I am excited, today I get to go out in the beautiful countryside and meet my favorite beef rancher to pick up some 100% grassfed and grass-finished beef organ meats. I'm hoping to get tongue, heart, kidney, oxtail, and sweetbreads. Then next Saturday, I meet my favorite sheep rancher to stock up on lamb!
I am finishing up the mollusks and crustaceans that I had bought last week. I purchased wild-caught clams, shrimp, and scallops, since those are all low in mercury. They are really good, and I think I might continue to get them from time to time for variety. They are just as low in mercury as lamb and beef, so that is very healthy!
I had gotten some seafood varieties of zero carb food for my carnivore cat, as well, but I am realizing that some of those seafoods are really high in mercury too. So maybe I will just stick with the "After Dark" series for him. Plus, those have more broth (chicken juices), which he really likes.
I wanted to give an update on my zero waste / plastic-free mission. It's been over a year since I tried to go to zero waste! Some things were easy, and I am glad that I did them. These were the easy things:
1) The Keeper, natural rubber menstrual cup instead of disposable products
2) Bar soaps instead of body wash
3) Baking soda instead of toothpaste (I had been doing that for a decade with full blessing from my dentist)
4) Paper towels and toilet tissue that come in paper wrapping
5) Bon Ami for household cleaning
6) Renewable energy from my utility company (not sure if this is net better or worse than fossil fuels)
7) Walking, mass transit or carpooling (have done this all my life)
8) Beeswax cloth wraps for packing lunch
9) Gave up deodorant/antiperspirant (with good, wicking, natural fiber clothing I found I don't need it)
10) Switched the cat to Tiki "After Dark" zero carb wet food, comes in recyclable aluminum cans, and is far healthier for him too!
11) Dry laundry detergent that comes in a cardboard container
However, these are the things I am finding very difficult to find a plastic-free alternative:
1) Shampoo / conditioner. I've tried so many different alternatives to shampoo and conditioner! I tried baking soda / vinegar rinse, washing soda, shampoo bars, castile soap, egg, honey, herbal rinses. Either they damaged my hair, or didn't clean it. Ground hibiscus and fenugreek actually did work, but I couldn't get them ground finely enough. That's still the best option to explore. Maybe I will look more into that this weekend!
2) Contact lenses. I want to actually bring my prescription slowly back down, and I have some various strength eyeglasses to do that. But I just feel like I look a let better in contact lenses. So that's something I still use that comes in plastic.
3) Meat/fish. This is the biggie! All of my meat and fish comes in plastic. I tried going to the local fish and meat counter and asking them to use my provided containers, but I met with flat-out refusals, hostility, confusion, and safety concerns, and therefore decided not to do that any longer. I tried calling all of the local meat processors to see if there are any alternatives, like paper, but unfortunately even the butcher paper is lined with plastic. So all of my meat and fish comes in plastic. That is extremely frustrating. There is also waste of some bones from the meat, which composting facilities won't take. I tried a compost bin of my own, but I don't have any plant matter to put in it, so nothing is composting. I tried using canned lamb for a while, since it comes in fully recyclable steel cans. But I got a bit tired of it, and also it contains a little salt, pepper, and bay leaf which I think aggravated my gut a bit. So my meat/fish produces all of my garbage, besides some paper towels I use when cleaning (which I could probably replace with cotton bar mop towels), and lint from the clothes dryer.
4) Cat litter. The litter is flushable, but comes in a plastic bag. I recycle the bag, but I can't find any good flushable litter that does not come in plastic.
5) Dental floss and toothbrush. I still haven't found a good dental floss or toothbrush that aren't made of plastic or come in plastic containers.
6) Moisturizer. I stopped using lotion and moisturizer, but my hands get rather dry in the winter. I am still working on a good alternative. I tried marshmallow root infusion, but that didn't work.
7) Eyeliner. My eyeliner is wood and natural minerals, but it does have a plastic tip and seal.
8) Henna / indigo for hair. I can find henna locally in bulk, but not indigo. I use a combination to get brown hair dye since henna by itself only gives a red stain. So I order these online and they come in plastic jars, which I do recycle, but would like to find an alternative. I could try just henna by itself.
I have gone to 100% natural fiber clothing and linens, and that has been wonderful. For fall and winter, I have been wearing mainly 100% merino wool. It is wicking, warm, antibacterial, odor-preventing, and comfortable. I purchased 100% silk clothing for summer. My sheets, blankets, and towels are all 100% cotton, merino, or actual linen.
I had installed sustainably harvested hardwood and cork floors, which I clean with just bar mop cloths and water, and a beautiful handmade corn broom and steel dustpan. Such a nice way to clean!
So, I have had a little success in reducing my waste, but I haven't been able to get down to zero yet. The meat and fish are the main problem!
P.S. Why do I care about zero waste / plastic-free? I was always taught to not litter. When we use plastic, we are littering, even if we send it to a landfill. A landfill is nothing but a big huge pile of litter, when it comes down to it. Or if we recycle our plastics, that still relies on the use of new plastics as well, and the use of fossil fuels.
Also, the use of plastics, as well as the burning of fossil fuels and the use of metals, causes mercury to be brought into the environment, and into our foods, and then into our own tissues, causing mental and other serious health problems.
I feel it is important to try and reduce my own use of plastics, fossil fuels, metals, as well as reduce reliance on tilled agriculture, which not only uses fossil fuels, but additionally causes soil and environmental degradation.
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