My daughter and I revisited the song “Enough Stuff” from my 2013 Who Are My People? album to try out more video editing and as an early celebration of Earth Day. I wrote the song in 2011 while serving as a Peace Corps Response volunteer in Benin, West Africa, and it was originally entitled “Waste”…
Tag: sustainability
Aquafaba Trials
I cooked up a whole bunch of dried chickpeas last week in the crock pot and was left with a lot of chickpea liquid, called aquafaba. I had previously tried whipping this up into foam, as I’d heard it possible to do. The foam looked heavenly, but tasting it, was less than appealing—until, that is,…
Yogurt Success
I tried making yogurt at home for the first time this week, and it was a success! While a little more liquidy than perhaps ideal, the yogurt was also less sour than plain store-bought kinds, requiring very little sweetener to taste sweet. And hands-on preparation time was very low. I used a small crock pot,…
Foiled by Tea Bags
Ah, a nice cup of tea. Except, now, I’m finding out that with a tea bag, it may not be nice at all. That soothing, even medicinal drink has been loading me all this time with…plastic? In my co-op in college, I remember a few students urging that we should buy only loose tea to…
Setting a Match to our Own Garbage
While living in Togo, I had to learn what to do with garbage. There was no garbage pickup—of course in a place with no electricity or running water I hadn’t expected that—but somehow I was still surprised to learn that what I needed to to with any garbage I produced was go out into the…
Reveling in Walkability
I have never been drawn to town or city living, preferring nature and space for reflection in my home environment. Our new home is quite close to downtown West Asheville, however, and I have been loving being able to walk to the supermarket and various cafes and restaurants. The walk is a treat in itself,…
In Search of Bulk Yogurt
While living in a large town in Azerbaijan in 2007-2008, I remember going to purchase yogurt from women at a street stall (this was the only place, outside of a home, it could be found). I had to be taught that I couldn’t come empty-handed; I had to bring my own large glass jar, known…