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.

Green Craft

Consumerism. It’s on my mind from last wekend. I promote handmade items a lot, I think it’s worthy of thinking about what it is I ostensibly promote, and why. For me, that’s sidestepping mass commercialism, supporting local or independent businesses. But am I really?

Exhibit One: I’ve pondered going a month only spending my money at local stores. Can I do it? Is it even possible to do so and still procure all the things I might need? Where does internet shopping fall in that equation?

Exhibit Two: Say you have an independent seller. What about the stuff that person sells? Is it just as mass-produced as it would have been in the Big Box store? Is there a difference between purchasing Item A in either place? How about independent design but mass production?

Exhibit Three: Say you have someone who makes handmade stuff. So how are the supplies produced that a person uses to make that handmade stuff? At what level do we have to go to find something that’s really not mass-produced? Is it actually possible to avoid that? What’s the value of avoiding it?

So where does Ecology come in? There are a million questions and not a lot of great answers, I think. In honor of Earth Day, I am going to link to a lovely story from Crafting A Green World that looks at some of these questions and then takes off on considering craft and the crafters’ supplies from an ecological standpoint. Some interesting thoughts, some interesting survey results. You’ll see more of this soon via Etsy and the Maker Faire.

And don’t forget to read down and check out the DIY Guide (of course) to Drawing Your Own Conclusions about the Craft Supply Industry.

And there you have it, my contribution to earth day.

Blog Action Day: Crafts, Environmentalism, Swapping, Etc.

Today, October 15, is what they call Blog Action Day - a day during which bloggers are encouraged to make posts about the same thing - in this case environmentalism. Count me in.

What shall I post, thought I?  I’ve already posted about crafts made from recycled stuff.  It’s fairly obvious, if you read my blog at all regularly, that I approve of being environmentally conscious, and try to be environmentally friendly myself.

The main way that I try to be environmentally friendly, craft-wise, is by reusing things.  For example, I shall soon be going on a hunt for wool sweaters and thrift and vintage stores that I can felt and turn into other shapes.  Plus I tend to read Treehugger.  Sometimes I feel like an environmentalist just for reading it.  Is it totally cliche to like the Sierra Club these days?  I still do, and I find myself envying their fundraising budget whenever I go to work, too.

SWAP STUFF:

Participating in swaps also helps with the re-using things.  For example, there’s SwapDex, which posts swaps you can participate in.  You can also check out the Swap Area on Craftster or log onto Get Crafty and check out the Swap Forum.  On this coming Saturday you can participate in the Swap-O-Rama at the Maker Faire Austin or check out the Swap-O-Rama website for other swaps they do.  Plus a lot of blogs/websites do swaps periodically, you just have to keep your eyes pieeled.

 RECYCLED ART/CRAFT:

Your trash is truly someone else’s treasure.  My friend Paula was halfway sure earlier today that a glittery top she gave away found its way into a costume store.

I live in a city that’s fairly environmentally conscious - for example the Keep Austin Beautiful campaign.  This city is a place where I’m completely not surprised to see a Cathedral of Junk (and particularly unsurprised to see it on the south side) or have you ever heard of the “Enchanted Forest” work/live space here?  I used to read articles about the “forest” back when it was a living place for the homeless. Interesting repurposing.  Plus, I swear, Austin has the largest number of resale, consignment, thrift, junk, trash and/or secondhand stores on Earth.

Outside of Austin, the recycle/reuse thing is huge in the Craft world in general.  Have you heard of Trashion?  It’s a group of Etsy artists that make their art from what others throw away.  They even have fashion (trashion, ’scuse) shows!  And you can always find some kind of recycled art/craft being featured on the Craft zine.  Re-made plastic shopping bags are completely chic at the moment no matter what they’re turned into.

Plus there’s lots of places to find/get/use vintage, but I’ll get into that on another date!