Zero Waste July Day 12: Ditch Plastic Wrap & a DIY Alternative

Hi there,

I’ve been real busy living a summer life, workin’, visiting friends, getting through my summer reading list, and making art. I still think of this blog every day! I promise I’m still here.

Today I’m ranting about plastic wrap. I don’t even need to introduce you to the frustrations of dealing with “glad wrap.” There’s nothing “glad” about it. It’s a single-use product meant to help you cover food, but it’s a completely unnecessary product, I think.

There are so many waste-free and wonderful alternatives! Some of them don’t even require you to buy anything. Use any ol’ jar with a lid to keep leftovers, fruits, and veggies in to use later. You can use Tupperware, glass airtight food storage “tupperware” for just about anything. Don’t go out and buy any of these things without looking through your own stock first. I love to use the giant Adam’s Peanut Butter jars for literally everything. They’re huge, you can freeze things in them, the lid is airtight, they’re just the best.

 

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I always find glass food storage containers at thrift stores, same with mason jars or any other old jar with a lid. No need to buy new, ever! There’s plenty of stuff to go around! We like to use this glass bowl with a matching lid to put things in. This cabbage has been in here for *cough* wayyyyy too long, but it’s still looking and smelling fresh.

The second option for replacing plastic wrap requires a purchase, but I think it’s definitely worth it. I love to use beeswax wrap, a piece of cloth soaked in melted beeswax. It adheres to anything, and it melts from the heat of your hands, conforming to any shape you need it to. I use it to cover bowls, produce, and as a snack bag. I like to make my own, but you can purchase vegan reusable wax food wraps here from Tiny Yellow Bungalow, beeswax wrap here, here, or learn how to make your own from:

• beeswax and cloth;
• beeswax, pine resin, and jojoba oil; or just
• beeswax and jojoba oil.

There are a few different ways to make them, I would say experiment. They all work. Fair warning: if you wash them in hot water, they will melt and get really crackly and probably not work as well. They also will start getting weird over time, but if they feel crackly and balls of beeswax are coming off, just pop it in the oven at 180 degrees for a couple minutes and the wax will remelt over them, making them good as new! They’re easier to maintain than it is to wrestle with cling wrap until you’re sweaty and out of breath.

Additionally, they are not completely airtight. Sometimes I will use two of them on top of a bowl if I need to keep air out.

I found some cool fabric recently at a thrift store, and decided to make beeswax wrap out of it! I bought a large block of beeswax close to 5 years ago at a Farmer’s Market have been using it exclusively for making food wraps. I still have a bunch of it left. For a long time, I only used beeswax and cotton cloth to make them. But since I’ve been using them for a while, I decided to spring for some pine resin to make them more soft and pliable. Here are the finished products! The chicken print ones are new, and I decided to maintain the red and black ones (I made those probably 4 years ago and they still work great with a little touch-up every once in a while).

The chicken print fabric was someones abandoned pillow-making project, and I thought it would be a much better use of fabric to make these! I love how they turned out, and they are HUGE so I can wrap almost anything with them. To wash, either spot clean with a wet cloth, rinse in cool water, or GENTLY (like brushing your teeth gently) clean with cool soapy water. Rinse and air dry. If you take care of them, you’ll have them for a long time!

Bend it and shape it anyway to you please!

Another one of my favorite alternatives (although not plastic-free) to ziploc bags is Kids Konserve reusable food bags and Blue Avocado (Re)Zip bags. You can wrap sandwiches, fruit, snacks, and pretty much anything else with it. I like to freeze fruit (like huckleberries!) in (re)zip bags and it works fantastically. I only have a couple because I have so many jars, and honestly prefer them to the plastic alternative.

So hey, please stop using plastic wrap. If you have a box right now and want to switch to reusables, it’s up to you whether you want to toss it immediately and start using reusables. If it were me, I would keep the box, and use it for emergencies and things like DIY fruit fly traps (which are rampant in my apartment during the summer #vegetarianproblems). To me, it makes more sense to use it up instead of throwing it away unused. But you do you, boo boo! I hope beeswax wrap really makes you… Glad you switched. Terrible.

ANYWAY

Love (and beeswax stains all over the goddamn carpet),

Ollie

Zero Waste July Day 10: Zero Waste-ish Backpacking Food (Vegetarian & Vegan)

Heyyyyy there ya’ll.

So it was my birthday on July 10th, and I’ve been taking some time to be a human and interact with people. Therefore, I haven’t been keeping up on blogging every day, but that’s okay. I’m sure none of you were on the edge of your seat checking your phone every day for new posts.

Today I want to give you some tips and tricks for zero waste backpacking and camping food! If you’re not a very outdoorsy person, then you can think of these things more of as things to pack for snacks on your way out the door for other adventures. I pretty much don’t ever leave the house without food, don’t know about y’all.

ALWAYS abide by Leave No Trace principles when you are outdoors. Always pack your trash in and out (this should be a rule everywhere you go), dig a hole and bury your poo (and never pee or pee within 200 feet of a water source), keep your food hung and out of your tent/backpack so animals don’t get into it, yada yada.

I love hiking, camping, and backpacking. I try to do it as often as my body and schedule allow me to. Last summer, I worked for the Idaho Conservation Corps doing trail maintenance, tree felling (fuels reduction), and lots of other conservation-based projects. We would work for 9 days straight and have 5 days off, often working in the backcountry. We would hike all of our stuff in, set up camp, and get the heck to work. This often meant having 75-90 lb. packs on our backs stuffed with clothes, food, trail tools, sleeping bags, tents, and whatever else a human needs for 9 days in the woods at a time. I quickly learned how to pack light, shop for food, and make my own backpacking food at home. I had a friend give me a food dehydrator before I started last season and it was AMAZING for making my own backpacking food.

Although I tried my hardest to keep my trash at a minimum, sometimes it proved to be incredibly difficult to get all the nutrients I needed sans waste. So I urge you not to be so strict with the food that you end up going hungry because you didn’t want to make trash. Waste happens, and you need to nourish your body when doing a strenuous activity like hiking and backpacking or working. I don’t have a lot of photos of food because I am usually in the zone while packing food that I don’t take photos (go figure). But I found lots of bulk bin foods that worked perfectly, and lots of online resources if you want to make your own food and dehydrate it!

Okay, here we go! Firstly, when I was planning out my meals before hitch (a 9 day project), I would make a chart like this, just to get a rough meal plan and idea of how much food I needed to pack for myself: 

I would make quick trips of my grocery shopping, being wary to carry a small basket with me to avoid buying too much food and to keep a good idea of how heavy all the food was getting. I would go to Winco and the Co-Op for everything. I rarely bought a Mountain House backpacking meal because they are expensive and the local Tri-State store didn’t carry very many vegetarian options.

Here are a couple examples of things I would pack for an entire day’s worth of food

Breakfast: oatmeal, peanut butter powder (bought in bulk), dehydrated fruit (bulk dried bananas, peaches, mangoes, goji berries), coconut (bulk), and maybe some chocolate chips, instant coffee (in single plastic packaging, totes not zero waste, but very necessary)

Snacks: Rice cakes, peanut butter (I found tiny plastic Ziploc containers that held about 1/4 cup of peanut butter, I would fill them up at home from my big jar of Adam’s), a Snicker’s bar, dried fruit

Lunch: Smoked salmon and Ritz crackers (in plastic packaging), unsalted sunflower seeds (bulk), an avocado with chili flakes sprinkled on top

Dinner: Tasty Bites Madras Lentils and Rice (in plastic packaging, but much needed after a long day of trail work), hot cocoa (bulk, brought in a plastic Ziploc container)

I would usually separate all my days of food into different gallon-sized Ziploc bags or into reused plastic grocery bags. This helped keep everything from floating around my backpack, and also was helpful for throwing everything into the bear bag at the end of the night to keep animals from getting into it. It also made it easier to have my lunch and snacks in separate bags so I could throw them into my daypack (work pack) while I was making breakfast in the morning. We were often away from camp to work, and didn’t have the luxury of returning to camp until we had worked for 8 hours.

As you can probably tell, zero waste backpacking food is nearly impossible. You’re not able to bring lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, and you can’t cook things for very long because you’re carrying a micro stove or JetBoil mostly to make boiling water. So the key to reducing your trash and eating less processed foods while backpacking is to plan, shop, and pack everything in advance. You’ll likely end up eating healthier, have enough food to sustain you on the trail so you don’t go hungry, and will feel much more at ease without having to fish through all your food deciding what to eat.

Here are some things I would buy at Winco and the Co-Op from the bulk bins:

• Dehydrated fruit (bananas, mangoes, goji berries, pineapple, strawberries, peaches)
• Dehydrated vegetables (peas, carrots, corn)
• Dehydrated hummus (a friggin’ lifesaver especially for vegans! Seriously you just add water, instant hummus)
• PB powder (another lifesaver for vegans)
• Avocados (harder ones so that they don’t get too squished/last longer)
• Random bulk bins snacks (sesame chips, Gardettos, chex mix, trail mix, chocolate energy bites). Just peruse the bulk bins, you’re likely to find something lightweight and yummy
• Nuts
• Dehydrated Tomato powder/veg stock (an amazing addition for flavor)
• Nutritional Yeast
• Rice noodles (require little cooking time, very versatile)
• Crackers
• Hot Cocoa

Here are some packaged things I bought off the shelves at Winco and the Co-Op:

• Smoked salmon
• Gatorade powder
• Instant coffee packets
• Pop-Tarts (guilty trail pleasure)
• Canned bean dip
• Packets of honey crystals
• Ramen
• Granola Bars
• Instant mashed potatoes and hashbrowns
• Applesauce

Here are some things I would make myself (if I had time before hitch):

• Granola Bars
• Dehydrated strawberries, apples, bell peppers
• Dehydrated backpacking meals from Backpacking Chef (amazeballs)
• DIY flavored oatmeal packets

If you know your stuff, you can forage for berries (huckleberries!!!) along the way.

If you’re car camping, try to clean out your fridge and pack leftovers in your cooler. Save food waste and use what you have already on hand.

So there you have it. You can Google backpacking or camping food ideas, the internet is full of resourceful humans who have found their own ways around $9 premade backpacking meals. “The mountains are like, ‘yo dude where you at,’ and I’m like ‘omw.'”

Love (and hiking boots),

Ollie

Zero Waste School & Office Supplies

Hey there,

Another short and sweet post about zero waste school and office supplies.

By the time I graduated college a couple of months ago, I had used up probably 8 paper notebooks and 4 GB of Google Drive space worth of notes. Also thousands of flashcards for memorizing terms (psychology and ecology were surprisingly memorization-heavy). I always felt bad when I had to recycle all of those notecards, and it seemed silly for them to have a single use.

On the other hand, it was just the way I could learn, and I hadn’t found a better way to do it. The tactile feeling of flipping the cards and reading the words to memorize the content worked for me, and if I use a few thousand flashcards, so be it. Point is, don’t interrupt your learning just to reduce your waste. Do what works for you.

That being said, there are a few things you can switch to reduce your impact. The first example is recycled paper. Take your notes on something like a Decomposition Book, made with 100% post-consumer recycled paper and soy ink, completely compostable, recyclable, and they all have lovely designs on the cover. If it works for you, take your notes electronically and upload them to a cloud. I use Google Drive.

For my sister’s last birthday, I got her a Rocketbook, which allows you to physically write out notes, and upload them to any cloud service. When the notebook gets full, you put it IN THE MICROWAVE and it erases all the pages to be used again! This is the future y’all. So cool!

As for writing utensils, I made the switch to a refillable fountain pen that I found used on eBay for around $30. It’s an older one, made to last, and it writes really nicely. I also bought a few brand new ones on Amazon, and of course, they came in plastic packaging, all wrapped individually (zero waste fail). But, I can buy fountain pen ink in recyclable glass bottles with a metal recyclable cap. I went through maybe 2 tablespoons of ink throughout this last school year. I’m also a fan of the good old wood pencil and pink rubber eraser. I will keep a small mason jar in my backpack for pencil shavings, which are compostable.

As far as other office supplies go, just do your best to avoid greenwashed products (when PR or marketing uses deceptively “green” packaging or phrases to trick you into thinking it’s good for the environment. It takes a little more attention and research, so when in doubt, I go to the thrift store, where you can find mountains of donated materials that would have otherwise been landfilled. I would much prefer to buy cheaper materials that no one is going to use than buy new, sustainable products. But that is just my preference. You do you.

I found some dry-erase markers (a product I just can’t give up) made of recycled materials on Amazon. It seemed like a better option. This is my decomposition notebook, which I mostly have been using for grocery lists now that I’m done with school. I have a few refillable fountain pens and lots of wood pencils. The small container of pen ink is in a glass bottle with a metal top, both recyclable.

Try to get things that are packaged in recyclable materials (staples in cardboard, loose pencils, loose erasers, loose art supplies not wrapped in plastic (harder to find than it should be)). Opt for supplies like the Seven Year Pen, that is not only made to last a lot longer than conventional pens but is also refillable! I have one, it’s awesome.

It can be easy to grab a 100 pack of cheap pens from the shelf, but if you and one million other people do the same, that’s a lot of plastic in the landfill that could have been either avoided or reduced. When you buy 5 notebooks for every class, but only end up using 1/2 of each notebook at the end of the semester, it’s just wasteful. I opt for the multiple-subject college-ruled notebooks that allow you to stuff multiple classes worth of notes in one spot.

Just be conscious of your choices when school shopping or picking up office supplies. Buy recycled printer paper (and then recycle it, no matter what), and recycle your ink cartridges. Certain programs will take in your cartridges for you (University of Idaho campus has several drop-off locations). Opt out of buying kids new school supplies every year, and try to salvage things at the end of the year so you aren’t buying the same things over and over. Try finding gently used secondhand backpacks and other supplies before you buy a new one, and remember that hand-me-downs are ideal. Try using the cloud to keep your notes safe and backed-up, or if handwritten notes are your jam, no big deal. Use front and back sides of paper when writing on and printing (set your printer to always print double-sided).

There’s enough stuff in the world to go around! Let’s be more resilient and resourceful with our school and office materials!

Love (and fountain pens),

Ollie

Zero Waste Cleaning

Hello hello! I am a few days behind on writing blog posts. We went camping over the weekend and substituted technology for margaritas.

This blog will mostly be a picture blog showing you what I use to clean my old dusty 60’s apartment with! I don’t use any bleach, but it is recommended to disinfect things. Used with proper dilutions, bleach can disinfect and protect you against certain bad bacteria. Here’s a good chart to see what kind of things you should be disinfecting and the proper bleach dilutions. I use vinegar to clean and as a weak disinfectant. I use all natural ingredients that are non-toxic and typically non-scented. I’m very sensitive to chemically smells and they give me headaches, therefore I haven’t used bleach in a really long time.

 

This is a ceramic tool holder that I made in my ceramics class last year. It used to have a nice thick handle and ceramic crystals on it, but it’s been dropped in our ceramic sink so many times that it’s looking a little rough, but I still like it. It has drainage holes in the bottom and it lives on the back edge of the sink.

I think our culture is germaphobic, and we must kill all bacteria! Kill it with fire! What does it mean to really get something ‘clean?’ Cleaning means getting dirt and grime and stuff off of things, disinfecting gets rid of spreadable and possibly dangerous germs. Although a lovable alternative to bleach, vinegar may not always get rid of the things that can make us sick.

We really only disinfect our kitchen counters and lots of surfaces after we’ve been sick.

For doing dishes, I fill up on liquid dishwashing soap from the bulk bins at the Co-Op. It’s super concentrated and we only use a few drops for doing dishes. Our dish soap lives in a repurposed tequila bottle with a nice cork top. We have a natural fiber dish brush that sits in a little dish with re-soaping spring to add soap to the brush when we need it. We also use a compostable scrubby and bottle brush from Tiny Yellow Bungalow. We have two different sized straw brushes for cleaning out our reusable straws and a recyclable copper metal scrubby. We CONSTANTLY have dishes and no dishwasher. The struggles of living zero waste and loving to cook include a shit ton of dishes, all the time. So much that we have two dish racks that are pretty much always full.

 

I used to have a different cleaning product for cleaning every single thing in my apartment. Dusting spray, window cleaner, sink spray, etc. What I learned is that products are marketed to you so you can have a product for everything. More products = more packaging = more waste. I’ve learned that you can clean just about anything with baking soda and vinegar. SO CHEAP. You can dust, wipe off counters, clean glass, scrub sinks, yada yada with baking soda and vinegar.

We don’t use paper towels for general house cleaning things, but we do use them for wiping oil and food off of our cast iron skillets. Unfortunately, the can’t be composted because it interrupts the air flow around other materials in a compost heap, and can hinder decomposition. We will probably switch to only using cloth scraps to wipe out the cast iron after we run out of paper towels.

As the for the rest of the cleaning projects, we use washcloths and towels, of which we have an entire drawer. They’re used for everything. Cleaning up spills, drying dishes, wiping down counters.

When they get dirty, they go under the sink in this repurposed bucket that I took from the dumpster at work. We wash them about every couple of weeks.

I don’t think I have ever bought towels new. My mom likes to update her towels every once in a while, so I get all of her old ones. I use towels my great grandma has passed down to my grandma and my mom. Lots of repurposing!

When towels get too ratty and old, I cut them up to use them for cleaning things like the bathroom, or for tissues.

Here’s a jar of cut up scraps that lives on the bathroom counter. We wipe down the counter, dust off the toilet, clean the mirror, and wipe down the shower with them. I keep separate, softer fabric scraps tucked away for tissues.

For cleaning our super old apartment, I like to use Bon Ami on the toilet, sinks, and bathtub to really get the grime off. I use an old dish scrubbing brush that has funky bristles.

To make the house smell nice and get rid of the funk that sometimes occurs, I like burning Palo Santo wood sticks. You only need to burn them for a few seconds to have a house full of smelly good smells. You can find them at Mountain Rose Herbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that’s pretty much it! Keeping it simple and cleaning with only a few ingredients can be better for your health, your wallet, and your overall sense of cleanliness. I recommend using up any products you currently have before making the switch. It’s not an overnight process, so have patience. Cut up old tee shirts or sheets for cleaning rags to get paper towels out of your life. Keep an eye out for free spray bottles, and avoid buying new ones.

Love (and dishes forever),

Ollie

 

 

Buying in Bulk

Heyyooo happy Friday!

I’m talking about buying in bulk today. Let’s keep this short and sweet. Here is a photo from my most recent grocery shopping trip to my Co-Op.

A bulk shopping trip that I somehow got home in a backpack and a canvas grocery bag. Radishes, tomatoes, and green beans in produce bags and cloth bulk bags. All else produce was naked except strawberries. The mason jars hold brown rice, garbonzo beans, and balsamic vinegar. I bought two tins of tomato paste, and two rolls of recycled tp in recyclable packaging.

I think that the zero waste life has taught me how to be more creative in kitchen. As a result from buying things package free and in bulk, I find myself eating healthier, saying “What the hell I’ll throw this in there, too,” and saving money. Bulk shopping trips require more meal planning and list-making, but it’s cheaper than processed foods when we factor in effects on your health, detriment to the environment, and waste resulting from packaging. The local Winco store has a sizable bulk section, but they do not allow you to bring your own containers and bags. If I’m buying bulk grains or beans from Winco, I’ll either use a smaller plastic bag or a paper bag from the mushroom section in produce.

A little whiteboard that lives on our fridge to help us keep track of groceries, things we need to get, make and do!

My local Co-Op has a brand new, shiny extended bulk bin section, with lots of local bulk grains, legumes, and other goodies. I always make a list before I go. From the list I determine how many bulk bags, mason jars, and produce bags (mesh or cotton) to bring, with a couple extra here and there just in case. When I get home with everything, I let produce sit in the sink with some Dr. Bronner’s castile soap, put jars of things in the cupboard, and transfer dry bulk things to jars or other containers.

As far as containers go, I only buy secondhand jars when I’m absolutely desperate. Other than that, I use glass peanut butter jars, mason jars from homemade pickles and jam from my dad, and whatever other containers I happen to have (sometimes plastic from freed out things at work).

The photo at the top of my blog is a typical shopping trip, not too big, unless we really groceries. I thought it might be helpful to include a list of things I buy in bulk bins and what kind of things we make with them. Here goes:

• Rice & Grains (brown, white, basmati, cous cous, quinoa) – stir fry over rice, blend into black bean burgers for structure, horchata, curry over rice, use as something to soak up soup, put into soup, horchata, vegan sushi with tomatoes
• Beans & Legumes (kidney, black, great northern, orca, garbanzo, pinto, lentils) – burritos, soups, black bean burgers, chili, falafel, flautas, enchiladas, bean dips
• Noodles (Soba, pastas, rice noodles) – pad thai, stir fry over noodles, spaghetti, tomato/pesto pasta, mac n’ cheese
• Oils & Vinegars & Syrups (Safflower oil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, maple syrup, honey)
• Flours & Sugars (Bread flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, cocoa poweder, evaporated cane juice (sugar)) – cookies, muffins, bread, brownies (I bake alot!)
• Other Dry Goods (Coconut, chocolate chips, tea, coffee, spices, instant soup mixes, hot cocoa mix)
• Snacks – Sesame cheesy bites, vegan gummy bears, chocolate covered coconut bites, unwrapped candy, trail mix, nuts, granola)

A peak into our cupboards, not perfect but full of good stuff to cook and bake

Our “fat cabinet” full of snacks and oatmeal toppings, bread flour, all purpose flour, masa for making tacos, and smoothie additions

I’ve found such a love in food and making it. I hope you can too. What got me the most interested in vegan cooking was my first Thug Kitchen Cookbook that helps you “Eat like you give a f*ck,” with language I feel right at home reading. It helped me get my shit together, and you can too!

I get that life and space and food availability can hinder your culinary life, but start small. You should know at how to cook at least one meal from scratch. My go-to is spaghetti.

That’s it for today. Get swoll and shop bulk!

Love (and bulk bin candy),

Ollie

P.S. All photos at the top of my blog are irrelevant to posts, and are my own photography ♥

Thriftin’ & Votin’ with Your Dolla

Hi there,

I am rambling today about thrift store shopping and voting with your dollar. Are you tired of me yet? I don’t want to give the illusion that these are well thought-out blog posts written days in advance, so I’m being real when I say I need to go to bed in an hour and I’m just now getting to this.

Do you love free things? Do you enjoy saving money? Of course, you do. Have you ever picked something from a yard sale to purchase? Or traded something for something else?

What sort of system are we contributing to when we purchase new things from a department store? Clothing especially. We are contributing to the “fast fashion” culture, the throw-away culture, the culture of mistreating and underpaying women and children to make your clothing for pennies a day. We are giving into the system of “Oh, well I can always get another one,” that is so toxic to both our well-being, culture, and the planet. When we choose to swap clothing with a friend, buy a lamp at a yard sale, toss a dumpster coffee table into the back of our Corolla, or purchase plates from a thrift store with reminiscent cartoon characters on them, we are contributing to a circular economy.

The “Circular Economy” is the system in which we use resources as long as possible, find the most value in using the resource during its lifecycle, and recover resources and products at the end of their lifecycle to be made into something else. We currently live in a linear economy, one in which we make, use, and dispose of our resources (plastic, furniture, clothing, you name it).

I highly recommend you try dumpster diving, or driving around when students move out for the summer. Living in a college town where people mainly dwell in apartment buildings has made for excellent treasure hunting where I live. It’s sad to see thousands of students packing up and leaving for the summer, only to overflow dumpsters with perfectly salvageable things left to be landfilled. Unfortunately, there are laws in place that place liability on Waste Management Services, and therefore, people are not ‘supposed’ to be digging around in trash cans and dumpsters once things are discarded. It also creates an issue with the right to privacy and all that yada yada.

However, did you know that you can place reusable goods for others to pick through on the sides of dumpsters? It’s perfectly legal to sift through coffee tables and lamps and desk chairs left to the side. I’ve seen lots of dishes and furniture and appliances on the sides of trash cans.

My philosophy is, if you didn’t get caught, it’s fine. I’ve done my fair share of digging around in dumpsters, and have found small but victorious treasures (mason jars, small tables, TVs, shelves, etc.) Sometimes dumpsters have furnished my apartment. People get rid of the craziest things, y’all. Don’t wrinkle your nose at me. Dumpster diving is just cutting the middleman for the thrift stores, let’s be honest here.

Thrift stores can be great! I frequent them for kitchen supplies and other random “I probably don’t need this but it’s entertainment to poke fun at,” type of moments (electronic foot baths, knick-knacks that are nightmare fuel, full denim suits that your partner actually looks super fine in…ahem). One thing I have tried to be more mindful of is shopping at thrift stores that use profits mostly for charity work, such as the local Hope Center or Salvation Army.

Also, when you choose to decorate your house or piece together your wardrobe using only thrift store finds, I think there is something more eclectic and weird about it that makes your style more interesting. You do you, though! This is all from my perspective of being a reformed Kohl’s and Forever 21 shopper. I will also hit up our local Moscow Stormcellar, a magnificent consignment store for clothing, housewares, and furniture. I tediously browse thrift store and consignment shop wracks for things that I like, that are comfortable, fit my style, are durable, and gently used.

More recently I have been opting for more expensive but higher quality denim and pants. I’d be preaching to the choir if I said women’s pant sizes are all completely screwed. I just… like, where are the pockets? No, no, y’all already know. Anyway, when I find a pair of pants that fits and is comfortable, I feel indebted to the great denim goddesses of the universe. Also, I really enjoy wearing Carhartt’s. 9/10 Lumberjanes recommend.

By exercising our power to choose used over new, we are actively changing our economy as a whole. Voting with your dollar as a consumer in the U.S. is one of the best ways to contribute less waste to the economy, more income to actual people instead of big corporations, and more community into your life.

Bartering systems includes trading goods and services for other goods and services. Your sheep for my candles. Your VHS copy of Titanic for my blender. Your help moving me out of my apartment for exactly 4 cold beers. Community. Making friends by helping each other the heck out. Buying less crap and spending more time with each other. That’s what it’s all about, right?

I know I talk about stuff a LOT, but stuff is the world, and the world is stuff, and I have no better explanation. Oh, maybe it’s a good shout-out time! The Story of Stuff started nearly a decade ago, but I think this particular video is still very much relevant. Annie Leonard is amazing, and her video The Story of Solutions is a perfect summation of the process of human decision, goals, and economy all wrapped up into a perfect story. Please check it out and watch their other videos!

Next time you’re in need of a new tee shirt, hit up a thrift store, consignment shop, or have a clothing swap with fun people! Or a stuff swap! There’s nothing more freakin’ wholesome than a stuff swap with snacks. But before you buy anything else, try to fix it yourself if you can! Or reuse/repurpose it! Turn old jeans into patches with art printed/painted on them, cut-off shorts, or hot pot holders. Make art and frame it in thrifted frames. Swap books with friends, and avoid buying books new (libraries are a thing now I heard). Support local businesses and buy things made by local people (ceramics, artisan wood spoons, hand-knit dog and reptile sweaters).

Below you can find some pics of stuff I’ve dumpster dived and thrifted.

Found these right on top of the dumpster outside of work. Lids on and everything!

Thrifted little gadgets. A cheese grater, a metal teaspoon for loose-leaf tea, a handmade ceramic bowl, and a handmade ceramic colander. Just fun useful maboppers

I had been searching thrift stores for this very item for months. I took my recycling out one day and found two of these next to a “reusable bucket” bin. I immediately started laughing and snatched them. They are plastic-free ice cube trays, one might say “antique.”

I must be missing college already because I am already procrastinating with writing blog posts.

Love (and dumpster diving),

Ollie

The Art of Fixing Stuff

Fair warning,

It’s July 4th, and I am full of sass that can only come from growing older and realizing that I am an Ugly American and so are you. You should not celebrate this country today. You should not celebrate the fact that our entire country was built on genocide, slavery, and misogyny (and apparently the shitty memories of Americans). If you think this is the greatest country on earth, I advise you to do a little soul searching, check your privilege and entitlement at the door, and maybe put yourself in someone else’s shoes for a minute.

This blog post is about fixing things that are broken. I feel awfully bitter towards this country as a 22-year-old fresh out of college with non-conformist, left-leaning ideology, and I’m not in a place to push it aside simply for the sake of getting a well-liked blog post. Our system is broken. We are a conglomeration of peoples, native peoples, immigrants, descendants of slaves forcefully brought here. Many (many, many) people in this country have somehow got it in their head that they are superior to others, and have the right to hate, discriminate, and incriminate anyone different. We need to have space in our heart to love people and to be kind. We need to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves, and recognize our entitlement, pride, and privilege, then act accordingly. Critical thinking skills and self-discipline required.

Let’s all make an effort to fix ourselves, in our own minds first, before we can fix the rest of the problems in this country.

*Deep sigh*.

This is America

Fixing things. Right. Why should we fix or repair the material objects in our life? For one thing, we need to recognize that we live in a throw-away culture, a place where you use something a few times or even once before tossin’ it away. Vacuum not working? Toss it! Broke a beloved coffee mug? They make more! The car stopped running? Put a rock on the gas pedal and send it over a cliff!

Ha, just kidding. But seriously.

We have got to stop being in the mindset of, “Oh, well I can just get another one.” If you keep up on current events, you may have heard that there are planned space trips to Mars for potential “Plan(et) B” exploration and colonialism. We can just trash this planet and move right on to the next one! Wrongooooo. I mean, if you’re really into wearing the same space suit for years on end and living in sub-zero temperatures for the rest of your elderly life, by all means, live like a human dumpster while you’re on Earth. For the rest of us, I think we ought to start caring for the planet like its, you know, the only one in this galaxy we’re capable of living on. *Nervously pulls shirt collar away from neck*

Told you, I’m salty today. Good vibes from here on out. I promise.

Fixing stuff is fun! And empowering! You’d be amazed at what a tube of superglue can do. When I visited Zion National Park a couple of years ago, the only souvenir I brought back was an orange coffee mug. When it took a tumble into our ceramic sink and the handle broke in four different places, I was certain we’d have to throw it away. Instead, I grabbed my trusty superglue and glued that sucker back together. I’m still using it to this day!

The cast iron griddle before

Just the other day I learned how to change my flat bike tire and replace the tube. I sewed two large holes in the arms of my favorite sweatshirt. I found an old rusty cast iron griddle at a thrift store a while ago. I took some salt and steel wool and applied a hefty dollop of elbow grease, and now I use it every day, and it will probably last forever. I found an older KitchenAid mixer at a thrift store for $30 and am attempting to fix it up real nice for a friend. Your garbage is my gold, baby.

Not only does fixing things save us money, it makes us value that things we own even more. Sure, you “like” your stuff, but do you value it? Do you find it functional? Beautiful? Aesthetically pleasing? If you don’t value your stuff, you’re not going to

Cast iron griddle after scrubbing with steel wool and salt for at least an hour

take care of that stuff. And what is that “stuff” anyway? Do you really need more decorative pillows? Is the one that says “Live, Laugh, Love” actually going to make you live, laugh, and love more? Food for thought.

Fixing things is definitely not a new concept, but I think its lost its glamour. Why learn a new skill when it’s so easy to buy a new thing? I’ll tell ya why, because, and to quote my favorite podcasters (shout out time!) Chuck and Josh from Stuff You Should Know, “Learning is intoxicating!” The feeling of popping open the face plate of a chainsaw to deconstruct it, sharpen it, and put it back together to fell a big ol’ pine tree is a rush I can’t describe. I love taking things apart and putting them back together again.

So next time something of yours breaks, don’t opt to just throw it out. Try fixing it first. If that doesn’t work, try to find it used, thrift it, hell eBay still exists why is no one using it. Once again, there is already enough “stuff” in the world. No need to buy new! Learn how to sew. Repurpose things. Repair stuff. Youtube is an excellent resource for learning how to do things.

My ride or die babe, salvaged from a junkyard, refurbished by a guy named Frank, bought by me and loved wholeheartedly

Shout out time! Have you heard of ifixit.com? It’s a website that gives you resources to fix just about anything. Below you can find their “Repair Manifesto.” You are a smart, capable human being! I friggin’ love the internet.

I wasn’t sure where I was going with this blog when I started it, and I feel like it’s a little chaotic. But isn’t that life? I hope you take today to celebrate you, and all the wonderful, kind, loving people that live in this insane world.

Love (and fixing things),

Ollie

Compost!

Hi, Hello, Welcome.

My rambling for today will be on compost! One of my favorite things ever!

What the hell is compost? It’s beautiful, dark, moist, fragrant stuff that results from decaying organic matter, kind of like hummus, the decadent top layer of soils (not hummus, the delicious pulverized bean snack).

Why is compost so important? It’s nature’s way of recycling nutrients back into the earth. Compost comes in all shapes and forms. From manure (including humans, a fun term called ‘humanure’), decaying food waste and scraps, to decomposing weeds and plant matter. If you have a garden, you’ve likely used compost as a nutritional treat for your plants. Compost, like recycling, is absolutely essential for the planet’s health. Decomposition (death) is the coolest part of the nutrient life cycle. Watch this suh-weet video from Crash Course about Fungi! In the forest, fallen leaves decompose with the help of soil microbes, fungi, and bacteria, which munch the yummy leaves into the rich soil. Literally, everything alive turns into dead things which turn back into living things.

Organic matter breaks down and allows for other organic matter to take its place. Compost is a microbial paradise of decaying goodness for everything, from the soil to the nutrients in the food that grows from it.

Landfilling food and organic waste contributes heavily to excessive emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more powerful than CO2. Decaying organic matter, mixed in with every other type of waste we produce as humans, does not make a productive breeding ground for the good fungi, bacteria, and microbes that would normally devour that organic waste. Food waste is rampant in the U.S., and accounts for nearly 22% of all discarded material in municipal (people’s) waste.

One of my main pet peeves is food waste, but not just the leftovers that I forgot to eat that were pushed to the back of my fridge. I cringe when I see berry tops, kale stems, and banana peels go straight into the plastic trash bag. Putting food waste (or other organic waste) into trash bags traps the gases released during decomposition, and creates more methane than it would have in a compost heap, for instance.

Why then, isn’t composting part of everyone’s waste management system? Because it makes too much sense, and most people aren’t exactly in love with the idea of sorting their trash. There also comes some minor organizational details required of waste management facilities, but it is a relatively easy practice. It may soon become a requirement for you to sort your trash!

Composting doesn’t have to be painful, complicated, smelly (well, maybe just a little bit), or incredibly time-consuming. There are LOTS of different ways to go about composting your food scraps and organic waste. You can:

• Start a compost pile in your backyard! Not sure how? Look at this website I just Googled for you!
• Keep your food scraps in a bucket in a cool place in your house, or in a small bucket in the freezer (like me!) and take it to a local community garden and dump on their compost pile (I asked permission first).
• Start a vermicomposting bin (like me!) with red wiggler worms, two plastic tubs, and newspaper.
• Ask a neighbor, family member, or friend if you can dump your scraps on their pile

There are lots of ways to get yourself composting. Just have to do a little diggin’!

Compost is COOLIO and if you’re interested in learning more, or want to make your own worm bin, use that noggin’ of yours and get to Googlin’ about it. The internet is a wonderful place, for at least a little while longer (R.I.P. Net Neutrality).

Anywayyyy, here is my composting setup!

My red wigglers from UncleJimsWormFarm.com happily munching away on some gross old spinach (You CAN mail-order live worms!). finally the future we’ve been waiting for.

I feed my worms about 1 cup of food scraps per week right now (I just emptied the bin, and I’m giving them some time to recoop. They eat a lot of newspaper (printed with soy ink) and produce a lovely dark compost medium known as “worm castings,” (AKA worm poop!) No, it doesn’t stink. No, it isn’t high-maintenance. Yes, I love my worms like my own children.

Where all my worms live. This is just two 5 gallon plastic totes, the bottom one with holes drilled in the bottom and side for drainage. I covered it in space duct tape for pizzaz.

You don’t have to add pizzaz to your worm bin, but I’m pretty sure a little customization makes your worms much happier in their home.

This plastic bucket (*cough and the container on top of it) is used for fruit and veggie scraps, food waste, and gross things from the counter. I use my fruit and veggie peels and scraps for anything I can before composting them (vinegar, vegetable broth, smoothie additions, etc.).

Since we eat a lot of vegetables and fruit, our compost bucket in the freezer has looked like this basically non-stop all summer. Note the pineapple top, too large and in charge for our measly bucket. When it’s time to take it to the local community garden, we let it thaw for awhile so that it comes out in one nice… plop.

In the colder months, we keep food scraps in a plastic bucket outside. Keeping a bucket outside during the summer months is bad news for attracting flies and *gag* maggots to the compost bucket. Freezing it has been much better on our gag reflex. 10/10 recommend.

Food waste in plastic bags = Bad. Compost = Good. Compost + Learning how to cook and use food scraps better = BEST.

I love composting, and I’ll never stop. It may feel like another chore sometimes, but I feel much better about it than tossing food into the trash can. There’s something I romanticize about taking my bucket of food scraps to the organic community garden, where I get to peer at everyone’s garden beds and listen to the birds in the trees and really inhale that stinky, steamy, heap of love smoldering in the corner in the garden.

Love (and compost),

Ollie

Zero Waste Basics and Personal Philosophy

Hello, hello! Welcome to my first ever blog post, ever.

Dis meh

Every day this month, I’ll be posting bits and pieces of useful resources for the transition to a zero waste lifestyle, tips n’ tricks for reducing your waste, and helpful examples from yours truly. I’ve been engaging in the zero waste community for about 4 years, and have drastically reduced the amount of trash I create. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and have studied in the realm of human-environment relationships and climate change.
I got interested in the zero waste lifestyle because of what I was studying, and it only made sense to me at the time to change my behavior based on what I valued: earth, sustainable solutions, and food. I’ve worked in grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, and on a conservation corps crew doing trail maintenance, fuels reduction (tree felling with chainsaws), and other conservation-based projects. I’m currently a full-time morning baker at a local food Co-Op.

I also play guitar, make art, hike, rock climb, read, tend to my plant babies, listen to podcasts and music, and experiment in the kitchen. I’m a super introvert, and a very empathetic, quiet, and resourceful human. I try lots of different things all the time just for the sake of “why not?”

Food is one of my favorite things and is one of the most intimately-woven components of being a human. We are what we eat. What our food is and where it comes from is not only important to our own health and well-being but also has an impact on the environment. I am a vegetarian and ‘part-time vegan.’ I love to create using vegan and vegetarian cooking and baking. I watch shows and movies and documentaries about food, I read about food, I talk about food, I work with food, every day.

I’m also incredibly passionate about reducing food waste and food packaging. I often describe myself as a “freegan,” a term popularized by the dumpster diving and DIY culture, meaning taking advantage of the vast amount of wasted, perfectly salvageable food thrown away on a daily basis. Freeganism, dumpster diving, the zero waste movement, and the DIY culture are all protests towards consumerism, the fact that 40% of the food produced in the U.S. is never touched and thrown away meanwhile millions live in food insecure areas and food deserts, and a throw-away, single-use culture.

My personal philosophy towards the environment and the zero waste lifestyle has been morphed and shaped and challenged by my education, the zero waste community on social media, and my own environment (where I live/work, who I surround myself with, my government). I’m here to make an impact, not by showing you just HOW little trash I can make, but by living in ways in tune with my own values, and hoping that someone else is inspired to make changes in their own consumptive habits.

I personally believe that there is more than enough “stuff” in the world and unless it’s absolutely necessary, you don’t need more of it. I believe that single-use plastics such as coffee cups, straws, utensils, bags, and water bottles are unnecessary, wasteful, and should be avoided at all costs. I’m a big proponent of bringing your own, planning ahead, and learning new habits to reduce your waste. I believe that consumers have the best advantage point for changing the world. You CAN and SHOULD vote with your dollar! Purchase goods and services that treat employees well, make an effort to participate in sustainable practices and align with your values and virtues. I believe people need to learn how to start fixing things instead of tossing away and buying new. It’s easy once you know how! Learn to sew, bake, garden, repair, make it yourself. I believe that food waste can be reduced by choosing what you eat and where it comes from, and learning to cook. I believe plastic is a useful material for advancing the medical, science, and technology fields, but it is just silly to make something that never “goes away” a single-use item that millions (or billions) of people use on a daily basis.

So follow along with me this month, and I’ll let you peer into my lifestyle a little bit. I hope you find something interesting along the way!

Love,

Ollie