20 Sustainable Pasttimes for Martin Luther King Day

Winter is list season, so how about a list, in no particular order, of my favorite sustainable practices?

1. going to the farmers' market
2. baking bread (with organic flour and multi-using the oven)
3. feeding the loyal pet worms/saving snacks for said pets
4. container gardening (look for a post soon about basil)
5. drinking delicious, guilt-free coffee all the way to the last drop
6. volunteering (at church to teach the 4-year-olds, for me... how about you?)
7. shredding old bank statements into pet bedding: the worms love PNC paper.
8. selling/giving things away on Craigslist
9. donating things for which I have no use (those ugly bowls, that sweater that was so cute a few years ago, that slightly battered but still good carry on... all to Out of the Closet)
10. knitting
11. staying in to watch Netflix-ed movies, eating stove-popped popcorn drenched in homemade butter
12. hanging out in the sun -- walking to work, picnicking in the park, doing the laundry
13. taking photos (remember that old scouts camping slogan: take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints? excellent advice!)
14. taking the bus: I get tons of stuff done on the bus and get to people-watch the most interesting section of the city.
15. taking advantage of the library. what's better than free books, movies, and audio? TheBoy gets free audiobooks (some valued as high as $80 on amazon, I get my bread cookbooks, guilty pleasure foodie-reading, and hard-to-find weird movies)
16. saving wine corks to eventually make some fun craft, like a trivet.
17. incidental workouts. like that time I had sore arms for days because my bread dough was really dry and needed 15 minutes of hard kneading to turn into the delicious ciabatta it ultimately became.
    
18. reusing things. I love saving money and showing off pretty purchases, so reusing glass spaghetti sauce jars is a no-brainer for storing popcorn, same with the salsa jar: lentil storage.
19. snuggling instead of turning the heat on.
20. watching important news on WashingtonPost.com or CNN.com instead of buying a TV. alternately, watching junk-food shows on hulu instead of buying a TV.

Hummingbird drinking in a friend's yard