Farmer's Market

Every Saturday in the summer and into the fall, the Marquette Commons hosts a Farmer's Market that starts at 9:00 a.m. and honestly I don't know when it ends. 

I've been before in the fall but had been told that it was much more amazing in the summer.  I asked my friend Ginger if she would go with me, otherwise I would forget. And at 10:00 a.m. we met at her place and walked down with her roommate Stephanie.

The first thing I saw was this huge sign for freshly picked, locally grown Strawberries! Oh this was going to be a fabulous experience!

There were wood carvers, butchers, fresh fruit and vegetables, plant vendors, pictures, handmade jewelry, bees wax candle stick makers, a homemade soap vendor, a Birch bark artist, the list goes on.

All of the food was local (within the UP), this one vendor was talking about how she grows her vegetables outdoors, but has some indoor plants to extend the growing season. But she doesn't use artificial fertilizers (only ones that occur naturally).  I bought some rather delicious looking lettuce from her.

The honey was delicious!  I needed some more because I have a bit (an impossibly large bit) of a sweet tooth. For five dollars you get ten ounces of raw unprocessed organic honey.  Before I even bought some, the honey vendor let me sample some!  She was so sweet, dressed in black and yellow with honey bee wings on her head band.  We had a nice chat about long skirts and how she had just made herself a shirt that went perfectly with hers.  And before I left, she made sure that I knew to simply warm the honey with hot water on the stove if it crystallizes. Do not microwave, was strongly emphasized.

The atmosphere at the Farmer's Market was just joyous!  The vendors were friendly and the customers were ecstatic to see the merchandise and the other customers.  I ran into a number of friends there, some who are spending the summer up here like I am or others who are just up for the weekend.

Though I did happen to overhear some other Farmer's Market virgins, who were remarking on how it was were all the old hippies went.  It was said without malice, but I hope that it wasn't going to deter them from coming back again or just enjoying the atmosphere.  Some of the vendors definitely had a hippie vibe to them, but they were all really nice and I didn't even hear them speak a word about "Saving the Environment."

I can't wait 'til next week!  Though I still do have to go grocery shopping, not everything can be gotten at the Farmer's Market unfortunately.  But it certainly makes my day much more charming.

Dirty Kitty Litter Box + Pudge Sulking = Bath

My cat has recently developed this habit when she is sulking: sitting in the semi-dirty kitty litter box.  Talk about gross.  Ergo a bath was necessary.

Now if you've ever given a cat a bath, you know that it can be anywhere between World War III and the cat shutting completely down.  Thankfully Pudge is the shutting down type, at least until the end of the bath when she's finally had enough.

I used Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap, lavender scented because that's what I had.  It's certified fair trade, biodegradable, vegetable based, the packaging is 100% recycled, and certified organic oils were used within the solution.  I made sure to thin it out with water.  Which would insure less time rinsing her out which in turn translates to less stress for the both of us.

Pudge was such a good girl.  She didn't scratch, and hardly growled (although washing her rather large tummy wasn't appreciated).

Once the rinsing process came, she began to lose a bit of her patience.  And once I began to towel-off the water, she immediately had had enough and escaped.  Pudge took her revenge by drying off on my bed. 

I tried to get a decent picture of her but she wouldn't smile for the camera.

Now that she's dry, she's so clean and soft. =^.^=

Moving...not so Green.

I've recently moved apartments, just five blocks away but financially feasible for my remaining year at Northern.  Now I intended to be as green throughout the process as possible, and in the beginning it was good.  I recycled last semester's notes (that I have no intention of looking at ever again), I was packing at a slow pace seeing what all I had and making a mental list of what needed to be donated since it hadn't been used in two years, etc.  Considering I had a little over a week overlap between my two apartments I didn't really see the point in rushing to get everything done.

The downfall of my green efforts began with the remain effects of my former roommate, that moved out two and a half months before myself.  She had left countless of open food containers hidden throughout our kitchen.  Items consisting of flour and cereal and everything in between.  And when I say hidden, I mean hidden; on top of the fridge, behind our food containers, in the freezer, etc.  Any open food was deemed roommate's and was immediately pitched, regardless of whether it seemed okay or not.  Over two months of being open to the elements of our apartment wasn't a chance I or my current roommate was willing to take.

I had never been so disgusted with my former roommate as I had then, at least in the cleanliness department.  It took me forever to clean up  the food remnants on top of our fridge.  And yes, the classic cleaning supplies came out.  The green cleaning supplies just couldn't handle my desire to get my full security deposit back.

The walls were dusted paper towels were exclusively used, and washed but a magic eraser was used.  The windows washed with Lysol all purpose spray.  The floors were scrubbed and vacuumed.  And the grand total was three city trash bags and two boxes of recyclables, and very disintegrated fingernails (furthering my goal of reducing the harsh chemicals used to clean my apartment regularly).  Not bad in comparison to my friend who cleaned out her apartment and had twelve trash bags.

And we got our full security deposit back!

Cleaning the new apartment was much greener.  Almost used exclusively were the Seventh Generation Anti-bacterial wipes, which work amazingly just FYI.  Though the intense cleaning wasn't mandatory for this apartment since it had just been cleaned by the previous tenants so they could get their security deposit back.

Green Island: Earth Friendly Goods

A friend of mine has recently gotten married and is prego.  But because I live in the distant north (at least in comparison to my friend) I couldn't make it to the wedding and I most likely won't be able to make the baby shower either.  I wouldn't be deterred. 

Once my winter semester was finished, I booked it downstate.  A two week break from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (aka the UP), was much needed.  These breaks are usually filled with a lot of traveling and seeing people (the rents, high school friends, etc).

To find presents I traveled to Traverse City, Michigan.  Last fall the I attended the Bioneers conference and they shared a lot of local eco-friendly stores.  In one such store I found presents for both the wedding and the baby.  The Green Island is a cute little store that only sells eco-friendly products.  Products such as: bamboo kitchen utensils, organic bedding, a wide variety of washable/organic fabric diapers, etc.

For the wedding present, I found a set of gorgeous hand carved bamboo salad servers.  They were a really deep rich brown with black handles that which have white accents (the pattern reminds me somewhat of a tame African print).

I had some trouble picking something for the baby.  My experience with children is limited.  (That's putting it mildly.)  I didn't know what kind of things my friend already had, what was still needed, what she thought would be helpful.  The reusable organic diapers seemed like a good idea, they had some really cute patterns but would my friend actually use it?  How big would her munchkin be?  Is it any greener buying a green gift for my friend knowing that they wouldn't be used?

I settled on a creamy white onesie with blue seams (a safe pattern that way there would be some chance of my friend actually using it).   A 3-6 month size outfit that way the munchkin could grow into it.

 I also found some green wrapping paper (that wasn't grocery bag brown) that was created from the energy produced by wind turbines and recycled paper.

Overall I was rather proud of my gifts. I managed to get all of this for approximately $40 with tax. 

If you're interested in the store and its products check it out at: http://www.gogreenisland.com/index.php

I forgot to take pics before giving them, so I'm waiting for pics from my friend.  Hopefully I won't have to wait indefinitely.

Help is near at hand!

I stumbled across an article last week about the coming of stricter guidelines for the environmental claims on products. As of January, the U.S. Government requires a third-party testing/inspection on efficiency of the new products versus regular products.  This is true to all products that bear the Energy Star logo.  Apparently before it was only required for some of the products.

According to the article: consumers and retailers are getting frustrated with the products that claim to be eco-friendly but there isn't any proof to substantiate these claims.

Currently a common problem is companies labeling rayon as bamboo on products.  Rayon (according to www.thefreedictionary.com) is any of several synthetic textile fibers produced by forcing a cellulose solution through fine spinnerets and solidifying the resulting filaments.  Not a very green product, hopefully this issue will be addressed.

Hopefully these guidelines/regulations will make shopping green easier and will remove a lot of grunt work for those who want to live greener.

The End?

It's officially Summer Break, and my nonfiction class that I had created this project for is over.  Now the only question is whether I'm going to continue my project on my own.  I've learned a lot over this project and I don't think that I can just return to living without thinking about how green my life is.  I hope to continue posting green ideas and products.  I haven't finished Gorgeously Green yet so I'll at least post until then.

But for now I need to get to commencement to support my friends who are graduating.

Condoms: Is there a eco-alternative?

Since my last post felt...let's call it "heavy," I thought that I would share an experiment that Dr. Getman of the Chemistry Department here at Northern Michigan University showed my CH 112 class.  He began the lecture with, "Let's say you and I met at a bar and I'm a condom salesman, not your professor.  So I'm taking off my Professor cap and putting on my Condom Salesman cap."

The experiment was two condoms that were filled and tied with 1.5 grams (g) of Ca(CH3CO2)2 and are placed in 100 milliliters (ml) of H2O . One condom is latex, while the other is natural condom made of lamb skin. After letting the condoms stand for 24 hrs, the natural condom is firm & bouncy (please envision a 60ish year old man bouncing this condom on the table in front of an entire class of approximately 200 students); while the latex is soft or "limp" as Dr. Getman adequately described.

Now one must be advised that latex is completely impermeable and the natural condom will be permeable to H2O.  This is differentiation is due to the material used for the condom product itself. The osmotic pressure is what's making the natural condom firm and bouncy because it’s drawing in H2O from the external solution.

Now the purpose of this experiment is to determine if: the natural condom prevent STDs and/or pregnancy?

The H2O solutions that the condoms were submerged in were subjected to a chemical test (I have forgotten this chemical's name, sorry for my lapse in memory).  The chemical (if Ca(CH3CO2)2 was present) would turn the solution white.  The latex condom's solution had no reaction.  The natural condom's solution had a cloud of white flourish as soon as the chemical was applied.

This means that the natural condom will not protect against STDs because virus sizes are approximately 30-700 A in size. Numerous viruses can permeate membranes, and lamb skin is a membrane (just in case someone forgot). Viruses can also simply leak through the pores within the lamb skin.

The condom will protect against pregnancy because sperm is too large to fit through the pores of the lamb skin and does not have the ability to permeate membranes.

Bottom line…use latex if you are unsure of your partner’s (shall we say) health. But if your both healthy and nature lovers go for the natural condom that is unless you're a vegan then latex all the way. Remember safe sex, very important.

This is why I love being a science major because my profs pretend to be condom salesmen in lecture.