Daily Decisions: Some CSA action

Recently Matthew and I bought a share in a local CSA.  The acronym CSA, in case you are unaware, stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  Generally, you will purchase a share from a farm before the harvest season, and they will provide you boxes of fruits and veggies (or possibly honey, eggs, etc. depending on the type of share you are buying) during the harvest season.  The benefit to this approach is that it supplies farmers with the money that they need when they need it.  The risk to the buyer is that crops aren't guaranteed; however, while one crop might not come in, others almost definitely will because our farmers know what they are doing!  Regardless, the money goes to a local family to support them while they do a hugely important job: Providing good, healthy food to people!

One thing that could be good or bad depending on how you see things is that you don't control what produce comes into your home any given week.  I personally try to cook with the seasons anyway, and I like figuring out what to cook based on what's available, so to me it is an exciting challenge!

The farm that we picked is Sun Gold Farm which is in Forest Grove, OR (just two suburbs west of us... a hop skip away!).  One reason that we picked this farm is the growing practices that they use (sustainable, people-friendly, earth-friendly), and another is the fact that we can pick up the food box at the Farmer's Market that is just half a mile away from Matthew's work (about 1.2 miles from our apartment).  If I'm teaching Wednesday nights during the season, Matthew can pick it up right after work.  Otherwise, I can go up to pick it up and meet up with Matthew on his way home.  Plus, if we want any specific produce that doesn't come with the food box, we can pick it up while at the Farmers' Market.  Perfect!

If you are interested in supporting a local farm through a CSA program, you can visit the Local Harvest site to find one in your area!

Daily Decisions: Banking

When Matthew moved up to Beaverton for his six month internship right before we got married, he got an account at Washington Mutual (now Chase).  The reason for this was that he knew he'd be coming back to Corvallis for another few years, and after that he didn't know where he'd be.  I was added onto this account after we got married, and we still have it open.

However... There are a lot of good reasons to support local banking instead of big banks, and a local credit union is a terrific way to accomplish that task.  After moving to the Hillsboro area, we started an account at a credit union in our area.  We have started switching everything over to that account so that we can close our Chase account once we're sure everything has cleared from our checking account.

Coincidentally, there is a current movement to leave big banks and to join credit unions that I didn't know about until after we made the switch.

Especially with the ability to use the ATM pretty much anywhere, I feel like we have no need for a large bank.  Switching is truly an easy way for us to take away support from the banks that operate like those that we had to bail out a few years ago.

Want to know an added benefit?  We found a checking account that offers a 2% interest rate as long as we satisfy a few requirements like using online banking, having a direct deposit occur once per period, and using our debit card for a point-of-sale transaction 12 times per period (good thing I can only carry so many groceries at a time on my bike!).  Two-percent is much better than the rates out there for savings accounts that we've seen, and even if we don't satisfy the requirements one period, the interest earned that period is the same as we were earning at Chase in our savings account.

Yay credit unions!

Daily Decisions: Hand washing vs. Dishwasher washing

Perhaps as you go about your journey to save electricity and water you have asked yourself which one is better.

I recently watched a (corny) video from PGE where they tested and compared energy consumption done by a few different types of hand washing and a few different types of dishwashers.  As a note, they didn't discuss the amount of water used, which is an important factor to consider.  You also can't tell how full they fill the dishwasher which is clearly a large factor as far as energy and water efficiency go.  It's also challenging to factor in the environmental costs of creating and shipping a dishwasher in the first place!

I currently only hand wash items that can't go in the dishwasher, and I will wait until I get a stack to do these dishes.  The way I currently do the rest of the dishes is by running a (very full) dishwasher on light wash instead of normal wash.  I get away with using light wash by pre-rinsing all the dishes.  I don't use extra water to do this, though.  We put dishes that need rinsing in the sink, and they get water in them as we wash our hands/produce/etc over them.  Then  I use the scrubby brush to brush the food out.  We also, of course, air dry the dishes instead of drying them with heat.  We also try to minimize the number of dishes that we use.  For example, his mug for his morning coffee becomes my mug for water or tea during the day.  This all takes a bit more effort than just using whatever dishes we want to or running water whenever it's convenient for us, but it becomes routine, and it's really not that challenging in my opinion.

Personally, I think that video makes one thing clear: By being conscious of the energy and water you are using, you will save a ton when compared to taking the resources for granted.  It's very challenging (at least for me) to know what "the best" way to do some things is, and I think that it's OK to just be thoughtful and do our best!

Daily Decisions - Clothing

Goal: Reduce clothing waste
Problem:  Inevitably, socks get holes.
Solution:  Darn those socks!  Actually, I don't think I'm technically "darning" our socks, but I'm taking a needle and thread to them.  If it's a nice clean hole without much wear around it, usually a lasting fix is to just sew it up.  I'm finding that some of my socks are so threadbare at the point that as soon as I sew one hole, a new one rips right next to it.  I'm going to take one of my most beat up socks and start using it to make patches.  The ball and heel wear out while there is still so much good fabric elsewhere!  Doing this I think that I can get our socks to last a good, long time.

Daily Decisions - Personal care

Here's the next-up in the Daily Decisions series...

Goal:  Use fewer resources
The Choice: I stopped wearing deodorant on the days that I'm not interacting with people (besides my DH).  While I am a smelly enough person that I wouldn't want to make people smell me unnecessarily, I really don't need to mask myself from my own nose.  Plus, since I make my own deodorant, this helps me have to make more less often. :)

Daily Decisions - Purchasing power

One thing that I was thinking about today is how much my change in attitudes and understanding of the world has affected all my decisions including ones that most people probably don't think twice about.  I think that being conscientious of our role in our family, community and world is important, so I decided to start sharing my thought processes through a "Daily Decisions" series.  I'm not saying that all of the decisions I make end up being the best possible ones, but I do my best, and I'd love to just get people thinking (and sharing your ideas with me, if you find you have some to share!).  In sharing, I will explain which goals influence my decisions, what my options are, what choice I made, and any other factors that may be pertinent.

Here's my first one to start...

What's happening: I'm buying thread to sew the binding of my quilt
Goals: Buy locally to keep money in the community, Find a store in walking/biking distance to avoid oil use
Options:  Joann's Fabrics and Crafts (1.7 miles away), Sharon's Attic Quilt Shop (2.2 miles away)
The Choice: Sharon's since it is locally owned and operated
Considerations for next time:  What about organic cotton thread since cotton is where a lot of the nasty chemicals are used in the agriculture business?