A couple of weekends ago I had a drink for the first time in over a year (i.e., since I found out I was pregnant).
I was pretty stoked because, although I'm glad I didn't drink, and giving up alcohol seems a small thing in comparison to potentially harming your baby, there were many times during the year when I had hankered after a glass of wine.
But what I had was a beer. That's because, in my mumsy new life, by the time you've got baby to bed, you're knackered and know you won't be far behind, so one drink is going to be it - and it seemed a waste to open a whole bottle of wine.
Which is what brought me to the cask wine section in the supermarket today. We thought maybe this would be a way to have the odd glass of wine here and there.
Cask wine doesn't really have a good name, does it? I can see why. The selection was pretty dire. (Side note: I guess maybe some graphic designers actually get a brief that says "Make it look cheap"?) I bought the classiest-looking one but I still felt a bit like I should be wearing a dirty old raincoat and sloping off to a bus stop to drink it.
But it got me to thinking - apart from making your own, it's probably the greenest way to drink wine. Glass is pretty heavy to transport around. A 2L cask has the equivalent of three glass bottles of wine, with far less packaging. The cask I bought says it "has a much lower carbon footprint than the equivalent wine in glass". And then the one-way valve dispenser stops the wine from going off and being wasted after you've opened it.
If the wine inside is good it would be all good, right?
What do you reckon? Could cask wine ever be rehabilitated as an eco-friendly option or is that just a step too far?
Monday, January 28, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
The baby and the bathwater
Here's my one little water efficiency strategy: Every night baby has a bath as part of his bedtime routine. I save the water and bucket it onto the garden the next day. At this stage we still just wash him with water, so there's no suds to worry about - the water is perfect for putting straight on the garden.
That probably saves 20L from going down the drain every day.
(And before anyone starts thinking I'm a terrible mother - he can't even roll over yet, so it's not a hazard to leave the baby bath full of water - not yet. I guess once he's mobile I'll need to put the water on the garden right away.)
That probably saves 20L from going down the drain every day.
(And before anyone starts thinking I'm a terrible mother - he can't even roll over yet, so it's not a hazard to leave the baby bath full of water - not yet. I guess once he's mobile I'll need to put the water on the garden right away.)
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Hurrah for ex-girlfriends
It's traditional to dislike your man's ex-girlfriends on principle, but I'm actually delighted about one of my partner's exes - because he once lived with a girl who was vegetarian.
Considering that his favourite meals are nachos, pizza and steak with mushrooms, I was really surprised when I served up a vegetarian dish one day and his reaction was "Dhal - yum!" Thanks to that nameless girl in London, he likes vegetarian food.
That's made it really easy to keep up one "green" practice - meat-free meals. We generally have vegetarian about once a week, but even that makes a difference for the environment.
To celebrate, here's my favourite lifesaving 10-minute vegetarian recipe for when you're exhausted, in a hurry, you haven't made it to the shops and there's practically nothing in the house etc:
Tuoni e lampi (Thunder and Lightning)
2 servings small pasta (I use penne)
about 1 cup or 1 can cooked chickpeas (rinsed and drained if you're using a can)
1 clove garlic
a good glug of olive oil
parsley (optional)
parmesan (optional)
Cook the pasta until just done. In the last few minutes, add the cooked chickpeas to the saucepan to reheat. Drain well and mix with a finely chopped clove of garlic and a good glug of olive oil. You can sprinkle with chopped parsley and/or grated parmesan if you have the wherewithal.
Considering that his favourite meals are nachos, pizza and steak with mushrooms, I was really surprised when I served up a vegetarian dish one day and his reaction was "Dhal - yum!" Thanks to that nameless girl in London, he likes vegetarian food.
That's made it really easy to keep up one "green" practice - meat-free meals. We generally have vegetarian about once a week, but even that makes a difference for the environment.
To celebrate, here's my favourite lifesaving 10-minute vegetarian recipe for when you're exhausted, in a hurry, you haven't made it to the shops and there's practically nothing in the house etc:
Tuoni e lampi (Thunder and Lightning)
2 servings small pasta (I use penne)
about 1 cup or 1 can cooked chickpeas (rinsed and drained if you're using a can)
1 clove garlic
a good glug of olive oil
parsley (optional)
parmesan (optional)
Cook the pasta until just done. In the last few minutes, add the cooked chickpeas to the saucepan to reheat. Drain well and mix with a finely chopped clove of garlic and a good glug of olive oil. You can sprinkle with chopped parsley and/or grated parmesan if you have the wherewithal.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Homegrown organic
Buying organic has been one of the things that I've given up in my new life. My new suburban mum version? Grow your own!
The biggest advantage of moving to the suburbs is that I finally have my own garden. Hurrah!
Thanks to my partner's fab mum, I was able to get a bit of garden going while heavily pregnant and then in the early days of having a baby. It's a bit weedy and chaotic, but I've kept it going by pulling out a few weeds here and splashing a bit of water around there in between feeds and nappy changes.
There's a bunch of herbs outside the back door:
A patch of Jerusalem artichokes that are looking good:
There's spring broccoli - we've had some already, and now the side shoots are regrowing:
And there's organic cherry tomatoes a-coming:
Now that I'm home with the baby, it's perfect having a hobby right here. I love that I can just step out into the garden for a few minutes while the baby's napping. And I love that I can still manage to get some organic food.
I'm already plotting what to put in for the winter season.
The biggest advantage of moving to the suburbs is that I finally have my own garden. Hurrah!
Thanks to my partner's fab mum, I was able to get a bit of garden going while heavily pregnant and then in the early days of having a baby. It's a bit weedy and chaotic, but I've kept it going by pulling out a few weeds here and splashing a bit of water around there in between feeds and nappy changes.
There's a bunch of herbs outside the back door:
A patch of Jerusalem artichokes that are looking good:
There's spring broccoli - we've had some already, and now the side shoots are regrowing:
And there's organic cherry tomatoes a-coming:
 | ||||||
I'm already plotting what to put in for the winter season.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Modern cloth nappies
In my newly impoverished suburban mum existence, the obvious "green" things to do are the ones that also save you money - and luckily that's most "green" stuff, right?
First up, cloth nappies.(Yeah, this is strictly for the parents out there, so I'll stick everything in one giant post.)
To me, whether it's better to use cloth or disposable nappies depends on whether you can dry them on the washing line.
Environmental impact
Zerowaste NZ has a good roundup of the information about environmental impact of cloth vs. disposable nappies - essentially, cloth is better if you can line dry and use low temperatures to wash.
Costs and savings
If you compare the total costs of disposables and cloth nappies, the cloth ones are almost certainly quite a bit cheaper - though of course how much you save depends on exactly what all the costs are. Again, if you have to use a dryer that adds a lot to the cost of cloth. We use disposable nappy liners, which also adds to the cost (many are around 5c each) and the environmental impact, but for me is a good compromise as it makes dealing with the dirty nappies faster and way less icky.*
Laundering
So, is washing cloth nappies as yucky and difficult as it sounds? Not really, actually. Most of the poo gets thrown away on the liner. A few times a day a bit escapes onto the cloth and needs to be rinsed off - a little bit yuck but not too bad. All the dirty ones go into a dry pail (no soaking needed these days) and I just wash them in cold water every other day, about half a load each time. (I really didn't believe that this would work - wouldn't it stink etc? But it's fine.) Any stains get bleached out in the sun if you put them on the line, so there's no need to Napisan. So, it's mostly just a question of hanging out 20-odd items every couple of days. I can do that. Plus there is something wonderfully satisfying about a nice pile of freshly washed nappies all ready to go.
Nappy types
It's hard to get your head around all the different kinds. (I found The Nappy Lady, The Nappy Network and the Snazzipants website useful sources. I didn't manage to go myself, but I reckon going to one of The Nappy Lady's workshops would be brilliant, so you could see the various nappies firsthand.)
I bought the newborn size of a few of the most promising-sounding types secondhand on TradeMe, so I could try them out before committing. That was a pretty good approach. It's when you start using them that you quickly notice the pros and cons and develop preferences.
Some are more absorbent but slower to dry. Some are a bit slower or more fiddly to put on - and, yeah, that does make a difference when you're changing nappies ten times a day. But suffice to say that THEY ALL WORK FINE.
My review
My favourites are Snazzipants fitted nappies with a Bummis whisper wrap cover. The velcro makes them as easy to put on as a disposable, and laundry tabs keep the velcro from sticking to other things and getting fluffed over in the wash. Poo-splosions sometimes escape the nappy itself, but the separate cover usually provides good containment and prevents mess getting on baby's clothes. They are nice and absorbent - the one disadvantage is that they are quite slow to dry, sometimes not even drying after a full day in the sun.
BabyFirst two-part nappies are really handy as they dry superfast - within a few hours on the washing line. However, I bought the second size of these and they still don't fit my approx 7.5-8kg baby too well - maybe they'll fit better when he's crawling and changed shape a bit. The dome fasteners are fine, but not as easy to use or adjust the fit as velcro.
Flat or prefold nappies with a Snappi were brilliant for a tiny baby as you can get them to fit snugly - I was able to use these from the first few days. I used them with a waterproof Bummis whisper wrap cover on top. However, now I find them a bit fiddly and harder to keep securely on an active older baby.
The Itti Bitti Tutto one-size-fits-all snap-in-two seemed like a great idea, but I found it unnecessarily complicated in practice. It has a bunch of absorbent pads that dome together in different combinations for different levels of absorbency - but who can really predict how much a baby will pee?
In conclusion
We've used disposable nappies exclusively for a few days one or twice (e.g., on holiday) and, man, does it create a crazy amount of waste, as well as chewing through the money. I really hate it and much prefer my cloth nappies.
* I've recently discovered rinsing out and reusing the liners if they are just wet. Works fine!
First up, cloth nappies.(Yeah, this is strictly for the parents out there, so I'll stick everything in one giant post.)
To me, whether it's better to use cloth or disposable nappies depends on whether you can dry them on the washing line.
Environmental impact
Zerowaste NZ has a good roundup of the information about environmental impact of cloth vs. disposable nappies - essentially, cloth is better if you can line dry and use low temperatures to wash.
Costs and savings
If you compare the total costs of disposables and cloth nappies, the cloth ones are almost certainly quite a bit cheaper - though of course how much you save depends on exactly what all the costs are. Again, if you have to use a dryer that adds a lot to the cost of cloth. We use disposable nappy liners, which also adds to the cost (many are around 5c each) and the environmental impact, but for me is a good compromise as it makes dealing with the dirty nappies faster and way less icky.*
Laundering
So, is washing cloth nappies as yucky and difficult as it sounds? Not really, actually. Most of the poo gets thrown away on the liner. A few times a day a bit escapes onto the cloth and needs to be rinsed off - a little bit yuck but not too bad. All the dirty ones go into a dry pail (no soaking needed these days) and I just wash them in cold water every other day, about half a load each time. (I really didn't believe that this would work - wouldn't it stink etc? But it's fine.) Any stains get bleached out in the sun if you put them on the line, so there's no need to Napisan. So, it's mostly just a question of hanging out 20-odd items every couple of days. I can do that. Plus there is something wonderfully satisfying about a nice pile of freshly washed nappies all ready to go.
Nappy types
It's hard to get your head around all the different kinds. (I found The Nappy Lady, The Nappy Network and the Snazzipants website useful sources. I didn't manage to go myself, but I reckon going to one of The Nappy Lady's workshops would be brilliant, so you could see the various nappies firsthand.)
I bought the newborn size of a few of the most promising-sounding types secondhand on TradeMe, so I could try them out before committing. That was a pretty good approach. It's when you start using them that you quickly notice the pros and cons and develop preferences.
Some are more absorbent but slower to dry. Some are a bit slower or more fiddly to put on - and, yeah, that does make a difference when you're changing nappies ten times a day. But suffice to say that THEY ALL WORK FINE.
My review
My favourites are Snazzipants fitted nappies with a Bummis whisper wrap cover. The velcro makes them as easy to put on as a disposable, and laundry tabs keep the velcro from sticking to other things and getting fluffed over in the wash. Poo-splosions sometimes escape the nappy itself, but the separate cover usually provides good containment and prevents mess getting on baby's clothes. They are nice and absorbent - the one disadvantage is that they are quite slow to dry, sometimes not even drying after a full day in the sun.
BabyFirst two-part nappies are really handy as they dry superfast - within a few hours on the washing line. However, I bought the second size of these and they still don't fit my approx 7.5-8kg baby too well - maybe they'll fit better when he's crawling and changed shape a bit. The dome fasteners are fine, but not as easy to use or adjust the fit as velcro.
Flat or prefold nappies with a Snappi were brilliant for a tiny baby as you can get them to fit snugly - I was able to use these from the first few days. I used them with a waterproof Bummis whisper wrap cover on top. However, now I find them a bit fiddly and harder to keep securely on an active older baby.
The Itti Bitti Tutto one-size-fits-all snap-in-two seemed like a great idea, but I found it unnecessarily complicated in practice. It has a bunch of absorbent pads that dome together in different combinations for different levels of absorbency - but who can really predict how much a baby will pee?
In conclusion
We've used disposable nappies exclusively for a few days one or twice (e.g., on holiday) and, man, does it create a crazy amount of waste, as well as chewing through the money. I really hate it and much prefer my cloth nappies.
* I've recently discovered rinsing out and reusing the liners if they are just wet. Works fine!
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