This past weekend I attended a composting class at the Cabarrus County recycling station. It was taught by Pete Pasterz, the county's Waste Reduction Coordinator. I have to say this class far exceeded my expectations. Our group of nine received handouts as well as hands-on demonstrations about starting and maintaining our compost piles. I'd like to think I know a thing or two about composting and had wanted to go to the class to make sure I was doing it right. Not only did I get confirmation on my composting skills but I also learned several new things about composting, the science of decomposition, how landfills work, and innovative ways to reduce our waste output (which makes sense considering Pete is the Waste Reduction Coordinator). Every person's questions were answered and I fairly certain we all left encouraged and motivated to start composting. A big bonus to the class was that we all left with our own length of 12-1/2 feet of wire fencing to start our bins at home! I still haven't had a chance to go start my new bin, but as soon as I do, I'll post more pictures of what is quickly becoming compost central.
Quick side note: Cabarrus County is hosting two green and healthy living events next month.
The first is the Live It Up! Cabarrus festival on April 2nd at Frank Liske Park - "Through live demonstrations and engaging activities, festival-goers can meet local food growers and producers, sample and vote for your favorite recipe featuring local food products, learn backyard gardening and composting tips, experiment with cooking techniques, and explore fun and inexpensive fitness activities for all age groups." There will also be a 3K Run/Walk for $15.
The second event is the Viva Verde Earthfest on April 16th at North Cabarrus Park - "Plans include information booths, classes at the Dogwood Shelter, nature walks, geocaching, art contests, recycling, arts & crafts, music, children’s activities, paper shredding, food and more."
Monday, March 21, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
If I Had it to Do Over Again
While this topic doesn't fall strictly into the "Green" category, it is about living naturally. Here in North Carolina, Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) aren't licensed and therefore cannot legally provide services to moms and babies. Oddly, 27 other states, including all three neighboring states, do license and support CPMs, giving women the option of choosing to deliver their babies at home. Recently, a local CPM was arrested on charges of performing midwifery without a license. Two bills have been presented to the state legislature; one advocates the licensure and regulation of CPMs, the other felonizes them. While I did not choose a home birth for myself, I support a mom's right to have a private and peaceful birth at home. The safest homebirth, in my opinion, includes someone who is specially trained in the process of labor and birth and right now the only people like that who attend homebirths are CPMs. Felonizing them achieves nothing in the way of keeping homebirths safe.
I've been partially active in helping to spread the word about these bills and about the midwife scheduled for court this coming Wednesday. In the process I've learned a lot about using a midwife and giving birth at home and it makes me regret (slightly) my choice to give birth in a hospital with some interventions. Don't get me wrong - I had a near perfect birth experience and none of the interventions were against my choice or consent; in fact, I asked - no, begged - for them! So none of the medical staff involved kept me from having a birth I did not choose.
I'm jealous of the moms who can say they had a completely natural and deeply spiritual experience. I honestly believed I could go totally on my own without any pain medications, but after about 7 or 8 hours of active labor I succumbed and felt weak. In my defense, by that point I had been awake for more than 30 hours and was exhausted. The medications gave me a chance to rest briefly but quickly wore off. By the time my daughter made her entrance, I was not so much emotional and excited as I was relieved and ready for a nap. I do remember kissing her head and hands (vernix and all!) and studying her little mouth. The nurses and my doula were incredible and never once did I feel as though they didn't respect me or care about me, and they never did anything against my wishes. Still, after reading and hearing about what a completely natural birth and having it at home can be like, I wish I had been more aware of my options and more confident in my ability to go that route.
I've been partially active in helping to spread the word about these bills and about the midwife scheduled for court this coming Wednesday. In the process I've learned a lot about using a midwife and giving birth at home and it makes me regret (slightly) my choice to give birth in a hospital with some interventions. Don't get me wrong - I had a near perfect birth experience and none of the interventions were against my choice or consent; in fact, I asked - no, begged - for them! So none of the medical staff involved kept me from having a birth I did not choose.
I'm jealous of the moms who can say they had a completely natural and deeply spiritual experience. I honestly believed I could go totally on my own without any pain medications, but after about 7 or 8 hours of active labor I succumbed and felt weak. In my defense, by that point I had been awake for more than 30 hours and was exhausted. The medications gave me a chance to rest briefly but quickly wore off. By the time my daughter made her entrance, I was not so much emotional and excited as I was relieved and ready for a nap. I do remember kissing her head and hands (vernix and all!) and studying her little mouth. The nurses and my doula were incredible and never once did I feel as though they didn't respect me or care about me, and they never did anything against my wishes. Still, after reading and hearing about what a completely natural birth and having it at home can be like, I wish I had been more aware of my options and more confident in my ability to go that route.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Diapers, Diapers Everywhere!
In an effort to reduce the number of non-biodegradeable things I send to the landfills of America, I've recently added cloth diapering to my list of "skills". I say "skills" because navigating and understanding the world of cloth diapering is intimidating and downright confusing, especially to someone who has never been exposed to the practice beforehand. When I first decided to go this route, I thought I could just go on down to Target or Walmart and pick up the box of diapers that said "cloth" instead of the one that said "disposable". Turns out, that's not how it works at all!
First of all, the sheer number of options is staggering. I can name three brands of disposable diapers: Huggies, Pampers, and Luvs. I can name wayyyyy more than that for cloth diapers: bumGenius, Gdiapers, FuzziBunz, Drybees, Happy Heinys, Wahmies, Kawaii, Econobum...
Next, disposables have five or six sizes from Newborn to size 5. You go by weight and pick a size. Picking a cloth diaper involves size AND style. There are the normal small, medium, and large. There's also a one-size. Then there are all-in-ones, pocket diapers, prefolds, flats, inserts, doublers, soakers, covers, and trainers.
This brings up the issue of the complicated language involved. Here's just a short list of some of the terms and acronyms I've had to master in order to talk about and understand cloth diapering:
CD = cloth diaper (cd'ing = cloth diapering)
AIO = all-in-one
OS = one size
EUC = excellent used condition
sunning = putting the diapers out in the sun, usually to dry them but also to get stains out
wetbag = what you put the used, uncleaned diapers in until you're ready to wash them
hybrid = a cloth diaper that could also be flushed or put in the garbage
So, now I've got all this figured out and understood and it's time to buy some diapers. Just sorting through the myriad retailers is mind-boggling and sucks hours out of my day. Not only can you get your diapers directly from some of the manufacturers, you can also find individuals who sell various brands and styles as diaper distributors. Or you can go to Craigslist and find people selling their kids' old diapers (but usually for far more than they're actually worth...I found one mom who was selling a stock of used diapers for $30 each). It's dizzying.
For those moms (and dads) who have been cd'ing for a while, it may seem simple, but when there's a whole language and culture to learn I can understand why making the switch to cloth diapers can be frightening to the point of saying "nevermind" and grabbing that $20 box of 'sposies. I will admit, I'm still only cloth diapering some of the time, partly due to my limited supply and partly due to the initial cost of buying cloth diapers and all the accessories that go with them. But part of it is also the perceived level of convenience, and not just in terms of the actual act of changing the diaper, but also in regard to the not-so-simple act of deciding and acquiring the piece of fabric my daughter will poop in. I love the idea of cloth diapering, but does it have to be so darn complicated?
First of all, the sheer number of options is staggering. I can name three brands of disposable diapers: Huggies, Pampers, and Luvs. I can name wayyyyy more than that for cloth diapers: bumGenius, Gdiapers, FuzziBunz, Drybees, Happy Heinys, Wahmies, Kawaii, Econobum...
Next, disposables have five or six sizes from Newborn to size 5. You go by weight and pick a size. Picking a cloth diaper involves size AND style. There are the normal small, medium, and large. There's also a one-size. Then there are all-in-ones, pocket diapers, prefolds, flats, inserts, doublers, soakers, covers, and trainers.
This brings up the issue of the complicated language involved. Here's just a short list of some of the terms and acronyms I've had to master in order to talk about and understand cloth diapering:
CD = cloth diaper (cd'ing = cloth diapering)
AIO = all-in-one
OS = one size
EUC = excellent used condition
sunning = putting the diapers out in the sun, usually to dry them but also to get stains out
wetbag = what you put the used, uncleaned diapers in until you're ready to wash them
hybrid = a cloth diaper that could also be flushed or put in the garbage
So, now I've got all this figured out and understood and it's time to buy some diapers. Just sorting through the myriad retailers is mind-boggling and sucks hours out of my day. Not only can you get your diapers directly from some of the manufacturers, you can also find individuals who sell various brands and styles as diaper distributors. Or you can go to Craigslist and find people selling their kids' old diapers (but usually for far more than they're actually worth...I found one mom who was selling a stock of used diapers for $30 each). It's dizzying.
For those moms (and dads) who have been cd'ing for a while, it may seem simple, but when there's a whole language and culture to learn I can understand why making the switch to cloth diapers can be frightening to the point of saying "nevermind" and grabbing that $20 box of 'sposies. I will admit, I'm still only cloth diapering some of the time, partly due to my limited supply and partly due to the initial cost of buying cloth diapers and all the accessories that go with them. But part of it is also the perceived level of convenience, and not just in terms of the actual act of changing the diaper, but also in regard to the not-so-simple act of deciding and acquiring the piece of fabric my daughter will poop in. I love the idea of cloth diapering, but does it have to be so darn complicated?
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Compost Bin: Getting Started
This past Friday I made my way to a certain home improvement store with the plan to buy a large garbage can in order to start my own compost bin. Because of where I currently live, a bin is necessary. Luckily, as I was perusing the garden center, I found this:
I talked to the guy in the garden center and he recommended this bin over a trash can and over the turning style composter made by the same manufacturer. It comes 9 pieces but was easy to transport to my car, fit in my trunk, and took only about 15 mintues to put together. Here's the finished product:
I've never composted this way, so compared to some of the other "green" habits I've adopted, this is likely the most ambitious right now. I'm hoping to build a decent-sized vegetable garden in the back yard and this will be a great way to provide the garden with some good, nutritious, natural fertilizer while reducing the amount of kitchen waste that goes into our garbage pail.
Long Time Coming
Ever since I got pregnant, I felt a new desire to make life the absolute best I could for my daughter. This "better world" includes every aspect of her life, from spiritual and intellectual well-being to physical and emotional health. With this giant goal in mind, I realized that several changes needed to take place. I'm taking steps to grow closer with God in order to lead my daughter in a faithful walk with her Father. I joined Weight Watchers so that I can demonstrate good health habits and to prevent some of the same weight issues I had growing up from being a part of her life. I went back to school to learn new, marketable skills, expanding my knowledge base and setting us up to be self-sufficient. And I'm adopting new methods of living that will reduce our negative impact on the environment. That's what this blog is about.
I'm an amateur greenie, far from being as crunchy as many of my fellow mommies. But as with anything else, a lifestyle change happens gradually so that it can be more easily maintained. This blog is about the things I'm doing and in no way purports to be a guide that others "should" follow. Like I said, since I'm relatively new to this, my methods will likely be clumsy and flawed and at times laughable, but I hope they are at least leaning in the right direction. My hope is that I'll be mostly successful and able to show that making the changes - and having fun at the same time - is possible for even the busiest, least crunchy moms out there.
I'm an amateur greenie, far from being as crunchy as many of my fellow mommies. But as with anything else, a lifestyle change happens gradually so that it can be more easily maintained. This blog is about the things I'm doing and in no way purports to be a guide that others "should" follow. Like I said, since I'm relatively new to this, my methods will likely be clumsy and flawed and at times laughable, but I hope they are at least leaning in the right direction. My hope is that I'll be mostly successful and able to show that making the changes - and having fun at the same time - is possible for even the busiest, least crunchy moms out there.
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