Need-a-Bag? project update 06.28.08

Note: The Need-a-Bag? project was created to promote sustainable bagging at the Hwy 441 Alachua County Farmer's Market each Saturday morning. We supply reusable tote bags reclaimed from thrift stores and garage sales. The Need-a-Bag? project also utilizes old tank tops as tote bags by sewing up the bottoms (these are called t-totes). We invite you to read the other posts on the project by clicking the "Need-a-Bag? Project" label at the bottom of this post.

We put out 27 bags last week, as part of a rather sizeable boon from a lovely woman at Junior League who heard about our project and kindly donated a TON of bags for our efforts. Thank you, so, so much! According to DG's mom (who was given the bags), this N-a-B? project Angel has also been donating bags during the market days, leaving them on the fence for shoppers before we arrive. It it hadn't been partly for her intervention (as well as any other anonymous donors we may have missed) last Saturday, we would not have had the 2o bags we were able to put up for shoppers.

And, as people ask more about the project, I try to interject that the bags are always free, but we ask that people return them as they get dirty, so we can wash them and shoppers can reuse them. That, or course, implies that people can actually remember to bring them back, one of the big ironies of the Need-a-Bag? project.

Anyway, the Need-a-Bag? project will be one-year-old this October (here's a link to the original post about our first adventure at the farmer's market), and DG and I started talking about the possibility of doing some sort of one-year anniversary celebration. Because, anything that started as a simple concept, to provide reusable tote bags at the saturday farmer's market, and has lasted for a year deserves some sort of recognition. But, more importantly, the people who have become supporters and allies should be especially recognized for their efforts. So, maybe we'll do some sort of pizza party at Satchel's or Buddha Belly close to Halloween.

Picture of Gator Transcendental t-shirt from Satchel's t-shirt collection

Modest Swimsuits: The Next Summer

Got the bug to look for another modest swimsuit pattern; the impulse happened later this year, mostly because I have the Delta Burke monstrosity I bought last year. I reported last spring about my trials in finding a new swimsuit, which resulted in a hellish trip to the mall and the hurried purchase of the aforementioned yuck-suit. The photo to the left is the pattern I just purchased from Fashionably Modest Patterns, one of many, many sites dedicated to modest dress for women. I have never, even when I had the body to do it, worn a bikini or other revealing suit. I do not understand the desire to bare one's body in public, especially now that I droop and sag in places that require things like skirts and high necks. So this year is the year I give away the Delta Burke, third-world produced garment, and make my own suit. I will be adding the cap sleeve option to this pattern and definitely the shelf-bra option. And, no, I will not be photographed in the suit for another blog post; some things are better left alone.

Need-a-Bag? project update 06.21.08

Note: The Need-a-Bag? project was created to promote sustainable bagging at the Hwy 441 Alachua County Farmer's Market each Saturday morning. We supply reusable tote bags reclaimed from thrift stores and garage sales. The Need-a-Bag? project also utilizes old tank tops as tote bags by sewing up the bottoms (these are called t-totes). We invite you to read the other posts on the project by clicking the "Need-a-Bag? Project" label at the bottom of this post.

So, this week we put out only 10 bags -- DG had just come back from NYC and we just didn't have a chance to go shopping for more. But it was a Farmer's Market Miracle, because some kind soul or souls put out 9 extra bags for the shopping day! It was so amazing and heart-warming and I felt like I was in the third act of a Lifetime Original Movie. Thank you, Friend or Friends of Need-a-Bag? Project!

Newly elevated Need-a-Bag? Project Associate Stacey did a nice write-up of the Saturday farmer's market experience at her blog, yecats gniwe, and provided a recipe and picture for baked rigatoni that looks really yummy (I haven't had breakfast, yet, but I could definintely chow on some baked rigatoni right now). Anyway, it was a pleasure to have her help and companionship while we politely pushed and shoved our way through the crowded marketplace (paraphrasing Stace).

Speaking of yummy meals, I finally baked the spaghetti squash and made the casserole with meat sauce. I tossed the spaghetti squash strands in a hot pan with olive oil and garlic before placing in the lasagna dish and adding the pasta sauce with browned beef (and topping with parmesan). I baked mine uncovered for about 15 minutes although some recipes call for a light aluminum cover. I don't think you can really go wrong with this recipe, though, and it was a hit with the old man, who declared it "squash we can believe in!"

Got the pic of some yummy rigatoni from yecats gniwe

No longer "ad-free"

This is kind of dorky, but I just wanted to announce that I took the "ad-free blog" picture from the sidebar, because after thinking about it my blog does have some ads, like the "KleerKut" picture. Maybe I'm nitpicking between ads that are for causes and ads that sell stuff, but from an ethical standpoint my position is that it is still advertising. Hence the change.

Got the picture from adfreeblog.org

Super-Duper Summer Update

It has been awhile since I posted anything about the various projects I've been working on, in an effort to live more lightly. Here are some of the results so far:

Weaning from Deodorants:
This has been a struggle. The Lush deodorant bar DG got me for Christmas is still in use, but the red rash under my arms continues. It doesn't hurt and it's not itchy so obviously I haven't been that concerned if I'm still using the deodorant bar. And, I've finally gotten use to the smell -- of the deodorant bar, not my B.O. The yucky, feel-like-spit sweatiness of the season is upon us, but so far I haven't noticed my smelliness that much. I had to come into work early this morning and forgot to use the bar so ended up spritzing myself with a rather expensive perfume sample my friend Paul had given me. But I smell damn good.

Weaning from Shampoo:
I haven't used baking soda and apple cider vinegar in a few months -- still using the Lush shampoo bar (also a Christmas present) and interspersing that with Head and Shoulders because it's convenient. I wash my hair maybe 2-3 times a week and the shamps bar is still going strong. Halfway through June -- can it make it to this Christmas???

10-Dollar Compost Bin:
Can somebody please explain to me what one does when the bin fills up but you still have kitchen scraps to throw in? Haven't gotten there yet, but I'm close. Also, as you continue to fill it up and the junk turns into delicious, nutritious compost, just when can you start using it? Doesn't it take, like, 3 months to be useful? It has been fun stirring the compost every so often and seeing the stuff percolate into a beautiful black mass. Ultimately, however, I think my design was flawed in that I buried the bin instead of leaving it whole and kicking it around the yard once in awhile. This is what my friend Brenda's sister did and, in retrospect, it seems like a better plan than turning it with a shovel every so often. I might make another can, but the thought of another hour drilling holes into the thing is just not that appealing, right now.

Diva Cup:
Wow, what can I say? The Diva Cup has changed my life for the better. Proper placement and sometime-leakage are still issues but I'm just not that phased by that stuff, as evidenced by my skank-ass underwear collection.

Will post more updates as they come to mind.

Got the picture for my next compost bin from FrostCall, which additionally has a link to the DIY Urban Compost Bin, courtesy of the Crumley Family

Need-a-Bag? Project Update 06.14.08

Note: The Need-a-Bag? project was created to promote sustainable bagging at the Hwy 441 Alachua County Farmer's Market each Saturday morning. We supply reusable tote bags reclaimed from thrift stores and garage sales. The Need-a-Bag? project also utilizes old tank tops as tote bags by sewing up the bottoms (these are called t-totes). We invite you to read the other posts on the project by clicking the "Need-a-Bag? Project" label at the bottom of this post.

First, thank you to the anonymous Need-a-Bag? project donor who put out two totally bitchin' tote bags on the fence this Saturday. I should have written down what they said but it was something like "Arristar" or something. Anyway, that was amazing! Thank you, anonymous Friend of Need-a-Bag? project!

Speaking of F.O.N's (Friend of Need-a-Bag? project), F.O.N. Stacey has been elevated to Need-a-Bag? project associate Stacey for waking up early on Saturday morning to help me hang bags on the fence outside of the farmer's market this week. DG was in NYC cheering on a mutual friend who debuted her first play Off-Broadway this weekend [Hooray, Aliza!]), so I was all alone until Stacey so graciously volunteered to assist. Boy, having someone there to help really makes a difference! It's not so much physical help as the emotional support having an extra person there makes. DG and I have been doing it together so often that when one of us can't do it, the deficit is truly felt.

We put out 16 bags that morning, and all but one sad, little, blue burlap tote was left by the time we were done shopping. Stacey felt so bad for it she moved it closer to the drop bin so it wouldn't be lonely!

The farmer's market was, once again, crazy busy. There apparently was an article in the Gainesville Sun a couple of weekends ago about local food markets (I'll post the link if I can find the darn thing -- The G'ville Sun website s**ks, btw), so that may have had something to do with it.

I asked Erika-of-the-pretty-caladiums and she said, "I think a lot of it had to do with the voucher program, plus the tomato scare, plus the article, plus the really great summer produce that is available. All of those factors combined equals one fun-filled (and crowded) day at the market. Hopefully all of the people who came on Saturday will return in the winter with the same level of enthusiasm for local produce."

Indeed. I've only spent a miniscule amount of time at the farmer's market, but in the time I have been coming, the last three weeks have definitely been the most busy.

Bought a melon, cantaloupe, two of the largest onions known to mankind, 3 acorn squash, one spaghetti squash, 2 super-size zucchini and some assorted small yellow summer squash. I have been chowing on the acorn squash like nobody's business! I have tried them baked/steamed and just baked with melted butter and brown sugar, as per alert commenter Stacey's instructions. I could eat it plain and I could eat it over and over. And I have. Next, I make the spaghetti squash according to my mom-in-law's so, so good recipe using ground beef and pasta sauce.

New pet peeve? Hearing the sentence, "isn't it a little early for (Fill in any vegetable I have just purchased from the farmer's market)?" I'm not sure why, but it fills me with rage when I hear this, even when my sainted mom-in-law says it, as she did with the afore-mentioned acorn squash purchases this week and last week. So I Googled it and the Sarasota extension office has a fact sheet about squash and it is so in season right now! So there!

Got the picture of my new favorite gourd-type vegetable from All Creatures

Need-a-Bag Update 06.07.08

Note: The Need-a-Bag? project was created to promote sustainable bagging at the Hwy 441 Alachua County Farmer's Market each Saturday morning. We supply reusable tote bags reclaimed from thrift stores and garage sales. The Need-a-Bag? project also utilizes old tank tops as tote bags by sewing up the bottoms (these are called t-totes). We invite you to read the other posts on the project by clicking the "Need-a-Bag? Project" label at the bottom of this post.

Forgot to count the bags once again, but this time I was saved by the fact that I used two whole sheets of stickers and then two from a third sheet, bringing the total to 14. So, ergo, we put out 14 bags.

It was packed at the farmer's market this weekend -- crazy busy. I kind of gave up trying to actually get close enough to the tables to see what all they had, and ended up just going to a couple of the usual places and buying the stuff I knew we would use -- a buttload of corn, onions, and eggplant. And, I overheard a couple of people talking about how to prepare acorn squash and decided to take the plunge and got a couple. The eggplant I'll either make into a masala or go with the baba ganoush like last time. And, the corn is not wormy this time. It's a really tasty bi-color type. All the same, I've begun a policy of cutting the tops off before husking. I have nothing against worms and caterpillars, but they will be much happier in the compost without me freaking out and flushing them down the sink.

Back to the bag situation. This week some lovely person left us two Jan Brett Gingerbread Friends reusable tote bags. They and all of the tote bags we put out were snatched up very quickly. I never thought I would ever say this, but I dread knowing that every bag we put out (with the exception of orphans like little Virgo) will get taken. Why do I dread this? Why don't I rejoice in this knowledge? It is because while folks have certainly acclimated to the idea of using reusable tote bags at the farmer's market, they have not processed the second part of the Need-a-Bag? project's ideals; namely, the bags should be culled and brought back for washing and reuse.

See, folks just haven't gotten that last piece of the puzzle, and it's kind of crazy-making for me. It's also troubling because, at this late date we are still buying copious amounts of bags. We're still not paying more than a dollar (and more on that in a sec), but we are still having to dip into our personal funds to keep this thing going.

I'm not passing judgment; when DG came up with this idea and we started working on the project, the founding philosophy was providing reusable tote bags so that people wouldn't have to think of these things when they left the house to go to the farmer's market; if we provided the bags free of charge folks would soon be using those rather than the plastic grocery bags. And, in actual practice, we have seen way more reusable tote bags being used at the farmer's market, in addition to the folks who pick up one of the Need-a-Bag? project's totes that we hang on the fence each Saturday morning. The problem is, not enough people have been donating the totes back to us.

I figured at this point the project would be self-generating and our function would be to collect the returned bags and make sure they were laundered and ready for the next market day.

So DG and I continue our weekly scourings of thrift stores and garage sales. This weekend we were lucky enough to run into an old friend who is now at the helm of one the better places to find totes. She was all about the project and gave us a SUH-weet deal.

I think, though, we're going to have create some more literature that entails this second part of the Need-a-Bag? project's 2-point plan:
1. Use reusable tote bags for shopping
2. Drop off dirty reusable tote bags for washing and reuse

Plus, Totey construction is going to start in the next couple of weekends and if anyone out there who lives close by would like to lend a hand to Gainesville's first sustainable mascot, please email me at tmgnordlie@gmail.com. Cookies will be served.

Got this picture off the ebay

Guerrilla Gardening

Alert Reader Stacey sent me this great link to a BoingBoing speck on Guerrilla Gardening. The original LA Times article can be found here, but it is useful to look at the BoingBoing speck to read the comments. Like, for instance, a commenter links to Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, a short novel that tells the story of how one young girl revitalizes an entire community with the simple act of planting some lima beans.

This is an interesting discussion because, as another commenter observed (in a not-so-nice way), property rights should be respected. I can see that but I can also see the converse which is that there are many communities that are desperately in need of activities such as community gardens that put neighbors in touch with one another. What is the message behind the guerilla gardening movement? People are getting tired of blighted properties that absentee owners have abandoned and perhaps this movement is a reaction to the powerlessness most feel in the face of urban landscapes that take citizens further away from their agrarian roots.

I'll reserve my opinions and allow the greater community to slug it out. I do enjoy reading the London-based Guerrilla Gardening.org blog, which is a fascinating look at the movement.


Photo Top Right: Seed bombs for planting on the sly being made. Photo by Gina Ferazzi of LA Times

Need-a-Bag Update 05.31.08

Note: The Need-a-Bag? project was created to promote sustainable bagging at the Hwy 441 Alachua County Farmer's Market each Saturday morning. We supply reusable tote bags reclaimed from thrift stores and garage sales. The Need-a-Bag? project also utilizes old tank tops as tote bags by sewing up the bottoms (these are called t-totes). We invite you to read the other posts on the project by clicking the "Need-a-Bag? Project" label at the bottom of this post.

I thought that perhaps we had goofed and not counted the bags we were putting out for this past Saturday's market day -- well, actually, we had goofed and forgot to count them. Then, I remembered that I had taken a picture of the most recent bagline so counted those (I'm soooo smart). We put out 14 bags this past week.

Being a mom who can't say "no" to birthday party invitations for her child, the fam ended up going to three galas on Saturday (with disastrous results, by the way) and therefore I could not be present at this past market day. DG reports that it was busy and again we were low on bags. I forgot to mention that the week before last some kind soul placed a bunch of Ann Taylor shopping bags into the bin. And a good thing, too, because I had (once again) forgotten to bring a tote bag for shopping. It did not, however, hold up under the crushing weight of vegetation purchased that day and so needed to be chucked. DG and are starting to consider other options for procuring bags -- one idea is to do a workplace tote bag drive at our respective workplaces sometime this summer; the other idea is to contact the lost and found at the large, southeastern university we work at and see if a deal can be struck for any non-retrieved tote bags.

Totey production has stalled as I find myself in the throes of DJ's last week of school and trying to figure out what the next few weeks will bring. I am confident, however, that work towards this important goal of a sustainable mascot will come to fruition.

2008 Hogtown Homegrown Eat Local Challenge Ends

I reported awhile back that Hogtown Homegrown's 2008 Eat Local Challenge was happening during the month of May and that DG was participating. She is one of the most diligent eat local people I know (well, okay, I don't that many eat local people but she would be at the top of the list, I'm sure) and I know that she went all out to win big prizes at this thing by eating exceedingly local throughout the month of May.

The challenge culminated with a kickball exhibition game at Westside Park this past Saturday. Now, if the kickball game alone did not draw me out of my hidey-hole like a magnet, it was definitely the "Name the Locally Grown Vegetable or Herb" quiz which I took and totally aced (because I KNOW my vegetables and herbs). But more on that later.

There were a lot of fun people at this thing and Stefanie, the host of Hogtown Homegrown and of the challenge, said in a very confident way that next year's would be even bigger. I believe her; she's that kind of leader.

Anyway, more about kickball. It is a little-known fact that I totally rock at kickball, so the people who chose me to be on their team did not expect to get a ringer to help them win. And win we did, oh yes. The one thing I have found in this sport, however, is that wearing Crocs while trying to kick or run is both an impediment and possibly a danger to yourself and others. More than one Croc flew off of feet during the execution of the game, with at least three instances from my own pair. One player's Croc flew farther than the ball he was kicking -- I thought that the Croc should count as a projectile and immediately be considered "in play," especially if said Croc falls near third basepeople who are getting bored. I was, unfortunately, alone in that consideration.

After the game everyone gathered to hear the results and see who won. DG, of course, was a winner and received a gift certificate for "The Perfect Gift." She also got a Hogtown Homegrown tote bag, as did anyone who participated in the event. The tote bags were hot, and made me wish I had least filled out the form and fumbled around in my own little way over the month of May -- c'mon, a free tote-bag?! I could eat local more diligently for a free tote bag.

Alas, a Hogtown Homegrown tote bag was not fated to be mine but, like I mentioned earlier, I totally aced the quiz and was one of the lucky acers to receive a GIFT CERTIFICATE FROM THE FUTURE! Yes, I won a free bag of citrus from Erika-of-the-sweet-and-tasty-citrus...next citrus season. That's okay, I can wait a year for a bag of tasty citrus! After the prizes were given out we had a little snack on local foods -- DG brought an awesome peach and blueberry pie with a pecan crust that was really amazing.

It was a fun outing and if there are free tote bags involved I will definitely participate next year. I really appreciated Stefanie's enthusiasm for helping people recognize the value in eating locally, and her hope that the month of May in Gainesville would eventually come to symbolize an important month for food with the HH Eat Local Challenge.

We definitely need more of these seasonal milestones to help remind us that there is a time and a season, etc. To everything, turn, turn, turn! There is a season, turn, turn, turn! Okay, I'll stop that, now. Will update with photos!