Melanie Jade Rummel

This article was written by Melanie Jade Rummel. Melanie Jade and her husband, Mark, dedicated one year of their lives to learning about plastic, its environmental impact, and how they could reduce or eliminate non-essential uses of plastic in their lives. Join them for this year of discovery, revolution, and reinvention! Learn more about the project.

Greetings from England!

Posted by Melanie Jade Rummel 9 Responses »

Jul 282010

Hello Friends! As you may know by now, we’re on our honeymoon in Europe! We’ve been to Ireland… Scotland… And now we’re in England in the Lake District. . . I’m typing this on Mark’s iPhone, so hopefully everything shows up well and the photos are not too big. Anyhoo, the plane ride was the biggest plastic shock we’ve had. It’s been several years since I’ve eaten on a plane, and everything was in plastic. EVERYTHING! We brought our own utensils and snacks, but it wasn’t enough for the 8 hour flight. We’re not into starving ourselves, so we ate [Continue Reading...]

Eco-friendly Aspects of Our Wedding

Posted by Melanie Jade Rummel 5 Responses »

Jul 102010

Hello Friends! I realized last night that I forgot to mention all the eco-friendly aspects of our wedding. Ha! I was just enjoying sharing the pics. So here’s a list of some of the decisions we made to have an eco-friendly celebration: I made my dress from a duvet cover from goodwill. I drew the pattern for my top on junk mail paper. Our rings are made from recycled silver. We made the decorative streamers for our talent show out of junk mail. The B&B we stayed at has many eco-friendly practices, including safe cleaners and low flow toilets. The [Continue Reading...]

Our Wedding!

Posted by Melanie Jade Rummel 7 Responses »

Jul 092010

Hello Friends! Our wedding was everything we dreamed of and more! Every aspect of it was so wonderful and perfect! I have a few photos to share with you! 13 of 25 family members arrived in Newport Thursday night. We had an amazing drive down the coast from Portland. We took the scenic route through Cannon Beach and down highway 101. Beautiful drive! Oh My GOSH! Towering evergreen trees, mountains, ocean…simply incredible. We even stopped at a roadside stand to get some cherries. Yummy! I loved how the farms were so varied. In Texas, farmers strip a huge plot of [Continue Reading...]

Our Homemade Tissues

Posted by Melanie Jade Rummel 6 Responses »

Jun 162010

Hello friends! I’m writing today to let you know about our homemade tissues. We decided to make homemade cloth tissues about a month before our no new plastic experiment started. We wanted to find ways to replace paper products with cloth in order to reduce the amount of trash we were creating and the amount of resources we were using. At the time, I couldn’t help noticing the numerous tissues and tissue boxes I was going through. We used the mainstream, super soft with lotion brands too, the kind that use 100% virgin fiber. We found a scrap of cotton [Continue Reading...]

Help! Plastic free bonfire dessert recipes

Posted by Melanie Jade Rummel 5 Responses »

Jun 082010

Help! Plastic free bonfire dessert recipes

Hello wonderful friends! Mark and I are thinking of having a bonfire on the beach during our wedding weekend, and we are asking for your help. We know the traditional dessert is s’mores, but marshmallows and graham crackers come in plastic (and really, I just like the chocolate anyway). We’re trying to come up with a bonfire dessert that will be easy to eat and assemble, plastic free, and did I mention easy? If you have any bonfire dessert recipes to share, please send them our way!

No Shampoo, No Conditioner, No Products – OH MY!

Posted by Melanie Jade Rummel 2 Responses »

May 242010

No Shampoo, No Conditioner, No Products - OH MY!

My long babbling introduction: Today I’m going to share the results of an experiment I’ve been conducting for a few months now. Most hair products (shampoo, conditioner, mousse, etc) come in plastic. So, I began researching other options. I read about shampoo bars, using castile soap, and using baking soda and vinegar. I also read about wearing dreadlocks, but that is not the look for me. Then, (hear the harp playing?) I read about not using anything! Maybe you think I mean the “no-poo” movement, which isn’t really no ‘poo because they are just using baking soda as the shampoo. Plus, [Continue Reading...]

Kitty Cosmo: Chapter 5 Part 2

Posted by Melanie Jade Rummel 7 Responses »

May 082010

As you read in the last post, our small hole insert method didn’t work for our kitty Cosmo. She just stopped going to the bathroom. At the 24 hour mark, I decided to remove the insert and come up with another plan. Cosmo made a beeline to the toilet then, and we were all relieved (ha!). We kept everything the same for a couple of days, and then I inserted a piece of the old insert to block off an inch of the back of the pan so she has a smaller area to sit in. The point of this [Continue Reading...]

Baking Soda Deodorant: Swelly or Smelly?

Posted by Melanie Jade Rummel 4 Responses »

May 042010

Baking Soda Deodorant: Swelly or Smelly?

Hello Everyone! I have to begin by telling you I have the most wonderful man in the world. We’ve been working outside all day today, and when we got home I jumped in the shower. When I got out, my wonderful man had made our bed, tidied our room, and had a fresh glass of ice water waiting for me on my bedside table. So wonderful You know what’s even more wonderful? He’s done that pretty much every night for the past 2 years. Always with the ice water; almost always with the made bed & tidied room. Sweet sweet [Continue Reading...]

Kitty Cosmo: Chapter 5 Part 1

Posted by Melanie Jade Rummel No Responses »

May 012010

I figured it out! I looked online and found this great tutorial at CoolKarma.com detailing the next step in the kitty Cosmo toilet training process. I found a piece of foam board and duct tape in our storage unit and fashioned an insert for kitty Cosmo to sit on. There are many different materials you can use to create the insert – use your imagination and what you have on-hand. We cut the insert out of foam board and covered it with duct tape to create a solid, waterproof foundation for easy clean-up. Top of Insert Underside of Insert Insert [Continue Reading...]

Kitty Cosmo: Chapter 4

Posted by Melanie Jade Rummel 10 Responses »

Apr 302010

Kitty Cosmo has advanced yet another step toward using the toilet!!! The litter pan is in the toilet and she has been using it without complaint for several days. We’re so so proud of her!! Here’s the new setup: First, we tied elastic tightly around the lid and tank. This is a safety precaution in case kitty Cosmo hits the lid while trying to use the toilet. I don’t want it to fall on her. I saw a video of a cat jumping to the seat from the tank, the cat accidentally caught the lid on the way down, the [Continue Reading...]

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