Lisa Therrell

Today I ended the Ecochallenge by working in the garden almost all day.  Over the last couple weeks I built 3 new raised beds.  Today I planted heirloom black garbanzos in the first bed.  Nice.

Hey team!  Only 2 days left in the Ecochallenge.  Did you know that you can go back by one day to record your entries?  Go to www.ncw.ecochallenge.org

being on the road has made the Ecochallenge difficult.  But I did ride my bike all day today!  What fun that was...

Still in Spokane.  Hard to eat organic, because I eat what is put in front of me at the ELCA Lutheran synod assembly.  Feeling grateful to participate in the life of our Eastern Washington - Idaho Synod at this historic moment where we elected our first female bishop.  We are meeting right on the river, so each day has afforded a glorious walk near the mighty cascading falls of the Spokane River. 

Another day in Spokane.  Tomorrow I host a breakfast meeting to start a synod-wide Earthkeeping  committee, with the idea of planning 2 synod workshops.  Hopefully that will be a positive action to get others taking action regarding climate change.  Too tired to write coherently!  Keep it up, everybody!  Thanks for being part of my tribe.

Hey there team-- I'm not seeing how to send you all an email.  Now that the weekend is almost here, its a good time to review your goals and see how  to step up your efforts.  Thanks Stacey and Tobin for joining our team!  You get points for checking in daily, accomplishment of your goals, AND adding a message like I am doing here.  Thanks Gro, for your daily posts!  It's fun to see how we are all doing as we try to integrate new things into day to day life.  Go Team WRI!

I am in Spokane for four days of meetings.  So I am not working in the garden, or eating organic meals.  But I did go for a really nice walk along the Spokane River, which is gloriously full of high water right now.  The downtown paths take you through parks along the river, including the powerful Spokane Falls.  I got to walk and talk with a respected colleague, which was super helpful for more current volunteer efforts.  Life is good!  I also took the Wenatchee Valley Shuttle to Spokane.  Even though that isn't one of my challenge items, it was really great to not have to drive to Spokane.  I had a great talk on the shuttle with a woman who is way into bicycle adventures (near and dear to my own heart) and the shuttle driver had time to take me right to my door at the downtown DoubleTree Inn.

Well, I didn't really set out to volunteer 40 hours in just 5 days.  But that is what happened!  I'm tired, with lots more volunteer commitments to go in the next week!  Off to Spokane and Kellog.  It will be harder to meet these challenges while on the road.

Day 4 of the NCW Ecochallenge.  Today went pretty well.  Just a couple hiccups.  It was too rainy to garden today.  And I ended up with a plastic fork that I didn't want!  The best part was a walk on the Loop Trail.  I parked off 19th Street on the East Wenatchee side and walked upstream.  The PUD is really spilling water over the dam, so the current is swift and the water is way up into the cottonwoods.  An exciting time to be down there!

Yesterday was the first day of the NCW Ecochallenge.  I was on a road trip all day, and boy howdy, did that make it hard!  I was very focused on not buying plastic.  I had my reusable travel mug and water bottle, so that was easy.  I declined drinking a beverage at a meeting I attended because all the glasses were throw away plastic.  Who knows!  Maybe the hosts would wash and reuse those, but I couldn't be sure.  My breakfast was NOT organic (Best Western free breakfast.)  Nor was my lunch.  I went into a QFC trying to think of something I could get for lunch that didn't involve plastic.  Hmm.  Maybe there would be chips in a paper bag!  I bought a bag of tortilla chips, not organic, but the only kind not packaged in plastic, or so I thought.  Oh no!  The inside of the paper bag was coated in plastic!!  I can't beat myself up for that, but it was instructional. After perusing all the plastic beverage containers looking for iced tea, I bought an Arizona iced tea in an aluminum can.  After I drank the whole thing, it occurred to me that I have also given up processed sugar for two weeks.  Blew that one!  Which brought up another point.  Could I find healthy meals on the road AND not buy plastic or sugar?  I did better on my way home.  I stopped at Puget Consumer's Co-op in Edmonds, and was able to get a nice chicken salad from the deli, packed in a cardboard container.  Yea!  But I had to ask for that.  The default container in the store is plastic.  I also didn't get in my 30 minutes of exercise, or a social media post.  Today I did much better, but still not quite in the groove.