Babywearing and A Bike Ride: Our “No Waste” Experience….

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Hiya readers!

I promised you I’d get back to you on my “no waste” excursion up into town. Well, I finally edited the video and it’s a bit shabby (riding one handed is not suggested)… so please don’t hate! LOL!

This is just a little blip of my adventures. I’m not embarrassed when it comes to taking along my own resuables/containers into a business that sells food or any item that I can take home with me without waste….BUT I wasn’t really comfortable asking people if it was okay to film them and do it *all* on camera. Don’t ask me why…. but I’m working on it.

Last week, Beth Terry at Fake Plastic Fish asked

Do you bring your own containers for take out or bulk buying and have you blogged about it? I want links!

When I saw the question in my twitter stream I realized I had not blogged about the topic but have exercised the right to bring my containers on many occasions. I’ve wanted to chronicle my adventures for some time now, so, I figured Beth’s question was the perfect motivation to get this done. Beth is such an inspiration to many people including myself and I’m always thinking “What would Beth Terry do”? I know that sounds funny… but it’s so true. When it comes to plastic; she’s a pioneer in finding an alternative. You rock, Beth!

So, this past weekend when I geared myself up for a bike ride into town I proudly wore Baby C and carried my resuable tea mug and container to have  filled on my outing. I stopped at the local almond shop where I discussed buying in bulk with the owner and also made a purchase and left with a container full of flavored (chile lime) almonds! Yum. All of the processing is done on location except for a few candied items they carry ( the almonds were grown locally but stopped way back in the day, late 70’s, I believe. Almond fields still remain but for the most part are abandoned).

After the almond stop, I rode next door to SageBrush Cafe where they happily filled up my Mighty Leaf refillable mug with Chamomile Mint tea by Numi (fair trade). They offer a 25 cent discount for bringing in your own mug. Super cool! Not only that but they serve their drinks in eco friendly cups; you could even compost the sleeves, if you wanted! I love supporting businesses who care about the planet. It’s a great little community hang out. Maybe, someday they’ll have a recycling section for the lids and other waste!! Gotta luv, wishful thinking…

The next day (Valentine’s Day) we’d gone to the farmer’s market earlier where I didn’t get any footage but I promise you it was no waste. We bring our own bags and fill them up every time. Absolutely no plastic bags involved our entire weekend. In the video, we head up to the local deli (my primary “no waste” location). They love it when I bring in my own containers because it saves them the trouble from having to wrap up the meat or cheese. The owner always comments on how much he appreciates it … “you’re saving a tree today” he usually adds. The people who work there know me and they don’t usually ask if I need my items in a bag nor do they give me any extras. I love it too. As an environmental writer for our local community paper I feel likes it’s part of my duty to set an example for my fellow neighbors AND obviously for you to!

Oh, and for the record… I somewhat feel the need to explain the deli stop … in a nutshell … the hub is not happy with having pb and jelly, avocado sammies or any other veggie alternative for lunch at the moment. He’s a little picky in this area. I’m also not very savvy yet on packing a veggie/vegan lunch that is satisfying. Especially,h for someone who does physical labor throughout their day. Since meat has always been part of our diet he asked if we could make a trip to the deli (it’s his week to make sandwiches for the company and he wanted some meat!). Me? I’m happy without it. I’m way more motivated on that front than he is and always have been.

Okay, stepping off the soapbox. Like I said in the beginning… don’t be hater! LOL!

I also wanted you to know I spared you a clip of my elated self after leaving the coffee shop. My batteries died in the flip so I had to do a swap a’roo and use my measly digital camera. With my lack of editing knowledge I could not converge them. I was so excited and empowered by my experience  it seriously made me giddy inside. Not to mention the compliment by the local artist who called me a “stylish mom” had me on cloud nine…I’m sorry you don’t get to see that part.

I highly encourage everyone, (Mom’s & Dad’s) to bring your own containers next time you’re out for takeout! Yesterday, I received my Glass Dharma straws in the mail… so I’m definitely looking forward to refusing plastic straws from here on out…. and bringing you a review on them (stay tuned, there will be giveaway)!

Hope you enjoy the video and my eco geeky self.

OMG! I found this organic onesie while waiting for my iced tea (worked myself up into a sweat -lol!!).

I wanted to purchase it but it was too small!

Here I am … I know, I know… I should have taken a picture of the mug and my container with almonds. What was I thinking? Damn nerves.

Visualize them in the picture. I do! It works…hee, hee!!! 

Maybe, I’ll do a bulk buying vlog next since it’s not so intimidating… maybe!

So, humor me, do you bring your own containers? If not, what’s stopping you?

Make Love Not War & Happy Children

Today is International Day of Peace!

At this very moment, UN peacekeepers around the world are risking their lives in the name of peace.

These men and women in blue helmets – more than 100,000 in total, making them the second largest deployed military in the world – can be found in 16 of the world’s most dangerous conflict areas.

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Summary of Summer

Hey guys! Happy 09-09-09!  Still around. Database crashed and I wasn’t able to get to it until last night. Sorry about that!!

We had a jam packed weekend full of fun!

We took Tristan bowling and I even wore Clark for part of it. Don’t worry, I played it safe… & Tristan had a ball… LOL!

And as a last consolation for the summer and because our  membership is going to expire at the end of the month; we went to the zoo!

We BBQ’d yesterday at my in laws. I made a nice spinach salad and the neighbors actually made a raw dish! I was so impressed. It was a zucchini salad with lemon zest and sun dried tomatoes. Yum, yum!

This summer I’ve tried a few raw dishes and some new cooked ones. Our garden didn’t do as well as we’d hoped. This is the first year in five years that we’ve planted a garden and have not had much of a harvest. The insane high temps killed most of our plants or slowed their growth. We normally have tons and tons of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and peppers.  We hardly had any harvest of what we planted.  It was a bit discouraging but also part of gardening and the challenges you face. We’re determined to research some of the challenges through winter in hopes of a more successful garden next year. Hopefully, we  master composting by then and are able to provide the much needed nutrients we were possibly lacking and time of all things.  Thankfully, my mother in laws garden was flourishing because we’ve been eating some of her bounty.

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Bike Riding, Baby Wearing, & the Mammoth Mtn. Trail

Totally Bummed

This is a guest/cross post by Stephanie Precourt from Adventures in Babywearing. Stephanie blogs about her daily life adventures on being a mom to 3 handsome little boys and 1 beautiful baby girl and of course, she also writes about babywearing and the like!

It’s been a little over two weeks now that we’ve been cloth diapering and I love it.
I think I still might be in the honeymoon period, as it’s new and fun and the diapers are oh so cute. But I do hope it lasts!
I can’t say that I suddenly feel better as a person for being more environmental friendly or crunchy or anything like that.

To be honest, by the fourth kid I was just finally tired of that plasticky crinkly diaper and all the leaks (and I really all this time thought that cloth diapers would be the worst with leaking and have to say that not once! have we had a leak and last night when I had her in a disposable, she leaked!!)

But, it is a great plus that I might be doing something more eco-conscious and better for my baby at the same time.

So, I started off with the Bum Genius 3.0 pocket diapers (pictured on Ivy) that are one size- they adjust as baby gets bigger thanks to snaps on the cover and insert. I love these. They are by far my favorite so far to use and clean and change and for her to wear. I bought 6 at first from Cottonbabies and then ordered a few more through Mom4Life because they had a big sale.

If you don’t want to wash diapers every single day you’ll definitely need 10 or more of these diapers- at least that’s my experience with a 3 month old.

In between using the Bum Genius I also use unbleached Indian prefold diapers with a Bummis Super Whisper Wrap or Thirsties cover. I started out trying to use a Snappi to hold the prefold in place but then lately have just been laying the prefold in the cover’s pocket and it’s stayed in place just fine. I think this is easier clean up, too. I am not sure how long it would stay in place, especially once she starts moving around. Then I might have to go back to using the Snappi. I bought all these items from Jillian’s Drawers and I have to say that they have great service as well as the best instructions with how to care for your diapers- all brands and kinds and etc. I found that incredibly helpful.

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