I was finally grateful for our ceiling fans this week—just a month after installing them. I know, I know, I should be happy that the power grid has had a rest this summer, but I want sun!

A lifesaver on hot days.

Our last apartment had central air, which I loved. Then again, we were on the third floor, and it got hot. But it bothered me that we sometimes reflexively turned on the AC without even attempting any of the more passive ways of cooling down: shutting the blinds, opening windows at opposite ends of the house to create a draft, or taking a shower before bed.

In the new apartment, there’s no central air, so we’re not tempted. But we’re on the first floor now, with decks overhanging the windows on both the front and back of the house, so keeping cool isn’t as much of an issue. For those really hot days, I looked into which was more efficient, a window air conditioner, a floor fan, or a ceiling fan, and the ceiling fan came out way ahead. (Don’t even ask about central air.)

As a bonus, you can flip a switch to change the direction they spin in the winter. This will circulate the heat gathered at the ceiling without it feeling breezy. It’ll feel warmer, so you can turn your thermostat down. (So I’ve read. I haven’t used them in the winter yet.)

Some people think we’re crazy for buying ceiling fans as renters. But we pay our own utility bills, so they’ll be saving us money. And I like to think of them (and any of the energy improvements we make to the apartment) as carbon credits. Just instead of paying them to a company far away where we don’t see the results, it’s hands on and immediate. And long after we move out, the ceiling fans (and caulk, weatherstripping, CFLs, etc.) will be saving energy.

I didn’t start composting because I needed the compost (I don’t even have a garden), but because it seemed like a shame to toss good nutrients into a landfill. Worm composting, or vermicomposting, is perfect for apartment dwellers like me, because the worms eat anything that’s rotting as it breaks down, always staying one step ahead of the smell (if you don’t overload them, that is). As a result, as it’s being processed, the compost just smells kind of dirt-like.

We keep the composting food under a moist layer of shredded paper.

To make the easiest sort of worm bin, drill holes into the top of a large Rubbermaid container—the more the better, since you want the air to circulate. Fill it 1/2 to 3/4 full of shredded paper. I hear newspaper works best, but I’ve always had good luck with regular paper, too. (And it’s a good way to get rid of all those credit card offers that you don’t want to leave out in your recycling bin.) Be sure to moisten the paper, but don’t soak it. Worms breathe through their skin, and they need water to do that, but if they’re swimming, they’ll either die or try to crawl up the side of the bin. Bury your fruit and vegetable scraps (no animal products), making sure they’re completely covered by bedding, and add your worms.

Our bin was getting a little too wet, so we left the new top layer of paper dry this time.

Earthworms don’t work, so you can’t just dig up any old worms and put them in your bin. You need to get red wigglers, because they live in the leafy litter of the forest floor, which is much like the bedding you’ve made. The first time we did this, we got a pound of worms through the mail, and they came all wrapped around each other in a ball. The second time, we just went to Arlington Bait and Tackle. So far (one month in) they seem to be bigger and eating more than the mail-order worms, so I’d recommend that. Just make sure you ask specifically for red wigglers.

Aw, isn't he/she lovely?

Those are the basics. I could go on for days about what sorts of food they like best, how often to feed them, how/when to harvest the compost, and why we killed our first binful of worms (oops), but this is getting kind of long. I’ll save that for another time.

The first time we picked up our CSA this year we had a horrible surprise: bugs. We’d gone through our normal lettuce-washing routine with the salad spinner, and it looked fine, but when I pulled the lid off the spinner the next morning, it was covered. Green ones, black ones, spiders—gah!

Even after repeated washings I couldn’t get rid of them. I refused to eat the lettuce, and I didn’t even dare feed it to the worms, for fear that I’d be wading through bugs every time I fed them from then on. So I ended up throwing the whole mess away. (Maybe this blog should be called Squeamish Environmentalism.)

At the next pickup I asked what Stone Soup suggested to deal with the bug problem, and their advice was to soak the lettuce for ten minutes. So now each week when we get home, the greens go immediately into a tub of water.

Mmm...chard

I actually let them soak overnight to make sure all the bugs are drowned (see: squeamish) and then pull the head apart leaf by leaf and wash them individually to get at the dirt in the center. I’ve never had to do that before, and I grew up on a farm, so I think it might be particularly bad this year because of the rain splashing the dirt up. Whatever the reason, this method leaves us with lettuce as clean as from the store. And tastier.

We’re headed up to Maine this weekend for my mom’s 70th birthday party (shh…it’s a surprise). We make it up there once every month or two usually. Fortunately, we’ve got a Prius, so we can make the 4-hour trip and back on one tank of gas, if we don’t do a lot of driving around while we’re up there. Our average mpg is around 45—less if we’re speeding, more if we’re in traffic.

The hills in Vermont were great for our mileage.

When we used to take the Greyhound to Maine, it was $40 per person round trip—and then my sister still had to make the hour drive to Bangor to pick us up. Now it’s around $25 for the two of us, and much more convenient. In 2002, when we got the Prius, we figured the car would pay for its extra cost (over other compact cars) in less than 10 years. Gas was around $1.50 then, I think, so it’s probably already paid for itself.

I still wondered which was most efficient for making trips to places that have better train and bus service, like New York. Here’s a simple analysis of car vs. bus vs. train vs. plane. On average, from best to worst, it goes bus, train, car, plane. But the two of us riding in the Prius is about even with the bus, so I feel good about that. Did you know that average mpg is 22? Craziness!

Now if I could just stop drooling over those fancy new Priuses with the solar panels….

UPDATE: The Union of Concerned Scientists put out a report in December that addresses this in detail. It looks like while our Prius might be the best choice for trips to Maine (considering the closest bus station is an hour away from our families), we might want to think about taking a bus to New York or anywhere else. Good to know.

They even have a handy-dandy chart to break out the numbers.

Tuesday is our CSA pickup night. If you haven’t heard of it before, CSA stands for community supported agriculture. It’s when people buy shares in a farmer’s crop. Local is the new organic, and CSAs are the most local you can get (other than having your own garden, of course).

Cabbage, carrots, lettuce, dill, cucumbers, pea pods, zucchini, and kale. A good haul.

We tried it for the first time last year, and while we liked the fruit and vegetables, we didn’t much like our particular farmer. (It was his first year selling shares, and he was crazy disorganized. And grumpy.) But we’re lucky to have a lot of CSA options in our area, and this year we switched to Stone Soup Farm. We pick up from the Democracy Center in Harvard Square. They’ve obviously been doing this for a while, and pickup is quick and efficient, thanks to the super nice volunteers.

I find that with the CSA it’s a lot easier to eat seasonally without a lot of research. Even at Whole Foods, that can still be a pain. And I actually enjoy trying to figure out what to do with our mix of produce each week. I’ve always been a by-the-recipe cook, and this is making me a little more flexible. Last week we made refrigerator pickles for the first time, and this week we’re making Mark Bittman’s Spicy No-Mayo Coleslaw.

It’s definitely a little inconvenient to have to pick up our veggies at the same time every week, but less so than I originally worried. And there are more bugs and dirt and misshapen vegetables than at the store, but it really does taste better. That seems a fine tradeoff to me.