Last Saturday, the Good Girls participated in one of Heal the Bay's monthly "Nothin' But Sand" beach clean-ups. Four of us drove down to the beach for the morning: Merete, Mirabai, Natalie and me.

The clean-up was at a beach in Playa del Rey, an area just North of LAX. The area itself is lovely and the water was a gorgeous blue. If you looked at the beach from far away, you probably wouldn't have noticed much trash at all, but, up close, it was littered with tiny pieces of junk.

At Heal the Bay beach clean-ups, you're issued a rubber glove, a trash bag and a check list to keep track of what kind of trash you're picking up. The majority of the trash on this beach was made up of small pieces of styrofoam, tiny pieces of styrofoam and teeny tiny pieces of styrofoam.

Honestly, the amount of styrofoam bits on California beaches is shocking, and a little depressing. Despite our best efforts, the four of us barely made a dent in several heavily-littered areas. We did our best, though, and picked up us much styrofoam as possible, as well as around 80 cigarette butts and other small pieces of trash and plastic.

Speaking of cigarette butts, I am thinking there needs to be some kind of revolution or grass-roots movement against this particular form of litter. According to the Ocean Conservancy, cigarette butts account for 1 in every 5 pieces of litter picked up on California beaches during costal clean-ups. They get there both through people smoking on beaches and, mostly, through people dropping their cigarette butts in the street. Those butts are then washed down storm drains and sent out into the ocean.

I think that smokers need to start taking responsibility for the proper disposal of the cigarette butts, and non-smokers need to say something when they see people drop their butts on the ground. It seems absurd to me that people who would never drop an empty aluminum can or candy wrapper on the ground freely and unthinkingly toss their cigarette butts anywhere they happen to be standing. I plan to start my own little campaign against this behavior, and I hope you'll join me.

Here's a funny poster from Australia to get you inspired.


If you'd like to volunteer with Heal the Bay, you can learn more by clicking this link. They are having their annual state-wide Coastal Clean-Up Day on September 16, with clean-ups at over 55 different sites in LA County alone. Go to the website if you're interested in participating, or call 800-COAST-4U for sites in the rest of California.

For our most recent Good Girls activity, we took Merete's suggestion and went out to the farm. Specifically, we woke up early on a Saturday and drove to Animal Acres to help out with some chores. Animal Acres calls itself a "farmed animal sanctuary and compassionate living center." They take lost, abused or injured farm animals and either get them adopted or care for them for the rest of their natural lives. In addition, Animal Acres educates people about animal cruelty, specifically in terms of factory farming.

Jen, Merete and I made the 45 minute drive North to the farm on a scorching-hot July day. When we got there, we were met by a very nice farm intern who showed us what needed to be done and where to get our tools. Then, we got to work cleaning goat and cow stalls.

Most of the animals were very cute.

Here's a cow we met, and a super fat goat who made me laugh every time I saw her (in a compassionate way, of course).



After we finished picking the poop out of the stalls, we got to feed a super-cute lamb as a special treat. The lamb had actually been following us around a lot, like a curious pet. I found myself petting it just like I'd pet a dog, which was strange, but fun.

Here's Jen feeding the lamb (with milk in a beer bottle).



After our vegan picnic lunch, we moved on to the chicken area.

I must say, the chickens affected me most of all the farm animals. Most of them had pink, bald patches on their bodies, the result of being crammed into wire cages with other chickens. Despite the fact that the chickens had been at Animal Acres for about 6 months, their feathers still had not grown back, and probably never would. But that wasn't even the saddest part. Once we got close, we saw that the chickens' beaks were short and blunted. It turned out that the tips of their beaks had been cut off by their former owners at a factory farm. Apparently, this is a common practice used to prevent the chickens from pecking each other as they sit in their tiny cages. Their beaks looked awful, and the intern told us that sometimes the chickens starve to death after their beaks are clipped because it's too painful to eat. The turkeys in the chicken area also had clipped beaks, and clipped toes as well. It was very sad.

But, on the bright side, these chickens and turkeys seemed pretty happy at Animal Acres. Merete even petted one of the turkeys. Apparently, turkeys are very sweet-natured animals.





Once we finished scraping poop up in the chicken area--not the most fun job ever--and Jen finished cleaning out a crate used to house some adorable stray kittens, we were done with our chores and ready to head home.

On our way out, we said farewell to the biggest, fattest pig I have ever seen. Merete, who has been to Animal Acres before, had told me about this huge pig, but I don't really think I believed her until I witnessed it's enormousness myself. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but here it is anyway.



What I took away from this Good Girls adventure, beyond an appreciation for goat butts, is that free range chicken is the way to go. I know that phrase sounds kind of silly to some people, but I really think it's important to treat the animals we eat with some compassion. Cramming them in tiny cages and cutting off their beaks just doesn't seem like something that we should allow. Luckily, free range chicken and eggs are readily available in California grocery stores.

Is the same true in the rest of the country?

*Special thanks to Jen for taking these great pictures!

Although my summer garden is still limping along, producing the odd pepper or tomato every few weeks, I am already looking forward to Fall planting. Maybe I will fare better this year. At least I probably won't have to contend with the combination of a searing heat wave and a nasty fallen tree branch. Those two events really hit my summer veggies hard.

My main inspiration for fall gardening is the Seed Savers website/catalog. If you haven't been to the website, I highly recommend you check it out. I first heard about Seed Savers from Dakota's dad. He's an amateur vegetable gardener also, although a far more successful one. Seed Savers is based in Iowa, and apparently you can tour their farm. Perhaps next time we head out to Des Moines, we can take a little road trip to heirloom veggie heaven.

Here's a little blurb about Seed Savers in their own words:

Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit organization that saves and shares the heirloom seeds of our garden heritage, forming a living legacy that can be passed down through generations. When people grow and save seeds, they join an ancient tradition as stewards, nurturing our diverse, fragile, genetic and cultural heritage.

After browsing the site, I am planning to order seeds for leeks, broccoli, beets and maybe peas. I have to read in my gardening book a little before I completely decide.

The main thing we really really need to do before I plant my fall garden is make the soil better. I have big compost/soil builder plans for early September. Bet you can't wait to read all about them!

Still, the garden hasn't been a total loss so far. I've pulled up some tasty onions recently, and check out this nice-looking carrot I got last month. It's the biggest one yet.