Zero Waste Picnic

All packed up for a Zero Waste picnic and scavenger hunt at a local park and trail! 

Reusable beverage containers, reusable snack and sandwich bags, kids washcloths for napkins, an insulated reusable lunch box, and sandwiches placed in some handy reusable takeout containers.

Fresh Mint and Watermelon Juice!

My dear friend offered me a branch of fresh mint from her garden along with half a watermelon.  

I juiced them together this morning with help from the kids and it is DELICIOUS! 

We cut the red flesh from the watermelon and placed into a bowl and just tossed the mint leaves into the bowl.  Using a small cup, the kids scooped watermelon and mint leaves and poured straight into the juicer! 

Waste free donations?

The Center for Missing and Exploited children offers a waste-free option for donating to a good cause! 

No paper or packaging required!

Text SAFEKIDS to 20222 and donate $10 to NCMEC. Standard messaging rates apply. Must be 18 or older.

Give with confidence

NCMEC meets all standards of the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance.

Healthy batch of compost

That's a pretty healthy batch of compost!  

Since I only have one bin, I have to stop adding for 2 more weeks.  

Yesterday's scraps were placed in an airtight container with layers of paper shreds.  Let's hope that works until this batch finishes cooking!

Round two

In California, we have the luxury of good gardening weather nearly year-round.  The initial plantings this year in March included sweet corn, romaine lettuce, radishes, carrots, and yellow squash.  The lettuce and squash are doing well.  The radishes and corn were harvested, and the few carrots that grew as well.  

I have just planted some bok choy, bush beans, more carrots and sweet corn.  Let's see how this works now that we've added some compost to the soil and learned a little bit about caring for these plants!

I can't wait to get my raised planters so I'll make do with what I have for now.

But I can say that this time around, the soil seems much more suitable to grow corn in!

New purpose

You know those little measuring cups you get with children's liquid ibuprofen and acetaminophen?  We keep them and reuse them and sometimes even give them another purpose. We can use them to scoop powdered laundry soap out of a reusable plastic container before sending them to be recycled.  This saves two items from being recycled and all the energy consumption that goes with it and avoids another plastic container from being purchased (laundry soap- we make our own from borax, dove bar soap, and washing soda).  

Can you share any ways you can repurpose items before sending them to be recycled?