An Effort in Green

Recyclable Items (2)

• 1 orange juice carton
• 1 peanut butter jar (PETE 1)

Non-Recyclable Items (11):

• 1 cereal bag
• 1 video game wrapper
• 1 orange juice seal
• 1 piece of plastic wrap
• 1 shredded cheese bag
• 1 salad dressing seal
• 1 big piece of Styrofoam
• 4 miscellaneous pieces of plastic wrapping from Christmas presents

Total Items: 13

13 items is not great, but let's compare. In 2009, the week containing Christmas was week 2 of this plastic counting adventure. That week I threw away 37 pieces of plastic. So I must say, I feel pretty good about that 13. Sometimes I think I get too caught up in trying to beat my latest record, and forget about how far I've come.

'Tis the season of thoughtfully picking out the perfect gift for each person you care about. Unfortunately, it's also the season of picking up last minute, generic presents that just end up cluttering people's houses. So, for the person who has everything (or at least who isn't making it obvious what they don't have, and need), you should consider donating to a worthy cause, and dedicating it to that special, hard-to-shop-for someone. Lots of popular charities have something like this, whatever your cause of choice. So today I'll share with you just a few of the options available, specifically the ones that have popped up in my inbox over the past couple of weeks (I'm on a lot of mailing lists).

So, since this is an environmental blog, I'll start with that. Greenpeace has a program called Presents for the Planet. You make a donation to Greenpeace, and you get to send a friend an animated e-card!

If you're more into helping people directly, you have a few choices. My favourite is Oxfam. Through Oxfam Unwrapped you can give a variety of gifts, so this one actually overlaps with the other categories. You can send gifts to people in need all over the world, including things like bicycles, flocks of chickens, and textbooks, and then Oxfam sends your special someone a card.

If you're a Manitoban, or buying for someone who lives here, you might consider Food Matters Manitoba. Your gift will help fund healthy, sustainable, and fair food security projects right in our local communities.

Lastly, for the animal lover on your list, check out WSPA's Really Wild Gifts. You can choose gifts that help a specific type of animal, or make a donation to go wherever it's needed most. You can help fund bear sanctuaries in Pakistan, or fund care for neglected cats. I know that's a gift I'd cherish more than a box of chocolates or a new sweater.

So if you're still trying to figure the perfect present for someone who seems to have everything already, I hope you'll consider helping out a person or animal or the planet this holiday season. Happy shopping!

Recyclable Items (3)

• 1 soy milk carton
• 1 lasagna container (PETE 1)
• 1 envelope with window

Non-Recyclable Items (2):

• 1 perogies bag
• 1 soy milk seal

Total Items: 5

Note: This is week 52! Holy mackerel! I've been doing this for a whole year!

Recyclable Items (1)

• 1 soy milk carton

Non-Recyclable Items (5):

• 1 advent calendar wrapper
• 1 Halloween candy wrapper
• 1 toothpaste tube
• 2 carton seals

Total Items: 6

Recyclable Items (1)

• 1 shampoo bottle (HDPE 2) (I actually use solid shampoo now. I just figured I should finish this bottle off)

Non-Recyclable Items (3):

• 1 cereal bag
• 1 pill package
• 1 fruitlets bag

Total Items: 4

Recyclable Items (2)

• 1 soy milk carton
• 1 hot chocolate tin lid (LDPE 4)

Non-Recyclable Items (5):

• 1 soy milk seal
• 1 Styrofoam soup bowl
• 1 microwave popcorn package
• 1 cheese slice wrapper
• 1 gingerbread man wrapper

Total Items: 7

Today I thought I'd write a quick post highlighting some of the more ridiculous uses of disposable plastic I've seen since starting this plastic-avoiding adventure of mine.

What you see to the left is probably my favourite (least favourite?) example. Those are t-shirts from the souvenir shop at the Assiniboine Park Zoo. They come in plastic tubes. Seriously. I don't even know what more to say about this one...

To the right, witness the plastic resulting from a meal at Salisbury House. This wasn't even take out. I ate inside. As if it wasn't bad enough having to navigate the meat-eaters-oriented menu, my butter and syrup come beside my pancakes in little plastic cartons. As a frame of reference, at other, similar breakfast-specialising restaurants, pancakes usually come with a pile of butter on the plate, and syrup comes in glass jugs.

And last but not least, we have this monstrosity, from Folklorama. Even if you just needed a spoon for your ice cream, you had to take a fork, spoon, knife, sugar packet, and napkin, all wrapped together in a big plastic bag. I chose to eat my ice cream without cutlery instead. Now that's dedication. (Actually it was pretty fun.)

Now it's your turn! Tell us about the worst uses of disposable plastic (or even packaging in general) that you've ever seen.

Recyclable Items (1)

• 1 orange juice carton

Non-Recyclable Items (3):

• 1 cereal bag
• 1 microwave popcorn wrapper
• 1 bread bag (not pictured) (thanks to a mix-up at the bakery)

Total Items: 4

Recyclable Items (0)

Non-Recyclable Items (5):

• 1 Styrofoam soup bowl
• 1 microwave popcorn wrapper
• 1 juice box straw
• 2 restaurant mint wrappers
  

Total Items: 5

Not a new record, but if I was weighing my plastic each week like Fake Plastic Fish it might be a new record for that!

Recyclable Items (2)

• 1 soy milk carton
• 1 focaccia bread bag (paper with a plastic window)

Non-Recyclable Items (12):

• 1 soy milk seal
• 1 microwave popcorn wrapper
• 1 tortilla wrapper
• 7 candy wrappers (The candy I bought was plastic-free, but I got these at work... Candy is my weakness.)
• 1 pill package
• 1 Clodhoppers bag

Total Items: 14

Recyclable Items (1)

• 1 orange juice carton

Non-Recyclable Items (9):

• 1 cereal bag
• 1 Tostitos bag
• 1 cracker bag
• 1 toothpaste tube
• 2 cheese slice wrappers
• 1 video game wrapper
• 1 pop can holder (Those plastic ring thingies... I normally avoid these like the plague! Make sure if you do use these that you cut them up after, because birds, fish, and other small animals can get caught in them otherwise.)
• 1 orange juice seal

Total Items: 10

It's discoveries like this that make writing this blog fun. I was at Chapters, browsing through their ever-changing collection of amusing knick-knacks, when I found this little gem. It is a clock, and it runs on water and lemon juice. In other words, it's a kid's science project, but fancier looking. Yet it's somehow so exciting! I needed a clock for my room, and while I would have preferred one with an alarm in it, I couldn't resist a clock that doesn't take up one of my much-in-demand plugs, and also doesn't need batteries.

Wikipedia can tell you more about lemon batteries, if you're interested.

For this clock to work, you just fill it up mostly with water, plus a couple splashes of lemon juice (it says "fresh," but I used some from a bottle and it works fine), set the time, and you're good to go.

It won't be saving the world any time soon, but if you live in an area where your electricity comes from, say, coal, every little bit you can save helps.

Recyclable Items (2)

• 1 soy milk carton
• 1 doughnut container (PETE 1)

Non-Recyclable Items (2):

• 1 candy bag
• 1 soy milk seal

Total Items: 4 (another new record!)

Recyclable Items (0)

Non-Recyclable Items (5):

• 1 cereal bag
• 1 pistachios bag
• 1 carton seal
• 2 bags from pumpkin leaf bags

Total Items: 5 (a new record!)

Recyclable Items (3)

• 1 soy milk carton
• 1 Tim Horton's lid (I lost the lid from my travel mug, so I had to use a cup, and, unlike every other Tim Horton's I've ever been to, the one on campus wouldn't let me have no lid!)
• 1 orange juice carton

Non-Recyclable Items (12):

• 1 soy milk seal
• 1 Skittles bag
• 1 pill package
• 9 wrappers from various housewares (early Christmas presents from my grandparents)

Total Items: 15

Recyclable Items (2)

• 1 envelope with window
• 1 hummus container (PETE 1)

Non-Recyclable Items (4):

• 1 cereal bag
• 1 bunch of plastic wrapping and tape from the Charmed: The Complete Series on DVD
• 1 waffle package
• 1 toothbrush wrapper (I went to Toronto, and forgot my toothbrush! So I had to get a complimentary hotel one.)

Total Items: 6

Recyclable Items (3)

• 1 soy milk carton
• 1 raspberries container (PETE 1)
• 1 paper bread bag with plastic window

Non-Recyclable Items (3):

• 1 sample size SodaStream syrup package
• 1 graham cracker bag
• 1 Pink Panther ice cream treat package (it was the ice cream truck again!)

Total Items: 6

A couple weeks ago, I went to the Winnipeg Convention Centre for an eco show. Basically I paid $10 to be advertised to, but the products were all really interesting, environmentally friendly things, so I didn't mind. I bought a bamboo cutlery set from Green Please! (a Winnipeg-based company!) to carry in my backpack, as well as the SodaStream.

The SodaStream is a machine used for making soda at home. It doesn't use any electricity, just a pressurised CO2 canister. The only waste products are the empty syrup bottles. The syrup bottles are pretty small, though (only enough for 9L of pop), so I'm hoping that eventually they'll make bigger bottles.

The one thing that bugs me is that you have to spend more to get more environmentally friendly models. The Eco Soda model, which is made of recycled materials (as is the packaging) is $20 more than the Genesis (the cheapest model, and the one I purchased). And you have to go way up in price to the Titan or the coveted, $299, Penguin model if you want to make your soda in glass bottles instead of plastic. This was already a big purchase for me, so I got the Genesis, with the excessive packaging that recently showed up in my plastic tally, rather than spend the extra money. At least the plastic bottles used for carbonating the water are BPA free, so that's something.

On the flip side of my complaining about the packaging, I think the fun of making your own pop is enough to make the SodaStream worth it. So here are the pictures of Jonathon and I making cola, without detailed instructions, simply because it's very easy.

The SodaStream, a bottle of cold water, and a sample-sized packet of cola syrup.

The bottle is screwed into the machine, and Jonathon pushes the button to carbonate the water.

After the water is carbonated, we pour the syrup in (carefully, because this makes it fizz a lot!).

That's Jonathon! After mixing in the syrup, the cola is complete. And it was all done in under a minute.

Recyclable Items (1)

• 1 hummus container (PP 5)

Non-Recyclable Items (12):

• 1 cereal bag
• 1 microwave popcorn wrapper
• 1 package from tint brush
• 1 Sonic the Hedgehog ice cream treat wrapper (I just... I can't say no to the ice cream man.)
• 2 pasta bags
• 2 sample size SodaStream syrup containers (once this box is done there will be no more sample sizes!)
• 1 Styrofoam noodle bowl
• 1 soy milk seal
• 1 wrapper from Tarot deck
• 1 combination lock package (if I could stop losing them, I could stop buying them)

Total Items: 13

Sorry for the delay on this one. I started my last term at the University of Manitoba on Thursday, so I've been a bit busy. After December I'll be done, but until then, my scheduling could be a bit wonky. So please bear with me!


Recyclable Items (3)

• 1 sour cream container (PP 5)
• 1 soy milk carton (plastic spout and lid)
• 1 seal from CO₂ canister (LDPE 4)

Non-Recyclable Items (20):

• 1 mint wrapper
• 1 toothpaste tube
• 1 rigatoni bag
• 1 piece of plastic wrap
• 1 veggie burger package
• 1 cheese slice wrapper
• 1 straw
• 1 spoon
• 1 soy milk seal
• 1 apple filling packet from apple turnovers (not pictured)
• 1 icing packet from apple turnovers
• 1 pill package
• 4 pieces of plastic from SodaStream packaging
• 1 wrapper from SodaStream sample pack
• 3 seals from SodaStream

Total Items: 23

So, this was my worst week since January! Therefore, I figure I should point out all the points where I went wrong, or where I simply got unlucky with the amount of plastic coming my way.

• I bought a SodaStream. Which is awesome. But it came wrapped in a fair bit of plastic. I'll be writing a full post on the SodaStream soon, in which I'll talk more about the packaging, and about how cool the SodaStream is.
• The veggie burgers I normally eat aren't wrapped in plastic. The veggie burger package and cheese slice wrapper are from a BBQ I went to at a friend's house. You can't really be picky about packaging when a meat-eating friend is kindly making you a veggie burger. :)
• I went to the BDI (an ice cream place, for you non-Winnipeggers), and got a milkshake-type thing, and they gave me a spoon and a straw! I'd forgotten to bring a spoon, so I was expecting that, but a straw, too? Ridiculous.
• The plastic wrap was from a sandwich, at a place that had previously given me a sandwich wrapped in tin foil, but this time used plastic! I was rather disappointed.

So overall, I had a lot of bad luck last week! Hopefully it won't happen again.

Recyclable Items (2)

• 1 orange juice carton (plastic spout and lid)
• 1 envelope with window

Non-Recyclable Items (8):

• 1 potato bag
• 1 frozen vegetables bag
• 1 perogies bag
• 1 seal from taco sauce bottle (as soon as I'm done the individual taco sauce packets I've got left, there'll be no more of those!)
• 2 carton seals
• 2 toothpicks with plastic tips (I really, really hate these.)

Total Items: 10

Recyclable Items (3)

• 1 syrup container from Salisbury House (PL 4) (Oh, there will be a rant on this.)
• 1 orange juice carton (plastic spout and lid)
• 1 soy milk carton (plastic spout and lid)

Non-Recyclable Items (7):

• 1 margarine container from Salisbury House (See rant on syrup container.)
• 2 cracker bags
• 1 orange juice seal
• 1 fudge bar wrapper
• 1 caramel apple pop wrapper
• 1 necklace package

Total Items: 10

Overall, I didn't like this book, but I do like the ideas behind it. The idea is that we would all be better off if we lived in smaller spaces, with less stuff. This would obviously have positive effects on the environment, since we would be producing less stuff, and cities could be denser, making it easier for people to travel without a car.

Beyond that, though, there are many personal benefits to a life of voluntary simplicity. As more and more people are discovering in this age of constant consumption, more stuff does not make us more happy, and in fact can take away from our happiness.

With less physical stuff in our lives, we could have more of a sense of calm. We'd have less to clean, and it would be easier to find the stuff we actually need. We'd have more money, since we wouldn't be spending it on so much stuff. With this extra calm, time (not spent cleaning), and money, we could then focus on the more important things in life, whatever that is to you.

That being said, getting rid of stuff is not easy. Between this book and some blogs I've started reading lately, I've been thinking about uncluttering a lot, and I can now tell you from experience: it's hard to get rid of stuff. It seems silly, but it's so easy to form attachments to material possessions. I had three pairs of slippers, even though I hardly ever wear slippers, and I couldn't bring myself to get rid of any. I finally threw one of the pairs in the to-be-donated pile, but it was tough.

I think it's worthwhile, though. I went through the clothes in my closet last week, and this time, instead of just donating stuff that didn't fit me (not much, since my body isn't really changing shape), I donated stuff that I didn't wear. There's still too much stuff in my closet, but I can get to all my clothes now without struggling with the surrounding hangers. It's a nice feeling.

While this book didn't really do anything for me (it lacked practical advice, and was rather repetitive), there are lots of other resources out there if you want to learn more about getting rid of your clutter and living a simpler life. The best one I've found so far, which is full of both inspiration and practical advice, is Unclutterer. The author of that blog, Erin Doland, even wrote a book, which I haven't read yet, but I'm sure would be really awesome.

In addition to Unclutterer, I recommend checking out The Story of Stuff, where you can watch videos showing, in very simplified form, the problems with our system of consuming stuff.

I forgot to take before pictures before starting my attempt at uncluttering, but I'll probably take some pictures of the stuff I'm donating, and after pictures if I accomplish anything impressive. I encourage you to try it as well, even if you just unclutter a single room, or just a closet! You could blog about it, or post pictures, and link to them in the comments. Have fun!

Recyclable Items (2)

• 1 raspberries package (PETE 1)
• 1 soy milk carton

Non-Recyclable Items (6):

• 1 fudge bar wrapper
• 1 magazine wrapper
• 1 gnocchi bag
• 1 microwave popcorn wrapper
• 1 soy milk carton seal
• 1 wrapper from Star Trek Scene It game

Total Items: 8

Recently, I read Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie. I knew going into this that the book would freak me out, and I was right.

The book describes the history, uses, and effects of a myriad of toxic chemicals that are in everything from hand soap to frying pans. It claims to be an optimistic book, but I gotta say, I don't feel too optimistic having read it.

The thing that does make me feel good is that now I'm more educated. I won't be using antibacterial hand soap anymore, now that I look at the ingredients and basically see a list of carcinogens, with some suspected reproductive toxins thrown in.

I couldn't really pick out pieces of information from this mass of statistics and stories that were good for a review, so I will simply recommend the book. Also, check out the Slow Death by Rubber Duck website for loads of useful information.

One tidbit I did enjoy was this helpful reminder of which plastics are the most harmful (good to know even if you are trying to avoid all plastics): 4, 5, 1, and 2; all the rest are bad for you!

This book has had quite an effect on me, leading me to finally purge the huge quantities of lotion and body wash I've accumulated over the years, so stay tuned to see my closet go through a major overhaul!

Recyclable Items (1)

• 1 envelope with plastic window

Non-Recyclable Items (10):

• 1 bag from party favour
• 1 microwave popcorn wrapper
• 3 coils from agendas (I cleaned out my closet.)
• 1 fudge bar wrapper
• 1 apple filling package
• 1 icing package
• 1 pasta bag
• 1 pill package

Total Items: 11

Recyclable Items (0) (Well that's a first...)

Non-Recyclable Items (13):

• 1 bread bag
• 1 microwave popcorn wrapper
• 1 cheese slice wrapper
• 2 drink carton seals
• 4 size stickers from clothing
• 1 Styrofoam plate
• 1 Styrofoam bowl
• 1 fudge bar wrapper
• 1 cereal bag

Total Items: 13

Notes:

• The only items on the list that are a result of my vacation are the size stickers (did I mention this is the shopping kind of vacation?).
• The Styrofoam plate and bowl are from Folklorama, which I love, but which I realised this year is really really bad with the plastic! I did manage to avoid the plastic cutlery, at least, by bringing my own from home.

It's time for my yearly trip to Grand Forks, North Dakota! So I'll be gone from Monday (tomorrow) until Thursday. This shouldn't have much of an effect on my posting schedule if I manage to write something fairly soon upon my return.

Of course, this presents me with a new challenge! This will be my first vacation since beginning the Show Us Your Plastic Trash Challenge. In the past, it occurs to me, we've used plastic shopping bags in Grand Forks, despite the fact that we've used almost none of them at home in years. So for the first time, we (me, my mom, my sister Stephanie, and my grandma) will be bringing cloth bags, as well as water bottles and coffee/tea/hot chocolate mugs, since I think the hotel's cups for their free hot beverages are Styrofoam.

As for other environmental impacts of our annual trip, I think we do pretty well. We live in Winnipeg (except my grandma who's from Gimli), so Grand Forks is only a few hours away. We drive in my grandparents' car, which is a hybrid, and gets us there and back on a surprisingly small amount of gas. While we're there, we don't drive much, since our hotel is right next to Columbia Mall, where we spend most of our time. We pretty much only drive across the highway to get to Target and all those other big stores.

I'm excited to see how this trip affects my plastic count! Also, I'm excited for the guilty pleasure that is my yearly involvement in consumerism! I justify it with the fact that I hardly buy any clothes during the rest of the year, since I like to get my clothes at Hot Topic.

I'll let you know how it went when I get back!

Recyclable Items (7):

• 1 orange juice carton
• 1 soy milk carton
• 1 FedEx envelope (plastic protective layer on front)
• 1 lid from hot chocolate (PS 8) (I asked for no lid!)
• 2 envelopes with windows
• 1 raspberries container (PETE 1)

Non-Recyclable Items (7):

• 1 orange juice seal
• 2 Taco Bell mild sauce packets
• 1 cereal bag
• 1 Itzakadoozie wrapper (It's a kind of popsicle thing. I was at the zoo, and it was hot, and they're just so delicious!)
• 1 perogies bag (I think we may be able to get these in our own container. Looking into that.)
• 1 plastic sticker from a bunch of organic bananas

Total Items: 14 (I don't know what's going on lately!)

The United States isn't going to have climate legislation any time soon. So much for Obama and his lofty promises of all kinds of nice things.

Well, this brings up a useful point, anyway. Yes, legislation is important. It is a necessary part of our efforts to fight climate change and pollution. World governments need to be in on this.

But we can't wait for them.

Legislation is slow. That is being constantly demonstrated to us. Each of us can make change now. Don't want another oil spill? Stop driving a car and cut way back on disposable plastic. Each one of us that makes these efforts decreases the amount of oil that needs to be drilled in the first place. These are the changes that add up. These are the changes that are necessary if we want to end our dependence on oil.

We are facing some huge, scary problems. They can't be solved by any one approach alone. We have to come at them from every angle. That includes legislation. But most importantly, it includes each of us.

Recyclable Items (3):

• 1 chocolate ice cream tub (HDPE 2)
• 1 envelope with window
• 1 soap box with plastic window (I actually bought this in France 4 years ago and am finally using it.)

Non-Recyclable Items (9):

• 1 bag from grapes
• 1 bread bag
• 1 cereal bag
• 1 veggie ground round package
• 1 soft tortilla bag
• 1 yeast envelope (I need to find a store that sells yeast in larger quantities.)
• 1 Taco Bell mild sauce packet (I need to find a sauce this delicious that comes in a jar.)
• 1 mint wrapper
• 1 pre-paid cell phone minutes card wrapped in plastic (MTS just changed to this from a printed out piece of paper. I am not impressed. I will be complaining, and figuring out how to switch to buying minutes online.)

Total Items: 12 (The week started out so well, and then the last few days suddenly ruined it. Darn.)

I nearly didn't have a post this week that wasn't a plastic tally! Luckily, today I heard about the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. And, before my neighbours to the south (and elsewhere in the world) stop reading this post, this is actually the Canadian part of a worldwide effort organised by the Ocean Conservancy.

Basically, every September (this year it's September 18-26), people all across Canada, and whatever other countries participate in this, get together in groups at locations organised by a cleanup supervisor. Anyone can sign up as a supervisor, or as a participant (but a cleanup has to have a supervisor before people can sign up for it as participants). The location can be anywhere that land meets water, including the shorelines of oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes, and so forth.

Interesting fact: I've been looking at the report from the 2009 cleanup, and the number one type of litter that was picked up overall across Canada was cigarette butts and filters. So that's just one more reason on the huge list of reasons you should stop smoking!

I am very excited about this event. I can't believe I'd never heard of it before. So far, the locations I've looked at don't have supervisors yet, so I may consider signing up as one. I'm not generally the leadership role kind of person, but I'm sure it would be a good experience. Wherever you are, I'm sure you live near some kind of water, so get out there this September and make it look pretty, the way shorelines should! You'll be doing the wildlife a huge favour.

Just make sure you remember that the best thing you can do to fight litter and pollution is to stop the use of disposables in the first place, starting with your own daily habits.

Recyclable Items (1):

• 1 FedEx envelope with plastic layer on the front (HDPE 2)

Non-Recyclable Items (15):

• 1 vegetable radiatori bag
• 1 ice cream tub seal
  
  • I don't normally buy ice cream with such superfluous packing. My mom got it free from a sale.
• 1 wrapper from an earring I ordered online
• 4 tiny bags for 4 tiny pins that I ordered online, which were ridiculously packaged
• 2 CD wrappers
• 1 soy milk seal
• 1 pill package
• 1 tea bag wrapper
  
  • I didn't know when I bought these assorted fruit teas in a box that each flavour would be contained in a plastic package. *sigh*
• 1 spaghetti bag
  
  • I have informed my mom that spaghetti is available at the Bulk Barn, and that I have a reusable bulk bag that's big enough for it, so we'll be switching to that.
• 2 old swipe cards
  
  • I cleaned my room and found an old recreation services card from the University of Manitoba, and my employee discount card from when I worked at Extra Foods.

Reused (1):

• 1 USPS envelope with bubble wrap padding

Total Items: 17 (Not so good!)

I went on a bike adventure on Sunday, with my boyfriend, Jonathon. It was partly just for fun, partly to prove that you don't need a car to have a lovely day of adventuring, and partly for the challenge of biking clear across the city, from Transcona to Assiniboine Park, which is about twice as far as I bike to work (Transcona to the Exchange District). I estimate that it's about an hour's steady ride. It took us two hours, because we stopped for lunch, to buy used books, and to take a picture of this dumpster because it is now officially my favourite piece of graffiti in Winnipeg:

We ate lunch at Boon Burger, which is "Canada's first all vegetarian burger cafe!" I am very excited that this place exists, so if you live in Winnipeg, or ever visit here, I must insist that you try it. It did not disappoint. Jonathon had the Boon Burger, which has a mushroom and rice patty, and is topped with mayo, dijon, peachy chutney, onion, cucumber, tomato, and lettuce. I had a Salsa Burger, which also has the mushroom-rice patty, but is topped with salsa, avocado, swiss cheese, red onion, and lettuce. Oh my goodness, yum. And all their burgers can be made vegan! I forgot to take a picture of my meal before I started eating it (I was really hungry!), so this is the closest I have to a picture of the food (please excuse the helmet hair; this was a bike adventure after all):
As you can see, the burgers are pretty big! I was full all afternoon.


On the way back, we stopped to cool off by the fountain at the Legislative Building, and we got candy at the Forks (I bought a box of Nerds, since pretty much everything else was wrapped in plastic).

So, I had a wonderful day of fun, and it was totally carbon-neutral! Well, I'm not sure what it takes for food to be actually "carbon-neutral," but the food was vegetarian, Boon Burger makes everything from scratch, and they use "a wide variety of organics," according to their menu. So that sounds good to me!

I went strawberry picking on Saturday, for the first time since I was a little kid going berry-picking with my grandma. I picked four pails of strawberries, and decided to try my hand at jam-making. Through much asking of questions, I learned that there is a type of jam called freezer jam (or no-cook jam), which is like regular jam, but way easier to make! It doesn't involve any sterilising of jars or cooking of fruit. The trade-off is that it only lasts a few weeks in the fridge, or up to 8 months in the freezer, as opposed to the years you get with cooked jam.


So, when I got home, I went to the grocery store and bought some pectin. It came with detailed instructions. In less than an hour, I had six jars and two plastic containers full of strawberry jam sitting on the kitchen table to set before being put in the freezer. To show you how easy it was, I'll share the process I used, though the specifics may vary with the brand of pectin you buy.

First, you wash the strawberries and cut off the tops. That's the biggest part of the work. Luckily, my mom did it for me. Yay moms!


Next, it's time to mash the strawberries! This is the fun part. It works best in a really big, wide bowl, like this popcorn bowl I used.


Then you mix the fruit with the sugar. In the recipe I used, it was two cups of mashed strawberries and four cups of sugar. I think those measurements are fairly constant across recipes, or at least the proportion is. Once this is thoroughly mixed, let it stand for 10 minutes.


The pectin I bought was in crystal form, so it had to be mixed with water and boiled, stirring constantly, for one minute. Pectin can also be bought in liquid form. In that case, I'm not sure what happens here. I imagine it would still need to be heated up, anyway.


The hot pectin is then poured into the fruit and sugar mixture. Stir for three minutes, and voila! The jam is ready to be poured into jars or other freezer-safe containers! Then, it needs to sit out at room temperature for 24 hours to set. Here's my final product:


Overall, it was a pretty fun experience! I'll definitely be making jam on a yearly basis now. Of all the foods you can make at home to avoid the packaging and the carbon footprint caused by the food's travel, freezer jam has to be one of the easiest.

Recyclable Items (3):

• 1 paper bread bag with plastic window
• 1 USPS envelope with a plastic protective covering on the front
• 1 soy milk carton

Non-Recyclable Items (10):

• 1 caramel apple pop wrapper
• 1 bread bag
• 1 cereal bag
• 1 magazine wrapper
• 1 Bits & Bites bag
• 1 icing tub from cinnamon buns
• 1 little ziploc bag from a sample tea bag
• 1 mesh garlic wrapper
• 1 Swedish Berries bag (I bought them in a cardboard box, saying "Ooh! No plastic!" When I opened the box, it contained a plastic bag! Ugh.)
• 1 microwave popcorn wrapper

Total Items: 13

I've been meaning to write about my gardens. After a couple summers of gardening I'm still definitely a beginner, and I make a lot of mistakes. So hopefully if I point out my own mistakes here, someone will learn from them. And maybe you can teach me some stuff along the way too!


So, for today, I'll just show/tell you what I'm growing (or trying to grow) this summer. Tomatoes are something I can always grow. They're nice and easy. In the picture above you can see the beginnings of my cherry tomatoes, which are grown in a pot on the patio. I've never grown cherry tomatoes before, so I'm excited to see how they turn out. They seem to be doing well, so yay! The specific variety of these is Tiny Tim.

To the right is a picture of the garden behind my house. In it, I grow raspberries (though I just bought the bush, so I don't think it'll have fruit for awhile), cucumbers, tomatoes, asparagus, chamomile, Swiss chard, and some watermelon seeds that don't seem to be doing anything. We also have a big rhubarb plant, and my mom has some flowers. I don't know what the flowers are, since I only really like growing things I can eat. The garden looks a little bigger in real life than it does in this picture, it seems to me.

This is my chamomile! This is the one plant that's really been thriving this summer. I actually planted it last year, but then never got around to learning how to harvest it to make tea, so it just stayed there. Normally chamomile is considered an annual, but I guess if you don't harvest the seeds it spreads and comes back the next year. So that was an exciting discovery in the spring! Now I just have to learn to harvest it before I miss my opportunity again this summer.

Now, I have a question for any knowledgeable gardeners that might read my blog. This is the area in which I planted Swiss chard seeds. I've never tried to grow that before, and while I've seen a picture or two of the fully grown plant, I don't know what to look for as it's poking out of the ground. Can anyone tell me if there's any Swiss chard amongst this patch of what are probably weeds? That would be awesome.

On a more successful note, this is my new garden! It's on the other end of my backyard, right by the back lane. It was supposed to be a raised garden, since the ground sort of slopes down in that area, and the soil is really dense. However, instead of wood, I ended up just bordering it with hammer-in edging. So it's only "raised" a couple of inches. It seems to be doing well, though. In it, I planted sunflowers, turnips, green onions, parsnips, and carrots. I planted sunflowers in four spots along the back, with two seeds in each spot, but unfortunately the bunny that frequents my yard ate almost all of them when they were seedlings. Only two are left now, and they were planted in the same spot, so I'm hoping they won't get in each other's way.

Now, here's another problem area. This is where I planted the parsnips. I'm not sure if any of this is anything but weeds. Therefore, I can't pull any weeds, because for all I know, they're parsnips! If/when I figure that out, I'll let you know. Hopefully some rows will emerge and it will become clear.

And finally, to end on a happy note, look how well my carrots are doing! I love carrots fresh from the garden. They're one of my favourite things to grow, along with tomatoes.

I also have a plot at a community garden, so as soon as I find the time to get out there to work I'll take some pictures and write a bit about how that's going. At some point I'll also write some more informative posts about gardening. Are there any specific topics you'd be interested in reading about? If so, let me know in the comments!