My Best Kept Secret?

I grew up in a middle class home with two working professional parents - until they split up. My mom was an avid second hand store shopper. There was  “new” - new to me – and then there was “new brand new” - which meant it still had the tags attached to the item. 

I am always in favor of a good bargain. I love the thrill of a good find at the thrift store, a valid online coupon code, additional % off an already ridiculous sale, and a good bargain at a garage sale.

Here might be one of my best kept secrets: The Gross Out (or as you may know it, The Grocery Outlet).

Please don't stop reading...just give it a chance.

What is the Gross Out (GO)?The premise is simple: "We offer brand name products at 40% to 60% below traditional retailers. Our offering is wide: groceries, frozen, deli & refrigerated, produce, fresh meat (selected stores), general merchandise — seasonal products, housewares, toys, and gifts — health & beauty, and a most impressive inventory of beer & wine. Our buyers shop the nation and the world by traveling thousands of miles each year just so we can offer the best brand-named products for less than you would pay conventionally. We love to save you money."

I can't remember what pushed me through the door for the first time. It might have been as simple as the word 'outlet.' But I had never shopped a 'food' outlet before. (Don't get me wrong, I am the first to pick up the orange stickered groceries at Raley's if they are something we use or eat).

They carry a wide variety of stuff: personal products, household cleaners and supplies, candles, dry goods, meats, and dairy for example. If you are bargain shopper like me, it can easily become overwhelming and drive up your bill or cause you to over shop. I have learned many lessons and I am about to share them with you.

The first rule of GO: check all expiration dates! I can't tell you how frustrating it is to buy a cereal to find that it has expired two days before. And yes, there are many products that are still on the shelves that have past expiration dates. I am a stickler for dates. Milk won't touch these lips within 12 hours of the expiration date. It is just how I am. Here is a link for those that may be a bit more lax when it comes to dates.

My first stop is the personal product aisle. If you know me, you know that I am particular about what goes in and on our bodies. I am always trying (reality is that we can't always have the best and healthiest) to look for products that are toxin free - parabens and sulfates are readily labeled these days. I haven't figured out why, but the GO carries a number of 'greener' or 'less toxic' products. Can you go in and buy your&Pureology Hydrate Antifade Complex Shampoo? No. Sometimes you will find an abundance of a particular brand, but most often the products are ever changing. But this week, I found Burt's Bees Shampoo and Conditioner  as I particularly went for shampoo and conditioner.  I have found dozens of great lotions, bubble baths, deodorants, and even vitamins in this section. The bigger find this year was a safer sunscreen that I know I saved at least 50% on! (Suncreen is pricey!)

   

Next, I hit the household cleaners. There is often at least a few good items in there. Currently, they have Green Works wipes available (Sparks as of Saturday). But there is also a natural Martha Stewart dishwasher detergent. I won't buy it again as I was not happy with the product. BUT I paid a decent price from at the GO and don't mind that I tried it. (I might note here that you have to be open to change, diversity, and the fact that we are not always happy with new products).

Dry goods. We have found great deals on cereal! Again, watch dates. All natural, no high fructose corn syrup, organic cereals. At the GO. Organic is a very prominent word (again, I haven't quite figured out the reason here) in a number of aisles at the GO. 

Frozen foods have also been a place of great success - and yucky realizations. I don't buy the frozen meats. It is one of those items you can tell by sight may not be a good idea. Check those vegetables and potatoes. If it feels like a huge clump of ice, probably not going to be very good. Ice creams. I love Soy Delicious after finding it in the frozen section at GO. 

And finally CHEESE. Yes, this needs to be capitalized. I love cheese. And the GO had some awesome choices. Goat, cheddar, Irish Cheddar, parmesan, gouda, string, shredded, crumbled, bleu...all sort of cheese! Again - check the dates! I picked up this pretty thing this weekend with an expiration date of 2013. 

Things I have bought at the GO: recycled aluminum foil, fruit snacks, wine, cereal, soy milk, tea, vitamins, shampoos, conditioners, frozen meals, cheese, nuts, salad dressings, and more.

Things I often avoid or don't bother looking at: produce, meats (I have made exceptions), frozen meats (I will never make an exception), wine (I have been disappointed a few times), breads, and other fresher items. 

How do I make this work with a list? I don't often. I usually stop here before my big shops to go through for those things that we often need but not anything in particular - cheese, cereals, snacks, and personal products. 

And they always tell you the sweetest words as you are leaving, " you have saved....."

How Do You Spell a Chicken Noise?

About two years ago, I had (another) crazy idea that I presented to Marc. "Let's get chickens," I said. Frankly, I expected his typical brush off, and may have, only to have him come back at me with a yes. After his research of course. (Suggestions and learning experiences at end of blog)

Friends of ours with chickens passed along 4 chicks with the reminder that we were not sure of the sexes yet (we didn't want any roosters). We were not too concerned with the types of chickens either. We did attempt to sex them. They stayed inside the garage under a heat lamp for quite a while. It gave us time to build a coop (thanks to some help from said friends). They were adorable, fluffy little things! Chicken, Mary, Flower, and ___ all lived happily in the cardboard box until it was time to move them outside. After a period of time, we had eggs! We also had a rooster, ___. (The rooster's name will come to me).

One evening we came home and Marc went out to close up the chicken coop as we did then to keep out any predators. We had no idea that he would soon find the first predator had hit and lived in our very own house. Our dog, Cina, had gotten into the coop or made access for chickens to get out. Chicken massacre. We were devastated. I can't tell you how awful the look on Marc's face was or how heartbroken I was to watch Lola curl up in her grandfather's arms and cry. We found two but with no sunlight, we couldn't find the rooster or the 3rd hen. In the morning, we found the hen partially buried, but there was still no sign of the rooster. I was absolutely baffled. Where does a rooster go? Could she have eaten it completely?

I remember having coffee on our back deck and pondering the idea of a rooster clearing the 6 foot fence. Where on earth could that rooster be? At some point I heard a noise, crawled to peek beneath the deck and there he was. Bastard. I mean really, leaving the ladies behind and running for cover. He was unharmed, came out for a handful of scratch and he went back to live in the coop.

The researcher in Marc immediately went looking for replacements. As we were not as inclined to have to go through the whole chick growing again, we found a women in South Reno who sold pullets, young hens. We arrived, picked out 4 hens, and brought home Chicken (the 2nd), Babes, Hefe, and Porter. We also reinforced the coop. We added extra fencing and buried it deeper to avoid the dog digging.

The rooster soon began to crow and started getting a bit aggressive with the other chickens. I was lucky enough to have a friend take him for me and he now lives happily (last we knew) out at Girl Farm. We were fine with him being butchered, but apparently the breed was not good meat.

We have had a few issues over the past couple of years: pecking order, brooding, molting, etc. We lost one chicken that was bullied out and faced a fate of death with another dog at another location. We also adopted two more chickens, Honey and Flower (the 2nd).

We get anywhere from 1-5 eggs a day depending on the time of year and the weather. We sell a couple of dozen on occasion which helps with feed and scratch. I will be honest - Marc is the farmer and does most of the work. The coop is cleaned out once a week - the actual house - and their yard about once a month, depending on time of year. They are a little stinky, attract flies like crazy, eat almost everything we give them, and make cute chicken noises (which I don't know how to spell).

Here are a few things that we have learned:

• Dogs are instinctual and some not trustworthy. 
• There is really a pecking order. It can be blamed on a lot of things but I think ours was boredom. There are ointments to put on chickens to avoid it and we found it did work. However, if blood is drawn, they will not stop and go at the weak one. We luckily pulled ours out before she was hurt too badly. Suggestions for boredom include a hanging head of cauliflower or broccoli, balls, and more. We let them roam (with dog in the house), feed them a lot of scraps, and in hotter times, spray rivers of water into the coop.
• They will ruin the area they live on. No grass, weeds, or anything grows in the coop. 
• The brooding is happening with one hen in particular. She wants to sit on her eggs and gets very defensive when you try to go into grab the laid eggs. Babes has been in isolation twice - a dog crate with her own food and water - until she gets it out of her system. I think we will give her one more time and then off with her head. We won't be the ones doing it and I hope she is at least a breed of good meat.
• We did not easily throw in adopted chickens. They need to be introduced properly or the chickens will attack the outsiders. We built a temporary coop up against the current one and then snuck the new chickens in at night while the others were sleeping.
• The chickens sleep and rise with the sun. They have two roosting bars in the hen house and two laying boxes. All of the hens lay in one box.
• We have learned a lot. We have called on other friends with chickens, asked Google, and Marc bought  a few books but prefers Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens. 
• As far as I know, chickens are not allowed in the City of Sparks. In Reno, I am told that you can have  up to 20 and that roosters are prohibited. (The link I attached shows otherwise)

We love them, the kids love them, and they are very fun to have. And frankly, you will never taste a better egg than one fresh from your backyard. 

Forever Green

It has been 591 days since the doors closed at EcoReno. We are still here. We are still part of this community. And the reason for the blog, I am still stumbling upon, learning, advocating, adapting, eating, using, living, raising a family with a variety of green or local or healthy or whatever else that may be a better choice for my family and our environment.
I miss sharing the information. I miss being the resource. So here it is. Here I am.
I don't have some great product off the bat. Not a movement to share. But here are some highlights of items, tips, lessons, etc that I have encountered and have led me to this...this blog that I hope will be a resource and tool that you can use:

• I have stainless steel straw that was sent to me with an order when the store was open. I never thought much of it as I am not an avid straw user. I am now! It is so cool! Never breaks down, keeps it shape, easy to wash, and is forever usable:  http://www.onyxcontainers.com/default.aspx? We had carried a variety of items from this site and they were great. Support them if you are interested!

• City of Reno is talking about single stream recycling. Finally. Here is a link to Waste Management:  http://www.truckeemeadowsrecycling.com/ for more information. Want it? Talk to your city council - including those you may be supporting in November.

• The garden is even more successful this year than ever. The key is a timer and adequate drip system. Hey, I am proud to say that we are at least raising some of our own food. Along with the chickens (we have 5 and I will blog more on this subject soon), it is a really rewarding feeling and it sure does taste better!

• Miss Charlie's Soap? You can still find it locally! Once Upon a Child now located next to Whole Foods on South Virginia carries it! I have also found it at my local Raley's.

• Want to reminisce? You can still go check our The Sleep Shop that is still located at 1095 S. Virginia St. Marc and I finally bought a new mattress - I have never slept better and in less toxins! Oh, and my pillow! 

I am here for questions or comments. There is so much more to come. So much is really happening! BPA is actually being addressed and removed from baby products. A step is a step and I will take it over nothing.

Leave your questions and comments. I hope that I can help or at least keep you entertained....and educated!