Wasteful practices that bug you

[iris lilies]

Yes, food that tastes like crap is definitely not worth eating. I'm shocked that his homegrown veggies don't taste good! Is he using organic methods? What's the soil like? Ok, that is a total aside. Back to the topic!

Clay soil and although he has spent decades amending it, it's still clay-like. His potatoes and sweet potatoes are worthless. Now don't get me wrong, there are many things that grow well here, and then in some years ti's a good crop and in others, not so much. I also suspect that he could play around with varieties of carrot to find the right ones for this climate, but he hasn't done that. Our friend grew lovely potatoes in her patch, wish he'd find out the variety.

He uses the carrots in carrot cake but there is only so much of that he can make.

Sending the soapy-tasting carrots to the food pantry? I thought that giving anything "less-than" to poor people is frowned upon. Our community garden has the same problem, rotting veggies in the beds. There is always ideas about how to address that but someone really has to step forward to do the work of contacting bed owners for permission to pick, then picking, then hauling to the appropriate food pantry. It's mostly ideas that people love, action isn't so popular.

[ApatheticNoMore]

There's groups that do that (harvest unused food for the homeless etc.), but I doubt it's going to get all the food that is grown and goes to waste out there, because it's noone's full time job.

[redfox]

Wow, too bad he spends all that time, energy, and water raising inedible food!

[iris lilies]

Wow, too bad he spends all that time, energy, and water raising inedible food!

He thinks his carrots are fine! But then, he cooks them in carrot cake with lots of sugar. Of course they would be fine!

The onions are fine when they come into the basement, but rot sets in at some point. The quantity is excessive even with him giving bunches to neighbors.
Except for the cherries and strawberries. There cannot be too many of these.

[catherine]

Clay soil and although he has spent decades amending it, it's still clay-like.

How discouraging! I have clay soil. You could throw a pot with it. We do get some tomatoes out of it, but some years are better than others. I've been composting for two years and I thought maybe that would help, along with a little light tillage with a broadfork and some mulch.. guess not.

I'm thinking of raised beds with sheet mulching this spring. My herbs in pots always do great, so maybe I need to accept the limitations of my soil.

[catherine]

Thanks all of you for bringing up the wasteful personal hygiene practices! I feel so much better now! I am not a daily shower/bath taker. I use one towel for a few days... really, if you get out of the shower clean and pat yourself dry, how dirty is that towel?? Same for clothes. I always wear them two or three days in a row (when I'm at home--certainly not on the road with clients).

My frugal Scottish MIL bathed once a week. She didn't believe in deodorant, but would wash her face and "oxters" (armpits) daily. I never once got any whiff of B.O. on her.

[Tiam]

*food* bank

I second that. There are foodbanks that would take fresh produce. Does ALL the produce taste bad? Or just the carrots. I know a person who grows tons of food in his yard. He sells it easily to a Indian restaurant that wants it's produce to be fresh.

[redfox]

I use sanitizing hand spray as a deodorant, as they have alcohol in them, which kills the bacteria that causes odor. I keep a light orange scented one in my work desk. Got 'em at Whole Foods, and they are über cheap.

To me, make-up is a waste. It seems so pricey! I wear some when I have to work the Gala event for my job, or for a job interview. Daily? No way! I am way too cheap & lazy to take the time to apply at stuff. Likewise, getting hair colored. I have wash n wear hair, and that's it.

[Bacawind]

To Catherine, there have been times I've told the kids to just stop, you're "helping" is too expensive. Maybe something along those lines would get through to them?

I like leftovers, I think they often taste better the next couple of days. I also re-make things. Apple sauce today is apple crisp a few days later, things like that. I try to start with simple foods, then add to them to make something else. I made the weirdest pizza yesterday, it had leftover carrots, potatoes, olives, pineapple, basically cleaned out the fridge, but it was good. Well, to me anyway.

I don't use soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant nor do I wear make-up. I wash my dishes and laundry by hand with baking soda and vinegar. Washing a bath towel by hand is hard work, it doesn't get washed till it needs washed.

My peeve is when someone will tell me I'm wrong, before they have even looked into it. Just because they don't know how to use a washing board doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Thanks for this thread. I feel better now.

[catherine]

The waste at work really bothers me, in particular, when there is food or catering involved. For catered events, food is brought in on large plastic trays with lots of wrapping and it all ends up in the regular trash. A lot of food waste too. If I have time, I "rescue" the plastic and aluminum, rinse it and bring it home to recycle. Our city is aiming for zero waste so at home we now have to recycle or compost literally everything and are used to cleaning and sorting. The commercial world is slow to catch up.

I recently did a recycling market research study, which was so cool--a nice departure from all the healthcare stuff I do. We chose to go to Boston and Seattle because those two cities are considered to be pretty progressive in terms of sustainability. You are right about the commercial world being a bit behind the eight ball, but in some cases, it's not due to lack of interest--they tell me that training employees who subsequently still don't recycle properly is very frustrating. The lack of a decent single stream system is also a barrier. One of the interesting findings was that some of the best ideas for sustainability programs in even very large hotels, schools and retail establishments came from the ground floor--a student, or a minimum wage worker who just was really into recycling and pushed upstream--so that was very encouraging.

For you guys in the NW: one of the other things that facilitated more recycling of food i.e. composting etc. was a company called Cedar Grove. That company just went door-to-door to all these businesses and sold their service on the basis of it being free--so it diverted waste that the companies would normally have to pay to have taken away. What a great job they have done! So if anyone is looking to start a green business, pick a city that really needs a system and service for disposing of food waste--it probably won't be hard to convince those who would like to do it, but just don't have the way.