Living Small

With baby number three imminent, Sergio and I had to ask ourselves an important question: Is 700 square feet with no yard and no garage enough space for a family of five? My first instinct was a definite no.  However, getting a bigger place is counter to everything we are trying to accomplish right now in terms of waste reduction.  And also, I hate dusting.  More square footage equals more to dust.  So, we have decided to take a long, hard look at our condo this summer and make some choices that will allow us to stay in it with a growing family.  We have a few precious too-large pieces of furniture that we can't bear to part with that will go into (unheated, lights-on-a-timer) storage, and everything else will go to donation.  We might have to make a few purchases (we are taking the plunge and downsizing from a queen to a full bed, yes we are) but we will try to keep them as green as possible.  Once we get to it, I will post some before-and-after photos of our journey in transforming a four-person house into one that fits five while maintaining as close as possible to the came carbon footprint.

A Little of This, A Little of That

Well, the composting project is stalled.  The waste hauler is supportive of the pilot program for the HOA, the HOA board is supportive of the pilot program, but the city needs to "look into it" before deciding if we can proceed.  It feels like our powers of persuasion are being held at bay from the city (who at the city needs to look into it? from which department? why?) and so we are patiently waiting for the green light.  In the meantime, well over fifty percent of our garbage continues to be compostable materials.  We are hatching a couple of backup plans in case the city decides to be a jerk, but we won't reveal them unless necessary.

In better news, Sunflower Market is open!  We made an inaugural pilgrimage, and holy bulk items!  We didn't bring our sacks and jars on trip number one because we wanted to get the lay of the land first, but we can absolutely cut down on the amount of waste we bring home from the grocery store by shopping responsibly at Sunflower.  The selection is broad enough that I don't think we will get bored easily, either. Minus one big point for not carrying the Strauss milk in the glass jars.  Maybe we can ask the management pretty please. In the meantime, good thing Raley's is just up the road.  I will take some action shots when we go next time.

The Bulk Bins Solution

A few weeks ago, I put out a request for ideas about how to carry bulk goods home from the store without using disposable plastic bags.  The winning suggestion came from my crafty and creative friend Jennifer Coluzzi! Her great idea was to use travel pillow cases, which are much smaller than regular pillow cases and zip closed.  However, before I could get to the store to purchase some, my similarly crafty and creative mother, Maggie Kline, sewed me a batch of little bags exceedingly similar to the travel pillow cases I planned to buy.  Talk about timing! The little bags close with ribbon rather than zippers, but the basic idea is identical.  This confirms that all English teachers do think alike.

We drove past the future site of Sunflower Market in Fremont recently, and noted that the COMING SOON! banner is now up.  Hurry up and open, Sunflower!  We have our little bags at the ready! I will post some photos of the bags in action when we make our inaugural trip.

The Compost (Plot) Thickens

Sergio and I attended the Mission Village HOA board meeting last Wednesday, armed with tons of good ideas about how to convince the board that composting sliced bread (and other food waste) is the best idea since...sliced bread.  Weak joke!

The board members were surprisingly enthusiastic, with very little convincing needed.  This isn't to say the new compost program will be rolling out next week; however, the board did give us permission to have a representative from the local hauler come and assess our common areas to look for the best spots throughout the association to pilot the compost program.

I think that finding the spots for the composting bins or carts (depending on what makes the most sense logistically) won't be the hard part of this process.  I think educating the residents will definitely be the biggest challenge, as well as the key component to both the board and the city deciding whether or not we can sustain a composting program.  This could get messy.