50 Ways to Love your Larder

Never Waste Food Again - 50 Ways, 50 pieces of advice. I found this post through a link on Eco-Women.

I do fairly well on this list. Vegetables are fairly easy. Between bunnies and soups, we rarely waste a veggie.
Fruits? We're doing a decent job on that list, too. Orange peels get composted, apple butter is delicious, and Chuck has been pulling the raspberries from last summer's market out of the freezer to top his ice cream.
Grains - I use leftover pasta and rice in casseroles, soups, and other leftover concoctions. Bread is a little harder. I like toast and sandwiches, but Amigo and Chuck usually pass on the PBJs in favor of some other sort of lunch fare. Making our own croutons and setting aside bread crumbs is something we haven't tried yet. Maybe we will - or maybe we won't. I'm not a big eater of croutons; La Petite enjoys them, however.
Making the Most of Meat: I started making soup stock from meat bones a few years ago, and wondered what took me so long to discover the process. It's so easy, it tastes so much better than broth from the jar of granules, and it is nearly no-cost.
Herbs - we moved the herb pot inside, so we're still working on it. The basil died, the rosemary is struggling, but the oregano is stretching toward the windows in search of the elusive winter sun. If I have more success with herbs next year, maybe we'll freeze or dry some.

In conclusion, my fellow green-folk and family, we live in the land of plenty. Let's make sure that less of that plenty goes to waste.

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What is Compost Happens all about? My elevator pitch in rough draft

Who am I? I'm Daisy, and this is my blog. I write it, I maintain it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Once in a while, I make changes. Unless we're professional bloggers by trade (and some are), any of us in the blogsphere will change what we can and spend time within reason to keep our blogs unique and good quality.

Last summer the buzz for bloggers included creating an elevator pitch. For example, if you were in an elevator at the BlogHer conference and you had to quickly describe your blog, what would you say? Here's my first attempt:


Compost Happens is a personal blog: part family, part garden, part eco-consciousness. It chronicles my home life, teaching life, coffee, garden, .... oh, darn it, this is getting too wordy.

Okay, here goes again.

Compost Happens is a personal blog: part family, part garden, part crunchy green eco-writer. I'm Daisy, and I'm the groundskeeper here. I take care of family, garden, and coffee, when I'm not teaching and doing laundry.


That's a little better, but it's still a rough draft. Should I mention A Mother's Garden of Verses or Mid-Century Modern Moms? Maybe. Now I'm thinking and revising, and that can only lead to positive changes.

Any changes, however, need to retain the integrity of the blog. Reviews, for example. The FCC is now regulating bloggers' reviews, calling for clear disclosure of donated items and paid posts. Frankly, BlogHer ads have always required that kind of disclosure; it's not new. Mothertalk/ MomCentral, unfortunately, is getting some negative exposure. I commented on a post related to integrity of reviews, and the emails came flooding in.

When I posted an honest review of James Patterson's Dangerous Days of Daniel X, Mothertalk quoted a select few lines that made my post sound neutral, if not positive.
When I reviewed Return to Sullivan's Island, I was again honest. Mothertalk asked me to change the review. I modified a few lines, but I could not make the book sound good. It just wasn't. In fact, the first Sullivan's Island was so much better I wondered if the author had really written the sequel.
Since then, I've been blocked from doing further book reviews.

Mothertalk/ MomCentral doesn't seem to get it. Glowing sugar-coated reviews are not credible. If I encourage people to read a book, it'll be worth their time. I'm a teacher, published in professional journals, a teacher of reading and writing, an educated reviewer. By telling me to change a review or not post it, they compromise their site's integrity.

Frankly, I don't plan to compromise mine.

Compost Happens is a personal blog; part family, part garden, part crunchy green eco-writer. I'm Daisy, and I'm the groundskeeper, taking care of family, garden, and coffee. I post honestly and straight from the heart. Count on it.

Like it or not.

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What is Normal? Who is Normal?

"But you seem so normal!" It was a phrase in a post from Deafmom, a post she titled "You're not really deaf, are you?" This one got me thinking - a dangerous pastime, I know.

Normal = neuro-typical, non disabled.
Normal = typical, following the norm.
Normal = expected, unsurprising.
Normal = cool forehead, no fever.
Normal = just another sheep following the herd.

Is Normal good or bad? Is Normal something in between? Is Normal a comfort level, don't rock the boat, or is Normal that's-the-way-we've-always-done-it?

• Does Normal have an IEP (Individualized Education Plan)?
• Does Normal need an adapted cell phone?
• Does Normal stay in the background or insist on action?
• Is Normal pink, red, or mauve?
• Does Normal get on the right track, just stand there and wait to get run over?
• Does Normal slow for yellow lights or speed up?
• Does Normal walk to school or take her lunch?

The last one is the really telling question. "Normal" in the sense of non-disabled or neuro-typical is a label that doesn't really make sense. It implies that the disabled person is someone out of the norm, out of the mainstream, off the track. It implies that the person with a disability isn't one of the crowd, sticks out, doesn't belong.

"Normal" doesn't need to go the way of the R-word (retarded). Normal is, after all, a city in Illinois. But all of us, not just the so-called Normal folk, need to think before we speak. Telling a disabled person that they are not Normal is inaccurate, hurtful, and just wrong.

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Thinking of Thanksgiving

The random thoughts that come with Thanksgiving planning sometimes surprise even me, the blogger with a category label for Random Thoughts.

Let's try an organic heirloom turkey this year! Last year the Fabled Fairies earned a Butterball coupon (or two). This year we noticed an ad for a nearby meat market and their turkeys and decided it was worth a try. Local business (all of 6 blocks away), quality product (we've bought their sausages and pork chops and other meats in the past), what's not to like? If we decide we prefer the (gulp) mass-produced meat, we'll go back to it next year. But seriously, I hope not. A few more dollars on a special turkey will be dollars well spent.

Brother and Sister-in-law will be staying at their Chicago-area home this year. They're expecting a tiny new addition to the family, and mama-to-be may feel uncomfortable fitting into a seatbelt. Staying home will allow her to relax and maybe, just maybe, start timing contractions in the comfort of her own home. We'll host a slightly smaller party: our own nuclear family, including La-Petite-home-from-school, my mom and stepdad, and Chuck's parents.

Sister-in-law usually brings the pies; maybe it's time to try the bakery down the road from the meat market. I love to bake, but pies are not my specialty, and I don't think a mixed-berry dump cake would fit the Thanksgiving menu.

Now I just need to decide if we're having rootmash or regular mashed potatoes - or both. Opinions? Preferences?

Yes, I KNOW there's a Packer game. Chuck is thankful that it's in Detroit; he'd have to work if the game were at Lambeau Field. We'll plan our dinnertime around it, and squeeze a radio into the kitchen so the cooks don't miss a play.

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