Adventures in Worm Herding

Yes, Worm herding. I, being the tree hugging eco geek I am, have a worm bin for compost. We’ve had it for almost 4 months, and until tonight, it was a happy worming experience.

Tonight, worms escaped. And, all of this happened of course, while my eldest was babysitting. There are casualties, which someday, I will scrape off the bottom of the kitchen cabinet, bit right now, it is 11pm, and I have a glass of wine in hand, so dead wormies can wait until tomorrow.

Why worms? Well, being a homeschooling family, we cannot do anything like normal people, almost rotten pears cannot simply go in a trash bag. banish the thought! They need to be fed to 800+ red wigglers to become fertilizer for my plants.

Our “first family” of worms was happy, they never got into trouble, they were just picky. We cared for them and even upgraded their ugly plastic tub to a different larger plastic tub. But they seemed lonely in there, so we bought them friends. These friends were a bit bigger and clearly liked to party. There is a good chance the “first family” is no longer, but I haven’t dug through the worm poop to see. The new worms decided they wanted to venture out, out from the yellow tub, and explore under the sink. Not so nice there, was it guys, several of you keeled over!

There is a lesson in all of this for the kids, of course. No, not that worms cannot be trusted, but that you need to be careful when you venture out that you have a plan to get back. Without a plan, you may never find your way, just like slimy and his buddies.

Co-ops

I like to think I am the queen of the co-op. I co-op more than half of my groceries, and all of my cleaning supplies and health and beauty products (hey, I found a wrinkle a few weeks ago, and it needs to be dealt with!). Co-oping and distributism are closely related. Almost every thing I can co-op is from a small independent company, and the co-op is a way to get it to me easily, at a good price.

So what is a co-op? Well, he simple answer is a group of people who come together to purchase bulk goods at a reduced price. It's kind of like Sam's or Costco, but really really really small. You have to join, and usually the group work is shared. Most co-ops specialize in Organic or natural foods and products. In other parts of the country, many co-ops have a "store" for members to go to, but those are a dying breed. They have been pushed out by the likes of Walmart.

Why co-op? To save cash. My husband debates this one monthly, when I write the big ol' co-op check. We do spend a bit more on some items, but they are items that are hard to compare to what I get at the grocery store. I mean, can you find mill ground organic white whole wheat pastry flour? I couldn't so I buy 10lbs a month and bake my little heart out. I find I save the most cash by not having to bring the 3 wee beasties with me shopping, or spending the gas to go to the store frequently. Another reason to co-op is to support smaller businesses. I have been a part of many orders for items from companies so small, they do not have a big distribution system in place yet, but they are happy to work with a co-op.

I could go on forever about my co-ops, the wonderful side benefit is I have met people who I would never have met other wise. My food co-op is a great look at ecumenism at its best, we are Byzantine, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Anglican and a Lutheran pastor. We all are very faithful, and have a good time gently poking fun at each other (mostly fasting jokes, we all have different fasts) and sharing our faith.

Buying local

So for part two of my little series on distributism, I've decided to bore you with with one of my favorite topics, local buying. Why buy local, well for one, the community you are living in benefits from the business. Two, in the case of foods, they are fresher,and therefore last longer. This point especially is my favorite reason to buy local. I have no yard, I mean that, I have a porch, not grass, not trees, just a porch, a garden is impossible, but I love fresh veggies. Luckily, I can walk to the Farmer's market in my town and get lots of good yummy things.

Most of the farms who come are small farms, too small to supply a store, and the Farmer's Market is their main source of income. It is nice to talk to the person who grew the food and have them tell you about it. I've grown to really enjoy seeing "the bee guy" and "the potato lady" on Saturday Mornings. Yes, the prices are a bit higher, its true, but the quality is higher, too. We may not get as much for our money if we went to the big mega-chain store, but my food did not have to go through customs to get to me.

Buying local is not just for food. It is not hard to find a local shop that is unique for gifts of all sorts. Craft fairs are a bounty of local artisans. Sure, not everything can be made locally, but so many things can. Support your local industries.

Reason three, it is good for the environment, too, less travel=less emissions, less fuel burned. Not a biggie, but for some, rather important.

Enough of that soap box.

Distributism- part one

Its funny when you live a certain way for so long, and never know there is a formal theory to that ideal. My Hubby and I came up out of the punk music scene in Chicago in the early 90's. He sold records by bands he knew at shows. We made T-shirts that we silk screened, I made soap. We both free-lanced as writers and photographers for a few independent magazines. All along in the name of what was known as DIY. My Husband pretty much hates big corporations, and it sickens him that he currently works for one, but three kids eat an awful lot of food. We have continued to live this DIY lifestyle through our 11 years of marriage.

Only in reading Chesterton and Belloc did I come to realize DIY is not an idea made up by Bay Area Punks, but one that was well thought out by many brilliant men decades before my birth. So now we call it Distributism. I have to be honest, I can live it, but not explain it. I also like to live really crunchy, I blame my hippie mother, and that fits in with the DIY lifestyle super well.

I hope in the the coming days and weeks to start to share a bit more on ways you can save cash, support small business and live green, all at the same time. Many things will resemble the "Kitchen Distributist" column from Gilbert. Most of the things I have read in this little column are things I already do. Some will be ideas I picked up from my Polish relatives, who did them out of necessity. I hope you will enjoy this new feature, I'm very excited to share.

Earth Hour

Tonight my family will participate in the Earth Hour. Why, you may ask? Well, to remind the whole family we need to use our resources better. I'm crunchy, but most of that crunchiness results from not a belief in climate change and its consequences, but a belief that we have a responsibility to use resources wisely to better our fellow man.

John Paul II constantly reminded people that there are not too many people on the planet, just a mis-distrubution of goods. This is why I conserve. We are so blessed to have the ability to turn on 20 lights at a time, but should we do that? Probably not. So tonight, we will turn off the lights for one hour, and pray for those who need electricity, and do not have access to it.

Want to help the Enviroment? Stay married

Sure seems a lot easier (and more fun) than many other way of helping the enviroment