zero waste home adventures: around the house

my husband has been an true support in my (sometimes ocd) zero waste (zw) adventure. he pokes fun at me when i'm being neurotic and genuinely asks about what to do in a possible wasteful situations. obviously adopting a zw lifestyle can't be done alone in a household or everyone involved in said household would go crazy. but here are a few things we've been doing together:

• we live out "if it's yellow let it mellow. if it's brown, flush it down."
• we make whatever food we can, instead of buying it prepared/packaged. if it doesn't make sense for us to make it, we buy it in bulk.
• we started an indoor composting system!! we went with bokashi because it takes meat/fats. it's awesome, and the juice is fantastic for our septic tank. win-win!
• we make an effort to eat whatever we have at home before buying more of something we might already have. this isn't always easy because my cravings can be impulsive, and i'll put up a good fight. (poor samuel...)
• we are learning about (and trying to implement) vinegar as the solution to most questions. for example, you can use a 1/2 cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle instead of using dryer sheets. awesome.
• we've eliminated paper towels. we're a towel/linen household now.
• we purchased a few handkerchieves from the vintage store and use that in lieu of tissues.
• we reuse padded envelopes and boxes that have been sent to us (b/c we love receiving love mail from friends!). 
• we tracked down someone who will sell us "pet food" (aka: raw cow milk!) in a jar. now i can make plenty of yogurt and have milk leftover for the baked goods samuel brings home on thursday nights without all the plastic containers! (note: selling privately sourced milk is apparently illegal here. hence the "pet food" label. shhh, don't tell.)

below is all of our non-recyclable trash for the past month, collected in an 8 gallon bag. we just dumped it at the disposal site. i hope our next bag lasts us at least two months! 

small steps towards progress! onward! 

how to become a barn mate.

ok, not just any barn mate, my barn mate! 

step 1. look at the photos below & notice if your heart starts beating a little faster
step 2. read about who you'd be living with and the type of person we're looking for
step 3. learn about more tidbits about life at the farm
step 4. fill out a questionnaire
---

step 1. look at the photos below & notice if your heart starts beating a little faster
it's a pretty big space that we call the suite. there are two separate rooms connected by a door. we've turned it into a bedroom and living area, but you should feel free to reimagine it and make it your home. (plus, if you need a furnished place...then even better because it's already furnished.) 

amenities include: 2 rooms (each 10x20), private bath with shower stall, washer & dryer, utilities included, access to beautiful garden, only 5 miles from stanford campus.

there's a door that leads directly to the back garden.
shared kitchen (it's separate from the suite, and you get to it by walking through the main barn area)

step 2. read about who you'd be living with and who we're looking for

who we are:

• one family (mom, dad, son-10yo, daughter-5yo)
• one gal (working professional)
• a mini farm (we call it the garden street farm)
• ~8 feral cats
• 12 chickens (11 hens and one lucky rooster)

who i am:

you can read through my blog and get a pretty good sense of me. but the headline is that i'm a fun, 20-something, quirky+particular, active, creative free spirit. i have about 16 bedside books that wait patiently for me to finish them and am curious about everything. i'm a designer at a non-profit by day, a photographer most of the time, and an adventurer at all times.

who you are:

• interested in living in a spiritual community
• is a gal herself (that means, women only)
• likes being around young children (10 and 5 years old)
• enjoys fruit (apricots, plums, cherries, blueberries, rasberries, apples), vegetables, plants, cats, chickens (13), bees, and a prolific garden
• wants to get involved in gardening and farm maintenance
• doesn't mind fresh eggs
• can go with the flow
• lives an active and healthy lifestyle (don't mind the lucky charms cereal box in the earlier photo. oops. how'd that get there?!)
• emotionally stable, honest, able to communicate clearly, keep things real
• okay sharing a kitchen/dining area
• able to pay $1200/month $900/month new amount!
• looking for a longer-term, stable housing situation. (i.e. we're not looking for someone who's in transition.) we'd love for you to become a part of our lives, and for us to become a part of your life. 

step 3. read more snippets about life at the farm
here, here, & here. and this is how i felt when i first moved in. 

step 4. fill out a questionnaire

look forward to hearing from you. we can't wait to find an awesome new barn/community mate!

home.

noticed the light. 

merry | a tree named benny.

it's my first live christmas tree, ever.

growing up, my parents were always worked throughout the christmas season since it was the busiest time of year. you see, they owned a toy & gift store practically my whole life. my sisters and i were always busy helping out at the store, wrapping up other kids' toys. so celebrating christmas usually fell by the wayside for my family. in fact, it was usually a pretty stressful time. and after a long day at the store, we were too pooped to do anything. and by "we" i mean, my parents. i'm not sure how my sisters felt, but as a young child, i did get pretty wide-eyed at the wonder of christmas - the lights, the gifts, the mystery of santa claus - but i never knew how to rally a family of all older people to get on board with a holiday i secretly wanted to relish. i was just a wee little lass with a small voice, envious of the stories & delights i had only really heard of. 


two sundays ago, i moseyed over to a christmas tree lot to take a gander at the selection and within the first 7 seconds, i saw my tree. nameless at first, by the time i paid and got the trunk trimmed, his name came to me. benny. (the boy that helped me load the tree in my car suggested the name jerry since "benny's are usually tall." i laughed and let him know i'd consider it, even though i had immediately vetoed it in my mind. hehe.)


i've dressed benny simply, with some white lights and a few clear ornaments. & i think i like him, a lot. : ) 


but more than having a tree, i'm just appreciating that my inner little lizzy gets a chance to relish christmas just a bit this year...

chicago | charmed in every way

i'm surprised by how much i loved chicago. 

for a non-big city girl, i was completely charmed...

more to come.

ps. can you find me in this photo? 

ashland | hyatt lake sunset

completely enthralled by ashland, oregon. i am so utterly taken by this weekend's trip because of stuff like this:

to arcata & back.

i couldn't stop.

i just couldn't.

at 5:15am on friday morning, my alarm clock notified me that it was time to get up. i needed to pack a couple pb&j's, get my camelback ready, and take my friend to the airport. since i was heading north, i had planned on spending the day on mt. tam roaming the trails and giving myself plenty of space to be. i've been needing a lot of blank space these days, as my heart's been feeling heavy.

but, a weird thing happened. mt. tam came and went and i had no inclination to stop. so i drove north through sebastopol, headed east through grueneville, hit the coast and took the windy hwy 1 up to arcata. 

i couldn't stop. 

i just couldn't.

once i got up there, i found a friendly co-op where i asked for directions & purchased some figs and a large quantity of my new favorite grain, farro. after this pit stop, i knew it was time to turn back south. so i drove until my body hit its sleepy wall. at 10pm, i rolled onto a random street in cloverdale, and slept until my trusty 5:15am alarm awoke me again. it was still dark, which gave me enough time to make it back to sf in time for an incredible sunrise at hendrik point, which sits just before the golden gate bridge, heading southbound. the hill felt still and the air had just the right amount of morning chilliness without it being distractingly cold. 

i felt a deep soul serenity while standing there, and i felt a clarity in my kardia. i'm not describing the kind of clarity that comes with being able to articulate something well. instead, it was the kind of clarity that brings with it a sense of mysterious inexplicable peace. i just knew in my heart that something had passed. i knew in my heart that the months of process and struggle and staying present to discomfort had finally come to its end (at least for this iteration).

i drove away from home, wanting to get away from everything...but found that peace came to me on my journey back home.  it only took 661 miles. :) 

friday morning thots | 8.5.11

being drawn towards...

• asheville, nc (north carolina in general)
• ashland, or
• chicago, il
• spain
• south of france-ish
• boulder, ut
• right here. 

ah, the inklings can be so persuasive.

friday morning thots | 6.24.11

a few themes i keep seeing:

• home
• owning 100%: no more, no less
• permission to ___?____

on a different note:

i'm off to squaw valley to volunteer at the mosquito ridge aid station (normally robinson flat, but there's too much snow this year to get in there) at the famous western states 100 mile endurance race. these people are running ONE HUNDRED miles through the wilderness. this is some serious inspiration from some seriously crazy people. i hope to be one of those folk before i turn forty.

home make-over.

some of you might remember when i first moved in to the barn loft. i remember painting the green wall, and almost crying. not because the serpentine color is so rich, but because it was symbolic of settling down...of making home.

saturday morning, i woke up with so many thots. they swirled and swirled until i caught them all and made them sit down on a piece of paper (well, many pieces of paper). then, out of nowhere i had a vision for my space. i quickly drew out the new upstairs floor plan & schemed when i could rearrange everything.

later that afternoon, i told my friend about this idea over a 3pm lunch, and he said he would help me move right after we stopped by the good will. so...we scuffed the floors, pushed, pulled, and turned the loft into a space i feel like i can keep growing into.

with that... here's the simple home make-over : everything i own, shifted around.

please visit brooke's site missuloveu for some whimsical expressions of all things she loves. she (and her work) are a delight.

what i realized later was that it was no coincidence that my morning thoughts were intermingled with the vision for this space. this new layout symbolizes where i'm at in life: grounded & expansive. and that's exactly what i had been journaling about.

we all sow.

this morning, i went running in the baylands and was filled with thanks that it's pretty much my backyard.

it's a place
of stillness,
of peace,
of solitude
for my entire being.

i felt at home running at sunrise, listening to creation.
it was in this space that my morning's reflections arose.

what percolated today was this idea that we all sow seeds in each other. everyone we connect or disconnect with, we have/are/will sow something and get sown in. for example, charlie sowed the first running seed in me, then that blind date guy came and watered it - & it's been growing since - i feel the roots deepening in rich soil.

this idea got me wondering...
what is it that i am sowing in others (consciously or subconsciously)?
and what others are sowing in me?
what seeds am i letting grow inside of me?
and what seeds do i notice i do not want planted?
which seeds are getting watered? by whom?

are the ideas/beliefs/values/dreams/fears/loves/hates/desires inside you currently the ones you want to be planting their roots in your soil? if so, how can you continue nurturing those seedlings? if not, what might you need to do to uproot the plants that don't belong, in order to make room for what will bear irresistible fruit?

i'm going away.

off to a long-awaited adventure.

kauai has been beckoning me this year, in the most subtle & boldest of ways.

to come & see beauty.
to play.
to rest & sleep.
to exhaust my body.
to connect with the earth.
to be inspired.
to cathart.
to hope.dream.love.
& ... . .. .to be loved.

and i've answered its call.



so, i'm leaving home...to find home again.




it's inexplicable & mysterious.
and i've been moved to tears as i prepare for this trip.
b/c i sense something very beautiful is near.

if you remember :: i would appreciate your thoughts & prayers for this trip.
i sense it will be sacred in so many ways.

& my heart doesn't know how else to respond but with the shedding of humbled tears.


...
& for those curious folks (b/c i am too) ::
some of what i'll be doing is :: working on a co-op farm, surfing, romping around, backpacking in the na pali coast, eating a lot of fruit, reading forgotten books, capturing moments, & living inspired. (go figure).

i'll be back to the farm on nov.19, a few days before i ring in the 27. :)

now...

i'm going to take you on a tour of the barn loft (aka, home!).
mind you, it will always be in progress. (i learned that home improvement never really ends. it's just a matter of choosing to be content with what is.) although, whenever i sit in this space, i can't help but get inspired by fun creative ideas of what i might do next. (i'll take it as a good thing). hehe

anyway, scroll away...

this is when you first come through the front door.
*i'm planning on having that wall right in front, full of interesting hooks. this idea was partly inspired by delfina in sf. by the restrooms, they had rows and rows of identical hooks, and i really really like them. my twist was to get unique ones and place them strategically, but still randomly all over the wall. i've only gotten 3 so far, but will keep my eye out for interesting hooks. if you find any, send me a link to it or just mail one to me. ;-)


the very very white bathroom.
*was going for clean clean clean.
*and actually, the paint is called loft living. (i liked the paint b/c of it's name. hehe)
the kitchen. i love being in here.


dining. the place where good eats and good conversation happen.
*this room was originally going to be my bedroom. i tried it out for a week....but that setup just felt wrong. the bummer was that i chose this light grey color b/c i was inspired by dooce and wanted to create something similar to her bedroom color palette. but i wouldn't have chosen that color if i knew it would serve as a dining area. o well. it is what it is for now.
*i'm also looking for inspiration for the large blank wall (not pictured) in here. i'm thinking a big art piece...but of what? and who will be the artist?


now, come up the stairs, and turn around to look back down.
*this is soon after the sun rose. stunning light, isn't it? i get that light in the am, and then a beautiful sunset on the other side in the pm.


the sleeping zone.


the working zone.



the communal zone.



and a wider view (day & night).
*the paint colors for the upstairs was inspired by Reposado, a restaurant in downtown palo alto that has a look & feel that i was really drawn to. i emailed the Ops. Director and asked what the paint colors were and willingly share them with me. how generous! the paint is from dunn-edwards and they are iron creek and serpentine.



so...what do you think?? would love to hear your reactions! ;-)

xo,
liz

big big news.

i'm moving.
again.

but this time...it's upstairs from where i currently sleep. it's the barn loft.
& you can't hear it, but i'm squealing (internally) right now.

this news has been the reason for all excitement, dreamings, and home depot visits these days. it's the source of most of my inspiration because it's the first time there's so much freedom to make this place home. as much as my current dwelling has been incredible; i've known it only to be a transitional space, but the loft... o the loft...will be quite different.

the painting begins in a couple weeks and then the gradual move of furniture, then visits to second hand/vintage stores and more.

one thing i'll be doing on this blog is documenting the transformation of the space, including (but not limited to) fun finds, the painting party, before/after pics, and polls to be inspired by your suggestions/thoughts. FUN!!!



i hope you come and visit some day. ;)