spring cleaning, zero waste. sneeze count: 7

Heyo! So, here we are, getting ready to launch our new website, putting all the final pieces together so we can bring even more people in the Boston area local food, and we're STILL up to our elbows in all of this junk. Still. We can start a new business, we can build relationships with farms from all over New England, we can get people excited about a new opportunity to live locally, but we can't keep our teeny tiny apartment reasonably clean and organized. Our mothers are so disappointed in us.

But wait! We are making progress. We've found a slew of terrific and sustainable ways to get rid of our clothing (check back for that post tomorrow), our pals over at YCB are working on that whole CD repurposing extravaganza, aaaand... We have a solution for all those wire clothes hangers that were taking up more space in our closets than actual clothes. Hooray! High fives all around.

As it turns out, wire hangers are a bigger boon to our environment than we ever thought possible. According to NBC News, 3.5 billion wire hangers are sent to the landfill EVERY YEAR. Say what? 3.5 billion? Ah, yup. Absurd. Luckily, recycling these things is pretty easy and doesn't require any more effort than you'd already be making. Wanna know what we mean? Read on, fellow Greenologist!

Our first plan of action was to call our dry cleaners and ask their advice. They are, after all, in the business of hanging clothes on wire clothes hangers. Well. Partly, anyway. We use Clevergreen Cleaners, not only because the solvents they use to clean are biodegradable, but because they use less water in the cleaning process AND they design their work spaces to be as energy efficient as possible. Awesome. Anyway, we called these folks up. We said, "Hey, Clevergreen Cleaners, what should we do with all of these wire hangers?" And they said, "Hey, Greenologist lady, why don't you just bring them back to us?" And we said, "Oh. That's really easy. 'Cause we'll be over there to drop stuff off again soon anyway." And they said, "Yup." BAM. Problem solved.

So here's the deal. Just bring the hangers back to your cleaners. Recycling them the conventional way (in that blue bucket on your sidewalk) might work. But it might not. Not all cities will recycle those hangers, and by bringing them back to the cleaners, you're keeping more NEW hangers from having to be made, which keeps manufacturing and shipping waste down, too. Which is kind of the point.

This whole thing took five minutes for us to resolve. If everyone took two minutes to just throw their hangers into their dry cleaning bags with their clothes on the way out the door, we could keep 3.5 billion pieces of metal out of landfills. Seven minutes for a cleaner, greener planet? Yes, please.

Also, if you aren't already using Clevergreen, you probably should. Our clothes smell WAY better than they did after hanging out at those other places, AND they're holding their color and shape longer. They're not giving us anything to say that, by the way. It's just the truth.

spring cleaning, zero waste: yankee crafty bitch edition!

So, in case you were wondering, this zero waste cleaning stuff is NOT EASY. As we sit here, blogging, sipping some deliciously local Rao's coffee we picked up last night at Sherman Market, we remain cluttered into a corner by stacks of magazines and broken appliances. It's looking like we might be here for a while.

Luckily, our crafty friends over at Yankee Crafty Bitch (twitter 'em at @yankeecrafty) have reached out to us in our time of need and picked up one of the challenges we were least excited about: finding a use for all of these paperboard jewelry boxes. They're EVERYWHERE. They're ALL EMPTY. And yet, they're boxes. And as such, they possess inherent usefulness. And as such, we can not simply throw them away. (We know, we know. We have a serious problem.) Dun da daaaa! YCB to the rescue! Check out the totally awesome solution they crafted up:

It's a desk/jewelry/craft organizer! It's all one unit, instead of a bazillion random free-ranging boxes! They used the lids, too! We can store our safety pins, sewing needles, spare buttons, earrings, thumbtacks, blah, blah, blah, without buying a desk or jewelry organizer and sending those boxes to the landfill. We love it! We know you love it, too. Want to make one? It's super easy. Check out their blog for the step-by-step here. 

Worried about us over here, under all this junk? Don't be; YCB has promised to make another appearance in our quest for Spring Cleaning, Zero Waste, so we've got a lifeline to organization. Check back here for another awesome YCB creation soon (follow us on Twitter @gogreenologist so we can let you know when it happens)! Until then, don't forget about our Green Challenge; while we slave away, you could be winning stuff. Pretty nice deal you've worked out for yourself, there, fellow Greenologist.

bees are delicious. no, wait. honey. honey is delicious.

We haven't had any coffee yet. The weather's doing this thing where it'll rain for 5 minutes and then snow and then rain again (just COMMIT already). Our apartment is in a state of total disarray (thanks, Spring Cleaning Zero Waste). But all is not lost! The doldrums of our day have been saved by a delicious peanut butter and honey sandwich using Eat Local Honey's raw honey from Boston-area bees! Honey from the streets of Boston? Who knew? Mike Graney did. He's been beekeeping in Jamaica Plain since 1997, according to his website, and we're pretty thankful, 'cause this stuff is delicious. We just have one question. Do the bees have tiny Red Sox hats? Because that'd be adorable.

Get Eat Local Honey here:

City Feed and Supply, Jamaica Plain

Pemberton Farms, Cambridge

Or enjoy it in the creations from:

The Fireplace Restaurant, Brookline

Cambridge Brewing Company, Cambridge

spring cleaning, zero waste. sneeze count: 12

Oh, wow. We have a lot of stuff. Like, a lot. And our apartment is SO not big enough for all of it. Not even close. We've got our own edition of Greenologist Hoarders happening over here, and it ain't pretty. Example? We've been holding onto the bottom half of a bathing suit we haven't worn since HIGH SCHOOL. Where's the top half? No idea. Is there any way we could still fit into it even if we had both pieces? Absolutely not. Somebody call Niecy Nash. Save us from ourselves!

It seems as though we've been recently led astray by our waste-not tendencies. Somewhere along the way, we lost sight of reality (and the floor of our closet) and forgot that not wasting doesn't have to mean saving every lone sock "just in case" its mate one day reappears. So now, here we are, 20 mate-less socks later, with nowhere to put... anything.

Enough is enough, we say! It's time to get serious. Seriously clean. It's time to commence Spring Cleaning Zero Waste. Check it:

Over the next month, while you crazy kids wow us with your Green Challenge photos and stories, we'll be cleaning and organizing our faces off. Not only that, but we'll be posting here to let you know all the best ways in which we're unloading our junk without sending a torn pillowcase, broken toaster or stained shirt to the landfill. Here's all the stuff we have to get rid of:

- CLOTHING: So. Much. Clothing. Some in great condition, some in OK condition, some that looks like it's been attacked by a fingerpainting bear.

- Books: Textbooks, novels... and a whole lot of Idiot's Guide To's. Don't judge.

- Jewelry: When did we ever wear rhinestone-encrusted hoops? Ick.

- Broken electronics: Our old Macbook had an unfortunate encounter with the floor.

- CDs/DVDs: Working and scratched (not working).

- Magazines: We like The New Yorker. And Dwell. And ReadyMade. And Smithsonian. And Mother Jones.

- Random household shiz: Working but worthless appliances, scented soaps whose scent we hate, baskets, candles, wire hangers, decorative pillows, unopened bath and body stuff, bad art. Worse art.

We'll be updating every day or so with our progress and solutions, as well as a sneeze count (it is DUSTY in here). You get all the best ways to de-clutter, we do all the sneezing. Sweet.

Wish us luck. If we get trapped under a mountain of socks, please tell Karen Oh we love her. Thanks.

first Green Challenge! win stuff! hooray!

Ok. So, sometimes we get busy and we can't cook for ourselves. We're blogging, we're writing content, we're working out our credit card processing (most annoying thing ever?), we're Facebook stalking our college crush (what?), we're Twittering... Throw in all the procrastination that has to happen before any of that gets done, and that's our whole day. Poof! Gone. So yeah. Sometimes we need a little assistance with the whole nourishment thing. Most recently, our appetites took us to a local falafel joint, which will remain nameless so as to discourage people to swarm their wee storefront and say mean things to them about their wastefulness. Why would anyone want to do that? Because we're about to write a blog post about how wasteful their takeout packaging was.

OH MY GOSH. This takeout packaging was so wasteful! It's rare that we actually get takeout, since it does tend to mean lots of bags and the possibility of styrofoam, which might be the only inanimate object we have a sincerely toxic relationship with (ha... ha?), so we didn't even think to ask about packaging. LESSON LEARNED. Check out what our falafel, hummus and tabbouleh got us -->

OH MY GOSH. That's so much trash. So much non-recyclable, non-renewable, landfill-filling trash. Part of us is flabbergasted that anyone would think it necessary to wrap a plastic container of hummus in a paper bag and then put that paper bag in a plastic bag. Part of us is upset that people still use styrofoam and that styrofoam is still being produced at all. But mostly, we're mad at ourselves for not thinking ahead on this one and helping to encourage this kind of waste. We really hate being unexpected accessories to the proliferation of environmental consumerism. Grrr.

As we have learned, however, simply being outraged solves nothing. Instead, it's time to learn from our mistakes and be proactive about keeping this from happening again. So. Here it comes... Our very first Green Challenge!

What's a Green Challenge? So glad you asked! A Green Challenge is Greenologist's way of keeping living green fun. Once a month, we'll be suggesting a Green Challenge to our fellow Greenologists; a task that's simple to do but that, done together, can make a big difference in the way we affect our environment and our community. Sometimes there will be prizes involved (oooo!), sometimes there will be discounts involved (ahh!) to help us do what we're doing on the cheap. No matter what, the challenge will be an easy step toward greening our lives while supporting the local economy. Once our "real" website is up, there'll even be a place for all you Greenologists to share your ideas and strategies for taking on the Challenge.

Sound fun? Here we go!

In light of what will heretofore be known as the Falafel Fiasco, this month's Green Challenge is all about a Takeout Takedown. (That's it for alliteration. Promise.) We propose that you and your families/roommates/cats take a look at the way those on-the-go, I-don't-feel-like-cooking meals affect the landfill. And do something about it. Here's how:

1. Accept that there might be plastic involved. Most of the plastics used in takeout containers can't be recycled by municipal plants, so have a plan for how to reuse them. We take those pint containers and save them to use for freezing summer soups and starting tomato plants on our windowsill. The lids usually lock tighter than Tupperware, too. Our friend uses them to organize her small craft supplies (buttons, pins, ribbon, etc).

2. Let them know you don't need all that extra shiz. Plastic cutlery, plastic bags, 27 ketchup packets, 349 napkins... If you use one of those online ordering systems, put a note in the delivery comments area. If you're speaking with a human when you order, tell them instead.

3. Pick it up yourself. Take a little jaunt, get the blood flowing, work off some of the calories you're about to consume, and cut the car out of the equation. Save a few bucks on tipping the delivery dude, too.

4. If there is Styrofoam on the premises, leave and never look back. Styrofoam is NOT recyclable, it NEVER decomposes and it turns to toxic gas as its molecular structure breaks down over time. Ew. If you're feeling ballsy, tell the folks there (nicely, of course) that there are other, less horrible packaging products out there, and that you won't be back until they start using them.

5. Eat out! No packaging involved! Besides, it's way classier than hovering over your laptop with a slice of pizza, typing one-handed and dripping sauce all over your pants. Not that we would know what that's like...

6. Bring your own containers. There are a bazillion sustainable packages out there just begging to be filled with country style pad thai. If they balk at filling up your Thermos, tell them (nicely, again), that you're sorry, but you and your Thermos have a very close relationship, and you can't go anywhere without it. Including their establishment.

There you have it. You do a few of those six simple things, we all get a greener planet.

Need some incentive to hop on the Green Challenge train? We've got you covered. How does a spankin' new To-Go Ware Three-tier Tiffin Action Pack ($43.95) sound? Pretty awesome? Uh, yeah. This thing is the bees knees. It's 3 interlocking reusable containers in a recycled cotton bag with a utensil pouch and two condiment caddies. And it's from an outrageously ethical company. Pretty. Awesome.

Want to win it? Email us (greenologistboston@gmail.com) a photo of you doing any one of those 6 Green Challenge tasks, and we'll throw your name in the hat! The winner will be selected at random on Wednesday, March 31st and announced here on our blog. Remember to include your name and contact info in the body of the email so we know who you are when you win. And if you're a Twitterererer, follow us and let us know you're up for the Green Challenge at @gogreenologist by retweeting any of our Green Challenge tweets, and you'll be entered to win a little something extra. Ooooo, we love surprises!

Questions, comments, concerns? Let us know! Otherwise...

Let the Green Challenge begin!

we refuse to make any kind of pickle pun here.

Woah! It's been, like, a while since we posted. Unacceptable! We will flog ourselves later. We do kind of have a good reason, though; we've been busy putting together all of the content for the website, which should be up and running at www.gogreenologist.com within the next ten days! Huzzah! That means that pretty soon you'll all be able to sign up for home delivery of farmer's market produce, get deals at local businesses, trade ideas and info with other Greenologists and access all kinds of super recipes from some pretty awesome local chefs. Excitement!

Until then, however, we must blog on. So. Obsession du jour: Grillo's

Pickles. We ate an entire quart container ($8) of these in three days. Solo. Don't judge.

If pickles are a beautiful thing, Grillo's are Brigitte Bardot painting a Tahitian sunset while the Royal Ballet performs Swan Lake on a mountaintop behind her. Or something. They're real good.

What's that you say? It's just a pickle? Pssht. Listen, here. We've eaten a pickle or two (or five thousand) in our day, and these are not your average limp cucumbers swimming in overly salty brine. These pickles are special. We never thought we'd talk about a pickle having a "complex" flavor, but these kind of do. They're perfectly salty and a little sweet (but not too sweet) and they're nice and garlicky (but not too garlicky) and they've got a great little zing that just cries out for a pulled pork sandwich and a Pretty Things St. Botolph's. And they're made with grape leaves, which keep them outrageously crisp. We love Grillo's even more because they're made locally by a guy using his Italian grandfather's 100 year-old recipe (the pickles aren't 100 years old). Also, a friend of ours met the pickle master himself, Travis Grillo, at Whole Foods on Prospect St. the other day and told us he was a really nice guy. Love.

You kind of want a pickle now, huh? Get 'em at:

Dave's Fresh Pasta, Somerville

Pemberton Farms, Cambridge

Brookline Liquor Mart, Allston

Grillo's pickle cart at the Park Street T stop!

Or trek on over to Alibi at the Liberty Hotel and get a spear in your Green Mile Martini. For reals. They're also at Whole Foods, but you know better than to shop at a big chain when you can support your local economy instead, right? We thought so.

Need a new application for your new obsession? Try our favorite: A toasted ciabatta sandwich with Meadow Creek Dairy's uber-stinky Grayson cheese (at S. End Formaggio and the Wine & Cheese Cask) and a few Grillo's pickles sliced and nestled in there. Thanks to Anne Saxelby, of Saxelby Cheesemongers in NYC's Essex Market, for opening our eyes to this perfect, if totally bizarre, marriage. Don't think, just do.

give the gift of goat.

So, a friend of ours just had new baby (as opposed to an old baby...) and while we've been stockpiling locally crafted books and toys in anticipation of this little dude for months, we kind of forgot about his mom, who we've known WAY longer. Whoops. What does someone who's just been through 9 months of what we can only imagine to be beautiful (stressful), magical (exhausting) and so special (kind of scary) want? We're gonna go out on a limb here and say... pampering? Maybe?

Being as it is that she's got her hubby on hand full-time for foot massages and bon-bon fetching for the next few months (right, Dave?), we had to come up with something else. You may or may not have noticed that we spend a lot of time obsessing over farms and local crafts. Sometimes, when the alignment of the stars is just right, these two things combine and we find... A local farm that produces crafts! Hooray!

Enter West Elm Farm, located in Pembroke, MA. A self-described "Micro-Eco Farm," West Elm is a haven for two former city slickers and their flocks of Icelandic sheep, Angora goats, and Pilgrim geese. The folks at West Elm also keep bees, from which they make these beautiful, all-natural, slow-burning candles ($19.95). A little romance for our favorite new mama? You betcha.

By now you might be thinking, "Get to the goats already!" Alright, alright. Everyone loves goats. They're cute, they have great personalities, they're walking disposals and their milk makes some of the best cheese ever. But that's not all! Did you know that goat's milk contains special proteins and triglycerides that are super-moisturizing and soothing? Hmmm... Our skin is so itchy and dry from this gosh-darn New England winter. It'd be awesome if someone put goat milk in our soap, to soothe and heal our little red elbows. Guess what? West Elm Farm makes soaps out of fresh goat's milk from their Angora goats! Look at how pretty they are! Not only that, but they infuse the soaps with lanolin, the oil found in sheep's wool that helps protect the little fuzzy guys from the elements and has been used for thousands of years as a natural moisturizer. That's pretty sweet. Since naturally super-soft skin has pampered written all over it, we got our favorite new mama a gift box of two soaps, one lavender-scented for a little aromatherapeutic sexy, one peppermint for some rejuvenation action ($13.00).

Hope y'all like soap, 'cause this is looking like it'll be our go-to gift for 2010.