Pati Nagle's Blog

Treading Lightly is a blog series on ways to lighten our carbon footprint.

So in 2022, I wrote a Treading Lightly post about cheese. Recently I realized that one of the photos in that post needs an update. It’s this one:

Still grating my own cheese and loving it, but I no longer keep it in plastic. I am working to eliminate as much plastic as possible from my life. Single-use plastic for sure. I recycle as much packaging as possible and I prefer to buy products that aren’t packaged in plastic (or made from plastic).

Regarding this obsolete photo, I have also been ditching things like my massive collection of Tupperware, some of which is pictured here. I did not do this lightly! I spent years and a ton of money building a Tupperware collection that served my every need. I was even a Tupperware sales person for a while. (That didn’t last long; not my scene.)

Recently, with growing awareness about the health problems caused by microplastics, I began to want to minimize my physical contact with plastics. Does Tupperware shed microplastics into the food it contains? Does it shed them into the water that’s used to wash it? Into the food that’s (Ghu forbid) cooked in it? I have my suspicions, and I’m definitely more comfortable storing my food in glass.

Enter my new collection of glass jars. It took a while to move everything out of the Tupperware or the original plastic packaging and into this array of canning jars. I love them! I can see the contents better, and they have this lovely gleaming glass aesthetic going on. Shiny, kinda old-fashioned and homey.

For stuff that I’d been keeping in its original plastic packaging, I discovered that not only could I see it better, the jars are more efficient for storage than the plastic bags. Case in point: brown sugar.

Stored in the “resealable” plastic bag, my brown sugar would always dry out. Even if I cleaned all the sugar out of the seal, and then folded it down and clamped it shut with a binder clip, it dried out. I tried adding a little clay thing that you soak in water, no go. The sugar dried out. As soon as I put it in a glass jar, it stayed moist without any fuss.

Even better, it’s easier to get stuff out of the jars without spilling it than to get it out of plastic packages. That brown sugar, when I tried spooning it out of the plastic bag, would end up all over the counter. With the jar, I spoon it out and rarely lose a grain.

That goes for the cheese, too. Here’s the updated photo:

The cheese looks prettier in this glass! (The cheddar is white cheddar, btw.) The jars are easier to open and close. Measuring from them is a breeze. They fill the shelves more efficiently. And they cost a fraction of what Tupperware costs.

I absolutely love keeping my staples in glass.

Give it a try! At least for the brown sugar – you will love that.

If you are like me, you LOVE sparkle. Give me the fairy dust!

Alas, conventional glitter is made of plastic. It’s already 90% of the way to being microplastic, and microplastic is evil.

That’s why I’m absolutely thrilled to have discovered biodegradable glitter. Made from plants! No plastic! Check out the details in this great article from Better Goods. Me, I’m off to shop for some fairy dust!

Treading Lightly is a blog series on ways to lighten our carbon footprint.

You know that cliche about Mondays? Yeah. Well, it’s sort of like that for me today, so I decided to do a Treading Lightly post to get me back on track about what really matters. Cheese! And, well, being kind to Gaia/Mother Earth – our home.

I like the convenience of grated cheese for cooking. Friday is Cheesy Macs day at our house, and the cheesy macs are made from scratch. One time, though, I opened a package of grated cheese and discovered it was moldy. The freshness date was still in the future. Disgusted, I tossed it.

Why buy packaged grated cheese that has who-knows-what added to it to keep it fresh and can still be moldy? Plus, single-use plastic packaging. Bad!

I started buying big blocks of sharp cheddar, grating it myself, and storing it in the fridge. No mold! It’s perfect for cheesy macs, grilled cheese sandwiches, and sprinkling on top of enchiladas and dozens of other things.

Because I am a big pasta fan I also buy blocks of Romano (which I prefer to parmesan) and grate that, too. Perfecto!

Cheese can be grated in a food processor. I use a gadget called a salad shooter, which is designed for shredding vegetables. (I don’t use it for that.)

Grating your own cheese is also less expensive than buying packaged grated cheese. Like, WAY less expensive!

Have I made you hungry yet? No?

OK, grated cheese can also be used for chile con queso (nacho cheese, if you’d rather call it that), pizza, cheese sauce to pour over your favorite steamed veggie (broccoli, cauliflower), just about any pasta dish, baked potatoes, on and on and on. Once you have a container of freshly-grated cheese in your fridge, you will find a ton of uses for it.

Give it a try! Go buy a block of cheese, grate it, and enjoy! You’ll have fresher cheese, save money, and be treading a little more lightly.

Here’s the latest from the dome!

Calendula is a constant sunny presence in the dome.  It attracts aphids, unfortunately, but I guess that keeps them off the roses. The ladybugs I released last fall have been reproducing! I see their larvae a lot, mostly hanging around the calendula. I tried to get a picture of one but they were being shy when I took these.

Seedlings are coming up! These are (left to right): eggplant, parsley, and Leysa pepper, a really lovely, very fleshy, mild red pepper (like a bell, but more poblano-shaped).

Fuchsias are blooming happily after being fed. They like a lot of water, too. I have two baskets, hanging on either side of the pond.

Speaking of the pond, I have water plants on order. At the moment there is only duckweed and water iris. Oh, and a lovely little plant called lucky Buddha, which kind of sprawls around on top of the water. It was a free gift with the water iris, which I ordered last year.

Also thriving after winter break is this sweet hydrangea plant I bought on impulse last summer. They love living in a greenhouse, and this one bloomed beautifully into the fall. In December it looked dead.

So I trimmed off all the brown leaves and flowers, pruned it back, and watered it. Now it is covered with new leaves and flower buds! I have given it some aluminum sulfate solution, which is what makes the flowers blue. Hoping to see those beautiful flowers in the next week or so.

The other fuchsia, hanging out by the pond. This one is actually more purple than pink – kind of green-white outer petals around dark purple ones inside. It may have been a little backlit when I took this picture.

BIG news for the pond is this gorgeous bamboo fountain that Chris made for me! We recently got it set up and I love it – I can sit and watch the water for hours. The multiple trickles have a gentler sound than the fountain that came with the dome (a watering can that shoots like a fire hose).

Chris is building a second bamboo fountain, mirror-image to this one. These two fountains with their multiple streams will do a better job of aerating the water than the fire hose, which in turn will increase the vitality of the pond. THANK YOU CHRIS for making this happen!

In front of the pond are a bunch of pots with flowers and herbs. This little mint (right) was a volunteer in another pot, so I gave it its own pot (knowing how mint is), and it’s very happy. I love having mint year round!

I have several pots of petunias going, with 5 different colors of flowers. Petunias through the winter have been a wonderful thing, too.

The big triffid-looking thing (below left)  is a poppy. The Hungarian blue poppies I had last year reseeded themselves, and I have several going (including a couple growing up through the gravel floor). These are the poppies that make the seed we use in baking. I put some of last year’s seed into my birthday cake a while ago.

Back to the beds for a look at what else is growing:

I planted some marjoram seed (right). Holy, moly, it went crazy! It puts out runners and was trying to take over the bed before I gave it a haircut. Anyone want some fresh marjoram? (Good in soups and stews.)

Last year my dear friend Pari gave me some oregano seed. I planted it in the bed, and here it is! Thank you, Pari. I think of you every time I see this.

Also in the beds, lettuce (Garrison Romaine, a favorite from last year), and tomatoes (heirloom and Piennolo del Vesuvio, a beautiful paste tomato).

I have pruned the tomatoes back to where I can reach the fruit. They were trying to climb the ceiling (again).

These are last year’s plants, and they’re going great, but I want to get them better organized and keep them tidier. I need to be able to reach the fruit. When they cram themselves against the ceiling, they become unhealthy. Ongoing effort.

A few days ago, the Our Lady of Guadalupe rose began blooming. It put out a zillion buds! These are just the first.

This rose has a heavenly fragrance.

The Moondance rose across the dome is also making buds, but hasn’t bloomed yet.

Finally, a little image of hope. This is a basil plant given to me by my dear friend Jane last year. It didn’t love the winter, but it didn’t die, and after a pruning it’s looking pretty cheerful. Hoping it has another good season.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into my garden. If you have a garden of your own, I hope you are loving it and spending quality time there. We need to give ourselves time resting in peaceful places like this. (If you don’t have a garden of your own, maybe you could visit a public garden in your area. Our Biopark is getting ready to be full of gorgeous flowers right now, including oodles of hydrangeas!)

Wishing you peace, joy, and wonderful fresh food!

Pati

Hello, all!

I’ve decided to post my dome updates here, so I can just share the link around to various places. The Dome is a 22′ diameter greenhouse that was built from a kit in October 2020. Various technical issues kept me from planting anything until around February/March 2021. Meanwhile Chris built the absolutely gorgeous raised beds, and we filled them with rich soil.

So, it’s still less than a year since I started growing things in here, but it’s done a lot already. The photo at right is from today, some leftover snow still hanging around on the northeast side here.

Last fall I had a frost-free water line put in to this hydrant just outside the dome (easier than going through the wire and gravel foundation to bring it inside). Makes it much easier to water – no dragging hoses around.

Here’s what’s happening in the dome lately:

Purple petunias – sorry it’s out of focus. I’ll get a better shot next time. Meanwhile, isn’t the color gorgeous?

White petunias, happy still. This is a single plant, I think. It was in the house until it got too big. It may be a year old by now…

Snow peas sprouting…

That’s the amazing celery plant on the right. This is supposedly a small variety of celery.  About the size of a straight-backed chair. Whew – I’m glad I didn’t plant a big one!

Cornflowers going strong. I love the blue color of these. They show no signs of slowing down.

Tomatoes climbing the walls. I have to prune them constantly. They are quite enthusiastic still, and have lots of fruit.

That’s a white tomato at the top on the left. It isn’t ripe yet – they look kind of creamy when they’re ripe.

Below it are a couple of heirloom tomatoes. These are from seeds that I saved from a really delicious tomato I got at the grocery store. They’re kind of chocolatey brownish red when fully ripe, like my chocolate cherry tomatoes.

More tomatoes…

…and more….

The nasturtiums apparently like cool weather. They didn’t do much until November.

And here’s a pansy seedling, just sprouting. They like darkness to germinate, so I have been keeping them covered with some butcher paper.

That’s the dome news for now. Stay tuned for Spring! I’ve got seed catalogs, muahahahaaa!

Less than a year ago, I began planting things in my new dome greenhouse. Today I brought in this beautiful harvest, because we’re forecast for some very low temperatures this weekend. I have a little heater in there, but I felt it was time to bring in the ripest tomatoes. A few not-quite-ripe ones came along, and they can ripen in the house. I also brought in what may be the last cucumber (there’s one more tiny one, but I don’t know how big it will get), some basil, a stalk of celery for our salad tonight, and some baby shallots. Still figuring those out.

There are still many tomatoes in the dome, as well as other things:  the celery is perfectly happy, and the nasturtiums apparently love cold weather, because they’re going crazy right now. And the cornflowers and calendula continue to bloom happily. The Our Lady of Guadalupe rose has been blooming since mid-December.

I am deeply grateful for all the bounty given by our gardens this year.

May all of you be blessed with wonderful bounty, and may 2022 expand those blessings for you.

Happy New Year!

Treading Lightly is a blog series on ways to lighten our carbon footprint.

I have a confession to make – I am a hoarder of old calendar pages. I love the photos and artwork, and some of it I just can’t bear to throw in the recycle bin. So I tear it out and keep it, pin it up on a bulletin board, and gaze at it now and then.

Another confession: I am addicted to stationery, specifically pretty notecards. Since the pandemic hit, I’ve been writing lots of notes to friends and family, and going through a lot of cards.

This fall I had an epiphany that brought these two (ahem) habits together into a new way of treading lightly. Hand-made notecards!

The art starts out something like this: (a page from the 2021 Sierra Club engagement calendar).

I trim it, and if there’s a photo credit as there is here, I trim that out too, then glue them onto cardstock cut to an appropriate size. (A paper cutter makes this and subsequent trimming pretty easy.) I add a sticker pointing out that the art is repurposed.

I make the envelopes, too. I’m sure I could buy some, but I enjoy this, and it’s also a lower carbon footprint to make my own.

I even make some out of eco-friendly gift wrap*.

This year’s holiday cards will, I hope, bring additional inspiration to their recipients along with my wishes for the happiest of holidays.

*Alas, foil and glitter render paper un-recyclable, and many of the inks used to print gift-wrap (and cards) are toxic. Sadly, tissue paper is un-recyclable as well. Fortunately there are plenty of sources for eco-friendly gift wrap – or you could make your own! Check out https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=eco-friendly+gift+wrap

On Memorial Day of 2020, as the pandemic was really getting going and many were sheltering in isolation, a new tradition was initiated: Taps Across America. Assisted by publicity from Steve Hartman of CBS’s On the Road, the movement inspired thousands of Americans to pause at 3:00 p.m. local time and play “Taps.”

The idea came from the National Moment of Remembrance in honor of Memorial Day, an annual event initiated by Congress in 2000. Americans, wherever they are at 3:00 p.m. local time on Memorial Day, are asked to pause for one minute to remember those who have died in military service to the United States. Because the pandemic had us staying at home instead of getting together for barbecues in 2020, this was a way of doing something together to honor the moment.

It’s almost enough to make me want to learn to play the bugle. Though I am not a buglar, I do play the clarinet, and I intend to play “Taps” at 3:00 p.m. on Memorial Day this year.

Why?

Because it’s this kind of shared moment that can save our country. This kind of thing brings us together, at a time when so many forces are seeking to divide us. This kind of moment is what America needs to heal its collective soul.

While my own immediate family doesn’t include military veterans, my spouse’s family does, and I will be honoring them as well with my playing. I invite you to join me in this moment, if not by playing “Taps,” then by observing the National Moment of Remembrance.

And then you can get on with your barbecue.

Remember all the spinach recalls a couple of decades ago, because the farms were watering with contaminated water and people were getting sick from eating the spinach?

Or more recently, the “throw away your romaine” warnings, for the same reason?

I’ve been fed up with commercial produce for quite a while. This is yet another area where we (humanity) have allowed profit to take precedence over the well-being of people, not to mention the planet. That’s why I started growing my own lettuce hydroponically a couple of years ago. “I’m going to grow my own damn romaine,” I said when I started.

Well, this past fall I added a greenhouse to my grow-my-own tools, and this spring I planted spinach and bok choi and all the lettuces (seriously, about six kinds of lettuce) and they are all growing fast. I’m still growing lettuce hydroponically, too, but I could never get spinach (which is apparently finicky) to grow in my hydro containers. But look! Spinach in the greenhouse! Clean spinach!

And some radishes below the spinach. And I just put in tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, celery, romanesco broccoli, and some herbs. If I tried to grow these things outdoors where I live, I’d have to wait a couple of months for the ground to get warmer, and then if I wanted a harvest I’d have to cover them anyway to keep the wildlife from eating them.

I just ate a salad of baby lettuces that I thinned out of the beds in the greenhouse. There is nothing so envigorating as eating fresh, fresh greens!

And not forgetting the “treading lightly” part – growing my own greens means my food has a much lower carbon footprint. It doesn’t have to be packaged, kept cold, and transported hundreds of miles. It is fresh, fresh, fresh and better for the planet as well as better for me.

I realize not everyone can have a greenhouse, but anyone can grow lettuce in their home hydroponically. It does not take a huge amount of room or expense. All it takes is a container, a bit of nutrients mixed in water, and a grow light. Just search on Kratky passive hydroponics for a wealth of information.

Dear Reader: I challenge you to grow some of your own food this year. Grow some lettuce! Put a pot of tomatoes on your patio! You can do it!

In fact – I bought a 1 ounce package of oakleaf lettuce seed (that’s a lot of seed) from an heirloom seed company and I can’t possibly use it all this year. Here’s a photo of it (left) growing in the greenhouse – still babies.

I will send you some oakleaf lettuce seed if you email me your address!*

I got oakleaf because I found it grows particularly well in hydroponics – it is compact where other varieties (like romaine) get tall and bump up against the light, and it tends to last a few weeks longer than other varieties.

*I must limit this to the continental U.S., I think, because of regulations about sending seeds through the mail. It’s commercial seed, but I will be putting some in a little envelope for you so it will not have the official packaging.

Our capitalist culture wants us to throw away any garment that is slightly damaged. Socks aren’t expensive – why not buy a new pair?

But there are costs to that practice that have nothing to do with our bank accounts. Costs to the planet, in the form of trash in the landfill, and carbon footprint for the manufacture and shipping of new socks, not to mention all the packaging (usually plastic) involved.

My favorite socks are still good, it’s just that they wore thin in a couple of places. So I decided to learn how to darn them. Darning is basically using needle and thread to weave new “cloth” over a thin spot or even a hole. I used colorful cotton embroidery floss to mend some small holes in other socks before tackling the large wear in this one.

As I was darning those small holes, I wondered if anyone had ever done a “spiderweb” darn rather than a rectangular one. I searched, but didn’t find anything about a circular darn. So I decided to just try it. It was a little chaotic, but the result is kind of like a mandala, and I like it. Anyone who does Tai Chi knows that these areas of the foot are energy centers, so I like having circles there. And the weaving of these circles was a kind of meditation.

Little holes can also be covered with embroidered flowers or leaves, making mending into decoration. I like that. It’s even becoming a bit of a fashion statement to mend clothing with color, like a badge of honor, instead of trying to hide the fact that the clothing has done good service. It’s a reminder that we can still get good use out of things by mending them, instead of following the consumerist practice of tossing them and buying replacements.