Sustainable Living 14

One sustainable thing that I've been doing for years now is making my own brown sugar.  It's so simple to do and saves the extra packaging that comes with buying those little cardboard boxes that contain brown sugar encased in plastic.  Sugar can be purchased in the grocery store in large paper bags - that are a renewable resource and can be recycled - or, better yet, purchased from bulk bins at health food stores.  The only other ingredient is molasses.  Unfortunately, the molasses I have came in a plastic bottle; next time I purchase some, I will be looking for a glass bottle.  However, since a little goes a long way, it's going to be some time before I need to buy more.  

Brown Sugar

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons molasses 

Thoroughly mix molasses into sugar.  Store in an airtight container.  

The amount of molasses can be adjusted to make the brown sugar lighter or darker, depending on your needs.

Quote for the Day

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“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

~Cicero

Fighting Fair

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Last Sunday the sermon at our church was about "Fighting Fair."  The pastor said that if one fights fair in a relationship, that relationship is doomed.  The reasoning behind this is that we set a standard that we expect others to perform against.  When they fail to meet that expectation, we then believe that it is fair to engage that person on the same level at which they treat us.  Thus, if we speak reasonably to them and they lash out, it's only fair that we respond likewise.  See where this is going?  The relationship will escalate to the point that it disintegrates.

As I listened to the message, I thought about how we Christians are often quick to support the application of "Love one another" and "Turn the other cheek" to individual relationships.  However, when it comes to foreign affairs, we neglect to use the same principles.  On many occasions, I have heard fellow Christians explain that war is sometimes necessary.  Yet they would strongly disagree if I said the same about a feud with a neighbor.  And if it came to a marriage, most Christians would say that disagreements should be settled in order to save the relationship.

What defines a relationship?  Two humans in a marriage is a relationship, as is the interaction between the United States and a country such as Iran or Syria.  Saying we should be the more mature person and rise above the antics of another person in a relationship should also be applied to foreign affairs.  If we only retaliate against other nations because "that's the way they treated us," we will never achieve the peace we need and long for.  

Nurdles

What?  You've never heard of nurdles?  Well, to be honest, I hadn't either until I read EcoYogini's post on The Green Phone Booth.  To give you a visual, here's an example of what some nurdles look like:

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Liquid hand soaps and body washes contain extremely tiny nurdles, the "micro beads" you read about or hear about in the advertisements.  These nurdles are the means by which these liquids exfoliate our skin.  However, these bead don't dissolve.  Instead they go down our drains, into our sewer systems, sometimes into our water treatment facilities (where they remain intact), and ultimately end up in our oceans where fish and other sea creatures ingest them and die due to intestinal and other blockages.  

If you're a liquid hand soap or body wash user, I suggest switching to bar soap and/or creating your own liquid soaps and body washes using all natural ingredients.  I recently blogged about making my own liquid hand soap.  Go here for the recipe.

Wellness Wednesday

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A friend recently posted a great article on facebook.  The article listed five packaged foods that you should never buy.  These foods include:

1. Soup
2. Stock/bouillon
3. Beans
4. Hummus
5. Cereal

Go here to read the article, find out why these foods should be avoided, and get links to easy recipes to make your own.  These items are easy to make and you will know exactly what goes in them so avoid nasty things like BPA, GMOs, and high fructose corn syrup.  A side benefit of making these items yourself is that you will save money.

This post could also go under my "sustainable living" series as all of these alternatives eliminate excess packaging.  I've already posted about making my own hummus and I'll be doing a future post on making my own granola.

Sustainable Living 13

In carefully analyzing household and personal item purchases with an eye towards sustainability, I realized that there must be a better way than to buy aerosol cans (with plastic lids) of shaving cream for my husband.  Thinking "pioneer" or "Victorian" days, I remembered that once upon a time ago, men used shaving soap.  After doing some research on Etsy I found a store that sells a shaving brush and mug with handmade shaving soap (available in different scents).  They also sell the refills for the mugs.  I liked the idea of the refills plus it's a small business, so this is what I ordered for my husband:  

As we don't buy one another gifts very often, I told him it was a combination Valentine's Day/anniversary gift.


*Postscript:  Today, February 8, I received the shaving kit in the mail.  The mug already had soap in it and there was another bar included with the kit, so two bars, plus a sample of another soap was included.  A very nice touch.

Sustainable Living 12

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I love hummus!  But what I don't love are those pesky plastic containers it comes in.  So last week I made some homemade hummus, something I haven't done in years.  There are lots of hummus recipes out there so I don't need to share the one I used. 

Hummus is basically a puree of chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and garlic.  These ingredients can be adjusted to taste and other ingredients can be added - cumin, curry, chili, oregano, spinach, feta, roasted red pepper, jalapeno - the sky's the limit!  It's as simple as blending all the ingredients together and then serving with pita bread, crudites, making a sandwich, or whatever appeals to you.  

Making your own hummus only takes a few minutes, but you get a delicious, healthy product and you aren't adding more plastic to landfill.