low impact week day 3: lazy sundays

lazy sundays. don't you love them? the NO NEW PLASTIC pledge took a couple of hits today - the cap on the glass milk jars i get are plastic, for one thing. for another, i needed provisions for a morning meeting. mostly, hand-eating fruits aren't appropriate for meetings. who's going to wolf down a peach while making notes on the agenda? so i got a few bananas, caved and got grapes in a plastic (reusable!) bag, and resigned myself to paper plates wrapped in plastic. non-coated paper plates. no plastic utensils should be necessary. also bought a sweet pepper plant and two basils, both in plastic containers. geez. should be able to reuse those, too. i've gotten a few comments down below about paper vs. cloth for hand-drying in the bathroom. we're not going to get into paper vs. cloth for any other bathroom purposes (imagine trying to talk your partner into THAT). this leads me to another paper towel question i'd love to get an opinion on: what about using paper vs. cloth for oily cleanup jobs, i.e., spills or wiping up a cast iron cooking implement. you aren't supposed to put oily things in the washer/dryer, correct? or is it just the dryer? (i could just take 5 steps into the kitchen and look. let's see.) my washer says not to put any flammable liquids in the washer or dryer, and no oils at all in the dryer, including cooking oils. so if you don't use paper towels, how do you clean off your cast iron pot? just don't dry those towels? another question: if i can buy a quart of local indiana milk, or a half-gallon of iowa milk, what's the most eco-friendly option? with the half-gallon, it's traveling farther, but i'll use half as many containers. the local company does not take its bottles back. speaking of dairy. check out the successful product of my first ice cream making session yesterday! it was as good as it looks. i tend to be a little dramatic about my cooking, so i waited until we were done to tell brian that it was homemade. he was impressed, then said, "that explains why you were taking pictures of it." he thought i was just being especially weird. i don't blame him.