Despite my black thumb, my summer garden last year was a success, at least by my standards. Sure, three innocent tomato plants gave their lives, but one hardy hybrid managed to bring forth some late summer snack tomatoes. The green peppers were about the size of golf balls, but they tasted great. And the pumpkin…
Category: Environmentalist Ramblings
Not Green, Just Cranky
The other day a clerk at the grocery store praised me for being “green” and bringing in my own bags. I was a little startled, and just hoped he didn’t think I was also one of those types of people who drives around in a hybrid car with ECOLOVR license plates on it. The fact…
Exploring our Auto Alternatives
With gas prices soon to reach $4 a gallon, Peter and I are happy to explore alternatives to driving. Peter’s move to offices downtown has certainly helped. This morning, he biked to work on a route that’s mostly car-free and only took him 35 minutes. Biking is absolutely the best way to go, but unfortunately,…
Zipcar: the new urban transport
I saw my first Zipcar on Saturday, as I pulled into the Trader Joe’s in Daly City. It instantly struck me as a brilliant service: a car you can borrow (that is, rent) quickly in urban areas for all those tasks you miss a car for: such as buying up groceries or other supplies, taking…
Does Getting a Hybrid Make You A Smug Bastard?
I’ll say it right up front: I love hybrid cars, and if any one person is guilty for turning hybrid car owners into smug bastards, I could take some of the responsibility. Back when hybrid cars were still fairly rare (that is, before California gave hybrid owners carpool permit stickers), I would approach hybrid car…
Car Saves Trees
Peter and I considered it almost immoral to sell my old car to someone else. Sure, it still ran, but I’m convinced it ran mostly out of loyalty to me, and my almost constant praying and urging for it to go on. I had this confirmed this morning when I wanted to use to for…
Ringing in the Year with a Brand New Car
Loretta was the first of my friends to tell me I need a new car. But then, she’d also been my navigator on a trip to the San Diego Comic-Con during which my car’s thermostat malfunctioned and we had to manage by turning the heater on full blast driving through Los Angeles in the middle…
A Car Dies on 101
Peter called me this morning as I was writing about Green Gulch Farms. “Did you get my picture?” he asked. I’d received nothing by phone or email. He’d sent me a picture of his now-crushed car, and asked me to pick him up on the freeway with the possessions he’d been able to salvage from…
Real Food
Lately, as we’ve been enjoying a fairly comfortable existence, at least compared to most of the world, and all of history, there’s been sort of a nutritional nostalgia for eating old food, the old way, whether that means slow food, pesticide free farming, or the Neanderthal diet. The latest entry to this line is the…
My Medieval Garden
I did a very daring thing yesterday: I dug up a patch of dirt behind our spa and planted vegetables. If plants were people, I’d be in jail for all the plants that have died in my neglectful, inept care. If I brought every plant that has died on my watch back to OSH, I’d…