Urban Homesteader

Do you know that we Americans use around 84 billion plastic bags annually? (I know I’ve probably got a cool million or so stuffed in the kitchen drawers and pantry.) What’s worse is what happens when the bags end up in the landfill:  they don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits and contaminating soil and waterways.

So when I saw these cool black reusable grocery bags for a mere $1 each, I bought ten. (Disclosure time: the bags are from Wal-Mart. I know, I know, the mega-retailer has a long way to go to become an eco-friendly company. But Wal-Mart’s management is improving its environmental practices, and the company’s prices on organic foods are hard to beat.) The bags are made from 85% recycled materials — including 4 plastic soda bottles — and they can carry the same weight as 2 to 3 plastic shopping bags.

It was time to try out the new bags, but I’m ashamed to say that during the next two trips to the grocery store I forgot to take them inside. I didn’t remember my newfound zeal to use my eco-bags at all, in fact, until the checker was halfway done with my order and the bagger said “Are plastic bags okay?” I solved that by writing “BRING BAGS INSIDE” at the top of my grocery list. (It’s a pity that my brain is so compromised, but that’s what happens when you kill too many brain cells in your youth.)

I remembered the bags today, and tucked them in my grocery cart. I wondered if the bagger would say anything, but the checker just handed the bags to her and she happily packed my groceries in the bags. $40 worth of groceries fit into just two bags. When she was done, she said “Don’t forget to credit her for her bags!” to the checker, and he opened the cash register and handed me a dime! That’s right, King Soopers gives you 5 cents each if you reuse a bag. The checker explained that you could even bring your plastic bags in to reuse them, and you’ll get the rebate. So check with your local store and see if a similar program is offered, and “Sack it To ‘Em!”

2008 begins with a terrific improvement here at the Urban Homestead - a new bamboo floor in the office!

Our journey started when I read Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan’s compelling book, “Apartment Therapy: The Eight Step Home Cure.” Along with some great ideas for simplifying one’s home environment and paring down one’s possessions, the author suggests indentifying the room in our house that bugs us the most; he then gently guides readers on how to “cure” the space. In my case, the room with the most problems happened to be the space where I spend at least 50% of my time — my home office. For starters, the floor was covered with the grungiest, worn, dog-hair and lint-laden, impossible-to-clean shag carpeting. Think I’m exaggerating? Take a gander at THIS:

When our professional carpet cleaner said he simply couldn’t get the scuzzy carpet any cleaner, I decided to have it removed and install a strong, clean, sustainable floor of bamboo. Bamboo is harder and stronger than most hardwoods and is a highly-renewable resource; bamboo is one of the fasted growing plants in the world, and it can be harvested in 3 to 5 years, versus 10 to 50 years for trees. Bamboo also generates 33% more oxygen than trees, and I loved the look of the 4-inch planks.  I ordered the flooring and installation services from my home-away-from-home, Lowe’s.

However, like so many home improvement projects, we soon discovered that this one wasn’t going to be simple. When the carpeting and floorboards were removed, the installer showed me that due to the ground under the house settling the floor had “dropped” several inches on two sides of the room. (No wonder the filing cabinet always opened itself!) What’s more, there was a sizeable gap between the subfloor and the adjacent garage floor, which was leaking cold air into the room. (No wonder my feet were always cold!) To deal with the gap, I lay on my stomach on the floor and carefully sprayed expandable insulating foam in the gap:

Next, Dino from Focus on Floors (who has to be just about the Cutest Floor Guy on the Planet) mixed and poured a leveling compound on the floors. He had to do this process twice, allowing some time between applications for the mixture to dry:

Finally, the subfloor was ready. The new bamboo flooring was installed, we let it dry for 24 hours and moved the furniture back in. This change has absolutely transformed the room, and now I don’t have any excuses — it’s time to get busy and productive in the office!

I once read that you could make a batch of caramelized onions in the Crock Pot and freeze them, but I couldn’t find a recipe. So I decided to experiment and see if I could figure out the process. I knew I wanted pieces of onion, not stringy slices, so I peeled and cut 5 yellow onions like this:

Here’s how they looked prior to cooking:

 I tossed them with 1/4 cup of melted butter (I’m sure you could also use olive oil instead), a generous sprinkling of salt, several generous grindings of black pepper, and a teaspoon of sugar to jump-start the caramelizing process. Then I set the temperature on Low. After 4 hours of cooking, they looked like this:

After 8 hours of cooking, they were nicely browned, wonderfully sweet and caramelized. They had reduced down to about two cups:

I divided them into four 1/2 cup portions and froze them in freezer bags. The portions thaw quickly and the onions are absolutely terrific on pizzas and bruschetta. I’ve also added them to homemade spaghetti sauce and soup. Using the slow cooker is much easier than standing at the stove and cooking and stirring the onions, and I love having caramelized onions ready to go in the freezer. All in all, I would say this experiment was a big success!

In my last post I wrote about trying to unclog a drain with a natural, enzyme-based drain cleaner. Unfortunately, although the formula was all-natural and one could feel wonderfully guilt-free using it, it didn’t have any effect on the slow sink.

The following day I tried a new tactic on the stubborn drain, one that you often see in old housekeeping books and “Hints from Heloise.” I poured 1/4 cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by 1/2 cup of plain white vinegar. The mixture foamed up spectacularly for a couple of seconds and then settled down, at which point I covered the drain with a small saucepan lid. After a few minutes I removed the lid and poured a gallon of boiling water down the drain. Within the next 90 seconds there were some wonderful gurgling noises followed by a “whoosh” and the drain was clear.

This method was natural and inexpensive, and it had the added thrill of feeling like a high school science experiment!

Confession time: I always thought that an overhead ceiling fan cooled the room. I’ve often left the fans running in the upstairs bedrooms on hot summer days, falsely thinking I was keeping the rooms cooled. What a waste - I’ve just learned that fans cool people, not rooms. The EnergyStar web site explains it. It also clarifies the fan direction conundrum: counterclockwise in the summer, clockwise in the winter.

Yesterday, my Pop removed an old light fixture in the kitchen and replaced it with a sleek new ceiling fan that we found on eBay. Along with doing a magnificent job of cooling us off when we’re in the kitchen, the light fixture uses a single 100w halogen bulb instead of the three 40w incandescent bulbs the old fixture used. Halogen bulbs are more efficient than standard incandescent bulbs and can last three to four times as long. You can read an excellent comparison of energy-efficient lightbulbs here.

Before:                                                                       After:

Years ago, I had heard that turning your computer on and off used more energy than just leaving it on, and it also wore out the computer faster. Did you hear that, too? It turns out that’s outdated information. There’s a great article on the Microsoft web site that sets the record straight and explains how to change your settings to maximize your energy savings.

If you run a newer version of Windows on your computer, you don’t even have to remember to turn your computer on and off. Just go to “Control Panel” and click on the “Display” option. Then go to the “Screensaver” tab and there should be an EnergyStar icon at the bottom of the page where you can choose your settings. You can choose from energy-saving options like “System Standby” or “Hibernate.”  I changed my settings this morning and there is no inconvenience at all…just energy and money savings!

As I cleaned the glass door of the fireplace in the family room, I noticed it felt hot. The small, violet flame of the pilot light was on, which meant we were not only wasting gas, we were also putting some heat in the room during one of the hottest summers on record. I didn’t want to make a mistake with something so potentially dangerous, so I found the owner’s guide for the gas fire assembly (a small miracle in and of itself!) and read it thoroughly. Fortunately, this was a job I could handle myself: “grasp the knob, and turn the pilot to the ‘Off’ position.” Success! – and it only took 5 minutes.

My research later confirmed that this simple step results in significant energy savings. The Canadian Gas Association found that in homes where the fireplace pilot light was left on all year, the pilot accounted for half (48%) of the total gas fireplace fuel consumption.

One of the light bulbs in the overhead light of the garage door opener burned out this morning. These bulbs are a real pain to replace; I have to move the car and climb up on a ladder to get to the fixture. It’s the perfect time to swap out the incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. A package of three GE Soft White 60W-equivalent bulbs costs about $8, so the up-front cost is higher, but according to the package I’ll save $38 per bulb in energy costs. Wow! Also, they’re guaranteed to burn for at least 5 years, so I won’t have to drag that ladder out any time in the foreseeable future. I like that!