Happy Halloween!

We have been busy around here getting ready for Halloween. Our pumpkins are carved, decorations are hung, costumes are made, and trick or treating plans are set. Someone I know is very, very excited!
In the holiday spirit, I made some pumpkin shaped grahams crackers and pumpkin flavored ice cream last week. Yum.  Here is my pumpkin ice cream recipe (for your ice cream maker):

• 1.5 cups whole milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 2.5 cups heavy cream
• 1.5 Tbl vanilla
• 1 can pumpkin
• pumpkin pie spices as desired

Wishing you all a fantastic Halloween! And I can't wait to see pictures of costumes tomorrow! 

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Buying Local: An Update

For my Reducing my Impact project for the month of October, my focus has been to choose local. I did really well while grocery shopping, selecting produce, dairy and eggs all from the northwest (which I have tried to do for a long time), and I also did almost all of my grocery shopping this month at the local organic market, New Seasons. However, my sticking to local pretty much ended with food. I partly think that October was a hard month to buy local because we have been making Halloween costumes and preparing for Finn's birthday party. I needed things like plan onesies and tees, and fabric and craft supplies. I never realized how much I rely on corporate stores until I tried to think of a local business where I could buy these things and was stumped.
Of course I could buy used, but when you are looking for particular things in particular sizes and colors, I just don't have the time to search at every thrift store in Portland until I find the things that work. So, I ended up going to Target and Joann to get what I needed. I picked up my asthma medicine and Fred Meyer and once again realized my reliance on these corporate entities for my daily breathing. Is there such a thing as a local pharmacy?
I guess if I completely did not want to support these chain stores I would have to plan my Halloween costumes around what we could buy locally (or what we already had).... and not everyone in my family would have been happy about that. As far as my asthma medicine goes, I haven't a clue. Everything about a prescription scream corporate support.
If nothing else, this month has been a wake-up call to me on how much I do utilize non-local shops to get basic things that I need. I do plan to continue to support local shops when I can (and hopefully I will do better next month), but I am still left to wonder where one can buy basic goods locally. Maybe it is better to source out an internet-based company that is located across the country but where the goods are made in the US? I guess this is some food for thought for me.
And now I am happily off to the local toy store to pick up a few things for Finn's party next weekend! Pin It Now!

This Moment...

{this moment} - A Friday ritual.  A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama 

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Living Downstream: A Review

Tonight I was lucky enough to see a screening of the movie Living Downstream by Sandra Steingraber. Sandra wrote a book by the same title which I read for an environmental science class during my undergrad (about 12 or so years ago.... yikes!). The film documents Sandra, an ecologist and cancer survivor, and discusses the relationships between our environment and the incidence of cancer.
The film is like many movies about environmental pollution, however, this one really personalizes it. Sandra entwines her personal story of living with cancer with the cancer research she has done, and puts a face to the statistic.
The film is informative, yet, like many environmental films, depressing. How can we let this happen to our environment? How can we let companies and farmers put chemicals into the environment that will  lead to people dying from cancer? How can we think any of this is OK?
For me, 2 moments stood out above all of the rest. The first is when Sandra is speaking to a room full of people and shows them a jar of breast milk. She discusses all of the magical aspects of breast milk, like the fact that it has antibodies and brain-building materials. And then she mentions that it is full of toxic compounds, from pesticides to plastics, endocrine disruptors and the like. At the time, I was seeing this move in a theater on the campus I teach at, and was breastfeeding Phoebe. I almost started to cry.
The second moment that really hit home was the last scene. Sandra again is speaking to a room of people and says that in her heart, she knows that our generation will be the last that is allowed to freely dump cancer-causing chemicals into the air and water. We now look back at slavery and think it was completely unthinkable that we ever allowed that to happen. Sandra hopes that her children one day look back at the chemicals we spew into out environment and think that that is also unthinkable. I actually did start to cry at this point. I hope she is right.
I thought this movie was well done and recommend it to anyone who knows anyone with cancer (yes, that is you). Check out the Living Downstream website for screening locations and more information.

P.S.- the book is definitely worth checking out as well! Pin It Now!

Loving Fall

We have been so very lucky and have had a lovely fall in Oregon. Many sun-filled days with cool crisp air. That may seem like a normal fall to most of you, but Portland often has lots of rain and fall seems to be gone in the blink of an eye.
We have been taking advantage of the weather and enjoying the great outdoors. On Monday we made it to Oxbow Park with some friends. Saw a bald eagle, saw fish (presumably salmon) jumping out of the water, and saw a whole lot of mushrooms. We even brought a few mushrooms home and made some spore prints (however, we did it on white paper and all of the caps except one had off-white spores!).
Mostly though, we have just been wandering around our block, noticing the differences from our last visit. I love this time of year because things change so quickly that we can walk our same street every day and find new changes each time.
We have been collecting things on our walks, bringing them home and using them for art projects. Keeping them as reminders of my favorite time of year.
Before I know it, winter will be here and these sunny days will be few and far between. Until then, we will continue to roam the neighborhood, to take in the changes surrounding us, and to enjoy this oh-too-short season we call fall.

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180 Degrees South: A Review

A couple of nights ago, the hubby and I stayed up watching an excellent movie entitled 180 Degrees South. It's mainly an adventure film that depicts Jeff Johnson's excursion to a remote area of Patagonia, where he does some extreme surfing and ice climbing with several well known climbers. In addition to the breath-taking scenery and the extreme athleticism, this film also does a wonderful job of incorporating environmental concerns into Jeff's adventure. The film touches on population growth and resource consumption, global warming, pollution, and several other "hot" environmental concerns. While the film is still mainly focused on the adventure, I love how these environmental tid-bits are trucked in. It connects the environment to the "real-world", showing those who are not scientists how everything is connected.
I would recommend this film for all! The only downside: it totally made me want to jump on a plane to patagonia (not so great for my carbon footprint)! Pin It Now!

The Tastes of Fall.....

A couple of weeks ago we went apple picking, and followed that by a trip to the pumpkin farm where we got 20 pounds of pears. So, I spent a lot of time these past couple of weeks processing fruit. We made apple sauce, apple butter, apple fruit leather, apple pie, apple muffins, pear sauce and pear fruit leather. I am glad that all of that cooking and canning is over with, for now, but I do miss the smell of fruit cooking on the stove.
I have been craving fall foods though, and want winter squash, kale and sweet potatoes for every meal. And I just made a batch of pumpkin ice cream for tomorrow's pumpkin carving extravaganza!
What have you been eating this fall? What are your favorite fall recipes?

 

this face is a "I have pear leather stuck in my teeth" face!

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