EcoHouse celebrates Halloween!

Happy belated Halloween from EcoHouse! (brownie points if you can spot Madeline)

No phone, no internet, no problem: Be Brave Week

While perusing Luther College's sustainability house blog a few weeks back, I came across a post called "A Week of Living Bravely" that caught my attention. Residents of the house had each chosen one thing they wanted to do to live more intentionally for the week. After talking about the idea, members of EcoHouse decided we wanted to try this experiment out for ourselves. So we did.

From Sunday, November 3rd to Sunday, November 10th, residents of EcoHouse embarked on our own "Be Brave Week," supporting each other throughout the week as we tried to minimize our impact on the environment, be more aware of ourselves and those around us, or just generally live more intentionally.

For residents of EcoHouse, Be Brave Week projects included taking one-minute showers, paying more attention to the news and politics, making more of an effort to connect with people on a daily basis, turning off cell phones, eating more intentionally (i.e. not eating dessert every day, just because it's there), and staying off the internet when inside the house.

The final idea on this list -- staying off the internet inside the house -- was my personal project. It definitely took some getting used to, and required some major lifestyle adjustments. I could no longer do most of my homework at home, since it required being online, so I'd have to get my work done earlier in the day. Likewise, I couldn't just wake up and do my online reading for class while curled up in bed, so I had to get up a little earlier, walk across campus, and do my reading in the library. In the end, the lifestyle adjustments (doing homework earlier on, waking up earlier, etc.) were totally worth it. I realized how much I had depended on my computer before and suddenly felt very free. I was no longer staring at a screen (bad for my eyes and my mental state) right before going to sleep and right when I woke up. Finally, I spent much less time on social media and really realized how much better my life is without it (and how much more free time I have!).

On Sunday the 10th, one week after we started our project, we met to share our experiences with one another. Every single person, to some extent, had faced some challenges throughout the project, but ultimately, everyone expressed that they appreciated taking time to reflect on (and reconsider) how they live their lives from day to day.

The week not only made us more aware of how our actions affect ourselves, others, and the environment, but brought us closer together as a community. I was asked several times throughout the week how my Be Brave Week project was going, which always started an interesting dialogue. We encouraged each other every day, and some people even decided to pick up on other people's projects. By the end of the week, I think it's safe to say we had all learned to live a bit more intentionally, in one small way or another.


-Adriana

You can predict the color of an egg by looking at a chicken's ear.

Hello Eco Warriors here there and everywhere. I just got off the phone with my Dad and our conversation provided me with the perfect topic for my first blog post. My Dad is a reporter for our local newspaper, The Aspen Times, and today's front page features his article about an environmental education program called Aspen T.R.E.E. Tonight, he was eager to tell me about his visit to the organization's home base, Cozy Point Ranch, where they recently finished constructing a greenhouse. Dad learned all sorts of interesting things about aquaponic agriculture, in which shelves of plants are placed over fishtanks and the plants filter the water while the fish fertilize the plants. He also got to see a chicken's ear, which he described as a strange sight indeed. Aspen T.R.E.E. will establish a CSA system in which community members can work in the green house in exchange for yummy produce. My Dad and I are very excited to learn to things by working in the greenhouse. Here is the link to my Dad's article: http://www.aspentimes.com/news/8726448-113/aspen-vardy-greenhouse-plants. I think you'll all agree that this sounds like every Eco Freak's dream!
(Photo credit: http://valleygirltalk.com/2012/08/10/whats-the-difference/)

-Hannah

Photos from Harvest Fest, cont.

Valerie Hammond, who showed us how to can. Thanks, Valerie!

Photos from Harvest Fest

Well, it's been two weeks since Harvest Fest -- I guess it's about time to post about it.

The festivities went on all day, from 1:00 until people left -- which was mostly after dinner, around 7 or so. The day included pumpkin carving (which resulted in some pretty creative jack-o-lanterns), canning, crafts, live music, and of course, FOOD! All in all, it was a great success! Cleanup afterwards even went smoothly; thanks to former EcoHouser Stephanie Porter's brilliant idea, a few big ol' tubs, and some soapy water, we created a big "wash-your-own-plate" dish line.

We all had a great time, and hope to make the event an EcoHouse tradition in years to come!

Pre-Harvest Fest:  a visit to the pumpkin farm!

Pumpkin-head

This one was particularly warty...we liked him, but didn't think he'd carve too well.

Hannah with pumpkins

All ready to go!

Ahhh...what a sight.

The night before: Leah chopping carrots to be canned

Carrot-person!

Covered in flour, as usual

Vincent chopped a TON of onions

Jacob, sharpening knives for pumpkin carving

preparing for Harvest Fest!

Here at EcoHouse, we've been busy getting ready for Harvest Fest! That means everything from budgeting, figuring out what we're going to cook for dinner and dessert, planning carpool trips to the pumpkin patch, and lots more. We've been especially enjoying working with Grinnell resident Valerie Hammond, who will be coming in to help us with food canning. Don't miss what promises to be a really interesting workshop in food preservation!

We've attached the final schedule for the day. Feel free to come for the whole day, or just stop by for parts that sound especially interesting to you! (Although we all know the most fun happens during those spontaneous, inbetween moments where people are scattered about inventing their own lawn games, breaking into impromptu three-part harmony, or baking cookies in the kitchen!) 

We're so excited for this event, and really hope to see lots of you there! All students, staff, and community members are all welcome. See you on Saturday!

Apples and Pears and Tomatoes, Oh My!

A few EcoHouse residents went out on Sunday to harvest a bunch of fruit (and even some tomatoes and onions!) from the orchard/garden of a Grinnell professor emeritus. Huge thanks to Elliott Uhlenhopp and his family, who were kind enough to let us harvest and keep these veggies. What a pleasant surprise to come home to buckets and buckets of fresh produce on Sunday night!

Madeline, who organized the whole excursion

Hannah picking apples

Ivy poses with the "fruits" of their labor

 Jacob approves

SO MANY BEAUTIFUL TOMATOES