July in Review

I can’t quite figure out July. It didn’t go by quickly, but I can’t believe that it’s over…

We worked a lot this month, and bc of the state of the world we stayed home a lot. We grew our garden and got to eat a lot from there. We spent lots of time with the cats and a lot of time in our only air conditioned room. We tried to keep up our nightly walks, and we did explore a few new places. We saw a #watchercat or two.

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July was hot and busy and bustling. But it was good and motivating as well. We read and researched some things we have been thinking about. We ventured out to local restaurants for take out this month more than in the past 6 months or more. At times we were excited about this, at times we were wary. Overall, It feels good to get back to “normal” life and indulge in some of the foods and treats we enjoy, but part of it feels like it’s too soon. IN the end we decided on a healthy balance.

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Some of the questions I’ve been asking my self in July are related to the future. How does the current state of the world effect us in the long term? What do we like about this time and what do we wish we could go back to? How do these times change my long term goals? It’s been hard to focus on self improvement bc work has been so busy, but asking these questions helps me to get in the right place for future action. July was a good month for reflection, if not for action.

I wonder if August will action packed?

Urban Foraging Diaries

I’m not sure where I first got the idea to pick things out of the trash. But I’ve been doing it for a long time.

I will always remember a particularly gorgeous lime green velvet swivel easy chair. I remember seeing it as I was driving home, retuning a few hours later, delighted that is was still there, wrestling it into my car, giving it pride of place in my room, later moving with it to NYC, it getting scratched up and ruined by the cats, and the day I had to sadly put it back out on the curb, really trash this time. I added years and years to that beautiful chair’s life and it brought me years of joy.

When the pandemic started and we realized that we couldn’t go thrift shopping any more, we started paying more attention to when the big pick up days for garbage were around us. We were going for nightly walks anyway and had spotted a few cool things out out on the curb. Bc of Covid 19, it took us a little while to get comfortable, but eventually we picked up a few items here or there. We use gloves, or wash our hands after, and let the objects sit outside for a few days or clean them well before bringing them into the house.

Now we go out on the days we know to scout. Most weeks we don’t get anything, but sometimes we hit a small jackpot. We’ve gotten many planters and pots of all sizes, a baseball bat, wood for various projects, a large sun umbrella, and more.

Last week we picked up a well loved dining room side board. We plan to cut the top shelf off and use it on our green house. The top is warped and the wood there is splitting, so cutting that off won’t be a tragedy. It’s clear that this piece was stripped, refinished, and stripped again. Then left for a long time in a basement or shed. But it has plenty of life left in it!

It might seem weird to pick something our of someone else’s trash, but if an object is still useful, it’s far better for it to go on being used. So let’s not call it garbage picking. Let’s call it urban foraging.

Have you found treasure in other people’s trash?

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BYOS (Bring Your Own STRAW)

Getting rid of plastic straws and plastic bags will not save the planet, but every little bit helps.

The zero waste and plastic free movements are not just about bringing your own straw or using reusable grocery bags but everyone has to start somewhere. Learning to say no to a plastic straw is a greaat starting point to saying no to other disposable plastics. It’s also a great exercise in going without. Learning to carry a reusable grocery bag is an exercise in mindfulness. We have become a society obsessed with convenience and getting everything we want exactly when and how we want it. But if we have chosen to advocate for the environment, convenience is something we have to give up. Making due and going without is a big part of living a zero waste, plastic free lifestyle. Taking on that responsibility is a huge step in the right direction.

One of things that strikes me about a more sustainable lifestyle is that it places more responsibility on the individual; to make due, to go without, to find alternatives, and do better for themselves, the planet and our global community. That’s a big responsibility, a big commitment. And it’s not always easy. But no one is going to hand us that, we have to achieve that task for ourselves. Sometimes it seems impossible. Sometimes it seems like too large a task. But by breaking it down into easily achievable steps, we can do a few steps every day until we achieve our overall goal.

Now that it’s gotten harder to bring your reusable items to many places, at least you know you can always bring your straw! (and flatware, and napkins, etc…). We cannot count on shops and restaurants doing the right thing by getting rid of plastic, we can’t expect them to forgo the health and safety of their patrons for the health and safety of the environment under the world’s current conditions, and we cannot rely on big corporations to take a long term view on the safety of the planet and our global community (they have money on the mind instead). But we can choose to fight for what we want instead of sitting back and being passive. As consumers we can make the right choices and take responsibility on ourselves. Instead of using plastic cutlery at a restaurant, we can bring our own reusables. We can refuse a plastic take away bag, and use a reusable bag we brought ourselves. We can say no to a plastic straws, but no one needs to go with out, simply bring your own.

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Mad Cat Capsule | My Three Face Masks

I would never have believed, back in the beginning of the year, that face masks would be part of my capsule wardrobe in the 2020.

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When we first knew that we would have to wear face masks while in public, my husband looked up a bunch of tutorials and made a variety of different masks. He is the machine sewer in the family. Most of the masks he made we ended up giving away to friends and family, some of them we still use as back ups. He was never quite satisfied with the pattern. By a few months in, we had sort of come up with our mask routine and he stopped making them, so never perfected his pattern. Personally, I went the easy route, a bandana.

I now have three bandanas that I wear and wash in rotation. These were all items that I already had. One is actually a vintage pocket square. I like the bandana bc it’s two layers of cotton, I can tuck the tail into my shirt collar, it’s easy to hand wash and dries quickly if needed, and honestly, it feels kinda cool, like I’m an outlaw.

Without meaning to, I picked three masks that fit perfectly into my spring capsule wardrobe. Somehow without trying, when I pick a mask each day, I know it will work well with whatever outfit I’m wearing from my capsule. That’s one of the joys of a capsule and one of it’s goals: to never have to think much about what you pull from your closet bc it all works together.

In a time when adding one more thing to the list you have to remember to carry out of the house each day (phone, keys, wallet… mask!), taking away the decision fatigue of which mask to wear is great.

How have you incorporated masks into your daily wardrobe?

Checking in with My 2020 Goals

Last year, I took some time to assess and reassess my overall yearly goals around mid year. 2020 is a perfect year to do this again, as so much has changed from January to now. But when I looked at the goals I made in the beginning of the year, I realized that I had actually accomplished quite a few of them!

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I struggled with setting my 2020 goals back in January, but looking back on them, they were kinda spot on. Here are some notes on each and how I’m doing on them:

Creation Over Consumption - I’m not sure if I’ve created too much so far this year, but I have had more time to create and relax and let my brain work towards a creative direction.

Be More Self Sustainable
Live slow -Lockdown was great to reassert this goal!
Forage more - Another happy circumstances of lockdown was no shopping, foraging was the only option.
Grow more food -Our garden is huge!
Build a greenhouse - Almost done!
Cook more - I have been cooking more and we have been eating better than ever!
Beach more - In the beginning of lockdown, it was easy to walk to the beach just about everyday. Now that the Summer tourists are here, and not following social distancing rules, we have pretty much stopped going to the beach. While that is sad, I’m excited for Sept, when we can go often again.
Cat health - Quarantine was an amazing time to get to spend with our cats. Being home all the time really allowed us quality time and enabled us to focus on cat health.
Work less - Wow! Now I need to figure out a way to do that all the time.
Spend less - Yes!

House Projects -We haven’t made much headway on any house projects so far this year. Perhaps that’s something to focus on for the rest of 2020?
Kitchen
Basement
Woodstove - I still really want this as a goal. We need to get a new roof, so it makes sense to get a wood stove installed before then.
Piano
Clean and reduce

Travel and Explore - Well, this is where covid 19 got in the way of our plans instead of helped them. We have not been able to travel and explore too much this year. There are a lot of changes that we have adopted during this time that we want to keep, but being able to travel is something we want to take up again. Travel in the next few years might look quite different but we will see as we go.
Explore where to have a vacation house
Johnson family trip
Bermuda
NOLA

Read 1 Book per Month -I totally nailed this goal this year!
Shroud for a Nightingale - This book was read.
Salt -On my list
Magical Herbalism - Yep, and I’ve read 18 other books this year so far.

Exercise
Walk - Such a good year for this so far!
Swim - This is something that I would still like to explore, but the virus has put a damper on seeking it out.
Stretch - This might be the only goal on the list that I wish I had done better on.
Health and supplements

Over all, I was shocked looking back at how many of my goals I’ve accomplished this year. I hadn’t looked back on it for months and it was nice to see that I had incorporated so many of them into my daily life. Looking back on my goals let’s me reassess what my goals were and where I am with them and add on any goals that I have formed from the first half of the year. Now I will ruminate on what goals I want to set for the rest of the year.

Did you set goals in the beginning of 2020? Have you fulfilled those goals and did they go the way you expected? If you had to create new/more goals for the end of the year, how much would they change?

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6 More Months of Zero Waste: June - Say NO, Say Yes

6 More Months of Zero Waste is the series where we tackle problems in our everyday lives to become more sustainable, more practical, use less plastic and create less waste.

What a weird time to be alive, huh? And what a hard time to be on a zero waste journey.

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Over the last few months, a lot of our zero waste practices have been challenged. Shops and cafe have stopped accepting reusables. Restarants have moved to only take out, with all the plastic packaging that entails. Supermarkets have done away with bilk bins. Disposable masks and gloves literally litter the streets. It all adds up to be very disheartening and demoralizing for those trying hard to fight plastic waste and waste in general.

BUT there is still hope!! Some wonderful side effects have come from the pandemic; carbon emissions are down so much that scientists are actually able to study them in new ways, sound pollution is so lessoned that ornithologists can study bird calls as never before, the canals in Venice Italy are clearer than they have been in a century, light pollution is down, animals are retuning to cities and towns that should be their habitat not ours, and many people in many fields have taken this time to come up with new innovations for a more sustainable future.

As nature tries to rebalance, so must we. Here are some ways to balance a negative with a positive.

Say NO to using plastic bags at the grocery. My grocery will allow reusable bags, as long as I bag them myself. I know people who have put all items back in the cart, no bags, until they reach their can and can bag the items there. Say YES to continuing to use reusable bags.

Say NO to take out. Although we want to support local businesses during this time, we must sacrifice it to some extent when they use all plastic and disposable to go items. Say YES to finding your local spots that use paper or cardboard (pizza is always a good option!). And say YES to cooking at home more!

Say NO to disposable masks. Say YES to buying from an artizen making reusable masks or say YES to making your own!

Say NO to big box stores and groceries for food, plants, or what ever else you need, whenever possible and say YES to local farm markets or stands. Many of these types of locals shops have expanded their inventory at this time.

Say NO to driving, going to the gym, or seeking entertainment in malls or shopping centers. Say YES to long walks, staying local and staying in or around your own home and fining fun activities to do (victory garden anyone?) even AFTER lockdown. For several months we were forced not to do these things, now that things are reopening, you can choose not to do them.

Say NO to shopping for items online and YES to making due with what you have. Or borrow items from friends. Or urban forage.

Say NO to fast fashion and YES to ethical alternatives like online thrift shops. Better yet, say YES to shopping your own closet, decluttering as you go!

Say NO to spending money for the sake of buying and YES to thinking about saving in new ways. For some, the stay at home order and forced furlough or unemployment as well as having to change spending habits have have given people new insights in where and how they spend (and waste) money.

Say NO to thinking only how this time effects us, and YES to how it effects everyone on a global level. A small way to do this is to say YES to wearing your mask in public and continuing to self isolate even after the lockdown is lifted. Another is to donate, volunteer, or come up with other ways to help those more greatly effected then yourself.

Say NO to going right back to NORMAL and say YES to committing to coming up with a life that is more sustainable, more mindful and more fulfilling for YOU.

For our 6 More Months of Zero Waste this months, let’s remember to take what we have learned to balance and carry it with us into the future. Balancing a no with a yes in a sustainable lifestyle is a helpful practice that we can use and share now and many years from now.

What are some other things, activities or ideas that you have balanced during this time?

If you are new to this series, here’s what ew are working on for this 6 moth block. Follow along or pick and choose challenges to try.:
June 2020- Say NO, Say Yes
PLASTIC FREE JULY
August 2020 - carry no disposables
September 2020 - back to school/educate
October 2020 - beach clean
November 2020 - Hidden plastic
December 2020 - Repair before you replace

We started our tackling new zero waste challenges six months at a time in 2019:
January 2019 - Trash Audit
We separated and looked our trash to see what we are throwing away and what we can reduce.
February 2019- Declutter Everything
We went thru what we have to declutter and reduce.
March 2019- Switch to Paper
This month we moved to paper to get one step closer to reusables.
April 2019- Compost
Composting is an easy way to reduce food waste and prevent it from reaching the landfill.
May 2019- Meatless Monday
One of the best ways to improve the environment is to stop eating factory farmed meat and industrial fish. Small steps lead to big change so this month we gave up meat (or dairy or fish) for at least one day.
June 2019- No Bottled Water
We gave up bottled water as an avenue to give up more disposable plastic in Plastic Free July.
July 2019 - Plastic Free July!
Go plastic free this month!

In late 2019, we continued our journey to becoming more zero waste:
November 2019 - Zero Waste Kit
We created a zero waste kit to help us be more zero waste in our day to day life.
December 2019- No Gifts
We took Dec to give no gifts and get no gifts.
January 2020 - Clothing and Fast Fashion
This month we explored what fast fashion is, and how we can stop buying it forever.
February 2020- Use Mass Transit
The shortest month seemed like a good time to explore alternatives to driving our cars.
March 2020 - Bathroom Make-over
You’ve swapped out a few items to more sustainable choices around the house. It’s time to tackle a full room.
April 2020- Grow Your Own Food
April marks the start of spring in the continental USA, and when we can start growing food easily. But there are many ways and time to grow your some of own food.

Think About What You Want to Keep

As my job and many aspects of life return to normal, I’ve been thinking a lot about what normal is and if I like it. And mainly the answer is no.

Obviously we were in lockdown bc there is a global pandemic and we need to keep ourselves and our fellow human safe. It’s a serious thing that comes with the potential for sickness and death. It is not to be taken lightly. While in quarentine we were given an opportunity to really reflect on this and think about where we fit into the puzzle of society and community. And how we can improve that puzzle for every one to live a better more healthy life.

Lock down also gave me time to think about my overall priorities in life, what is important and what is less so.

I’ve always known that my priorities don’t usually meet up with most peoples. I tend shun consumerism, favor solitude, have not bought into an image or conventional standards of life, and “move to the beat of my own drum” more than most, I would say. The things that are important to me are not what I have or what I can buy. I hold my privacy, the comfortablility in my home (including saving items that might be considered trash to most), my family, my cats, making a safe space for them, time to think and create, grow and learn, and my commitment to reducing my waste and plastic intake, and creating, thru my small actions, a tiny teeny corner of the world that’s a little better, as some of the most important things in life.

While I was in lockdown there were things that I noticed I had more time for or felt good about. Here are some of my observations:

More time to create
During lock down I was starting to feel creative again. I was able to devote time to this blog, draw, read, write, and let my mind start to have space to create. What could I have done with more time for these practices?

More time with family and friends
Although, I missed out on seeing a lot of people bc it was imperitive to stay away from most people, I was able to connect to many people in some way as well. I had long conversations, played game nights at online gatherings, and texted many people I had not seen in a long time to check in and stay connected.

Buying way less
We pride ourselves on not buying much in general, but the opportunity to buy even less felt great.

Devoting less time to grocery shopping
I’ve said it many times before, but we would go to the grocery store every few days, some times many days in a row before lockdown. Something we want to take away from this experience is to only shop every few weeks, and by doing that, reduce our food waste.

Devoting more time to cooking and experimenting with recipes
Besides buying less in the long run, and using up what we bought, we were also able to spend time testing new recipes, trying new foods and relaxing when we cooked and ate.

Driving way less
One big downside to moving out of the city is all the driving. Keeping indoors, not eating out, and not traveling, it was nice to get a big break from the car.

More time to rest and think
During full quarentine I had a chance to do somehting that I haven’t done in over 20 years. I could wake up at my own pace and in my own time. No alarms, no immediate thoughts of the stressful day ahead or behind, no worrying about my job before my eyes even opened.

Feeling productive for myself
When I’m working it’s hard for me to feel good or productive about anyhting at home. For a long time I thought that meant I couldn’t self discipline or be productive without a job. But now I know, it’s the regular job that hinders me from this, not the other way around.

These are only some observations on my own mind and state of being, I could write a whole other article about the great impact on the world that lockdown had (and one on the negatives, I’m sure).

But basically, having time and space, even though we were staying home, had a great effect on me. I’m not sure I can go on living the way society forces us to under normal circumstances now that I know what life could be like. But as we must have a balance, I’m thinking hard about what I want to keep from what I’ve learned and how to do that.

What did you learn about yourself and your life in lockdown? What do you want to keep from that time?

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Pandemic Pantry | The Joy Of Using Up

When we first went in to lockdown and when the hours of the groceries were cut and stock was limited, I became very aware that I was scared of food scarcity.

I didn’t know this about myself before these events. I had no idea I would have a visceral, anxiety filled reaction of being scared about the loss of food, the lack of food, and the need to change the way I ate. My relationship to food may not always be healthy (whose always is?), but it is a huge part of my life. And the idea of not being able to eat the way I was used to scared me.

It took a little adjustment, but I discovered that I could still eat well, and that I wouldn’t have to change my diet too much, or lose out on things I enjoyed. Sometimes I couldn’t find what I wanted (tofu was scarce in the beginning), but I found that I didn’t mind having to come up with other ideas, or substitutions, to what I considered my staples. Soon, I was not only used to only going to the grocery every few weeks, but I found I enjoyed it and it was something that I wanted to keep after the time of covid is over.

Each week we stretch and stretch the food we have so that we can take less frquant trips to the supermarket. Some days it feels like there’s nothing left to eat. But each time we have found that we have plenty and are able to make delicious and nutritious meals. What we also discovered was that it was challnaging, interesting and fun to stretch what we had. To have to be innovative. To have to make do.

Now that groceries are better stocked and our garden is growing we don’t often have to go without what we want. Farm markets are open for fresh veg, bakeries are open for fresh bread. But now, as in the early days of lockdown, there’s a distinct pleasure when we use up an item and get the most out of it. It might be something that’s been in the pantry long before isolation, or it might be a fresh head of lettuce, that in “the old days” would have gone off before we got to it bc our food supply was ever incoming, overly abundant, and less time was taken to see what we had and what we had to use before our next supermarket run.

The Joy of Using Up that comes with many aspects of sustainability is always an unexpected pleasure.

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