The Story!

So where to start? What to write about? I recently came across my old boots … Yes, hiking boots with a story (lots of ‘em).  Green(er)? Maybe, we’ll see.

It Started in High School, A LONG time ago

A long time ago, my high school on the SF peninsula offered a mountaineering class in lieu of PE for juniors and seniors.  As you can imagine, it was very competitive to get into so I only participated my senior year.  PE? Really? Oh yea.  We killed it doing the President’s Physical Fitness test that they used back in the day to evaluate school fitness programs.  We were the top class in the district (six high schools).  Every day, we were either on a hill run, working out on a jungle gym in a corner of the school yard or climbing in the gym on an early version of climbing walls. However, not on synthetic rocks bolted solidly to a frame; we were climbing on real rocks that the instructor had cut at a lapidarist’s shop, then super epoxied to the block wall using something he’d obtained from a friend at NASA.  Each rock supported you plus one ounce.  No sport leaping in this gym; usually the rock and epoxy would hold, but the cinder block would fail.

Finding Boots was a Challenge

Climbing shoes were another deal back then: very expensive and not commonly sold like they are today. So we climbed in boots. Big heavy boots that you could hold a thin edge on, stuff a toe into a crack and stand on it, or strap into crampons for ice work.  No sticky rubber for friction work, but affordable and multipurpose and good for learning a variety of mountaineering skills in. And very practical.

REI- Still a good place to shop

Mine came from REI in Berkeley. The only REI outside Seattle back when REI was a true co-op making and marketing outdoorsy gear for outdoorsy folk at great value.  After trying several and not liking the fit – too much heel lift, the smart sales guy pulls out the old Bannock Foot Measuring device and proceeds to inform me that I have really skinny feet so no wonder nothing was fitting.  But he has a trick up his sleeve and returns with a pair of Raichle’s that fit perfectly; better yet they’re 50% off since the style was changing to remove a side seam and they had these left over from a discontinued sale.  They were left over because they were a women’s pair, size 11.  But, a good fit is most important; last time I checked the trail isn’t supposed to be a fashion runway, and brown boots are brown boots. Sold!

Biologist and Boots in the Woods

We had a good run, those boots and I.  We went to the Los Padres National Forest, Kings Canyon above timberline for two weeks straight, the Great Smokey Mountains doing trail work and a close encounter with a bear (long story, but the boots ended up with a bear bite hole (no, my feet weren’t in them) and I learned that bears have really bad breath), lots of trails and forests in Idaho, Pt Reyes National Seashore, and lots of others I’ve forgotten about since they became my work boots.  Yes, they were heavy, but always supported my feet no matter how much load I was carrying, and, even on light trails my feet weren’t sore if the track was rocky.  I had them resoled a couple times. The stitching finally started to rot. The last shop to work on them foolishly agreed to do all the repairs for $20, then spent 10 hours of hard hand stitching with a heavy needle and pliers to get them back in usable shape.

A Good Run came to an End!

When the soles began to separate, I reluctantly decided to begin shopping for a new pair.  Raichle is no more; they’ve been bought by Mammut. So we began the drill: lots of try-ons, lots of less-than-ideal fit.  Sure a lighter pair would fit and work pretty well, but I really like that big sturdy boot feel, even on a light day hike.  PNW trails do tend to be rocky, and straight up/straight down so ankle support is a good thing. Then there’s snowshoeing … after months of off and on shopping, I finally settled on a pair of Meindl Air Revolution 4.1’s.  An air footbed and Gore-Tex, new high-tech stuff for me (though not terribly new technology), but a durable brand and big/heavy enough to make me feel like I’m back in my Raichle’s.  Hopefully they’ll last another 38 years (oh, wait, I probably won’t be doing much hiking then). 

So, green(er)?  Well, two pairs of big heavy multi-purpose boots rather than many pairs of short-lived lighter or special purpose boots is less consumption.  A conscious choice? Yep. Trade-offs? Yes again.  Accidentally green? Absolutely, but wouldn’t change a thing to do it all over again. 

What about you? Do you have a favorite pair of old friends you’ve shared many miles with and struggled to replace? Tell us about it at …

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Brian and I took advantage of the beautiful, sunny, dry July weather to go to a triple- A baseball game on Friday night. The Tacoma Rainiers were playing the Fresno Grizzlies at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma. It was a great game with both teams playing well.
While it would be easy to give you a rundown of the game, instead, I’m going to talk about the stadium itself. And make some general statements about other stadiums regarding their eco-friendliness.

Cheney Stadium is a small, family friendly stadium nicely situated near Highway 16 in Tacoma, WA. It has nice parking lots with enough parking to meet the stadium’s needs and is close to a bus line so public transit can also be used to get there.

As you walk up to the entrance, there are big signs that boldly state “No outside food or drink is allowed in the stadium”. We ended up leaving our reusable water bottles in the car and resigned ourselves to spending a small fortune on water. Most professional athletic stadiums have this policy. I understand. They make a ton of money on food purchases and many stadiums have fund-raising programs for local non-profits to work the food booths. There is also a risk of people bringing glass containers and injuries occurring. While I understand, I do think they could be more environmentally friendly by allowing people to bring in empty water bottles and then have a few filling stations inside.

After going through the usual bag check and security line, you enter the stadium right into the food court. They have a wide variety of food, from BBQ, to Ivar’s Chowder House, the requisite hot dogs, Mexican and pizza. None of it is GREEN, remotely clean or even pretends to be organic, farm to table, or any other option in the Healthy Living realm. When we go to places like this, I try to choose the least obnoxious option and then detox the next day. I’m better on some days than others. Living green is a journey and there are potholes and bumps sometimes.

A bottle of water is my least favorite thing to have to buy… I just cringe when I need to. The said bottle here was $4.50 for a 12 oz bottle AND it was Nestle. I almost didn’t buy it. But, it was in the 80’s, which is quite hot for the PNW and I couldn’t go the entire evening without water. I chose not to pursue hunting down a water fountain and asking for a cup to fill because I am not familiar with the stadium and the cups provided are usually Styrofoam.

We ordered food. I splurged with chicken and fries. Brian got tacos with refried beans. Brian’s beer came in a non-compostable but recyclable plastic cup and mine came in an aluminum can because they were already out of draft for my choice. And then the water bottle.

Enjoying the game

We found our seats right behind home base and scoped out the stadium. Like all professional stadiums the field was beautiful, carefully groomed grass. I can’t help but think about the amount of water and chemicals used to keep that grass green. I wonder the same thing with golf courses, football (both American and Soccer) fields and other athletic fields. I also wonder if the companies that manage them pay more for water during a drought or if they stop watering like the rest of us. I’ll have to do some more research on that.

Anyway, back to the stadium. Off to the side, there was a miniature baseball diamond for activities with the children. This was made with indoor-outdoor carpet and was super cute. There was also a lawn area near the kid’s playground where blankets could be spread out. The only downside was its location in the late afternoon and evening sun. If you were on the lawn and actually trying to watch the game, the sun would be in your eyes much of the game. And, again, what type of chemical load is in that grass?

Brian purchased our tickets to make sure we were in the shade. While we crave Vitamin D in the PNW, I am pasty white and burn easily. And his family has a history of skin cancer. Neither of us enjoy basking in the sun, so the shade was perfect.

The game started and was fun to watch. AND the side entertainment of the Rainiers’ mascot, Rhubarb the Reindeer was good. I had always thought their mascot was a moose. HeHeHe, either way, Rhubarb does a good job entertaining the kids and is cute.

Rhubarb the Reindeer
@rhubarbthereindeer| Twitter

After a few innings of people watching and good plays, they took a quick break to groom the infield. This was the greenest approach to grooming an infield I’ve seen. The true definition of MAN POWER was used as a group of guys did a finely choreographed march through the infield with what I can only describe as raking boards. Fun music played, and girls danced on the dugouts while these men accomplished their task. It took the same amount of time as a lawn tractor and was probably more efficient from a coverage standpoint.

As the game concluded and people started to leave, we noticed the large quantity of drink carriers, cups, food containers and programs strewn about the bleachers. These fans definitely weren’t like the Japanese fans at the World Cup who stayed after the game and cleaned up the stadium. But, I don’t believe they were any messier than your average movie theater or other athletic stadiums. Quite a sad testament to the attitude of consumers in certain situations.

There were multiple garbage cans strategically placed at each entrance to the bleachers. A container for recycling was also placed there for bottles and cans ONLY. There were no containers for other recyclables like the drink carriers or for compostables like food scraps and napkins.

The game we attended was the first in a series of 4 games, so the same program would be used for the next three nights. Since our program was gently used, we put it back in the box next to the gate, so it could be reused the next night.

In general, I don’t think any professional athletic stadium is green. There is quite a bit of room for improvement. Especially around waste management. I think Brian and I will be researching to see if any Green groups are advocating for greener practices in professional stadiums. And will be sending a letter to Cheney Stadium requesting to meet with them about implementing inexpensive greener practices. What can you do in your local area to help your stadiums model greener practices?

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Most people who have a yard, know how expensive water can be. This is true even in Western Washington where at least six months out of the year, we seem to have more than we need. For us, rain barrels provide both water storage and water control. In the Winter and Spring, the rain barrels provide a way for us to direct water away from our house and focus it on different areas of our property. In the Summer, we can use stored water to keep our plants growing and save on our water bill.

A quick pause here: before you undertake a project to install rain barrels on your property, check local regulations to make sure they are legal. Not all cities, counties or states allow the capture and storage of rain water.

When we purchased our home, there was one sad, lonely little rain barrel and we knew we would need to add more. This began the typical round of researching, googling options, comparing prices, materials and designs and finally deciding to temporarily use large plastic garbage cans we already had on hand. They were UGLY and not something I felt added any curb appeal. But they worked for a few seasons.

This past Winter, we were looking for a wine barrel to make a glass top game table for our living room. We found the perfect supplier on Craigslist. The price was so good at $75/barrel. Blank barrels for projects was more than we could resist. Instead of purchasing one barrel, Brian came home with four. I think he would have brought more on that first trip but his big, beasty, diesel truck wouldn’t hold any more.

Here are step-by-step instructions for converting a wine barrel into a beautiful AND functional rain barrel. Disclaimer here- I had every intention of providing a video but it appears my learning curve is higher than I anticipated. I do have some great pictures though, so we’ll just make those work!

The supplies you’ll need are:

• A Wine Barrel- obviously
• Pond Liner – enough to cover the top of the barrel
• Metal Screen Material- we used quarter inch, but you could use any heavy-duty screen, the purpose is to keep leaves, twigs and mosquitoes out of your barrel (especially the mosquitoes!)
• Silicone sealant
• Silicone Bung (Solid) – Carboy
• staples
• 2 spigots- we purchased ¾ quarter inch inexpensive metal ones with flanges on them
• Nipples – these screw into the spigot and are in the same area at the hardware store. This is what you push into the holes you drill.
• Screws- these attach the spigot to the barrel, just make sure they’re long enough and galvanized so they don’t rust
• Optional- cinder blocks to form a base to place your barrel on
• Optional- 0.5 cubic ft bag of river rock or some other decorative rock big enough to not fall through the screen. We do this because our screen is bigger, and we needed something to keep the mosquitoes out and it’s pretty.

Supplies for the Rain Barrel

Tools needed:

•  Sawzall, or Jig Saw: we make our opening round, but you can make your opening whatever shape you want
• Drill and a drill bit large enough to make holes for the spigots- we used a 1-inch drill bit
• Wrench for inserting the spigots
• Staple gun
• A template for the opening in the top
• Something to cut the pond liner. We used a box knife, but any sharp knife or scissors should work.
• Wire cutters for the screening
• A pencil to mark where you want to put holes
• Flashlight

Tools needed

Ok, so after you have everything gathered it’s, time to get started.
The rain barrel ends up with 3 openings. The top one is where rain water is collected from your gutters. The other 2 are in the form of the spigots. One of the spigots should be positioned near the bottom of the barrel. The other one is near the top. When it is raining, and you are filling up the barrel, you connect a hose to the TOP spigot and leave the spigot in the open position. This allows the barrel to fill up but not overflow. When you’d like to use the water, move the hose to the bottom spigot and allow gravity to help with the water pressure.

We position the spigots on the same board and avoid the tap hole. This is personal preference and depending on your needs, it may make sense to have the spigots in different areas. Whatever you decide, just make sure you have a spigot near the bottom and a spigot near the top. Mark where you decide to put your spigots with the pencil. On the top of the barrel, mark the shape and location you’d like your collection hole. Again, for us, it made sense to have the hole towards one side and away from the spigots. Now, you’re ready to drill. Oak is a hard wood and these barrels are thick. Be prepared to apply pressure to your drill and have the battery is charged. Drill all your holes at the same time. You’ll need a hole drilled in the top for the blade of your saw to start in.

Next, using the jigsaw or Sawzall, cut out the template you drew on the top of the barrel. It’s ok if the cutout falls into the barrel, you’ll be retrieving it along with other wood. Here is a fun fact, wine barrels have extra oak slats in them. This increases the amount of wine in contact with the wood as it ages. Until we cut open our first wine barrel, this is something that had never occurred to me! We consider these slats of wood as a bonus. They smell amazing. We have saved all them and plan to use them for projects in the future. We have a friend who is using his to make picture frames. Use the flashlight to retrieve all the wood from inside the barrel. Tipping it on it’s side may be necessary here.

Drilled holes and cutting the top.

Put the pond liner on top of the barrel. Cut the size you need to go up the sides of the barrel top. The wood of your rain barrel will last longer if you protect it from water resting on the top. If your brain works like Brian’s, you’ll staple the pond liner first and then cut it. I prefer to cut it and then staple. Either way works. Now you can cut an X across the hole in the top of the barrel. Fold the pond liner into the hole and staple around the edges. Now you’re ready to staple the screen down over the hole. Please wear leather gloves when you do this to protect your hands. The wire can be sharp and tends to bite. At this point you’re finished with the top until you move the barrel into place.

Pond Liner and screen installed on the top.

Inserting the spigots takes some elbow grease. We smeared silicon on the nipple to lubricate it and make it easier to insert. Use the wrench to twist it into place. Remember the saying, “Righty tighty, Lefty loosy”. Before the last turn put a “bead’ of silicon under the flange of the spigot to create a seal. After you have the spigot in snuggly, place two screws into the flange to secure it. Repeat this with the other spigot. We, meaning Brian, have made four of these rain barrels. From an old back talking, do the bottom spigot first so you can be in a more upright position when you’re more tired.

Top Spigot sealed and being secured

You still need to insert the Bung Plug. This can be a white silicon plug or if you want to be fancy you can use a wood plug or cork. The cost difference is around $10, so we use the silicon plug.  The plug can be difficult to pound in so silicon smeared on it might help. You could also use a hammer to tap it in.

Bung Plug going in

Ok, so now, you’re ready to move your beautiful rain barrel into position under your rain gutter. We place ours on cinder blocks to keep it off the dirt, raise it a little to help with water pressure and make it easier to level. To Prep your site, use a shovel to level the area. If you aren’t going to use cinder blocks, we do recommend a gravel base with weed paper under it or at least weed paper.

Maneuver your barrel into place and position your gutter down spout over the top hole. If you decided to use decorative rock or river rock, pour them on now.
This project takes about 45 minutes to complete. We love the natural oak color of wine barrels but don’t be afraid to paint or stain yours. I also purchased a copper rain chain for the front of our house. It was long enough for us to use one chain on 2 corners.

Finished Rain Barrel

Total cost for each barrel was around $90. This works out to be slightly less than a plastic, pre-made rain barrel. On our journey, we feel this is a great option. We saved money, didn’t use plastic, repurposed, and met a very nice man.

Wine barrels range in price quite a bit. Look on Craigslist and other local sale sites. We have helped a few people at our church obtain barrels from the Wine Barrel Guy. We have at least 2 more trips out to his home to pick up more barrels.
Do you have rain barrels? Have you ever considered making your property more “rain-wise”? How do you conserve water for your garden and lawn?

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A Greener Approach to Lawn Care – Part 1: Pesky Weeds

What is it about lawn? The beautiful, lush lawn with nothing but grass is a relatively new cultural phenomenon. Some people spend hours and countless resources- chemicals, water and equipment maintaining their lawns. While others don’t. As a society, we tend to view a green lawn as a mark of prestige or wealth. People who care about their lawn, take better care of their other assets – right? We have a neighbor who seems to mow his lawn at least 5 times a week. And I shudder to think of the chemical load his grass and soil carry. What does caring for a lawn look like from a greener lifestyle?

A green approach to lawn care is multi-faceted and way too much to tackle in one post. In Brian’s work as a biologist in the Conservation World, the term Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is used to describe how to select the pest control process. We talk about pests as more than just bugs or animals but include weeds, invasive or non-native plants, molds, etc…  In this particular series we’re going to be discussing Lawn Care specifically but will include links for many other types of IPM applications.

For us, taking a greener approach to lawn care first started with changing our expectations. I love a lush, green, flawless lawn. That was before our journey to living healthier became a priority. Brian always had a more in-depth knowledge of how the chemicals impacted us and the environment and to be honest, this was a bit of rub when we first got married. I didn’t want 18 inch tall dandelions in my yard and Brian didn’t want the chemicals needed to kill them. Now, we both agree that we don’t want our lawn overtaken with dandelions, thistles, plantains and moss but we’re ok with the lawn not being completely weed free.

Weed control (IPM) without toxic chemicals starts with creating an environment friendlier for the grass so it can compete with the weeds. We’ll be talking about this more in future posts for the series. Today, we’re talking about some creative ways to remove the weeds already there. When we purchased our new house, the lawn was not in great shape. And to be honest, we haven’t been spending the time to get it where we’d like it to be. That being said, we have more dandelions, thistles, plantains and moss than we want. A lot more. This means that simply mowing over them doesn’t really give the grass we do want a chance to compete.

Before we mow, we walk the yard with two goals in mind. The first goal is to remove the dog waste- an absolute necessity with 2 dogs. The second goal is to use a shovel to dig down under the main root system of a weed from the side to cut the roots off. We then lift the weed and pat the sod back down. This works best with thistles because their root system is a “tap root” and easy to grab. They also don’t choke out as much of the grass so there is often no bare patch left behind. The dandelions we have are possibly not even really dandelions, I just haven’t been able to identify them yet.  They are huge, with stems at least a quarter inch thick and grow to be 18-24 inches tall. They are a formidable foe to a green lawn! They also have a leaf spread of approximately 8-12 inches very close to the ground. They choke out the grass and when you do dig them out, there is a bare spot left. We’ve also used the Vinegar, Epsom Salt, Dawn mixture on them. This works well if you can spray before the plants get too big. In Western Washington, the many days with rain in late Spring rarely make this possible.

Thistles have a tap root

Sod is tamped down where thistle was

We used to pull the plantains as well but after attending the class on Outdoor Pharmacy , I’m “cultivating” them by allowing the plants to grow and just harvesting the larger leaves before the mower passes over them. Part of our journey has been learning about the benefits of plants and changing our perspective on what is good to have in our lawn.

You might ask why we’ve chosen not to use chemicals in our journey to greener. Well, I’ll warn you now, don’t get Brian started on this discussion unless you really want to be fully educated on Storm Water Run-off. Chemicals in storm water are a leading cause of water pollution. If you’d like more information about the impact of storm water run-off on waterways check out our Green News page.

Our journey to living greener has included a personal choice to avoid chemically treating our lawn and finding mechanical methods as part of our IPM plan. For the “weeds” we’re not able to eliminate without chemicals, we choose to enjoy as a plant God has created.

How do you control the weeds in your lawn? Have you ever questioned the chemicals our pets, families and the wildlife are being exposed to? In your personal greener journey are weeds more welcome in your yard than they were in the past?

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In 2015, Brian and I were ready to start looking for a home to purchase. We had relocated from Yakima, WA to Olympia, WA the Summer of 2014. At that time, we needed to live in a specific area so Connor could attend the high school we’d selected for his Senior year. The rental house we had found was in a wonderful neighborhood and was a nice size. It’s just difficult to rent after owning and we now felt we knew the area well enough to start an earnest search for a house.

House hunting is always interesting. It can bring up all kinds of conversation, differences in what’s important to a couple and really stretch the imagination of the “budget”. Needless to say, Brian and I had looked at every house that met the basic filter criteria in our search area. We simply weren’t finding anything that made us want to offer. You know those criteria- 3 + bedroom, 2 + bathroom, at least half an acre for a good garden, and a SHOP. We came really close to offering on a beachfront home. I just couldn’t get past the plywood kitchen cabinets and the $80K price tag to repair the bulkhead.

So, we continued searching, considering building, deciding not to build because of drainage and permit challenges, etc… Until one day on Trulia or Zillow or another MLS site, I was searching and accidentally didn’t set all our criteria filters! THE house, with a chicken coop and a Copper Kitchen Farmhouse sink! Oh, yes, the rest of the house was also nice, but the kitchen sold me. We still haven’t built our shop, it’s scheduled for January 2019 and we’ve made due with storing the wood working tools and a tarp carport for Brian’s car project. But, I have a kitchen design that makes food prep, canning, dehydrating, baking etc… easier and more efficient than I’ve had in the past.

Caring for my copper kitchen sink is interesting. Simply rinsing it with hot water and soap isn’t effective to keep it shining and beautiful. When we purchased the home, the former owners had left a small amount of copper cleaning cream. I was concerned about the toxicity of the chemicals in the cream. On our journey to living greener reducing the use of chemicals that are toxic to us, soil and water is ongoing.

Sometimes the steps to selecting the least toxic product can be comical. It involves standing in the aisle of a grocery store trying to get the scan feature on the Think Dirty app or the Good Guide app to work so we can compare products. It also involves searching on the internet for Material Safety Data Sheets, toxicity ratings and often, head scratching. Material Safety Data Sheets are really geared towards commercial use, but I find that they often can give me information of where to look for more data. I spend some time on the internet researching before I purchase new brands. For many of our cleaning needs, we have found products we’re quite comfortable with that I’ll discuss in future posts. The Copper Sink, well, we’re still searching for the best option.

Right now, I use  Wright’s Copper Cream. I like it for a number of reasons.
– It has a health rating of 1 (meaning it has a slight health hazard rating)
– There are no flammable ingredients in it (some of the other metal cleaning options are flammable)
– I can purchase a larger tub so there’s less environmental impact from packaging

I will continue to search for a greener option and may dabble in making my own copper cream when my current tub of Mrs. Wright’s is gone.

So how do I clean my copper kitchen sink?
1. I use doTerra On-Guard Concentrated Cleaning Solution diluted with hot water to clean my sink daily. This sanitized the sink and keeps it smelling fresh.
2. A couple times per week, depending on how tarnished it looks and if we’re having guests over, I don my rubber gloves and pull out my tub of Mrs. Wright’s Copper Cream
a. Using a soft cloth made from a repurposed old t-shirt, I gently rub the entire surface with cream
b. Rinse the sink out with warm water. Note: it probably could be ANY temperature of water and cold water is a greener option. On our journey I’ll get there.
c. Wipe the sink out with a dry cloth made from another old t-shirt
d. I shine my copper tea kettle at the same time
e. Enjoy the beauty of bright copper!

I love my big farm sink! It makes washing dehydrator trays, pots and pans very easy. It does mean being creative about rinsing dishes to conserve water. That’s another post for another day!

Do you have metal surfaces you clean with a metal cream of some sort? What do you use? I’d love to hear your thoughts on what works well for you and why you chose it!

Thank you for  sharing our journey and I hope you are successful in finding a greener option for cleaning your metals!

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I’ve talked about our calling to be stewards of God’s Creation and mentioned this is a main reason we are on this journey to greener. My individual journey has been very humbling as God has revealed aspects of my life I need to change. At times, it’s difficult but it’s always rewarding. I hope this helps you see why being a steward can help you as it helps us daily.

Stewardship can be a very broad term or quite narrow depending on how you choose to look at it. I’d like to talk about how we view stewardship and how that view helps shape our relationship with God, people and the world around us.

Our good friend, Jason Shanks, did an incredible job explaining what stewardship is on Earth Day 2018. Jason is the pastor of Radiant Church in Pleasant Hill, IA. We had the pleasure of joining him for a discussion about Environmental Stewardship at his church on that day. So, let’s dive in.
Stewardship starts with ownership. To steward an item or project you are taking care of it for the owner. In the case of the Earth or World, God is the owner. Psalm 24:1 states “the Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it”. This is repeated by Paul in 1 Corinthians.

It’s not our earth
It doesn’t belong to you
It doesn’t belong to me
It’s God’s
Everything in it
Including YOU!
Everything belongs to God

I know, this goes contrary to everything we’re told in the culture, but it’s central to our faith and should define our approach to how we live our lives.

The next principle in stewardship is: Responsibility

We are to manage God’s belongings. Genesis 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden Eden to work it and take care of it”.

If you’ve ever been an employee or family member, you’ve been in a situation where you were responsible for caring for someone else’s belongings. When we work for someone we are entrusted with caring for their business assets. As a family member, we care for our parents’ and siblings’ stuff as part of the group. Humanity has made a mess of the World. We’ve allowed greed and a lack of understanding of the long-term impact of our actions to get in the way of the instructions given to us on caring for the Earth. We each have a responsibility to care for God’s Assets by educating ourselves and not being complacent. There are many countries, organizations and people doing good things to correct some of the damage done. While the damage may never be completely corrected and there will always be people living in poor conditions, I know that I can show the beauty of a relationship with God to just one person every day and make a difference in their life.

The third principle of stewardship is: Accountability

We don’t like to talk about it, but we will be held accountable for what we do with what God gives us. There are many instances in the Bible where God has made this very clear. I think we can all look around and see some of the immediate consequences to how the Earth is being treated. We may never see the accountability for the guiltiest culprits with our own eyes.

This leads me to how being a Christian and environmental stewardship are related.
It’s hard to look at the World in it’s broken, chaotic state and feel hope, joy, and peace. Being human is hard. Life is hard. Even the most charmed lives deal with emotional and spiritual challenges. The biggest spiritual challenge is where so much of the negative stuff in the World comes from. All humans, man and woman, are born with a spiritual need to have a relationship with God. When we don’t have a relationship or we’re trying to live life without a close relationship, there is a big hole in our spirit or psyche. Most of us try filling this hole with things. We get into unhealthy relationships, we become addicts, we buy stuff, we over achieve, fill our time up to stay busy and we chase the dream. People live in constant search for the proverbial greener grass. From an environmental standpoint, this has lead to greedy farming, manufacturing and consuming practices. We’ve stripped our land of resources while trying to get richer, bigger, better, WHOLE.

So how do we have a relationship with God? For us, we turn back to the Bible and Jesus. When Jesus needed to pray and talk with God, he went to nature. He went to the wilderness, the mountains or a garden. Go out to a quiet place in the woods, a park, your garden and simply talk to God. Ask Him to have a relationship with you. Ask Him to show you how much He wants a relationship with you and ask Him to fill the hole in your spirit.

Our journey to greener is also our daily walk with God. Each day, as we struggle to make the right choices for ourselves, our family, community, region, nation and the Earth, we look to what God’s instructions are. We are learning to be more content with what we have, more generous with others and more often able to feel God nudging us in the direction He wants us to go. This journey is part of the process God is taking us through to become closer to Him, to rely on His presence to be OK no matter what is going on in our lives.

Thank you for joining us and letting me share. Our hope is for you is that your personal journey to green will help you find and strengthen your relationship with God.

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I was just out enjoying the beautiful, sunny day in my backyard and noticed the raspberries are starting to ripen! By next week, we should be able to start harvesting. And as my son, Connor, would say” and harvesting and harvesting”. We have a few varieties of raspberry canes, so we’ll be picking everyday until September. From the number of berries I’m seeing out there, I’ll be busy making jam, fruit leather and dehydrating. I also invite family, friends and neighbors over to help themselves to as many as they want.

Berries starting to ripen

Drying fruit is something I learned early in our journey. Dehydrating can be as simple as cutting your fruit into thin strips, placing them on a parchment lined baking sheet and plunking them in the oven at 135 degrees. I, however am a person who likes gadgets. In fact, I love gadgets. I have an apple corer, peeler, slicer gadget from Pampered Chef that makes preparing apple chips super quick and easy to do. I also have the wider slicing “barrel” for making apple pies. The other gadget I have is an inexpensive dehydrator. In fact, we have two of the same model. Brian makes jerky with his. I just couldn’t handle the thought of the same blower sitting on top of fruits and meats.

Pampered Chef Corer, Peeler, Slicer

When we started on our journey to greener, one of the first things we looked at was reducing the number of processed snacks we ate. Dehydrating is a great way to provide healthy snacks for your family and preserve foods that would otherwise go bad. I started with apple and banana chips because they are easy and familiar. Most recipes for apples or pears will recommend dipping them in lemon juice so they don’t brown. I no longer do this because I find that the chips don’t really get that brown and it was messy.

Kiwi prepped for drying

Dried Kiwi- Delicious!

I now get quite creative with my dehydrator. I have made my own power greens powder to disguise in sauces, smoothies and soups. Also, out of desperation last summer, I tried dehydrating Sungold cherry tomatoes. Which are amazing! They taste like sun-dried tomatoes but slightly sweeter. I toss a handful in soups or stews. I do the same thing with Swiss Chard. Just blanche the leaves in boiling water for a few minutes then dip in ice water. I spread them out on the drying trays and they hold up nicely until I’m ready to use them in soups all Winter long.

Fruit Leather is another fun way to use up fruit. You can blend any type of fruit you want with applesauce and spread it out on a parchment lined tray. Put it in your oven at 135 degrees. When it’s dry but still slightly tacky, cut it into strips and roll-up. I store mine in baggies. I use unsweetened homemade applesauce that is quite chunky for my fruit leather. It’s a flexible recipe! Experiment to adjust it to your taste. Fruit leather could also be made with frozen fruit since your blending it.

Raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes, apples, bananas, kiwis and grapes will all find their way onto my dehydrator trays this Summer. Some fruits will be eaten as fast as I dehydrate them. Especially the raspberries. Those are a favorite for everyone in our family. Others, like apples and tomatoes will last throughout the Winter.

I store my dried foods in canning jars. I prefer the wide mouth jars because they are easier to clean. These jars are popular for all kinds of crafts and party themes, so they are easy to find in grocery stores, craft stores and kitchen supply stores. If you choose to dehydrate food AND you want to store it in canning jars, you may want to consider investing in a Food Saver or other vacuum sealing system that has a lid attachment. My Food Saver is at least 20 years old and still going strong. I don’t think it would hold up to processing a large quantity at once, but it works for my needs.

Food Saver with Lid Attachment

Our next step to being greener will be to build a solar dehydrator to use in the Summer. More to come on that! I’ll be posting pictures of the process and describing how successful we are with it.

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Mom Cookies started out as breakfast cookies long before they were dubbed “Mom Cookies”. That name was given them in Costa Rica much later. “Mom Cookies” are a green snack at our house. Keeping healthy, homemade snacks around is an easy way to reduce the amount of packaging we have to dispose of and the types of chemicals found in processed foods we consume. This is one of my go-to recipes for bake sales at church and other community events and one way I can introduce others to lower sugar, organic baking.

In 2008, I was recently single and finances were tight. Both my girls were in college and I needed something to send in care packages that was “healthy”, relatively inexpensive and easy to make. I found a recipe online and promptly modified it to suit my needs. That was the beginning of experimentation to find something my older daughter, Carli, could eat in a pinch. Envision a poor college student with food allergies making food from the cafeteria unsafe and difficult to eat. Add to that, she was a Performing Arts major and danced 30 hours per week so eating enough calories necessary to maintain her weight was important. It was a scary issue and we both felt so much better when we knew what the ingredients in her food were. This recipe has solidified into the one I use today with organic ingredients, full-fat butter, whole eggs and non-refined sugar options.

That’s the background of Mom Cookies. This story is more accurately about my younger daughter, JaeLyn. She is our free-spirit and has so much more courage than I do. In Spring of 2016, Jae announced that she was going to Costa Rica with a friend for a almost a month. The announcement included that they were not really making any housing plans and were going to take it one day at a time using Air B&B when feasible. Knowing my daughter and what type of funds she most likely would have available, I immediately started to worry. My 26 yr old, 4ft 11in, feisty, free-spirited daughter was going to a foreign country with no real plans and limited funds! My mind kicked into mom mode. I could at least make sure she had emergency food.

When asked if she would be able to take a batch of breakfast cookies with her, Jae responded with an immediate “Yes”, but Joe, her friend is vegan. HMMM, I am not vegan and have never cooked vegan. Sure, I can make a batch of vegan cookies! Let the research begin! I chose to substitute the butter and eggs with avocado and bananas. Mainly because those ingredients are used in other recipes and they were already on hand but also because I just wasn’t comfortable with flaxseed for a first attempt at converting a recipe.

Fast forward to a week later, Brian and I met up with Jae in Portland and handed over 2 batches of breakfast cookies. 48 total, and 24 of those clearly labeled as Vegan, individually packaged in zip lock baggies. We packed them into her backpack and the next day, she and Joe set off for Costa Rica

My Kitchenaid makes mixing fast and easy!

This is the regular version, the vegan version is darker

“Mom Cookies” are 4 inches in diameter

Jae was good about checking in once a week via Facebook and their pictures were amazing. Half way through their trip, it turns out those cookies became a commodity. They had traded some cookies for housing. Not quite sure how I feel about my daughter trading cookies for housing in a foreign country???

The term, “Mom Cookies”, was dubbed when they met a man from New York who had become vegan. He shared with them the thing he missed most after going vegan was his mom’s cookies. Jae and Joe immediately pulled out some breakfast cookies. I now have a man from New York, living in Costa Rica who loves me. “Mom Cookies” became official.  I’m happy to have reminded a man of his mom. I hope he contacted her and they had a great conversation. JaeLyn wanted to make sure I shared this in my story.

Writing this story, it occurred to me I’ve never written the final recipe for “Mom Cookies” down. In addition, while all three of my children have helped me make them, none of them know my recipe. Well, thanks to you, “Mom Cookies” will soon be ready to share. Watch for an email with instructions to claim your own copy of how to make the World Famous (well, in Washington and Costa Rica) Mom Cookies.

Thank you for joining us today and we hope you are enjoying our blog.

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In Spring of 2016, we launched our first 10-week series on environmental stewardship at our church. We chose the title “Creation Care” and developed a curriculum based on God’s message to us and many hours of research. We have received a ton of support from friends and church members in the development of our curriculum. This is an ongoing, evolving process. Each class has been different and our content changes as we continue to learn, and current events are discussed.

We challenge our class participants to make one step towards being greener each week. This is to start the habit of continually finding new ways to be greener. Another activity we ask people to do is to get out and really observe nature daily. In the Pacific NW, we’re incredibly blessed with moderate temperatures most of the year and easy access to green spaces where nature abounds. Brian will be quick to point out that even a concrete jungle has its own ecosystem though. Suggestions are to take a walk, sit on your porch or balcony and look for birds, dig in the dirt, or sit under a tree and read. These are great ways to start gaining an appreciation for how diverse and intricately detailed our World is. It’s also a great time to talk with God and reconnect.

People get worried that they’ll be told to make radical, painful changes in their lifestyle. They also don’t want to be shamed by stories of fire and brimstone. That’s not what our curriculum is about and not what this blog is about. We want to begin the conversation about what’s going on in the World. We show people how to research for themselves and ask questions. We give helpful tips on making gradual changes. This is where it starts. Awareness of all of us being responsible for caring for God’s Creation. Then make a change.

The “Green Bible”  is one of our best resources. If you’ve ever wondered exactly what the Bible says about the earth, environment, creation, or the desire God has for humanity this is a good place to start. I think this is where we started the concept of scalability around being green. I mean, let’s be honest, just talking about “greenness” and what it means or looks like can be immediately overwhelming. Read our page about “Degrees to Greener”  for our concept of Creation Care.

An outcome of a couple classes was the creation of a “Green Audit” for our church. Class members had the opportunity to interview various church ministry leaders about their understanding of what Creation Care is, the church’s responsibility to green practices and how they think the church is doing. It was a great way to identify what we’re doing great at and those areas we could improve. The church has transitioned to non-toxic cleaning supplies, installed water bottle fillers at the drinking fountains, reduced packaging in the coffee shop, replaced flooring with sustainable materials and are changing to LED lights. They also plan on upgrading the windows to more energy efficient models as they are replaced.

We’re considering creating an online version of Creation Care. Is this something you would be interested in? Do you like the idea of attending a live class via a webinar hosting link, i.e. Skype?

Thank you for learning about our class. If you like our blog, please follow, share and let us know!
God Bless and have a great day,

Brian and Kelli Cochrane

Recommended Reading:

         

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For our family, part of being greener is learning more about the plants God created and how to use them safely. I should add the disclaimer, “our family” really means me. Brian and Connor tolerate my musings and are hesitant to use anything I make. CarliAnn and JaeLyn are more interested in the health benefits. Brian teases me that I may need to start growing dreadlocks and stop shaving my armpits. Aren’t stereotypes interesting? I prefer to think that I don’t fit into any stereotype and don’t feel there’s anything wrong with someone choosing to grow dreadlocks or a woman not shaving their armpits. Not sure I would personally ever go there but kudos to those who choose to. OK, so I’ve gone down a rabbit trail and it’s time to get back to the topic at hand. I recently attended a class at a local growing co-op about outdoor pharmacy options in my area. It was encouraging and fascinating.

Before I go any further, I need to give a shout out to the instructor, Elise. She is a clinical herbalist and has an amazing blog. For more information, recipes, etc… please visit her.

Did you know that plantains (Plantago Major) are super versatile and have spread throughout the World? I didn’t even know the name of this common plant and I think of the plantain fruit, which is a completely different species. I’ve always viewed plantains as a weed but the Plantago Major has great healing qualities. A local Native American tribe calls it Frog Leaf based on a story about a frog being healed by the plant. I love when my perspective is changed by new information! Don’t you?

We also explored alder bark, comfrey, yarrow, horsetail (I harvested some of this) and chickweed. During the class we made chickweed pesto, which was very good and a salve for rashes, bruises and irritated skin. This is one more way I can eliminate unnecessary chemicals and petroleum- based products in our home.

Plantago Major on the Trail

The salve is made with calendula, yarrow, comfrey and plantain. The base for it is organic Olive Oil and beeswax. Olives grown in California are heavily sprayed with pesticides so if you use domestic olive oil, buy organic if possible. This salve is bright green and  also has lavender and helichrysum essential oils in it. Both of these oils are good for soothing the skin, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and have some pain relieving qualities. I use essential oils  for many health enhancing needs. I’m excited to use this salve instead of over-the-counter products with petroleum and chemicals in it.

Labeling salve

Getting to a point where I’m comfortable making a salve from “weeds” picked along a trail has been part of my journey. Even a year ago, I’m not sure I would take the information learned in this class and actually use it. I count this as one more step in Our Journey to Greener. Now I just need to find some chickweed and make pesto for the guys!!! Would you explore your regional area for the outdoor pharmacy it offers?

Thanks for allowing me to share and looking forward to hearing from you.

Have a great day,

Kelli

Pink Yarrow

Discussing Alder Bark

Mortar and Pestle

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