Happy Earth Day

Have been mulling over the idea of Earth Day and an earlier post I did on Walt Disney's 1960's campaign for National Wildlife Week.

Candlelight, Elephant Fruit, and Thou: Earth Hour 2009 update

I never did get around to posting about my Earth Hour 2009 experience, did I? We had managed to get DJ to bed before DG showed up to help celebrate Earth Hour in the darkness of our back porch. She's a good sport that way. The old man had already fled the scene by the time Earth Hour began at approximately 8:30 (okay, we were a little late, maybe 5 minutes?) so he could lift weights in the safety of a well-lit campus.

I turned out all the lights and electronics in the house, and then DG and I settled out for a long, long hour of shooting the breeze and stumbling around the darkened house when we needed more ice or a trip to the bathroom (peeing in the dark was fun!).

I admit I was wasn't totally without electronic helpers -- I had to use the camera to take this shot of the candle and lamp-lit table. Also took a cute video which DG will not allow me to post because she doesn't want people seeing our drunken rantings. I deny that we were drunk at the time of the video, however; we had barely touched the bottle of Amarula we had for the occasion!

While waiting for DG to arrive, I had taken a quick walk up my street a few houses to see if I could spot any other Earth Hourers. Such was not the case, my neighbors choosing to spend Earth Hour 2009 swathed in electronic salience around my darkened home. Oh well, maybe next year I'll pound on the neighbors' doors with glad tidings of Earth Hour 2010, and they will laugh heartily before slamming said doors.

Need-a-Bag Project Update 04.18.09

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.

This Saturday tables were turned, and DG was the one with plans that made it impossible for her to get to the market. Luckily, the old man was sitting on line as of 6:30 am that morning to get all the goodies at the bi-annual Friends of the Library book sale, so DJ was pressed into service in his cameo role of Need-a-Bag? Project Good Scout. And a wonderful help he was, lugging the drop box around and putting bags on the fence. The cost? One tote bag! Such a lovely boy!

Friend of the Need-a-Bag? Project and fellow blogger, Kelli, left a lovely comment on the prior update from 04.04.09 that was too nice to leave there:

I keep meaning to tell you that several times when I've been at the market lately, someone will be picking through the bags on the fence with a look of amazement on their faces. Last time a woman asked me, "These are FREE? I just take one? That's great!"

You really are doing a good thing, and so simple - for us picking up the bags anyway.

Thank you!!

Kelli

Thank YOU, Kelli, for being our eyes and ears on the ground and getting such great feedback! Folks, if you haven't read Kelli's blog, What We Need Is Here, it is a wonderful read and continually reminds me how many great folks are here in town!

We got some new bags in the drop box! Thank you, kind, anonymous (probably Jean) donors!

The market is going through some ch-ch-ch-changes and a whole swath has been bulldozed in preparation for...new stuff? What new stuff, not sure. But it looks like it's going to be a bigger, better farmer's market so hold onto your hats, people! I'll hopefully have pictures to document the construction progress with the next post.

Can't find my photo-downloader-thingy for the camera, so here's a photo from the Citizen's Co-op fundraiser from January. DJ is king of the woodpile!

Need-a-Bag Project Update 04.04.09

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'm back on the case! Got to help set up bags for the first time in ages, and contributed a new drop box to the cause, since our old one apparently blew out onto Hwy 441 last week, never to be seen from again. I don't want say someone stole it, because I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but DG did stop someone from taking it once, if that's any indication of the desirability of our cruddy, garage sale drop box. The new one is an old mesh basket (one of the foldable ones) that we used for DJ's stuffed animals. It too was a toy, and had gotten to the point where the wire was sticking out and had become kind of a hazard. Darn, I should have gotten a picture of it, but instead I took a photo of the new, paper Need-a-Bag? Project label with safety pin. Publix got some cool, new polyprop bags with trees and birds on it, so I donated the boring ecru-colored bags, as shown in this photo.

I realized that DG was using quilter's tracing fabric and running it through the printer to make the labels, which is more durable than paper. I think we've got a winner with the paper label/safety pin dealie -- DG was able to pin labels on the bags while we drove out to the farmer's market this morning.

We've started to wonder if we're getting over-saturated with bags and DG asked Erika-of-the-fine-and-tasty-citrus if she has noticed less bags to put away at the end of the market day. So far the results are inconclusive. I really wish someone would come forth and volunteer to branch out at the Wednesday market downtown(as part of our Need-a-Bag? Project Pioneer Program), but that's too much to hope for right now.