Terrariums

The frost finally did come to kill my balcony garden (December 2 or 3 I think). In the meantime, I've been enjoying the green my houseplants offer inside, as well as becoming more and more enthusiastic about terrariums. I made two really awesome terrariums at the end of November after seeing some on Etsy.

Last spring the university was clearing out an old biology lab, so I brought home a bunch of cool glassware like this huge 2.8 L flask, not knowing exactly what I'd do with it but knowing that it was very cool. A terrarium seemed like the perfect use for it.

I had the great fortune to get some moss from an intro bio lab at school that was going to be discarded at the end of the week, so I used that. They probably got it from Carolina Biological Supply. I was thrilled to get such thick, lush moss because you just don't see moss like that in Chicago outside of the Garfield Park Conservatory!

First I laid down a layer of small rocks (collected from the shore of Lake Michigan in the fall), with a few larger ones mixed in.

Then I put down a small amount of sphagnum moss that I took from a potted plant...

...and then covered that with a layer of potting mix. I used a Cacti and Succulent Soil Mix that I had.

Then I started adding the moss. Sometimes it was a squeeze to fit the chunks of moss through the flask opening.

The sides of the flask were dirty when I finished, so I took a rag and chopstick to wipe around the inside.

Having gained some confidence using the flask with a relatively large opening, I decided to try a large bottle.

This bottle shows layers more nicely than the flask, so I layered different rock sizes.

I made a paper funnel out of junk mail that I used to help direct where the little pebbles landed. This is key if you want nice layers.

Then I added a layer of potting mix (again, using the funnel to keep it from going all over the place. When I was ready to add the moss, I used chopsticks get the moss into the jar and move it into the desired place.

Now I just need to find the photos of the finished terrariums! More about moss and terrariums in the near future.

Apple goes gold

I'm still here and I really will blog more! I have a lot of pictures to post, but as I think I've mentioned before my poor little computer's hard drive is soooooooo full. However, I am about to get a new laptop and then I'll be able to download pictures from my camera to my heart's content because the new hard drive will be more than 10 times as large! So, until I get my new computer, I thought I should write about it.

Earlier this week Apple released their new MacBooks and MacBook Pros which have some major improvements that make them much more environmentally friendly. They have reduced the amount of heavy metals used in production, used materials that are more easily recycled (aluminum and glass), made the computers more energy efficient, and reduced the product packaging.

The new Apple laptops have been rated Gold by the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT). You can see other Gold rated laptops and see the critera used to rate them.

I'm buying the best MacBook I can get right now with the intention that it will last me for the duration of my Ph.D. (4-5 more years). My computer isn't dead yet, so I'll definitely be finding it a new home to extend its useful life for as long as possible. It is so important to keep computers and other electronic waste out of landfills- and to recycle them in a way that doesn't put human health at risk.

most people probably think I'm crazy

But maybe not you if you're reading this blog.

I've been reading this book called Garbage Land because I've always wanted to know more about recycling and what happens to the rest of our waste. I'll try to write a review about it later, but for now you just need to know that the waste system in most of the United States is dismal at best. We throw away so much stuff.

Last Friday on my way to school I noticed someone across the alley from us had thrown a pile of clothes in the garbage and they were just sitting on top. It looked like mostly baby clothes, and it didn't seem like anything was wrong with them. I thought maybe I should salvage and launder them, but I was running late. Besides, I didn't want to be known to my neighbors as the crazy girl who picks through the garbage.

Every time I passed the pile of clothes I thought about how I should really get them out because surely after a thorough laundering someone would find a free bag of baby clothes useful. I felt guilty knowing decent clothes were sitting in the garbage and I hadn't done anything about it. I thought about it on my way to school on Monday, and then Monday afternoon when it was pouring down rain I felt even guiltier. At least before the rain I could hope that someone else might take them.

On Monday night I was laying in bed reading more about garbage and suddenly I just couldn't take it anymore- I had to go get those clothes out of the trash. So at 12:15 am I got dressed and went outside with two plastic grocery bags and pulled all of the rain-wet clothes that looked ok from what I could tell in the perpetual city twilight. No one saw me, except for a cat. I took them inside and put them straight in the washer.

This morning I inspected them as I moved them from washer to dryer and, as I initially suspected, they look fine. A couple have stains. They are mostly girl clothes around 12 month +/- 6 months. Why didn't the previous owner offer them to someone else? Or put them in the alley with a free/gratis sign? So now I have a bunch of baby clothes and no baby. I even have an infant carrier! If anyone reading this blog wants them, let me know. Otherwise I'll post them on craigslist or freecycle in a few days.

Smart Home at MSI

If you haven't been already, you should definitely go check out the Smart Home at the Museum of Science and Industry! We finally went to see it last weekend after months of intentions to see it. They showcase amazing innovations in eco-friendly technology. One of my favorites was the indoor composter.

My dream house (unfortunately not my current apartment) has a lot in common with the Smart Home, such as

• native/edible landscaping
• solar energy (passive & photovoltaic)
• radiant subfloor heating
• greywater toilet flushing
• rainwater collection system
  

Check out the exhibit website for much better photos, but here are a few that I took.

Swiss chard comes in such nice colors, and you can eat it too.
The rain barrel has a screen on top to keep mosquitos from breeding in it while letting water in from the downspout.

The Smart Home is to the left of this beautiful oak tree.

You can visit the Smart Home until early January 2009. According to our tour guide, it will be reopened later in 2009 to showcase another set of eco-friendly options.

Planning our 'green' wedding

School hasn't gotten any less busy for me as the semester pushes on, but I'm trying to keep up on the blog. Matt and I are also planning our wedding for spring 2009. Last weekend I was working on our wedding website and our registry. We've been living together for a few years now so we have most of the typical housewares. We have always tried to find things that we needed second-hand at yard sales and thrift stores (and craigslist!), or we've done without. We're trying to decide what things we want to put on our registry. Since we don't really need a new set of dishes, pots, or silverware, we didn't think it made sense to register at one of the typical stores if we only need a few items. Also, there are some things we'd like to ask for that you can't put on a normal registry (e.g. pottery from a specific potter that we like or non-material gifts such as assistance with flower arranging).

Thankfully, we aren't the only people in the world who have ever had this dilemma and the Center for a New American Dream created an excellent solution- the Alternative Gift Registry. It encourages second-hand or non-material gifts in addition to more traditional gifts by allowing you to put it all in gift registry format. You can use it for weddings, baby showers, pets, or whatever! I think this is a great way to encourage people to use resources wisely and think creatively about what others may have to offer them. Go check it out!

vDumpsters?

I followed a link for a sponsored ad in my Gmail for vDumpsters. It looks like a cross between craigslist and freecycle. Virtual Dumpsters has branches in Australia and the UK as well. Has anyone tried it? I'm curious but don't want to make an account yet.

freecycle vs. craigslist

My preference when acquiring most household items and clothing is to get them second hand. Finding a new home for your unwanted items, and getting something second hand rather than buying it new, is one of the smartest ways to conserve resources. The old adage that One man's trash is another man's treasure is so true.

The ways in which you can find used items has grown considerably. In childhood and as a teenager, used items came from family, friends, thrift stores, the side of the road, and yard sales. Late in high school my family entered the ebay world (the long-distance yard sale as I liked to think of it). During college I got most of my second hand things from friends. Post-college, I still use all of the earlier methods, but craigslist has made the exchange of miscellaneous stuff so much easier. Just in the past month I also joined the Chicago Freecycle group. I'd like to compare the merits of craigslist and Freecycle for getting second hand items because they accomplish similar goals, which is getting things from people who don't want them to people who do.

Craigslist Pros

• Extremely simple format.
• Searchable by location, item, price range, etc.
• Pictures can be posted to a listing.
• More expensive used items can be found, such as cars (I bought and sold my first car on craigslist). You're not likely to see a working vehicle come up on Freecycle.
  
• You can RSS searches so they come up automatically in your feed reader (or your bookmarks toolbar in Safari). This lets you know within about 30 minutes of the posting so you've got a much better chance of snagging high demand items like free furniture.

Craigslist Cons

• Not everything is free.
• Are there others? I can't think of any.
  

Freecycle Pros

• Everything is FREE
• The freecycle group you join is limited to your town or area (in my case, Chicago)

Freecycle Cons

• The listserv format is tedious. You can either get each individual email offer as it is sent, or you can get the digest. If you get individual emails, it's a LOT of email. If you get the digest, by the time you read it it might already be 'promised' to someone else.
• You can't easily search for items specifically from your neighborhood. This is important for someone like me who is car-free and lives in a big place like Chicago.
• People tend to list their location by zip code. This is useful if you know exactly where all of the zip codes are in Chicago.
• You can't easily search for specific items you want like on craigslist.
• No photos of the items.
  

My verdict: I really like the concept of Freecycle, but I think they need to change the format. I think they need to find a way to make it more like craigslist so you can look only for the items you're interested in or items in your general area. I'm not terribly interesting in sifting through 6 digests every day to see if someone is giving away something I want in a place where I could actually pick it up without much hassle. My craigslist RSS's do a much better job of alerting me to items in my neighborhood that I might want (example: Pilsen yard sales), even if they aren't free.

clothing exchange!

On Sunday I had a clothing exchange at my apartment. I invited a bunch of my friends to bring their unwanted clothes and accessories. My friends did this a few times in college. It's a great excuse to go through your clothes and get rid of things you never wear, and you get new clothes for free.

I think there were clothes from 8 or 9 women, although not all of them were there for the exchange because some dropped them off earlier. It was first come first serve so as soon as you found something you liked you could claim it. It was fun to see other people try on clothes of yours that you never really wore for no particular reason were much more flattering on someone else! Everyone went home with something 'new.'


The photos are after the clothing exchange! These were the things no one wanted. Just imagine how much stuff was there before!


I took the leftovers to Goodwill.

Making Yogurt

I eat a lot of yogurt. Typically I eat a quart a week. I eat plain yogurt for breakfast and add jam, fresh fruit, or honey to sweeten it. I don't make much money as a grad student and I like the store-brand plain yogurt which is half the price of Stonyfield or other organic yogurts, so although I like supporting organic producers I don't usually buy organic yogurt at the store.

Yogurt containers of all sizes are typically made from plastic #5, which is more difficult to recycle. Since you can't recycle #5 in Chicago's blue bags, we've been saving the yogurt containers to reuse. We have all kinds of things stored in them in the cupboards (raisins, quinoa, sunflower seeds...) and use them for storing leftovers and home made salsa. But adding one tub a week meant we were quickly overrun with yogurt containers. I wanted to find a way to stop our plastic container buildup, and it occurred to me to make my own yogurt.

I tried making yogurt once a few years ago but it didn't work at all. In New Zealand it was relatively common to make your own yogurt using supplies from this Kiwi company, and although we never tried it, it planted an idea in my head. I decided to use powdered milk to make yogurt because we don't keep a lot of milk in the house, but I always have powdered milk on hand for when a recipe calls for milk.

In the past I'd always bought the typical store-brand instant powdered milk, but I wanted to try a non-instant milk because the flavor is better. There were basically no other powdered milk options at the local stores (even Whole Foods), and surprisingly few powdered milk options online. After much searching and researching, I decided to buy Bob's Red Mill Powdered Dry Milk from Amazon.

Here's how I make my yogurt.

Materials needed:
-2/3 cup Bob's Red Mill Powdered Milk (the amount you use will vary- read the reconstitution directions for your milk. Use the amount for making one quart plus 1/8-1/4 cup extra).
-3 1/2 cups water
-2-3 tablespoons of plain yogurt from the store (this is your starter culture)
-blender for mixing dry milk
-double boiler (preferable to a regular pot because it keeps the milk from scalding)
-candy thermometer (about $5 at the grocery)
-clean spoon
-clean quart-size container with clean lid
-a warm place to let the yogurt set for 8-24 hours
-hot water bottle for keeping warm place warm (optional)

1. Reconstitute your dry milk in the blender to make 1 quart of milk. The blender is the best way to get the lumps out, especially for non-instant powdered milk.
2. Put water in the bottom of the double boiler and put the milk in the top.

Double boiler

The basic setup

3. Heat on medium and clip the candy thermometer to the edge of the double boiler to take the temperature of the milk.
4. Stir occasionally and watch the thermometer. When it gets to 180° F, remove the double boiler from heat and allow to cool.

5. Stir every few minutes to prevent skin from forming on top of the cooling milk. When the temperature falls to 115° F, stir in the store-bought yogurt.




6. Transfer the milk/yogurt mixture to the clean quart container and put the lid on.

I reuse the yogurt containers from the store. We have so many of them!

7. Set your container in a warm place.

My warm place is a down sleeping bag in a closet with a bottle of hot water.

8. Check on it every 8 hours until it is in the consistency you prefer (longer usually results in thicker yogurt in my experience).

Notes and tips
-My warm place is a down sleeping bag in a closet. I also pour boiling water into a Nalgene bottle as an improvised hot water bottle.
-Bob's Red Mill Powdered Milk gets very frothy when you mix it in the blender. All of the foam on top of the milk keeps it warm and it can take a very long time to cool from 180° F to 115° F. If you're getting impatient, try scooping off the foam.
-To eliminate the foam problem above, mix up your milk a day or more before you plan to use it and keep it in the fridge. This gives the bubbles time to go away.
-If you don't have a double boiler (I don't think many people do), you can just use a normal sauce pan but you'll have to be careful with the heat so it doesn't scald you milk on the bottom of the pan.
-It's best to use store-bought yogurt as a starter rather than using your own home-made yogurt because 'second-generation' yogurt is a bit less predictable in flavor and texture.
-You can freeze store-bought yogurt in icecube trays or popsicle makers and thaw some when you make yogurt.

I use these popsicle makers to freeze store bought yogurt for my starter.

Do you make your own yogurt? What tips do you have?