Think before you spend

With the day after Thanksgiving sales in full swing, I wanted to bring up a little something that has been thrust on me lately. That being, I really need to watch what we spend our money on. Since we recently went from being a two income household down to a one income household indefinitely, I have had to change the way I shop. I can't complain. For the last few years I haven't had to pay attention to prices on grocery items. We don't spend much on other things and rarely splurge on big ticket items even though both of us make pretty satisfying salaries.

Now our costs (mostly due to a new mortgage) outweigh my salary. I'd have to trim things down (like cancelling most unnecessary services like cable Internet, cell phones, etc.) but we'd still have a deficit because of Emma's preschool. Fortunately, if we need to we have enough saved to keep us not too bad off until Emma is in public school.

So, what I've become lately, which I haven't been regarding shopping is: mindful. Before I get in line at the store I go through the cart or basket and analyze whether or not I actually need the item or whether it's just a frivolous or unnecessary purchase.

Each new product you buy has its own environmental impact whether that be from a manufacturing standpoint (materials, water, energy, labor) to shipping and distribution. Will that item last and, most importantly, be used a long time or will it be ignored and eventually discarded after the initial excitement has worn off?

As we head into our most consumerist time of the year, I urge you to do the same. Not for money reasons, although that is a great side benefit. But for needless consumption. We feel like we need the newest this and the bestest that. But do we really? Does it really make you feel better? Or do you get a hollow, empty feeling inside?

No matter how cute that Mr. T Sock Monkey is, I doubt the gag gift factor will last very long. And if it doesn't, I pity the fool.

Holiday travel poll

What are you doing for the holiday this weekend? Visiting friends, traveling with family, staying home? From what I've been reading, airplane travel in the U.S. for this holiday weekend is up 6% over last year. High gas prices don't seem to be affecting the amount of car travel over last year, at least in our area.



Did the environmental impact of travel via air or otherwise influence your plans this year at all?

Add local foods, save some miles

Many of you have pledged to eat local this Thanksgiving, with approximately 116 plates worth of food coming from local sources rather than shipped in products from afar.

An estimated 255 pounds of CO₂ has been saved just from these pledges alone. Just to put that in perspective, this is the equivalent of driving 313 less miles in your car.

Although that may not seem like a lot, if the 15,000 unique visitors that visited my blog in the last month replaced one plate worth of food at their Thanksgiving table with local products, that would be like taking the average vehicle off the road for 40,500 miles. I think that's a number that really makes a difference. A huge difference that just you Crunchy Chickens out there can make without much effort or extra cost.

So, even though many of you may not have pledged to do so, it's not too late to add local produce to your table.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Winter window treatments

Since so many people have asked about insulating blinds, window treatments, window quilts and the rest, I wanted to point you to an article that covers it all instead of me trying to do the same.

Please visit this recent article in Mother Earth Living, Save Energy with Winter Window Treatments. It covers window basics, commercial window dressings, homemade quilts and other do-it-yerself options such as bubble wrap, acrylic storm windows and other such stuffs.

Now, get started and make your windows all cozy for the winter.

Planning my Thanksgiving attack

We'll see if I have the time and/or energy to do all of this, but since we'll have so many relatives in the house helping manage the kids, this may actually be the easiest year ever.

Here's the menu, including how I'm making it local:

Herb Butter Roasted Turkey and Gravy - using the organic turkey I won and herbs from the backyard

Parmesan Mashed Potatoes - made with local dairy

Roasted Glazed Orange Carrots - using the orange marmalade I canned over the summer

Plum Port Cranberry Sauce - made with the organic Plum Port preserves I canned over the summer and local cranberries

Pumpkin-Praline Pie - using the pumpkins I grew in my backyard (I already made the puree a while ago)

Apple Pie - made using the apple pie filling I made and froze from the apples from my friend's orchard in Central Washington and served with local ice cream

I'll also be serving bread made from a local bakery, local wine and possibly a few other things if I get around to it.

I wanted to use local potatoes and carrots, but the stores I went to didn't carry them and I didn't have time to go to a farmer's market. Sigh.

Super energy savings

Since we use oil heat (actually BioHeat, a mix of biodiesel and regular heating oil) to heat our house, this doesn't totally pertain to the Freeze Yer Buns Challenge, at least for us, but I just had to share.

I got my electric bill today. I haven't exactly been paying too close attention lately, but this one really got my attention. Ever since Low Impact Week back in June, I've been instituting some energy saving changes around here. Although I must admit I haven't been line drying our clothes since Sir Crunch-A-Lot got sick. Since clothes drying is fairly energy intensive I am even more amazed at how much we cut back.

For the same period last year, we used 2024 kWh. This year? Drum roll please.... 931 kWh. Now I know that if I had been not using the dryer it would have been even lower. This works out to an average of $.78 per day.

Unfortunately, I can't really calculate out how much heating oil we're using this winter until maybe the spring since our readings are irregular (based on temperatures). So, I won't know what kind of savings we'll have for a while. But since we are lowering our daytime house temperature by about 7 degrees and our nighttime temperatures by about 8 degrees, it has to be a somewhat significant to the amount of oil we used.

What have we changed to reduce our electricity usage?

1. Well, for one, I'm more attentive to the lights in the house. We used to light the house up like crazy, but now if I know no one will be in a room, I make sure to go around and turn off all those lights. It's hard with little kids and their fixation with light switches, but it's a start.

2. Next off, our hot water heater usage has gone down since we started bathing the kids less. A lot less. We used to bathe both of them every day, but since I'm the only one at it these days, they get baths twice a week each. And, it really doesn't seem to matter much.

3. Our washing machine is being used less since I'm wearing bulky clothing items more than once (like jeans and sweaters). And since my husband is home-bound his clothing needs are minimal at best.

4. We no longer use the Heat Dry option on our dishwasher. We always run it on Air Dry now. We do one load a day and it's always full.

5. Finally, I suspect that since our oil heater runs on electricity and it's running a whole lot less, it's probably sucking down less energy.

The only thing offsetting all of this is our new chest freezer that is hosting a myriad of frozen fruits, vegetables, sauces, breads and pizza doughs that I made in the last few months. But, having these around saves us additional money and time too!

I just can't believe our electric bill is less than $25 a month! We'll see how we do next time around.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book discussion (chapters 10 - 12)

What's this you say? Already another book discussion? Well, since I've been a wee bit behind on the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book club, I thought I'd do another one while I was at it! So here goes...

Chapter 10. Eating Neighborly - I totally love the idea of restaurants serving food from nearby farms. Not only does that ensure produce and meats at the peak of production, but also gives back to the community and helps support the local agricultural economy. I can think of quite a few restaurants in the Seattle area that have a close relationship with the farms here. There is even an organization to ensure this relationship exists, called the Farmer Chef Connection. Do you have many restaurants in your area that support this sort of connection and, if so, do you go out of your way to frequent those establishments?

Chapter 11. Slow Food Nations - We've talked about this before, the idea of really sitting down and enjoying where your food comes from rather than hurrying through another meal to get to another activity in your life, whether that be a kid's soccer practice or your own busy lives. It seems like a complete lost art, that of sitting down with friends, family and neighbors and enjoying a long leisurely meal. I guess for most people it's reserved to the major holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Even Super Bowl Sunday is the closest some people come to sharing a meal with others, even if it is whilst watching football.

Parade Magazine ran an article over the weekend regarding eating locally and it looked like 78% of families eat together at least once a week, including eating out at restaurants. I'm pretty sure the high percentage leans closer to the once a week rather than seven times a week and, if so, I think this is pretty pathetic. Will you be trying to institute more family meals at home after reading this chapter?

Chapter 12. Zucchini Larceny - I'm still awfully bitter about my failed zucchini plant this last summer. I mean, who has a zucchini plant that produces nothing? I mean, nada. Zilch. I guess the cool summer probably had something to do with it, but I was hoping for a summer of overwhelming zucchinis wherein I'd be freezing volumes of zucchini and baking loaves for months. Sigh. Anyway, I digress. Did you grow zucchinis this summer? Were you overwhelmed with them. What did you do with the excess? I love that passing on extra zucchini has almost become an act of terrorism. If only it were that simple :)

Turka-lurkey

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I'm sure we're all starting our plans for dinner. If you are not hosting, it's a different story, but for the rest of us, it's a lot of planning, enjoyment and work.

Although I wasn't able to acquire a local turkey (there aren't enough processing facilities in Washington state to support many local turkeys), I did win a free turkey from the grocery store I shop at most. I was able to get a $40 organic turkey (frozen, alas) for free from Organic Prairie. Since they are part of a coop, it's possible it's local, but I doubt it.

Bun warmin' bed warmers

As temperatures start to dip, I thought I would start sharing some of my hints and tips to keep warm at night.

First off, I can't sleep if my feet are cold. It's almost painful - I think that's what keeps me awake. So, lately I've been quite bundled up in lots of layers in addition to adding an extra blanket.

We haven't busted out the down comforter yet and probably won't need to if we keep the heat at the new adjusted temp of 62 at night. But Mr. Crunchy has been sleeping back in bed again instead of upright so I may start sneaking it down lower when nobody's looking.

We don't do space heaters or electric blankets, although I do see their merit in allowing the overall house temperature to drop, without you truly freezing yer buns off. Since we don't own either and I'm not inclined to buy them, we use alternative methods instead.

So, do you want to know my secret weapon? I thought you'd never ask.

It's a bed warmer. Last year I researched like the dickens what the best bed warmer for me would be. You see, normally, my husband sleeps really hot so he can't stand extra blankets. I end up putting them on just my side of the bed. Plus he doesn't like flannel sheets very much. So, climbing into a cold bed with cold, cotton sheets isn't exactly comfy.

I thought about a hot water bottle and they come in all fancy sorts of varieties with fuzzy, plushy characters, but I was afraid that it would pop and then I'd be left with water soaking my bed. I know this probably isn't a reasonable fear, but I think a wet bed is worse than a cold bed. Plus, once the water cools down, now you have a cold water bottle. No thanks.

And then there are the microwaveable bed warmers. No, I'm not talking about those gel packs. I'm talking about those kinds that are filled with rice or some sort of other material that holds heat for a little while and conforms to whatever shape you want. Also, another woman has recommended using deer corn as the best filler. But the thought of having to microwave the bejeesus out of the corn to kill off mold spores, eggs and critters wasn't what I was looking for.

Somehow I managed to stumble upon cherry pit bed warmers, which are like the rice ones but filled with, well, cherry pits. Not too surprisingly, it was from Mother Earth News. They have been used for ages to help heat up a bed and, traditionally, have been heated using a warming oven, but they can be put in your oven's warming drawer, or popped into the microwave. Now, why would I choose cherry pits over rice or another filler? Well, they hold heat for a lot longer - upwards of 2+ hours in my experience. And, it smells like cherry pie when you heat it. I must admit it is a bit noisy, but well worth it.

When I was in the market for one, I wanted to make my own, but didn't have a sewing machine or the skills, so I bought one (see fancy leopard print one above). However, it's incredibly easy to make your own. Since I'm sure you don't have several pounds of cherry pits lying about, you can buy sanitized pits in bulk from The Cherry Pit Store.

To make a heating pad, just sew a natural fabric bag into whatever size you want and fill halfway up with cherry pits. Sew it shut and heat in the microwave no more than 2-3 minutes until hot. You can make a cover for it or you can just hand wash it by sliding the pits to one side, washing the cover and the sliding them to the other side and washing that side. You can also put it in the washing machine (but don't do this with corn or rice bags!).

The only caveat is that the cherry pits are expensive. So, if cost is an issue, then use rice or cleaned deer corn.

And, if you want to read more than you ever wanted about making your own microwaveable bed warmer, check out the deer corn lady's site.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book discussion (chapters 7 - 9)

Here are the discussion questions for the latest installment of the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book club!

Chapter 7. Gratitude - I love the idea of giving out tomato plants as gifts on Mother's Day. If you grow your own from seed and put them in a container, it's relatively inexpensive and even those recipients without a lot of yard can benefit from the bounty. Have you ever given food-bearing plants as a gift? Would you consider doing so now?

Chapter 8. Growing Trust - "Grocery money is an odd sticking point for U.S. citizens, who on average spend a lower proportion of our income on food than people in any other country, or any heretofore in history." I always find it amazing that for such a rich country we spend such a pittance for our food. Now, I'm sure a lot of that has to do with farm subsidies and the taxpayer money paid to produce all those High Fructose Corn Syrup based products that are so dirt cheap. But, even for fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and the rest, it seems a crime that we don't pay for what it's worth. Again, I'm sure the prices are reflected by the huge economies of scale that you see in conventional farming and CAFO's. But all of this is at a cost. What's the thing that bothers you the most about cheap food and how it came to you? Unfair labor wages? Costs to the environment?

Chapter 9. Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast - One of the points Kingsolver makes early in this chapter is the idea of actually sitting down to enjoy your food instead of rushing through it. Many people spend little time eating their meals (as they are usually on the run) or don't spend mealtimes with their family. I'm sure you've heard about the Slow Food movement (she covers it in Chapter 11), or the concept of bringing back mealtime as a way of enjoying family, friends and food. How often do you have dinner together with your family? How often do you partake in fast food, take-out or eating on the run?

A while back I bought the book she describes in Chapter 9 regarding cheese making as I was interested in making my own mozzarella, among other things, but I never got around to ordering the required additives. Have any of you made your own cheese? What did you think about it?

The process of making your own food, whether that be from growing your own vegetables and grains, to milking your own animals to making something from scratch like bread and cheese, elicits not only a sense of accomplishment and pride in what you've done. For me, it also creates an almost a zen-like calm. I don't mind the extra labor because I get so much satisfaction out of doing it. How does it make you feel?

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As usual, add your comments to this post and feel free to add your own questions for the chapters covered since I only touch on a few points in each chapter.

Freeze Yer Buns surprise giveaway!

I know I'm supposed to be posting a book club discussion today, but this momentous occasion just couldn't wait until tomorrow.

Congratulations to Eikenberrymom, from Our Learning Journey, for being the 100th person to sign up for the Freeze Yer Buns Challenge!

As such, you are the lucky surprise winner of a $40 REI gift card to purchase yerself some super cozy socks, crazy looking Croc slippers or a pair of down booties to help stave off those chilly days and nights in Michigan. And, since we're being environmental and all, it's an e-card, so minimal waste is involved.

So, congratulations again to Eikenberrymom. Please email me your contact info at crunchychickenblog@gmail.com and I'll hook you up so you can get toasty before those sub-freezing nighttime temperatures start taking their toll on your tootsies.

Eat Local for Thanksgiving

It's not too late to start thinking about your Thanksgiving meal and how to make it as sustainable as possible. The most effective thing to do is to focus on providing foods that are in season, local and organic.

You've already heard me blathering on (and on) about the reasons for eating locally, but here's a reminder: On average, for each plate of food obtained locally, 2.2 pounds of CO₂ emissions are prevented. (This is from a University of WA study, so I'm not sure how it extrapolates out to other areas of the country.)

So, in another effort to encourage you to do more, you can pledge to Eat Local for Thanksgiving by adding a comment to this post. In your pledge you can state what you are planning to do, whether that be acquiring a local turkey to getting all your vegetables at a farmer's market, etc. It's totally up to you. The point is to think about where each food source comes from and buy it locally or don't serve it if it's out of season or has to travel miles to get to your plate.

Now, we all have our family favorites, and I'm sure Aunt Agnes might be upset when she doesn't see her favorite green bean casserole because the season is over in your neck of the woods and you neglected to can or freeze any. So, for those of you who want to take the opportunity during your Thanksgiving meal to discuss the issues surrounding food and where it comes from, the Puget Sound Fresh website has some printable discussion cards for your Thanksgiving table that may help you explain why certain things are missing.

Between now and Thanksgiving, I'll keep a running counter in the sidebar for the amount of CO₂ emissions prevented based on the number of people pledging to eat local.*

Now go forth and choose local for Thanksgiving!

*This won't be extremely scientific, but I'll just assume one plate worth of savings for each pledge, unless you specify otherwise. In other words, if you know you'll be serving all local food to 10 people, I'll count that as 10 plates worth.

How do you heat?

A lot of us are lowering our ambient air temperatures in the house this winter with the
Freeze Yer Buns Challenge to save energy (and, ultimately, money).

With energy costs proposed to be a lot higher this winter, particularly for heating oil, it will be interesting to see how much we can save by keeping the thermostat low. So, along with all of this, I was curious to find out how you heat your home?

Freeze Yer Buns kickoff!

Welcome to the first day of the Freeze Yer Buns Challenge! Are you guys ready for five months of energy and money savings? You must be, because I know a lot of you have already started.

First off, I have to admit that we needed to change our temperature ranges a tad. My husband's chemo is making it hard for him to sleep so he's been spending nights in the living room and I don't actually want to freeze his buns. So, we're doing 65 during the day and 62 at night for now.

One thing I wanted to clarify is that I think some people feel that, in order to participate, you need to get down to truly frosty temperatures. That's not the point at all, it's really to get you to drop at least one degree. Now, if you want to push it as low as you can, then that's great - extra savings all around! But if you're used to 72 during the day and 68 at night, there's no shame in pledging for 71 day and 67 night. In fact, for each degree set below 68 degrees, energy consumption decreases by about 6 to 8 percent.

The other thing that people seem to get stuck on is the thermostat business. Even if you don't have a thermostat, you can still lower your room temperatures by not turning on the baseboard heaters, radiators, etc. Also, the same deal goes with wood heating stoves. The idea is to save electricity, gas, oil and wood. Even if you rely on a more renewable resource doesn't mean you have to use it if you can get used to a few degrees lower temperature. So, while you may not be able to pledge a specific temperature range (unless you buy a cheapo home thermometer), you can still pledge to freeze yer buns off. Or maybe just a light frost.

Also, if you want to have a day off on occasion day for visitors or just to enjoy more comfy temperatures, that's fine, too. We won't tell. Of course, the challenge is to stick to your pledge as much as possible, but if it makes it easier to do so when you can look forward to a weekend splurge, then do it.

Greenin' your Halloweenin'

I keep hearing a tremendous amount of press about "Greening your Halloween", but it seems like the take home message from the news has been "No Candy - Cheap Plastic Crappy Toys Instead". At least this is how it has been reported to me from people reading these news pieces. How green is that message?

Now, I know this isn't the actual message organizations like The Nature Conservancy are promoting, but it's what people who hear about it seem to bring away from it.

On the other hand, suggested food alternatives are either expensive (and not realistic if you get upwards of 100 kids like we do), seemingly dangerous (open packaging like raisins that parents will throw away thinking their kids will get poisoned or worse), or, frankly, inedible (tea?). What child is going to be gleeful at a bag of fruit leathers, raisins and organic fruit drink boxes? Throw in a sandwich and call it school lunch.

Unless every house hands out these kinds of everyday "treats", these well meaning handouts will be ignored or, even worse, thrown in the trash. So much for green.

As for the toy alternatives, the same problem arises. Most eco-friendly toys are expensive and unaffordable for most households. The affordable toys are cheap plastic that are "Hecho en China" and aren't exactly green. Even if you could afford a boatload of recycled pencils, shells (are these sustainable?) and hand-hewn wooden trinkets, are these toys that kids want?

Again, will they end up ignored and eventually thrown in the trash? Most kids are too polite to look at your selection and refuse to take anything, whether they want it or not. So, while I totally applaud the intent behind all this, I really don't see this as a real, green solution.

Here's my take on it - maybe mixing in some of the "greener" items with standard ole candy and let the kids decide. I ended up putting in some alternatives last year, mostly because I was running out of candy and went through the cabinets looking for additional treats. I was quite amazed at how a couple of kids chose the 100% fruit juice gummies and some PediaSure nutrition bars my mom bought (yes, I was desperate) over the remaining candy.

Obviously, there are the exceptions. This year I'll huck in some Halloween pencils for sport and see what happens. It would be fun to do a more statistically useful study, but my sample would only represent my neighborhood and probably wouldn't tell anyone much of anything. I suspect the non-candy choosers would be in the minority.

I remember being a kid and mentally planning, even while I was still out trick-or-treating, to toss all the mealy apples, popcorn balls and other things I didn't like. I don't want to inflict the same waste on a new generation of kids.

What are the rest of you guys doing about Halloween? Do you have any suggestions? And, I'm not looking for the "turn off the lights and hope your house doesn't get egged" alternatives.

Putting up corn

My son and I bought a bunch of corn on Friday that had been picked from the farm that morning. I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to try to freeze corn for the winter while it was at the peak of season. It seemed the easiest and fastest method of preserving the corn kernels and I had read an article in Grit about doing it.

So, Saturday I started with blanching the ears in boiling water for 5 minutes followed by 5 minutes in an ice bath to stop the cooking process. I then cut the kernels off the corn and froze them in 2 cup quantities in Ziploc freezer bags, removing as much air as I could with a straw. I couldn't get over how amazing fresh picked corn tasted and I wished I had bought way more than I did.

Even though the corn from the farm was more expensive than what I've seen in the grocery store, the fact that it was fresh justifies the cost and, when you compare it to frozen corn from someone like Cascadian Farms or other local suppliers, it's a steal.

I must admit, we already busted into one bag last night. I hope to run across more before it's too late. Does anyone in the Seattle area know which of the farmer's markets carry fresh picked corn?

Hard apple cider

In the latest of my hair-brained ideas, I have decided to try my hand at making hard apple cider this year. Now, I have to wholeheartedly blame Mother Earth News for this one, where a lot of my crazy ideas come from.

Perhaps I wasn't thinking too clearly when I was reading this at the hospital a few weeks ago, but I can't seem to get this project idea out of my head.

I plan on visiting Craven Farm at the end of the month with my son to pick up 5 gallons of fresh apple cider. Good lord, what am I getting myself into now?

Have any of you ever tried making hard cider? Any hints or tips?

I think my blog has turned into my begging for hints or recipes on my various shenanigans.

Naughty indulgence

Here's a short poll for you. We all have some secret indulgence that we partake in that we know is not environmentally friendly. What's yours?



If you picked the last one, email me if you need a personal intervention!

Sweet sweater deals

With the ambient air temperatures getting a little chilly around here, I've been wishing I had a few more sweaters to be wearing about the house. On the other hand, I don't want to invest a ton of money on brand new sweaters since half the time they don't fit me right anyway (because I am a giant) and buying Tall sizes gets pretty expensive.

So, what did I do? I went for a stroll through Value Village, which is a used clothing store similar to Goodwill or whatever you have in your neck of the woods.

I managed to find two name brand sweaters (one was a Tall size), both of which fit me quite well and each of them were $6.99. You really can't beat that. Well, except for free.

Saucy apples

I spent some time last night using up the rest of the apples given to us from a neighbor's tree, supplemented by the super low priced local apples that I got at the store.

With these apples I decided to make applesauce, even though I generally don't like it and only Emma will sometimes eat it.

[Emma, by the way, is not a chicken and I have no intentions of eating her.]

I'm sorry to say that I have never eaten homemade applesauce and Oh. My. God. is it a totally different animal from the store-bought kind. Even the organic store-brand applesauce isn't very good. They all have some weird metallicy flavor to them I can't stand.

The homemade applesauce, on the other hand, is in an entirely different food group. I did leave it a tad chunky so it's more reminiscent of apple pie rather than pulverized, rotting downed apples. Did I mention that I don't like store-bought applesauce?

Anyway, if you have a hankering for making it yourself, I recommend this recipe from Julia Child that was recently featured in our local paper, along with their recommendations for the types of apples that go well in applesauce.

Seattleites - get your goat

Did you know that it is now legal to own dwarf or pygmy goats in the city of Seattle? Recent legislation now treats smaller goats as a pet, just like cats, dogs and potbelly pigs.

One of the council members that voted for the measure stated: "There are arguments to be made that could achieve greater heights of urban sustainability by bringing farms back into the city and farm animals."

Seattle already allows its residents to own up to three chickens (or "domestic fowl") per standard lot, with an additional 1 bird allowed per additional 1,000 sq. ft.

I think it's pretty exciting that, within the city limits, one can grow enough vegetables, fruits and animal byproducts to live a fairly sustainable life (along with help from farmer's markets). It's getting to the point where you don't have to move out to a rural area to achieve self-sufficiency.

So, let's see:

Fruit and nut trees

Raised beds for veggies and herbs

Goats for milk and wool

Chickens for eggs and meat

Rabbits for meat and fur

You can have a veritable farm here in the city! What do you all think of that? Does this change your attitude about how and where you live?

Oh yeah, and Happy 4th birthday to Emma, my crazy little chicken!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book discussion (chapters 4 - 6)

The long overdue discussion questions for the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book club are finally here!

For those of you not aware of what this is all about, this blog hosts an online book club where we all read the same book (this current one was picked by the readers) and I post discussion questions for each chapter. I got a little behind and missed last month's posting, but hopefully we are back on track! I try to post on the first Tuesday of the month. So, to help you with your reading assignments, the next post after today's will be November 6th and will cover chapters 7 - 9.

Now onto the discussion questions:

Chapter 4 introduces the idea of the "vegetannual", basically bringing to light the concept (for most vegetation, but not all) that a plant is predestined to begin its life in the spring and die in the fall. The underlying idea is that most modern consumers have become so distant and unaware of the growing cycle as to expect tomatoes in the winter, watermelons in spring and pretty much any type of produce year-round. The exceptions include things that we tend to prefer seasonally, like pumpkins in the fall and yams around Thanksgiving.

Do you try to eat seasonally, or do you just buy whatever looks good in the store regardless of whether it's in season locally or had to be shipped in from another hemisphere? Will you pay more attention to it after reading this chapter?

Chapter 5. The author's family comes from a region of tobacco farmers and I found it interesting that when the idea of eliminating tobacco given it's inherent health risks came up at a party, she blurted out, "what about the tobacco farmers"? The idea never really came to my mind when thinking about cigarettes and the cash crop and industry behind it. You usually think of only the big tobacco giants, but not the farmers that actually grow the crops. The same thing goes for the produce you find in the stores.

Does it ever cross your mind what it actually takes to bring one apple to market? Are the time, work and resources properly represented by the cost? Since we all are, for the most part, completely at the mercy of farmers for our food supply, shouldn't we pay more attention to how our food is grown and how our farmers are compensated?

Chapter 6 discusses how the author's daughter wants to get chickens to raise for eggs as well as meat. I remember reading somewhere that at the turn of the 20th Century many people, even those living in cities (even NYC), had backyard chickens.

Do you own chickens? If not, would you be willing to if it were either more socially acceptable, or legal to raise chickens?

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As usual, feel free to add your own questions or comments regarding these chapters since I only touched on a few points.

Temperature comfort level

In order to get a better idea of how low people are willing to go for the Freeze Yer Buns Challenge, I wanted to find out what people's temperature comfort level is.

So, if cost and the environment were not considerations, what is your preferred room temperature?

Freeze Yer Buns Challenge

Okay, so I admit it. I did suggest that this new challenge didn't involve butts. However, it refers to your posterior in the title alone.

What's it all about, you ask? Well, let me tell you! Last winter I was all proud of myself at how I was keeping the thermostat low, trying to save energy and all. I kept it at a numbing 60 degrees at night and 68 degrees during the day. Which I thought was low. Until I got spanked by the people who took my poll. Almost half kept it at 59 degrees or lower.

This year I'm trying to outdo myself. I'm keeping the daytime temperatures at around 62 degrees. 65 if people are complaining. Nighttime temps will be 55.

So, starting November 1st, I'm challenging all of you to keep your thermostat low until the spring. Whip out those fuzzy binkies and down comforters and put on those sweaters and fleece slippers.

To sign up for the challenge, add a comment to this post and pledge what temperatures you will keep your thermostat. I'll be updating you all with hints and tips to keep warm as well as semi-interesting facts about the history of home heating. Plus, I'll regale you with reasons why you should keep your thermostat down (in case it just isn't patently obvious already)!

As per usual, I will keep a tally of participants (and your numbers) with a list in the right sidebar. Feel free to grab the graphic if you want to promote the challenge on your blog as well.

So, this one's pretty darn easy. How low can you go?

[P.S. For those of you in more toasty zones or those heading into summer, you can pledge to keep your thermostat higher and keep the A/C off.]

[P.P.S. I just love that powdery baby seal]

New challenge headin' your way!

Since the Cloth Wipe Challenge started off with a bang, but ended with a dud (because I went offline for a while), I'm cooking up a new challenge.

This one should be more accessible to everyone. I am impressed at how many people at least tried out the cloth wipes. I'm convinced that, once you try cloth wipes, you'll be damaged goods - it's hard to go back to forest or recycled paper products.

So, in the spirit of goading you all into doing something you might not normally do, I'll be hosting a brand spanking new challenge, which I will announce on Friday.

This won't be any ordinary, run-of-the-mill, one or two week deal. No, sirree, this is a goin' for broke type of challenge. It just won't involve butts or vaginas (for you squeamish readers out there) and it's something even your grandmother can do.

Also, stay tuned for a new discussion post for the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book club, next Tuesday, October 23rd.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book club - WTF?

Eek! I haven't been keeping up on my discussion posts. Since I am quite a few chapters in, I do intend on picking it up in the next week and posting the second Book Club Discussion post soon. Although I suspect you guys have all finished reading it already. Let me know where you all are in the book.

For those of you who just found out about it, feel free to jump aboard the book club bandwagon.

Your patience is much appreciated!

BioBag heaven

We were recently notified that our food waste recycling would start accepting biodegradable bags for packing our food waste in. I can't begin to tell you how excited I was to read this! When we first starting recycling our food waste, I diligently put all our food scraps in BioBags to keep the bugs down and keep our yard waste container tidy.

Well, after a few weeks we started getting flagged that we weren't allowed to use them as they hadn't tested them in the composting facility and weren't sure if they'd break down. I was a bit peeved by the process, but I stored the BioBags away for another time.

Fast forward about 2.5 years and, hooray!, now we can use them. I sure would have liked that approval earlier this spring since we've been dealing with hoards of evil microscopic fruit flies. But, I must admit, I have become quite skilled at snagging them out of the air with one hand. Just call me Mrs. Miyagi!

Cloth Wipe Challenge - WTF?

Oh, dear. So the Cloth Wipe Challenge went down the toilet with all the stuff happening in these parts.

But I haven't forgotten about all you wipers out there. Every time I wipe I think of you. Okay, maybe not so much, but I did want to check in with you and see how things were fairing.

And, it's Sunday, by gum, and it's time for a poll!

Pumpkin harvest

I harvested my sugar pie pumpkins and started processing them yesterday. I could only fit two in my oven so I still have some work to do, but I did manage to freeze two cans and one cup worth of pumpkin puree. I also roasted the pumpkin seeds.

For the puree, I cut the pumpkins in half horizontally, scooped out the seeds and stringy matter and rubbed the cut sides with oil. I then placed them face down in roasting pans with one cup of water each and baked them at 350 degrees for about 90 minutes. Once they were cool, I scooped out the flesh and put it in the food processor until it was pureed.

As a final step, I layed down cheesecloth in a colander, added the puree and let it "drip dry" for about an hour and then squeezed out the remaining liquids until it had the consistency of canned.

For the seeds, I boiled them in salted water (4 cups water, 2 teaspoons salt) for 15 minutes (this is the short version of soaking overnight). I then drained and mixed them with olive oil and tamari and baked in the oven with the pumpkins for about 30 minutes. They turned out quite tasty and my daughter loves them!

Thanks for all your hints and tips. I'll tell you soon what Miracle I performed with the green tomatoes to make them edible.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book discussion (chapters 1 - 3)

The time has finally come! The first discussion questions for the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book club are here.

I have to admit that initially I wasn't too excited about reading this book as I figured it would be just too similar to the Omnivore's Dilemma. So far, I've been happily surprised. This book has renewed my excitement for all that I'm doing regarding what I eat. And by that I mean, growing my own food, eating locally, buying organically and canning or otherwise preserving what's in season.

And now onto the book discussion questions.

1. In Chapter 1, the author describes how her family spent years planning their relocation and finally packed up and moved everyone to an area where they could live a more sustainable existence by growing their own food and animals. If you live in an area where sustainable living is not feasible (such as the SW like the author), would you be willing to do the same?

2. Chapter 2 discusses the difficulty of finding fresh produce during the winter months. Kingsolver's family started this experiment basically during the food doldrums without having had a previous season of preserving and storing to get them through. What plans do you have this winter for eating local or seasonally? Do you intend on buying out-of-season fruit mid-winter or do you think you can try to rely on foods you are storing away now (by canning/freezing/drying)?

3. Kingsolver discussed in Chapter 3 how utterly crappy most grocery store produce is, as the result of off season produce and/or produce that gets picked terribly early so that it can ripen during long transports. Additionally, the variety of produce is limited - many of the heirloom varieties just aren't produced anymore due to their inability to travel or for other reasons. Does this bother you - the flavorless foods and their limited variety, or are you just so used to it that you don't care about the tasteless bananas from elsewhere?

Again, during this book club, feel free to throw in your own questions into the mix!

Homemade pizza sauce

In spite of my San Marzano tomatoes getting a bad case of blossom end rot, I managed to salvage enough other tomatoes to make a huge vat of homemade pizza sauce from fresh tomatoes. I made enough for 6 jars of sauce that I put in our chest freezer. I'm hoping to add more as the rest of the tomatoes ripen. It's been such a late year around here for sunshine and the rain just started again, but I'm still hopeful.

My recipe is pretty simple: olive oil, garlic, tomatoes (peeled and chopped), bay leaves, salt, pepper and fresh oregano. I heat up the garlic with the olive oil (so the garlic doesn't burn) until it's fragrant and then throw in the tomatoes, bay leaves and salt. I simmer until the desired consistency is reached and then add the fresh oregano and pepper.

Since the tomatoes I used were a weird combination of Brandywine and Black Prince the sauce was pretty juicy, so I ended up simmering it down for about an hour to remove a lot of the moisture. I then added a touch of cornstarch to thicken things up and it came out perfectly.

The best thing is the only ingredients that didn't come from my garden (or someone else's I know) is the olive oil, salt and pepper. That's the most satisfying part. Oh, yeah, that and it's orders of magnitude better on my homemade pizzas than making it from canned tomatoes!

The poop on cloth wipes

Regarding the subject title of this post - I've been wanting to say that ever since I started the Cloth Wipe Challenge! Anyway, welcome to the first day of the Challenge!

For those of you who have been tuning in:

Intelligent Life article

No Impact Man, Green as a Thistle, Casaubon's Book, Little Blog in the Big Woods and Crunchy Chicken were all mentioned in an article in Intelligent Life, a quarterly magazine put out by The Economist.

Here's a snippet:

In Seattle Crunchy Chicken, a mother of two, trying to reduce her family's energy consumption, runs a green book club, a low-impact week, a local-food month and a discussion on reusable menstrual cups (complete with photo). As she cheerfully puts it: "Waaaay more information than you probably wanted."

Too bad they missed out on the new challenge!

The article is about (and is titled) "blogging the good life." For those of you interested, their online magazine has an excerpt of the article online.

Cloth wipes - uppin' the ante with prizes!

Do you need one last push to doing the Cloth Wipe Challenge? Would some potential prizes help you make the leap to the best wipe you've ever had?

Well, for those people who sign up for the Cloth Wipe Challenge and complete the two weeks (and want to continue), one lucky winner, who shall be randomly selected, will receive their choice of:

Three dozen Wallypop Toilet Wipes - Basic Style in the color(s) of your choice (you can choose three different styles if you like - make sure you check out the wild animal print!)

If you are doing just #1, I can throw in a brand new plastic (machine-washable) mesh bag you can hang on your TP holder.

Now. What are you waiting for again?

[For a great look at how another reader has implemented using cloth wipes, check out this Capturing Today's post.]

Cloth wipes - the benefits

Yesterday, I did a wrap-up on how to implement using cloth wipes during the Cloth Wipe Challenge. Today, I thought I'd review the benefits of using cloth for those of you still wondering why we are bothering to go through all this when TP is aplenty and readily available.

1. Cost - Outside of the initial investment in wipes (see my doin' it on the cheap post), the costs beyond that are for a container to put the wipes in and whatever cleaning agent you use. If you are washing them with other stuff, the amount of detergent used over the course of a year is pretty small. On the other hand, toilet paper is expensive, especially if you are springing for 100% recycled toilet paper.

2. Comfort - OMG, I cannot even describe how much more comfortable it is to wipe using 100% cotton flannel than even the softest of Charminy TPs. Now compare that to the relative scratchitude of recycled toilet papers. Enough said.

3. Environment - This is the big one so I've broken it down.
a. Energy - Yes, washing cloth wipes does require some extra energy in your washing machine, but unless you are using a million wipes a week, there's no way you're going to fill up your machine. So just throw them in with your other stuff. #1 wipes can go in with anything (except maybe kitchen towels) and #2 wipes can go in with towels or the like. They don't take up much space. Really.

b. Water - Again, washing cloth wipes requires some water, but if you're throwing them in with a load of other stuff, it's fairly negligible.

Compare the minimal energy and water usage at home with how much water and energy is used in the production of toilet paper. It's a pretty water and energy intensive process. Even recycled toilet paper uses a lot more of both than what your using with cloth wipes.

c. Natural Resources - If you're not using recycled toilet paper, the amount of trees saved is equivalent to that little pile of cloth you have at the end of the day. Add into both regular or recycled TP extra waste in processing. Plus, don't forget the other natural resources used like water and energy (minus whatever went into making the cloth, amortized over time). You can also throw in the harm caused by whatever chemicals are used in the processing (most likely bleach).

So, the benefits are: you win with cost savings and comfort (with minimal extra work) and the environment wins every time you wipe!

Using cloth - the wipe up

So, you are planning on doing (or are fence-straddling) the Cloth Wipe Challenge and you want more details. Well, here's the wipe-up. Or, the wrap-up, whichever you prefer. These are my suggestions.

1. If you are just trying this out as a trial, but aren't convinced you want to do this for more than two weeks, then get some cheap 100% cotton flannel or rip up old sheets or t-shirts and use those. For more details read my doin' it on the cheap post. Otherwise you can buy wipes made especially for this purpose (Google "family wipes").

2. If you plan on using cloth only for #1, get a mesh bag to hang on your TP roll holder or a small container with a lid (those compost pails with the filter work nice too). After you wipe, just throw the used cloth in your receptacle of choice and then launder with your other clothes. You can use a cold water wash if you use the dryer or line dry in the sun. If you're worried about bacteria, wash them in hot water.

3. If you plan on using cloth for #1 and #2, get a small container with a lid (again, the compost pail with filter is nice to keep the stink down). If you are doing a dry pail method, just throw the used wipes in the pail and toss some baking soda in occasionally if smell is an issue. If you are using a wet pail method, fill the pail with the soak of your choice (tea tree oil, baking soda, etc.) and then throw the used wipes in there. Wash the used cloth in hot water. You can add a vinegar rinse if you like. For more info on cleaning, see my stinky post.

That's pretty much it! Any more questions?

What are you waiting for?

For those of you that just need a little extra enticement, I'm throwing some prizes into the deal. Check back Friday to see what wonderful cloth wipe swag you can win if you take on The Challenge!

Tomorrow I'll be reviewing the benefits of using cloth...

Fall plantings

Sandy asked on yesterday's post what things we can plant now for a fall or winter harvest. She is in zone 7 so I think her options are more open than for you guys out there in a zone less than 6.

I actually just planted a few things yesterday even though I probably should have done it at the end of July. Since we are finally getting our August-style temperatures, I thought I'd give it a try anyway.

I had replanted another round of sugar snap peas in early August and they are just now looking good. I'm doubtful they will produce anything giving our recent cold temperatures, but I'll see.

Yesterday, I planted winter hardy lettuces, kale, spinach, broccoli (not sure if this will work) and onions. Other fall and winter delights you can plant now are radishes, beets, rutabagas, parsnips and turnips. Oh yeah, and carrots.

Later in the fall I will plant some overwintering onions and garlic.

Territorial Seed Company lists their winter varieties and other hardy seeds. So, take a peek through those and see if anything fits your zone (and your tastes)!

Since I really don't know what the hell I'm doing, double check whether or not any of these plants (or the varieties you choose) will work for your zone.

Happy planting!!!

P.S. What are the rest of you guys planting, if anything, now?

The Perfect Meal

As a wrap-up to Local Food Month, and in conjunction to finishing reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, I proposed trying to create The Perfect Meal.

Unfortunately, I never did get around to actually hunting, collecting or harvesting all my own food, so I let it slide. But last night I think I got about as close to the Perfect Meal as I'm going to get.

It was Sunday Family Meal night and I harvested from my backyard potatoes, beets, carrots, onions, garlic and rosemary for a roasted vegetable dish. I also oven roasted locally grown corn and made (if I do say so myself) some absolutely fantastic Rioja braised chicken thighs (from local, organic chicken) with a plum port sauce, using the Plum Port jam I made last month. I still can't get over how crazy good my creation turned out. I can't wait for leftovers tomorrow. Let me know if you are interested in the recipe and I'll post it on Crunchy Chicken Cooks.

I also wanted to let you all know that Joel Salatin (of Polyface Farms - the farm featured in The Omnivore's Dilemma) has a new book coming out. He was kind enough to send me an advance copy, so I'll be posting a review when it's closer to the book's publishing date. Between that and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I'm in food reading heaven!

Cloth wipes - doin' it on the cheap

When I first cooked up the idea for the Cloth Wipe Challenge back in June, I did a lot of researching online into what constituted the best wipes, what were people's favorites, etc.

There are a lot of vendors and stay at home moms out there sewing up some really nice cloth wipes (usually referred to as "family cloth" to differentiate it from baby cloth wipes). I didn't want to throw down $50 - $100 on butt wipes, particularly since I wasn't sure I was even going to go through with it. Nor did I want to only buy a couple and run out and turn my business into a big laundry ordeal.

So, what did I do? Well you have a couple options for cheapo cloth wipes. Some people take old t-shirts and rip them into strips. The claim is that they don't fray and you are reusing something. I guess there can be joy in wiping with an old concert, marathon or convention t-shirt. "Hey, I remember cramping up on mile 18!" The concern I had with the t-shirts (besides that I already had donated all the ones I didn't want anymore), was the thinness factor. Generally, old t-shirts tend to be threadbare and I really didn't want to have my fingers poking through, if you know what I mean.

So, I went to Joann's Fabrics. There I found some really inexpensive fabric remnants. They are 100% cotton flannel of suitable thickness and are ohhhhhhh so comfy. I spent, maybe, $6. I marked the squares into 8" x 8" squares using my kid's sidewalk chalk, but you can use whatever you want. I then cut the squares using pinking shears to prevent fraying. I managed to get about 50 cloth wipes out of the deal.

What would I do differently next time? Well, the cloth wipes do fray a little bit, but I don't care and I really don't think they fray enough to warrant sewing or surging the edges. I would also make them a little smaller. If I were using them for #2, the 8" x 8" would be perfect, but it's just too much cloth for a little dab o' pee. Maybe 6" x 6" would be great.

The other thing I would recommend is that if you are planning on using cloth wipes for multiple family members, is to get everyone their own fabric print. So, if you feel squeamish out wiping your butt with something your husband went to town with after that trip to the Mexican restaurant you can rest assured that you have nothing to even consider. Or, if you want to use a color system for #1 versus #2, that would be fun. If you are lucky you might just find remnants in the appropriate colors: yellow for pee and brown for poop. No, I'm just kidding, that's too boring!

As for using baby washcloths - that probably would work if you had some lying about and didn't want to spend any extra money. But others have found them to be too small, too thin and (actually) too scratchy.

Next up on the cloth wipe challenge posts: putting the whole system together (for you detail oriented people)!

Cloth wipes - the good, the bad and the stinky

The Cloth Wipe Challenge is coming up soon and one of the big concerns is hygiene, so I wanted to discuss some of the issues and misconceptions that usually come up with using cloth wipes instead of toilet paper.

When I was doing research into using cloth wipes, one thing I repeatedly read was that some people assumed that you are reusing wipes. In other words, using the same dirty cloth multiple times - e.g. on separate occasions. Now, I don't know how this idea came into being, it's just as disturbing as the fact that some people think recycled toilet paper is made from used toilet paper. So, I thought I'd clear this one up first and foremost - you use each wipe once and then they get washed.

I want to break down the use of cloth wipes for urine versus poop because they can be treated a little differently. (By the way, I'm going to just go with "poop" instead of stool, defecant, excrement, scat or any other of your favorite terms.)

First of all, if you plan on using cloth wipes for #1 (urine only), it is in my opinion that your risk of spreading disease is fairly minimal. Urine itself is sterile. Of course, you are also touching parts of your anatomy that are not sterile. It all comes down to your comfort level.

Some people soak all their used wipes in a solution containing some sort of antiseptic - tea tree oil is popular. Others just place their used cloth wipes in a mesh bag that gets plenty of air. I have found that the amount of urine on the wipe is actually pretty minimal so things dry out quickly. Then just wash the #1 wipes in hot water. If you're still paranoid about bacteria, follow washing information for #2.

If you plan on using cloth wipes for #2 (poop), then you're going to have to invest in a system to ensure that you don't have problems with two things that make most people cringe: stink and bacteria.

Now, if you have ever dealt with cloth diapers, then you are already equipped (at least mentally) to deal with adding your own poopy cloth wipes to the system (or resurrecting a system). Actually, I would say that since you are wiping, rather than "collecting", it's a whole lot less messy than dealing with cloth diapers.

Most people keep a lidded container or wet bag in the bathroom, throw the wipes in and then wash in hot water. Again, you can keep a soaking solution in the container to help keep odor down. If you're really concerned about bacteria you can do a baking soda pre-rinse and add vinegar to the rinse cycle. If you are planning on keeping a "dry" bucket, some people will add baking soda to the bucket to keep odor down and then wash the container out with vinegar every few days. Just make sure if you do a load of laundry with #2 wipes that you don't include kitchen towels, napkins, etc.

For some of you, I'm sure I probably didn't cover everything here to satisfy all your questions. If you've never dealt with cloth diapers you can read up on how to store and wash them over at Diaper Pin and adapt some of the ideas for your cloth wipes. And feel free to ask questions!

The next cloth wipe challenge post: how to make your own cloth wipes without spending a fortune. This is a challenge and I know you don't want to plunk down $100 on handcrafted custom wipes if this is just an experiment for you, so I'll share what I did to get started.

Happy Labor Day! - Now get to work

I wanted to bring to your attention something I learned about recently that might be of interest to you. Local and national humanitarian organizations help coordinate "gleanings" in the fall to distribute food to the poor or needy.

For those who have never heard of it before (like me), gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been mechanically harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest [from Wikipedia].

The Society of St. Andrew seems to be the biggest national organization that is looking for volunteers. If you are looking for a sectarian or more local organization, here are a couple that may be near you:

• Small Potatoes (Whatcom County, WA)
  
• Pittsburgh Food Bank (PA)
  
• Chester County (PA)
  
• New Jersey Agricultural Society (NJ)
  
• Senior Gleaners (Sacramento, CA)
  
• Ag Against Hunger (Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties, CA)

You may be able to find something similar in your area if you want to get out in the fields and help out some hungry people.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I wanted to check in with you all and see if you're ready to start the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book club. I got my book late, so I can more than commiserate with you if you're not ready.

I'll be doing what I did with the last book club, which is breaking the book down into sections and then posting discussion questions for each section. The first posting will cover Chapters 1 - 3.

Which leads me to this week's poll:



This Tuesday, I'll be covering a topic for the new Don't Forget to Wipe Challenge: Thoughts and strategies on hygienic issues.

Don't forget to wipe!

Don't be surprised, people. You should have seen this one coming from miles away.

It's the 2007 Don't Forget To Wipe (with cloth) Challenge! Now, I know you're out there... you've answered my polls intimating that you're ready to try cloth wipes. Maybe you just need a kick in the, ummm, ass. So, now's your chance to justify it to all your friends and family: "I'm doing it because it's a challenge! For two weeks!"

And the rules are soooo simple.... it's as easy as wiping your, ummm, ass.

Since I'm always looking out for you, don't think I didn't already do months of research and recon for you. I did - and I've been using cloth wipes since the middle of June. Why didn't you hear about it sooner you ask? Well, because I already had too many things going on and I wanted this challenge to get the spotlight, ummm, never mind.

Here are the rules. You can choose to use cloth wipes:

1. Only for #1
2. For both #1 and #2
3. Only at home
4. On the road

You cloth diaper people probably already have a system in place for laundering and transporting, so you have no excuse for doing the whole gamut. But, for you squeamish people, start with #1 at home. That's what I do. I'll go over logistics in a future post.

Also, you don't need to spend an arm and a leg on specialized cloth wipes. I'll soon teach you how to get started for a few bucks.

This challenge will take place the last two weeks of September. Are you with me? As usual, I will have a list of participants on the right nav bar so feel free to grab the banner, sign up on this post, and I'll add you.

By the way, I didn't realize how much toilet paper I used before I started this. Who knew I was a TP whore? I think I used more than the other three people in my household combined (granted my preschoolers aren't that fastidious about wiping, but really)! So, in addition to saving (in my case at least) hundreds of trees, you'll also be saving money too.