Trash Talk [take 2]

In honor of the theme, we have decided to recycle a post title.

Before we share our own personal reflections, we thought we might share one more really cool project that seeks to reduce our consumption by increasing recycling.  Check out William McDonough and Michael Braungart's cradle-to-cradle design.  Cradle-to-cradle creates products that never see the landfill in their entire life cycle-an important part of that is removing down-cycling from their life cycles.  Some materials are "down-cycled" instead of recycled, because the material in its re-used state, is lower quality or less useful than the state is was in before.  McDounough and Braungart co-wrote a book printed on plastic (cool, right?) that you can find here.  You should also check out the website about cradle-to-cradle design and certification.  They also made a documentary called "Waste=Food" that explores the unnecessary sacrifices we're making to consume. You can watch it on google video, which sounds kind of sketchy, but it works! Enjoy!

Peace love + everything local.

RE-lapse in time.

So folks, sorry about the lack of updates on our blog. But no worries, we are still kicking. 

Lesson of the past couple weeks: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE. RETHINK everything you do.

Tips for Reducing:

Avoid packaging! Why do you need a new grocery bag every time you go to the store? Why does your toothpaste need two packages? Why have we tricked ourselves into thinking that NEW = BETTER? 

Listen to this: you can reduce trash, pollution, and the money we spend on plastic bags by bringing your own tote bag to the store (any store, not just groceries!).  Avoid buying things with excess packaging! Use your consumer power for something good!  Buy used stuff.  It's more eco-friendly, and its cheaper too! Not to mention the hipster status you get from thrifting...And borrow things from your friends.  You probably have plenty of friends with similar needs, tastes, and interests, so if you really need or want something, you can find a friend to help you out!

Tips for Reusing:

IF possible, reuse. It's awesome. Keep cans/containers/bottles to store things. Buy whatever food you can in bulk, and reuse containers for that (Integral Yoga and Wholefoods are great places to buy in bulk). Give clothes to Goodwill or our local favorite SPCA Rummage. Use creativity and reduce trash impact. If we make a conscious effort to watch what we throw away, we will find that we are throwing away things that could be reused, or recycled for that matter. 

UVA recycling has some super good tips and events: 

http://utilities.fm.virginia.edu/recycling/guide.aspx

and for Charlottesville:

http://www.charlottesville.org/Index.aspx?page=566

Tips for Recycling:

Just do it. Please. Our house has gone from two large trash-cans a week to one small one by using the reducing/recycling/ composting magic formula!!! How cool is that?

Since Sarah is 21 now...21 things you didn't know you could recycle found here: http://www.greenamericatoday.org/pubs/greenamerican/articles/21Things.cfm

We'd like to add aluminum foil to the list. Just clean it off if food is on it. Just think about how much aluminum foil we through away? It's the same as the cans we so love to recycle! And aluminum is one of the easiest materials to recycle (less downcycling, more recycling!) So next time, think about recycling your aluminum foil.

Tips for Composting:

"Composting is the decomposition of plant remains and other once-living materials to make an earthy, dark, crumbly substance that is excellent for adding to houseplants or enriching garden soil. It is the way to recycle your yard and kitchen wastes, and is a critical step in reducing the volume of garbage needlessly sent to landfills for disposal. It's easy to learn how to compost." http://www.howtocompost.org/

In short: Keep a bin under the sink or somewhere in the kitchen where you can keep all natural trash from fresh foods. All fruits and vegetables/seeds/greens/eggshells/paper-towels/anything biodegradable. Do NOT put meat or cheese...or you will have some problems. Every couple of days, throw it in a pile where you put the old on top and the new compost on the bottom to let it break down into good nutrient dense soil.

We hope you found these helpful and challenging!

Peace love and everything local.

Amuse Bouche

We bet (or at least we hope) you are wondering how you can make a difference.
Here are some tips, tricks, and places (in Charlottesville) for eating local.

TIPS:
-Cooking fresh food can be time consuming, but if you make double the amount for dinner, then voila you have a quick tasty lunch for the next day.
-Buy only what you need for about a week, because it will go bad.
-Baking with honey is the bomb. In baking, you use about half the amount of honey that the recipe calls for sugar. And reduce all other liquid ingredients by about a quarter of a cup each.
-WADE'S MILL has local grain aka FLOUR, which apparently everyone knows about because it's always out of stock. But if you find it, it's worth it!
-Yogurt making is fun. You basically heat up milk and add a tablespoon of live-culture yogurt. You can find recipes all over the internet. Don't use skim milk. It's chalky. Or spend way less time by buying it for pretty cheap at C-ville Market.


Which brings us to PLACES:
- THE city farmer's market- everything is there. pretty obvious right? some things available here that you can't necessarily get in local food grocers.
- Integral Yoga- people are nice and helpful. nice selection of local produce.
- UVA student garden- we love them. we shall be involved. learning. food. yum.
- Rebecca's- random local products, maple syrup, salsa, and some meat, etc.
- Main Street Market- it's a cool place. check it out. Feast, local butcher, local flower shop Hedge.
- C-ville Market- really inexpensive local foods. we love.
- The Virginia Store- nuts, wine, jams, etc.
- Whole Foods- good place for people who live in the north part of town.
- Kroger- voted by Arsdale as best place to buy local milk and butter, believe it or not.

RESTAURANTS:
- Brookville Restaurant
- The Local
- Fine Arts Cafe
- Feast


As always, try to bring your own reusable grocery bag when you go grocery shopping. If you have any other tips and favorite places, please share in comment section. We love sharing.


Peace, Love, and Everything Local!

Arley+Sarah