It's amazing the things you can do with baking soda

So, like I said: I don't use deodorant, I use baking soda.

I did not believe this would work, but it really does. (I did the sniff test, taking a brisk walk up the Brooklyn hill to movies at the Penthouse, and then, AFTER sitting through a 90-minute movie, asking my companions if I ... er ... smelled. They said I smelt fine.)

Just dust on a little dry baking soda with a powder puff.

And that's one less plastic throwaway item to dispose of.

Plastic-free actions

I've been trying to gradually change my shopping habits one by one to reduce the amount of plastic packaging I buy.

These are my plastic-free actions (a la Beth Terry of Fake Plastic Fish—I'm not as impressive as she is!)

- plastic shopping bags—take my own reuseable bags
- plastic produce bags—take my own bags to the vegie market
- polystyrene meat trays—only buy meat not on a tray (vacuum-packed or bagged; good sources: Moore Wilsons, Commonsense Organics, Prestons, the deli counter at the supermarket)
- margarine containers—switched to butter in a paper wrapper
- washing-up detergent bottles—refill the bottle at Commonsense
- laundry detergent—refill the bottle at Commonsense
- deodorant—use baking soda
- pads/tampons—Mooncup
- Gladwrap—use Tupperware containers; put leftovers in a bowl and cover with a saucer; or put the whole casserole dish in the fridge
- soap—buy unpackaged Ecostore soap (Commonsense or health food shop in Cuba St); in the supermarket the best choice seems to be Red Seal brand, which comes in a cardboard box
- toilet paper—I buy the recycled Safe brand, which comes in a paper wrapper.
- courier bags—use paper envelopes and courier stickers

Plastic-reduction actions
- toothpaste—buy biggest size tube (I figure this is less plastic per volume of toothpaste)
- nuts/dried fruit—buy in bulk in reuseable zip-loc bags at the supermarket bulk bins

My goal is to be able to come back and add to the list.

Eating in season

I'm amazed at how hard it has become to tell what's in season by looking in the shops.

I was downright dumbfounded to see asparagus in New World the other day. I'm hanging out for the asparagus in the garden to start sprouting, but that's months away. (When I looked closely there was a tiny "Produce of USA" label.)

I've got some sense of the rythmn of the seasons from gardening, but it's getting really confusing with everything available all the time. Sometimes I see produce for sale—say, peaches and apricots in early summer—and think "I don't think that's in season", but I know that I don't really know.

So I've added a list of what's in season to WellingtonCompostGirl, over there on the right hand side.

I'm tempted to add another list: what's NOT in season, although it's still right there in the vegie market—tomatoes, capsicums, papayas ...


Looking at the list, I feel quite pleased by how closely it resembles the fresh fruit and vegetables I currently have in the house. Mmm, must make leek and potato soup ...

Building-wide compost a step closer

Yahoo! An excellent meeting of the composting working party tonight. They are keen to take a couple of composting options back to the board of directors.

Everyone was enthusiastic about the city council's Kai to Compost service, which collects food waste like a regular wheelie-bin rubbish collection—except that they compost the food scraps instead of dumping them.

"I can't see why it wouldn't scream through the board," said one person.