...Dolphin Trainer

As a child when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always said a dolphin trainer. I was fascinated with dolphins, even though I had never seen one in real life…and I really didn't know what the job actually entailed...and I didn’t particularly like to swim…and I was actually kind of afraid of water. Just a few minor details indicating dolphin training probably wasn’t the best career choice for me. And yet dolphins continued and still to this day continue to fascinate me.

I was reminded of my childhood dream job a few weeks ago when I saw real dolphins in the wild. While on vacation with girlfriends in Ft. Myers, Florida, we witnessed maybe a dozen dolphins swimming in the smokey blue Gulf of Mexico. We could see them jumping through the waves right from the shoreline. They were magnificent! I was squealing and clapping - I was a little kid again. While I didn't get a photo of the dolphins, this is where they were swimming...

It was my first time seeing dolphins in the actual wild, in their natural habitat. I have seen them before, sadly, in captivity when I was a child. As I'm now older and wiser and able to control my activities and actions, I know better and make a point to never go to those terrible roadside marine and animal parks. I don't want to support the captivity and often neglect of those animals.  

In celebration of Earth Day, thursday's episode of Oprah had the director Louis Psihoyos and activitist Ric O'Berry from the dolphin documentary The Cove. I dragged my hubby to see it last fall and we left the theater so angry and appalled and saddened by what we had seen. I went home and signed up right away to take action. The documentary won an Academy Award this year, which presumably has brought even more attention to the film and the cause. They will be airing the film soon in Japan, so it will be interesting to see how the Japenese act to the horror happening in their own country. If you haven't had a chance to see this film, I HIGHLY recommend you do. Dolphins are such  magnificant creatures. 

...Green Geek

Today is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day! Happy Birthday Earth Day!

Today is a day to ask yourself if you’re doing all that you can do for Mother Earth. Are you…

• Recycling? Uh, DUH, let’s hope so! My city accepts cardboard/paper, and only #1 and #2 glass & plastic bottles with necks. That leaves out a ton of other recyclables which go straight into the trash. So, you too can step it up and bring all of your recyclables to your local participating co-op. I bring mine to EastSide Co-op in NE Mpls. They have a pilot recycling program, taking #s 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6. It still amazes me how quickly all of these recyclables pile up!
• Recycling your bottle caps? Did you know that most bottle caps are not recycled? Aveda has a recycling program for these caps. I collect bottle caps from my work, as well as home, and bring about 3-4 boxes of caps a month to Aveda.
• Supporting a local organic farmer? Last year I purchased CSA share and loved it, so signed up again this year. I can't wait for all of the yummy veggies coming my way starting in June!
• Capturing your rain water? I am so excited each spring when we hook up our rain barrel. It’s free water, great for my garden, gives me a great workout, and allows me to water my plants even on city-restriced watering days.
• Using reusable shopping bags? I love Envirosax. Super cute designs, super strong, and super compact.
• Washing all of your laundry in cold water? My only exceptions to this rule are towels and bedding, which I clean with warm water to kill any germs.
• Eating organically grown and humanely treated food? Eggs, for example, from organically-fed, free-range chickens noticably look and taste better. The brilliantly bright yolks even converted my skeptical husband.
• Supporting local green businesses? I like to consult Heavy Table's Atlas of Ethical Eating for eco-friendly and socially-responsible local restaurants.
• Using decomposable doggie poop bags? I have two 65+ pound dogs and they poop alot! Their poop doesn't need to be preserved for the next 200+ years in regular plastic bags.
• Using non-toxic chemicals on your skin? In your house? Take stock of all of the cosmetics, lotions, soaps, detergents, cleaning supplies you use every day. Are they toxic to you, your pets, the environment? 

These are just a few of the things I'm trying to do, but I'm certinaly not perfect. I often forget to bring my reusable bag to the grocery store. While I drive an econimcal Ford Focus, my husband drives a gas-guzzling SUV. But bit by bit, I'm trying to do better. 

In honor of Earth Day, I want to make a commitment to ramp up my green efforts for 2010. The things I’m already doing (which at one time felt like a lot) have become second nature and pretty much a part of my daily routine. As a result, I feel like I’m not doing enough! So I’ve decided to step it up.

Composting and rain gardening have been at the forefront of my mind lately, probably because a few weeks ago I arranged for a Hennepin County Master Gardener to present both topics at my work. I’m on the Green@Work committee, and we try to bring green ideas/resources/events to the people – or in this case my co-workers. Some of them get it, a lot of them don’t. Anyway, I’ve been thinking a lot about both topics since the presentation.

So what earth friendly actions can I really commit to in 2010?

• Composting. It’s too easy not to be doing, right?
• Planting more native flowers and grasses in my landscaping.
• Using recyclable/compostable dryer sheets, or better yet, a dryer ball/sachet.
• Learning more about beekeeping. (Earlier this year, I briefly explored the idea of raising chickens and found out that the hobby isn’t for me. Good to know ahead of time.)
• Learning more ways to be green & reading more about environmental topics. (I’m going to start with Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food.)

So my list isn’t huge. But it’s a solid start, and I feel I can actually commit to doing these things.

How are you celebrating Earth Day? What green practices have you incorporated into your daily routine?

...Roadie

The SXSW music fest is next week already! I can't believe it. My husband's band Banner Pilot is playing at it and I'm going along for the ride. I think I'm technically a roadie. I asked my hubbie if that meant I really had to carry heavy equipment because, well, I'm really kind of a wimp when it comes to muscles and stuff.

I've been so consumed with house projects the last few months (Should We Stay or Should We Go Now?!) that I haven't even really looked over the massive lineup of bands playing the fest (easily hundreds), let alone all of the special events, author signings, etc. Celebrity sightings will be at an all-time high. OMG, what am I going to wear? I'm going to be surrounded by hipsters and movie stars.

Lots to think about and research. I don't want to overly schedule myself while I'm there. I am trying to learn to go with the flow. So just a quick peek at the schedule unveiled a few bands that I love and would love to see in person:

The Walkmen
She & Him
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
Bowerbirds
We Were Promised Jetpacks
Metric
Low Line Caller
The Muffs (blast from the past, right?!)
Spoon (2nd time seeing them + I have tix to see them at First Ave. in Mpls in April)
Elle Bandita

Question: Is it wrong to travel all the way to Austin to see a local Minneapolis band? 'Cause if it's not, I would also like to check out these bands which I love:

Peter Wolf Crier
Jeremy Messersmith
Kid Dakota (still one of my favorite local artists)

I'm so looking forward to Austin! I can't wait!

...Broken Record

I hate it when I get a song stuck in my head - especially when it's a song I can't stand. I liked Adam Lambert on American Idol last season - he was different from everyone else, he was entertaining, and boy, does he have some wicked pipes! But I cannot stand any of his "hit" songs which are played on the radio ALL of the time. And I barely even listen to the radio.

Over the last few months his song "Whataya want from me" has been on repeat in my head. I find myself humming it...often. And that's especially infuriating because the song is so LAME.

The tune is lame.
The lyrics are lame.
It's just all around lame.

And here I am humming it of my own free will. Ugh. Please make it stop!

"Hey - whataya want from me
Whataya want from me--ee
Whataya want from me"

...Cute Blog

I just updated my blog background - you like? There are lots of free, cute designs to choose from at http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/. It was hard to choose just one design!

...Bean Hater

I am prejudice...against beans. I have been since I was a child. No, I'm not talking about jelly beans, or green beans, or coffee beans, or even black beans. I'm talking about the really yucky beans that no kid would ever in a million years want to eat - the dreaded Kidney bean, the terrible Pinto bean, and the absolutely horrifying Lima bean.

Growing up, my mom would always make her famous Five Bean Hotdish for special occassions, like church or school potlucks. As if one bean wasn't bad enough, her casserole had five different kinds of beans in it! I remember it being very clumpy - the beans congealed together in a big brown mass! Yuck. I hated that hotdish. So ever since then, I have held a prejudice against most beans. Even though I can't remember what any of those beans taste like, I think I still don't like them.  

(Side note: A viewing of Texas Chainsaw Massacre as a young child at a slumber party scarred me from ever eating chili again. Kidney beans are in chili. See? Real, solid proof that they are indeed bad.)

Now that you know my history with beans, you can imagine my surprise when at the grocery store last night I tossed a can of Azuki beans into the cart. While they weren't in  my mom's hotdish, they are a bean and as a rule, I try to avoid them.

My holistic hero, Dr. Gillian McKeith, has been preaching about the Azuki beans since forever, and it obviously has stuck with me. She says, "Hail to the Adzuki Bean, my Bean of Weight Losss." (From Slim for Life.) I expected the beans to taste terrible. Afterall, Gillian always makes the people on her tv show (You Are What You Eat) eat them and they usually throw tantrums of disgust. I was expecting the worst...

And I found out they aren't that bad. In fact, they're kind of good. I actually kind of like them. I mixed the beans with some brown rice, broccoli, and a little chicken. It was really tasty. What a surprise! This tiny success has encouraged me to branch out and try some other unfamiliar beans. And maybe...eventually...I can gather enough courage to revisit the beans of my past.

...Winter Seed Sower

Last winter I read an article in Northern Gardener magazine about sowing seeds outdoors in the winter using recyclables as little mini-greenhouses. It seemed to be all the buzz in the local Twin Cities gardening world. The MN Hort Society offered classes on it – several times in fact because the class kept selling out. Kare 11 even ran a story on it. I was intrigued by the idea, it sounded way too good to be true. No grow lights or extra space needed to grow seeds? Could it really be that easy and inexpensive?

I liked the idea and wanted to give it a try. So, last February I planted dwarf sunflowers, morning glory, viola, Johnny jump-ups, phlox, verbena, cosmos, baby’s breath, mallow, and zinnia in my plastic recyclables (spinach and mixed greens containers, take out containers, 2-liter pop bottles, milk jugs, etc.). And then I waited…And waited…And waited some more.

And then finally, as the days became sunnier and warmer, I saw little sprigs of green popping up through the soil. Mother Nature gently guided their growth. She knows what she's doing. All of the seeds I planted came up, with the exception of the zinnia (and I think that was only because the wind jostled around the plastic container several times, knocking it off of the table I had it sitting on).

Fast forward to today. Today I am yearning for spring’s arrival. It is a beautiful, warm, sunny Sunday, and that inspired me to get my hands in some dirt and sow my seeds. This year I planted cosmos, nasturtium, marigold, moss rose, bells of Ireland, Johnny jump up, black eyed Susan vine, zinnia (I’m going to give it another shot), English daisy, painted daisy, coleus, dwarf sunflower, poppies, and fleabane. I can’t wait to see the little sprouts peak through the dirt later this spring!

If you want to learn more about growing seeds outdoors in the winter, the Winter Sown website is an awesome resource. They have tons of helpful information, including a great listing of seeds in your zone which easily can be started outdoors. Happy planting!