May’s Challenge

Although I come up with a lot of adventures (”I’m going to rent an RV and drive to Alaska!”) during the course of a normal day, most are not enacted.  However, my recent idea about shopping locally for a month, well, that’s going to happen.  In May.  Austin stores only. Althought I’m sure that some things will prove to be a challenge, Austin has that whole buy-local-Keep-Austin-Weird thing going on. There’s also the Austin Independent Business Alliance.  In general, Austin’s pretty independent-business friendly, and the southern part of Austin I live in has that attitude in spades.

Hey look, it’s where I am right now (Austin Java)!  I’ll still be able to come here in May.

Not that there aren’t some spoilsports around here.  College Station (home of Texas A&M) has an anti-Austin program called “Keep College Station Normal” and there are plenty of unweird pro-corporate types right here.  Boo.

Overall, I think it will be an interesting experiment, and my brother (who, in addition to his other pursuits, is something of an economist!) has offered to explain to me some of why shopping locally makes a material difference, as opposed to just being a fruity hippie pointless exercise in anti-corporate bitching.  I think it might also be a very tasty experiment, regardless of the potential economic and ecological benefits.I can definitely shop at the Sunset Valley farmer’s market!

Wild onions and garlic from the farmer’s market waiting to be sauteed with mushrooms and chicken. I love wild onions.  I particularly love onion flowers.

So, we shall see what happens.  I shall also see what sorts of rules to apply as far as what’s local.  I wonder if I’m going to be able to buy shoes…

Meanwhiles, from yesterday some of my favorite Earth Day posts: (and other stuff I found as a result)

From Curbly, we have Bonnie’s Plants in biodegradable pots.  This is wonderful.  I tend to kill plants while transplanting them.  Perhaps this will help my black thumb.  Did I mention I came up with an idea for an indoor greenhouse for herbs & small veggies yesterday?

Scrap Organic Cotton Fabric from Natural America’s manufacturing.  Sometimes they have left over batting, too.

Revisiting the Worsted Witch’s post on cleaning supplies and the cute bottles you can put them in.

Soaps Gone Buy some great classic cleaning products. Not that I like cleaning, but c’mon, it’s Fels Naptha and about 20 different kinds of borax products!  Oh, what, you never made soap?  Well, I can’t help you.  This is exciting.

Re-Nest had a post on a Billion ideas for Using Lemons for Household Cleaning.  Got to try these.  Good excuse to have a lemon tree in my nonexistent backyard!

A billion alternatives to commercial cleaning products at the Ecology Center, clean your whole home with baking soda, and a lot of suggestions for using tea tree oil (I love this stuff, but it’s an acquired smell) from Treehugger.

Interested in the book Clean House, Clean Planet for alternatives to chemical cleaners from a pro.