The Eco Dad

After a roughly three month hiatus, I'm back. I can't say too much has changed. My vegan challenge for the month of March has, well, solidified. Originally a thirty day challenge, it's become a way of life. I've managed to maintain my body mass while feeling lighter. It's hard to explain, but I attribute it to my calories coming from plants as opposed to meat and dairy. I've even managed to increase some of the weights I lift in the ol' garage gym. Not bad. No one cares about your protein intake until you become a vegan. I'm still fixin' and repairing things rather than buying new. I've bought the odd piece of new clothes - a bathing suit, a pair of shorts, but not much else. I haven't lost sight of what's important. I'd rather spend money on quality food, travel with the family and not spend it on those things that really don't matter. This old iPhone4 of mine DEFINITELY matters. 😂 Moving forward I'd li...

Well, it was inevitable - new clothes. I haven't grown tired of thrifting. In fact I was at a thrift store just last weekend. I needed to get my kid some new (used) snow pants, but I also grabbed him an airplane to pack full of rescue vehicles and my other son got a pack of dinosaurs which he hasn't stopped playing with because he has a dinosaur obsession right now. We have plenty of toys to purge and we managed to get rid of some excess Christmas stuff by simply returning it. Thank Christ for returns! I digress.  I purchased new clothes, but did so from a local Canadian company that manufactures right here in Canada. Their name? Ungalli. How is that sustainable, besides cutting the carbon of transporting? I'm glad you asked. They recycle plastic bottles into clothing. Yes, 1 Ungalli t-shirt saves 10 plastic bottles from landfill. That same shirt takes 25 litres of water to make versus 2720 litres of water for a standard shirt. That's just for a t-shirt. I also hav...

Jumping right into things, I've decided to use January as a prep month for February and March. I figure I was a week in when I finally came up with the idea of doing monthly challenges and there's nothing wrong with maintaining my momentum of 2017 for the first month of 2018. That said, I've gone and purchased a used heavy punching bag to help me out with my 2018 goals. See what I did there? It's like 2017 all over again. For February I've decided to tackle two (2) challenges. The first challenge is called "Dry February," and it's going booze-free for the month to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society. Want to contribute to fighting cancer? Feel free to click  here . That's February challenge #1. The second challenge will be an eight (8) week contest of sorts with supplement company 1st Phorm. Technically it starts January 22, 2018, but it'll run all through February and most of March. I said I was going to do it last year, and while I...

It's now May and I haven't blogged in a bit. I don't really have a valid reason for it. I missed Earth Day, which you figure any eco blog would recognize. I stand by my "irregularly updated" disclaimer. 😏  Besides, shouldn't Earth Day be every day? Is this blog really belated if I believe that? Well, it's not like I didn't do anything for Earth Day. I made a point of taking my boys out for a good old fashioned, unorganized, impromptu neighborhood makeover. We took out our garbage pickers, some garbage bags and had at 'er. It's like a game to them - see who can pick up the most trash. Their motives may be to win a competition, but the end result is a couple of garbage bags worth of litter off the street. It also gets them in the habit of looking after their environment. Hopefully seeing their dad do it too means they recognize you're never too old to clean your street. The family that picks together, sticks together? They genuine...

I know I haven't been writing lately. That shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given the preamble of this site ... pretty sure I said it would be irregularly updated. I am trying, though, to avoid that irregularity. So, what's new? I've managed to find a used strop and honing stone for my straight razor! I'm actually really excited about that. I've been looking for a used strop, but everything I came across was new. Sharpening stones were uber expensive too. I guess I didn't really search too hard as I have a cartridge or two of disposable razor refills left. Just figured I'd use those before the switch. That sorta falls under the ol' saying "waste not, want not." Is it me, or did it just get manlier in here? As a bonus, the purchased lot came with three straight razors, so I'll practice my honing and stropping skills on those ones. I don't want to ruin my awesome vintage razor. I quite imagine there will be a lot of blo...