In a quasi-Lenten fashion, I decided I was going to try to do something good for the planet in honor of Earth Day. Not on the actual day mind you, since I was otherwise engaged (and I'll tell you about it soon), but I wanted to start a new practice going forward.
In order to save energy, I decided I'd hang all our laundry out to dry instead of using the dryer. Then, to reduce our use of non-recyclable plastic containers, I decided to start making our our yogurt. Mr. Man won't eat plain yogurt, so I put homemade jams and such in the bottom to tempt him.
(fig, peach, honey, and plum-apricot)
The yogurt making went pretty well, but I still have a few kinks to work out like making it thicker than the current buttermilk consistency. If I can conquer that, I think it will be a pretty easy thing to do from week to week.
So I was feeling pretty virtuous with all this yogurt-making-laundry-drying-back-to-the-earthiness. Then this weekend Mr. Man and I discovered that not using our natural gas dryer saves us only about $1.00 worth of gas per month, which seems like not very much (gas, not money) to get worked up about.
So after a week of hauling laundry inside and out, chasing the chickens away from nesting in the clean stuff, and cursing when wet laundry fell off the line into dirt, I thought, "Eff it!" and decided to use the dryer. Which I promptly discovered no longer works.
Apparently the dryer enjoyed it's week off and patently disagrees with me about the intrinsic value of $1.00 worth of natural gas. So back to the laundry line I go. I am sure I will learn to love the crunchy towels.
So I was feeling pretty virtuous with all this yogurt-making-laundry-drying-back-to-the-earthiness. Then this weekend Mr. Man and I discovered that not using our natural gas dryer saves us only about $1.00 worth of gas per month, which seems like not very much (gas, not money) to get worked up about.
So after a week of hauling laundry inside and out, chasing the chickens away from nesting in the clean stuff, and cursing when wet laundry fell off the line into dirt, I thought, "Eff it!" and decided to use the dryer. Which I promptly discovered no longer works.
Apparently the dryer enjoyed it's week off and patently disagrees with me about the intrinsic value of $1.00 worth of natural gas. So back to the laundry line I go. I am sure I will learn to love the crunchy towels.
Mr. L never used the dryer when single and we have carried that "custom" into our married life. The crunchy towels were my biggest worry about not using the dryer (Crunchy towels are not the best feeling when you're getting out of the shower). Luckily, our fluffy towels are still fluffy even with the air drying. I still have to get used to the air-hardened...I mean air-dryed jeans.
Posted by: Marlo | April 29, 2009 at 02:47 PM
I have a very nice "yogurt maker machine thing" that takes very little electricity. I would be happy to let you have it. Love, Mom
Posted by: Gretchen | April 29, 2009 at 11:08 PM
I sometimes peek at your blog (being a dirty Catholic myself) and (also being non-confrontational) wanted to comment on the easy subject of yogurt. I just started making yogurt, too. Was it the NY Times article that inspired you? I find that a longer sit in my circa 1952 Roper oven (with a cozy pilot light) seems to help it set up better. About 5 hours. Then I strain it in a dishcloth-lined sieve for 30 minutes. Also, using 2% milk was better than 1%. I love the photo of your fruit-bottomed yogurts -- who knew they could be so cute?
Posted by: Emily | May 12, 2009 at 05:45 PM