I just finished reading the book Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert, and I must say, it was a very good book. I was a tad embarrassed to be seen carrying this book around because it is a bit of a "chick book", however it was a great book.

Funny, witty, serious, inspiring, it really kept me interested. In brief, it is a biographical book about the author documenting her travels over the course of a year. This year is following several difficult years prior, in which she went through a difficul divorce, another failed relationship, and the hardships faced in coming to terms with being a newly single 30-something woman in New York. As the title indicates, the book describes her four months in Italy eating, four months in India praying, and four months in Indonesia loving.

A very good read, especially for anyone looking for direction or support in their own life.

Labels: books, inspiration, reading

Due to the high popularity of a post titled "Organic garden by default" over at my old and somewhat obsolete and rarely updated blog, I would like to share some of what was in that post over here at Idealist Cafe.

I had been inspired to initially write the post by a trip back to Connecticut to visit my mother last year. She has a nice size yard, just a little over 3 acres, and over the years has had some very nice gardens. While she does still grow some vegetables, many of the areas of garden has just sort of taken on a life of their own. By this I mean they are plants that were planted many years ago, and now require very little upkeep. Also, she doesn't use any fertilizers, pesticides, or chemicals, if anything at all she just amends the soil using compost.

In a yard like this she has so many possibilities, now seen even more so through the eyes of someone who has lived in tiny little apartments with little or no yard here in San Diego. She has an apple tree that is probably 15 years old, and never gets watered and hasn't been pruned in at least 10 years. But it grows apples by the dozen, though they are not of the greatest quality. However with a little work it could probably supply organic apples for the neighborhood for the entire summer.

Along the side of the driveway there are wild grapes growing all over, as well as wild blueberries. The grapes are sub par, but could probably be used for something with a little bit of work. The blueberries on the other hand are amazing.

Here is a photo of a basil plant that she rarely touches, yet has somehow grown to a size I have never been able to achieve at my own hand. This plant also is completely organic. I am just amazed at the potential of a yard like this. While most of these are perennial plants, the others she just plants and then leaves unattended for the most part until the time of harvest. She grows tomatoes, pumpkins, and squash, and all without any attention on her part, just plants them, then leaves them. No watering except for the potted plants, no fertilizers except all the old stuff that has been left from previous years and has naturally been composted. Some days I wish I could just reign in that potential, creating a little lucrative side business selling grapes for wine making, fresh blueberries, pumpkins, salsas, apples, and the list goes on!

Here are a few more photos to enjoy...
  

Labels: garden, organic, simple living

I have been planning to write an article regarding travel and sustainable living, however I haven't gotten around to it yet. I wanted to explore the pros and cons of travel when it comes to trying to live a green and sustainable life. Obviously the two don't quite go hand in hand, however I think there are definitely positive aspects to traveling that can outweigh the negative environmental impact that travel causes. Anyway, that's a subject for a future post.

The topic for this post is, well, you probably can guess ... it's travel. I have a trip coming up in less than two weeks, and I have been driving myself crazy trying to make preparations. I am going to Spain, and hopefully also Morocco, and it will be my first trip abroad by myself, and my first solid 10 day vacation in a while. I am starting in Barcelona and flying back from Málaga. The 10 days in between are up in the air. My goal is Barcelona, Córdoba, a jaunt into Morocco, Granada, and then Málaga before returning. I'm sure some places I'll want more time in, some I may just pass through.

Needless to say, I have been keeping busy making sure I have all the proper travel gear gathered up, and I am also going to ensure I have just one moderately sized pack. No need for too much stuff to tote around. Also making sure my finances are in order and my credit and debit cards will work, buying a suitable backpack, picking up guidebooks and hotel tips (so I am not lost upon entering each new city), gathering the appropriate electrical converters, and then rounding up the little things I would never remember to bring if I was rush packing the day prior to leaving, like a compass (for wandering around old maze like cities) and a travel alarm clock so I don't miss my morning trains.

In doing all this work, I have come upon a few things that I wanted to share. If you have ever traveled out of the country, then you know that using your credit and debit cards isn't always as straight forward as it seems. Some countries (such as Spain) don't accept Mastercard as widely as you would expect, some ATMs don't accept cards from your home bank. And on top of that, each bank has different foreign transaction fees associated with your transactions.

Well, to help out, I found a few links. The first is a wiki page that lays out all the fees for each bank in detail, and the others supposedly show locations for ATMs that accept cards with the Mastercard and Visa logos respectively.

http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Credit/Debit/ATM_Cards_and_Foreign_Exchange
http://www.mastercard.com/us/personal/en/cardholderservices/atmlocations/index.html
http://visa.via.infonow.net/locator/global/

Also, here is a site for the Spain and Morocco train systems that has been immensely helpful in my transportation planning, even though I am not booking anything ahead, at least I can see approximate times that I can expect to find trains running between cities.

Map of Spain rail system
RENFE - Spanish rail schedules
Morocco rail schedules

When I return I will post reviews about my trips. Wish me luck!

Related links:

Rick Steves - The New Tangier, Tijuana no longer
Rick Steves - Plunge Deep into Morocco
Green Travel
Go Green Travel Center
Lonely Planet Spain

Labels: green travel, money, morocco, spain, vacation

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There are many sites out there that explain composting in detail, how to do it properly, how it actually works, all that good stuff. There are also plenty that talk about apartment composting, all the equipment you need, and I'm sure that is all well and good. I've even listed a few below in the related links. But I decided to write this article to explain how I do it, what I have learned, and the equipment that I use. I am by no means a pro at this, and I'm not even claiming that I know what I'm doing, however I feel like I have been mostly successful with my apartment style composting, and want to share. Obviously if you have a yard you have a huge advantage, however if you are reading this article it is likely that you don't.
It should end up looking something like this

Photo Credit Normanack
First off, I will say that I am simple, all I use is a plastic bin (actually one of those plastic tote that is used for storage) that I bought from Target. I'm not sure the size, I would guess maybe 5 or 10 gallons. I drilled a couple holes in the bottom for drainage, but have found that it wasn't really necessary as long as you aren't overloading the big. To start, put in some dirt, sand, leaves, newspaper -- anything to line the bottom a few inches. I don't use standard newspaper because of the inks, but it would still work fine. However I do use newspaper from a mailing I get that I know is printed with soy based inks. Make sure that if you are using newspaper you tear it into pieces that are pretty small, nothing bigger than one inch by one inch.

Let me now tell you that I did learn quickly that this simple set up cannot handle all vegetable scraps that I generate. So I have learned what composts quickly and what doesn't, and I stick to using only those. You will figure this out soon enough. When I put too much in it started to stink and get too juicy. Another reason for this was that I didn't have enough green and brown dry matter (ie leaves, grass, etc) in there, so it stayed too wet and the moisture balance was thrown off. It will also help if you keep the food scraps very small. The bigger they are the longer they will take to break down. This means don't drop an entire banana peel in whole, make sure to break it into smaller pieces.

So now you have your container with some lining on the bottom. All you have to do now is put your scraps in, and make sure to cover them up. If you don't, the bin will attract flies and probably won't break down as quickly. Just enough to cover it so there is no exposed food should be enough to keep the flies and the stink away. Something else I do that seems to help the process is to only add scraps once or twice a week, rather than after each meal. With a container you have limited space, and if you add it piecemeal it becomes hard to keep it all covered, and if you have just little pieces of food spaced out all over in my experience it takes longer to break down than if you keep the moist scraps together. It seems to generate more heat this way, break down quicker, and then I can mix it into the bulk sooner. So if you collect scraps for a few days, then add them in and cover them, I would say within a week you can turn the mixture. This will let it aerate and again speed the process. Likely you will feel heat coming off of it, which means that it is working.

This isn't mine, but it should look something like this:

Photo Credit: You Grow Girl

I had started out keeping it covered thinking it would keep flies away, but I learned that it was unnecessary. Also, I will say that I don't actually keep this bin indoors, so I am able to get away with not keeping it perfectly sanitary. I am lucky to have some outdoor space where I can keep the bin.

Another thing that I have done, since the container is fairly small and the process ongoing is to keep a second bin for secondary composting. So when part of the bin is nice and dark and starting to look like soil, I scoop that into the second bin where I let the process continue, and in this bin it can dry out and is ready for use in my garden! This keeps the first bin actively composting, and I can always be adding to it.

It may sound confusing, but really there are just a few basics:

• Try to at least 1/3 of the content dry (leaves, grass clippings, etc)
• Always keep wet scraps covered
• Turn mixture every few days to keep the composting process active

It is pretty simple, and you will quickly learn what works for you in your area and conditions. Feel free to share any tips you have. Also, keep in mind that this is just what works for me. I am not a professional.

Related Links:

• Compost Instructions - Learn how to make compost, and why improving your soil is the best thing that you can do for your lawn and garden
• Composting 101
• Journey to Forever - Indoor Composting
• How to Compost
• Shop for composters
• Composting books

Labels: composting, environment, garden, how-to, tips

I follow Tina over at Think Simple Now, and the other day she posted a rather interesting (and detailed) article about meat eating and vegetarianism, titled eating our way to death literally. It even evoked enough passion for me to comment! In short, my belief is that as a whole we all eat too much meat, and being vegan or vegetarian is noble and something I've always been interested in. However I believe we have evolved as meat eaters, but the true problem is modern society and commercial agriculture. I think eating free range artificial growth hormone free meat in moderation is a good thing, and also I believe that we all need to eat more vegetables -- organic veggies. We don't need artificial hormones in our meat, nor do be we need synthetic chemicals on our vegetables.

This?	or	This?
Photo by thebittenword.com		Photo by thebittenword.com

Also, there is enough research out there to prove that our modern diets are indeed killing us. Heart disease, cancer, obesity, the list goes on, can all be either prevented, cured, or at least minimized with a proper natural diet.

My comment was:

I am a meat eater, however I consider myself a socially responsible meat eater. In the past years I have significantly cut back on how much meat and dairy I eat (and also gone vegetarian on and off), and have also tried to be more responsible about what I do bring into my home. Meaning organic dairy, and free range and artificial growth hormone free meats. A lot of why I actually still eat meat and dairy at all is convenience. Sometimes it is just hard to find what I want, and sometimes I am just bad and indulge. But regardless, I agree 100% with this topic, modern diets are killing us. Sure, we will all die some time of something, but that doesn’t change the fact that we put things in our bodies that were never intended to be in there. I am actually very interested in raw diets as well, as I have read numerous accounts of people beating diseases and cancers simply by going “raw”. Just giving our bodies what they naturally need.

What are your thoughts on meat eating or vegetarian/veganism?

Labels: meat, vegan, vegetarian

Interested in my How to Hike Mt Whitney in One Day eBook?

Well, at around 14,500 feet, Mt Whitney is not technically the highest mountain in the United States, however it is the highest in the lower 48 states. If you have browsed this site at all, you will have seen on my inspiration page I say that "nothing helps your inspiration more than getting outside, breathing some fresh air, planting your feet firmly on the ground, and being amazed by nature." As an avid hiker who has now climbed Mt Whitney, I can certainly attest to that.

I want to share with you my experience of successfully day hiking Mount Whitney about a month ago. It was an amazing and exhausting experience, and the scenery was breathtaking and certainly inspiring. The entire hike was around 22 miles with an overall elevation gain of over 6000 feet, and took about 18 hours, which included breaks to eat and rest.

Last year I didn't quite summit, however this year I did. This photo is what it looks like at the summit.


Related Links:
How to Climb Mt Whitney in One Day - eBook

Labels: hiking, inspiration, mt whitney, outdoors

The one thing I want have always wanted in my life is simplicity. I have learned over the years that clutter only confuses things, not to mention keeps my mind spinning about all the things I want or have to do. I know that when I sit at my desk, if I have junk all over it, my mind somehow picks up that clutter. I don't seem to have the skill that some people have that allows them to relax their mind when they have a to-do list a mile long. So I have learned that a simple and uncluttered life leads to a simple and uncluttered mind. As much as I try to keep this under control, somehow things seem to "re-clutter". Perhaps it is because I don't have the discipline to filter the incoming items that work their way into my apartment.

I was over at Zen Habits this morning, and thought I would share with you some interesting advice regarding simplifying and de-cluttering. I am going to attempt to put some of this into practice tonight, so wish me luck!

Oh yea, as a little side note, the more I de-clutter the less my crazy cat has to play around with and make noise with when I am trying to sleep in the morning.

Here is the first link, outlining four simple rules of simplicity and how to apply them to your life, and if you are more ambitious, here is another link with 21 easy hacks to simplify your life.

Labels: de-clutter, how-to, lifestyle, simple living

I had seen this article about a 4 day workweek a while back and had intended to post about it then. I never got to it, so anyway here are my thoughts on it.

Personally I love the idea. From the point of view of someone who has worked in the tech corporate world for years, I think there is so much wasted time that could be avoided and minimized by a more flexible working schedule. The nature of tech jobs is such that sometimes you are on a roll and will work a longer day, sometimes not. Years ago at my old job there were days that I would literally go ask for work and was told to just "relax" for a bit, that nothing was coming up at the moment. To me this is absurd. In this situation why do I need to be in the office doing nothing? Well because from a "professional" point of view it would look bad to send me home because there was nothing to do.

I feel strongly that most office jobs are more about keeping up appearances than ensuring actual productivity. It is more important to keep people on the clock 9 to 5, five days a week (or longer) than it is to actually get things done. Now to get back to what I was mentioning earlier about the tech industry. The reality (at least for me) is that there are some days that I might hit a good stopping point with my work midday, and the rest of the day is sort of spent toiling between projects. And of course there are other days that come 5 or 6 I am in the middle of deep thought and being productive. I feel that allowing employees to be flexible could harness these work patterns and make for more productivity overall.

And when it comes to the 4 day workweek, I believe this flexibility could work very well with that. Time off and the need to recharge on weekends is another under estimated thing in the corporate world and especially by most management. For me it really increases productivity to have more time off. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but when you know you will have more personal time and less office time, you can better schedule the time that you do plan for work, and in those few, more flexible hours actually get more things done

Labels: 9to5, productivity, time off, work