Anti-consumerist weekend

As regular readers of the blog (and friends who have heard my unprovoked rants) may have guessed, I am opposed to consumerism for the sake of consumerism.

My house does not look like the houses that pop up when you search "minimalism", though. I painted my walls bright colours which repulse people with dark souls, and every wall is covered with a generous amount of rescued or self-made art. All my frames are rescued from bins or relative's basements and it turns out, you can put anything in a frame and it looks like art. 

Being anti-consumerist doesn't mean you can't own stuff. Fighting consumerism is a conscious choice; everything in your house has been reflected upon. Every picture, plant pot, bowl, cat, and computer has been invited into my home after much deliberation. I don't go shopping and buy something unless I have a need for it and have already researched alternatives to that thing, or that thing second hand. This probably sounds like a lot of work to people who love going shopping and coming home with an empty bank account but lots of pretty new things to store in the closet and never look at again.

It is easier to buy without thinking than it is to walk through rows of cheap goods and only buy the one thing you need. It's harder to go to the hardware store and find the part to fix whatever is broken than it is just to buy a new thing. Just remember, every time you spend $80 on stuff you didn't need, that's another day you have to keep working that job you hate (if you don't hate your job, awesome!). 

I live happy in the knowledge that my actions are in line with my world view. We make too much stuff, throw out too much stuff, and if we could all take one day off work per week we would be less stressed and make more conscientious choices. If life isn't so hectic, you can take time to pause and ask yourself "do I really want this?"  (This applies not only to stuff, but relationships and lifestyles!)

If you really want to unwind next weekend after your stressful week at work, instead of shopping, try to turn something you already have but kind of hate into something that is brilliant. Pinterest is full of awesome ideas to turn junk that's sitting in your basement into something artistic and fun. And if you still hate it, no problem! You were going to get rid of it anyway. If you love it, you can feel good that you got a cool new thing without spending any money and without consuming more precious resources and destroying the planet for future generations. Bonus points if you learned a new skill and increased your confidence in your own abilities!

Well done you!

Gardening for Butterflies

After my last post I received an excellent question: apart from leaving milkweed in my garden, "How else can we encourage the monarchs?"

Milkweed is known to be critical for monarchs as it is the only  plant upon which monarch caterpillars can feed. The adult monarch butterfly however, can feed on any nectar producing flowers. If you want to give them a nutritious pit stop, plant flowers in groups. This allows butterflies to hop from one flower to another using relatively little energy while getting a full meal. 

Here are five great flowers for attracting butterflies.

Coneflower

Purple Coneflower

Aster

Aster

Black Eyed Susan

Black Eyed Susan

Bee Balm

Bee Balm

Lupine

Lupines

This is a beginner's guide as the truth is any flower/plant is useful as a habitat or source of food for an insect. Clumps of grass are great shelter during rough weather, for example. There are flowering charts and extensive lists of flowers and plants that attract butterflies for those who want to be meticulous.  If you aren't interested in having a binder of study material rest assured that having a diversity of plant species is guaranteed to attract winged visitors. Hummingbirds will certainly be attracted by the red flowers of your bee balm.  The only way to go wrong when planning a butterfly garden would be to create a lawn or to use pesticides. 

Biodiversity is the best thing you can offer. Try having perennial flowers that will flower at different times during the season, so that there is always a nectar source. Indigenous weeds are awesome when your gardening budget is low, letting them grow to flower before pulling them up is a great way to create a mini habitat with a huge amount of biodiversity. Indeed, these plant might be host plants for caterpillars from other species of butterflies.

Simply put: have a garden! Your garden is a space you are sharing with wildlife and insects. It is a refuge for these species from the acres of conventional fields and from the pavement and buildings that cover our cities and suburbs. 

Lastly, do them one huge (obvious) favour; don’t cover the plants and soil with pesticides and herbicides. The land might be in your name, but the earth cannot belong to a person. Animals and insects constantly have their food poisoned for something as superficial as a 'perfect' rose bush.

Go forth and make Eden rise! Really, it is that easy.

Milkweed

Milkweed flower

It is important for the survival of the monarch butterfly that there is a 'milkweed highway' from Canada all the way down to Mexico. This is because milkweed in the only plant on which monarch caterpillars feed. Growing milkweed does not have to be just for this reason. The flower is attractive and the smell is strong, which makes it an appealing nectar source for other insects as well. Honey bees can harvest the nectar for their honey, solitary bees, and other butterflies come feed too.

Monarch caterpillar

The most fascinating part of my milkweed education was learning that it is food for humans too! I love all things edible, and as an environmentalist farmer I like finding perennial food sources that don't require any digging! 

Here is what I learned from a book called Backyard Foraging by Ellen Zachos:

Young milkweed shoots are tender and can be harvested when they are 6 to 8 inches tall, just snap them at the base. Then, remove the mature leaves but leave a few immature leaves at the top of the stem. To eat milkweed, you need to boil or blanch the plant before cooking with it. This removes the bitter sticky white goo inside. Once it has been immersed in boiling water for 1 or 2 minutes, treat it like green beans. They taste similar to green beans, but better (according to Ellen!).

The unopened flower buds are described as being tastier than broccoli. Harvest when they are still tightly bunched together, green, and golf ball size. Again, you must blanch first. Then try steaming them with salt and serve with olive oil.


The immature seedpods (1 1/2 inches long, inside should be all white- the seeds should not be turning brown yet!) can be harvested and blanched. Then, try them in soups, stews, or stir-fries. 

Eden is a place where we can live from the land without destroying it. What better way than to allow this 'weed' a place in your garden. The monarch gets a place to lay eggs, the bees get a drink of nectar, and you get to try eating one of thousands of plant species we have forgotten.

Fantastic!