Live and Learn for Mother Earth

All of the environmental learning I've been doing is birthing yet another new consciousness within me. I'm learning how to cook. I'm learning how to eat healthier food. And importantly, I'm making time for meal planning, meal prep, cooking and even (drum-roll please) ... cleaning up the kitchen. This, from someone who works in her business from sunup to sundown.

Ah, but a new day is dawning, and filling me with eager enthusiasm for the changes ahead. This morning I woke up early. I packed up my cooler, grabbed my cloth grocery bags, and at 7am drove up to Siesta Beach to walk on the crystal sands. Walking is a part of my new healthy lifestyle. I'm pretending I have a dog, so I have to get out of the house and walk the dog at least twice a day. This morning, as I walked on the beach, I feasted my senses on the surf rolling into shore, gazed at the pelicans and shore birds who make their home there, and happily dreamed I lived in one of the villas near by.

Next, I headed up to Morton's Deli for homemade rice, beans, and tofu salads. Satisfied with my finds, I went on to C'est La Vie on Main Street in downtown Sarasota for my favorite bread, an old-fashioned French Baguette. Finally, I walked the aisles at Whole Foods and selected nutritious vegetables and beautiful soups  that will support my new way of being. Three hours later, I was home. I went directly to the kitchen to clean out my freezer, my fridge, and my pantry to make room for the new wholesome, organic natural food I'd purchased.

I put any raw fruits or vegetables that had spoiled in my new compost bin. I'm learning how to buy just the right amount of food as well as the right kind of food, so I can get better and better at eliminating waste. I love that I am a part of the composting consciousness. It makes me feel that I'm doing my part to help the Earth, if even in a very small way.

With joyful determination, next I found and cleaned out all the glass jars from sauces that were years past their expiration date. Throughout this process, I discovered a dozen plastic bags that had various leftover meals or breads or pizza dough in them in the back of my freezer. Here comes the lesson: Did you know that if the plastic bags we all dutifully put into the recycle bin at the grocery store are wet or dirty they will be thrown in the trash instead of recycled? Horrors. I thought the recycle people had some massive washing machine that cleaned it all before breaking it down into some other form to make bags or bottles with.

Since I learned this, I've taken care to rinse out any plastic bag that's outlived it's usefulness and hang it out to dry. Today, however, I had a dozen, and after I'd washed them all I realized my little kitchen could not handle them all. Eureka! I made a clothesline as you see in the photo above. It cracked me up, seeing all those plastic bags hanging out to dry. So I'm sharing it with you. Enjoy! - Raphaella Vaisseau