it gives the next 3 bus arrival times.

**Make sure that when you've got your bus arrival times to check that it is for the right direction! Sometimes it's unclear, but when you have the 3 arrival times it should tell you which direction the bus is heading.

I have bookmarked two links on my phone. One is my bus route from home to work and the second is my bus route from work to home.

When I'm getting ready to leave, I pull up the appropriate link that I've saved on my phone to see when the next bus will be arriving. If it's really cold or wet outside I refresh the link right before I walk out the door to ensure that the bus is still "on time".

This tool has made bus commuting much more enjoyable for me but I must admit that I've missed a few buses by being too confident and cutting it too close!

The Madison buses also have bike racks on the front of all buses. I've posted a video above!

Happy commuting.

September Updates

Just a quick update on some of the small things we've done in the past month or so to reduce our "foot-print".

1. Dish-washing: We've changed our dish-washing habit to conserve water. We don't have dish-washer so we were using the method of constantly running the water and washing and rinsing the dishes one-by-one and putting them on the drying rack. This method became apparent to me when I bought my first soap dispensing sponge.

It seemed like such a great tool at the time...but I didn't realize that the simplicity of it encouraged me to waste water.

We have now moved to the old fashioned dish-washing method of filling up one tub with water and soap, washing the dishes, putting them in the other tub, and then rinsing them all together. It has helped us save water and also save soap. So win-win..we're saving money too!

2. Power-Strip: Many of the items in the home stay "on" even when we've turned them "off"! Obviously anything with a clock (micro-wave, stereo, etc.) but also things like chargers and tools pull energy even when they are not engaged. This is commonly called "phantom-energy". Learning this, we've installed an inexpensive power-strip to the outlet where we have two stereo's and a computer. When we are not using the computer or stereo we simply turn of that item and then we switch the power-strip to completely disengage them. I would like to get another power-strip for the television because it has a small light that is always on, which is obviously powered from somewhere..and that somewhere is my electric bill!

3. Bread crumbs: What the heck do I mean by Bread Crumbs. Well Mike and I typically do not like to eat the two end pieces of our loaves of bread generally referred to as "end-cuts". I don't know why...I just shy away from these oddly shaped pieces. We were in the habit of throwing them in the garbage after we were onto our new loaf of bread. What a waste of food...So I decided that I would freeze the end-cuts until I had a fair amount and make croutons. I let the pieces thaw on the counter and then cut them into small squares. I mixed olive oil with black pepper, salt and Italian herbs (rosemary, basil, oregano, etc.) in a large bowl. I rolled the cuts of bread in the bowl until they were slightly coated and placed them on a backing sheet baking for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. I was afraid they would turn out too hard but after taking them out of the oven I put them in a ziplock bag and they stayed perfectly crunchy for weeks. I'm so happy we aren't throwing away any more food! And win-win...saving money because we aren't buying croutons from the store anymore..which I couldn't find a local variety of anyway!

Now if I could just learn how to make banana bread so I can use all of the too-ripe-to-eat bananas in the freezer.

"What's Wrong With Our Food ..." 11-year-old Birke Baehr

Oregon Trip Trifecta

I was so impressed by the public transportation options in Portland! I was dropped off at the Oregon Zoo in Washington Park and after spending a few hours with the animals (here's a baby elephant), I decided to hop on the Trimet (train) to downtown. There's an option from Washington Park to hike a couple of miles and than hop on an Aerial Tram down to a Trolley and than into downtown.

http://library.oregonmetro.gov/files/trailtramtrolleytrain.pdf

Now, I was thinking of taking on this adventure but the clouds were looking a little dark and after spending several days in the rain decided I would rather be in the midst of downtown if it rained than in the middle of another hike. So I got on the Trimet and after a ten minute ride I was downtown. Since I wasn't exactly sure where I would get off, I decided to eye-ball the stops until they looked promising. When I saw a Nordstrom store, I decided it was probably safe to get off the train! To my surprise...even more exciting than Nordstrom..I found the Monday Farmers Market! And I was just in time..with only 45 minutes until it closed, I ordered some quinua from a local stand and an oatmeal cookie. I sat and enjoyed the sight of people purchasing locally farmed goods in the midst of the booming city.

I walked through the city and noticed that some of the bus-stops had plasma flat-screen televisions telling me when the next bus would arrive. The trains had the same deal!
The buses had bike racks on them and the Trains had special bike designated areas to hang your bike! How cool!

After meandering around the city for several hours, I got back on the train for the airport. I noticed a gentleman seated in front of me working on his computer...minutes later he put his bike helmet on, grabbed his bike that was hanging up behind me and off he went into the universe. By Bike, Trolley, Train, Tram or Bus...Portland is doing it!

Now, Madison has a great bus system..though a little difficult to figure out but I'm excited to see if Madison will ever incorporate some more options for public transportation. It seems that in our society of instant gratification, unless it's fast and easy, nobody want's anything to do with it. I've heard many people say "if I have to get on a bus that will take me further away from my destination, just to get on another bus to get to where I need to be.. it's just not happening". As much as I want to say that I would raise my voice and say "I would", I know that I wouldn't either...well maybe if we had the time..right!?

More public transportation options in Madison could make things faster and easier for us! However, I won't hold my breath..just yet.