Day 62: Vigilant Composting

The Task: To become zealous composters.

The Why:  We've been composting for years.  In fact, Luke loves compost.  As in, he's been at peoples houses and noticed that they were about to throw out a bunch of rotten fruit and asked if he could take it home with him.  Seriously, it's a little embarrassing.  The idea that we can turn kitchen waste into black gold for our garden appeals to our trash-to-treasure hearts.

But honestly, in our own kitchen, we get kinda lazy about it sometimes.  If we fill the compost bin in the middle of meal preparation, we just start throwing the rest of the compost in the garbage. I'm not the kind of avid composter who picks banana peels out of the garbage if my two year old gets confused about what bin it should go in.  Or at least I wasn't, until today.

The Benefits of Composting:

• It creates good, nutrient dense soil for the garden for free! Hooray!
• Compost actually helps to detoxify the soil.  That is something our world could use a little more of!
•  It diverts kitchen waste from landfills. (I used to wonder about this. Doesn't the compost just break down at the landfill?  Does it matter where you put the things that will biodegrade anyways?   But it does matter, because the landfill doesn't create the right conditions for composting. This site explains it far better than I can.)
• It saves fuel.  Twenty seven percent of the trash being trucked to landfills is food waste and yard scraps. Then that waste gets shoveled around at the landfill.  Imagine what a difference it could make if everyone with a backyard started composting their vegetable scraps instead of throwing them in the trash?
• It saves money. Where we live we pay a two dollar fee per bag to dispose of garbage.  This is on top of the municipal taxes we pay that fund the garbage disposal site. Less garbage = more money in our pockets.

The How: So, as of today I am the kind of person who picks banana peels out of the trash.  We toss all of our veggie and grain scraps (as well as things like dryer lint, facial tissues, tea bags and coffee grounds) into a pail under the kitchen sink.  Each evening (and sometimes more often!) we take the compost out to the big 3 section compost bin I built a few years ago while Luke was at work and I was looking to overcome my fear of power tools.

We never ever compost meat or dairy or anything cooked in animal fat.  I know many people do, but that just encourages a whole host of other issue, such as slower decomposition and maggots. Ick!  I'm pretty sure that if there were maggots in my compost heap I would have to cry and/or vomit and/or move.  Just kidding.... sort of.

We don't obsess over the ratio of nitrogen rich and carbon rich materials, we just put compost in the bin as it becomes available, give it a little turn with the pitchfork now and then, and it always breaks down beautifully.  We periodically switch which section we throw our scraps in to give another section a chance to break down into happy soil.

The Verdict:  I know that there is nothing glamourous about a heap of rotting produce, but I can't help but love our compost pile.  I can't believe we've been so lackadaisical about it, it's such a beautiful thing!

We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

How is Eat Your Pantry Month Going?

We are two-thirds of the way through the month and two-thirds of the way through our Eat Your Pantry Challenge. If you're doing the challenge at your house, I'd love to know how it's going!

Today I thought I'd share some of the best, worse and funniest ways this month's challenge has affected our dinner hour.

Most kid-pleasing pantry recipe:  Lentil and Brown Rice Tacos. I used to make these all the time but kinda forgot about them. I am so glad that this challenge reminded me of this dish, because my kids love it and I'm pretty sure it is the cheapest thing I could possibly feed them. 

Most likely to convert me into a bean-eater: We tried this recipe. Oh. My. Goodness. Maybe it's the bacon, maybe it's the quarter cup of minced garlic in it, but this recipe made me temporarily forget that I hate beans. And my bacon-and-garlic-lovin' family devoured it.

Most awkward pantry moment:  I invited guests over for Sesame Chicken so that I could use up the sesame seeds I had in the pantry.  In all the last minute busyness to get dinner served I forgot to toast the sesame seeds and add them to the sesame chicken.  So we had not-so-sesame chicken.  And the sesame seeds are still in my pantry.  I guess we'll have to try again....

Biggest Eat-Your-Pantry Month cheat:  We used red kidney beans as bingo tokens.  That might honestly be the only thing they are good for. Did I mention that I hate beans?...

 How is Eat Your Pantry Month going at your house?  Have you reached into the far corners of your dried goods and discovered some fabulous new recipes?  Please share in the comments below!

Day 59: A Simpler Approach to Seasonal Decorating

When it comes to simpler living, Ma Ingalls is my hero.  I know she wasn't a minimalist on purpose, and that she is at least a little bit fictionalized, and that her life was oftentimes very difficult, but when my girls and I cuddle together on the couch to read from the Little House series we sigh and swoon at the beautiful simplicity of the life they lived. 

My 4 year old would be thrilled to spend her days playing barefoot in plum creek with a homemade bonnet swaying on it's strings down her back.

So as silly as this may sound, sometimes along this journey to a simpler life, I ask myself what Ma Ingalls would have done.  I've stood in my kitchen holding single task kitchen tools asking myself "Would Ma Ingalls own this?"

And lately I've been contemplating how Ma Ingalls celebrated the seasons.  In fact, how anybody celebrated the seasons before pinterest, and magazines, and entire aisles in Walmart devoted to seasonal decor.

I live in a place that has four distinct, beautiful, humbling seasons. The notion that I would need to store boxes full of manufactured decorations in order to savour these seasons is starting to seem a little bit ridiculous to me. It seems especially odd as autumn approaches, a season marked by contentment and thankfulness.

The rhythmn of the year is a beautiful thing, and it is only natural that we would want our homes filled with the sights and smells and festivity of the seasons.  But the fact is that there is nothing in those seasonal aisles at Walmart that will make the season more meaningful for our families.  Nothing. There, I said it.

So instead of decorating for autumn this year, I am letting autumn permeate our home.  The pumpkins waiting to be turned into pie, the sunflowers from the yard, the apple pie jam we will make and cool in jars on the counter top.  The lovely braided garlic from the Farmer's Market that will be disappearing a little with each stew and pot pie we enjoy together.

I have a wire wreath form that I will be adorning with seasonal foliage, and I might splurge on a scented candle if I find I have a spot to enjoy it.  But aside from a few small items, our goal is that most of our seasonal decorations would be consumable or compostable.  

The Verdict:  I feel like a weight has lifted.  I don't need to craft a fall mantlescape or create a charming porch vignette.  My seasonal decorating can happen organically, as I find a place to perch our winter squash until it is time to make soup or fill our house with the scent of autumn while I heat apple cider on the stove.

I like to think that Ma Ingalls would approve...

We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

Day 58: Switching the Lightbulbs

The Task:  To (finally) switch our incandescent light bulbs out for energy efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) and Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL)

The Why:  It's kind of embarrassing that here we are on day fifty-eight of this journey doing the first thing most people do when they want to decrease their energy consumption.

When the CFLs first came out we did buy a box of them with a 50% off coupon and replaced three light bulbs in the house.  That was about all we could afford that day, so we figured we'd switch the rest out over time and it just never happened.

Incandescent light bulbs are notoriously inefficient. I've read many times that they release 90% of the electricity consumed as heat and only 10% as light!  Plus, they burn out more often, which means more manufacturing, more packaging to end up in landfills, and more fuel needed to ship them to our local stores.  

So this weekend we had some light bulbs than needed replacing, a reasonably fresh paycheck still partially unspent, and great sale at a nearby hardware store.  It seemed like a good time to upgrade.

The How: We replaced most of our lights with CFLs.  There is one light above the bathtub that we leave on at night as a sort of nightlight (we live in the country and there are no street lights outside, so we would literally be walking into walls on our way to the bathroom if we didn't leave some sort of light on!) so we splurged and switched that one out for an LED that uses only 4 watts of electricity.  Now I can feel so much better about leaving that light on all night!

There are two lights in the master bedroom that are on dimmers, and dimmable CFL's weren't on sale this week, and we aren't bazillionaires, so we're going to wait for the mega expensive dimmable CFL's to go on sale before making that last upgrade.

The Verdict: I added up the watts of our before bulbs and after bulbs.  Before making the switch we had 1546 watts of light in our house.  Now we have a total of 413 watts of light!

Plus, we did the math, and if these bulbs really last the 6 or 7 years they are supposed to, compared to the old lights that needed to be replaced approximately twice a year, we are actually spending less on light bulbs, albeit, all at once. So the situation feels kind of win-win.

We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!

Day 55: Decluttering the Clutter Busters {ha!}

The Task: To get rid of some of the racks, dividers, totes and baskets that are now useless because I'm no longer trying to cram as much stuff as I can into our space!

The Why:  Today's task is as much a celebration as it is a chore.  In the last 55 days of decluttering we have made a huge stack of empty totes, bins, and organizers in our basement. 

Minimalism is turning all those storage solutions that we thought would fix our clutter problems into clutter!

The How:  I am keeping a few favourite baskets until we are done decluttering/reorganizing because I may find that a certain basket is useful in a place I haven't dealt with just yet.  I'm also keeping some large totes because they make for a great place to brood baby chickens (if you don't know what I'm talking about, that's okay)  but for the most part, these things can go. I can't believe that just 2 months ago we had enough stuff to fill all of these baskets and totes and bags and bins!  

I'm giving away some of these things to friends on facebook and I'm packing up our thrift store donations in reusable bins, the thrift store can either sell the bins or use them!

We talked about saving the bins until we move, but there isn't a move on our immediate horizon and free cardboard boxes are easy enough to come by.

The Verdict:   This just makes me smile.  It feels like a reason to celebrate.  I no longer stroll through stores looking for clever ways to stash my stuff.  Our closets have tons of room because they aren't filled with things that add nothing to our life.  I am loving how much easier it is to keep our spaces tidy and organized with less stuff.  Hooray!

Plus, I feel a little bit like we're "sticking it to the man", so to speak.  We are solving our clutter problem without making a trip to a fancy home store or buying the latest clever storage solution.  We're learning that the answer to a more peaceful, cozy, welcoming home is not about having the right stuff, but less stuff. 

What about you guys?   I know many of you are following along, radically minimizing your own belongings as well. Do you have a pile of totes and storage devices that are evidence of how far you've come?  Are you finding your home easier to keep tidy and organized with less stuff around?

We are doing one small thing (almost) every day for a year to create a simpler, quieter, more intentional life. Take a moment to read all About Us, check out The Rules of our year long project and sign up for our RSS feed or "like" us on facebook so that you can follow our journey to radical simplicity!