My boyfriend and I recently acquired Alice Water’s “The Art of Simple Cooking”. Her message is simple - good food comes from good ingredients and the best ingredients come from local farmers who you can get to know on a first name basis at your farmers’ market. We are starting a Sunday night dinner ritual with a few friends that will include food made with local, sustainably grown ingredients purchased from our neighborhood farmers’ market. I’m excited to learn from Alice Waters and see how this exercise changes the way I think about food, community, and time (since it will take time to go to the farmers market and cook the food). I trust that making changes to the way I buy and eat food will lead to other changes in the future around the way I buy so many things - clothes, beauty products, etc.
This post was submitted by Maggie .
I started eating a raw diet in January 2010 at Optimum Health Institute. I thought I’d keep it forever because I felt to great… my arthritis went away, and I lost some weight. Then I left the Institute and tried being raw on my own. Unfortunately I was selling a house and moving so I was without a kitchen, and raw food is not easily available. Gradually I started eating regular food, although not animals. I read a book called EATING ANIMALS, that changed my mind set about eating animals.
Anyway, I’m back at OHI for a 3 month work study so I can learn how to prepared raw foods with the intent of helping others make similar changes. Raw and live food is food prepred under 105 degrees, and also food that sprouts and retains the life fore.
I began thinking about the second half of my life at age 40. That was 18 years ago. I’m just now thinking about it again at age 58. Could I possibly live another 58 years- in great health? I think so.
Brenda
This post was submitted by Brenda Citron.
A year ago I went No ‘Poo, and couldn’t be happier. I now cleanse & condition my hair with baking soda & apple cider vinegar.
To cleanse, add 1T of BS to 12oz of water, shake, and distribute about 2T to hair, massage, rinse well. Recycled plastic honey bottle with a pointed tip works well.
To condition, add about 4oz of ACV to 12oz of water to a spray bottle, shake, spritz hair 3-4 times, work into hair, rinse. For added shine do a final rinse with cold water. No you won’t smell like a salad afterward.
I use to wash my hair daily, but after about a 1-month adjustment period, I now have to wash every 2-3 days, plus my hair now has body.
Also, I now use Almond or Grapeseed Oil as a facial moisturizer,coconut oil as a body lotion, and BS as toothpaste.
This post was submitted by Canela.
I live 5 minutes from where I work and my husband lives 10 minutes from where he works so I walk to work and he bikes to work almost everyday. It has helped with our goal of being more environmental savvy and in our goal to keep fit.
This post was submitted by Shanna.
I support my local vendors but I also plant my own garden… my family consume the fruit and vegetables, plus have fun and… is a way to spend time together.
This post was submitted by Angie Hernandez-Torres.
I gave up all foods derived from animal products, almost 30 days ago, to lessen the environmental impact of my life! I started as a thirty day experiment, but now I know it’s going to become part of my lifestyle, because I’ve never been happier. The more I learn about the environment, and ways I can help, the more I’ve been doing, reducing garbage (virtually eliminating paper products (minus toilet paper)) starting a veggie garden, taking my car off the road, un plugging things, not watching t.v, etc. I really believe in the benefits of becoming more environmentally aware, and think that everyone would benefit from trying to live with a lower impact!
This post was submitted by Carmen.
Hanging clothes on the line outdoors to dry.
This post was submitted by Susan Phillips.
There are two areas that I haven’t heard many people talk about-probably because people don’t like to talk about “women’s stuff”. Sure, we can use cloth diapers on our babies, but what about the feminine hygiene products we throw away or flush down the toilet? I have recently started using a menstrual cup instead of pads or tampons, and it is great. It is re-usable and produces no waste. It is boiled once per month so it is hygienic as well. And cheaper too (in the long run).
The second “women related” area I’ve changed is birth control. My husband and I use the billings ovulation method, which involves charting your cycle to track cervical mucous and basal temperature. There are no extra hormones going into my body (why would I stop eating meat with hormones but keep putting them in me anyway?). Also, those hormones are not going into the water supply when flushed down the toilet. There are many scientific studies that prove the effectiveness of this method (as effective as IUDs when used properly). Plus, there is no trash (no condoms to throw away, no birth control pill cases, etc). Also, there is nothing to purchase, other than a thermometer (one time).
This post was submitted by Mary.
Became a one car family - my husband now commutes year round by bike.
Any journey under 4 miles, my daughter and I bike.
We traded our 2 cars in for a low-sulphur emissions diesel.
We use cloth diapers, cloth wipes and cloth sanitary products.
We compost and recycle all that we can.
Reduced our large, rotten lawn by adding some raised beds for veggies in our suburban garden and have made some beds for our friends and neighbors who do not have a garden.
Members of a local CSA and shop at the farmer’s market whenever we can.
Second hand first and then if not possible, buy new.
Line dry all clothes - we don’t own a dryer.
After seeing Colin’s film yesterday, our aim for April is to reduce our trash by looking at the packaged products we buy and purchase/make an alternative. Our aim…how low can you go?
This post was submitted by suzanne Cadge.
One pack of organic seeds 1.99
yields at least 20lb of veggies
grow with stacking planters on your balcony, fire escape, in boxes out your sunny window or in your tiny yard - vertically.
We are urban farmers. Our friends always tell us - oh, I don’t have enough space, I live in a flat, condo etc. When I suggest I come over and help them start a veggie garden and we can do it all under $10 - they freak out a little.
Either I give them seeds or we get some, I help them build growing places out of reusable materials, we get free compost and mulch from the city.
I teach them how to soak, score, and plant their seeds. I teach them how to use “cloches” to make the most out of light and constant temperature - also conserving moisture.
Their seeds sprout, they use conservative watering methods like simple drip, reservoir, and semi-hydroponics.
They all of a sudden don’t have to buy herbs, tomatoes, strawberries, squash, watermelon, green beans, snap peas, artichokes, etc anymore.
With the money they save they can buy hardy fruit trees for the patio.
You can grow your own, no matter where you are - if you have some sunshine.
This post was submitted by allison burgueno.