Sigh...For years I have wanted to rid my life of plastic. Cloth bags are easy. Many foods are not. Try finding yogurt and cottage cheese in glass! Well, after years of longing, I finally found local yogurt in glass jars! Smith Family Farm, on Mount Desert Island, makes the most delicious organic yogurt. If you're used to the over-sugared (or aspartamed) glorified candy that most grocery-store yogurt is (27 grams of sugar in yogurt!) it will taste different: it is not pasteurized and has not traveled to New Jersey and back. But once you get used to that tangy taste (which is amazing mixed with a bit of Jon's parents homemade rhubarb jam!), you will not want to eat that store stuff again.
The best part about this is that my friend ordered it from the buying club for me and so it was only $3 a quart--about the same as what I used to buy in the store.
Yay for local foods. Yay for Maine for supporting this kind of stuff. We are so lucky to have lots of glass-jar milk around (I love you Smiling Hill Farm!) Yay for glass jars that can be returned and used again!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
GET A BIKE!
Carpooled to work today. Biked home.
-Saved 1/2 gallon of gas on round trip commute: $2.05 saved
-Calories burned: 426.
-Time spent biking: 40 minutes. In a car, it takes 20 minutes to get there, so I spent a net time of 20 minutes. Time usually spent going to gym to burn 426 calories (including transit): 1.5 hours.
So, I saved money, time, and auto emissions today. By the way, biking to work wakes you up more than coffee.
GET A BIKE!
-Saved 1/2 gallon of gas on round trip commute: $2.05 saved
-Calories burned: 426.
-Time spent biking: 40 minutes. In a car, it takes 20 minutes to get there, so I spent a net time of 20 minutes. Time usually spent going to gym to burn 426 calories (including transit): 1.5 hours.
So, I saved money, time, and auto emissions today. By the way, biking to work wakes you up more than coffee.
GET A BIKE!
Would someone give McCain a map?
John McCain claims to be the candidate with foreign affairs experience. But, he needs a lesson in geography! In one video posted to thingsyoungerthanmccain.com, he mentions the "Iraq-Pakistan border!" In another he refers to, in present tense, Czechoslovakia!
Now, if I go to an doctor who claims to have experience in eyes (i.e., an eye doctor), I would certainly want him to know where my iris is.
Just a thought.
Oh, by the way, don't vote for this guy.
Now, if I go to an doctor who claims to have experience in eyes (i.e., an eye doctor), I would certainly want him to know where my iris is.
Just a thought.
Oh, by the way, don't vote for this guy.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Farm Camp
This summer I am working at Farm Camp. Here are some highlights and things I have learned:
-Pigs are extremely loud and will risk shock by electric fence just to get some new scenery. I recently re-read Animal Farm and the pigs now disturb me. However, they are just as afraid of large bugs as people are.
-Chickens are disgusting. But their eggs are so tasty they are worth it.
-I gave a five year old boy a time out. He got upset and started looking around the forest floor to find something to poison me with. Originally he wanted to poison me for 3 years but upon second thought he settled for 3 days. I really wanted him to find a mushroom to see how he might trick me into eating it.
-extra cool things found in the pond:
salamander larva
black-crowned night herons
and hog dragonfly nymphs that eat everything in sight. I could spend the whole day watching the violence! Today two dragonfly nymphs were fighting over the same prey and one tried to eat a frog!
(Dragonfly nymphs are a young stage in metamorphosis that live in water. They can extend their lower jaw about a third the length of their body and can eat things bigger than themselves!)
-Lambs are amazing. They instinctively know that if they say "Baaa" when we leave them it makes the kids very happy. One kid told me he spoke sheep, so he translated for me. Apparently when we leave the lambs and they say Baaa they are actually saying "Bye." In Sheep.
-And lambs' lips tickle your hand when they eat grain out of it.
-If you give a little girl a big flower her face will light up and make you feel like a million bucks. All for one flower.
-Some kids just seem to know when you are about to lose your mind. Then they run up to you, throw their arms around you and kiss you and say, "I yuv you!" Yay.
-Pigs are extremely loud and will risk shock by electric fence just to get some new scenery. I recently re-read Animal Farm and the pigs now disturb me. However, they are just as afraid of large bugs as people are.
-Chickens are disgusting. But their eggs are so tasty they are worth it.
-I gave a five year old boy a time out. He got upset and started looking around the forest floor to find something to poison me with. Originally he wanted to poison me for 3 years but upon second thought he settled for 3 days. I really wanted him to find a mushroom to see how he might trick me into eating it.
-extra cool things found in the pond:
salamander larva
black-crowned night herons
and hog dragonfly nymphs that eat everything in sight. I could spend the whole day watching the violence! Today two dragonfly nymphs were fighting over the same prey and one tried to eat a frog!
(Dragonfly nymphs are a young stage in metamorphosis that live in water. They can extend their lower jaw about a third the length of their body and can eat things bigger than themselves!)
-Lambs are amazing. They instinctively know that if they say "Baaa" when we leave them it makes the kids very happy. One kid told me he spoke sheep, so he translated for me. Apparently when we leave the lambs and they say Baaa they are actually saying "Bye." In Sheep.
-And lambs' lips tickle your hand when they eat grain out of it.
-If you give a little girl a big flower her face will light up and make you feel like a million bucks. All for one flower.
-Some kids just seem to know when you are about to lose your mind. Then they run up to you, throw their arms around you and kiss you and say, "I yuv you!" Yay.
bikes bikes bikes
I think people should ride bikes way more often. Let's put the environmental, economic, and health benefits aside, and talk about fun. Riding a bike makes you feel like a kid again. Seriously! Try it! and then try with no hands! Ride to somewhere fun like the beach or the movies or the sprinkler park or the bar. To maximize kid-feeling-ness, wear flip-flops or cowboy boots and even a skirt. (I vouch that it is entirely possible to ride across town comfortably in cowboy boots.) Also, riding with lots of friends in a bike gang is pretty rad and you feel like you should be in an after-school special where you make fun of some kid, calling him "King of the Flots" until you learn that he's pretty cool after all.
I'll tell you what makes me feel damn cute: when I ride my bike to my garden, fill my bike basket with beets and collards and sunflowers and daisies, and then ride home with the basket overflowing. I would post a picture but I have not figured out how to safely take a picture of myself whilst riding a bike. Someone should take a picture, though: Munjoy Hill--are you listening??
Friday, July 4, 2008
John McCain's so hip
This video was posted on the blog ThingsyoungerthanMccain.com. It's a great blog. And the guy is right, the video starts getting funny around 2:30, so you might as well just skip ahead.
On another note, it has been a month since my last entry. June was a crazy month, but there is a lot to write about. More soon.
On another note, it has been a month since my last entry. June was a crazy month, but there is a lot to write about. More soon.
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