When in Michigan...

We figured you only live in Michigan once. So what do we do with our day off of work? Go to the Auto Show. There are a lot of cars! Not being car people we enjoyed all the "weird" cars. Most of them were new electric ones that were small, very very small. So check out some of the new cars coming to a town near you.

New Years Resolution...Eat More "Food"

Yes you read that right. We want to eat more food this year. Thanks to reading Animal Vegetable Miracle and In Defense of Food, volunteering at SELMA, and many other things we have gotten a lot more involved in the food movement. While I wont go into the details here it involves cooking more, learning about where you food comes from, eating more local and organic food, and generally being more aware of what you eat. So eating more food means eating food that you can identify as food, not something that has been processed and packaged so much that for all you know it could be toy inside the box not something you eat.

So... step one make our own yogurt! Thanks to tips from Arthur's cousin Nick this weekend we took a stab at it. It took about 24 hours and we ended up with something that kind of looked like yogurt and definitely tasted like yogurt. The prep takes about 15 min and the rest of the time it just does its own thing. Here are the steps:

1. Boil the milk to 180 degrees and then let cool to 110.
2. Put a glob of yogurt into a glass container
3. Add the hot milk

4. Cover with a lid and keep warm (about 100 degrees) for 12+ hours. We used our oven, turning it on once in a while.

And then you have yogurt!

Green Thumb

In our quest to eat more "food" we decided to try to grow our own food. So over Thanksgiving my Dad, Arthur, and Paul built a raised bed in our backyard. They found used wood at the Habitat for Humanity Reuse Store, got a truck load of compost from Recycle Ann Arbor (for only $7), and plastic and metal to make a mini hoophouse from the Reuse Center. In one afternoon of work our garden was ready.

There is one hitch, we have never been very good at growing anything. So in our quest to have a greener thumb Courtney took a bulb forcing class this fall. The first bulb bloomed over the holidays right when we were leaving to drive east. We were so determined to be successful that the amaryllis came east with us and made it through a 14 hour car ride and a hotel in Niagara Falls Canada. So we are well on our way to being able to grow our own food.

Arthur and Paul showing off the frame of the raised bed

Arthur, Paul and Proctor adding the compost

The amaryllis made it to Canada

The amaryllis made it to Vermont

Reused Holiday Part II

We have fallen behind on our blogging and have lots to post (and will soon) but for now we want to give a resounding applause to everyone who took part in our reused holiday efforts. With a little prompting and excitement the creativity was overflowing and wonderful. Our gifts were wrapped in reused wrapping paper and ribbon(from last years gifts to beautiful magazine photos) and they all looked beautiful and creative. Our gifts were made out of recycled material including tooth brushes made by preserve (http://www.preserveproducts.com/toothbrush.html), a basket made out of magazines, and a humming bird feeder hand made out of used beer bottles (http://www.maho.org/store/Hand_Blown_Glass_C122.cfm). Our gifts were pre-loved with many wonderful books and a beautiful piece of art work. And we got gift cards to yummy dinners and local music shows that will bring us entertainment through out the long Michigan winter! Each and every gift we knew was chosen just for us and wrap with thought and love. What more could you ask for in a gift!

So thanks everyone to all the love, support, and creativity!