I’m going to do most of my Christmas shopping from handmade, or used items.  I say most because I’ve already bought two items for my parents over the summer that were new.  But I have several ideas that are handmade or used for other people.

I’m doing a lot of shopping on Etsy, which is an amazing hand made shop.  I think the best part about Etsy is the reasonably priced (or free) shipping costs.  I just had something delivered that was shipped for free, and last year, I’ve had to pay 75 cents for other items.  It’s not like eBay where you purchase something for $3, and they make you pay $9 in shipping!!

I also have the good news that I ordered our local turkey for Thanksgiving yesterday.  $3 a pound, but it’s from Bob’s Turkey Farm in Lancaster, MA (two towns over).  It’s raised right on a farm there, and I go to the farm to pick it up.  I’m supporting a local farmer, and will have a delicious bird for Thanksgiving, and not a cheap 49 cent frozen bird from Market Basket. To get birds to cost that little money, I don’t even want to think about how they are raised, and how they can get them so mass produced that they are practically given away.  No thank you!

Of course, I just watched Food, Inc. It’s the movie version (almost) of Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma. I highly suggest you watch it.

I’ve also decided to eat less meat, as I did back in the Spring.

I am coping the list from Crunchy Domestic Goddess’ post here.

Now - if you’re unsure what the Nestlé boycott is all about, here’s an abbreviated explanation. Nestlé donates huge amounts of their infant formula to poor countries in Africa. The mothers are led to believe that the formula will be better for their babies than their breast milk would be.  The women then mix the infant formula with their dirty, contaminated water, and feed it to their babies.  Once they realize that their children are getting sick, the mother’s milk ducts have dried up, due to lack of feeding, and they are stuck feeding their children contaminated formula.

This boycott started back in 1977.

Other problems besides the contaminated water:

Many poor mothers use less formula powder than is necessary, in order to make a container of formula last longer. As a result, some infants receive inadequate nutrition from weak solutions of formula.

UNICEF estimates that a non-breastfed child living in disease-ridden and unhygienic conditions is between six and 25 times more likely to die of diarrhea and four times more likely to die of pneumonia than a breastfed child.

Below is the list of all the things that you shouldn’t use.  Of the HUGE list (Nestle is a huge company!) - there are only a couple things that I use, or that we use is my household.  We eat Häagen-Daz and Dreyers ice cream, and I wear Maybelline Cosmetics.  We also sometimes buy Lean Cuisine meals when my mom needs a quick dinner.  We also use Libby’s Pumpkin for making pumpkin pies and pumpkin bread.  I will start purchasing the store brand only.

THE NESTLE BOYCOTT LIST

Candy and Chocolate:
Baby Ruth
Bit-O-Honey
Butterfinger
Carlos V (”the authentic Mexican chocolate bar”)
Chunky
Gobstoppers
Goobers
Laffy Taffy
Lik-M-Aid Fun Dip
Nerds
Nestle Abuelita chocolate
Nestle Crunch
Nips
Oh Henry!
Oompas
Pixy Stix
Raisinets
Runts
Sno-Caps
Spree
Sweettarts
Wonka
100 Grand

Frozen Foods:
Lean Cuisine (frozen meals)
Lean Pockets (sandwiches)
Hot Pockets (sandwiches)
Stouffer’s (frozen meals)

Baking:
La Lechera (sweetened condensed milk)
Libby’s Pumpkin
Nestle Tollhouse Morsels and baking ingredients

Ice Cream:
Dreyer’s (ice creams, frozen yogurts, frozen fruit bars, sherbets)
Edy’s (ice creams, frozen yogurts and sherbets)
Häagen-Dazs (ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, bars)
Nestle Delicias
Nestle Drumstick
Nestle Push-Ups
The Skinny Cow (ice cream treats)

Pet food:
Alpo
Beneful
Cat Chow
Dog Chow
Fancy Feast
Felix
Friskies
Frosty Paws (dog ice cream treats)
Gourmet
One

Pro Plan
Purina

Beverages:
Coffee-Mate
Jamba (bottled smoothies and juices)
Milo Powdered Beverage and Ready-to-Drink
Nescafé
Nescafé Café con Leche
Nescafe Clasico (soluble coffees from Mexico)
Nescafe Dolce Gusto
Nesquik
Nestea
Nestle Juicy Juice 100% fruit juices
Nestle Carnation Malted Milk
Nestle Carnation Milks (instant breakfast)
Nestle Hot Cocoa Mix
Nestle Milk Chocolate
Nestle Nido (powdered milk for kids)
Taster’s Choice Instant Coffee

Specialty items:
Buitoni (pasta, sauce, shredded cheeses)
Maggi Seasonings
Maggi Taste of Asia

Infant Formula:
Nestle Good Start
Gerber Pure Water (for mixing with formula)

Baby Foods:
Cerelac
Gerber (cereals, juice, 1st Foods, 2nd Foods, 3rd Foods, etc.)
Gerber Graduates (snacks, meal options, side dishes, beverages, Preschooler meals/snacks, etc.)
Mucilon
NaturNes
Nestum

Accessories:
Gerber - cups, diaper pins, pacifiers, bowls, spoons, outlet plugs, thermometers, tooth and gum cleanser, bottles (all of these are made by Gerber)

Breastfeeding supplies:
Gerber Seal ‘N Go breast milk storage bags, bottles, nipples, nursing pads, Breast Therapy warm or cool relief packs, Breast Therapy gentle moisturizing balm (all of these are made by Gerber)

Bottled Water:
Arrowhead
Deer Park
Gerber Pure Water
Perrier
Poland Spring
Pure Life
S. Pellegrino
Vittel

Breakfast Cereals:
see joint ventures below

Performance Nutrition:
PowerBar
Boost

Miscellaneous:
Jenny Craig

Joint Ventures (in which Nestle is partnered with another company):
Nestlé SA has several joint ventures. These are some of the larger ones:

Beverage Partners Worldwide, formed in 2001, is a joint venture between the Coca-Cola Company and Nestlé S.A. It concentrates on tapping markets in the beverage sectors, particularly ready-to-drink coffee and teas, such as Nestea.

Cereal Partners Worldwide is a joint venture between Nestlé and General Mills. From what I understand, in the USA, the cereals are made by General Mills. In the UK, they are made by Nestle.

Laboratories Innéov is a joint venture between Nestlé and L’Oréal, formed in 2002. Cosmetics included in are:
L’Oreal
Maybelline
Garnier
Lancome

Dairy Partners Americas is a 50/50 partnership between New Zealand dairy multinational, Fonterra and Nestlé and was established in January 2003. The alliance now operates joint ventures in Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia.

After seeing the movie Who Killed The Electric Car, I would tell people that I remember that the Alewife parking lot near Boston used to have reserved spots for electric cars.  No one else remembered it, and I felt almost crazy talking about it.

Then, when Barny and I hung out in Boston, I saw this sign, that clearly had been covered up with black plastic wrap, but I needed proof that I wasn’t crazy in remembering this.

This just makes me very sad that there really WERE electric cars that everyday people had.  I’ve seen the movie, but I don’t remember ever seeing an EV1.  Seeing this sign makes me shake my head, and be sad and ashamed of the car makers of America.

It shouldn’t be possible to get a sunburn in April. And yet, I did. So did Niles while doing yard work, and Jay and Tom while on one of their mountain bike adventures.
Luckily for me, Niles had bought a real aloe leaf at Market Basket for $1. I borrowed it and lathered up my pink skin.

With Earth Day here, I am concerned with 80+ degree weather in April.

I would love to do something good for the planet today, but I have a busy day. I think Christian (the boy I am watching today) and I are going to see a movie. If not, I’ll make him pick up trash with me. Or plant seeds. Something outside.

Saturday morning we went out to Coggshall to clean up some storm damage.  Coggshall is this very nice large park in Fitchburg (where Megan got married), but because of all the damage, the government Parks people said that we couldn’t open the park because of the damage.  Joel Kaddy organized a clean up on Saturday, and I went with my parents (at 8am!).

Trees were actually ripped out of the earth, and were laying across the street.  The DPW had been in earlier to chainsaw the large trees.

We were suppose to pick up these large branches, and carry them to the side of the road to be picked up.  Everything 30 feet back needed to be cleared.

I got a good slice in my arm that really hurt, and started bleeding.  I didn’t have crappy jeans to wear, so I wore yoga pants.  Bad idea, because the jeans would have protected my legs better.  I also have a big scrape and bruise on my upper thigh.

After cleaning, dad came home and changed to go to the movies with my mom.  Since I wasn’t going out with him, I told him he should add to his look by adding his bright red suspenders.  He thought it was a good idea.

Trevor came over on sunday to help chop firewood out of an old tree that we had taken down.  Trevor banged on the window, and said “If you want to live in a mini house by yourself, you better come outside and learn how to chop firewood!”

You can see this piece of wood nicely breaking in half.

I am currently down in Dartmouth visiting Rob again.  I’m coming every month, so this is my April trip.  In March, we ate a bunch of strawberries and watched a bunch of movies.  Last night we watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which was awesome.  Later today we’re going to see Sunshine Cleaning.  He has a blog here.

Ok Peeps, we have a new challenge to do!  This one is called the Responsible Consumption Month, and it will start tomorrow, April 11, and run until May 9th.  May 9th is the magical day of my half marathon.  I am not eating meat until that day, so this seems like something good to add on. Plus, it is exactly four weeks.

Here are the guidelines from their site.  My comments are in pink.

1. Daily mindfulness meditation session of whatever length feels available and good to do.

You can end your practice with a few minutes of contemplative meditation practice, using the words “There is enough.” If you are not familiar with contemplative (ie directed thinking) meditation practice, there are good simple instructions in the book “Turning the Mind into an Ally” by Sakyong Mipham. Yeah, I’m not going to do this.  I will “meditate” while I run.

2. Limiting Waste in the following areas:

-plastic bags
-coffee cups I don’t drink coffee, but I won’t take any throw-away cups of any kind
-napkins
-energy, lights, air conditioning, cell phone charging, computers Uh, I’m still going to charge my cell phone. But I’ll be better at unplugging things while I’m not using them.  At Home Depot, do they sell those on/off switches like they have in England?
-Exploring Composting - resources available on the waste resources page We already compost, but I’ll be sure to try harder.

3. Travel

-utilizing public transportation, ride shares I can look into the  bus in Fitchburg, but I’ve heard it isn’t that reliable.
-walking, biking whenever possible I already do this.  If it’s in walking distance, and it’s not raining, I’m most definitely walking there.
-planning ahead to make less trips in the car (if you have one) I really want to get rid of my car.  I think my mom and I could share a car, because neither of us works full time.  Plus, I can walk to class.

4. Food

-buy local as much as possible  I’m not sure how reasonable this is, because it’s April and nothing is growing in Mass.  But I promise I will STOP buying things that aren’t from the USA.
-buy food with as little excess packaging as possible
-try to eat less meat This is already part of my plan.

5. General

-limiting general purchasing and consumption of new products Already doing this to save money.
-trying to use second hand stores, library, Craig’s list, freecycle.com, downloading music and movies… Libraries are awesome.  I also use Bit Torrents.

6. Personal

-find something personal that you would like to add to your month. This could be working with the mental states that arise around a particular vice or low-level addiction that you would like to practice freeing yourself from. For example, in NYC, one community member is giving up cigarettes, one is giving up coffee, and one is giving up sugar all together!!! I know that I said I would give up diet soda, but I haven’t yet.  Blah. I will.  I have one more Diet Pepsi Max left, and I will drink that, and be done with it.

7. Keeping a Journal and Sharing Your Experience

Share your experience with our community online! You can go to our 24-hour diary page and share everything you have consumed in a 24 hour period, Post photos to our Flickr group, and discuss general topics in our general discussion thread. This will create an amazing resource of shared experience that everyone can benefit from. I have a blog.

***

Need help with having less waste?  Look into these:

Drink bottle : mason jar, canteen, what have you, but try to avoid plastic since they are suspected of leaching chemicals and are generally less environmentally friendly
- Container for food/left-overs: tiffin box, tupperware, fabric wrappers
- Shopping bag: nylon, canvas, string bags I already use these.  My Chico Bags are awesome.
- Chopsticks, silverware: bamboo and eco-plastics I need to get good silverware to carry with me, and to have a cool carrying case for them.
- Cloth napkin I already bring these with me for lunch and in my purse.  Cloth napkins are awesome.  I would love to have a big awesome purse, and also carry around a hand towel.

***

Does anyone have any more tips that I can use?

Who’s in?

I want to know what they put on apples to make them turn my cloth napkins white. That freaks me out.

Did it stop me from eating it? Sadly, no.

Just recently I’ve noticed the little triangular recycling symbol many more places than I had ever before. I’m not sure if they are actually more places, or if I have never spotted them before, or what.  But they are appearing a lot more lately!

Just several months ago I realized that my small plastic contact cases have a little recycling symbol on them.  It’s about a millimeter in size; no wonder I never saw it before.  Now I recycle them.  I also use my daily contacts for two days.  It helps me save money, and save contacts.

I started looking at other things, and look at all of these other symbols I’ve found.

Two #4 plastics, and one #2.  Here’s what the symbols were on:

A bag that grapes came in.

A blue Best Buy bag.  It even specifically says “Please reuse or recycle this bag.”  Nicely done, Best Buy.

And a bag of navel oranges!

Remember, avoid plastics 3,6, and 7.  If it’s plastic, look REALLY hard to find the plastic recycling symbol.  It’s probably there.

Speaking of green, check out the “hallway” of my gastroenerologist’s office:

There are even rain forest noises and fountains and stuff.  It’s crazy.