Bracing for wind

We are expecting high winds (and a bit of rain) in the next 24 hours (Tuesday night into Wednesday morning).

The weather report is full of dire warnings about gusts up to 60 to 70 mph.

We're not the only ones impacted. It's being called a "coast to coast storm."

Ever since the "Windstorm 2015" ten years ago (considered by the regional power company to be the worst disaster in its 100+ year history), we've taken threats of wind very seriously.

I realize our weather is mild compared to the bitter cold they're experiencing in the northeast, or the catastrophic flooding hitting the Pacific northwest. Nonetheless, as with any winter weather, it's best to hope for the best but brace for the worst.

We're in a reasonably protected area, so I don't expect too much impact from the wind. What we do expect, however, is for the power to go out, perhaps for days.

The wind is supposed to hit overnight, so we spent today battening down the hatches. We cleaned up the porches, put things away in the yard, and moved hay under cover. We tied down tarps and coiled hoses.

The weather isn't particularly cold, but I brought in an extra load of firewood to store on the porch anyway.

I vacuumed the house and did laundry. We all took showers.

We tipped the porch rockers over, since we know from experience they'll get tipped anyway.

We charged all the battery backups...

...as well as our rechargeable lanterns.

We topped off the oil lamps as well.

Earlier we had drained our 1500-gallon roof-runoff water tank, predicting cold weather (the tank isn't insulated, so we drain it in the winter). However we decided to let it refill a bit, just in case we need livestock water or additional household water. 

I made an extra loaf of bread.

I also tied the cattle panels to the diagonal poles around the peaches and blueberries. High winds tend to knock over the panels, which is annoying but not damaging.

In general, however, we're pretty well prepared for multi-day power outages. We've been through them before. Besides, for all we know, this whole thing will be a big nothingburger.

But then again, it may not.

What ever happened to the zero-waste movement?

Back in 2016, I quietly decided to try a lifestyle experiment: zero-waste living.

This project originally came about due to Older Daughter's influence. She was working as a live-in nanny in New Jersey, if you recall, and it opened her eyes to a grim realization about garbage; specifically, the contrast between her frugal upbringing on a rural homestead and the affluent lifestyle of an upscale suburban family.

No doubt you've heard of the zero-waste movement, which encourages people to produce as little garbage as possible. Dedicated adherents proudly showed off their yearly pint jar's worth of trash while giving sage advice on how to make deodorant or toothpaste from bulk ingredients.  Yawn.

Older Daughter became involved in the zero-waste movement and encouraged me to try it as well. I dipped my toes in, became obsessed, and never looked back.

Zero waste, as you may recall, is based on five principles: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot (and only in that order).

• Refuse what you do not need, everything from avoiding the mall to declining the freebies at the dentist’s office
• Reduce what you do need (this includes decluttering)
• Reuse (stop using disposable items)
• Recycle what you cannot refuse, reduce, or reuse
• Rot (compost) the rest

There is a certain level of sanctimonious superiority among hardcore zero-wasters I always found annoying, but it's worth noting we're still living zero-waste eight years after embarking on the experiment. I'll admit, it's addictive.

Because we phased out disposable products years ago and cook our meals from scratch, our garbage output was already significantly lower than average. It wasn't much of a push to take the next step into zero-waste, particularly since the focus of our homestead has been food self-sufficiency. We're not minimalists – we don't live in a sterile-looking all-white house (thank God!) – and you'd never guess we follow this lifestyle by visiting. It's just ... a lifestyle.

We're not perfect – our yearly garbage can’t fit into a pint jar – but considering the average person produces 4.5 lbs. of trash per person per day, we're not doing too badly in producing that much trash (as a family) in about a month.

I no longer obsess over the topic as I did at the beginning, but I do continue practicing zero-waste principles. Interestingly, though, it seems not many others do – any more.

It occurred to me a few days ago that I hadn't seen anything about zero waste in the news lately. Why not? Zero waste, it seems, was "the" movement of the 2010s, but now it's so passé.

Consider this article from July 2023 entitled "Influencers popularized the trash jar. Now they’ve moved on." The author observes, "Unrealistic expectations and real-world problems like unwanted gifts and the temptation of 'wishcycling' turned the trash jar from zero-waste influencer emblem to 'elitist' cliché."

Quoting from the article: "Trash jars [meaning, pint jars filled with a year's worth of trash, which became the "status symbol" of the movement] inspired dozens of profiles in outlets like New York Magazine, the Washington Post, and CBS. Entire zero-waste brands sprang up around them, such as Package Free Shop. But then came the backlash – or, rather, a gradual falling out of favor. A few years in, people who were inspired to adopt zero-waste practices because of the trash-jar trend began renouncing it as exclusionary and unrealistic. They argued that focusing on the jar sapped energy from more systemic actions they could take to address plastic pollution. Some likened it to extreme dieting, calling it the 'skinny supermodel of zero waste.'"

The article continues: "While the trash jar remains an emblem of the zero-waste movement, it's lost much of its cultural cachet. Today, in 2023, many sustainability influencers are relieved to have entered into a softer, more forgiving era of the zero-waste movement – one that recognizes the impossibility of 'zero' and welcomes a spectrum of waste-reduction efforts. Some have pioneered alternate slogans, like 'low-impact,' 'low-waste,' and #ZeroWasteIRL."

I suppose this is the category in which we find ourselves. We don't strive for perfection, we strive for reduction.

One influential zero-waster went to extremes to the point where the lifestyle was "definitely stressful." The article notes, "In 2017, she finally called it quits. She now uses her old trash jar as a bookend. ... Others feared that their trash jar missteps would undermine their credibility as influencers – but so would not keeping a trash jar at all, since they were such an emblem of the movement."

Many also recognized the futility of individual actions when compared to global output of plastics and other non-compostable trash. It's the reason many, if not most, simply gave up the effort.

Incidentally, the reason we first embraced "disposing of disposables" and then later the zero-waste movement was purely as an aspect of preparedness. If garbage services go down, waste will become an enormous problem for society. We just figured it would be a challenge we'd tackle now rather than later.

So, even though the zero-waste movement is no longer trendy and/or has softened into something less rigidly perfect, we'll continue the lifestyle. It's second nature now, and – what the heck – I still enjoy the challenge.