Category: zero-waste
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Composting Toilets
One of my toilets is inconsistent in its ability to function as such despite repeated attempts to fix it. When I told my husband, in a mostly joking manner, that we should get a composting toilet to replace it, I’m sure he envisioned something old fashioned like a bucket with sawdust that was carried out…
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9 Ways to Reuse Wood From an Old Deck
Two weekends ago my husband and I decided to tear out the massive deck on the side of our new home. What appeared to be a nice outdoor space when we purchased the home was revealed to be in rough shape as the snow melted away. The previous owners attempted to patch it up and…
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Navigating Sustainable Choices in Modern Life
Every so often someone challenges me on why I care so much about being sustainable. If I don’t have or plan on having children why do I try to hard to reduce waste, conserve energy, and overall create a smaller impact on the environment? What does it matter to me that the next generation has…
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Sustainable Living: 2021 Green Resolutions
It has been a year since I started down a path to creating a more sustainable household. Some choices have been easy and others more difficult. It has not been perfect and I am nowhere near a zero waste household, but I do feel I have eliminated a lot of extra waste just by spending…
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Sustainable Holiday Decorations
Every year since I was born I received two Christmas ornaments, one from my mom and the other from my grandmother. Over time the ornaments began reflecting my personality, with a series of Taz ornaments (my nickname earned from overacting to bad shots on the golf course) showing up in my preteen years. As a…
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Sustainable Christmas Tree Options
Last weekend some friends sent snaps of them cutting down their Christmas tree from a nearby tree farm. It brought back memories of the one and only time I convinced my husband we should cut our own Christmas tree down. In the years that followed I went to the closest hardware store to buy a…
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Sustainable Gift Giving
It was around this time last year that I started to rethink my routines, decisions, and actions, realizing the way I was living was not all that sustainable. I had composted when I lived in Minneapolis because the city made it easy, built some rain gardens and rain barrels, and have been recycling since college,…
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What to Do with Worn-Out Running Shoes
As a long distance runner I go through a lot of athletic shoes. It is recommended to replace your running shoes about every 300 to 500 miles or three to six months. When going through a 12 week training cycle I clear this recommendation easily which is why I usually stretch this time frame out…
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From Flowers to Function: Reviving Useful Traditions
“His grandmother had made soap in it every spring and fall,–enough to last for a half-year. His mother with her lessening activities had dispensed with it, letting the men take it for hog-feed and chicken-mash. His wife had planted flowers in it,–typical of the way they had grown to look at life,–flower, no work, but plenty…
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Sustainable Baking: Create Your Own Yeast
I recently taught myself how to make my own bread and pizza dough and had just perfected sandwich bread and pizza crust recipes. Then COVID-19 hit and yeast, a primary ingredient in fluffy bread recipes, was nowhere to be found. My small supply was dwindling when a friend of mine suggested I make my own…
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The Planning Lady 