8.17.2012

I've turned my laundry green!

Copeland House finally has a laundry line! I've been procrastinating installing a line for about a year now waiting for just the right design. For less than $20 today I found a retractable line that took about 1/2 hour to install. So worth it!
Of course if you have a line, you have to have a laundry pin bag. So in about 20 minutes I put together this little sock monkey oilcloth bag. 


Why use a laundry line when you have a machine dryer? Here's why I chose to (not to mention it's been way too hot for us to run our dryer):





[These are excerpted from "People Power"]


-Static electricity and shrinkage are no longer an issue.
-Clothing hung on clotheslines last longer (all the lint that collects in our dryer is actually your clothing breaking down) and smell fresher.
-When clothes are thrown in a dryer, zippers cause tearing and snags. By hanging your clothes outside you can completely avoid this problem.
-By driving half of your wash loads on a clothesline, the average family can save 720 pounds of cabon dioxide in a year.
-Save on your utility bill by not running the dryer! Did you know that electric dryers are among the top energy-users in a home?
- Save on laundry products too! Since the sun is a natural lightener you do not need to buy bleach and since electricity creates static cling you do not need to buy dryer sheets.

8.15.2012

Bean Belly

Bean harvest in my t-shirt! We're calling it my bean baby. I've picked about this much each day from our little 4x4 box that also has carrots and did have greens and radishes too! Half will go to the neighbor - I got a bag full of new potatoes from her garden. Our shared garden has given us cucumbers, zucchini, and now the tomatoes are getting ripe! Yay!

8.14.2012

Oh Look Winter Gardening Time!

I know, it's supposed to be 100 degrees out on Wednesday - crazy hot for the Willamette Valley - and I'm talking about winter gardening! Now's the time to plant though according to Territorial Seeds' Winter Gardening chart. Cool season crops often like warm soil for seed germination even though the plants themselves like cooler weather for production. I need to get my butt in gear is what it means!!

Can't see this well? Click here for the link.

8.13.2012

Going Green in Style

So I found these food storage "devices" on Pinterest this evening and I can't help but share them. They aren't 100% practical, but I LOVE the concept. Kinda a big "whatever" too to folks who think "green" means dumpy... Just lovely

Food Storage Without the Fridge



8.11.2012

Garden Repast

So I took a solo camping trip over the last two nights/three days. It's something I've always wanted to do and the time was just right. Me and the dog.

Since it was just me, I decided this would be a nice time to have a little cleansing diet so to speak. No meat, diary or processed sugar. I raided the garden before the trip and got a little creative at the campsite. When it's just you and there is nothing else to do, it's amazing what you can come up with. Honestly, I'd also done a quick search online for vegan-type camping food and didn't come up with any real individual serving meals. So, here's my contribution:

Garden fresh green bean saute (with olive oil, onion, garlic powder) served with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast and homegrown parsley. All over a bed of quinoa. And a salad of tomatoes and avocado with olive oil and zatar.

Oh yeah, and this was my entire kitchen - so it doesn't take much!


8.08.2012

Pickles!

Well, the garden is going strong. Cheryl picked a bunch of cucumbers yesterday so I made a couple of jars of refrigerator pickles for us. They are bread and butter pickles and are supposed to take 3 days to be ready to eat. I used an old pickle jar for our batch.



We also had some lovely quinoa tabbouleh with garden fresh garlic, parsley and cherry tomatoes. Lastly, falafel with yogurt cucumber sauce.

Oh and the green beans grew over night ready to pick!