Greening Your Move

Moving is hard. It is stressful. It is exhausting. It is not sustainable.

However, there are several things you can do to have less of an impact as you cart your material belongings across the country, across the county, or across the street. The best news about this? It will probably save you some money, too.

• Rent boxes. Yes, you can rent boxes for your move, and return them when you're done to be used by the next person. Check out Rent A Green Box, who rents plastic tubs made out of recycled materials. They have other moving supplies made out of recycled materials, too, like zip ties, paper, and other fillers. (Full disclosure: I have never tried this)
• Re-use boxes. You can get gently used boxes from liquor stores, big box stores, and websites like Freecycle and the free section of Craigslist. Reinforce the tape and you're all set.
• Use your paper recycling bin to pack your stuff. I find myself with copious amounts of paper to be recycled as I prepare for a move. Use this paper to layer between plates, wrap picture frames, and ball up to fill space in boxes. Not enough? Ask your neighbors if you can go through their recycling bins, too. Also, check your local coffee shop an hour or two before closing. They often have stacks of newspaper from the day that they will give to you.
• Hire a green cleaning service. Your home will be full of dust, bits of packing paper, and who knows what else. Hire a cleaning service that uses green cleaning agents. Not sure what they use? Just ask. Look/listen for key words and phrases like "non-toxic", "chlorine-free", "Green Seal Certified", and "Green Clean Institute Certified".
• Get a one-way moving truck rental. Even if your move is between neighboring cities, a one-way truck rental can save a lot of gasoline.
• Buy offsets for your travel. Several websites offer carbon offsets for travel of all types. Try Carbon Fund or Terra Pass.
• Don't trash your boxes. After your move, put your boxes on Freecycle or the free section of Craigslist. Someone will come pick them up and use them for their move. Your boxes aren't in good enough shape to reuse? Gardeners often use cardboard to start new planting beds. You can also recycle them in most cities.

The Last Supper

I recently read a post on a blog that I love, The Kitchn (part of the Apartment Therapy family of blogs, which are all awesome), about what to have for your first meal in your new house. Most of what the commenters came up with was takeout, but there were some fun ideas in there, too. Admittedly, I will probably get takeout on my first night in my new place. However, this is one of my last nights in my old place, and I feel the need to say a proper goodbye to my kitchen.

The problem with the last meal in a soon-to-be former home, of course, is that you've emptied the contents of your kitchen cabinets into boxes. My kitchen is currently in the back of my Outback, save 2 plates, 2 forks, 1 knife, 1 travel mug, and 1 non-stick frying pan. It is with these limited resources that I made a surprisingly delicious dinner out of what was left in my pantry and refrigerator.

What did I have left?

The remains of my pantry in an empty kitchen.

1 frozen ostrich burger patty, defrosted (Birdbrain Ostrich Ranch)
1/3 French baguette, baked from frozen (Chef Charles Catering)
1 tablespoon garlic scape pesto*
1 tablespoon shredded Parmesan cheese
2 tomatoes, grown in my front yard
1 apricot
Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt (a family favorite and a must in my pantry)
Olive oil

I put a little Jane's on the ostrich burger and heated about a tablespoon of olive oil in the frying pan over medium-high heat. Ostrich is extremely lean (40% less fat than beef!) and thus needs a little lubricant in the pan. When the pan was hot, I added the burger patty, let it cook for about 2 minutes, and then reduced the heat to medium.

While the burger continued to cook, I sliced the baguette and spread one side with the pesto. I sliced both tomatoes, and put one of them on the baguette. The other tomato I fanned out on the plate and sprinkled with Jane's. I cut the apricot in half and removed the pit.

When the burger was nicely browned on one side, I gently loosened it from the pan before flipping it. I topped the burger with the Parmesan cheese, and let it cook for another 3 or 4 minutes. I like my burgers medium or medium rare, and this is important with ostrich. Because it is so lean, it is very red, almost purple. If you wait until it is just pink in the middle (or worse, no pink at all) before you take it out of the pan, you'll have a lovely hockey puck, but not much in the way of dinner. If you are nervous, use a meat thermometer. Once you get to 160 degrees F, you're done; be sure not to exceed 165 degrees F.

Finally, I sliced the burger into thirds, laid it out on the baguette, and sat down to enjoy a scrumptious last supper with my little house. I'll miss you kitchen, it's been fun!

The Last Supper

*What is garlic scape pesto? It's a homemade pesto that I love to make in the late spring and early summer with garlic scapes in place of basil. Garlic scapes are the stalks of the garlic plant before the garlic head forms. They are a verdant green coil of delightful garlic flavor. Simply cut off the bulb end and cut into 1 inch sections to use. My "recipe" for garlic scape pesto is a handful of this and a handful of that, but it's similar to this recipe that I found at Food.com (but ignore the part about artichokes and pasta...). Make up a batch and store it in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. It is great on sandwiches, pasta, mixed into hummus, and anywhere else you would use a basil pesto.

Uncluttering Update

As my move approaches, I am nearly packed. I have a few kitchen items left, and a dresser full of canning and preserving equipment that need to be dealt with. Other than that, everything is in boxes and bags, ready to be loaded into my car. I have a lot of stuff, but certainly not nearly as much as I had about a week ago. By my best estimates, I have reduced my belongings by about 1/3. How?

Uncluttering, Part I

This step is based on getting rid of what is easy to part with. I am committed to living more simply, so it was not very difficult for me to identify what items I do not use, and get rid of them.

I went through each space in my home and culled out all the items that I don't use. This was relatively easy. I tried on all the clothing I owned and made a sizable pile of what I either don't wear or doesn't fit. I put everything in my kitchen onto the counter and picked out duplicates and items that I've never (or rarely) used. I did this for the entire house. Then I put some ads on Craigslist and in the local paper, emptied these items onto my front lawn, and had a yard sale. At the end, the remaining items--an entire Subaru Outback's worth--went straight to charity.

Uncluttering, Part II

This step is motivated by the fact that I have to move all of my belongings to a new house this weekend. The more I get rid of, the less I have to move.

As I packed, I asked myself whether I really needed the item I was about to put into a box. I was not as ruthless here as I probably ought to have been, but it resulted in another 1/2 car load of items going to charity this morning.

Uncluttering, Part III

This will be done in a few weeks, when I actually unpack my stuff at my new house. As I have gone through this process, I have been slowly loosening the grip of consumerism. I have been conditioned to think that I need stuff in order to be happy. I am now to the point that the amount of stuff I have is disturbing. This is a step in the right direction, but I'm not done yet.

I am pleased with the progress I have made, but there is more to be done. Thankfully, I have a 2 week vacation to reward myself for my hard work and restore my energy. When I return I will complete Part III, and hopefully be in a good position to start my new, uncluttered life.

The Simple Life

No, not the trashy TV show with Paris Hilton and her brainless side kick. Simple living is a trend that has been reinvigorated as of late. Basically, those who choose to live simply renounce consumerism (mostly) and survive on less--often much less--than the average American.

Why? Consumerism is the new American Dream. Material things have become a part of our identity. We think that in order to be happy we need stuff--and lots of it. Not only is this stuff bad for the planet, it's bad for us. The more we buy into consumerism, the more we become dissatisfied with what we have, leading us to consume more (which, by the way, is the goal of many companies who have a product to sell). This process detaches us from our human and natural surroundings, which has been shown to decrease happiness. So, folks have started to buck the consumerist lifestyle and replace it with one focused more on people, the planet, and doing what they love.

I've recently decided to give this lifestyle change a shot. I've become increasingly stressed out about how much stuff I have, to the point that it is getting in the way of my life. So it's time to focus on what is important. I'll be using several blogs as inspiration, which you should check out, when you have a chance. Here are a few I like so far:

Unclutterer
Re-Nest (by Apartment Therapy)
Zen Habits (but particularly the Simple Living Manifesto)

I'll post more links to websites that help me along my way. But first, the Simple Living Manifesto suggests making a list of 4-5 things that are the most important to you. The things you do and the way that you live should relate to the things on this list. If they don't, you should take pause and seriously consider what that activity or lifestyle choice is doing for you, and whether it is even necessary. So, here's a first blush at that list...

1. Family & friends
2. My dogs, Pip & Sam
3. Cooking & baking
4. Sustainable living

From here, I'm going to start getting rid of stuff that doesn't fit within that list. Luckily, I'm moving in a month, which gives me great motivation. Whatever I get rid of I don't have to move!

Strawberry Perserves...er...Sauce

It's strawberry season! The Farmers Market has gallon upon gallon of big, red, juicy strawberries every week, so last weekend I set out to make some strawberry preserves. They were a big hit last year as gifts, and I really enjoyed having the sweet reminder of summer in the dead of winter (okay, the "dead of winter" in central North Carolina isn't so bad, but still).

My preference is for the old fashioned style of preserves for two reasons, 1) preserves do not gel, which makes them more versatile than jam or jelly, because they can also be poured over ice cream, pound cake, yogurt and granola, etc., and 2) I don't have to mess with pectin (which I never get right anyway).

With 2 gallons of strawberries on hand, I set to work washing, hulling, and quartering the strawberries. I wound up with 16 cups of strawberries! It took my biggest bowl and more than half a bag of sugar to macerate these guys, but boy was it worth it. I put them on the stove to cook and went about some other business. And then...

Catastrophe #1! The sweet syrupy mixture boiled over, covering my stove with a big sticky mess. Bummer.

I managed to salvage most of the batch, moved it to another burner and a bigger pot, and set to cleaning my stove. Once the preserves looked about as thick as I remember them looking last year, I got out my canning equipment and canned 10 jars (both pint and half pint) of strawberry preserves. The next day, I went to inspect my preserves, and...

Catastrophe #2! The preserves turned out to be more like sauce. Alas, it would appear that I had not cooked them long enough. I guess I'll just have to put them on ice cream.

Below is the recipe, based on the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

Strawberry Preserves

1 gallon strawberries (about 8 cups)
4 cups white sugar

• Wash, hull, and quarter strawberries. Pieces should be as close to the same size as possible--halve smaller berries and cut larger ones into more pieces.
• In a large bowl, mix berries with sugar. Let sit for at least four hours, or overnight.
• Pour mixture into large stockpot--the pot should be no more than half full. If it is more than half full, use a bigger pot or cook the preserves in batches.
• Cook over medium-high heat until boiling, stirring continuously until the sugar has dissolved, then stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to maintain a steady boil (about medium heat), stirring occasionally. Cook until sauce has thickened, about 1 hour.
• If canning, turn heat to low while preparing jars and boiling water bath.*
• If refrigerating, remove from heat and let cool for several hours. Ladle into container, seal with an air-tight lid, and refrigerate. Use within 3 weeks.

*Canning and preserving with a boiling water bath can be dangerous if not done properly. Consult a book about home canning and preserving before attempting (NOT the Internet--you never know who is posting and how experienced or qualified they are). I recommend the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, available at most book stores.