Yep, its a banana tree! Don’t worry, it is no longer standing squished in a corner by the bin (its not a trash-bin, but my garden supplies holder – you know how roomy these bins are!). My banana tree, lovingly called as “Banu” is now standing in the sunniest spot, soaking up maximum sun all day long.
The story of getting Banu was mostly a result of the long weekend, and us deciding to stay put. With the pandemic et al, it is best to watch plants grow at home, rather than in the woods, especially on one of the busiest long weekends with throng of tourists and hikers everywhere… So here we are, admiring the plant collection and propogation (yet again) in our balcony, helped by a little Yoda (my feeble attempt of creative spin on Yoga-dog).
Little Yoda 😉 – didn’t say Baby Yoda!
Speaking of the gardens, we have some tiny additions of flowers and blooms. The petunia are attracting hummingbirds, my peace lily is finally (!) putting out some blooms and the orchids have flowered :). All in all, a good week to stay indoors and watch plant babies unfurl.
I was thinking of making this post about propagating various plants, that I had success with. I am no gardener or garden expert, but if my advice/suggestions/journey into plant propagation would help anyone, please comment below. I will have a dedicated plant propagation post 🙂 That also reminds me how terrible I have been with documenting the steps while I propagate! Maybe because I start with a trepidation of whether of not that plant will make it! I will try my best to show that in the post anyway 🙂
My trusted pals – pothos and zz, on my desk
With hikes and promenades in the parks, I can certainly feel the endearing pull towards the natural world. I have always loved dogs, and my family has been enthusiastic with gardening, so all that probably converged into this weird (at times) feeling of being close to the nature – animals and plants, more than just an escape into the wilderness. Maybe that is something I could work on! But this love for outdoors is gladly taking shape in cute forms:
Blue jay rapid sketch – a gift for my friends, with mint and Zebrina pendula (of course, both propagated at home)And a pondering corner in the balcony garden (sans Banu)
Questioning how we could go on “like this”, we painted walls, got in new rugs and furniture pieces, and decked the balcony with even more plants. Since March 2020, our household also started looking inward. We started off with online yoga sessions, trying to eat healthy and breathing fully.
I made it my mission to add one more mindful action to my day – everyday.
Household trash started sitting in three bins: compostable, recyclable and land-fill. Within two weeks, it became six bins: food-scraps, cardboard and paper, glass, metal, recyclable plastic, non-categorized trash. The entrance foyer to the apartment resembled a trash collection center. And by June, I took a step back to peer at “this life” of refuse.
My bamboo cutlery set still traveled with me in the cotton tote. The bamboo straw would come handy as I picked up freshly squeezed fruit juice, or the fork/spoon to help myself to frozen yogurt in a paper mache bowl. “What is I throw this bottle into the sea?”, I wondered to myself as I sipped from my water-bottle, focused on the bay in front of me. “It will float away into nothingness!”… with its steel vessel encased in ribbed bamboo, the bottle will probably sit on some distant rock along some shore. I could not get the feeling of being in a losing battle. How do I make my existence as if treading light – such that the vestiges I leave behind, will break down and go back to earth in less than a decade?
Meandering further into sustainability, juicing and souping became the next thing. We loaded our refrigerator with fruits, vegetables, and seeds. Our experiments with juicing began – which soon resembled cooking up concoctions. The fruit peels, refuse skins and pits, and a heap of fibrous residue made a permanent home at the base of the compost bin. Juicing was refreshing, with its fruity tones and minty garnishes. But a week into it, rinsing the blender, peeling and slicing the fruits, blanching the vegetables… got on our nerves. We were not ready for this diet – for the belly and the mind.
Spinach + orange + musk melon = not so pleasant colored juice
Two humans, one dog in a pandemic and a generous serving of ideals of sustainability in a world of plastic packaging… was overwhelming. And yes, did I say a pandemic? So all this, in four walls. (However, I am quite privileged to be here, and have the luxury to crib and be a crybaby. This is not to say I am out to exploit this privilege, but for a moment, I wish to etch a graph of struggle with ideals and the real world).
Berkeley is a reluctant mecca for projects and lifestyle of sustainability and mindful living. At the epicenter of this movement is the University campus and intellectuals – probably – but the entire city has embraced some form of mindful living. And probably this was my throbbing vein – “if Berkeleyites can, why can’t I?”
Three months in, and all I had was a series of failed attempts at “living simply”. We went down the rabbit-hole of ordering food, creating enormous trash for land-fill : take out food containers, single-use masks, plastic cutlery, plastic cling-foil, and heaps of other stuff that hurt my eyes more than my mind. COVID-19 had foiled my attempts of getting a small section in the community garden to grow my vegetables. Work from home bled into life otherwise, and we turned to eat-and-go-to-the-screen, for over ten hours a day. And then the breathing practice went away with a breath, and “bakasana” flew away like a crane 😉
Fumbling to Flying
And in this log of our failures, we realized that our approach to sustainable living was wrong! We were stuck with the ideals, and too focused on the destination. The fun is in the process!
The next three months were spent in taking a piecemeal approach rather than biting off more than I (we) could chew. So, the revised plan looks at concentrating on reducing non-compostable waste.
Home cooked meals – Two-three items per meal
Mindful meal prep
“No” to plastic grocery bags and carrying our own cotton tote. > This is specially challenging with grocery store policies. We carry the produce in carts from the store to the car, and then stuff the cotton totes waiting in the car. That way, we do not violate the store rules against carrying own grocery bags into the store, and effectively eliminate the plastic bags <
Shopping locally, or store pickup rather than home-delivery or online shopping. > We learnt, that this reduced the number of packaging material such as bubble-wrap, air pouches, etc by almost 70%(!!) <
Moving to non-chemical cleaners such as bioenzyme for kitchen utensils and as cloth detergent. (I regret to say, we haven’t yet found a non-chemical base shampoo for carpets. And that is an important component of our cleaning arsenal with a dog at home!)
Bye-bye to dryer sheets. Instead, we use special woolen balls with drying spin to remove static etc. Or sometimes, tbh, use nothing.
Made significant changes to our dog’s diet and meals (more on this in a separate post).
Continue carrying bamboo cutlery set when we step out. Who know’s when we feel like digging into a bowl of fro-yo!
Eliminated packaging items such as plastic cling-foil. By eliminate, I do not mean we threw it out into trash, but started reusing wax paper for covering leftovers in the refrigerator, etc. (Maybe more on this in a separate post, too!)
Making conscious choices with toiletries and cosmetics.
Spoiler alert: It is indeed an uphill journey making these changes – specially with the whole household on board (oh, I have said this before, right?). BUT, it really pays off. And small steps cover great distance!
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