who, what, where of composting!

why compost? is it actually easy? aka why you should care about this!

1. Things in landfills do not degrade at an normal rate. According to bpiworld.org, "Landfill excavations have uncovered newspapers that are still readable after almost 40 years, ten year-old carrots that are brown on the outside and bright orange on the inside, and 20 year-old steaks with meat still on the bones." Ew.

2. North Carolina dirt isn't dirt. It's clay. And it's awful for trying to grow anything. You already paid for the ingredients, so use them.

3. For the two of us, we do not create enough trash to use a regular trash bag without having everything stink before it's half full. So we now compost and recycle almost everything, and have about two or three grocery bags of trash a week. So now we only roll the trash can out to the road every other week.

4. YOU CAN DO THIS ANYWHERE. It does not stink, when done right and I'll tell you how. So no pests to worry about. No, you don't have to buy worms to do this either. So yes, suburbia-you can do this too!! Minus the HOA.

how the heck do you start? the container

At the end of last year, I'd talked about composting enough to my husband that he finally sketched up a plan of how to build the container. We had some random wood pieces at the new house, and we just used what we had. I wish I had a tutorial or something to share, but honestly it was just the equivalent of throwing some boards in a kind of ordered fashion.

BUT: you can start with nothing. You can throw all your compost into a pile. You can dig a hole and use that. You don't need a container. If you have a rubbermaid bin, start with that. Cut out the bottom, so that it is open to the dirt. There are some insanely expensive containers, but honestly you would be wasting money. There are a few things your container/nothing needs to have:

• Slots/holes for air flow
• Open bottom so microorganisms and worms can enter
• Consider covering if you are concerned about critters (raccoons, etc.). They are smart animals, so slapping a board on top might not be the best top. You see our has inserts so it won't easily slide.
• If it is covered, consider having holes for water flow as you may need water to help decompose. 
• Location, location, location. Not too far to walk and dump your scraps each week/however often. Not too far from your garden. Not too far from a hose/water source if you need it. I put ours 20 feet from the garden, and kind of hid it on the other side of the garage so we don't have to stare at it. It's also close to the hose. 
• You will be rotating/mixing up this mixture. Don't make your container too big, or too hard to access. 
• Eventually, you will want two containers. One to add to, and one that's ready to use. 

These are awesome plans from Cornell: 

Wooden Box Bin, Wood and Wire Three-Bin Turning Unit, Cinder Block Bin, Cinder Block Turning Unit, Wire Mesh Bin, Snow Fence Bin, Garbage Can Composter, Worm Composting Bin, Compost Mound, Compost Pockets

now what goes into it? the 'ingredients'

This is the most intimidating part, I think. I spent forever trying to figure out how to do this. I would read about ratios, balancing different scenarios, testing....until I finally read: Kendra at a New Life on a Homestead's article. I had read it before, since I like to read blogs from first to last post, but it didn't really resonate the first time.
The second time, it was like I wrote the dang article myself.
So here I am going to describe the lasagna method of composting. For us, it is ideal.

FIRST
The bottom layer should be sticks. Not logs, but medium sized sticks to twigs and/or mulch. It will give the bottom of the pile air.

here's what we were collecting, but added more than what's pictured!

SECOND
Some soil.

THIRD
Add your greens, such as:

• Raw/uncooked fruit and veggies
• coffee grounds
• tea bags
• nut shells
• egg shells
• grass clippings
• dried, aged cow/horse/goat/chicken manure
• fireplace/wood ashes (not coal!)

the greens! 

FOURTH
Add your browns, such as:

• dirt/bark/mulch/top soil
• shredded paper/cardboard (not glossy paper)
• dead leaves
• hay or straw
• dryer lint
• wool rags or used leather (new leather will take ages)
• pet fur, human hair
• dead, non diseased houseplants
• untreated saw dust

dirt!

FIFTH

Continue on with the process: brown, soil, green, soil.

browns

TIPS (aka the sixth step)
Turn the pile once every so often (once a month to once every three) to help decompose. And it will depress any seeds growing from the ingredients.
Spray with water if it is too dry, but don't soak it. Water helps decomposition.
Do your best to change up your greens and browns.

NEVER COMPOST: 
Feces from animals that consume meat. (no dog or human feces) 

Meats/bones

Dairy products

Coal/charcoal

Anything with pesticides

Alcohol, oil, grease

A good rule: if you don't know, find out. It's better to hold onto something and research, than throw it in and hope for the best.

Any other tips or comments, let us know!

8 Month update!

This year I've been pretty focused on healthy eating and a diligent exercise regimen. So not too many updates, but at least here's a post that has really motivated me to stay positive about my hair progress!!

The new, undyed hair is now at 4 inches. It's hard to measure of course, but that's what my expert husband has been measuring. This is the growth from three, six, and eight months.

 I've also given myself a few trims since then, since my split ends felt out of control. You can see the length is about the same, but my hair seems to be way healthier.

I reached out to Emi, from http://longhairedatheart.blogspot.com/ recently. I felt so frustrated with how damaged my ends felt. My hair would easily get tangled about two inches up from the bottom, and felt like straw. She gave me the best advice:

 

The routine:
-Still using baking soda and apple cider vinegar, but much more diluted since I need to shower daily after working out.
-Combing my hair with my fingers more often than anything, and putting it up less often.
-Coconut on the ends of the hair daily.
-Eating very healthy, lots of water, and daily exercise! Part of the eating healthy is the digestion, like Emi pointed out above. I do drink Kombucha, and chose to drink meta-d/bombshell spell from the tone it up plan. Gotta keep things good and healthy inside!

Happy New Year - 7 month update!

Happy New Year!

Let's talk about hair!

Hope you guys are having a good January. It's already almost over. So if you made new year's resolutions, get back to them. 

You made them for a reason. Keep trying. Progress, not perfection. 

So here's one of mine-get that natural hair back!

Beginning of January, I had these pictures taken. I went for the usual stance, showing the top of my head so you could see the growth...and the photographer/husband said that you couldn't see the dye.

PROGRESS!!!!

He also keeps calling it gray. Guys, if I'm not mistaken...that's blonde. And he is blind.

 I feel like it's a lot harder to see the progress from the back. I really wish I could remember exactly the measurement of the new growth, I am quite certain that it is just under 3.5". So maybe stopping all that biotin actually did result in slower growth. But not eating anything soy related is making a huge difference-I really do feel so much better.

So what am I doing different? 

-No longer using Shea moisture shampoo. I switched to baking soda and apple cider vinegar. I know I said last time it was awful. It isn't at all-the first time it felt a little sticky, but now it feels great!
-For about two weeks, I used water only. Yep, that's right! Nothing other than water. It's pretty hard, actually. You scritch and preen your hair, and then spend a looong time washing your hair as if there is soap in there...but no soap. Need to know more about scritch and preen: Almost Exactly Blog-as always! I did it so that my hair would get with it and stop producing so much oil. Because you use soap/water to get the oil to go down the hair (best moisturizer is your own natural oil), and the scritching and water removes any dirt/dust. So really, it's not like your hair needs antibacterial. I never thought about it before, but what exactly is so "dirty" about hair? Nothing...just dust and oil that
-No more dry shampoo. It really didn't work that great for me.
-No hot water while showering, although honestly it really stinks. We have a space heater that I use!
-I still don't use the bbb (boar bristle brush) very often anymore, I just use my comb once a day.
-Hallelujah, I have argan oil again. I still do a coconut oil mask here and there, but not as much as in the beginning when it was at least once a week.
-I am still eating healthy, doing my best to use food as medicine.
-I trim my own hair, just a few millimeters. I still do search & destroy for all the split ends. Another one of my favorite bloggers uploaded a diy hair trimming video here: Emi from longhairedatheart.blogspot.com.

{Six months - wow!}

I can't believe it has been six months, I am so glad! I think you can finally start to see the growth from the back, it is about 3" now.

Here's the crazy thing, I couldn't get  good photo! I know I told you about why I can't seem to ever get a photo outside during the hairspiration post. I didn't think that I wouldn't be able to see a difference with inside lights though.

Its a relief to see how difficult it is to see the hair growth with unnatural light. I always assumed it was so obvious. You can also see how long my hair is! I can definitely say my hair is the longest it has ever been.

So what am I doing different? 

• No longer taking biotin. I can't say that it made a difference, and I was absolutely shocked to find out that the pills included soy! That was pretty dumb, I'm allergic. Although small amounts...I guess I could do a whole other post on this!
• Stopped taking multi/pre-natal vitamins. I know that I eat healthy, and I don't necessarily agree that they "fill in the nutritional gaps" because they provide so much extra stuff, and some of it does have a toxicity level that you can reach if you eat healthy. My opinion though, I still take fish oil pills and I've switched to taking iron and folic acid pills to help with a future pregnancy. Not that it is anywhere in the near future!!!!
• I am still using shea moisture shampoo. But when I was down to about 1/3 bottle, I diluted it with another 1/3 water. It still works fine, and I still only shower every 4 days. It's often three days though, but I really strive for four. I make sure things don't smell though, but my hair doesn't need a true washing.
• Homemade dry shampoo, via the almost exactly blog (of course)! https://almostexactlyblog.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/homemade-dry-shampoo/ If you follow my instagram (holistic.tiu - follow along!), you'll know that it didn't really work on my greasiest day, so going forward I should start to use it the night of day 4 if I don't plan on showering on day 5. 
• No hot water while showering, although honestly it really stinks. We have a space heater that I use!
• I don't use the bbb (boar bristle brush) very often anymore, I just use my comb once a day. 
• I ran out of argan oil, so I've been substituting with a tiny bit of coconut oil. But argan oil is on my christmas wish list! 
• I am still eating healthy, doing my best to use food as medicine. :)
• I've decided to use no poo once this bottle of shampoo runs out, but it's hard to decide which one....but I know it won't include baking soda, acv, or castile soap! 

Six months is about 1/3 of the way to my 18 month goal. I originally said I wanted to donate my hair in the spring, but now I'm so tempted to wait until this time next year. We'll see what happens!!

Serenity is like a muscle.

Over the past few months or so, I've had a peace in life. I felt calm when I used to feel road rage, serene when usually frustrated, relaxed when usually anxious. I used to feel most anxious at night, giving me an awful nights sleep. But for several weeks now, I've been falling asleep early and blissfully, even as early as 7:45. It has been restorative, and healing.

A conversation occurred a few days ago that left me disappointed, angry and very negative about myself even though the conversation wasn’t about me at all. I'll leave the content of the conversation for some other time, maybe. It makes me feel that black rainbow of emotions all over again just thinking about it.

I realized this morning how much this conversation affected me:
You’re driving on a four lane road, a car pulls out in front of another and backs up traffic in the lane beside you. A minute passes, and you flick your blinker on to merge left to get away from the tractor trailer in front of you. You look back briefly as you start to merge, and see a white van. You don’t merge, you’ve hardly moved an inch and are still in your lane as the other driver honks at you. You honk back, holding the horn longer than necessary in any situation other than life or death. 

I felt instantly guilty once I’d stopped honking. That poor driver, and everyone around us. Why couldn't I deal with this how I wanted to? To wave an apology, suck in a deep breath, drive on and be grateful I arrived at work safe and sound. To avoid that situation all together even, and just be patient behind that truck and wish compassion on the other drivers rushing about. I called my husband now furious with myself. I tell him that I am angry at myself for not looking first, and angry at the situation all together. What's happened to me? I am appreciative that I can still take responsibility for how I really feel and not go on some crazy tangent about another old man/woman driving like a jerk and how they shouldn’t be on the road…but I’m not reacting how I want to at all! It hit me like a ton of bricks and I realize I feel like I absorbed everything bad and hurtful out of that one conversation and it's seeping out of me. Why?


When I was left feeling negatively about myself, my old anxiety started chewing away at all of my insecurities. I can be blunt about them, and I won’t even try to sit here and defend every single one of them. In fact, does it even matter if I state them? We all have them. Things we don’t love about ourselves that most likely annoy other people. Your old but loved flats stink, you don’t care to do your hair all pretty every day, you tap your foot listening to music most of the day, you talk too loud on the phone, say the wrong thing in situations, talk over other people, never give others the chance to talk, or have the same “uhm” or “yeah” that you say all the time, etc. I think you get the point.
In this situation, my anxiety latch on and started to infiltrate my every thought with these unloved traits. I'm still not sure why to be honest, but I think I know how to remedy the situation. I need to be alone.

I found this peace through aloneness, just spending time with me. I have been refraining from sharing my every thought with people around me. I have been trying to get to know myself, as cliche as that sounds. Researching and reading blogs about clean eating, yoga, allergies, holistic remedies, dog food recipes, etc. Forming my opinions on what I thought, and what I care about. Unknowingly, I’ve been forming opinions that are core to me, important opinions that I have always had but needed to consciously realize. I’ve been leaning on myself rather than discussing with someone else, and often feel moments of “ah ha!”. {I do still share these things with my husband, but not really with anyone else.} I’ve been content doing what I like to do, not thinking about what I should be doing. I should do lots of things, like clean, workout, meal plan, coupon clip, etc.

I’ve been focusing on soul-food things like resting, playing with the dog, attempting my own recipes, reading, and taking in each moment as if it is only a brief diamond in time. Moments that I will treasure forever, like looking at my husband’s profile, and wondering if his hair looks more like whipped batter or fluffy eggs, and if our future kids will have that hair. Watching the news and acknowledging that a particular story makes me feel empathy, and taking a moment to think through my feelings and the story further. It’s been good for my soul, like looking at my sweet puppy’s face and her beautiful brown and gold eyes as she looks at me and I know that I am such a big part of her world. My heart is light like I tied my anxiety and worries to a balloon and finally let go. I have been consciously focusing on positive feelings and ultimately positive thoughts, exploring a continuous train of my own thoughts and learning to listen to my own internal voice. I haven’t been sitting in a dark room meditating, but the result has been similar. I have done my best to not think negative thoughts of others’ actions or thoughts, just focusing on my own.

"...serenity is like a muscle, something that we have to flex and condition so that it can stay strong in the weakest of moments. "

I realize this all sounds selfish. But it’s something I felt a deep need to document, basically journal, for myself. Something about having this harmony with myself, a cease-fire between my heart and brain, is something I never want to lose. It’s something I think I felt once in a yoga class, and knew that this feeling was what I saw on experienced yogi’s faces when I peeked during meditation. I think that this serenity is like a muscle, something that we have to flex and condition so that it can stay strong in the weakest of moments. I think the ultimate way to feel victorious over this disruption in my peace is to view it as something positive. It’s a situation where I forgot to flex the muscle, and when I did, I was too weak. Just like when I severely tore my hamstring in dance, I needed to find out why it happened, how to prevent it from happening again, and slowly bring myself back to heal with an inside-out recovery process that took too long because I wasn’t acknowledging how I felt.

Maybe this is one of those self-discovery moments that people say your twenties are full of.

Hairspiration

Have you ever tried to google things like, “Hair growth journey,” “grow dyed hair,” etc?

Don’t google the first. Go for the last. The first showed me photos I want to remove from my mind for forever. Just, no. Google failed me.

There are some days where I just can’t stand the idea of waiting. And then there are other days when I realized that my natural hair by the hairline is halfway to making it into a ponytail! That’s what I call progress! 

{I realize I didn't give you guys a proper update two weeks ago, but I'm now at about 2.75 inches. Still keeping up with the .5" per month. It's so dark by the time I get home, I can't get good pictures. And our weekends have been insane! Thankfully not much has changed so I'm sure you guys don't mind too much!}

& then I realize I still have about 9 more inches until it hits my shoulders, and that equates to 18 months. Suddenly I’m just not so happy anymore. That seems like forever away. I mean for crying out loud in 18 months I will have had two birthdays, and so many other things....

The ends of my hair will be so bad, I am sure I will have to have a good trim in January at least. I'm not sure I'll achieve any additional length, making my dreams of donating again seem unrealistic. 

If you have days like this, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I try to stay sane, and most days I only think about hair growth in the morning when I actually bother to brush my hair (hahaha). 

Well, I think you should go ahead and surf pinterest, and even follow my board! It's tough to find good pins, but I've managed a few that talk about hair health, fun long hair styles (for while I still have it long!), and even ways to disguise your roots. 

You'll see, I've even considered dying the ends of my hair crazy colors....and why not if it's already too damaged? You can't donate bleached hair, but no one will want that crazy damaged stuff anyway! Next long vacation away from work, I might just have to give it a go!

Hairspiration!

{alas, gnocchi!}

For the past month of so, I've been flirting with the idea of veganism. Not for moral issues, although I was vegetarian for several years. I started eating meat again because I tore my hamstring, and found out I was allergic to the soy and nuts I'd been chowing down on. (Only an itchy throat and upset stomach, and then BAM-no, you can't have it.)

I realized we basically follow the plant based diet, eating vegetables/fruits/plants almost all the time and animal products about 20% of the time. I'd like to cut down the animal products, so I've tried hemp milk, almond milk, and rice milk. I wasn't crazy about all of them, except hemp milk would be good if it wasn't flavored. Veggie cheese is good! I use flax as a replacement for egg. So I'm slowly making the transition, while still serving Mr. Meat his daily meat with dinner. It's not easy.

When we were in Belize, I had the BEST gnocchi I've ever had! It was perfectly done on the outside, and soft on the inside. I got the recipe from the resort, but it wasn't specific enough for me. Lucky ducky us, I found an AWESOME recipe off of miles for thought!

Butternut Squash Gnocchi
1/2 medium butternut squash, cut in half lengthwise and seeded
2+ cups of flour (regular or fluten-free)
12 tsp dried rosemary (or whatever herb you'd rather have)
1/2 tsp dried thyme (or whatever herb you'd rather have)
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425. Fill a glass pan with 1" of water, place squash cut side down. Bake 45 minutes {or less if needed, it took me 45}.

2. Remove, and set the drained squash aside. Let it cool completely. You can also do this part ahead of time, and put in the fridge for another time

3. Beat/whip the squash well. Add 1c flour and desired herbs and use hands to work in flour until combine. Add remaining flour slowly until the dough isn't sticky- I often don't need much more, I guess I have small squash. Don't over mix, although I haven't been able to over mix it yet.

4. Form four dough balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a thin log and cut off small pieces. That's the gnocchi! If you want to be picky, you can roll them down a fork to get the grooved look. I can't be bothered.

5. Place on a single layer of parchment paper and freeze for later or drop into slightly boiled water. Stir lightly, don't let them stick to the bottom. After 10 minutes, or when they float to the top, they are done!

6. Drain & add your own sauce. They say this makes 5 servings, but I would say maybe 3! We love it!