The Boxes

Creativity.  I have found in my life that creativity is one of the most valuable commodities when attempting any venture.  Thinking outside the box can mean the difference between accepting things the way they are and designing a way around it.  We got married this past October and, due to the pandemic, many things about our celebration had to change.  We had far fewer people (eight, including us), didn't require a bartender (because we had so few people, and that's just awkward), and we certainly didn't need a venue with a hundred-person capacity.

We adapted.  We rented a house instead of a hall, went to a local flower shop to buy our flowers.   All of our favors were purchased within 5 minutes of the rental house and were locally made.  The most enjoyable part however, was the making of the boxes.  We decided that, during our ceremony, we would like to be surrounded by mums.  That's right... the flower, not the mothers, though we were also grateful to be surrounded by both of ours.

Anyway, I got this idea to create some wooden boxes to put some of the flowers on in order to elevate them.  The boxes were just for show and would therefore be temporary, so we didn't want to buy something and be stuck with it later.  I decided to use pallet wood for the project.  A friend of ours also wanted some spice boxes made of pallet wood, so I decided that the boxes could have a third life after our ceremony.

Finding pallets is pretty simple.  Our friend works for a company that ships and receives items that come on pallets, and there was a pile in the back yard of their lot.  However, Craigslist is also full of them.  You might also notice them sitting outside a building; if you call, they'd likely allow you to take them.  They are free and, with some (serious) effort, will come apart.  They are typically made with pine wood, but I also found some made of maple and oak.  Pallets must be strong and durable because they are often used multiple times and over long stretches of time.  The nails are commonly stainless steel for this reason.

Taking the pallets apart was very difficult.  I used a hammer and flat bar to pry the slats off of the runners, and those stainless steel nails really hold on tight.  Ear muffs are essential because hitting a flat bar with a hammer will make your ears ring for days.  All in all, I used eight pallets for my project.  The runners were used for the tops and bottoms as they were made out of 1" - 1 1/2" thick pieces of pine or maple, and the slats were used for the verticals around the box.

Nothing is square, so I elected to spread the slats out.  It gave the final product a nice look, almost like an apple crate.  Everything was screwed together to facilitate easy disassembly later.

In the end, the boxes came out great.  They took an awful lot of effort but used very little in the way of new material.  Even the screws were left over from a previous project and will be used again after disassembly.

Vegetable Broth

Flavor.  It’s what many of us forget about when cooking a weeknight meal on a tight schedule or a tight budget.  I’m not talking about cooking for some special occasion (though please refer back to this post when you do).  I’m talking about the everyday rice and veggies or slow cooker soup you are going to eat all week for lunch.  They aren’t fancy meals, but they get the job done. 

This post is about stock--more specifically, vegetable stock.  Vegetable broth can add a new dimension to your cooking by simply using it in place of water.  Stock is available at the grocery store, but it comes packaged in one of the worst containers possible.  It is some kind of paper/plastic/foil box that is not recyclable, compostable, or any version in between.  It cannot be taken apart easily to recycle its component parts, so it goes to landfill every time.

The answer, of course, is to make it yourself.  I understand time is a factor, but we have discovered a couple of simple ways to make it that really couldn’t be easier or cheaper.

It all starts when you are cutting up an onion, or carrots, or zucchini, or tomatoes, or whatever vegetables you are cooking with.  Dedicate a container or four (we use old takeout containers) and keep them in the freezer.  Add your scraps to the container every time you cut up a vegetable.  If there are rotten bits, don’t save those, just compost them.  Over time, you will amass lots of frozen scraps that can be used directly for your vegetable stock.

The process is simple and does not require many tools.  I recommend a large pot, a glass container with a pour spout, a strainer, and a couple of mason jars with lids. 

Stove Top

1. I start by pulling my frozen veggie scraps out of the freezer and finding some onion and carrot.  You can also use celery at this point, but we don’t care for it and don’t usually have any on hand. 
2. Add the onions and the carrots to the pot with a small amount of your oil of choice.  Let that heat up and sizzle for a little while.  You will get a boost of flavor from the onions, and a bit of sweetness from the carrots.  Basically, this is the same starting point for most broth-based soups. 
3. Give the onions and carrots about 3 or 4 minutes and then add half of the total water.  We have an 8 cup pot, so I add 4 cups of water at this point. 
4. 
   Next, add more frozen vegetables.  A mix of things is nice.  Try not to add more than 20% bitter items like carrot tops, kale cuttings, broccoli stems, etc.
5. Add the remaining 4 cups of water.  Cover the pot and bring it just to a boil, then turn the heat down to simmer.
6. Let the concoction simmer for about 40 minutes to an hour and then turn off the burner.  I just let it sit and cool a bit.  Honestly, I let it sit until I have about 10 minutes to spare during my work day.
7. Last, I strain the newly made stock into the glass container with the pour spout, and distribute the stock among the mason jars I set up previously. 

Slow Cooker

1. 
   Sauté onion and carrot in a frying pan with a little oil for 3-4 minutes.  We want to release the flavor in the onion and sweetness in the carrot.   
2. Add the sautéed onion and carrot into the slow cooker and add water to fill the basin ¾ of the way.
3. Finally add the rest of the vegetable scraps from your container, making sure to add only about 20% bitter items.
4. Turn the slow cooker on high for about 4 hours.
5. Last, strain the newly made stock into the glass container with the pour spout, and distribute the stock among the mason jars previously set up. 

We use the stock to make everything from soups to risotto to plain rice.  We even tried it at thanksgiving for the stuffing.  It is an easy way to recycle your vegetable scraps one more time before composting them. 

Anyway, we got this recipe (roughly) from a cookbook called Thug Kitchen.  (We realized we had no idea who the authors were, and, when looking, found out they were a white couple from L.A., which was not what we had assumed.  Check out this excellent essay by Bryant Terry, a Black food advocate, for his take on this misrepresentation.)¹

 

1. https://www.cnn.com/2014/10/10/living/thug-kitchen-controversy-eatocracy/index.html

Candle Making 101

Reuse.  It’s a clear tenet of the Zero Waste movement.  Number three on the list according to Bea Johnson of Zero Waste Home,¹ it is one way to reduce our material footprint, as well as our financial output.  My wife and I are always looking for ways to be more frugal and sustainable…  Let’s be honest, I was bored and needed a project.

We like to burn taper candles in these great hand-painted holders that we picked up at a local second-hand store.  It adds some ambiance to our nightly meals and gives off a softer light after a long day at work with fluorescents overhead.  (Or, these days, it makes a nice change of pace from our regular lightbulbs!)

So, with some wire and a recycled aluminum can, I constructed (we’ll use that term loosely) a double boiler.  I wrapped some wire around the top of the can as a handle with which to pick up the hot can and dump the melted wax into the reused glass vessels.  Next, I added the wax to be melted to the aluminum can.  The wax was chosen for its color (red and blue and white make raspberry?) The next part is pretty easy, just put some water in a pot and get the water hot.  I recommend medium heat so that the water doesn’t actually boil. Place the aluminum can filled with wax into the hot water and wait.  If you are tempted to turn the heat up because you are impatient like me, use this time to practice poise.  Once the wax is all melted, just use a pair of pliars…  during the writing of this post, I realized I’ve never before spelled the word pliears?…  nope, still wrong.

Take two:  Once the wax is all melted, just use a pair of pliers to pick it up by the wire and gently pour the melted wax into a prepared vessel.  In this case, I used an old candle holder; it’s ideal because the glass is able to take some heat.

I also created my own wicks.  I had some cotton string, and dipped it in the wax to pre-coat it.  I’m sure I’ll improve the technique as I do this more.  Here is a great article about making wicks with cotton string.²  I held the wicks up with a contraption I made with K’nex because I’m a child and my mother recently found them in the attic and bestowed them to me.  Good thing because I literally use them all the time…

This project was a lot of fun and, after lighting the candles, they do work!  They are not perfect.  The first pouring of the wax hardened with a huge hole in the middle and required more research.  Here is a good tip: “Reserve some of the wax.”³ This will finish off the candle. 

From a sustainability perspective, we want to be careful too.  Yes, we are reusing the wax from old candles, but it took energy from our stove top to re-create them.  It took new cotton string, and that string is not organic, or regenerative organic.  We think it is important to talk about these points and do better when purchasing cotton string next time.  Some day we will have solar panels on our roof, and therefore take care of the energy problem. 

So, in the end, these candles are better, but admittedly not perfect.

Sources: 

1.     1.    https://zerowastehome.com/

2.     2.   http://www.sewhistorically.com/how-to-make-diy-candle-wicks-with-cotton-string/

3.     3.   https://feltmagnet.com/crafts/CandlesMakeANewCandleFromLeftOverCandleStubs

      2/7/2021 Update:

      Well, the wicks fell over.  After burning the candles down a bit, the wicks did not have enough support from the surrounding wax to stand up straight, and they fell over and put themselves out.  Above, I reference the sewhistorically.com blog which gives some alternatives for homemade wick design.  Basically, you boil some water, add salt and the cotton string.  The blog says to dry them overnight, but I'm impatient when it comes to these projects so I heated up the oven to 375 deg. and they were done in 45 seconds... possibly a lower temperature would have been more appropriate, but as I said, I'm impatient. 

Anyway, the wicks now stand up very straight and stay that way throughout the candle burn.  That said, they got kind of smoky because the string is pretty thick and I used iodized salt (maybe sea salt is better?)

In the end, better, but still not perfect.  I'll probably continue to refine my process so check back sometime!