May 18, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I got through the day yesterday. I was definitely dragging during morning clinic. My sleep schedule was off due to blogging at 2am rather than at 4am, and then after finishing a blogpost – I went to sleep on the couch. Obviously I was not able to finish an entire sleep cycle. Therefore I woke up groggy and not in my best form. But I dragged by eco-avatar middle aged body through the morning routine and was able to make it into work. I forgot my phone at home which ended up being a blessing in disguise. An entire day of phone detox is a good thing. I sent an email out to the department to let them know I had no phone, and just to call if there were issues. There were no issues that I was aware of. There are many of us in leadership that were available via instant text, so my being in my office just an actual email away – was okay.

When I came home, there were 45 emails and actually none were urgent. What a relief. Most of life’s urgency is fabricated. There is a movement to “SLOW PB” in our neighborhood. Dr. Plastic Picker whole-heartedly agrees with this. Let’s just SLOW down life. Not having my phone and dragging yesterday morning, allowed me to end the day on a good note. I had five wonderful things that happened as the day was SLOW as I was not on my best form.

1. Organic Flat Leafed Parsley Give-Away: I have no idea why we have so much parlsey? I think it’s “green manure” where my mother-in-law plants it early in the season to get the garden beds ready. Anyway, flat leafed parlsey 100% has a stronger flavor than other parlsey. Don’t get me wrong. It’s delicious! But just like when we went into beet green overload, we were in flat leafed parsley purgatory yesterday. We had a lot! It was organic and fresh. Rather than giving it to the bunnies, who also can only eat so much parsley (they prefer cilantro) I brought it into work. I left it on the lunchroom table and no one took much. Toward the end of the day, I walked around clinic and made sure to give it out to several friends in nice brown paper lunch bags. I made a lot into parlsey pesto with walnuts yesterday. Reviewing the nutritional value of parsley this morning and knowing that all of ours is organic and powered by compost actually made from the HMO coffee grounds, I am so glad I did. Parsley is so rich in fiber! 3.3 grams per serving and filled with antioxidants. We only need a little bit of parsley and having a bit of fresh garden herbs makes any dish just that more special.
2. I Finally Met Tony, The Succulent-Artists Extraordinaaire: In our little corner of HMO world we have a legend named Tony who is a succulent-artist. He makes succulent planters, and has them sprinkled over the HMO. They are beautiful. He is an artist. As a trash-artist myself, I know other artists. It’s his creative outlet and he is working through some things through his succulent art. We are friends now. I finally met him. It was kind of amazing.
3. Beloved Girl Scout Tshirts Give-Away: About three years ago, I had purchased at the Girl Scout San Diego store several tshirts that are high-quality and beloved. Our daughter outgrew them. I wasn’t sure what to do with them. But then I realized that I have a patient’s family that has two Girl Scouts that would use them or at least pass them on to someone who would definitely use them. And then I ran into one of my little patients who joined Girl Scouts recently when I extolled the value of the program, and it was perfect. I gave her the Tshirt that was one of my daughter’s favorites. I often remember that it takes “2,700 liters of water to make just one t-shirt” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cottons-water-footprint-world-wildlife-fund_n_2506076. So yesterday I made sure that five high quality Girl Scout Tshirts actually went to Girl Scouts who I know will 100% wear them, that is 12,500 liters of water saved. I still save our shower water to water our roofdeck garden and our compost, but handing down clothing to those that you know will wear them is much more effective. Plus I got to continue to support what is overall a great organization – Girl Scouts San Diego.
4. Compost and Succulent HMO Parking Lot Project Continues: It’s been a year and I’m still working on the HMO parking lot planters. Wow, it’s really desolate up there. One planter I’ve determined has been overun with weevils. The two little succulents that were doing okay, were actually eaten by weevils. I realize now it’s not good to just leave hay around. I should have composted the bunny poop and hay. Live and learn. The weevils are there and there are no birds to come eat them. I may buy some ladybugs to just release into those planters for fun. Or I may just let the sun and desolate environment of the HMO parking lot decimate those little pests. In a natural ecosystem they would have ladybugs and birds to control them. But in their stand-alone planter, it’s a weevil feast. I think I’ll get some ladybugs. I’ve been meaning to buy some anyway. It will be fun and then they’ll fly into the world and continue to do good things. I also brought along a good number of succulents that I needed to transfer from my roofdeck to the HMO parking lot, with a large pail of compost. Gardening is harder than it looks. I don’t think some people realize that. But it’s been trial and error for me. I built up the roots of the spekboom plant and that one is hardy and I think will make it. I added some other succulents as I think all plants need friends. I added compost to some of the other planters and watered them. Some of the succulents that were initially thriving looked a bit sad. I think the soil in those planters are not that healthy so I’m slowly trying to make the soil alive again. Carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and water. That is what the soil needs and some plants. Step by step. We’ll get there. You have to heal the soil first before eventually I can get some trees up there.
5. Three Trash Art Pieces: And I saw two of my patients I hadn’t seen in a while. They are funny kids. They wanted some of the trash art pieces so I’m actually almost out in the office. I gave them a plastic fish I made from a car part I found, and they took some of the trash art butterflies. It made them smile and it was at least one reuse of trashy (but clean) bits of our lives.

And that is it. For a day that I thought was going to be not the best, it ended up being really nice because of things that I gave away that didn’t cost me anything. They actually all meant something to me, and I knew the intrinsic value of those things. And passings all of those things along actually helped the earth a bit. And it helped to continue build the sense of community in our small corner of the world. I also was able to get the coffee grounds from the HMO coffee shop! I need to drop off some vegetables to Josue who is so nice to give me the coffee grounds. I’ll fish out the tea bags and bits of plastic, and it will all go into the composter today. The composter will be so happy! It’s full again and steaming with good microbial things happening!