Off the Grid: Out of Your Mind or Bliss?

Image One Block Off the Grid

Wow less than 3 acres and you could live off grid.  I am not saying this is the answer for us all but what little things can we do to live a greener life?

 I went to the landfill this week.  That was eye opening as ever.  All of the plastic childrens' toys!  What a waste.  Personally I want to cut down on purchasing things.  That goes for medicine cabinet type stuff especially; do I really need 3 curl enhancer gels?  It is the packaging that I find most prolific at week's end in the trash.  I think the goal this year is to dramatically cut down on the amount of items purchased especially that come with plastic packaging.  At the grocery store, I already stopped using plastic produce bags. I go without (we usually eat produce quickly and we grow a fair amount ourselves) or I use these mesh bags I purchased:

Image: Simple Ecology

K.I.S.S.

Right?! "Keep it Simple Stupid".  I struggle with this in every aspect of my life.  I  tend to over complicate most decisions, meals, house projects, life in general.

When I said I wanted an outdoor clothesline, I envisioned  $200 spent, plus some kind of cement being poured.  Thank god I have a great partner who helps to balance me.

This is what I got.

Brilliant!  I am thrilled.  The total cost around $33.  Time 20 minutes plus the time picking out the hardware.

This is what was used.

How about this for sandbox and swing?!

Who needs plastic?  The sandbox is my favorite.  Large river rock lined up to enclose the circle.  How sweet and simple?!

Slouchy No More

Love this look! So simple dress, cuff, sandals, bag, yet she looks so great.  I am trying not to dress in yoga clothes 24/7 and looks like this are a great alternative.

Image: The Sartorialist

Blue Cup, Red Cup

My neighbor's 6 year old had her first day of school yesterday. I asked her what happened.  She was pretty excited overall.  The biggest change though from kindergarten to first grade for her was the freedom to use the restroom when  needed. "All you have to do is place a red cup if you are a girl on your chair or a blue cup if you are a boy!"  She was pretty much ecstatic over this new development in her educational career.

I am sure the feeling of independence was important for Gillian.  But also just the freedom to go take a break from a controlled environment must be a great feeling for a kid.  I still love to shut myself in the bathroom for 2 minutes just to take a breather from life.  My husband likes to read magazines.  I personally just shut my eyes and meditate.  Where do you go for your personal 2 minute break?

How I would love it if this was my bathroom oasis!

Images French by Design

inability to edit myself!

I can be very self critical and in general I am a pretty good editor of others' works but not when it comes to my writing.  I am unable to see my gaffs and errors.  Sorry readers.  Someone suggested waiting 2 hours and then going back to edit.

 Obviously the BBC cannot see their errors always either!

Drip Dry

I so want a permanent clothes line in the backyard.  Here in the country, many of my neighbors have them in their yards and nearly all of them are used weekly nearly all year round (The sun in Northern Colorado is rather intense even in winter).  I still have an indoor drying rack which is almost defunct now since the naughty blue puppy has chewed most of the wood and when that is full I find various chairs etc to hang clothes over.

I found 2 interesting websites with some new design in clotheslines:  Urbanclothelines.com  and Peoplepoweredmachines.com.

These Rotary options seem interesting

Photo from Urbanclotheslines.com

I think this may make a lovely fall project.  Now to choose between permanent, retractable or rotary, ah decisions, decisions.

A Rut

I definitely fall into a comfortable cooking rut.  It happens about every 6 months, I realize I cook the same 5 meals over and over again.  There are so many free recipes on line but there is something about spending money on a cook book or cooking magazine that drives me to be creative.  I think it is honoring the chef and the investment.  I love The Cook's Illustrated.  You can pick it up in line at any grocery store.  We have maybe 10 of the magazines we have purchased over the last several years and I am seriously considering a year subscription.  Last night I made a really great beef enchilada recipe from the May/June 2011 issue.  But the real find for me was the avocado sour cream topping.  How easy and what a great little flair to add as a topper. I slightly changed the recipe from the magazine so my version follows:

Cilantro
Avocado
Sea salt
Sour Cream
Olive Oil
Blend
yum

There really is magic for me in 5 ingredient or 5 step recipes!

Old Wives' Tales, Do Tell!

I love old sayings almost as much as old movies.  This morning on my neighborhood stroll with dogs and Sophia in tow...well dogs in tow, Sophia running loose and creating general havoc, I stopped to chat with a couple of folks.  The general consensus based on sayings from their childhood (somewhat long ago that was if you will) was that the first freeze is near.  The first saying is that when locusts sing, the first freeze is 6 weeks away.  Based on the first neighbor's math that means September 10.  The other one was something about spiders spinning webs means winter is near.  Oh my based on this last one, I would believe it! I feel like I am cleaning webs twice a day right now.  What other old sayings or superstitions did you grow up with?  Be interesting to see if that first freeze comes by September 10!

Harvest of Plenty

Four years ago I purchased a few grape vines.  Not reading the inserts in the planters, I did not realize that Big Box stores often sell plants that do not grow in the climate where they are selling the plants.  My grapes are an example of this.  It is not supposed to fall below 20 degrees.  Ha!  Somehow though our 5 grape vines have managed to last 4 winters.  This summer is the first time they are producing fruit.  I am thrilled to try one of these that is if our naughty blue puppy does not eat all of them first.  We have caught her ever so delicately creeping up to the vines and pull off grapes one at a time (I blamed it on the squirrels until we caught her in the act).

Roasted Belly

So I am not one to wear a bikini often. This year though, I was excited to find an option that has an actual fitted cup size.  I love this.  It truly fits my tata's.  Allows them to be locked in and lifted to boot.  Yesterday while attempting to get Sophia to put her head under water at the local public pool I had on my bikini.  I think I was in denial that my tummy was out for all the world to see because I neglected to put sunblock on that swath of very tender white skin.  Ow.

Land's End has some really cute 2 piece options that you can purchase in cup size.

I think this polka dot skirt number is so cute!

The Dishes get Saucier!

Rhubarb!!! You are such an easy plant to grow.  I love your bright magenta stem and your big luscious leaves.

I am not a complicated cook.  I thrive on dishes with 5 ingredients and 5 or less steps preferably in 1 pot. Rhubarb makes an easy tasty treat.

Pick the stems.  maybe 10 to 15.  dice the stems into 1 inch or so chucks.  put in pot with a little water and a little sugar or often I add maple syrup.  low boil for 30 or so minutes, enough to break down the fibers.

I love it. serve as a side or desert.  And the color is pretty on any table.

My neighbor's rhubarb plant is over 30 years old, so gardener's of little faith, there is hope with this plant!

Elk like Hot Peppers

Hanging out in the house last Thursday evening, we heard Sophia from the backyard yelling, "The dogs have the elks! The dogs have the elks!".  I went to the yard only to find Sophia about 20 feet from a very large bull elk with a huge rack and our naughty 6 month old blue heeler pup trying to herd the elk.  There were 2 other large bull elk in our garden devouring the hot peppers.  Elk love hot peppers.  They will actually pick the peppers off the bushes one by one.  Strange.

Here are some other interesting elk facts.

The Smell of deFEET

Overheard at a liquor store in Winter Park, CO.  Young boy speaking to dad standing next to me in beer aisle "What is that smell?! It is giving me a headache.".  Dad replies, "Me too!".  Extremely self conscious that perhaps that smell was emanating from me and my unwashed, working out, camping with 2 dogs and a kiddo in a dirt pile possible body odor.  If the smell was from me, the father seemed to forgive me when I grabbed a six pack of Oskar Blues "Mama's Little Yellow Pils". and he solemnly nodded and said I had made a good choice.

When did camping become stressful and dirty instead of a good reason not to wash and being completely unplugged and stress free?  No doubt camping with kids is stressful.  There is the unrelenting Colorado sun beating down with little shade to hide from it due to the pine beetle infestation killing off trees.  It is freezing at night (literally) so little ones wake up several times a night shivering.  There are no tv's or toys to keep kids occupied.

But then again there are no tv's or toys to keep kids occupied.  I must say when we were mixing at a playground at a local ski resort with clean smelling kids and my little one had dirty hair, face and clothes including pitch black feet from walking barefoot all weekend, I was not embarrassed.  I was proud that my kiddo had embraced the feel of being footloose and fancy free.  No doubt, coming home tired, bug bitten and dirty is tough and a lot of work for the adults but truly in the end that feeling of not needing to meet all of societies cleanliness requirements is liberating.  And there is always the wonderful and refreshing wash off in the creek that awakens all of the senses in one icy snap.

And no amount of trouble will ever make me want to give up my nightly midnight star gazing moment when I wake up and need to pee.  I never mind getting out of the tent in the freezing Colorado night air because that view of Orion on countless camping nights is a precious grounding reminder to me that there is a much bigger beautiful world out there for us to explore with Sophia, dirty and smelly or not.

Missoni at my local store?!

Cool.

No Name Leather

The art of home crafted goods.  Yes Etsy is a great way to find hand hewn treasures now but what about fairs? I loved going to art fairs as a kid.  The Art Fair at Queeny Park in St. Louis always being top of the list.  Now it seems like so often the goods are all imported or just too expensive.  This summer I happened upon 2 great folks selling nice hand crafted goods.

One was at the The Colorado Renaissance Festival. "No Name Leathers" is the name of the shop.  Really lovely pieces. I asked if the owner had a website.  His response was the only web he had was in the corner from the spider.  A bit of a crusty soul but a great artisan.  I bought my sister a beautiful belt for her birthday, a wallet for my husband and a hair piece for my daughter.  His dyes were so vibrant especially the reds and greens.  It was great to see him actually crafting handbags while we watched.  Oh how I wish he would sell other than the 6 weeks the fair goes on.  Wow he makes his living 6 weekends out of the year.  Can you imagine?!

The second place was in the Indian Village at Cheyenne's Frontier Days.  There was a tent set up with some really amazing leather and beaded items such as shoes, handbags and jewelry.  The folks there were not the artisans but the pieces were still very cool.  They hand these hand made leather satchels mixed with hounds tooth. Great design and you are not paying for any body's logo!

Armed and Dangerous

I just armed my 4 year old.  I told her words were no longer working.  She needed to act and act decisively and quickly.  Our 6 month old blue heeler puppy was/is full on acting like a 6 month old, very smart, very active, and very naughty blue puppy. I gave Sophia the hose and told her to shoot when approached.  Low and behold it worked.  Two birds, one stone.  Sophia loved having power and control and Pickles thought this was a lovely game, made up of chase the water spray.

Alas, the one problem was the student turned on the teacher.  I am now soaking wet.

The best summer days are full of free fun.  Nothing beats a sprinkler or hose on a hot sunny day.

What are your free finds in the summer to beat the heat and have fun?

Nice cool splash in a city fountain is always a good option!