Small Changes: Butter is Better

We have really reduced our garbage output but I have really want to reduce the amount of things we need to recycle. Even though plastics get recycled, the processing of the plastic and the transportation of the plastic to the processing plants requires so much fossil fuels. I am determined to reduce the amount of plastic going into the recycling bin.

I was at Costco one day and I saw a fellow walking around with 3 bricks of butter in a clear plastic bag. My first thought was, there is a big reduction in packaging. I thought about switching from margarine and their containers to butter wrapped in foil. So simple and so much plastic use would be avoided.

I thought to myself, why didn't I think of this earlier? I realized that I had gotten into a margarine habit, leftover from when I was allergic to milk products and had to use a kosher, completely dairy free, margarine rather than feel like I had squirrels running through my intestines. Avoiding all milk products for 10 years gave my body the time it took to stop thinking of milk as a poison and then I was able to use it, and butter again.

Since then I guess I avoided using butter because I still had the 'margarine is better for you' campaign in my distant memory. I couldn't remember why it was supposed to be better or why butter was supposed to be bad. I thought about butter being just stirred cream and how margarine was a mixture of oils greatly processed. I thought of the factories that produced each product and although I have never toured either, I know intuitively that butter requires less processing, less land and machinery. If I bought organic butter, then even the humane treatment of cows could be confirmed.

So I made the switch to butter and I put it in an old margarine container. My next step was to find a permanent butter dish. I thought about buying a nice butter dish, but thought about it being shipped around the world to me, and I got suspicious about the ethical treatment of the workers in a far off factory. I thought about using an old silver butter dish but didn't have the time or childcare to go digging in an antique store in town. I thought about buying something on line, but then kept thinking about local. Also I think a silver butter dish would show little finger prints and I didn't want to use chemicals to polish it. I thought that maybe getting a clay butter dish from a local market might be good in support of local artists or artisans.

On the weekend at the farmer's market, I took a look around. I found a booth with a woman selling clay butter dishes and remembered that clay is found in Alberta all around the bad lands area, Medicine Hat being famous for clay products. Getting a dish made from local materials fit my bill. 

The butter dish she sold was called a French Butter Dish, French Butter Keeper, or Butter Crock. It is an old French method of storing butter without refrigeration by putting butter in a deep lid and putting the lid in a bowl of water. The water keeps the butter from the air, helping it to stay fresher longer. The butter stays at a spreadable temperature at all times so it is easy to use. Upkeep is as simple as changing the water everyday for freshness.

Tips: make sure you can pick up the lid with one hand, resist the urge to get a bigger butter dish.

Permaculture Principles:

1. Observe & Interact:

Making small changes that work for your family take observation as to what you and your family need and desire. This was an easy switch for my family. When we started talking about food choices, it turned out that the older members preferred butter over margarine anyway.

6. Produce No Waste:

It is a small change to stop buying margarine and their plastic containers, but over a year, we were really using a lot. If you smashed them up and put them in the ocean, their effects could be devastating. I will consider the worst case scenario when thinking about the consequences of my shopping choices. Charles Moore on the Great Pacific Plastic Garbage Patch 

 9. Use Small & Slow Solutions:

Blogging about butter may not seem like the beginning of world peace and fixing the environment, but if more people look at cumulative little changes they can make to reduce fossil fuel use and low tech solutions, I am confident that it will make a big difference.