This rhubarb shrub makes a really nice and simple spring cocktail when you mix it with ice, gin, and soda water. I recommend adding a sprig of thyme for extra spring freshness. Rather than talk your ear off about it, I’ll just leave the recipe here, encourage you to give it a try, and walk back to my Saturday afternoon gin drink in the yard…..

Rhubarb Shrub

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients 
1 pound rhubarb (about 4-6 stalks), roughly chopped
1 cup sugar (maple sugar or 1/2 cup maple syrup work great too)
1 cup water
1 cup apple cider vinegar (I hear red wine vinegar or balsamic are good too, but I haven’t tried them)

Instructions

1. Bring rhubarb, sugar and water to a boil in small saucepan. Reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes.
2. Take off the heat and add the apple cider vinegar. Let cool.
3. Strain through a fine mesh sieve (you could use a cheese cloth or clean towel if you need a finer mesh)
4. Chill and Enjoy!

This should last just fine in the fridge for a month or so, but I dare you to resist drinking it for that long! I like to add a tablespoon or two to each drink, but you might like more or less.

(Note: this post was originally published in February 2022, but I’ve given it a bit of a refresh for this years Super Bowl game and party)

In general, here are my strategies for picking the best (and lowest waste) super bowl (or, erm…. Saturday afternoon or Friday night movie night) snacks:

• Choose homemade snacks – homemade is almost always going to be lower waste than the pre-made alternative (in fact, if you can think of a single example that breaks this rule, tell me in the comments and I’ll figure out some sort of prize!). Think about a bag of potatoes vs frozen tater tots, potato skins or French fries and “naked” avocados, garlic and tomatoes vs the plastic tub of remade guacamole

• Look for “naked” ingredients – meaning those you can buy without any packaging. Vegetables and fruits are perfect examples of this. Look for them in bulk bins and DON’T use the plastic bag. You can either bring your own produce bag (see my recommendations here if you want to purchase a few) or just throw them into your cart without a bag… trust me, the cashier will be able to ring them up for you like this just fine!

• Buy local – this is a great opportunity to support your favorite bakery, local farmer, cheese shop, or neighborhood restaurant. Lots of times, businesses like this would be happy to cater your party, make a cheese tray (hint, hint, the Rockford Cheese Shop) or create a large quantity order, but you’d better call ahead… the sooner the better!

• Buy in recyclable packaging – remember that metal and glass can be recycled endlessly (meaning over and over and over and over and… you get the idea), paper 5-7 times, and plastic only 2-3 times. I use this order to guide my packaging selection when I have choices.

• Buy in bulk – More food in the same container slightly reduces the packaging:food ratio. This is my last ditch effort to make a more sustainable choice, but this ONLY WORKS if you EAT ALL THE FOOD! Buying more than you eat (to save on packaging) and then throwing away the excess food COMPLETELY defeats the purpose!

OK, on to our favorite snacks! Here they are, in no particular order…

• Guacamole (my favorite) – we’ve already talked about buying the
  avocados, garlic, and tomatoes “naked” from the grocery store. Bonus points if you’ve grown any of these ingredients yourself. I go the extra mile and walk to the little Mexican restaurant down the road from my house and buy fresh tortilla chips in a paper bag… they’re SO delicious!

• Kale Chips (my oldest daughter’s favorite) – we’re still getting kale from our winter CSA farm share, so February is the perfect time for kale chips! We use this recipe. Even if you can’t buy it from a local farmer right now, kale is one of those vegetables you can usually find “naked” in the grocery store.

• Popcorn (Robbie’s favorite) –  this simple snack is our go to for almost any lazy time around the house. Friday night movie night… is better with popcorn! Thursday night dinner when everyone is too exhausted to cook (or eat a real meal)… popcorn! I make it on the stove and don’t follow a recipe, but this one is pretty close to my routine if you’ve never cooked popcorn before. We buy our popcorn kernels in bulk (25 pound paper bag), but you can usually find kernels in glass jars in the grocery store. I use coconut oil, again purchased in a glass jar, and season with sea salt.

• Bean Dip (my youngest daughter’s favorite) – we nearly always have a batch of cooked black beans in our house (my favorite recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, in her first cookbook The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, but you can also find the recipe online here) so we can easily whip up a dip with beans + cheddar cheese + sour cream + salsa. I can’t tell you the exact amounts of the ingredients, in part because Robbie always makes this dip and in part because he doesn’t measure, so you’ll have to experiment to find your favorite combo. Again, we eat this with chips from our favorite local restaurant. We buy the beans in bulk (25 pound paper bag) and have a bunch of frozen homemade garden salsa from last summer (but you could buy this in glass), but the cheese and sour cream usually come in plastic.

• 2024 UPDATE: “WEIRD FRUIT” – what?!? what is weird fruit, Erin? This has become the most asked for football snack from both my kiddos. They love to go to the grocery store with me and pick out the most weird looking fruits they can find. Dragon fruit, Buddha’s hand, star fruit… that’s pretty much all we can get at our small town grocery store, but they LOVE this tradition, cutting up and arranging these fruits alongside the more traditional favorites (like cherries, blueberries, and strawberries) for a creative (and lower waste) fruit plate.

Please add your favorite waste-free, low waste, local or sustainable snack suggestions in the comments!!

As you know, I’m currently obsessed with sugar snap peas. They’re coming out of my backyard vegetable garden by the pound right now… we’re picking every other day and getting a pound each time! So I’ve had a lot of peas to experiment with. My other favorite recipe is this sugar snap peas salad.

This is our second favorite recipe so far. I love it for two reasons:

1. I love any recipe that incorporates my homemade yogurt, especially if its a savory recipe that lets me eat yogurt for dinner!
2. Similarly, I love to put delicious toppings on garlic toast! The simplicity of a fancy open face sandwich really makes me happy.

Dilly Beans and Sugar Snap Peas on Toast
adapted slightly from Bon Appetit

Ingredients
1½ cups plain, whole-milk yogurt, drained*
1 teaspoon salt
1 lemon, juice and zest
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for toast
4 chives
8 oz. sugar snap peas
1/2 cup dill
1 14.5-oz can cannellini (3/4 cup dried beans)*
4 slices crusty bread
1 garlic clove

Assembly

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Using a fine mesh sieve, drain your yogurt. Once it’s drained, pour it into a bowl, add lemon zest, and stir to combine.
3. In a large bowl, whisk lemon juice, vinegar, Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¾ teaspoon pepper.
4. Whisking constantly, slowly stream in ¼ cup olive oil until dressing thickens slightly and no longer looks oily. You want to add the oil gradually so that your mixture will be creamy and emulsified.
5. Trim chives and slice thinly crosswise. Add to bowl with dressing and stir to combine.
6. Trim ends of peas and cut on a diagonal into ½” pieces (about the size of your beans) and add to bowl.
7. Finely chop dill and add to bowl.
8. Drain and rinse beans, then add to bowl with dressing.
9. Toss until well coated. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more salt if needed.
10. Place bread on a baking sheet, drizzle (both sides) with olive oil. Toast bread in the oven, finishing on broil if needed to make them extra crispy.
11. Rub both sides of the bread with garlic clove; season with a little salt.
12. Divide yogurt mixture among toasts. Spoon peas and beans over. Don’t leave any vinaigrette behind: Divide any leftovers among toasts.

I’m still on the lookout for great pea recipes, so please tell me how you’re using them and send me your favorite recipes in the comments below!

*Recipe Notes:

• You could use greek yogurt or ricotta instead of draining whole-milk yogurt. The original recipe calls for ricotta, which I never have in my fridge. On the other hand, I make my own yogurt every single week, so I’ve always got plain, whole-milk yogurt.
• I almost always cook dried beans in my instant pot. If you’re like me, you’ll need to cook 3/4 cup dried beans for 40 minutes in the instant pot.  

A few years ago, I bought a bunch of flannel fabric in adorable holiday prints and sewed up a whole pile of reusable gift bags. This year, I’m honored that my tutorial was selected to be included in the winter edition of the Simple Living Collection!

The Simple Living Collection is a digital bundle of resources to help you settle into a slow and intentional life, reconnecting with each other and nature, and embracing this magical wintery time of rest. There are 70+ tutorials, recipes, ebooks, stories and other activities from more than 50 contributors, just like me. It’s on sale for $25 until Monday, December 13th. Available for immediate download, the PDF is yours to keep and revisit year after year for inspiration. If you’re interested, you can buy your copy here!

The Collection is divided into seven different sections to help families build their own slow-living resource binder. Grow, Raise, Create, Nourish, Healthy Home, Wildcraft, and Family. I’m so excited to share a few of my favorites from each section with you!

This is my favorite section, full of seasonal and holiday crafts! Simple ones that will make for a joyful hour with the kiddos and longer projects to sink deeply into on a slow and quiet morning by the fire. My favorites include:

• Salt dough ornaments from Heather Turner @thehomespun.mom
• Felted fingerless gloves from Emma-Lisa McGee @ourhomeonthehill
• Evergreen dish tutorial from Tara Rondinelli @littlepinelearners
• Natural winter village from Naomi Noyes @ninos.and.nature
• Winter solstice garland from Angela Ruggles @the.nature.atelier
• and MY reusable gift bags!

These three sections combine so nicely to help you feed your family with simple healthy food (hello, micro greens! and I think the extracts make perfect gifts) and sweet treats for your holiday special occasions. My favorites include:

• Homemade extracts from Christy Rucker @christyrucker
• Skillet star bread from Cassandra Evans @northwoodsfolk
• Cardamom sourdough cinnamon rolls from Tess Czulinski @naturally_tess_
• Microgreens made easy from Joey Hodlmair @destinationmommy
• Shiitake log tutorial from Roxanne Ahern @happyholistichomestead
• Winter chicken care from Ashley Comer @slowlivinghomestead

Last, but certainly not least, here are a few of my favorites from the healthy home, family, and wildcraft sections of the Collection. The family section, especially, has lots of fun stories, games, and activities to play with your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, or visiting friends with kids during this winter season. There’s plenty here to keep you all entertained!

• Wool dryer balls from Harmonie O’Loughlin @florasfeastbotanicals
• Seasonal simmer pot recipe from Kaila Addis @wildmamarising.ct
• Sustainable gift wrapping (no sewing required!) from Ashley Comer @slowlivinghomestead
• Winter Solstice Guide from Jessie Lehson @wineberryadventurescouts
• Birdseed ornaments from Mari Johnson @bellamartinelli
• Winter puppets from Millie Hernandez @forest.roads

These are only a sampling of the phenomenal work put in by all of the wonderful contributors in this community effort! I’m so excited to be a part of it. The Collection is on sale for $25 until Monday, December 13th and you can get your copy here!

I hear you… “ok, Erin, but after I’ve roasted and frozen them, what do I DO with all these beautiful red peppers?”

Let me introduce you to my FAVORITE fall soup: Roasted Red Pepper Curry Soup. It’s easy to make, gluten free, dairy free, and EVERYONE in my family is happy to eat this meal! This recipe works well with roasted red peppers from a jar if you’re short on time or you could follow steps 1 and 2 below with just 3 or 4 peppers if you want to make a batch of soup today (and skip the freezing all the peppers step).

One of the things I love about this recipe, is the ability to customize your bowl with your favorite toppings. In my house, this type of approach is key to finding a dinner everyone loves. Robbie and I love adding thai basil from the garden, a swirl of sriracha, and chopped up pistachios for a little spicy crunch. The kids love fried tofu and rice noodles. The combinations and possibilities feel endless! If you experiment with toppings in your home and find a combo you love, please come back and share it in the comments!

Home-roasted Red Peppers

My farmers market and nearby farm stands are overflowing with beautiful red, and even yellow and orange, peppers! Home-roasted red peppers might be the easiest and least time consuming way for you to dip your toe into the home food preservation waters. It’s a simple as 1, 2, 3!

1. Wash and cut peppers into quarters, removing the stem, seeds, and inner white ribs
2. Place on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and roast at 450F until the skin starts to bubble and slightly blacken.
3. Place into pint jars (each one will hold something like 3-5 peppers) and pop them into the freezer

Roasted Red Pepper Curry Soup Recipe
(makes lunch/dinner for four to six people, leftovers are delicious too)

I have no idea where this recipe came from. I wish I could tell you the source, but I wrote it in my “favorite recipes book” and have been making it from there for the past couple of years. Apologies to the original author.
Download a printable PDF of this recipe here

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped roughly
• 1 inch ginger root, chopped roughly
• 3-4 red peppers, roasted in the oven as described above
• 1 quart (4 cups) vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 can coconut milk
• 3-4 Tablespoons red curry paste
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice (lime would work just fine too)

Optional ingredients for topping (I recommend picking 3 or 4 of these)

• 1/4 cup cilantro, basil, or parsley, chopped
• 1 package of tofu, tossed in corn starch and pan fried in oil
• 1/2 package brown rice noodles (follow instructions on the package to cook)
• 1/2 cup peanuts, pistachios, or other favorite nuts, chopped
• Sriracha or other hot sauce

Instructions

Please share your comments, questions, and favorite toppings for this soup in the questions below! If you want to share gorgeous photos of your dinner, please tag me on Instagram and Facebook @carbonfreefamily. I LOVE seeing your beautiful photos!

There’s a joke in Michigan (at least in my circles) that you should never leave your car unlocked in the summer… not because someone will steal something out of it, rather because someone will put a pile of zucchini INTO your car and then you’ll be stuck with them! I’ve FINALLY found my zucchini recipe, so go right ahead and drop your extras on my front porch! Just the little one’s please… you can keep your “war clubs” for zucchini bread!

Given that I generally try to avoid both carbohydrates and sugar, I’m not a huge fan of zucchini bread and have been looking for a more healthy way to eat the abundance of zucchini that comes from my backyard vegetable garden each year. This zucchini carpaccio salad from Smitten Kitchen is just the ticket! Tho original recipe includes a bed of arugula, under the zucchini, which I bet would be delicious, but my arugula bolted months ago, so I’ve been making this salad with just zucchini and it’s still delish!

Recipe
(makes lunch/dinner salads for two or three people, more if you’re serving it as a side)

This recipe is adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Download a printable PDF of this recipe here

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pound zucchini (about 3 small/medium)
• 1 ounce parmesan, coarsely grated or shaved with a vegetable peeler (about 1/2 cup)
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• Juice of one lemon
• freshly ground black pepper and salt, to taste

Instructions

A couple of notes that you might find helpful….

*The original recipe tells you to toss zucchini ribbons with 1 teaspoon salt in a large colander set over a bowl and let drain 20 minutes. Rinse zucchini slices well, then drain, pressing gently on slices to extract any excess liquid. Pat zucchini slices dry with a kitchen towel. I regularly skip this step. Sometimes the salad is a little more liquid-y (technical term, I know) than others, so if you’re creating this dish for an occasion and want to make sure it’s not watery, this step might be useful to you.

Please tell me your favorite zucchini jokes, stories, and recipes! Are you on “team zucchini bread” or do you have another favorite recipe that I should try??

As a child and through my early twenties, I firmly believed that I did NOT like tomatoes. Now that I’m a little older, I’ve come to understand that the tomatoes you can buy in the grocery store in February are a pathetic shell of the locally grown (in my garden or by a local farmer) summer tomato.

These days, I avoid fresh tomatoes like the plague for 10 months of the year until the magical tomato season arrives, right on schedule at the beginning of every August (here in Michigan). In this moment (yes, right now!), I eat ALL THE TOMATOES!

My favorite recipes for fresh tomatoes

This means the Augustine house is eating fresh tomatoes for nearly every meal. Some of my favorite “recipes” aren’t really even recipes at all, but rather a collection of delicious ingredients set near each other on a plate. The key to each of these is REALLY GOOD ingredients. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to seek out the best olive oil and balsamic vinegar you can find. My local favorite is a Spanish olive oil, called Arbiquina, that I can buy in bulk from a local shop called Old World Olive Company (Michigan friends, they have several locations around the state). My absolute favorite balsamic is from a farm in Texas, but we haven’t been able to get it in recent years, so I’m currently using an 18-year traditional balsamic, also from Old World Olive Company. I buy my burrata and fresh mozzarella (and pretty much every other cheese I eat) from my local cheese shop, the Rockford Cheese Shop.

My favorite “new” recipe is this gorgeous five ingredient tomato and burrata salad from Barefoot Contessa. After eating this salad almost every day in the past week (psst… it’s really delicious for breakfast!), my favorite combination is: tomatoes, burrata, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add basil (like in the photo below of the first time I made this yumminess, last weekend) or balsamic (like in the recipe linked above) if you feel like it. Or not. It’s completely up to you!

And the gateway Caprese salad (for many of us, including me, this is the first way people begin their love affair with tomatoes). Again, this “recipe” includes just a few fresh and simple ingredients… tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil stacked in beautiful little piles, topped with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

My favorite recipes to preserve tomatoes

I don’t know about you, but I can only eat so many tomatoes (just me? hmmm. Must be the 26 tomato plants we planted this year in our backyard veggie garden, but we can’t keep up!). Each year, in August and September, we spend countless hours in the kitchen preserving tomatoes so we can eat this delicious local food all year long.

Last year, I created a series of blogs focused on preserving food and collected them all into this free course. The course includes individual lessons that explain the basic preservation methods of canning, freezing, and dehydrating, and specific examples of how I use these preserving methods in combination to preserve tomatoes, corn and all my favorite foods so I can eat them all year long.

Whenever you’re ready, these recipes are here waiting for you. My favorite ways to preserve tomatoes include (follow the links below for more information and recipes):

1. Freeze them whole (it’s just as simple as it sounds… I put whole tomatoes (no processing) into a ziploc bag and throw them straight into the freezer. These are good for soups and sauces throughout the year, but not slicing because the freezing breaks down the cellular structure, which is a fancy way of saying they’ll be mushy when you defrost them)
2. Can them as diced, quartered, halved or whole
3. Grandma’s tomato sauce (I can it, but you could just as easily freeze it)
4. Sun dried tomatoes (perfect for freezing)
5. Tomato paste (perfect for freezing)

All of these recipes are delicious, but I have to tell you that homemade tomato paste changed my life! If you’ve never made your own I have to insist that you put it on your weekend “to do” list right now. This year. Before buying another single can of tomato paste. It’s truly that good. I can honestly say that I hope I never have to use the commercially made paste again.

Please share your thoughts, questions, and favorite recipes in the comments! How do you like to eat fresh tomatoes? How do you preserve them for later?

I struggled for a few minutes with the fact that the kits come in plastic bags, but like everything else, I’m embracing a #progressnotperfection attitude and looking for ways to eliminate the plastic bag in the future.

I’m growing oyster mushrooms using a grow kit from Mycophile’s Garden. They’re a mushroom farm located in Southwest Michigan and such a gift! I bought my first kit through West Michigan Farm Link (an awesome source for local food that I discovered this winter as I was trying to buy from more local farmers, even during the Michigan winter), but now they’re at my farmers market (and in Kalamazoo, Fulton Street, Grand Haven, St. Joe and others all over southwest Michigan), so I can easily restock. They also sell mushrooms by the pound, so you can pick some up tomorrow morning and make this salad for lunch! 

I paid $20 for my oyster mushroom kit and have already harvested 3 pounds of mushrooms! And mine is currently fruiting for the third time right now. It’s the little things like this that bring me so much joy! The kit comes with growing instructions and I’m shocked at how easy it has been to grow these beautiful and delicious oyster mushrooms.

I’m trying to branch out and find new recipes (so please send me your favorites in the comments or by email carbonfreefamily@gmail.com), but it’s hard to try new things when this warm mushroom salad is SO. DAMN. DELICIOUS! I made a disappointing mushroom pizza (with the homegrown oyster mushrooms) a couple of weeks ago and Robbie summed it up well when he said, “I mean this pizza is pretty good, but I’m comparing it to that amazing salad and I want the salad instead.”

I usually make the salad with oyster mushrooms and they’re still my favorite by far, but I’ve tried it with shiitakes and lions mane too and it was pretty good too. If you try it with other varietals, please come back and tell me about it!

Recipe
(makes lunch/dinner salads for two or three people, more if you’re serving it as a side)

This recipe is adapted from Jamie Geller
Download a printable PDF of this recipe here

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 to 1 pound mushrooms, cleaned and torn into pieces
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 cups salad greens (arugula works really nicely)
• salt + pepper

Instructions

I can’t wait for you to come back and tell me how your mushrooms are growing! And if you like this salad! And if you tried it with other kinds of mushrooms! 

Let’s make a list of creative ways to “dispose” of your Christmas tree! Here are my favorite ideas. Please share yours in the comments at the bottom of this post.

• Put them in our yard to provide winter shelter for the birds and other small animals that live in your yard. This is a great option if you decorated with natural decorations or want to redecorate it for the animals! Birdseed ornaments, popcorn and cranberry garlands, and dried oranges are all great gifts for the animals that live in your yard. You can find lots of great ideas in this article from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

• Donate them to a local farm… goats LOVE to eat pine and spruce trees! Local friends, if you’re interested in this option please email me or comment below. I know several farmers offering to take your Christmas trees off you’re hands… one is even willing to pick it up from your house!

• Compost them in your backyard compost.

• Put them on the curb for pickup by your local municipality. Many towns and cities have specific days designated for Christmas tree pickup. Usually these trees get added to the municipal yard waste composting program.

• Drop them off at a location designated by your town or municipality. Again, these trees usually get added to the municipal yard waste composting program.

Rockford, Michigan friends: The City of Rockford offers curbside Christmas tree pickup for two weeks after Christmas. Pickup does not happen on a particular day, so go ahead and leave your tree on the curb whenever you’re done cleaning up (provided its before January 8th)

Kent County, Michigan friends: You can find a list of curbside pickup and drop off programs, listed by city/township, here.

Note that you need to remove all decorations before using any of the above alternative disposal methods. Please share your questions and alternative disposal ideas in the comments!

Looking to build more sustainable habits in 2021? Please join my workshop… Kickstart Your Sustainability Journey! This 6-week online workshop will change the way you think about sustainability, flipping your mindset so that sustainability becomes a natural part of every decision you make and creating easy sustainable habits. Find more information and register here!

In some ways, COVID-19 has forced us all into a more intentional and sustainable life, and it’s worth thinking about how we might incorporate the lessons learned into “normal life,” whenever we return to it. The thing is… “normal” might look a lot different when we get back to it.

However you’re planning to rebuild your normal, I would encourage you to think about the simple and more sustainable aspects of your current lifestyle that you want to keep as you rebuild. To help with this, I’d like to tell you about the 80/20 Principle.

The 80/20 Principle was created by Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, and, in short, states that you get 80% of your results from 20% of your effort. This is a powerful model for business, time management, and sustainable living.

I have absolutely applied the 80/20 principle over the years when re-designing my sustainable lifestyle over the past few years. My family and I have chosen to make most of these changes under the notion that sustainability give us more, not less. These are the easy types of lifestyle changes, the 20%.

• We save money by not wasting (heat, electricity, gas, food).
• We ride our bikes more and find that our clothes fit better.
• We find more time to play because we are not shopping as much, so we have fewer things in our home and it stays cleaner longer.

Because of COVID, we grew more vegetables in our backyard garden, shopped even more than usual at our local farmers market this summer, and canned/froze a lot of fresh, healthy, and local food. These activities saved us money, helped us connect as a family, and will improve our health. Next summer, I’m planning to hang on tight to these more sustainable habits, COVID or not, because they make me happy!

We accomplish 80% of our sustainability goals doing what is engaging and interesting to our family. So, here’s my advice for building a more sustainable life: Choose the fun stuff! Think about activities you enjoy most right now and the new habits you’ve created during COVID that are bringing you joy.

Here are a few areas for you to consider when you’re brainstorming about the activities and habits you want to keep.

Drive less, walk and bike more 

Most of us aren’t driving to work right now. Most of us are working from home and driving once per week to get groceries. From my home office window, I can see my street in downtown Rockford and I see so many people walking, skateboarding, and biking.

How can you incorporate driving less into your “new normal?”

• Did you realize that you can walk or bike to work, school, or the grocery store?
• Did you learn that you only need to grocery shop once per week (or even less)?
• Did you become really good at combining all of your errands into one trip?
• Did you discover activities, clubs, or events that aren’t actually important (or fun), so you’ll choose to stay home instead?
• Did you find new spaces or activities in your home that will help you maintain a slower life pace even when you are free to ramp back up your normal busyness?

Reduce food waste

I bet we’re all trying to stretch our food a little further these days. There are lots of benefits to this strategy: saving money, spending less time shopping, and throwing away less food, just to name a few.

How can you incorporate a heightened awareness of food waste into your “new normal?”

• Did you become really great at meal planning?
• Did you learn how to better organize your pantry or fridge? How does it feel to be able to find ingredients easily?
• Did you become an “iron chef” contender, learning to creatively use obscure ingredients in meals you (and your family) loved?
• Did you learn about food preservation this summer — canning, freezing, and/or fermenting extra fresh food safely for you to eat weeks or months later?
• Did you start composting in your own yard?

Embrace minimalism

Lots of us are looking at our homes differently these days, noticing clutter in a way we’ve never seen it before. According to Joshua Becker, founder of the Becoming Minimalist blog, “minimalism is intentionally living with only the things I really need—those items that support my purpose. I am removing the distraction of excess possessions so I can focus more on those things that matter most.”

How can you incorporate minimalist principles into your “new normal?”

• Did you purge toys, clothes, or clean your closets to pristine condition?
• How does it feel to have less clutter in your life?
• How can you prevent unwanted things from accumulating again?
• Did you redesign spaces in your home to be more comfortable or better suit your needs?

Please share some of your favorite slow living and sustainable habits that you’ve discovered during this global pandemic in the comments below!

Ps. Local friends, if these words feel familiar to you, they should! The 80/20 Rule parts of this blog were originally written by Robbie for a Rockford Sustainability Committee column in the Rockford Squire. He graciously let me reuse them in this post