Carbon fast – Day 12

Run your washing machine only with full loads.  Turn the knob on your washing machine to “cold/cold,” and leave it there.  Washing your clothes in cold water gets them just as clean as washing in hot water, but uses half the energy.

Daily action from http://www.lcwr.org/lcwrsocialjustice/eoclentcalendar2010.pdf

Carbon fast – Day 11

Plan ahead to bring reusable grocery bags with you to get groceries today.  If you already use reusable grocery bags, purchase a set of reusable produce bags for fruits and veggies (ecobags.com).

Daily action from http://www.lcwr.org/lcwrsocialjustice/eoclentcalendar2010.pdf

Worms and a haircut

After the car-bound work week, I strive to make my weekends as car-free as possible.  I made an exception today for worms!  And a haircut.  I found a worm source just outside of St. Louis — Trinity Ranch.  The owner graciously agreed to meet me in Eureka! with the worms.  We met in a Quik Trip parking lot — it may or may not have looked like a drug deal.

Side note: Eureka! When I was a kid and my family visited St. Louis, Six Flags was always the highlight of the trip.  When I moved here, I quickly realized that Six Flags is not in St. Louis at all — it is Far Away.

Still, Eureka! is closer than House Springs, and I combined the worm pick-up with a haircut, located in a different Far Away.

The last time I paid to have someone cut my hair was over two years ago.  Since then, I’ve trimmed it a few times, and my husband cut it twice.  I was apprehensive about having a professional haircut, worried that they would criticize my no-poo routine.  After much fence-sitting, I reluctantly called a stylist who specializes in curly hair (recommended by my curly-haired cousin).

So, how’d it go, you ask?  Well, in just over an hour, she subjected my hair to shampoo, hair gel, and a blow dryer (I can’t remember the last time I used a blow dryer on my hair . . . or gel).  Granted, it was some kind of “better” shampoo, as far as shampoos go, but she shampooed the heck out of my hair.  I’m talking lather, rinse, repeat — three or four times!

To be fair, the cut looks and feels good; she knew her stuff in that regard.  She also didn’t try to push super-frequent shampooing, recommending once every one to two weeks for my hair.  However, I have no plans to jump back on the shampoo/hair product bandwagon again.  I’m rather annoyed that I was not more assertive in declining the whole shampoo procedure in the first place, and I hope this doesn’t disrupt my no-poo routine too much.

After the haircut, I experienced the terror of being LOST in the suburbs.  I quickly rectified the situation by pulling over, turning the car off (no idling!), and grabbing my map.  I arrived home, super hungry, after a longer-than-planned detour into the worlds of Whole Foods (sadly lacking in the food samples I desperately wanted) and Trader Joe’s.

I quickly addressed my own need for food, then turned to my wiggly little friends.  They found their new home ready and waiting (as it had been since my worm-attaining fiasco a few weeks ago).  I planned to post a picture of my hand overflowing with my cute little pets, but someone else has the camera (ahem).  My little wigglers are currently burrowing and settling in to their plush accommodations, but I’ll try to wrangle up a few for a photo shoot later.

Carbon fast – Day 10

Look to purchase locally grown food today.  Plan to walk to a farmers’ market this weekend or consider joining a community-supported agriculture (CSA) group that delivers local produce (www.localharvest.org).

If I designed the calendar, I would have saved this tip for as late in the game as possible to increase the chances that farmers’ markets would actually be open in central and northern latitudes.  They failed to consult me on this, but, by some stroke of luck, the local eating tip just so happens to coincide with the Schlafly/Maplewood winter market tomorrow (Saturday, February 27th).  While produce will be limited at this time of year, you can shop for local eggs, cheese, jams, salsas, and meat (if you swing that way).  Click here for more details.

Daily action from http://www.lcwr.org/lcwrsocialjustice/eoclentcalendar2010.pdf

Carbon fast – Day 9

Let your dishwasher breathe. Run the dishwasher only with a full load, and skip the energy-intensive drying cycle by choosing the “air-dry” option; or just open the door overnight.

The dishes dry very quickly if you open the door immediately after the wash cycle, when everything is still hot.  As an added benefit, this drying method provides some much-needed humidity to the dry winter air.

Daily action from http://www.lcwr.org/lcwrsocialjustice/eoclentcalendar2010.pdf