The week began with me in Detroit for two days. I was invited by Ford Canada to attend the North American International Auto Show with 150 other bloggers from around the world. I really did my best to create the least amount of waste possible while traveling, which is not always easy. When it came to food, I ate everything-not leaving a morsel behind. Although, I did have fruit and, obviously, did not have anywhere to compost, so let’s just say some squirrels had a few nice snacks while I was in Detroit. Oh, and I can’t forget that I had an organic Cliff bar because I was “starvin marvin” before leaving for the airport. Therefore, I had a wrapper to add to my small waste pile.

We were given a name tag and a media pass which I kept, and some documentation that is sitting nicely in my recycling bin. We also received an electronic pen to use on a touch screen device and a flash drive with all of Ford’s media kit.

All in all I think I did pretty well limiting my waste, but at the same time I still enjoyed myself and did not stress about creating too much waste. Remember, I have to let go- so if I create some waste, it’s ok.

1-PURCHASES

CSA basket

• 1 romaine lettuce heads
• 1 head of broccoli
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 3 large sweet potatoes
• 10 small red potatoes
• 2 squash
• 7 turnips
• 2 parsnips
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 large bunch of collard greens
• 3 oranges
• 2 onion
• 5 apples
• 1 head of cabbage
• 2 radishes
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 celery root
• 5 carrots

Sub-Total: 50.00

Groceries

• 1 bunch of parsley
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 2 bunches of bananas
• 1 celery stalk
• 4 lemons (bulk)
• 5 carrots (bulk)
• 1 bunch of spinach
• 3 portobello mushrooms
• 3 red peppers
• 1 large container of blueberries
• Almonds (bulk)
• Pecans (bulk)
• Vital wheat gluten (bulk)
• Raisins (bulk)
• Red fair trade quinoa (bulk)
• Kidney beans (bulk)
• Chocolate chips (bulk)
• Raw coconut butter
• Raw coconut sauce
• Cinnamon (bulk)
• Chia seeds
• 2 glass bottles of kombucha

Non-food items

• Toothpaste

Sub-Total: 175.09

Restaurants

• Wednesday: Dinner at Spiral Diner (all vegan-all organic) 35.00
• Friday: We went for pizza, beer and water at Fire Side Pies 50.00
• Saturday: We had a lunch at Chipotle 14.48

Sub-Total: 99.08

Other

• Natural-path appointment 175.00

Total: 499.57

2-COMPOSTING

We are back to composting stress free- no need to gorilla compost for the time being. The total weight of our compost was 11.8 lbs. Looking at the composting bin, it became clear that we eat a crap load of banana’s.

3-RECYCLING

We had lots of paper it seems in our recycling bin this week and we did have a few plastic containers. I purchased blueberries that came pre-packaged in plastic. Little E is chowing down on blueberries like crazy. I dislike buying food that is packaged in plastic. So I was torn, but this time little E won.

4-TRASH

The trash this week comprised of: veggie/fruit stickers, plastic banana wrap, receipts, plastic from Kombucha bottles, a band-aid, a plastic straw and a wrapper from my cliff bar. When we went out to eat, we forgot to bring our glass straws. Therefore, a plastic one was needed for our nut shake. Also, some of the veggies were wrapped with plastic elastics, but I will keep them incase I ever need them again.

5-TRAVEL

I travelled from Detroit to Fort Worth by plane on Tuesday. The total 1,587 nautical km (986 nautical mi). I did travel to and from the airport, to and from the auto-show, and to and from dinner on Monday and Tuesday night. I have no idea how many kilometers or miles that was. We did travel as a group though. Better for us and better for the environment. The total distance traveled on the TDI was 230.09 km (142.97 mi). We didn't have to fill up this week!