Sustainably Spicy
One thing that still remains in my brain from calculus is that the smaller the container, the higher the ratio of container to contents. Once upon a time I could calculate the most cost and weight efficient sized can – who said calculus has no real world applications?
That being said, herb & spice containers jars are low on the sustainability scale. On the other hand, spices can last many years and they often come in lovely shaped jars and cans. I could not bring myself to throw out the darling A&P spice cans, the assortment a wedding shower gift appropriate for starving newlyweds. I am quite thrilled that there are now so many options for re-filling these containers and the choices are usually less expensive, as well.
Healthy sea salts, reusable containers and bulk spices for your sustainable kitchen
Penzey’s (some stores & online) offers 4, 8 and 16 oz bags of their spices with discounts for the larger bags (again less packaging per oz of spice) plastic bags can be recycled at your grocer with other bags; foodies appreciate their quality and wide variety. Whole Foods and some health grocers offer the Spicely line of boxed (totally bio-degradeable paper & cellophane) spices that fit perfectly in your jars ;(they also donate a % of sales to a children’s charity). Ethnic groceries and the international aisles in the supers offer authentic bagged spices at excellent prices.
Sea salt is all we use in our house both because of reduced sodium content and variety of flavors including an option to go local with Pacific sea salt. Celtic Sea Salt was at the San Francisco Green Festival where they offered a special on their salt grinder with purchase of salt.
I’m blessed to live in a climate where I can harvest fresh rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme and bay leaf year round – also blessed that they are hardy as I am not the most attentive gardener.
Composting without the Mess
Not everyone has the space, time or interest to maintain a compost pile. Even if you do, those of us living in cities don’t add protein based foods (meat, dairy, fish) to our piles because they attract unwanted rodents and other animals (our chocolate lab find the pile iresistable).
If you’re fortunate enough to live in an environmentally aware community, you may be given the option to separate your plant- and animal-based (bio)waste for separate recycling/composting. Our citizens were recently given special covered buckets and encouraged to fill them with all food scrapings and food-infused paper products (napkins, paper takeout containers, paper & cellophane wrappings). We line a covered bucket or container with bio-compostable bags and place the full bags in the big green bin with our garden clippings where they go to the municipal composting facility that is able to speed-compost with high heat, among other methods
It all sounds perfect, I keep my veggie waste for my own pile and put the meat and sauce-soaked napkins in the bucket. The reality is that the lined buckets can be both SMELLY and attracts FLIES. Not to be deterred, our local waste management company, Recology offered these solutions:
Sprinkle baking soda on the compost if it starts to smell.
Deter flies with citrus, lavender, eucalyptus or lemongrass oils by placing a few drops on a cloth and leaving it inside or on top of the pail.
If your community needs to come up to speed in the composting arena, contact your local elected officials and ask them adress “compostables waste management” in the next waste management contract cycle. Refer them to Recology or other waste management companies with a good track record.
Wine & Weeds: Weed Barrier Tip
We enjoy our California wines and watch pennies buying by the case. Those nifty cardboard dividers are useful for storing glassware of all sorts but I just found a new use in the garden. In dry climates, such as ours, many of us are transitioning to drought tolerant landscaping with native plants. Still, in order for the individual plants to stand out, we need to discourage weeds. Pulling weeds out of dry soil leaves the roots intact so, instead, we can create a light/weed barrier of cardboard boxes topped with wood mulch. (Weeds won’t grow because they lack light). Still, cardboard is broken where we put in new plants. Watch the video to see how to solve this problem:
You can do a variation with the 4-prong pieces. Break into 2-prong pieces. Fold back one prong on each . Place the center of the inside “V” shape on either side of the plant. Cover with mulch. Voila!
Shells, Sand & Gardens
Crustacean Exhibit @ NY Museum of Nat'l Science
Grains of sand are as numerous as the stars in the firmament so it would would be a fruitless task to assess the source from which each grain was ground over the eons. Their origins could be from stone, bone, shell or sea detritus worn down by time.
We do know that sand is wonderful for many gardens as both a soil amendment and landscaping aid or element.
Being an inveterate recycler and composter, I was considering the possibilities for shells of the beer-steamed mussels we had just finished enjoying. I had considered offering them on Freecycle to a crafter that might have a creative idea but decided to try to take responsibility for our trash on my own property.
Always starved for inexpensive path and working area materials I’ve added them to the chunky stones and brick where I keep my planting supplies. As they get crunched to pieces, dust flys in and fall leaves crumble between the stones, new dirt is forming. Next year I can pick up the stones and gather that soil from the weed barrier to add to my compost.
