Signing up for my CSA back in February reminded me that spring’s coming soon. Once the CSA starts up again we’ll have more produce than we can deal with, so we’d better get through what we still have on hand from last year. With that in mind, I tried to clean out my bursting freezer last week.

Before

After

Some highlights:

• bananas went into banana bread
• shredded zucchini went into chocolate zucchini cake
• sliced apples went into apple crisp and applesauce (as you can see, there’s still some left)
• parsnips, turnips, mashed potatoes, chopped onion, and cooked rice went into a surprisingly delicious improvised soup (cooked in my slow cooker!)
• chik’n strips, corn, and tortillas (and canned salsa) went into a chik’n tortilla soup
• and a lone sweet potato burrito went into my belly

Putting up food is no good if you don’t ever get around to eating it. I tend to have an out-of-sight, out-of-mind problem, so attacking my freezer with this focused mindset is really necessary. Next project: cleaning out the pantry.

Any advice for making breadcrumbs or croutons? I’ve never made my own before, and I think fully half of what’s still left in the freezer are ends of French and Italian bread. Much like soup stock, I know it should be easy, but I’m intimidated.

I got a notice this week that NStar has applied for a rate hike for NStar Green, the optional program where people pay extra to support energy generation by renewable sources. If the hike is approved, starting in April the average NStar Green customer’s monthly bill would go up $15.

We’re definitely not the average customer, since $15 is roughly half our bill (average=$77-$93). And even if it were that much, $15 isn’t really that big a deal. But the rate hike makes me wonder if supporting NStar Green actually makes a difference. Obviously other people are wondering that, too, since only about 1% of the company’s customers are enrolled (who collectively use about .5% of the electricity NStar delivers).

NStar markets the program as if 100% of your electricity will be from renewable sources, and I think it’s this approach that turns people off. It all goes into the same grid, so no electricity is “my” electricity. The premium that I pay only makes a difference if NStar is actually buying more renewable energy because of it. Is that the case?

From what I can tell, yes. By Massachusetts law, NStar is required to purchase 5% of its electricity from renewable sources in 2010, increasing by 1% each year until it reaches 15% in 2020. The NStar Green program currently increases that number by .5%. To produce this electricity, NStar has ten-year contracts with two wind farms (in Maple Ridge, NY and Kibbey Mountain, ME) to generate a total of 60MWh, or 1.5% of NStar’s Basic Service Load. The other 4% is made up with the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates and payments to the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust. The company’s energy purchases are audited by Green-e Energy.

It seems like NStar Green-designated electricity is required to be from direct generation, like the wind farm, rather than certificates or trust payments. So our participation in the program actually does make a difference. But Massachusetts’s regulations have a larger impact. To me, this really underscores the need for us all to be engaged with our government and let our elected officials know that this is important to us. In the meantime, though, I’m sticking with NStar Green.

After reading Eating Animals this week, a lot of my links are food related. I would say enjoy, but it’s a little depressing…

• Are We Headed for a Subprime Mortgage Crisis of Food? – Sustainable Food. The dangers of monoculture. This sort of thing already happened to the Gros Michel banana decades ago. (Thanks, Andy.)
• The Poultry Problem – Boston Locavores. In case you didn’t catch this link in the comments to my Eating Animals post… Did you know most poultry nowadays are bred to be so ungainly that they can’t even reproduce? (Thanks, Danielle.)
• The At-Home Preservation Trend – Slate. I admit to being a bit of a dilettante. But is there anything wrong with an increase in home canning, however impractical? (Thanks, Danielle.)
• Tricks to Keep Your Device’s Battery Going and Going – New York Times. I don’t have a smart phone, but for those of you who do… And these tips can be extended to any electronic device.
• Hand Dryer or Paper Towels – Pays to Live Green. Spoiler alert: it’s the hand dryer.
• House Approves Ban on Cutting Dog, Cat Vocal Chords – Cambridge Chronicle. Seriously, do people still do this? I can’t believe Massachusetts hasn’t outlawed this already.
• Cambridge Launching Green Jobs Program – Boston Globe. Training sessions start in April.
• Deal to Save Everglades May Help Sugar Firm – New York Times. On the one hand, Florida’s buying 72,000 acres. On the other hand, it’s less than half of what they originally intended.

That’s all for this week. As usual, if you come across something interesting, send it my way.

When the zipper on my boots broke after a few years, I was worried that they were done for, and I was really upset. Not only were they pretty expensive (decent veggie shoes usually are), but they were my favorites: waterproof, attractive, comfortable…

I couldn’t fix the zipper myself, even with a pair of pliers. There’s a shoe repair place down the street; I was just worried it wouldn’t be worth it. But they replaced the zipper in two days, for $28. Now the boots are as good as new.

Can you tell which one was fixed?

Getting the most life out of the things you own is a huge part of conserving resources. Today it’s often easier to replace than to repair, if only because there aren’t as many places that fix things. The Boston Globe recently had an article talking about local repair shops—everything from TV to furniture. It’s good to keep in mind for the next time we might need to fix something. We recently had a scare with our TV flickering, and if it does die, we’ll definitely look into fixing it before we get a new one.

I just found out about this Kiehl’s program to recycle their empty containers. For every ten empties we bring in, we get one free full-sized product. I’m not sure that recycling at Kiehl’s is any better than through my town, but I’m always up for free stuff. And I like the idea of companies being responsible for their products from cradle to grave.

Jason uses Kiehl’s products almost exclusively, because they don’t test on animals. He especially likes their Lite Flite shaving cream, that’s used with a brush. It lasts forever. Lesley tipped us off to them a year ago. Thanks, Lesley!