I forgot how much I missed my local library 📚 Don't forget to check if yours is open and what precautions they're taking!

Some of our compost bin rescues! Composted squash and watermelon seeds ended up thriving in the compost bin and they've taken off since planting them.

I'd love to see and hear about some of your compost bin rescues!

I think the hardest part of using bar shaving cream is that it's harder to tell where I haven't shaved. I can't follow the super fluffy tracks of shaving cream anymore and I keep finding small slivers of hair the day after. But I love everything else, especially the no plastic, so it's worth it

My Thriftbooks order came in and I was not expecting this good of quality. Just a torn book jacket easily fixed with tape! I support local used book stores when I can, but right now that's not possible. So if you're looking for something new (to you) to read, I highly recommend Thriftbooks

So upset seeing people caring so much about our local golf course maintenance 😒 Maybe this is a good time to let nature reclaim all those acres of land instead of fighting it so hard 🤷‍♀️

I have no idea what to expect out of this month or if I'll be going back to work (each state has different rules surrounding childcare right now). But having goals to strive towards and working on new habits is more important than ever for my mental health. I need some reason to not lay around like a potato every day! I'd love for you guys to share your goals with me, too!

Some other goals that aren't in the "eco friendly" umbrella but I thought I'd share anyway:

We're spreading the compost from last year on the flower beds and my dad discovered celery, onions, garlic, and potatoes growing in the compost bin! Free food without even trying! They've been replanted in the garden in the hopes they'll keep growing 🎉

March Goals

I'd love to hear some of your low waste/eco friendly goals! Leave a comment, reblog with your own, or send me a message. Maybe you'll have some ideas I haven't thought of before or that someone else might want to try out!

My mom was in the market for a new plastic razor (the connector for the heads broke on hers) and I was able to give her my old one and the couple replacement heads I had. Which meant I could finally get myself a safety razor! And oh my gosh I wish I'd done it sooner. I can't remember a time my legs have felt this good. My only problem is my hand and wrist were tired by the time I finished. I'm sure as I get used to it that won't happen as much, though.

Pictured with my current favorite shaving bar: Ethique's Tip to Toe. Works great with plastic razors and my new safety razor!

Using scraps from my mom's sewing projects to fill a locally-made decorative pillow case I got for Christmas. Could use a bit more but I'll keep adding to it as the scraps pile up!

I love GMM but damn we need to stop normalizing this kind of behavior. Just because you're a Youtuber (or any sort of social media influencer) does not make it okay to waste pounds of food. Especially in such a lighthearted manner. This is NOT OKAY. Why not make a giant pizza in collaboration with a food pantry instead? Entertaining, helpful, and no pointless waste.

And just because they donate to charities doesn't give them a pass on being this disgusting level of wasteful

There are places around me both selling and giving away "reindeer food," or rolled oats mixed with glitter, and telling people to spread it on their lawns on Christmas Eve. This is one of the few things where I just want to repeatedly bang my head on a desk. I cannot fathom how people think this is okay. And on top of the environmental concerns, do you really want your children and pets to be tracking that in the house for the next 10 years??

I've been making my family save random packing materials, odd bits of tissue paper that come in things, sturdy shopping bags, and more random things to pack gifts in. Most of the gifts I'm giving are consumables (food, locally made bath products, etc.) or hobby items from small businesses. So while I can't control what other people gift me, I can at least uphold a low waste mindset in my own gift giving this year!

One of the swaps I've been trying to make to use less plastic is margarine sticks instead of a tub. The rest of my family still uses the plastic tub, but I've been trying out different sticks to see what I like. Recyclable cardboard box and the wrappers are usually as well!

The children I nanny also like to use small boxes like that for various crafts or storage, so if you have children offer them some boxes and art supplies for craft time and let their imagine run wild!

Personal Car Ramble

I'm at the point with my car where I need to decide if constantly fixing it is worth it. I've already missed two days of work this month because of it (would be more but thankfully the breakdowns happened right before the weekend). I need a reliable car for my job and having it breakdown while picking children up from school doesn't look good! (Yeah that happened yesterday....)

But if I get a new car, my old one is basically relegated to rust in a junk heap (it's a pretty banged up 2006 with a speedometer that reads 20 over the actual speed I'm going; not passing any state inspections with that) and the eco-friendly part of my brain is screaming at me over that.

First world problems, I know. But right now this is a big thing going on in my life and I'm so torn.

I think for me the worst part of going into late fall/winter season is that local CSAs are over with, fruit/veg stands have closed up, farmer's markets are ending and have scarce pickings, the grocery stores stop offering local produce.

Next year I want to be more proactive and freeze a bunch of produce throughout spring and summer so I have more options in the colder months. I usually end up resorting to frozen produce (I can't stand canned, I've tried to but the texture 🤢), which is out of season, being shipped long distances, and uses a lot of plastic. I also stock up on squash in the basement, but I can only handle so much of that a week.

How do you guys handle the colder months with local produce being less available or not available at all?