Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

Smooth operator

A couple of years ago, after realizing just how much water ran down the drain (~ 26 gallons, based on national average shower head flow of 2.6 gallons per minute and 10 minutes to shave), I stopped shaving my legs in the shower.  26 gallons is a lot of perfectly good water to waste.  My new method uses a lot less water and is also a lot easier, because I don’t have to get in odd positions to keep the leg I’m shaving out of the water stream less all of the shaving cream wash off before I finish.  Instead, I fill the sink or a small container (should hold ~ 4 cups of water) with warm water and use that to wet my leg as well as rinse out the razor while I’m shaving.  I empty the container and get fresh water when I switch legs.  Once I’m finished shaving, I just splash a little fresh water on each leg (or use a wash cloth).

Make this simple switch to save 20+ gallons of water every time you shave your legs.  You’ll also save on your utility bill because all of the water you’re saving had to be heated first.

Why my bike needs missile launchers

For that car who passed 8 inches from my leg today, while I was dying riding up a steep hill in 95 degree heat.  Because he/she could not have waited an extra 50 feet until it was SAFE to pass me.

For this time and all the times like it in the past, and all the times to come in the future, when the bike horn just doesn’t cut it.

Under my sunbrella, ella, ella . . .

The sun and I have issues.  Sure, the sun ‘s energy is responsible for all of the delicious food I eat, and it can be harvested as a source of renewable energy.  But I prefer that it not shine directly on me.  Ever.  With very fair skin, red hair, and blue eyes, I am just a case of skin cancer WAITING TO HAPPEN.  Most everyone I’m related to (those over the age of 50, that is) have had some type of cancerous or precancerous spots removed.  Get in line.

I’m vigilant about sun protection, but I dislike sunscreen.  Sunscreen feels gross, usually irritates my sensitive skin, and has lots of lovely ingredients that may create other health risks.  I use it, but prefer other options, such as sun protective clothing.  My arsenal includes three long sleeve, light weight shirts, a very wide-brimmed hat, and a pair of light weight pants.  While these articles of clothing are bearable in hot weather, I get much warmer than if I were just wearing shorts and a tank top.  Or if I were naked.  But there is the sun to consider.

The hat eliminates one of the major ways that heat escapes, so I’ve recently discovered a cooler alternative for hot summer days — the sunbrella*.  This is not a special piece of equipment, simply an umbrella that I carry when it is not raining, when it is the opposite of raining.  Sunning.  I’ve actually seen plenty of people do this before, it just never occurred to me that it was something I could do.

Last Friday I was walking down the street carrying my sunbrella, when one of the two guys I was about to pass on the sidewalk made some comment.  I should have just kept walking, but instead I kind of paused.  (Note to self: Self, next time, just keep walking.)

“What?”

“I said, ‘I’ll make shade for you all day.’ ”

Really?  Um, no thanks, I think I’ll pass on that offer.  Can you say, “Creepy pick-up line?”

*My sunbrella/umbrella is one of these, that we found at our local green general store.  I haven’t had it for long, so I can’t comment on long-term durability, but it’s done the job in the rain and sun so far.

You didn’t bring me raspberries?

This week has been an extra challenging week in the Commuter Gardening saga due to the absence of my mother-in-law.  See, we are not just gardening on her land, we are gardening with her.  In return for our help with a lot of the “heavy lifting” (i.e., tilling, soil amendments, fencing, planting), she is the one who does most of the day-to-day gardening: picking, watering when necessary, weeding.  This would not work without her.  When I say “our help” I mostly mean my husband’s, because, out of the three of us, I am the slacker on the team.  And I say this without feeling too apologetic because I would totally carry my weight IF the garden were right outside my back door.

Anyway, during a normal week, my mother-in-law’s work in the garden saves us from driving out, all the way out, to The Suburbs, multiple times a week.  Sadly, she has been on vacation this week, this very hot, very dry, very hot week, so we have been a little crazy keeping up with things.

Last night my husband went out by himself to give the poor, parched land a drink of water.  His mother’s house is equipped with two rain barrels, and we like to use that water whenever possible, but it requires filling and hauling watering cans, which is much more time- and labor-intensive than just turning on the hose.  When he arrived last night, he set up a sprinkler to water part of the garden, but the rest?  He watered the rest with the watering cans, did not even think to use the hose until he got home, and I pointed out that option.

Due to this oversight, he ran out of time and did not get around to picking raspberries.  The raspberries we netted on Monday night so that the birds would not eat them.  The raspberries that I am not eating right now because they are still on the canes, dying in the hot sun.  Do I have a right to complain when I wasn’t there sweating it out with him?  Maybe if I hadn’t been lounging around on the couch all evening in silk robes enjoying our luxuriously cool apartment, watching my Baby Peace Lily Flower grow while eating all of his frozen custard, maybe then I would have some raspberries.