Chamberlain Coffee Thoughts
For those who might not know, Chamberlain Coffee is a line of coffees from Emma Chamberlain, who’s Youtuber I honestly know next to nothing about. I’m not into Youtubers. The only reason I ended up with this box of coffee is that I needed something I could travel with for a weekend of hiking and cabin-sleeping.
And, those purposes it served well. It’s not the greatest coffee in the world, but if you don’t add more than the recommended 8 oz of water to your mug with the steeping bag, you’ll be fine.
You get caffeinated, and you don’t have to pack any coffee-making apparatuses. You just need to be able to boil water. Plus, the art on the boxes and bags is cute and the stuff’s supposedly compostable.
(say that three times fast: supposedly compostable, supposedly compostable, supposedly compostable)
My one real qualm is that on the box, it suggests you check out http://www.chamberlaincoffee.com/packaging, which isn’t a page that exists anymore, and I want to know more about how sustainable this packaging really is! Not that I’d just trust her own website, but it’d at least be a good starting point. Don’t lie to me, box.
At least when you go on the site, this enjoyable image comes up. You’re good-looking, Emma, and I’d like to know where you got that top because I’d like one.
And speaking of compost…
It’s finally time I started composting. Supposedly the city’s going to get us compost containers, but we’re still waiting on aforepromised recyclying bins, so. I’m not hopeful.
My plan is to use my old, plastic flip-top garbage can as an outdoor compost bin once we get a new garbage can. I’ll drill small holes into it so that I can phone-tie it to the fence outside, and I can remove the flip-top so that the compost contents gets air and water. Then I’ll start filling it with compostable items! The entire endeavor should cost me under $20; don’t worry, there’ll be a post.
The concerns here are going to be (a) avoiding trouble with my landlord and (b) avoiding little mousey pests, although I was given the advice that as long as no animal scraps are put in compost (which should be easy, as I’m mainly vegetarian and don’t cook meat at home) this shouldn’t be an issue.
Winterizing
This has been the first time I’ve really needed to winterize, as my plants where I used to live had homes that didn’t really get all that affected by winter weather. Based on the research I did as winter befell us, it seems most of my plants should be fine with just some supplemental light and updated watering schedules. I think that’s the most important thing, which most people don’t realize: Winter. Means. Updated. Watering. Schedules. My cacti and [adult] succulents receive water about once a month, tops, now that it’s cold, and I’ve slowed down or fully stopped fertilizing all of my other plants. I’m new at winterizing, so we’ll see how this goes, but thus far it seems to be working!
My hope is to do an update as spring approaches to see how it went after winter heads on its merry way out the door.
Echeveria Healing
It took (a) used coffee grounds about every other week, (b) carefully-planned watering, (c) a moisture/pH/light meter, and (d) loving pruning to get this guy healthy and succulent again. And it was worth it! Although the soil doesn’t seem to actually be at perfect pH levels for an echeveria, look how happy this guy looks! You can see how thick the leaves are looking and how much better his color is than it was. He’s still in his same southern window, with supplemented light as needed for the winter from a trio of grow lights.
Spider Plants, The Octet
A wonderful coworker of mine gave me a big spider plant – and it was the smallest one they had from their propagates! (If you don’t already know, spider plants grow like crazy – they’re truly amazing and resiliant.) The spider plant also came with 8 spiderettes, which are now nestled about in odd corners of my apartment, getting (hopefully) bright, indirect sunlight and the right amount of water.
Interestingly, as I was soil-potting my newest celery baby today I found a spiderette I’d somehow missed, buried in my potting soil bag! It now has a home in a repurposed bubble gum machine.
What’s to Come
As mentioned in a previous post, I recently entered a poetry contest. For a long time I’ve just been not able to read my own poetry to the point where I rarely talked about or thought about having published a book of poetry; that’s starting to change for me as I realize that I can be who I am, whoever that is, and enjoy writing poetry and just documenting existence. I’m realizing it doesn’t matter if I win contests or get noticed – the writing itself is enough for me, and the sharing in the hope that someone out there realizes the little things of their existence can matter, too, even if just to them. I think it’s time, too, that I order some author copies of that old poetry book o’ mine and drop them off at our local bookstore. The shop’s just so welcoming, and has a whole big poetry shelf and another shelf for local authors right up front – I feel like they might welcome my work there, and I’d appreciate that greatly.
Another I’m-finally-going-to-do-this-thing thought for 2022: diving. It’s time I get my a** out of my swivel chair and work on the SCUBA cert I’ve wanted for the past 3 years now. I’m hoping I can document my learning experience here on Urban Hab.
Oh, and guess what…
That’s right, I’ve been getting into some design lately and want to make some Urban Hab stickers! Plus, some zines, and likely/possibly an etsy shop (because that’s an easier setup than selling directly from here, trust me.) With earnings from li’l stuff like stickers, chapbooks, and zines, I can fund my love of plants and my love of art and my love of financial security.
So, with that, may you have a lovely holiday season and a very happy start to your new year.
Peace.
✿
Urban Habitat 
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