Messays

Environmentalism is Not for Wimps: My Run-In with a Reel Mower

Messays
LAURA GARWOOD MEEHAN / Tuesday, April 15, 2008 06:49 PM

Picture the scene: Saturday, a sunny day in springtime. Birds singing, children laughing and playing. Me, swearing and sweating, pushing as hard as I can, and yet not budging. More...

TAGS: HOME, gardening

A Google "Bike There" Feature: Dream or Reality?

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LAURA GARWOOD MEEHAN / Monday, April 7, 2008 04:43 PM

ByCycle.org screenshotGoogle Maps has a driving directions page that already tops all the others. After all, after you enter your starting and ending addresses, you already can click the option: "Take Public Transit," and it will give you several options--even calculating the price of driving vs. the price of riding! More...

TAGS: GO, bikes, kids

Green Building: Fun for the Whole Family (Except Dad)

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LAURA GARWOOD MEEHAN / Monday, March 17, 2008 11:11 AM

Need building materials, craft materials, or maybe just to get out of the house? Have you heard of the ReBuilding Center? Trust me, once you visit this place, just off Fremont, at 3625 N. Mississippi, you will never go back to that horror of all horrors, Home Depot.

This weekend, Jeremy, Selah, and I all piled in the Volvo and headed out. Jeremy needed some building supplies for a volunteer project he is heading up, and thought he would at least start at the ReBuilding Center. I was just curious. Selah is an involuntary participant in whatever we do. More...

TAGS: HOME, green remodeling, hardware stores, salvaged

Royal Treatment...For a Small Fee: Online Grocery Shopping and Delivery

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LAURA GARWOOD MEEHAN / Monday, March 10, 2008 08:13 PM

I am one of the several bloggers who tried New Seasons's through the month of February. I have lots of thoughts and great amounts of wisdom to pass on, but  first would like to say "Thank you" to New Seasons and their personal shopper team. They treated me very well, and my groceries even better. I do intend to keep using the online shopping service from time to time.

I will start with the grueling personal confession: I am a guilt-monger. I know I have strange ideas regarding "waste" that have little to do with a normal person's (blame my stoic, puritanical ancestors who got off the Mayflower and haven't accepted help with anything since). I had a very hard time feeling that it was okay to use the service if I only needed a couple of things. I put off using it for several weeks because I didn't need enough groceries to make it "worth it." Dear Reader, the service was free. I think I felt guilty about wasting the store's time. (?) I wouldn't ask my neighbor to drive to the store to buy me one random item, so I didn't want to ask them. Meanwhile, I kept going to other stores to buy the items I tended to buy there. Once in a while, I had the urge to drive to New Seasons, but wouldn't let myself do that either, since I had this lovely free service!
 More...

TAGS: FOOD, product reviews

Organic Baby and Toddler Food--on the Cheap!

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LAURA GARWOOD MEEHAN / Wednesday, February 20, 2008 04:09 PM

Previously, I wrote an article about making one's own baby food without the waste and expense of buying those little plastic tubs (or even the jars). I have decided to make it one step easier for you: here are some recipes!

For apples, firmer pears, prunes, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, eggplant, green beans, greens (kale, collard greens, spinach, etc.), peas, potatoes, rhubarb, squash (summer or winter), or yams/sweet potatoes, remove any peels, cores, and/or tough stems. Wash the item thoroughly. Chop it into small pieces (one-inch cubes should work). Add the item and enough water to the pan/microwaveable dish so that it will not entirely boil away (a few tablespoons should do). On the stove, bring everything to a boil, and cook until tender. Keep a lid on the pan to minimize nutient loss. In the microwave (which saves power), cover the dish and microwave for several minutes. Once the food is very soft for a young baby, or tender-crisp for an older one, remove it from heat and allow to cool slightly. More...

TAGS: LIVE, babies

Yams Can't Be Force-Fed Other Yams: Vegetarian Food with Attitude

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LAURA GARWOOD MEEHAN / Wednesday, February 13, 2008 07:53 PM

Just a stone's throw from my house, on Fremont and 50th, is a great little vegetarian restaurant, Blue Moose Cafe.

I have to admit, I am not a vegetarian. It doesn't matter; their food would please anyone. My favorite thing to order is called "Children of the Corn." It's a burrito in a bowl, and offers a hearty serving of polenta topped with pinto beans, jack cheese, corn, green pepper, green onion, tomato, sunflower seeds, and hot sauce. I always get it without the tortilla (can't eat gluten) and with fat-free sour cream. They mostly serve creative soups, sandwiches, and burritos, though they have great salads and "long plates" such as the Mideast Peace Platter of hummus and veggies. Everything is vegetarian, and many things are vegan. I like that they serve the local Portland Roasting Company's organic coffee, and have local tofu and bread. More...

TAGS: FOOD, babies

Stimulate Whose Economy? Thoughts on Wisely Using the Economic Stimulus Package.

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LAURA GARWOOD MEEHAN / Friday, February 8, 2008 09:08 PM

President Bush has announced that we're all supposed to get money, or an "economic stimulus package" from the government. This is with the intent that we will better our economy by spending the cash. It's easy to feel excited, and think, Finally! I can get a better TV!

Wait! Don't do that! More...

TAGS: LIVE, charitable giving, green finance, socially responsible investing

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: Environmental and Community-Minded Spending

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LAURA GARWOOD MEEHAN / Monday, January 28, 2008 06:28 PM

As I mentioned in one of my last posts, I have been converted by the PBS special, Escape from Affluenza. I already knew that I occasionally struggle to balance our household finances with living green. Sometimes I want to save money, and am tempted by cheap, pesticide-sprayed produce and plastic junk from Taiwan instead of locally produced, pricier products.

Image credit: lanuiop via flickr

Jeremy and I have started to notice our shrinking collection of wine glasses. When we got married, we registered for a 24-piece, cheapo set of goblets (We got them at Macy's, though he always thinks we got them at Target, much to my irritation). Today, less than five years later, we have...six. Two white and four red. (We hardly ever drink white wine, too--go figure why those ones are nearly gone). Our dishwasher beheads them more often than not, and sometimes they have broken in the sink or on the floor. Either way, I decided we needed a few more, in the name of not offering our guests wine in sippy cups. More...

TAGS: HOME, eco interiors

Escape from Affluenza

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LAURA GARWOOD MEEHAN / Saturday, January 19, 2008 06:27 PM

Last night I went to a friend’s for dinner and a movie. However, it was not your standard eat-pizza-and-watch-Dumb-and-Dumber evenings. My friend and her friends served a lovely array of foods, and we watched Escape from Affluenza. Afterward, we had a discussion.

 

If you are reading this blog and visiting this site, you are probably someone who cares about living a “greener” life. As a group last night, we realized that all of us should want to do this, even if we are extremely dissimilar people. You can choose to reduce your consumption and cut back on your disposable lifestyle because you care about the earth, because you want more money, because you want to spend more time in your community, because you care about mankind, or even because you are just plain selfish! Whether you are Republican or Democrat; Christian, Buddhist, or atheist; adult or child; man or woman; you can have a better life if you just get out of the habit of being thoughtless. We were a diverse group of people, and in a way, it bonded us to watch the movie together. More...

TAGS: LIVE, wellness

Radon Alert: Test Your Homes for the Silent Killer

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LAURA GARWOOD MEEHAN / Wednesday, January 9, 2008 11:29 PM

My husband and I bought our home about two and a half years ago. It has been our pride and joy ever since--it's a cute little (okay, miniscule) 1924 bungalow in close-in Northeast Portland, a stone's throw from Jim and Patty's and lots of great shops and restaurants. I was pregnant at the time, and we joyfully planned our nursery, imagining what it would look like when we eventually removed the tons and tons of junk we were storing in that room at the time. More...

TAGS: HOME, eco interiors