To celebrate, I won’t bore you with my extensive eco-friendly laundry procedure that involves a proprietary mix of detergents, a trademarked air-drying technique, and an all-important sniff test to determine whether something really needs to be washed or not (patent pending). I won’t gross you out with the fact that I have a bucket of orange peels, used tea bags, and carrot shreds rotting under my sink right now in a compost pail. I won’t even tell you about all those showers I’ve taken with my husband over the years….to save water, of course. (Why? What were you thinking?)
I will, however, send you an awesome cookbook.
A friend of mine sent me this cookbook for my birthday and I was just smitten because a) it’s Alice Waters; b) it’s natural, local, simple, real food; c) it’s Alice Waters; and d) the stories that accompany each recipe and the gorgeous photos make for great bedtime reading, my preferred place for cookbook perusal. I think you’ll like it too, so I’m sending a copy to one of my lovely readers in celebration of Earth Day.
Just leave a comment about something you do to step a little more lightly on this beautiful little world of ours. I’ll randomly select a winner on Monday evening around 8 pm CST.
Here’s hoping you have a wonderful, beautiful day. Thanks for stopping by, and don’t mind those wet jeans hanging over the kitchen chairs to dry…
Here is what I have done so far:
ReplyDelete*Use reusable bags instead of plastic for shopping
*I plated 275 trees on my property
*Recently started recycling all we can here in Bismarck (I can proudly say this project was initiated by my 5 year old.)
*Gardening & home canning many of my own veggies
*Trying to be conscious and reduce my use of plastics and energy, etc. whereever I can. I still have SO far to go though.
I think it is fantastic that you compost. That is actually something I want to start. I told my husband that building me a compost area was on his spring project list;P
Here's a few: cloth napkins (I LOVE THEM-why use anything else?), I use these awesome reusable cotton pads instead of cotton balls "Better for Grownups Organic Reusable Cotton Face Rounds" and I haven't drank plastic bottled water in over 3 years. And heads up- I'd love to hear all about the things you've done! I'll take any ideas!
ReplyDeleteHave you read the book by Thomas McNamee "Alice Walters and Chez Panisse"? It's very interesting. We recycle (the recycle truck is just now at the curb picking up)
ReplyDeleteOne thing I really don't like is bottled water. I don't buy it very often. and I reuse the bottle for as long as I can.
We use cloth in place of paper whenever possible: towels, napkins, bags, diapers, etc.
ReplyDeletelovelydomesticdiva (at) gmail (dot) com
I use my cloth bags for shopping, recycle most of our output, think before I buy as to how much is recyclable or reusable, pay my bills on-line and get my bills via email when possible.
ReplyDeleteGreat Giveaway!
Beth, you are exactly like a friend of mine from Fargo. And that's a good thing! :) Way to love our earth!
ReplyDeleteWe've been working hard to be kinder to our earth, too:
*recycling
*using reusable bags when we shop
*not using the dry cycle on the dishwasher
*not buying bottled water
I'm curious about composting, but it scares me a bit! :0
Jana <><
Hey Beth! 3 Years ago I started the paper recycling program at my school. The amount of paper that a school goes through is crazy so it's nice to be able to recycle it and earn some extra money for the school.
ReplyDeleteComposting at our house is our summer project :)
What a great idea for Earth Day! We try to do good for the earth by: walking instead of driving when possible, using fabric grocery bags, composting up a storm, using e-billing for bills instead of paper, and we're building our first garden this summer!
ReplyDeleteI'm not so good, but getting better. I'd love to try cloth diapers, for instance, but have been too scared to try!
ReplyDeleteHere're the small things I can think of that we DO do:
We bought a brita filter and now I drink a ton more water sans the water bottles.
We reuse all of the plastic bags we get but also use reusable bags as much as possible.
We try not to use the air or heat until we need to.
I am a bit of a stickler about keeping lights and electronics off when not in use.
What a great contest! I love cookbooks.
ReplyDeleteWe have solar panels installed on our roof to heat our water. It has saved us lots of money. We also compost and do lots of things by bicycle. My husband actually rode from Fuessen, Germany, to Meran, Italy last year with a bunch of friends. He had a great time.
Also, we only have one television. Why a family needs one in each room, I will never understand. We barely use ours. I'd much rather settle down with a good book at night.
~I grow part of my veggies and buy others at a local farmers market so I'm not supporting food shipped hundreds of miles.
ReplyDelete~I cood more of my meals at home so that I'm not eating out or buying prepped food at the grocery.
~I quit using my clothes dryer and now hang all of my clothes to dry. It adds lovely humidity to the house in the winter.
We have a front yard garden that keeps getting BIGGER each year, less to mow. We compost several neighbors leaves every fall for leaf mold for our garden. We capture rain water in our 1600 gallon catchment and did not use city water last year, except minimally. We compost everything we can and recycle everything Bismarck landfill will accept. Our neighbors save cans for my sons savings account We buy local beef and help harvest at our local CSA whenever we can. We still use our car too much, but try to walk more. O try to use my cloth grcery bags, but sometimes find myself at the store without them. I worry more every day about my sons future.
ReplyDelete