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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Faddish

I know it may be somewhat of a craze or a fad at this point... but all this talk about "going green", eating as close to the source as possible, taking care of the planet (you know what I'm talking about) has been seeping in to my consciousness, and I've begun to try to make small changes.

I'm not one to jump into thing that seem to be the "in" thing at the moment. I usually try to sidle in sideways while looking another direction, hoping no one notices. I hate being accused of copying. Originality at all costs.

I also lack the concentration and discipline (and perhaps time!) to become an extremist at anything. Mostly, I try to do what I can and don't stress about it. Or, often I just forget!

However, here in Mexico, I think I may be a little easier to become a "conservationalist" to some extent. Man, they are not into throwing things away and they know how to re-use a thing all the way to its death bed. At first, I may have been seen rolling my eyes at what I perceived to be "hoarding". "Get rid of the junk, people!" I might have said once or twice.

And it might be hoarding for some, for others it is seeing potential in something we might just see as garbage.

So, I am trying more.

For example, we have some faucets that are "drippers". I used to just crank them as tight as I could and dismiss it to Rey's to-do list. Now, I keep bowls below the faucets and the water is used to water my flowers, wash the dishes or fill the bath tub. I've also started giving Noah baths in our baby tub as opposed to our humongous bathtub. A lot less water used there. Ah, and bath water then becomes mop water. I haven't thought of a way to re-use the black mop water. It goes down the toilet.

Another small thing I have started doing is saving plastic food containers. I never liked how it looked to have yogurt and margarine containers mixed in with my Tupperware... but, hey! It's functional. And since dishes hardly ever come back when you send food to people, I can use those and not feel even a twinge of annoyance at the thought of never laying my eyes on them again.

There's all kinds of other stuff I think about doing: making/freezing baby food, learning how to can, making laundry soap. I usually think about it, and then get discouraged in thinking about the time and MESS (noooo mooooore messes please!!) it would involve. So, those are still just in the thought stage now.

I have started "making" my own beans, now. As opposed to buying cans. I don't know if it is the altitude/dryness here, but wowsers those things have to boil forever. Like 5 hours. So then I am tabulating if the cost of gas is coming out to be the same as the cost of the can? Anyone else have this problem? It is also true with cooking rice-- here I have to use 3 times the amount of water as rice... as opposed to 2. I digress...

Well, tell me what kind of planet/health-friendly things you are doing these days. Keep in mind I can't commit to something that takes a lot of time at this point. Simple ideas would be highly appreciated!!! :)

3 comments:

  1. I know some people who soak their beans over night. Then they don't need to cook nearly so long the next day. Worth a try?

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  2. hey! yeah--i usually soak them 15+ hrs... :-/

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  3. just checked online... says if you live at over 2000 feet, you'd be better to buy canned beans b/c cooking time doubles. Ahhh, well--we live at over 7000 feet! :)

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