Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

Snow removal dilemma

I don’t mind the work involved in shoveling snow (especially not the relatively small quantities we get around here), but it presents a bit of a dilemma to my green sensibilities.  Sure, it’s the neighborly thing to do, but a shoveled walk almost always requires some salt to keep the newly snow-free pavement from being covered with hazardous icy patches, whereas the snow on an unshoveled walk usually provides plenty of traction, even if there is a layer of ice underneath.  The salt is not exactly the best thing environmentally, as it can harm plant life and usually ends up in the water supply, not to mention speeding the demise of the sidewalks themselves.

I dutifully, though somewhat guiltily shoveled the sidewalk in front of our building after the first two snows of the winter and pondered my dilemma during many snowy walks to the Y.  Assuming you’re an able-bodied individual with a decent pair of boots, walking on snow-covered sidewalks is not that big of a deal — I’d rather walk on the snow than on cleared, but unsalted and icy surfaces.

However, I realized that in addition to leaving out those who didn’t have (perhaps cannot afford?) boots, my thinking also left out people using wheelchairs, walkers, or other assistive devices to get around. I imagine snowy sidewalks are no fun for these folks.  People walking with small children would also fit in this category of “maybe not so easy to just tromp through the snow.”

Since I am all about promoting alternative and active means of transportation, I conclude that shoveling, along with the requisite and maybe not-so-green salting, is the best option.  That said, I use a light hand with the salt and don’t use salt for what could be accomplished with a shovel  — no need to overdo it!

What are your thoughts on shoveling?  Have you used any eco-friendly salt alternatives?  If so, are they effective?

Two for two

Sauce Magazine, my favorite StL foodie mag, scores high points for the recipes in its February 2011 edition.  On Sunday night, we made Acquacotta, a delicious and hearty soup, though it left us wondering what kind of Italian peasants can afford 10 oz. of dried porcini mushrooms.  We made it with our homegrown celery, herbs, leeks, and tomatoes, plus some local dried mushrooms — though we did not have 10 ounces!

Last night, Matthew made Navratan Korma, an Indian vegetable dish.  We both enjoyed it and think the leftovers will be even better, as the flavors have more time to meld.   Matthew dug into our freezer for garden/local green beans, carrots, yellow squash, and cauliflower, plus potatoes from our crop and our canned tomatoes.

This is the time of year when all the work of chopping, blanching, and canning, plus Matthew’s work in the garden really pays — in delicious dividends!

Biking before the storm

Given the prediction for more winter precipitation headed our way, I made the most of the balmy temps (in the 40s) and improved road conditions to make some trips by bicycle over the weekend.  Over the course of three days, I visited the Y, the library, the farmers’ market, Meskerem Ethiopian restaurant, and church.

I’ve been riding Bub much more than Baby Jake this winter.  Bub’s slightly wider tires and overall geometry feel a bit more stable when riding over questionable patches, and the regular pedals allow me to comfortably wear boots or my Birk clogs, which keep my toes much warmer than the cycling shoes.

I didn’t want Baby Jake to feel left out, so I pulled him out for Saturday’s excursions.  Strangely, the ride didn’t feel that much faster to me than Bub, though the speed, or lack there of, may have been due more to the operator than the machine.

In addition to biking, I filled Friday with yogurt-making, tortilla-making (post on this coming soon), and ice skating.  When I told a coworker earlier in the week that I was planning to go ice skating, she replied, “Can you do that while you’re pregnant?”  And so it begins — and she knows nothing about the biking 😉

Seed starting: Make a functional, affordable heat box

Special guest post by Matthew

Functional, Affordable Seed starting heat source . . . I’ve used this one with great success and reliability for four sets of plants now.  We set our thermostat pretty low in the winter, so the heat box helps keep the seeds cozy (i.e., at an ideal temperature for sprouting).

The basics:

  1. Build a 5 sided wooden box to hold the heat, sized to fit your light source (or your tray size)
    1. Four 1”x4″ s (or whatever wood you want) for the sides
    2. Very thin plywood (or planks) for the top
    3. I left the bottom open, just set it on #3
    4. Nails or screws to join
    5. I made two boxes, each 10.5″ x 32″ x 3.5″
  2. A string of nightlight (4 watt) bulbs (or other incandescent lights) as a variable heat source (screw them in or unscrew some of them to get the soil temperature you want)
    1. Optional: Tack the wire of the nightlight string to the sides of the box to keep the bulbs out of direct contact with the box or radiant barrier –be careful to avoid damaging the wire’s insulation
    2. You may want to add a timer; I only use heat during the 16 hours of light I give my plants
    3. We have a string of lights that have a little metal cage around each bulb, so they sit directly on the reflective material
  3. A sheet of reflective radiant barrier insulation (see photo above) for below the box
    1. I used a scrap left over at the hardware store from someone’s home insulation project

Set your seed starting trays directly on top of the heat box.  When starting with this, put a thermometer into the soil of your seed starting tray and adjust how many bulbs are on in your box until you get the right temperature for your seeds.

Who Killed the Electric Car — A movie review

Who cares???

That was my gut response to the documentary movie Who Killed the Electric Car.  I expressed my skepticism as we sat down to watch it last night.  I don’t care about cars.  I care about bicycling and walking.

Who cares if a car is electric, it still requires ENERGY to run.  Most of the electricity in the U.S. comes from coal (the movie stated that 55% of electricity comes from coal, but I’m fairly certain we’re higher than that in Missouri), which is hardly a clean and green alternative to petroleum.

Despite approaching the movie with a fairly closed mind, I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.  It contains lots of dirty little secrets that the car companies and the government don’t want us to know.  I mentally rallied with the electric car supporters, and shed a few tears of anger and disgust at one point (watch the movie and then guess when).

Though my passion will continue to be active transportation, the movie makes a convincing case for electric vehicles being a viable and superior solution for many mid-range trips.  However, about half of the trips made in urban areas are less than three miles (with about a quarter of total trips under a mile)  — a distance that most people should be able to travel under their OWN power.  While electric cars might be PART of the solution for reducing our energy use and carbon emissions, working toward and promoting communities that support walking and biking is an equally (if not more) important part of the equation.

Conclusion: informative and entertaining, though not exactly uplifting.  A well-done documentary — I give it five stars.