Avivah Werner

Blog

  • Using the base of the cauliflower

    A while back I made a discovery that will probably not be useful to the vast majority of you.  But it was interesting to me.  🙂

    My husband works in the resturant business, though they are so efficient about managing food waste that there’s rarely anything left over, so it’s not as though he comes home loaded down with leftovers every day.  If he does bring something home, it’s because they have no way to make money selling it.  One day, he brought home the bottom part of the cauliflower that was being cut off and would have been thrown away, the base of the it along with the green leaves attached to it.  He didn’t know anything about it but thought it looked like it should be edible.

    Honestly, it didn’t look appetizing to me, but we boiled it and suprise – it was really, really tasty!  We all liked it better than the part of the cauliflower we usually eat.  When his co-worker from Columbia saw him taking the stems today (they went through  7 cases of cauliflower today – they periodically prepare a large amount of pickled cauliflower at a time), he told him, “Yes, that’s the best part, it’s delicious!”  So it’s not much of a secret in other countries, it seems. 

    Stems from seven cases of cauliflower – isn’t that a lot, you wonder?   Yes, it was – about fifty pounds worth.  But what can you do with so much of a perishable vegetable that needs refrigeration?  I definitely don’t have that kind of space in my fridge!  I cooked up a bunch of it in my two largest pots, then cut it into smaller pieces – and canned it.  I still feel amazed at how compact things become when cooked.  Twenty pounds made four gallons, cooked .  My seven year old daughter enjoyed filling the jars with me after dinner – she especially enjoys using the magnetic wand to fish the lids out of boiling water, and then putting them on the jar.    But she did most of the other parts, too – filling them (all I did was pack it down) with the vegetables, then putting the spices in, and adding the boiling liquid before closing it up.

    It’s still processing in the pressure canner as I write, and I have two large pots full waiting to be cooked, and one cooked pot full – and we enjoyed a large amount of it with dinner as a side dish.  It’s good that it’s so yummy, because it’s worth the work.  I’m thinking that maybe I’ll can what is left tomorrow, if my day isn’t too hectic (though Fridays usually aren’t the best time for this kind of activity :)).

    Avivah 

  • Environmental violations and venting

    My husband went downtown to appeal an environmental violation we received about two months ago.  We were been fined once for something we didn’t realize was a problem, putting out items behind our garage for bulk trash pick up the day before the truck came (everyone does it, most people put it out several days beforehand) – we were notified that it could only be put out early the morning the pick up was scheduled.  We immediately corrected that, but then a month later were fined again.  I was very exasperated to this time find out were fined for having several small pieces of wood (neatly piled) and a foosball/game table inside our yard.  

    I thought it was absurd, that it just didn’t make sense, and so did people we spoke to; everyone felt we should appeal it.  Yesterday the scheduled hearing took place.  But no luck.  I think the city has no desire to let go of any fine money it can collect, and the judge told my husband that they have the right to fine you for anything left anywhere in your yard except for patio furniture and it’s up to each official’s discretion to determine what is a problem.  How in the world I can keep every toy every minute out of the yard I don’t know.  It seems insane to me.  It’s not like I live in an expensive subdivision with a rigid housing committe – it’s a working class neighborhood.  I think that we have someone new on the job who is really super zealous and/or into her own sense of power.  We were here for two years, doing lots of work in the house which entailed boards and old fixings being removed and stored in the yard until we took them to the dump, staying in the yard longer than I would have liked – but we never got a fine.  And now to be fined over a game table in the corner of my yard leaves me feeling like there’s no way I can win.  

    What I’d really like to do is put up a six foot fence so I don’t have to worry about the person driving by and taking pictures of my yard (part of the back yard is unfenced).  But that isn’t a project I can allocate funds to right now – especially since my husband doesn’t feel the urgency regarding this that I do.  This whole thing left me feeling like I have no privacy, and my privacy is very important to me, so it bothers me more than it would a lot of other people.  And it’s so unpredictable that I can’t figure out how to avoid a fine in the future. 

    Anyway, I have to remind myself that I can’t control other people, I can only do the best I can today.  Sigh.

    Avivah

  • New discovery during a nature hike

    Today I took two of my kids to a nature program in one of the state parks.  They meet every Thursday for 2.5 hours for the month of July.  I decided to sign them up to give the week a bit of structure, so that there would be something special to look forward to each week in addition to whatever other trips and activities I plan. 

    It was a very nice program, though my 9 yo seems to enjoy grumbling about the activities I plan.  I almost don’t hear him anymore, or I just laugh at him when he tells me how bad it was.  Tonight my 7 year old daughter told me she thinks he complains because it’s fun, because they were together at the activities and he was having fun the entire time.  They hiked, played games, did crafts, and learned useful information – and every minute of it is science.

     While they were busy with their activities, the other three kids and I went to the two acre playground just a few minutes walk away.  The 6 year old took the 2 year old around, up and down slides, climbing and jumping up and down the different things available – usually he doesn’t get to play the part of big brother because he has so many older siblings around who do it better than him.  He told me that it was very hard (though having been the youngest for almost 4 years, he has the typical personality of a youngest child, of everything being too much work), but at dinner, when we went around the table and everyone shared the best part of their day, he said taking care of his little brother at the playground was his favorite thing! 

    When we picked up the 7 and 9 year olds, they were excited to share with me one particular piece of information they learned on their hike.  The naturalist pointed out berries that were edible to the group, and mentioned that a lot of people like to can them.  You know that didn’t escape their attention!   A few minutes later, they pointed out the berries, called wineberries.  We spontaneously decided to extend our outing and do some berry picking.  We picked about a quart of berries.  It wasn’t too much when I think of canning them, but when I think of buying a quart of raspberries in the store, it seems like a lot!

    And the picking of the wineberries themselves was like an activity.  I don’t mind spending time on things like this because I treat it like a fun part of the day, not a chore to get through.  They have thorns, though, and my 26 month old had a hard time getting to where the berries were without getting pricked. I ended up spending most of my time finding canes for him to pick from that were isolated from others, so he could reach in without hurting himself.  We’ll pick some next time we go, and hopefully more will be ripe so that we can gather a bunch while we’re out.

    Avivah

  • How to buy in bulk

    I’m so used to mentioning buying in bulk, that I didn’t think about the fact that how to do it might be something some of you aren’t familiar with.

    Most people look to co-op buying to buy in bulk, but I’ve never participated in a co-op.  Their prices are cheaper than health food stores, but they aren’t cheap.  At least all the ones I looked into were pricey.

    Firstly, check your local ethnic stores – I get my rice in 20 lb bags at an Asian store.  I bought a case (24- 1 kilo bags) of buckwheat at the Russian store for much cheaper than I could get it in a health food store.  Things that are considered specialty items in health food stores are basic foods for their clienteles, and priced accordingly.  If you have an LDS storehouse near you, they have things like bulk wheat grains as well as other supplies.  I checked into them but they didn’t have what I needed when I needed it.  I used to buy directly from the bulk distributor that supplied the local health food stores, but then I found that Amish and Mennonite grocery stores carried the kind of things I wanted in bulk at prices that were pretty close to the huge distributor’s price.  It’s still quite a drive but it’s an hour closer, and when I go, I buy a lot.  So now that’s where I buy rolled/quick/steel cut oats, wheat, cornmeal, etc. 

    I stock up on beans and other grains at the regular groceries when they have sales.  I don’t know why, but I’ve always found it cheaper to buy the 1 or 2 lb bags than any bulk sources I’ve been able to find.  I periodically look at prices for 50 lb bags, but they are just too expensive.  I prefer shopping like this anyway, because it allows me to buy a wide variety of beans, instead of a couple of huge bags.

    I buy some veggies in bulk, too.  I once asked the manager of a local vegetable store if I could get a large bag (50 lb) of carrots, since it would be easier for me than bagging all of my own.  Not only did he say yes, but the price was half of what was listed.  I’ve done the same with some other veggies.

    I buy chicken by the case from a local butcher.  A nice perk is that he delivers, so it’s very easy.  I call, he brings it, and all I have to do is stick it in the freezer.

    I buy nuts and dried fruit from a store that sells mostly to resturants but sells their overruns at very cheap prices to the general public.  When I last went, I spent about $28, and got many, many pounds of peanuts and cashews (something like 70 lb, but I can’t remember the breakdown and don’t want to go look in the buckets to figure it out :o).  That’s a pretty typical trip for me.

    Whenever something is being sold for a really good price, I buy a lot of it.  That’s usually at the standard grocery stores.  People regularly ask me if I’m making a party or comments like that when they look in my cart, because I always have an unusually large amount of something.  When I was at the nut store two weeks ago, the woman next to me said, “You’re either making a party or you work in a zoo.”  I told her neither, I just have a large family.  The argument could be made that having a large family is a cross between an ongoing party and living in a zoo, lol!

    I constantly keep my eye open for new sources, and I periodically find them.  A couple of weeks ago I found the wholesale veggie distribution point for all the major and minor stores in the area – and they’ll sell direct to the public for a good price; you don’t even have to buy such large amounts.  I wouldn’t have found it if I hadn’t taken a few extra minutes to drive around (it was very intimidating looking, with dozens of loading docks and 18 wheelers loading up, no other regular buyers like me in sight) and ask if they would sell to me. 

    It took time to find all the places I buy from now.  Google bulk distributors for your area, ask managers at local stores if they will sell to you in bulk (they will – when we were vegetarian I used to buy soy milk by the case from our big box supermarket – they ordered it just for me).  They almost always will, and often you’ll get a discount for doing so.  Don’t assume that if they’ll sell it bulk or discount, they’ll have it posted.  They don’t.  I regularly walk out of certain stores buying things at a price lower than everyone else buying the same stuff, because of the amounts and my willingness to just ask what the discount is when I buy x amount.

    Have fun saving money and stocking your pantry!

    Avivah

  • My relaxing day of quiet

    I saw a good friend on Saturday, and we made plans for me to visit her the next day.  She’s a very good friend, but we don’t see enough of each other, and the idea of visiting her without all the kids in tow sounded appealing, so I decided to skip the trip with the family the next day and unwind with some female bonding. 

    One big part of why I decided not to go with the family to NY/NJ (because my husband took everyone on a day trip to NY after dropping our son off at his camp bus – Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, and then the ferry) was because I was feeling very pressured about the transportation issues involved in getting the three kids to camp in NY, and I just didn’t want to spend a long day driving around.  We had arranged to take our son on Sunday to the camp bus in NJ, a three and a half hour drive for us, and had to be there by noon.  That was doable.  But then I found out that the bus for the girls was leaving two days later from the same city and I had to be there by 8:30 am.  Which would have meant having all of my kids dressed and breakfasted, and out the door by 5 am, and that felt like a LOT of pressure.  (Have I ever mentioned that I’m not an early riser?) 

    The logistics kept changing – I was told I had to have their luggage dropped off two days before, the same day as my son, which I could do since I was already in the area.  But then I couldn’t take the other boy attending the same camp as ds with us, which I had committed to doing, because I would have to take a bench seat out to fit everyone’s luggage.  Then I decided I would just drive them all the way to the Catskills in NY so I could take the boy on Sunday, and take the girls and their luggage at one time on a different day.  And the time and money involved just kept rising.

    But right before I called my friend to confirm that I was on my way, she called me.  She had just realized that they had a prior commitment and it wouldn’t work out.  I was disappointed it didn’t work out, but I was so grateful that I had stayed home anyway.  Quiet time is so crucial.  I had been feeling a lack of it, but I I wouldn’t have voluntarily slowed down enough to just take time for myself to stay home  – but this was the situation I ended up with.  And it’s exactly what I needed.

    So Sunday I had lots of time with just me and the baby.  I can’t tell you how peaceful it was!  I really, really enjoyed it.  In mid morning I had the opportunity to be helpful to a large number of people in a way that was meaningful to me that I couldn’t have done otherwise, and then received a number of calls afterwards from some of those involved, and enjoyed the conversations in a quiet house.  I rested, I went slower than usual – it was very unremarkable and very nice.

    Later in the afternoon, my 11 year old came home, and together we peeled pears and plums.  I’d bought a big basket of pears last week (45 pounds for $10), and they were now starting to ripen and get small soft spots on them, and had some plums in the fridge getting too soft.  We cooked them up into a compote – well, it was mostly pears, so I don’t know if I can call it compote – and canned up five and a half quarts, and a quart of pear syrup (don’t know what I’ll do with it but it was the thick sweet liquid left after all those pears cooked down).  I know that doesn’t sound like a lot of fruit, but it took a lot of pears to make that much cooked fruit!  The baby enjoyed sitting in his high chair and watching us, and it was relaxing to do our work together and chat while we did it.

    We did a couple of other things together, then just had a mellow evening and she told me that she expected to be bored at home with no one else there, but that it had actually been very relaxing and she enjoyed it.  I felt the same way!

    Avivah

  • Having feelings of inadequacy

    It’s been busy getting the older three kids ready for sleep away camp, and then my internet went down all last week, so I’m sorry I haven’t been posting. 

     On Sunday, my husband took 6 of the kids to NJ where the camp to my son’s camp in NY left from.  (There were no buses from my area.)  One daughter decided to stay home because she doesn’t like long drives and had a four hour drive to camp a couple of days later, so she slept over at a friend’s house.  I stayed home with the baby – it was the first time since he was born that I was in a quiet house with just him.  It was so peaceful! 

    My husband connected with his best friend from his teenage years, who he’s kept in sporadic contact with, since he lives in that same city, and they had lunch at his friend’s home.  His friend is the president of a large law firm in Manhattan, and his wife is a school principal.  They have a huge, gorgeous home, spotless in every corner, a full time housekeeper, plenty of money, lots of career satisfaction, are heavily involved in communal positions of responsibility, and have a large family. I’m usually filled with peace and gratitude for the quality of my life, but for some reason, just thinking about their external success left me feeling inadequate and disgruntled with myself.  

    I was pondering why I was letting someone else’s choices have any effect on my feelings about myself, and I realized two things: 1) I was really tired and needed to take a nap. 🙂  Seriously, I get negative when I’m overtired, and it’s amazing how much more balanced I am when I am rested.

    2) I wanted some outside validation that our path is a different kind of success, which I wasn’t getting right then.  I’ve chosen to live in a way that most people don’t, and that means that I often have to be my own cheerleader.  When I’m feeling a need to have someone else build me up, it’s a sign that I need to do some spiritual work, so recognizing what I was feeling helped me refocus on the deeper issue.   When I deal with these things from a position of working on my spirituality and connection to G-d, everything seems to get much clearer and simpler.  It’s so easy to get caught up in comparing our insides to other people’s outsides, and thinking that what we see is all that there is, and forgetting to recognize all that we are.

    I’m really grateful to my husband, who told me that visiting them didn’t bother him at all.  In fact, he said, after visiting them he felt even more appreciative for the life we have, and he thanked me for staying home with our kids and raising them.  He reminded me how fortunate we are to be healthy, have a strong marriage and great kids.  Keeping my mind on what I have keeps me feeling happy, and today, my husband was the one to help me put my mind back where it should be.

    Avivah

  • Canning turkey and other fun things

    I was up late, late, late last night.  Until 3 am.  Because I had so much food to put in the fridge, and not enough room for all of it, I had to take out the two roasted turkeys I cooked the day before. I had deboned them and put the pieces in 9 x 13 pans with the intent to can them as my first canning project the following day.  But I had to accelerate my plans so that the food I had didn’t spoil for lack of refrigeration.

    I’ve been very interested in the idea of canning for quite some time.  This year, I decided I’m going to stop being interested in the idea and learn how to do it!  Four weeks ago, I bought a large number of jars from someone who was downsizing her canning since her sons were in college.  Then two different people from Craig’s List gave me some smaller canning jars.  Two weeks later, the canner I bought on Amazon arrived (Presto 23 quart size).  Several days ago, my mom picked up the canning tools kit that I was still needing.  I checked out canning books from the library and read several to get an idea of what was involved.  Plus I did bunches of online reading. 

    So I was finally ready, and just in time to rescue my food from ruin.  🙂  I had a good bit of trepidation about using a pressure canner – what little I had ever heard about pressure cookers scared me and intimidated me.  But vegetables and meats have to be pressure canned for them to be safely preserved, so there was no way around it.

    Since it was my first time, it was a long process.  First I had to prepare the jars, lids, heat up the turkey until it was hot, prepare stock to pour on top of the turkey – and that was before I started canning anything.  Then I filled each of the jars with turkey pieces, poured stock on top to fill the space, closed them up and when the canner was full, I closed the lid and began exhausting the steam from inside the pot.  That meant boiling it until the steam came out the top, then letting it boil another ten minutes with the steam coming through the vent hole – I think the purpose is to get rid of all the air inside.  But I might be mixed up about the whys of it. 

    Anyway, after that, I put the pressure regulator on top of the vent hole, and watched the dial gauge register the pressure.  It took a few minutes for the pressure to start to build enough for the gauge to register, but it started rising steadily.  Once it hit 11 pounds of pressure, I turned the heat down and kept an eye on it to be sure it didn’t drop below that or go above that.  It took 90 minutes to process once the pressure reached the desired number.  And then when I finally could turn it off, I had to wait for the pressure to totally come down before I could open it.

    So it took a long time.  It wasn’t a lot of hands on time, most of it was in preparing in the beginning, and then needing to be close by to keep an eye on it.  If this was in the middle of the day, it wouldn’t have been such a pain.  But the hour got later and later and I was exhausted before I even started – I started a little before midnight.  While I was waiting for it finish processing, my 13 year old daughter started making mulberry jam.  (I didn’t mention that after a long day of shopping, we came home, unpacked for a half hour and then took my son to his little league baseball game.  Or that right after that, we picked mulberries near the field for a half hour.  And then we finally got home and had a late dinner and eventually put most of the kids to bed before I started all of this.)

    Fruit jams don’t require pressure cooking, they just need a water bath processing.  So since I had to be awake and in the kitchen anyway, after she prepared the jam and filled the jars, I sent her to sleep and put that on the stove to cook as well. 

    When it was finally all done, I had seven quarts of turkey lined up on my counter, along with eight jars of jam.  It was a very satisfying sight.  And especially nice to know that this is food that will stay good indefinitely, regardless of power outtages, and ready for me to use on a busy day.  Not only that, I was able to take advantage of the turkey being on sale, when usually I would be forced to pass it by or buy less because I wouldn’t have had room for it.  So there’s a financial savings in it, too. 

    Tonight I made 5 quarts of dilled carrots, using dill from our garden and baby carrots that I picked up on sale yesterday (5 lb for $2).  Remember the issue I have with insufficient fridge space?  So 8 pounds of baby carrots were transformed into a tasty side dish that won’t need refrigerating until each jar is opened.  It’s very liberating!  I have a 16 quart pot on the stove simmering with stock as I write.  Tomorrow I plan to can large jars of stock.  That way I’ll have smaller amounts whenever I need it to cook with.  I enjoy having an ever present pot of soup or stock simmering on the stove in the winter, but I welcome it less in the summer!

    I’m also planning to can bean soups, beans, and chilis, and if our garden gives us enough produce, then I’ll use the extra to preserve the taste of summer vegetables for the winter.  🙂  Now I need to get lots more jars – I thought when I got 6.5 dozen large, 6.5 dozen medium, and about 5 dozen small that I would have plenty.  But they get filled up very quickly!

    Avivah

  • The great acidophilus find!

    When I went shopping yesterday, I came home loaded down with boxes.  I picked up 2 cases of sweet potatoes (80 lb), 1 case of regular potatoes (50 lb), 1 case of red potatoes (50 lb), 1 case of organic bananas (40 lb), 30 lb of apples and you already read about the boniatos.  I also bought a 50 lb bag of rolled oats, about 20 lb of quick oats, a bunch of organic hard red wheat, and then all the other things, like canned goods.  That’s in addition to the 50 lb of carrots and 50 lb of cabbage that I picked up at the vegetable store a couple of days ago, along with all the other veggies in my order.  (Do you ever wonder how I find a place to store all this?  Trust me, it takes an effort.)

    I also found something in the dairy department that I decided to buy because it was such a good price, even though I wasn’t sure what it was.  I told my kids I was sure it was something that was usually very expensive, though!  It said Bio-K Plus, dairy culture.  No instructions on how to use it, just the ingredients and that it was packed with acidophilus.  A case of 12 boxes was $3, so I bought a box.  It didn’t look very appealing and I figured no one was buying it because no one knew what it was.  Even the cashier asked me what it was when I checked out.  After we packed everything into the van, I decided to pop back in and buy another case.  I knew that whatever it was, it was a good buy and I didn’t want to kick myself when I got home that I didn’t buy more. My main concern was where I would put it, since I only have one regular sized refrigerator.  

    When I got home, I googled (told you I love Google) Bio-K to see what this stuff was.  Well.  I found out that it is a very pricey nutritional supplement used to improve the health of the digestive system, in a yogurt like form, but very potent.  Each 3.5 oz container is equivalent to the acidophilus in 100 3.5 oz servings of plain yogurt.  Then I looked at the price – a box of six little bottles was $25.  And I had 12 of those boxes in one case!  And two cases of it! 

    I didn’t do the math, my kids did.  They informed me that it would have cost a bit over $600 dollars had I bought them at market value, instead of for $6.  Quite a savings, don’t you think?!? 

    So you might be wondering, why was it so cheap?  Was something wrong with it?  No, nothing was wrong with it, except that it was very close to the expiration date.  The way this store works is they buy truckloads of food items from various stores.  Sometimes things come through and whoever is pricing it doesn’t know what it is.  So they price it according to whatever they suppose it is.  In this case, they priced it the way they would a case of six containers of yogurt, and put it next to the yogurts. 

    I’ve already started giving it to the kids.  Digestive health is the most crucial aspect of health, since if your digestion and absorption aren’t efficient, then it can manifest itself in ill health in other seemingly unrelated areas.  It will be interesting to see if we notice any visible improvements to our health, but whether we notice it or not, it’s logical to me that it will be helpful for us.  So that was a nice find.  🙂

    Avivah

  • Boniato bonanza!

    Yesterday I did my huge monthly shopping trip, and came home with oodles of good stuff.  I really enjoy shopping for food and coming home with my bundles and boxes to take care of my family with – my husband says he’s glad he married someone who gets so much pleasure out of food shopping for the family.  I’m easy to entertain.  🙂

    At one of my favorite stores (a grocery outlet), there was a box that said, “Everything in this box is 25 cents a pound.”  I looked in the box, but didn’t recognize the vegetable inside, so I went over to the woman in charge of the vegetable section of the store and asked what it was.  She told me she didn’t know, but someone told her it was something like a sweet potato.  I asked them how much it would be if I bought a case (I think she’s getting used to me asking this, lol), and they said $7.50.  I figured for that price I should try it, and then when the young lady was helping me with the case, she heaped it full of lots more of them, so I ended up with at least 60 pounds (if my math was right, that’s less than .13 a lb!). 

    It looked vaguely familiar to me from an Asian vegetable store that I periodically stop in at, where I know it sells for $1 lb.  I didn’t know what it was called, but noticed a produce sticker on it that said ‘boniato’.  It didn’t ring a bell, so I googled it (I LOVE Google – I use it all the time), and came up with some information on how to store it, cook it, and some recipes.  It seems it’s more perishable than sweet potatoes, and they turn brown quickly when you peel them, so I peeled fast and kept a large bowl of water next to me to pop them into right away.  I prepared boniato pudding and served it for dinner – it was a mixture of shredded boniato (less sweet than a sweet potato and more starchy), milk, sweetener, coconut, eggs, and spices.  Except for the sugar it was filled with good stuff, and I used raw sugar and halved the amount it called for.  The kids gobbled it up.  I made two very full 9 x 13 pans, and they only ate one pan full, so I’ll give them the second one for breakfast tomorrow. 

    It’s fun to find new things to cook with and especially to do it on a lean budget!

    Avivah

  • Is driving a scooter a good option?

    Many of you know me from other places, so you remember that three years ago we converted a mini school bus to run on waste vegetable oil.  That was a successful experience that we all enjoyed, but we (sniff) sold the van last winter.  When we were driving the veggie van, I enjoyed watching the gas prices climb, feeling that the higher they went, the better an investment our van had been.  But since it’s no longer with us, my husband and I are discussing strategies to limit our dependence on a vehicle. 

    Why?  Well, obviously, gas prices are high, and in my opinion, they are going to continue steadily rising due to the limited nature of oil and the ever increasing demand from various countries that until now haven’t used much.  We already employ most of the strategies I hear suggested for saving on transportation costs: we have only one vehicle, we drive it as little as we need to, my husband carpools or takes public transportation to work all but one day a week (when those options aren’t available), we carpool my son to high school, I do one food shopping trip a month, and bunch all my errands as much as possible.  And we still are spending over $300 monthly on gas.

    So what to do?  I feel like it’s going to take something more drastic to make any difference, as the increasing costs of gas are outpacing whatever we may save by cutting back, so that we’re hardly managing to stay ahead of costs.  I thought about buying another mini school bus to convert, and spoke to the manager of the company we purchased from before, but the costs are much higher now than they were. 

    My husband didn’t like that idea, anyway.  He feels that we need to stop looking for cheaper ways to drive and instead, develop a different paradigm regarding getting where we need to go.  Things like, not automatically assuming the only way to get anywhere is a car – walking, taking a bus, staying home more.

    We spoke seriously as a family about the possibility of getting rid of our van, and as much as we liked that idea, it isn’t viable for us right now.  We live in an area where some things are walking distance, but not most.  The main things we need a vehicle for are: carpool for son, husband takes it to work one day a week, and shopping.  We considered paying someone to take our son to school, renting a van once a month to do all the shopping, walking more as a family and taking public transportation when we wanted to take a trip – but the numbers just don’t work.  If we paid someone to take our son to school (six trips/three roundtrip daily – current rate is $80 one way), that alone would cost almost as much as we spend in gas and insurance (we don’t have a car payment). 

    We’re looking into scooters as an option for my husband to use for his commute.  He has a 40 mile drive, in one direction, and replacing his driving even one day with a scooter would be a big help.  Scooters with motors under a certain size don’t require a special license or insurance, but they also aren’t allowed on roads that have speeds of over 45 mph.  So driving on the highway would be out.  My husband borrowed a scooter from a friend yesterday, to see how driving around feels, and is planning to take it to work tomorrow and see if the drive is manageable.  It is very cool looking, and he so far enjoyed zipping around with it.  For his commute, he mapped out a route that will take him along slower roads, so the drive will take much longer than usual.  It might be fun for a while, but a two hour drive in the outdoors isn’t something that seems that it will work long term. 

    For short commutes of 10 miles or less, though, I think scooters are the way to go.  They’re inexpensive to buy, very good on gas (about 70 – 100 mpg), and just right for when one person needs to get somewhere.  I’ll let you know how it works out!

    Avivah