Sustainability from the Ground Up.

 Today is Earth Day, and I always have mixed feelings about that. When I was younger - a high-school student, starry-eyed and idealistic - each year was a new chance to rally people to the cause. A few years on cynicism and it's a day of green-washing, lip service, and singular feel-good activities. How does an activist spread the ethos of care into the other 364 days of the year?

Pictures from the first Earth Day, 1970

If I had the perfect answer to that I would be out on the streets, leading the charge. Instead, I am here to encourage the makers, the creative types, to think sustainably in their creations. Here's the simple, easy things to think of for sustainable design.

 1.)What is it made from?
        Obviously, this is where it starts. Let's say you have a great product idea, and it's gonna help people save water/conserve energy/not waste food etc... but it's made out of plastic and packaged in styrofoam. New materials are helping to solve this problem, but I opine that returning to simple natural materials is always the best choice!

2.)What happens when it breaks?
        Is the item made to last? Can it be fixed? Can it be repurposed? Seed paper cards are an example of an item that has an explicit second life.

3.)Where does it go to?
         This is where that nasty plastic causes problems, but any material can be a problem if there's nothing to do with a broken or worn-out item but throw it away! Can it be reused or recycled? Composted? Cradle to Grave is the ethos of designing an "afterlife" for an item.

4.)Does it work?
     This can be overlooked by a greenwashing company. Story time - back in the late 90s when the first bioplastic were appearing on the market my mother bought a few packs of corn plastic pens and permanent markers. How proud we were! Early adopters who are reducing our impact! Of course, the pen part didn't work for crap. So concerned, was that company, with making and marketing the bioplastic outers, that the insides of the pen were shoddy and non-functioning. If the product doesn't work very well or breaks right away, then no matter what it is made from it is not sustainable!

5.)How is it made?
     The other downside of those early bioplastics (see why I prefer natural materials?), was the manufacture. It involved toxic chemicals, those chemicals were not always handled properly, the energy required to manufacture was much higher than petroplastics. Problems like this lead to the idea of sustainability as a complex system! If an item pollutes when it is made, that's the same as if it pollutes when it is thrown away!

6.)Who makes it?
     Here's the tough part for many big companies, we handcrafters got this down pretty well. If an item is not socially responsible then it is not sustainable. This is not simply a matter of morality - oppressive systems are not stable or sustainable. And pushing people into poverty often forces them to make choices that are environmentally harmful and destructive to their culture and society. But handmakers must also be responsible about this! What are we outsourcing? What processes are they using? Are we charging enough for our time and talents?

7.) How is it used?
     Let us not forget the most important aspect of design - is it useful? What do we use it for? It drives me crazy to see the piles of "recycling" ideas that turn a throwaway item into a nominally decorative piece of bric-a-brac. I mean, sure, a few decorative vases is fine, and a pen cup or two made from old containers covered in pretty paper or such... but how many can you have in your house? And the item that is only decorative? That's like a garbage denial system, we store it on the walls and shelves awaiting it's inevitable doom. Good sustainable design make useful items that we want to use in environmentally responsible ways!

Happy Earth Day everyone! From a crabby environmentalist, and Crafty Bitch.

A Dead Hedge for a Lively Garden

As the season warms a number of garden projects are getting underway. This year, among other things, I am making some new beds in underused parts of the yard. And adding some privacy. Mr. Crafty has been asking for more solid fencing since he moved in, and we have a dog now who will pace and charge the fence when other dogs are about. (Yes, we are training her out of it, no it's not happened yet...)

I first heard about dead hedges in the BBC's fantastic history programs concerning  historic farming. It was commonly used as stock fencing in spots that a live hedge wasn't growing. But there are a number of important features of a dead hedge that make it useful in the modern garden as well.
1.) It uses up material that does not compost well unless you have a mulching machine.
2.) It offers important habitat to many wild garden friends, including native bees!
3.) It's basically free. I bought a few sturdy stakes to complement my scavenged branches.

 Here it is growing and shaping up. As other parts of the yard get cleared out and suckers get trimmed down I keep finding more and more material to add to it. I've been digging my new veggie bed right in front of it and that has yielded tree roots as well.

And now, spring has sprung, the grass is painfully green, there are rows of beets planted, and the hedge is almost to the top of the fence. It will compact with time so I will have to keep adding to it. Fortunately, I have plenty of pruning yet to go, so there will be no lack of materials!

Get out and put your hands in the soil@

A Renewing Light - Eggshell Candles

 Spring is the time for renewal, for rebirth, for regeneration. Many ancient peoples saw the symbols of the cycle as snakes - shedding their skins; and eggs, holding the potential for new life within. As the celebrations of a new spring season morphed from honoring Eoster, Freya, Idunn and other Goddesses of fertility and new life into the Christian Easter celebration of a literally reborn son/sun; the use of eggs for the holiday continued. Sensable, really, as this is the time of year that poultry begin to lay eggs again anyway.

The last two years I've made eggshell candles, simple and neat. It takes almost no special preparation or skills, three ingredients, and only the time required to melt the wax. I've been collecting wax bits from the bottom of tea lights and candle ends for at least a year, this picture only captures the first of them! As the wax melted I emptied all the little tins into the pot. (Those metal circles are usually aluminum, so they can be recycled.)

 I always keep my egg shells to give back to my egg provider (like a drug dealer, only tastier), the chickens happily eat the old shells and produce stronger eggs. I went through a few cases and picked out the halves that were large and sturdy, I also chose a variety of colors.

 The hot wax was spooned into the shells, filling each one as high as possible. The wax happens to be red from some red candle ends used, but wax is easily colored by adding an old crayon to the mix.

 I cut the wick string into short pieces, and dipped each piece in wax. Any cotton fiber twine will work if well soaked in wax, but official wicking is inexpensive and quite superior.

After the Wax has begun to harden slightly, and a small film forms on top, the wick is stuck through and pushed to the bottom. If the wax is too soft the wicks sink off to one side. If it is too hard it will be tough to push the wick down.

Ta-da! The wax gets quite a bit lighter as it hardens, so don't be afraid to use plenty of color for a brilliant candle if you want it. These make great crafts for kids, or craft loving adults. The shells can be decorated for added excitement! They are also perfect for outside spaces, as they are entirely biodegradable.

Enjoy your Equinox, welcome to spring!

No Waste Sewing (Almost!)

I made a thing! Not just anything, a Hangeroc inspired dress, with functional pockets and a fun swishy hem line. And this entire dress only took two yards of fabric. Yep, two yards.

Why is that number important? I mean, it's not that hard to make a dress with two yards... is it? Actually, it is. For a dress with an ample swingy shape that fits a medium sized frame two yards is almost a miracle. Two yards of fabric means saving lots of money (have you seen the price of fabric?) And also saving a lot of waste.

Let's talk scraps. Because I have lots of scraps. (Seriously, lots) And I LOVE scraps, cute little bits that are a memory of making a piece of clothing. I get bags of scraps from family, friends, estate sales, the local craft shop... sewing makes scraps. 

 This, this is all the scraps I have from making that dress. A few strip from squaring off the end of the fabric, the corners of my pockets, and those triangles are from straightening one section of hem. I think with some fiddling I could do away with that as well.

 How? Well, for inspiration I went back in history, waaaaay back! Consider this, if you have to hand wash, card and pick, handspin, dye, weave, and full every square inch of fabric in a garment, you ain't wasting it! Medieval reenactors have come up with a scheme for making an "Apron Dress" which has only straight line cuts and no waste.

The main shape of the dress is on the bottom of my drawing, the triangles above become the extra gores to make it ample and full, straps, facings, and pockets are all cut from the rest. The main difference from this and a reproduction piece is that I added some shaping for a modern silhouette. Thus, I needed a closure instead of having it loose enough to simply pull over my head.

 And here we are, a few hours of sewing, two yards of fabric - a cute, functional piece. And almost no scraps! Whatever will I use for decorating bags...

Five Great Upcycling Projects for Denim

Upcycling Denim is kind of my thing, I have literal piles of old pants, bins of denim scraps, and loads of cut up pieces. Whenever I think I'm making progress, BAM  - someone brings be another box of torn-kneed denim. Seriously, some friends just leave it on my porch. So, for anyone who doesn't want to start a factory style assembly line of upcycled Denim Bags, here's some other project ideas!

One can, of course, simple cannibalize old pants for the fabric and sew any project you can imagine that involves some small pieces. I could not hope to make something so cute as this Adorable Whale, so I'll send you to it's creator!



Use the sturdiness of the material to your advantage! A long lasting rug can be made from even small scraps.

For the more ambitious, be inspired by the Scrap Lab. This chair is made from industrial scraps and suggest a plethora of furniture options. Perhaps with old chair frames that have lost their fabric bits?

 A sleek and simple choice - potholders from the pockets of old pants. (Be sure your machine can handle sewing thru that many denim layers!) Also, how crafty are the Finns!

If you want to turn those pockets into more spaces for holding things (as pockets are wont to do), consider an organizer. You might think it looks like overkill, and you don't have all that much stuff... you do. Unless your house looks like an IKEA catalog, you can totally find enough random things laying around to warrant wall pockets.

Winter Incense

 The Yuletide is long passed, which means that old trees are popping up each and every trash day. The Crafty Household has been dragging them home to be cut up for firewood and mulch, nice smelling work on a sunny winter's day. It's traditional to burn all the leftover Yule at Imbolc, but first I did some collecting...

I collected needles and branch tips from a variety of evergreens - Pine, Spruce, Fir, and even some Cedar and Juniper. I left them in this jar, breathable fabric on top, on a warm porch to dry for a few days. We've been alternating between blowing snowstorms and 70 F and sunny, just a normal Colorado January.

 Usually I do all my incense making in a small mortar bowl, but this was quite the pile. I used the Cuisinart to quicken the work. Pulsing it gently for a while.

 There were a few bits that hadn't dried as much as needed, so I put the whole thing in a cracked-open low oven. At this point Mr. Crafty and the Crafty roommate were attracted by the smell, and came to ask why this was not an everyday occurrence...

 After a short while drying further the needles all fell apart perfectly! I pulsed a while, not trying to pulverize the bits, just break them small enough to be heaped on a coal.

It fits a much smaller jar now! I can use it a bit at a time, grinding fresh what I'm going to burn. Yummmm, winter smell...  For Yule I made a version with cinnamon chips, clove oil, and frankincense. For Imbolc I added lemon peel and flowers. Note - don't put resins in your electric grinders, they will make a sticky mess!

Don't bother with cheap imitations, if you want a "Forest Fresh" scent, use the real thing!

Five Awesome Upcycling Projects for Sewers

 I am always on the lookout for good ways to make use of old materials. Unmatched buttons, bits of fabric, broken zippers and old notions. The best of the goods get rolled into my upcycled bags, but let's face it. I have a lot of fabric. A. Lot. 

So here's a sampling of good ways to upcycle those crafty bits, like into something exciting! Like purdy hangers, good for those of us with exposed closet spaces. Also, slippery clothing won't fall off.

From Corrieberry Pie

Or a cute little tree! Perfect for lonely little buttons, and that neat wood spool! (Let's not talk about how many empty spools I have in the craft room...)

From Kitsch and Curious

 Several ways to use old zippers? Yes please! I have an alarming number of busted zippers, and plenty of nice metal ones are available from the fly of old pants.

From Passion Make on Instructables.

Mmmmmm, little wee scraps! Stitching onto paper to give fabric a new life and purpose, and trees! (I really like trees, in case you didn't know.) One could of course branch out into any designs that suit the message... but trees are the best.

From Stitched in Color

 And here's the most practical of upcycling projects for the seamstress - a sewing kit! I find that us four-eyes tend to accumulate old glasses, and as I donate old frames I often keep the case, now I know why. See, just planning! I'm totally not a hoarder...

From Tea Rose Home

Now get out there and re-make cool things!

Spring Strawberries

Aw yisssss... homegrown strawberries! It's the season for first fruits from the garden, I've already enjoyed my radishes, spinach and arugula are gracing the plate, and now the crown of early foods.

No matter how misshapen, no matter if they are still white on the bottom, no matter that they are small and bear the marks of hungry birds; homegrown strawberries are the sweetest nuggets of goodness on the gods green earth.

This, I feel, is the truth of local, seasonal foods. I have grown used to enjoying many crops for only a few short weeks each year. I do it to support local growers, and to know where my food is coming from. I do it to reduce my environmental impact. It's a win-win to avoid those tasteless plastic packs from California and Mexico.

But mostly, I do it for the taste. Sure, I can enjoy strawberries 12 months of the year, and I do at restaurants and friends gatherings. But I don't truly enjoy strawberries until they come from mother's yard, warm from the sun, ripe on the vine. The same is true for Palisade peaches and Rocky Ford cantaloupe, accept no imitations, wait for the real thing.

What's your favorite seasonal treat? What do you wait all year to enjoy?

Plant Dying in the Kitchen

In preparation for Eoster my Grove will be dying and decorating eggs, and I decided it was time to experiment with some plant dyes. Our ancestors, of course, were able to coax a rainbow of rich and lasting colors from plants and minerals. My past attempts however, have yielded blah brown, slightly greener blah brown, and dark blah brown.

 I decided to start therefore with some of the more tried and true vegetable based colors. Onion skins (yellow and purple), red cabbage, red beets, and fennel. For the beet dye I used the stems and skins of the beets, steamed the root over the mix, and have been eating the beets while stirring the dye stuff. For the Onion skins I saved up a few months worth (we eat a LOT of onions, so that was a large quantity.) It was suggested that one use only the top of the fennel to get a nice yellow, I got nothing from it. Upon further research, the fennel bulbs one gets at the grocery store are NOT the right variety to make dye. Oh well, at least I get to eat it!

This project took over the entire kitchen for the day, I simmered the plant stuffs in water with salt and vinegar. then strained them and poured off half into jars to keep for egg dying day. I added pre-washed wool roving and left them to simmer for several hours.

When I was adding the wool I also put Alum as a mordent. Alum is usually considered to be a relatively "neutral" mordent that doesn't change the colors as extremely as other harsher chemicals. However, when added to the red onion skins, black magic happened! I kept reading that red onions made a "jade green", and I kept thinking that people are freakin' crazy. I've dyed cotton with red onions before and never gotten anything but a light pink! Buuuuuut, then I added alum and shit got cray - instant change to deep green. Science... or something?

After simmering for a while, and sitting to cool for several more hours, the wool was rinsed out and hung to dry. The colors seemed to lighten up a good bit in the drying process, but the colors are still fairly vibrant. It's true the old observation, that plant dyes have more depth. After spinning the wool has a nice luster, with almost shimmering layers of subtle color!

This summer I plan to gather more wild plants for dying, and keep experimenting with different species and mordents. Have you ever tried plant dying? What is your favorite kitchen color?

The First Dandelions of Spring!

As spring rolls around (slowly here, it's been snowing) there's a plethora of wild plants out to enjoy!

A personal favorite is Dandelions, pretty, prolific, and very tasty! And of course there is no shortage around my house, I've been pulling whole plants to enjoy the roots and leaves, and gathering baskets of flowers.

Dandelion is a rich source of vitamins A, B complex, C, and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc. The leaves are usually enjoyed in the spring, and make a great cleansing salad. Leaf teas are used for the kidneys and as a diuretic. The roots are thought to purify blood and cleanse the liver.

The plant is also used as a natural dye, the flowers make yellows, the leaves bright greens (no surprise there), and the roots can make a rusty red, or a light tan.

The flowers are also of course a great boon to Bees, especially this year. All the flowers were slow to bloom this year with our late snows and unseasonably cold nights, these quick blooming flowers were there to feed the first emerging bees. As a gardener and a honey lover I try to support these pollinating wonders whenever I can!

 I've also enjoyed lots of dandelion tea, both flowers and roots. It's light and mellow, easy to enjoy. A little honey just makes it even more the treat. And since I can gather it myself, it's the perfect home herbal treat.

 The flowers are also noted for making wine! I've started two batches of mead with dandelions. One has cups and cups of flowers, the other has root and leaf, plus burdock and ginger for a refreshing spring brew. One more reason to be thankful for those bees!

 What's your favorite spring flower? Do you gather dandelions?

Also, I may try making Dandelion jelly

http://rockfarmer.me/2013/04/05/eat-like-a-bee-dandelion-jelly/

Yum!

Sacred Lands

I recently watched a number of clips from the Sacred Lands Film Project for a class, and I was moved like I'd been chopping onions. Here's the thing, in much of modern society, and particularly for Euro-Americans (we are a nation of immigrants after all), we don't have a strong local connection to places. The idea of a spot being sacred may be hard for many of us to imagine.

Watching these clips made me crave that connection, to love a part of the earth as a critical part of your culture. What makes land sacred to you? Are there any sacred spots near you?

Salve Making

 I've been exploring herbal medicine for a few years now, and my repertoire of useful items keeps expanding, as does the cupboard space I keep them in...

After last summer's intense heat and bad sunburns I decided it was time for something a little more soothing than the aloe, I'd use it with aloe of course, but when I burn I need some serious moisture! I infused chamomile and rosemary in olive oil, letting them sit in the sun of my kitchen window for a few weeks.

 The other ingredient is beeswax, all natural with that slight whiff of honey to it! I used about one cup infused oils, and one ounce beeswax. You can add 20-30 drops of essential oils or a tablespoon of vitamin E oil as well.

 Melt the wax in a double boiler, make candles, then pour into a container. Note that once a container is used for wax related stuff it's tricky to clean it all the way, so just dedicate those jar to ever be for salve making and wax melting.

I stirred the salve while it was cooling to make a light fluffy concoction, better for smearing on sensitive burns and rashes. Simple, effective, wholesome and free of unknown scary long -named chemicals!

Do you make body products for yourself at home?

Upcycling and the Environment

 Recently I was contacted by a design student working on a project about upcycling, she ask me about my craft and how I think upcycling can effect the environment and the world. Here's some of my responses.

My inspiration was not initially any concern for the environment, it was actually the fact that I couldn't stand to dump my favorite pair of jeans. I made a very functional bag from them, that I still use from time to time (that was more than a decade ago.) I later became involved in the environmental movement, and I started making bags to offer up an alternative to plastic sacks.

I do feel strongly that the current trends in fashion to make cheap, poorly constructed, very trendy and disposable clothing is a huge waste! Not to mention, I much prefer classic styles and the idea of buying a few very well made items to wear for years to come.

The tragedy of disposable fashion is now more than clogging up thrift stores and landfills, but also the ill effect it has on the third world where our old clothing is dumped as a "charitable" act. This kills any local textile and clothing industry, and pushes out indigenous and locally invented fashions. I love to see difference when I travel, and universal fashion is as ugly as it is unsustainable.
 
I think that the current craft movement has been a huge boon to upcycling. It's currently quite hip to learn to knit and sew, and once people have those skills it opens a door of creative reuse.

 I'm not sure the best way to encourage people to learn these arts, most newbies I meet are simply inspired by people they know, so organic growth seems the most likely avenue of involving more people.

There is a second challenge however, even after learning to craft many people lack the confidence in their skills to work without specific patterns and instructions. The craft movement will also need to encourage free-form learning instead of simply sticking to pre-made designs; the craft stores and teachers have less possibility of profits if people are making their own patterns and supplying the materials (their own clothes).

What is your reason to upcycle? What inspires you to reuse something?

First CSA Share of the Season!

Yesterday we received our first box of fresh local veggies from Grant Family Farms. You can feel the freshness of the veggies, the crisp yummyness! Besides the veggies we got fresh eggs and a bag of Beans from last falls crop. I'm looking forward to a summer of fresh salads and sauteed vegetables. Worth every penny!

Make Your Garden Water Wise

There are few things more enjoyable than getting your hands dirty. Studies have shown the health and de-stressing benefits of having a garden. Fresh veggies and herbs are of course a very nice perk as well! But a large yard and garden can strain your water bill and the local aquifers.

Around the world there is a crisis of fresh water.
780 million people lack access to an improved water source; approximately one in nine people.
3.41 million people die each year from water, sanitation and hygiene-related causes each year. An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the average person in a developing country slum uses for an entire day. The most critical issue facing the American West right now is a lack of water for human activities and irrigation. The Colorado river drains the south-west half of the U.S., it no longer flows into the ocean during the dry season because there is so much water diverted.

1.) Choose plants that are low water needs, or create shade in much of your yard. Xeriscaping makes use of succulents and stone landscaping to create beautiful yards with very low water requirements. If that's a bit extreme try picking out drought resistant varieties that will thrive in summer water restrictions. Plant water sensitive plants in shady spots.

2.) Mulch around plants to slow evaporation and discourage weeds. I personally prefer grass clipping and last year's leaves to make a tight dense mulch. Wood chip mulch is a good option for trees, but using it in your garden will lead to years of wood chunks mixed into your soil. Acid and alkaline loving plants may do well with pine needles or peat moss respectively.

3.) Use drip water systems, or hand water. Overhead water leads to loss by evaporation, and puts the water where the plant cannot use it. Where practical try to give water just to the roots of the plant, sprinkling a small area at the base. Drip water systems are the most practical way to water permanent landscaping like shrubs and perennial flowers.

4.) Water at night, infrequently and deeply. Plants actually use the most water at night. After collection solar energy all day, plants grow at night consuming water in the process. There is also less water loss to evaporation. Water deeply, but don't water every evening, give the soil a chance to dry out so that the plants are encouraged to grow large root systems searching for water.