Is Being Green Affordable?

I'm not sure I would have known the answer to this question even a few months ago. I didn't give much thought to greening my life. Well, actually I did think about it, a lot, but didn't take much action. Practically none actually. Sure I put some recycling out every week and rode the bus to work, but those were the easy things. When I started to really think about greening my life and how I never seemed to take action on things, my biggest fears seemed to be with the affordability of it all. And particularly with food. Local, organic food. Sustainable food.

I was a big coupon clipper. I mean BIG. Like I had a big binder filled with baseball card sleeves of thoroughly organized coupons. I would go to the local big chain grocery store with a computer printout of exactly what was on sale, which coupon(s) to use for each product, what price it was before and after the coupon, and my big hefty binder. I looked so serious and official that people would come up to me to ask for help. I guess all the paperwork and the binder made me look managerial or something.

So since eating more local and more organic is what comes to mind when I think of greening my food life a bit, and we all know buying food at the co-op costs more, I of course was pretty convinced it wasn't for me. After all, we all know you can't clip enough coupons for organic, local food to save 60% on your shopping trip like I was used to at the big chain stores. So I did some research.

I had heard all this stuff about CSAs for years. What's a CSA? It's Community Supported Agriculture. Meaning you buy a "share" in a local, usually organic but not necessarily, farm and in exchange receive weekly or sometimes every other weekly boxes of produce from the farm. I had actually always wanted to try one just because it sounds a little fun. But I thought it also seemed expensive. After all one share is hundreds of dollars. For VEGETABLES.

But then I did the math. For us, signing up with a local CSA with Harmony Valley Farm for a half veggie share (every other week), extended season veggies, a full fruit share, and once a month cheese is only costing us about $37 per week. For more than enough veggies, fruit & most of the cheese we need for our household. That's actually a good deal! And it's organic! And local!! Now, we will NOT get shares in February through April. I do live in Minnesota remember! But we are also not paying for them in those months either.

Then I did some more research and found out there are local meat CSAs too. I just joined Sunshine Harvest Farm. It runs $100/month and you get 20 lbs of organic meat/eggs each month. That's about $5/pound which may be a lot compared to the local chain stores, but not so much compared to the organic meats found at the local co-op. It's also plenty of meat for our family each month. So now we're up to about $255/month on groceries. Throw in a few extras like grains & milk from the co-op which I probably spend about $100/month on.

Bottom line? That's actually AT LEAST as cheap as I was getting our groceries for with all my coupon clipping frenzy. AND I no longer have to spend hours (really) clipping & organizing coupons, nor do I have to make that arduous 1.5 hour long grocery shopping trip to meticulously buy exactly what is on sale with the exact right coupons to get the deals. I simply pick up a box of veggies, fruit, or cheese every week from a neighbor's garage, and a box of meat every month. And make a couple 15 minute stops at the co-op.

I'm floored by my experiences so far. I had no idea I could do this and actually NOT spend more money than I used to on groceries. Cheap, unhealthy, processed, full-of-pesticide-and-fake-ingredients groceries. And I'm really enjoying the process of learning about new vegetables and introducing them to my family. Dinner is an adventure every night and so much fun to be trying new things.

What about other green initiatives and their affordability? Well, composting doesn't cost a thing. Gardening can, but can also be done on the cheap or at least cheaper than it would cost to buy the fruits of your labor in the store. Recycling, at least where we live, also doesn't cost a thing. It's a service provided by the city and they'll come by every week whether we like it or not. Soon we will begin cloth diapering with a local diaper service, also cheaper than disposables even though we are splurging to pay the service to launder them. (I'll go into the details after our twins are born - I PROMISE!) Bicycling? Also cheaper than both the bus and the car.

I'll admit. There are those who's grocery allowance may be even lower than what I've detailed here. But I'd challenge folks to at least check it out. And do the math. If it doesn't work for you, then do what you can to buy local and organic every now and then. What about a local farmer's market? There are often amazing deals on organic, locally grown produce there. You can spend anywhere from $1 on up. And it's fun. My four-year-old LOVES a trip to the farmer's market. Especially if we can arrange to ride the light rail (a.k.a. "train" to him) to get there.

Are there ways that you've found to make greening your life affordable? Insights or tips you'd like to share? If so, I'd love to hear 'em!

Composting 101

So I attended a composting workshop tonight put on by my local recycling organization, Eureka Recycling. Aside from the constant struggle to keep my 4-year-old from bursting out with loud exclamations like: "Composting? Huh?" or when they took out the book of 'creatures' that like to live in compost, "CREATURES! What creatures??!!!" or trying to ignore his rambling around the room with his matchbox car making car noises, I think it was pretty much worth the time. The whole thing took about an hour during which we got a useful 4 page handout with tips on composting, an Earth Machine compost bin for only $45, and got to hear the two instructors' experiences with composting and ask whatever burning questions we had.

Before attending the workshop I knew you needed to include browns/dry (leaves, paper, etc), greens/wet (this would basically be the food waste), water and you better stir the pile once in a while if you don't want it to stink. But I was really nervous about how many leaves I need to try to scrounge up at the end of May to get this compost thing started. I mean, I did put a few in my garden beds last fall, but they are scarce now people! And the thing is, they were really hesitant to tell us exactly how much of the good ol' brown stuff we should put into our bins starting out. The rule of thumb we got was: try it out. If it's not working try to add some more browns, or stir the pile, or make sure it's got some moisture. Hmmm. I actually really like rules. I like to know how things work - exactly not approximately. So while this should have felt like a reassuring thing to me it was not. I'll try to be an easy-going-trial-and-error type with this composting thing but in all honesty that's asking an awful lot of this city girl!

In a nutshell, here's what I learned tonight about composting:
1. It's not a precise science (no matter how much I want it to be). It's more of a 'try it out and see what works with your pile' kinda thing.
2. It's not supposed to be smelly. If it stinks something's wrong.
3. In the city of St Paul, you must put your compost bin at least 5ft from your property line. I don't get that one at all. My neighbors can have their farm smelling dog kennel right on our property line, but my sweet smelling compost must allow for some space. This messes with my idea of where I was going to put the bin. Hmmm....
4. OK for compost: fruit scraps, veggie scraps, coffee grounds & filter, paper towels & napkins, pizza boxes (if not too greasy), cardboard egg cartons, egg shells, tea bags, rice/pasta/bread (without a lot of fat), dryer lint, hair, yard stuff except for nasty weeds & weed seeds that you don't want to grow in your compost or later in your garden when you use the compost. Am I missing any? Oh and when in doubt, try it out. You'll know whether it's composting or not.
5. Not OK for compost: meats, oils or fats (includes mayo and peanut butter), bones, cat litter, dairy products, sauces, and the weed thing I kinda mentioned above. I should point out that the reasoning behind most of these 'not OK' items is that they attract animals to your compost bin. The last thing you want is a rabbit den or bunch of baby snakes in your bin the next time you go to stir it up!
6. I should not stress about the proper way to compost. Have I said this enough yet? It's OK to stir it a lot, stir it a little, whatever. Most important thing: if it stinks change something about what you're doing. Add more browns, more moisture or stir the dang thing.

Next on my list is some way to teach my 4-year-old what goes in the garbage vs. what goes in the compost container. I found a couple of graphics (gotta love Google Images) - what do you think of this one (courtesy of Shropshire Master Composters)? It's not entirely complete but I think it'll be helpful to him to see this on the garbage can lid for a while as a reminder. Personally, I love the graphic on the Earth Machine Website under How to Compost. Maybe I'll put that one up as a reminder to myself for a while too!

Lastly, I simply must share this great document recently published by Eureka Recycling: Recycling, Composting and Greenhouse Gas Reductions in Minnesota. Did you know that "A typical household in the Twin Cities area throws away over 10 pounds of household compostable material every week?" Ten POUNDS! Shocking! This is enough to get me started with composting despite it's lack of conformity to my perfectionist tendencies. And apparently if we recycled and composted everything that we should be, only 22% of what Minnesotans are currently throwing in the trash would remain there. So let's get on it shall we?!!