My Trashcan Runneth Over

January 3rd, 2010

Okay, so I’m not going to say that yesterday was an unmitigated disaster in terms of my quest to buy less.

It was a mitigated disaster.

The disaster part: Bed Bath and Beyond after-Christmas sale.

Bought twelve drapery panels, each in it’s own clear plastic container (with zipper - why not just a flap, I do not know) and with a couple of pieces of cardboard stiffener inside.

Also bought a set of sheets on clearance, non-organic cotton. (I did just purchase an organic set for Abbey’s new bed - part of her complete new bedroom suite. See? Mitigation and disaster.)

Also bought a new set of towels, non-organic cotton. Old ones have bleach stains, though I would swear they have never come within an arm’s length of even a closed bleach container.

But they were all sooo pretty, and sooo cheap.

It’s a quest for reduction, though, not a day trip.

Today’s buying results were much better. I discovered Rouse’s!!!

Rouse’s is one of three local options for a grocery store. (There would be four, but I don’t count Wal Mart - they’re getting much better with eco-friendly products, but the noise and activity of the place gives me a twitch.) It’s competitors are Winn Dixie and Lishman’s.

Rouse’s rocks!!!

Lishman’s was too expensive, Winn Dixie was too expensive and the parking lot was a nightmare.

Rouse’s is too expensive (but, then again, I’m comparing it to military commissary prices, so I may be a little biased), but it’s got so many eco-friendly and organic products I was in green shopper’s heaven!

Tonight we bought organic butter, cream cheese, broccoli, apples, cauliflower, lettuce, milk, and soy milk. We bought eco-friendly dish detergent and will be able to buy Mrs. Meyer’s, Seventh Generation, or Ecover laundry and cleaning products when we need them!

Joy, joy, joy!

And I didn’t even fill up the trash can with extra packaging when we got home!

Which was good, because they’re all overflowing from the unpacking and new buying detritus of the past few weeks.

Seriously - when you can’t recycle, the trash cans need to be emptied every day, it seems. Such a pain!

Then again, the mitigation there is that my dear husband is usually the one that empties the trash. Which he did (again) while we were out shopping.

Good husband.

Good grocery store.

Grateful wife/mother/tree hugger/shopper.

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Bon Jour, Louisiana!

January 2nd, 2010

It has been a busy two months since I wrote the last post in this blog. We have had adventures in life!

My husband finished his treatment for Lyme disease (round two) and we were transferred to and subsequently moved ourselves to Slidell, Louisiana.

Though we had hoped to move back to our native Virginia, we quickly discovered that our new home on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain is fantastic!

We have a little bit of waterfront on a freshwater canal (no alligators - I checked before we signed the lease) and can now seagull- and duck- and pelican-watch over morning coffee. Woohoo! I can’t wait to see what birds join the party once I put my feeders up!

One of my first concerns about moving to Slidell was that the area wouldn’t have any environmental education opportunities. Silly me! New Orleans is home to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, the Audubon Insectarium, and the Audubon Zoo, any of which I’d absolutely love to work at. (Are you listening, Audubon human resources people?)

There’s also a plethora of wildlife refuges (read: swamps and marshes with alligators - I don’t mind working with them, I just don’t want them for neighbors - blatantly alligator-ist) and a fantastic botanical garden. (By “fantastic” I of course mean that I’m having fantasies of working there, teaching native gardening and garden photography to students of all ages.)

One major disappointment, though: Slidell has no recycling. None.

Milton had no curbside pickup, but I got used to taking it to a drop off center. Having no recycling at all really hurts. Literally - every time I have to throw away a recyclable, another drop of painful guilt falls into an ever-growing mental guilt bucket.

I understand why there’s no recycling - the waste management system is still in knots cleaning up from hurricane Katrina. I’m not mad about it or anything, just terribly disappointed.

So, this will have to be my new year’s resolution: to really and truly reduce my consumer footprint. Out of reduce, reuse, and recycle, I think reducing is the hardest.

It’s especially hard when you’re moving into a significantly larger house and suddenly find yourself in “need” of a lot of stuff.

It’s even harder when there are after-Christmas sales everywhere. Everywhere!

So, this is my mission and my New Year’s resolution: finding ways NOT to buy things. Maintaining the things we already own. Definitely buying things with less packaging (must find a bulk discount store in the area).

Tips and tricks are welcome, both on reducing and finding recycling options in the New Orleans area (as are job recommendations, preschool recommendations, and restaurant recommendations)!

Happy New Year to all - may 2010 bring us all exciting new adventures in nature and in life!

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Note This: FREE Shipping on EVERYTHING

November 4th, 2009

We are now offering free shipping on everything at our site. That’s right, FREE. No limits. No matter how much you order, it ships FREE. Enjoy!

Shop now at: World of Color Photography Website

Pumpk-info

October 27th, 2009

Pumpkinelope - Our Kiddo Scarecrow

Though our pumpkin headed, toddler-sized scarecrow, “Pumpkinelope” has been sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch for over a week now, we won’t head out to get our carving pumpkin until tomorrow.

The heat and moisture are so high here in Florida, I didn’t want to put out a Jack-O-Lantern too early, lest it become a real fright by rotting right in front of us and before Halloween.
So, in honor of the scraping, carving, and lighting to come, a few pumpkin facts for you:
  • Pumpkin is tremendously good for you - its bright orange flesh is a clue to the large amounts of beta carotene (vitamin A) inside. It is also rich in potassium, fiber, Vitamin C, E, and K. Click on these links for a good pumpkin soup recipe and instructions on pumpkin seed roasting.
  • The top pumpkin-producing states are California, Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (listed in alphabetical order). They produced 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins last year. Source

  • Each year, growers compete for the title of growing the world’s largest pumpkin. The largest recorded pumpkin grown was on October 1, 2005 at the Pennsylvania Giant Pumpkin Growers Weighoff. It weighed in at 1,469 pounds, breaking all previous world records. It was grown by Larry Checkon of North Cambria, Penn. Source

  • American colonists sliced off pumpkin tops, removed the seeds, and filled the pumpkins with milk, spices, and honey. They then baked the entire pumpkin in hot ashes to make a dessert. Source

  • Pumpkins (which are biologically a fruit, not a vegetable, because they bear the seeds of the plant) are a member of the squash family, cousins to gourds, zucchini, and cucumbers.
  • The carving of jack-o’-lanterns originated from the tradition of carving the faces of lost souls into hollowed out pumpkins and turnips. A candle was placed inside the carvings making the faces glow. The Halloween lanterns were placed on doorsteps to ward off evil spirits. Source

Happy Halloween to all! Be sure to send in photos of your carving art - I’d love to post them!
One of these days, the perfect pumpkin will pose for my camera and I’ll add its orangey awesomeness to the gallery collection. Check out the other oranges in the Orange Gallery.

Nature Quote - October 23, 2009

October 23rd, 2009

My little girl is 3 years and 2 months old today - and this is 1 poem I can’t wait to share with her! (How I wish it were illustrated!)

October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came -
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.
~George Cooper, “October’s Party”

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Because I was looking, I saw. . .

October 21st, 2009

a lot of really cool stuff happening in nature this last week - from my backyard to Bear Lake, here are a few of the highlights:

  • A toad has taken up residence on or near our front porch.  He (or she) appears to be your basic Bufo terrestris, about four inches nose to hind end, and getting plumper every night by feeding on the various bugs attracted by our porch light.  We have not named our toad friend yet, so write in if you have toad moniker suggestions.
  • I have landscaped with wildlife in mind.  I have even certified my yard as a Backyard Habitat.  I’m used to birds at the feeder and anoles and geckos all around the house.  But still, occasionally something catches me off guard and makes me so glad for my landscaping;  a few days ago I spotted a mockingbird chasing a blue jay all around my crabapple tree.  Then I saw why:  the blue jay’s beak was clamped around a ripe, red, crabapple the size of a fat blueberry.  There are still hundreds of crabapples left on the tree, so I’m hoping to catch their Tom & Jerry act again!
  • Speaking of mockingbirds . . . they sure have moxie!  While Abbey played at the playground next to our library this Monday night, I spotted a red shouldered hawk that came to rest in a bare tree across the street.  I told Abbey and we edged closer to get a good look at the large, impressive raptor.  And it was impressive, standing there still as a statue while a mockingbird hopped all around it, harassing its every last feather.  This hawk could have made an appetizer out of the mockingbird, but still the smaller bird came to within inches.  And the smaller bird achieved its goal - the unruffled but annoyed hawk took wing a minute or so later.  I knew mockingbirds were protective and territorial, but this one seems either downright heroic or downright stupid.  (Probably a little of both - when you come right down to it, all survival on the planet requires a little of both.)
  • Buckeye butterflies are everywhere!  All over the woodland trail at Bear Lake, all over my zinnias, just all over.  They are gorgeous!  My identification books mention them massing at this time of year; not migrating like monarchs, but definitely moving southward.  This is definitely a check mark in the “pro” column for living in the south.
  • We did get to see a bald eagle at Bear Lake.  We haven’t seen one on every visit, so it’s special.  This time, the great bird took off from a branch in a nearby pine snag so forcefully that the branch came tumbling down with a loud crack and rumbling clatter.  The eagle flew over our heads while we were distracted with the noise.  I caught it out of the corner of my eye and was able to alert Brian and Abbey before it turned to catch an air current and sailed back in front of us.  A moment of pure natural magic, all the better for having seen it with my two best fellow explorers.
And we saw it because we were out there . . . just having fun and . . . looking.
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Don’t Forget: Orionid Meteor Shower This Week

October 19th, 2009

Bundle up and get outside each night this week to see the Orionid meteor showers!

The best night will be Wednesday, the 21st, and the best viewing times are 2am-5am, but I doubt I’ll be up and out that early (unless I have to wake up to pee in the middle of the night).

You should be able to see shooting stars from dusk on, particularly in the eastern sky. (They’re called the Orionids because the meteors seem to radiate from the constellation Orion.)

Maximum rates are expected to be 20-30 per hour and since it’s a crescent moon, that will make the sky dark and the meteors extra-visible.

Okay, I’m off to the store to stock up on jugs of apple cider to mull with cinnamon and take out with us when we go shooting star watching tonight.

Be sure to respond to this post and let me know how the shooting star show goes where you are!

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Nature Quote - October 9, 2009

October 9th, 2009

“The green grass and the happy skies court the fluttering butterflies.” -Astrid Alauda

The air here is fairly filled with the fluttering wings of butterflies. Some are taking in the nectar of our fall flowers (we’ve still got months before the first hard frost) and some are merely stopping over on their way to points further south.

Whatever the reason, I’m glad they’re here - they make life seem enchanted.

web-russet-on-cobalt

Russet on Cobalt

gulf-frit-on-plumbago-tall

Gulf Fritillary on Blue Plumbago

Autumn Action

October 6th, 2009

A well-supported principle of ecology is that the place where two ecosystems meet – between a forest and a stream, or a river and the sea – the diversity of life abounds. You’ll find more plants, more animals, more activity, courtesy of the mix.

I’m beginning to think the same principle holds true for the time around the change of seasons.

Fall fell on September 22 this year, and though afternoon temperatures here along the Gulf Coast are still mercilessly steamy, the air of autumn is all around.

The animals that seemed to loll through the end of summer’s heat (a wise tactic indeed – in the south you either take summer slowly or are struck dumb and still by its power) have been revived by the recent cool nights.

Here, at the change of seasons, birds and bugs (and bigger things, too) are teaching us about action and diversity in all their furry, feathered, whiskered and winged glory.

They know a change is coming.

They’re up and about and getting prepared.

They bicker and brag and celebrate and sing.

The opulence of summer has met the sweet breeze of autumn, and those of us lucky enough to be fed physically by the first and spiritually by the second . . . well, we need to get moving.

Now is the time to be outside – in this short reprieve between the hellish heat and the cruel cold – to be out looking and thinking and putting pen (or brush, or pixels, or child’s crayon if that’s what you have at hand) to paper.

We are the ones fortunate enough to be able to watch, listen, hear, taste, smell and see. We cannot capture the change, but it is both our responsibility and our reward to tell the story.

We can, each in our own way, share the joy and glory of the sweet place where two seasons meet, and mix, and move the world.

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(This piece was originally written for Moonshine Magazine’s October 2009 issue.)

New Photographs Available

September 23rd, 2009

Our summer trip to Virginia was amazing.  I’m making my way (slowly) through over 300 frames I shot there, and I have added these three to the gallery collection already.  Enjoy!

Burgundy Swirl Dahlia

Burgundy Swirl Dahlia

Appalachian Hillside Summer

Appalachian Hillside Summer

Poinsettia

Poinsettia