Sprouts!

Prepping sprouts are Erin's deal.  But I still eat 'em.

It's pretty easy.  Take something that you want to sprout.  The pictures below are mung beans, but we've also tried some other stuff and you can too.

Instructions:

• Soak some beans/seeds overnight and then drain and put in a jar with a mesh top.
• Tip the jar on its side in a bowl and rinse/drain them once or twice a day.
• Wait.

In about 4 days, you'll have healthy sprouts -- fresh, with zero packaging waste, and at a cost of a few cents per batch!

Homemade play dough

Summer happens.  Our postings have been few and far between in recent months, but the Year of Less continues...

One of the challenges for this year is what to do about gifts -- birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  We've tried to be creative about not buying stuff.  We've given away homemade wares, given gift certificates for meals and activities, and continued to do homemade cards for people (Erin generally heads up this one).

Here's something we did as a fun and pretty easy gift for kids: Homemade play dough!

We started by trolling the internet for ideas that use all natural ingredients and narrowed in on this one.  Here you go:

1 c plain white flour
1/2 c salt
2 tbsp cream of tartar (not necessary, but makes it more elastic)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 c boiling water
Natural food coloring

Instructions: Put it all in a bowl and mix.  That's it.  For our inaugural batch, we wanted to avoid artificial food coloring.  This recipe made enough for three nice balls (pictured below).  For red, we chopped up a piece of beetroot and squeezed some juice in.  For orange, we sprinkled in paprika.  For yellow, turmeric.

A Half Year In...

As of July 1, we were halfway through this Year of Less experiment.  How's it going?  Sometimes, a bulleted list (or a series of them) can summarize better than words in a paragraph.  Here goes.

What's worked?

• Not buying books.  We've made even better use of the library than before.  I got a gift card for a bookstore from my sister-in-law last Christmas and I've been tempted to use it a few times, but I've made myself think it through quite thoroughly so that I only make the splurge on something that really counts.  Each time I want something, I sit on it for a day or three and often check it out from a library first.  So far, I keep deciding that I didn't need a particular book that much.
• No takeaway coffees/drinks.
• Brewing our own alcohol.
• Upgrading my old mountain bike to a commuter vs. buying a new (or used) one.
• Skipping out on dryer sheets.
• Homemade laundry detergent.
• Homemade dishwashing powder (future posting).
• Gifts: our homemade activity book was a hit.  We recently made homemade play-dough for one of our favorite boys (future posting) and Erin's done some crocheted things and a homemade billfold made from cork.
• Driving less: selling one car, walking lots, and riding a bike/train to work.
• The shower timer.  Who would have thought?  Short showers are easy and not even a sacrifice.  I hadn't realized how long I take and how easy it is to be under five (or even three) minutes until we bought a simple timer and got used to it.
• Buying spices in bulk and putting them all in used, labeled bottles.  When I wrote the original blog post, I got so excited about talking about baking bread that I forgot to mention that one of my main points was that spices in bulk are incredible cheap if you have a good source (in our case, the Coop in Bellingham, WA).
• Building planters from recycled pallets and having a miniature herb garden on our balcony.

What hasn't worked?

• Homemade conditioner.  Then again, we find that it's not necessary with the shampoo we make.
• Homemade mouthwash.  We might try another batch with a different, tastier recipe.

The jury's still out on...

• Homemade shampoo.  I like it; Erin's still on the fence.  When you've grown up on shampoo that lathers, there's transition involved in stuff that doesn't.
• Homemade glass cleaner.  This stuff works, but it's not quite as nice as the blue stuff from the store.  I'm cutting down on the cornstarch the next time we try it.
• Homemade body scrub with epsom salts.  Okay in theory, but we added lavender buds and they make a mess of the shower floor.
• No lights on Friday nights.  Umm...we haven't been stellar at keeping true to this one...

Of course, being able to buy "nothing" leads to some possibly unhealthy cravings.  For example, we find ourselves making lists of what to buy in 2014.  Namely, a bike/ski rack for the car and Icebreaker underwear.  But we've mostly succeeded at it so far.  Our only real capital purchases have been running shoes (we considered this a healthy joint necessity; we both already wear ours about five times as long as what the recommendations all tell people) and a food processor after ours went bonk (we did our research and splashed out on one with great reviews and a 10-year warranty rather than going cheap and replaceable; besides, no food processor means not being able to make lots of the stuff we do from scratch; and, it was purchased using a gift certificate that was a wedding gift from our friends Meryll and Justin).

In summary, it's been a great experiment thus far.  Rather than feeling like a sacrifice, we've done lots of great trips and really focused on enjoying Vancouver in place of buying stuff.  As we've stated before, we still entertain ourselves.  We've spent a night at the aquarium, been to tons of concerts (including favorites Devendra Banhart, Ariel Pink, Christopher Owens, and John Grant), checked out the documentary film festival, hosted my parents and a few friends, and taken innumerable runs and walks along the waterfront and through the city.

Bring on the rest of the year!

Soon to come: homemade almond milk, reducing food container waste (even the recyclable stuff), some volunteering experiences, homemade shaving gel and aftershave, and a few more surprises...

Homemade laundry detergent (and it's HE / high efficiency compatible)

So we've been using homemade laundry detergent for a few months now.  It's incredibly easy!  And, despite the fact that it's a powder, it is compatible with high efficiency / front-loading washers.  Here's how to make it.

Ingredients:
1 bar of soap
1 cup of washing soda
1 cup of borax

Grate the soap finely.  Easy!  This will yield about a cup of soap powder.

Then add a cup each of the borax and washing soda:

And that's it!  Mix it together well -- use a whisk if you want, or even a blender -- then toss it in a container (in our case, a big plastic jar that was previously full of cashews), and start using it.  One tablespoon does a load.  I'd initially made a scoop out of the folded end of a toilet roll (as pictured below), but have subsequently found a plastic tablespoon scoop from something else we had laying around the house...some other detergent, or coffee, or some such thing.

I've talked to people who are skeptical of using powder in a HE / high efficiency / front-loading washer.  And it's correct that you probably shouldn't put the powder in the drawer at the top.  However, I did my research (as you should, too), and for our machine, anyway, it is perfectly fine to use powder.  But, the key is that you have to sprinkle it inside before loading clothes.  Do so, then turn the agitator back and forth a few times.  After 2-3 little turns, most of the detergent will have fallen through the little holes in the agitator.  Load your clothes and wash as normal.

We tested this stuff out a bit tentatively.  And now, we make big batches of it.  It's quick to make, it lasts forever, and it probably only costs cents per load.  I'll leave someone else to do the math, but it's certainly far less than any detergent I've ever used in my life.

We won't be going back to store-bought stuff ever (probably).

I deserve a reward!

Our friend Darlene recently sent us an interesting article about a guy who went back to engineering after an extended period of travel.  Sound familiar?  I've done this a couple times now.

The article starts with how, as soon as he started making good money again, this guy named David was more careless with it.  And, how spending that money now is somehow less satisfying than it was when he had less money and more time (e.g., an expensive coffee-to-go vs. a coffee savored slowly on a sunny balcony in some gorgeous locale).  Where it gets interesting -- and eerily similar to how I've often felt -- is when he states how and why this occurs.  Starting with how "a lifestyle of unnecessary spending has been deliberately cultivated and nurtured in the public by big business," this guy talks about how the 40-hr (or more) workweek is designed to leave us with precious little time -- evenings and weekends -- and how that inspires us to spend a lot on gratification in the way of convenience and entertainment.  In short: we work too much, so we're entitled to buy "stuff" (and deserve to watch more television to "unwind" -- and get exposed to more adverts that encourage us to buy more "stuff").

Anyway, Erin and I read this article and had a long chat about it.  We both work.  We both don't have as much time as we like to.  And we both feel that we "deserve" indulgences -- a massage, a new pair of shoes, a sweet bike.  Try as we might to shirk it, there it is -- this feeling that we've worked hard enough to be entitled to buy something that will somehow make us happier, better people.

Well, we've vowed not to buy stuff in 2013.  So then what?  How do we reward ourselves when we can't go out and make purchases?  What we've come up with is trying to exchange THING-rewards with ACTIVITY-rewards (or perhaps more accurately, NO-ACTIVITY-rewards -- because doing nothing is nice sometimes, too).

We still go out to eat occasionally.  We go to a lot of concerts.  We still do drinks with friends.  But, where once we may have hopped in the car to drive somewhere or gone out to do some shopping, now we go for a run or take a nice long walk in the city.  Or we stop in somewhere for a coffee and have a relaxing, figuring-out-life chat (we've outlawed coffees to go, but still indulge provided we sit and enjoy the experience).  Or we plan an afternoon or evening with friends that pretty much guarantees that someone's spent a couple hours preparing a nice, home-cooked meal.  Other rewards include doing things for each other to express our love or to help unwind after a long day/week (vs. material gifts meant for the same purpose).

This is the sort of "stuff" that we really deserve.

Of course, seeing a shiny new book or a nice pair of jeans will continue to inspire some materialistic lust -- and serve as a reminder that the battle can't be won in a day.

Apartment gardening

It's spring in Vancouver and with the longer, warmer days, everything is getting lush and starting to bloom. It's this time of year that makes me miss having a plot of land - it's been too long since I last had a yard where I could get my hands good and dirty and spend summer days tending the garden. I began to look for opportunities to participate in the community gardens in our neighbourhood very soon after we moved into our new apartment - unfortunately, to no avail. Most of the community plots have very long waiting lists and the guerilla garden right behind our building is being redeveloped this summer.

Regardless, I was determined, especially with our year of less project, that we would have a garden and try to grow some of our own food. Very quickly, we discovered that there would be two challenges to this undertaking: 1. purchasing some necessary gardening supplies definitely goes against our rule of avoiding non-consumable purchases and 2. we live in a North facing apartment with a shady balcony.

While we had a few plants and pots on our deck, the first thing that we needed were containers. Brian had the brilliant idea to recycle wood from shipping pallets to make planters. He located and brought home some pallets; I was hoping that my contribution would be disassembling them, but after spending an hour trying to pry it apart with not much success, I was happy to turn the deconstruction and construction back over to him! A couple of hours down in the workshop and Brian returned with two fantastic planter boxes. Not only is he good looking and smart, he's handy too.

As for the dirt, we figured we would be able to get around purchasing a bag between the composted soil from our worms and some "local sources". I'm sure the two of us were quite the sight - Brian coming home covered in mud with a big bag of dirt after a trail run and me nonchalantly chatting up neighbours as they passed by the empty lot where I was scooping some dirt into plastic containers....

As for the North facing balcony, some library and internet research yielded that the 3-4 hours of sunlight we get would be enough to accommodate leafy greens and various herbs. Our existing basil, parsley, oregano, and cilantro are loving their new home and one week after planting some seeds, our mesclun and kale are sprouting. This mix should be good to supplement us throughout the summer; we will keep you posted as our little apartment garden grows!

Spicing (and baking) it up

There's been a transition since I started a new job 2.5 months ago -- we have less time to cook with both of us working full time.  However, we still spend a lot of time in the kitchen and cooking/baking continues to be something that Erin and I enjoy doing together.  This post is about a few things we do to try to be a bit more self-sufficient.

First, something that's been a project years in the making is my habit of reusing old glass containers for spices, lentils, flours, etc.  Sure, you can buy matched sets of Tupperware, glassware, and all that.  But how much more interesting to clean out jam and pickle jars and reuse them!  To this concept, Erin added a brilliant touch -- chalkboard stick-on labels.  Thus, our mini-pantry looks like this:

It's a hodge podge, to be sure, but we like it.  We look forward to having a bit more space than this in the future since this is only about half of it.  Anyway...

Another thing that's been fun is that we've stopped buying bread.  Erin got me a great book for Christmas about bread making.  The first 10-14 days of the year, I "caught" wild yeast from the air and developed it into a perpetual starter.  Once you have this going, you just feed it 2-3 times per week.  As a result of this, I tend to bake two loaves of bread every Sunday.  This necessitates buying white and whole wheat flour in bulk.  We get great organic flour in 25-lb sacks from a little local shop:

I like to think that the bread baking has been going pretty well.  We eat some, we freeze some, we give some away, and we find create ways to use the rest (think: croutons -- and this fantastic recipe for Spring Panzanella that we made the other night).

Here's one of my loaves: