What We’re reading

1.  Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need A Green Revolution–And How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman. (Recommended by my anthropology teacher my senior year of college, I finally read it 4 years later. It changed my life. I’ve since started using grey water.)

2.  The Green Year: 365 small things you can do to make a big difference by Jodi Helmer. (We like to go through and see how many of these we’ve already implemented.)

3.  The Edible garden by  Hazel White, and Janet H. Sanchez. Edited by Sunset books. (It helped us plant this year’s fall garden!)

4.  Living Green; the missing manual by Nancy Conner. (My husband devoured this one. He said though it was a little preachy, it made a lot of good points and was full of rich information and helpful resources.)

5.  Back to Basics; A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills Edited by Abigail R. Gehring. (This is for afternoons spent dreaming and discussing the future self-sustaining farm we’d like to have. It teaches how to do-it yourself from installing your own wood burning stove, how to make jelly and can it, to how to milk the cows! I’m presently enthralled with the section on “maintaining a winter garden.”)

6.   Homesteading; A Backyard Guide To: Growing Your Own Food, Canning, Keeping Chickens, Generating Your Own Energy, Crafting, Herbal Medicine, and more edited by Abigail R. Gehring (The sister book of Back to the Basics. I can’t wait to get my own goats. I won’t have to mow the lawn anymore!)

7.  The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom–A Toltec Wisdom Book by Don Miquel Ruiz. (Whenever I need to remind myself about balance on this green battlefield, and about life in general.)

10 responses to “What We’re reading”

  1. jeanne | August 31, 2011 at 19:51 | Reply

    Dear Jennifer: If you stumble across any way to recycle plastic pharmacy packaging (including those yewgly orange plastic bottles) but -in particular- … those obnoxious 3-2/8″ x 6″ x 1/2″ blue plastic “containers” for a packet of 30 pills that are already individually sealed on a foil – so there really is no need for the blue plastic – but which adds up to a mound quickly, depending on how many drugs one takes. I take 3 different meds, so these add up quite quickly and an eye sore to store with no alternative purpose I have yet been able to fathom a use for. What is even worse is the labeling done by the pharmacy [must be manufactured by SuperGlue] because after one entire week of soaking in water, neither the label NOR THE PRINT WITH YOUR NAME AND IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION can be removed! Contacted an environmental group once about this, and their response was a prompt reply promising a solution for me – but they must have forgotten, and so did I for that matter. There are 3 hideous aspects to this dispensing method by Wal-Mart pharmacy, no doubt nationwide (let alone globally) so this could be a HUGE issue and you could become famous if you come up with a solution! First is the outer plastic container, then the foil packet inside is composed of both a plastic bubble around each pill, and each pill is punched out the back of the foil – HOW INSANELY HOSTILE TO THE ELDERLY IS THAT! And finally, to remove the foil packet from the blue plastic container (in case you discover a use for it), you’d still have to cut it out with scissors because it is securely attached to the plastic container. This is OVERKILL to the 10th power!

    • Jennifer | September 3, 2011 at 13:46 | Reply

      That sounds like overkill, Jeanne. Let me take a look around and see what I can find. You don’t have a picture of these blue ones do you that maybe you could send to my email? I’m not familiar with them. If I have a look, maybe I know what I’m up against?

  2. nors | September 7, 2011 at 04:17 | Reply

    Hi jennifer, do you write in public? newspaper, magazines? just wondering, your stories are really great…keep it up!!! I enjoy reading it!

    • Jennifer | September 7, 2011 at 13:29 | Reply

      Nors, you’re too kind. What a compliment! No, I don’t write for the public. I would love to, and maybe one day I will. As of now, you, my fellow bloggers are my public, and I enjoy that immensely. Keep cooking! I’ll be looking at your recipes. 🙂

  3. Pingback: Shaving with Olive Oil | Attempting zero waste lifestyle in a military household

  4. jrliggettsblog | March 19, 2012 at 16:14 | Reply

    Your comment on “Homesteading” reminded me of when I was a kid, we had two nanny goats as pets. We would brush them and they would follow us around, even into the woods when we played in the woods. They will not only eat your grass, but strip leaves off trees, bushes, plants. You would either have to stake them on a lead of some sort, or keep them in a pen. I really like goats, though, much easier to make into a pet over a sheep. (My husband and I had sheep for years also–they have no manners!) (Joy)

  5. Jennifer | March 31, 2012 at 19:24 | Reply

    Joy–you’re so cute. I had no idea sheep had no manners and goats do. See how much you learn from having farm animals around? 🙂
    Your comments always make me smile.

  6. pat | September 13, 2013 at 21:09 | Reply

    Here is an idea I heard recently…..Restore your beat up shoes! If they are to scuffed up to take a shine anymore but still oh so comfy… stop…don’t throw them out! Cut a potato in half and rub the shoes with the raw potato, after that polish them and they will come out nice and shiny.

  7. Ewa "Mom Photographer" | October 23, 2013 at 12:13 | Reply

    Jennifer, you must add “The Omnivore’s Dilemma. The secret behind what you eat” to your book shelf.
    Gosh, I’m not even in the middle but with each page my eyes are getting wider and wider.

Tell me what you think. I don't get to answer comments like I did before baby but I read every single comment. And they really make my day!