Summer Good Stuff

All y'all know how I feel about summer. But nobody wants to hear me constantly complain. So, this post is dedicated to focusing on good stuff. There is almost always SOME kind of upside to most of the things I complain about, so my goal is to find summer good stuff, be mindful, and be thankful. Because after all, it could always be worse. There could be lions. Thankful there are no lions.*

There ARE, however, morning walks on the trail with Daphne.

There are hammocks.

And there are cherries.

In my quest to be less wasteful, I recently purchased 6 reusable produce bags at Wegmans. I used them this week for the first time at the Farmer's Market to carry my cherries. They are pretty great - no more plastic bags to throw away! These ones are by Earthwise and come in packs of three. They are made of a lightweight mesh, they cinch up with a drawstring, and they're washable. We'll see how they hold up over time. There are tons of similar bags on line if you don't see any at your grocery store. This is something simple that I can commit to doing. By myself, it may not make a huge difference, but every little bit counts. And imagine if lots of people used these! I am happy to see that more and more people are taking the large reusable grocery bags to the store. I've been doing that for probably at least 12 years. I wonder how many plastic bags that has saved. Why didn't I get these produce bags sooner???  Anyway, little things. They add up. Good stuff.

This week's all-local meal was our Father's Day breakfast.

Everything we ate was from the Farmer's Market: fried eggs, Canadian bacon, ciabatta bread, blueberries, THE CHERRIES, and honey Greek yogurt. Even the coffee was from the market - locally roasted. It was all SO good and I love that we're reducing our carbon footprint and supporting the local economy.

So, summer isn't so hard to like when I focus on these simple things that make me happy. I hope I can remember this if we get to triple digits!

*My mantra, explained here.

I Made a Thing Today

Sometimes, the best thing I can do for my peace of mind is to knit. But even though I know it's good for me, I usually have to force myself to sit down and actually do it. I think that's because I feel guilty about it, like maybe I should be doing something else. Like cleaning something. There is a never-ending supply of stuff to clean at my house. And none of that stuff is going to clean itself while I sit around knitting.

I know. Find a balance. Make time for myself. Blah blah blah...I'm trying.

SO, over the past couple of days, I have in fact managed to make myself sit down and knit. And it's been AWESOME.

The funny thing is, I knitted something to...um...clean stuff with.

Behold, the Swiffer Sweater!

There are tons of patterns on line for knitted (or crocheted or sewn) reusable sweeper duster cloths. And if you aren't the DIY type, you can just buy some. I just checked, and the disposable ones I've bought for years at Wegmans are $6.99 for a box of 32 cloths. So since we probably go through at least 5 boxes per year, this will save us about $35 annually, and put 160 fewer cloths in the landfill. I tried to find out if disposable Swiffer cloths are biodegradable, but couldn't find the info on line. I think they are made out of some kind of polyester micro fiber, though...probably not super eco-friendly.

So, this is a pretty simple change to make that I can sustain over time. Not gonna change the world or save a million dollars, but every little bit helps.

PLUS MY SWIFFER HAS A SWEATER!!!!

Here's a pattern for anyone who wants to KYOSS:

I used Sugar and Cream cotton that has been sitting in my stash forever. Size 9 needles.

CO 45 (If you are a loose knitter, CO fewer stitches. You want to get to about 11 inches across).
Knit back and forth in garter stitch for 8 1/2 inches.
BO and fold the CO and BO edges to meet in the middle, sew a couple of inches across on each side, leaving a hole in the middle, and then turn inside out and stitch up the ends.
Turn right-side-out again and put the sweater on your Swiffer.

Then, go clean something, but you'll be doing it with style!

Farm to Belly

I don't like summer. Not gonna lie. But I do like berries.

I got the ones in that photo from the farmer's market on Saturday. The hotter it gets, the crankier I get, and honestly, it's mostly the berries and a few other things that grow in the summer that keep me going until October 1st, when I feel like I can officially celebrate the next several months of tolerable weather to come. We are lucky enough to live within walking distance of a great market that sets up every Saturday morning, year-round, and on Wednesday afternoons, as well, in the spring and summer. We're also a short drive from several farm stands and u-pick places. Blueberries should be ready any day now, and you can bet a field trip to pick some is in my near future.

I've mentioned being inspired by Barbara Kingsolver's quest to eat only local food for a year, but for most of us, it is completely unrealistic to attempt something so epic and restrictive. I do think most of us could commit to one meal each week, though, and so that is my goal. But why do it at all? Here are a few reasons I can think of off the top of my head:

• A fun fact from Barbara Kingsolver's book: "If every US citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week." Reducing your carbon footprint any amount you can is always a good thing.  
• Food that hasn't traveled thousands of miles tastes better.
• Food that is in season and is as freshly picked as possible tastes better.
• You will know exactly where your food comes from, and might even get to meet the person who grew/picked/butchered/processed it. This is a good thing.
• You can get your kids excited and involved in planning the meal and shopping for the ingredients at the market, picking them at a local farm, or growing a small garden of their own.
• It's fun.

I decided to start my mini eat-only-local-foods quest a couple of weeks ago by planning a special inaugural Local Food Sunday. I shopped at the market that Saturday, and enjoyed talking to the vendors about my plan, which they enthusiastically supported. Then, Sunday started like this:

Breakfast: Honey Greek yogurt from Blue Ridge Dairy with Alder School strawberries on top. Yep.

Then lunch: Locally grown heirloom tomatoes with fresh mozzarella from Blue Ridge and basil from our garden.

And dinner: Baked eggs from Lost Corner Farm with chevre from Shepherd's Whey Creamery and tarragon from our garden, locally grown asparagus, and beef brats with sage from one of our local meat producers. (The bread wasn't made from local ingredients, but it was home baked!)

We even got a bottle of albarino from a local vineyard named for my favorite date, October One! Couldn't pass that up at the market.

Everything we ate was fresh and delicious, and made us feel good about our food choices. A great start to the new plan.

Our one local meal this week was  a Sunday dinner of local kielbasa, green beans, and potatoes with rosemary from the garden. Good times.

If nothing else comes of this blog, I'm finding that because I'm writing again, I'm being more mindful of so many things. Hopefully, there is more good stuff to come. In the meantime, I hope maybe someone out there reads this and is inspired to make one local meal. Let me know if you do! I'll even share a recipe for the baked eggs above:

Ouef Cocotte: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat the bottom and sides of one small ramekin per egg with lots of butter (we usually have two each for dinner).

Sprinkle some crumbled chevre on the bottom of the ramekin and crack a fresh local egg on top, being really careful not to break the yolk.

Top with a little fresh tarragon, salt, and pepper to taste.

Place the ramekins in a baking dish, and when the oven is ready, pour boiling water into the baking dish, half-way up the sides of the ramekins. 

Bake 12-15 minutes, or until the egg whites are fully cooked but the yolk is still runny.

Serve with asparagus or a small side salad, and plenty of toast for dipping.

YUM!

If you've only ever bought eggs at the grocery store, it is worth it to try to find fresh ones. The difference is like night and day. This is such a delicious simple meal, but it feels very French and fancy, and can totally be customized by adding whatever you like to the bottom of the ramekin - leftover vegetables, other kinds of cheese, ham or cooked sausage. Lots of other ideas if you google Ouef Cocotte recipes. And it's fun to say!

Day One

I cannot save the world, but I can walk instead of drive to the coffee shop, take my own re-usable mug, and fill a bag with trash on the way home.

I saw a "challenge" post on Facebook this morning that encouraged people to pick up three pieces of trash every time they go to the beach. Wouldn't it be great if everyone actually DID that? I don't really like the beach, but I go to plenty of other places that sadly have a problem with litter. So I was inspired by the Facebook post, and since I had plans to walk to South Street Under to meet friends for coffee, I decided to take a bag with me so I could pick up trash on the way home. And since I was doing it anyway, I figured "why stop at three things?" and I filled up the bag. Oh my gosh, so many beer cans!!! Anyway, it was easy, took very little time, and made a tiny positive impact on a tiny part of the world. And to be honest it was kinda fun. For sure, Daphne is the kind of kid who would get excited about picking up trash, so I think I'll try to work that in from time to time this summer when I start hearing the inevitable "I'm bored."

I also took my own coffee mug to the shop, which I have actually never done, but will do from now on. It's such a no-brainer little simple thing that lots of people do, and just requires getting in the habit of remembering to take a clean mug, so this should be an easy bandwagon for me to get on. For some reason, I was all nervous to ask the coffee shop lady to use my mug. I don't know why...it was no big deal. I guess I thought she might say no and then I would feel like a dork. I let the dumbest things keep me from doing things sometimes. She of course was fine with it, and then I felt like a dork for being nervous!

If you go on the internet, you will find hard core people who go completely Zero Waste. Admirable, but not practical or sustainable for most of us in the real world. But we can all do little things. Today, I challenge anyone who actually reads this to do one little thing. Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you do, and I will cheer for you!

Happening to Things

Last year, I ran a half marathon. I didn't really want to do it, and never really planned to do it, but I told people out loud and on Facebook that I was going to do it, and so I pretty much had to. I enlisted some friends, trained really hard, and in spite of the odds not AT ALL being ever in my favor, I ran (well, sometimes walked) 13.1 miles along the beautiful Maine coast on Mother's Day weekend last May. And I loved every minute of it. A couple of days before the run, when my confidence was pretty low, I got this note and bracelet in the mail from one of my oldest and dearest friends, Tracy. Such a nice gesture, and so perfect for the occasion, right? Wise words, Mr. Da Vinci. They helped inspire me to get over both the figurative and literal finish lines of something I had worked toward for about two years. Thank you, Tracy!

Today, I find myself applying those words to something new.

The current political climate has thrown me into somewhat of a tizzy, and I have found myself at times feeling completely overwhelmed by the inability to control things - many of which are, in my opinion, really really terrible things - that I cannot control. I have been trying to do what I can. I vote, I make phone calls to my elected officials, I volunteer, I speak up publicly when I feel compelled that it is my duty to do so, but I never really feel like it's enough. So, I've been searching for a way to make a difference - not necessarily politically, but generally. Some way to happen to things in response to all the things that are happening to us. Or, some way to at least make myself feel better.

A few weeks ago, my brother gave me a book to read called "Start Something that Matters," by Blake Mycoskie, the guy who started TOMS Shoes. The TOMS story is a great story, and I got all inspired reading about it, but then I got to the steps that are laid out in the book for actually starting something myself. Step One is "find your passion." I was instructed to do this by asking myself what cause would I serve and what kind of work would I do if I had unlimited time and no financial worries.

Um...blink. Blink blink.

I couldn't answer the question. Needless to say, I got discouraged and I haven't made it to Step Two.

Meanwhile, my friend, Chris, loaned me a book called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," by Barbara Kingsolver, a novelist who decided to spend an entire year eating only locally produced foods, and then write a book about it. Also really super inspiring, but not in any way, shape, or form practical for most people. I haven't finished it yet, but I know more than I ever knew I wanted to know about the life cycle of asparagus!

The do-something-for-a-year-and-then-write-a-book-about-it thing is a big trend these days. I've often wondered how to capitalize on it, and make millions of dollars so Kev can quit his job and we can retire to the Maine Coast, watch sailboats all day, and eat lobster by the sea. We were talking about it the other morning, and Kev's legitimate complaint about these kinds of books is that they are so gimmick-y. The things people do for a year for their book deals are usually not even close to being sustainable for regular people who live in the real world. I think people read those books and think yeah, that's great, but there's just no way. So they move on.  It's just too much. Like the super restrictive fad diets. You're setting yourself up to fail if you take these kinds of all-or-nothing approaches to things.

So, while we were talking, I started thinking out loud about how maybe my "something that matters" could involve somehow trying to inspire lots of people to consider making small sustainable changes that will add up over time rather than me getting all hard-core and trying to fix everything at once all by myself in a year. Environmentally, Barbara Kingsolver certainly did a good thing by decreasing her one little family's carbon footprint by a LOT, but wouldn't it make a bigger long term impact if we all decreased our carbon footprints by a little?

This is certainly not a new idea, but maybe the more we talk about the little things we can do, the more people will actually start doing the little things, and the more the little things will add up to a collective big thing. So, I've decided to try to help facilitate the conversation with this blog. Maybe no one will read this. Maybe one person will read this and pick up a piece of trash, or have a conversation with someone they might not have talked to before, or do some other little thing. Maybe millions of people will read this and we'll all make the world a better place together and I'll get offered a book deal and Kev can quit his job and we can retire to the Maine Coast with the sailboats and the lobster! Who knows. At the very least, I'm on here writing and trying to happen to things instead of scrolling through Twitter and accomplishing nothing but increasing my blood pressure.

Not sure exactly where I'll end up going with all this. I have a few ideas, but it's for sure a work in progress. My goal is to keep it positive and inclusive. If you're interested in joining me while I figure it out, please feel free to pop on here and read about what I'm up to, or even better, subscribe and comment and share. We're all in this together after all.

PS. Thanks Tracy, Jeff, Chris, and Kev for helping me start something. Time will tell if it matters!