trash free?

San Francisco diverts 80% of its trash from landfills. Its goal is to become a zero waste city by 2020, meaning that no household garbage goes back into the waste stream, but instead will be entirely recycled or composted (industrial and commercial garbage are a much greater challenge yet).

If you live in a single family home take a look at your own garbage and recycling cans. What size are they? Which one is bigger? If your garbage can is the same size or bigger than your recycling can there is room for improvement. If you live in an apartment and bring your garbage and recycling to the communal building cans you may have less of a gauge of the quantities of waste you produce, and the ratio between recycling/composting and garbage. Still, become aware of which you empty more often, your recycling or your garbage, and where you may be able to improve.

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I must confess that I currently don't compost, although that will change come spring. My composting can is waiting out there, deeply buried in the snow. Other than that, we recycle everything we possibly can. Besides the obvious, such as newspapers and glass jars, it includes toilet paper and paper towel rolls, yogurt cups, aluminum foil, all recyclable plastic bagging or packaging, gift wrap, paper tags and what not. In an average week (meaning no parties) our family of four produces about one big 13 gallon (biodegradable) garbage bag full of waste. That includes what ought to go onto the compost pile (tea leaves, produce scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, tissues and paper towels). Once we compost again our waste output should be about half a big trash bag full per week.

Please return to previous posts on the environmental trash mess, recycling more, buying less and producing less waste. Then become inspired to waste less.

act of random kindness

A few days ago I had to take my car back to the auto body shop to fix a small chip-off I had previously overlooked when they repaired some deer damage. When I came to pick up the car and pulled out my wallet they said "no charge." I was floored. I had never before experienced an act of random kindness (although this wasn't entirely random) and was so surprised and grateful. It was amazing how this little event lifted and improved my mood for the rest of the day.  Don't underestimate the enormous influence, good and bad, you have on all the people you encounter during the day.  Your attitude reverberates out and out because it not only infects the people you have direct contact with, but also influences those next down the line and on and on.  Imagine how much good a smile, a kind word, a helping hand or a word of encouragement can do.

celebrating the beauty of food

In case you hadn't guessed it yet, I love food. Food is so important in my life that I also decorate the house with it. Not all over, of course (no apple basket in the bedroom or kiwi display in the bathroom). I mean in the living/dining/kitchen area, where we are inspired to eat it or cook with it (and won't forget about it).When I return with lots and lots and lots of produce from our once-a-month food coop delivery, or from a trip to Trader Joe's to get my organic in-between-deliveries fruit, I pile it up on bowls and platters and display it on countertops and tables. I play with the colors of the produce and match, complement or juxtapose it with the colors of the vessels.  The yellow leopard bowl goes well with the yellow of the bananas and the muted green avocados; I like the linear cardboard container the brownish-reddish kumato tomatoes lie in like peas in a pod just the way it is; and I picked the silver bowl this week for apples and kiwis next to the silver candle holders.  

Especially now, towards the end of winter, when we are beginning to crave color, but are still a month away from the spring bulb flowers, produce colors look gorgeous.  Don't hide it in the fridge, play with it, display it, celebrate and enjoy it.

tired of snow?

             It's cabin fever time. Lots of snow, lots of gray days, lots of indoors, lots of sitting. The winter doldrums. Sick and tired of it all?

What can you do? Many things. The best is always to embrace fully what you're in and not fight it, not resist it, go with the flow as they say. If you love the outdoors and have easy access to it you are way ahead of the city people. Go for a walk - enjoy the snow, the sunshine, the slush (it squishes so beautifully under the soles), or a gray day - go skiing, snowshoeing, walking your dog or yourself - but go out and get some fresh air and a bit of vitamin D aka sunshine. And do eat your egg yolks, because it's the best vitamin D you can get besides actual sunshine.

           If you are not an outdoorsy person, or have few opportunities to get out during this sometimes dreary time of year, you need to tackle the doldrums a different way. Friends! Community! Conviviality! No need to remain stuck inside your own four walls and mope. Winter is the perfect time to connect with people. Party time! Make it a point, make an effort, have people over, and you will get invited back. It's the time for hearty stews, bone broth, casseroles (my favorite is French cassoulet), soup with homemade bread, good friends, and of course candles and fires. Get together to make a meal, share a glass of wine, a potluck, some singing or a poetry reading, make music, do a project, play ping pong - do something to lift your spirits. Or volunteer in your town. A lot of summer parties and fundraisers get planned now. Or dream up your vegetable garden, it's almost time to start your seedlings indoors. And curling up with a good book in front of the fire with a cup of tea or a glass of wine is not something you'll do come May.

It takes some effort, but do enjoy the beauty of this season while it lasts.

tasting soil and climate

As our culture becomes increasingly interested, sophisticated and educated in all things food, you may stumble upon the word terroir on this side of the Atlantic. It is a typically French term connected to that country's deep and intense food culture.  The idea behind fast food is the exact opposite of what terroir expresses. Fast food companies want to assure you of the exact same hamburger or French fries taste regardless of whether you buy it in Beijing, Moscow, Los Angeles or Buenos Aires - worldwide uniformity of taste.  Terroir, on the contrary, celebrates the unique combination of local soil and climate conditions in a particular area, and how they influence the foods grown there.

Terroir is perhaps easiest to understand in connection with wine because we know from experience that the same grape type, say a Chardonnay, grown in different geographical places will yield very different tasting wines. That is the reason why the French don't label their wines by grape type, as we do here, but by provenance, such as Château Lafite or Saint-Aubain, Domaine Sylvain Langoureau, which, of course, requires a vastly larger knowledge base.

Beyond wine we have come to be aware of terroir influence on food as it relates to chocolate (Trader Joe's offers a chocolate passport that features small chocolate samples from eight different cocoa bean growing countries in the world), honey (depends on the type of flower nectar collected), and single-malt whiskeys (depends a lot on the local water). But terroir also comes out in the taste of meat. The Spanish Jamón Ibérico, for example, is prized for its particular taste that comes from the black pigs' natural diet of grass, herbs and acorns, specific to that region in southern Spain. Locally, I have bought organic chickens from two different farmers. Both taste and texture of the meat, and even the shape of the chickens, were vastly different, even though the two farms are not even twenty miles apart.

Coffee connaisseurs always say that water can make or break a good cup of coffee.  City water usually has added chlorine and often fluoride, which alter the taste of the water, while local well water tastes different from one well to the next, depending on its particular mineral content.  Local food is so much more complex and exciting! Happy tasting!

a seasonal winter display

What a visually pleasing tradition to have a seasonal display at home, not only when there is a particular holiday, but simply to remind us of the current season. The display might include some plant or nature element, such as a bare branch in the wintertime, maybe some pretty rocks, perhaps a candle. Really anything that reflects the current time of year, the mood and what it means to you.

A fireplace mantel lends itself beautifully to this kind of display because it is usually so centrally placed in the home. But a side table in the entrance, a pedestal in the dining room or a window alcove in the living room are all just as suitable.

When my children were small they went to a Waldorf nursery school, where it is customary to have such a display on a table in the playroom.

The Japanese traditionally have a tokonoma in their home, a niche with a seasonal scroll, a seasonal flower display, perhaps a candle and some incense, all thoughtfully selected.

Consider taking a look around your garden and your house, and think about a few items to place in a location you pass a few times a day. It might become a spot where you stop just for a second to pause and interrupt the flow of things.

how do you see things?

"We do not see things the way they are, we see things the way we are." It's a quote of potentially old and unknown origin, but has most often been attributed to the writer Anaïs Nin. What is it supposed to mean? When we were young we all had those fears of dark basements, creatures lingering under our beds at night, or perhaps were afraid to bring the trash out after dark. We saw the world from our imaginary kid perspective, full of unknowns, of lurking dangers, of mystical creatures. When we became older those fears dissolved as a result of new knowledge, and we began to see the world from a different and new perspective, a more rational adult perspective.

Neither perspective is more real or less real, each is just one of many ways to see and experience the world. Imagine how a cat or a bee might experience this same exact world we all live in. An Australian aborigine sees and experiences the world from his particular traditions and symbiotic connection with nature. It's as if the world wrapped itself around our particular beliefs and perspectives, and mirrored back to us what we put out and who we are. You've probably heard something like "money begets money," or "the more love you give, the more love you get."  You see and get more of what you keep putting out.

When you believe in the beauty of the world and the beauty of people your world will be beautiful. If you believe in abundance you will have plentiful.   You see things the way you are.  Take a look around and notice what you see.

dream on

“If you limit your actions in life to things that nobody can possibly find fault with, you will not do much!” Lewis Carroll wrote. Carroll warns us from living in fear and invites us to dare living life to the fullest. Indeed, if you lead your life to please others, well, stop. No need to apologize for being you, for doing things you like to do, and doing them the way you like to do them.   If you want to dye your hair red or green, do it. If you want to take a belly dancing class, go do it. If you want to go swimming with the dolphins, plan a trip. If you have a secret passion, go live it. If you hate your job, imagine a different one.

It is so easy to find excuses. And sometimes it takes a while to fulfill a dream. But dreaming (with intent) is not only fun but the groundwork for fulfilling your dream (see a previous blog post "amazing intent" on this). We are often not so good with the imagining part. But that's the part that sets things in the universe into motion. The better you imagine what you want to manifest the more real it becomes in your mind.

Lewis Carroll's Alice asks the Cheshire Cat: "Where should I go?" to which the cat replies "That depends on where you want to end up."  That's the whole point. If you can imagine where you want to end up you can get there. But you must imagine your goal. Otherwise the universe doesn't get a clear message. Dream on! That's the beginning to getting from here to there.

relish your eggs, yolk and all

         Egg whites sans yolk became the virtuous thing to eat in recent years because of the misguided cholesterol scare (I recently wrote about the fat myth). I find egg whites by themselves bland and love my yolks. Rather, I live for the yolk and eat the white just because it happens to come with it, although egg whites do have their place in chocolate mousse and meringues. The deep yellow oozy yolk, warm and runny, is just soooo delicious (see a post on my soft spot for soft boiled eggs). Egg yolks were vilified by a culture that was quick to believe one-sided and misinterpreted scientific tests, and valued scientifically engineered food products over what nature made. The food industry saw a quick profit in our fear of cholesterol (take a look at information from the Weston Price Foundation on the misguided cholesterol myth). Hence those egg white omelets, and egg products like desiccated egg white powder, substitute egg mix, and liquid egg whites in a carton.

         Not only are eggs one of the healthiest foods on earth, they are also a brain food, provide one of the highest levels of protein, and are an excellent source of vitamin D (eat more of them in the wintertime when you don't get out into the sun as much) and minerals. The much bigger problem is the low quality of eggs coming from industrialized mass egg productions and the egg products made from them. Do eat eggs, but buy them from a local farmer who lets the chickens roam and eat grubs (see a blog post on that as well).  If you want to save food $ consider cutting back drastically on your meat consumption and getting more of your protein from the best quality eggs you can find.

In the end, we are better off looking at the causes of cardio-vascular and heart disease from an emotional perspective, which merits a blog post in itself, rather than making cholesterol the culprit.  So - have your eggs and eat them too!

love your stress

Love your stress?? I'm not kidding.  Stanford University health psychologist Kelly McGonigal has put forth a radically different understanding of stress, which could not only save your life but also that of thousands of others.   The broader implications are in sync with what has been called "the biology of belief" (as in Bruce Lipton's namesake book), which says in a nutshell that your beliefs fundamentally shape your body's well- and illbeing. This is radical because it means that if you can change your belief you can heal your ailments (also see an earlier blog post about this). In alternative medicine this is actually not such a new concept. Deepak Chopra and Henry Grayson are just two of a long list of doctors and psychologists who profess just that. But back to stress in particular. In her TEDTalk McGonigal bases her theory on two studies about stress that run counter to what we have been hearing all these years.

The first point is that stress is not what makes you sick, but rather your beliefs that stress is harmful. Instead, she explains, the pounding heart simply prepares you for action, while the faster breathing brings more oxygen to your brain. The study showed that the blood vessels only constricted - and this is the potentially harmful reaction - if the subject believed stress was harmful. When the subjects did not believe that stress was harmful the blood vessels remained relaxed, like in moments of joy! McGonigle is telling us to see our stress response as helpful, not harmful, and knowing that stress is "your body helping you rise to the challenge."

The point from the second study is that stress makes you social because oxytocin, the cuddle and relationship hormone, but also a stress hormone, is released during a stressful situation, nudging you to seek support and surround yourself with caring people. Oxytocin protects your cardiovascular system because it helps to heal the heart cells from any stress damage. "Stress opens the path to the heart!"

Sooooooo: a. your beliefs transform your stress experience and b. relationships create stress resilience.  Wonderful news!