I Finally Found My Organic, Compostable Coffee

I received a Keurig coffee maker many years ago. Throwing away the used K-cups always bothered me for many reasons. First putting all those plastic cups into the landfill seemed so wrong. Then I read many articles confirming my gut was correct. Millions are going into the landfills and will remain there for hundreds of years. I also didn't like my food or drink heated in plastic. We all have microplastics floating through our blood and much of it can't be helped. Even bottled water leaches plastic into our systems. Wherever I can avoid it, I do. I would cut them open and empty the used coffee into the compost, but that was all I could do with the K-cups so I quit using that machine. Instead I bought ground coffee and made a small pot. Often I didn't drink it all, but I like my coffee. Just one 12 ounce cup in the morning is all I need, but I look forward to it everyday. 

Fast forward to a year or two ago. I bought a new Ninja coffee maker. It was awesome. I could make a whole pot of coffee or one cup. I could make 6 ounces or 65 ounces. It worked great, but it also had a K-cup attachment which I didn't use much. I had a few K-cups left over and made a few cups to use them up but I felt like a criminal doing it. I know, I have a warped sense of right and wrong, but I did feel guilty.

Since it was so convenient, I eventually found a brand of K-cup that was compostable. It was organic coffee which was what I wanted. Organic coffee is mostly free from pesticides and chemicals. I read it also supports fair trade practices which gives those producers fair compensation and its grown in the shade which helps the carbon footprint because trees don't need to be cut down. 

Supposedly the pods were made with renewable plant based materials, it was responsibly resourced and crafted in Minnesota whatever that means. I guess they get the beans delivered to Minnesota and roast them or at least package the product there. It was good enough for me to try. There was a bit of a learning curve for taste but the coffee was good enough for me. I saved my ground coffee for those times when I made coffee for more people. All was well except for one thing. Every so often I wanted a cup of decaffeinated coffee. I am of the age where any thing with caffeine after noon affects my sleep. 

I found this Cameron's brand of decaf. It did come in the compostable pods but it was not organic and it was probably processed the usual way with chemical solvents. It is the cheapest way and is the most common way to decaffeinate coffee. I didn't really want that but for a long time it is all I could find. Then I found a company called Simple Truth organic. It covered all my criteria. It was organic, single sourced in Peru, it was made decaf by the Swiss water process which uses no chemicals and only water and the K-cup pods are compostable. It also tastes very good. I found this from a website called Vitacost but it was shipped from Kroger. That is my next problem. I would like to find it without the high shipping costs, so I will continue to look for it in stores. We don't have any Kroger stores but some stores sell Kroger products. If not, at least I found it.

I am sure a few of you reading this will just roll your eyes. First of all, why does someone of my age worry about some of these chemicals and pesticides or how decaf is made, but I want to stay as healthy as I can and this is my way. If I am going to have a coffee vice, it might as be as healthy as possible. If any of this information is not correct, feel free to tell me. Contrary to some, the internet doesn't know everything. Do what is right for you, but for now I am very happy with my choice.

My First Experience Raising Black Swallowtail Butterflies

Another season of raising Monarch butterflies has come and gone. This will be my final summer of raising them inside. New studies have shown that it is doing them more harm than good. I don't know if it is true, but future statistics will prove whether it is or not. I was under the assumption that only 10% of the wild raised Monarch butterflies survived. Weather, pesticides and predators would eliminate a huge number of eggs and caterpillars. I thought that if I raised them inside with fresh food and a clean environment, most would survive. My death rate was nearly zero percent compared to 90% in the wild. I guess there is more to it than that. Anyone can look up the many articles about this. Instead, I will plant a lot more milkweed next summer and provide an outside environment for them. I am a very small operation compared to some who raise hundreds. If in the future new studies prove this is wrong, I will happily raise them inside once again. 

I did something new this year. I planted parsley because I read that Black Swallowtail butterflies like dill, parsley and anything from the carrot family. Sure enough, after noticing some Swallowtail butterflies in the area, I kept checking to see if they laid eggs on my parsley plant. I would check them everyday until I noticed them on the plant. I took three swallowtail caterpillars inside to a different habitat from the Monarch's. I fed them parsley everyday. Two of them thrived. The third never grew and eventually died. The two that thrived grew into beautiful large caterpillars. I had read that they pupate into their chrysalis on a stick or that type of thing so I put some sticks into the habitat. 

These caterpillars look very similar to Monarch caterpillars. They are yellow, black and white but in a different configuration. This first picture below is a Monarch caterpillar for comparison purposes.

I found these caterpillars on August 6 and 7. They ate parsley pretty much non-stop until August 15. They would stop for a bit to molt into a larger caterpillar until they molted their final time into its chrysalis. The chrysalis looks green or brown. It is usually brown late in the summer and looks like the stick. You can see the silk string connecting it to the stick but otherwise looks like the stick.

When it is about to emerge or eclose the chrysalis turns very dark. They are almost black at the end. As with the Monarch which also turns black, the chrysalis becomes translucent and when the butterfly is showing through, they emerge.

Black Swallowtails are different from Monarchs. The process is somewhat similar, but Black Swallowtail butterflies don't migrate. There are three broods a year. Each one only lives from two to four weeks. This was the August-September brood. The final brood will form their chrysalis and it will sit over winter and emerge in the spring. 

Although Black Swallowtail butterflies are not rare, it was a thrill to see this whole process. This first one is a female. Males have more yellow dots and females have more blue. 

After I put her outside, she stayed perfectly still for quite sometime. When the day warmed up and she was sufficiently rested, she flew off to enjoy her short life.

A Visit to Ikea and Mama Rosa

Today was an unexpected good day. My daughter finished work at noon. She wanted to go to IKEA in the worst way. She was on again and off again several times. My days are very boring and sometimes lonely so I'm up for most anything these days. As long as I am able, I will leave at a moments notice. The closest IKEA is about 1 3/4 hours away in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. She finally decided she would go and so we were on our way. 

The traffic going into Milwaukee was very busy, and I was very happy not to be driving. I don't like to drive mainly because I can't look around. I like to enjoy the scenery. What I miss a lot about my former life is having a chauffeur. Remember the movie Driving Miss Daisy? I wish I could afford to hire a driver to take me for rides in the countryside and to take me where ever I want to go.

IKEA was fine. I don't need any home furnishings or household devices, but I loved the cafeteria. We had the Swedish meatball dinner which included meatballs, mashed potatoes, peas, lingonberry sauce and of course dessert. We had Lemon Blueberry Mascarpone cake. It was delicious. I am not a Scandinavian for nothing. That's the kind of food I was raised on. 

 

We shopped for quite a while and then headed back home. Following the Scandinavian theme of the day, we stopped at Wauwatosa's Firefly Grove Park to see Mama Rosa. Mama Rosa is one of the newest Thomas Dambo trolls and the only Dambo creation in Wisconsin. Thomas Dambo is a Danish artist from Copenhagen, Denmark who creates large one of a kind trolls throughout the world. This one is a 24 foot troll made from all recycled material. It was made from trees recycled from Wauwatosa's forests and other items from the city. The bouquet of flowers is made from old Wauwatosa streetlight posts. The plaque in front has a poem written by Thomas Dambo.

Something funny with these flowers

Some have special needs and powers

There’s no roots beneath these flowers

Rain don’t ruin upon these flowers

 

Something funny with these flowers

Comes from nothing in an hour

There’s not honeybees, these flowers

Have no honey in these flowers

 

Something funny with these flowers

Stands all summer, won’t go sour

When the sun’s asleep, these flowers glow

I wonder how these flowers grow

       - Thomas Dambo

This certain troll has only been in Wauwatosa since May of 2025 so it is very new. Already bees have taken up residency in his ear. It looks like he has a hearing aid. The hair is also unique, it is made from oak branches. 

 My daughter and her husband had visited one of the Dambo troll sculptures in Breckenridge, Colorado so she knew about them. This one is called Isak Heartstone. They are all unique and maybe someday I can see more. 

Pelicans Take Refuge From The Storm

Every year I look forward to summer. Here in Wisconsin the winters can be long although they aren't as cold and snowy as they used to be. The climate is definitely changing. That being said, it's still Wisconsin and it's still colder than the southern climates. There are pros and cons. The cons of summer are mosquitos or other insects and the humidity. The pros are the abundance of wildlife and birds. From this blog, you know how I much I enjoy all of that.

Yesterday we had a tornado watch. A watch means that conditions are in place for a tornado to form. Fortunately we didn't have a tornado. Other parts of the state had high water and tornado sightings but I was lucky. My heart goes out to other parts of the country who have suffered so much. 

 

The reason for this blog is to talk about the Pelicans that landed in my protected marsh to wait out the storm. I get Pelicans a couple times a year, but nothing like this. There were hundreds of them all crowded on the northeast shoreline. I wish I could read their mind. My assumption was that huddling together gave them protection from impending weather. They must have chosen that shoreline for some reason. Maybe it was the best protection from the winds and storm coming from the southwest. I could be totally wrong on this, but I do a lot of speculation as far as the birds and wildlife are concerned. If only they could talk. 

I could only get part of them in the photo frame but there was another large group. I tried to count but it was impossible. I don't know where they came from or where they went, but two hours before the tornado watch was cancelled, they left. I felt they knew instinctively that the risk was over. They left in groups. The first group swam and flew to the other shoreline. Whether this was a test to make sure the coast was clear, I really don't know.

 

 

Then they started flying to the far southern part of the marsh. Group by group they took off. It was very orderly.

Sorry for all the photos, but they were extremely interesting. Little by little they all met at the southern shoreline. 

 

Eventually they all left to parts unknown. Maybe they will be back some day. A group usually comes for a day or two to eat, but I have never seen them take protection from a storm. I'm glad my marsh could help.

 

Ninja Creami Sorbet

I can't take credit for these recipes, but I thought I would try them and report on my thoughts. These are the creation of "The Hungry Girl".  The Hungry Girl, if you haven't heard of her, is an author and creator of the Hungry Girl brand. It's all about food and making it taste good for lower calories. Go to her website if you are interested, hungry-girl.com.

I have a Ninja Creami machine. It is an ice cream making machine that can make ice cream, sorbets, milkshakes and other frozen goodies. You mix the ingredients for whatever frozen treat you want. Then you freeze the container and put it in the Creami for the final product. I bought it to make frozen treats from non-dairy milk. I have used cashew milk, almond milk and oat milk. I think cashew milk has the most fat, so it works the best for me. I just use the milk and add fruit or coffee or any add-in's you like and a sweetener. It certainly isn't the same as full fat Culver's ice cream, but it satisfies my sweet tooth.

After reading a Facebook post from The Hungry Girl, I thought I would try three of her easy sorbet recipes. The first one takes one 15 ounce can of pineapple tidbits or chunks in it's own juice. You put the contents of the whole can with the juice into the freezer container. Freeze until hard and mix on the sorbet setting. It's really is good and creamy. I only spun it once, but if necessary these recipes can be spun more than once to get the desired consistency. 

The next one I tried was sliced peaches in juice. Peaches in heavy syrup would probably be sweeter as this was a little tart. If you want it sweeter, just add a sweetener of your choice. It was refreshing and turned out great. The color was nice and bright.

The last one I tried was with watermelon. I had a couple cups of cubed watermelon leftover so I thought I could try. This one you fill the container with watermelon and then top it off with either diet or regular lemon-lime soda. It was good. It tastes like frozen watermelon and perfect for these hot days.

All of these were good, and I am glad I tried them. I get about three servings from a container so it may not be the best idea for a family or you would need more ingredients and containers. For me it was perfect. I will make them again.

Another Eastern Bluebird Blog 2025

UGG!! I have to stop trying to interfere with mother nature. I should already know this, but sometimes I try to help. I do provide food and shelter, but other than that I have to stop. Animals and birds do what they want, just as some people do what they want. Someone once told me that if they wanted to, they would. That applies to all living things.

It started this Spring. A pair of Eastern Bluebirds began looking for a home to nest in. For years I had bluebirds. I loved them and looked forward to two broods per year. I would watch them make the nest, lay eggs one per day and then wait for the babies. It is always so much fun when the fledglings leave the nest. Then one year the House Wrens showed up. As I have mentioned in other blogs, I would see them fly into the bluebird house and pierce the eggs. They would then throw them on the ground and dismantle the nest. I was so upset. I did discover a wren guard and if the bluebird got to the point of actually laying eggs, the wren guard would protect them. The last two years the bluebirds would show up but eventually get discouraged by the House Wrens. They couldn't get their nest and eggs in place in time.

I thought this year would be different. In early spring the bluebirds arrived as scheduled. The House Wrens hadn't arrived yet. The bluebirds couldn't decide on  a house. By the time they did, the wrens arrived and I believe the bluebirds eventually nested elsewhere. 

Fast forward to the first week in June. Wrens are known for building their nests of sticks in every single birdhouse they can find. All of them are mock nests except for one. This discourages all other birds from nesting in the same area. In one of the nests, the female lays her eggs. 

Things had calmed down here and the wren was quiet. I assumed they were nesting somewhere but I didn't know where. There were two birdhouses that were empty except for one. That one didn't have any eggs, just a house full of sticks. I didn't know if I should remove the sticks so they would be busy bringing in more or if they thought the full mock nest was complete and they would leave it alone. I just didn't want them to lay eggs in that house. I concluded that I should just leave well enough alone. 

During this quiet time, the bluebirds returned. They began building a nest in one of the empty houses and all was well. I thought maybe they found a good time to build a nest.

Things were going great. The House Wren wasn't paying attention or so I thought. When the nest was complete it was a work of art. I took a peek to see if there was an egg yet. There wasn't.

Then I waited. The bluebird pair would come to check on things, but suddenly the wren showed up. She/He started to pull the bluebird nest apart. The male bluebird kept trying to chase him off but the wren was relentless.

 I have a wren guard that I usually put up after the first egg is laid. There is a learning curve for the bluebirds to enter the house with the guard on. A mothers love makes it possible to get to the egg. I didn't know if they could learn before the eggs were laid, but I had no choice. I put up the guard. The bluebird and the wren were confused. It served the purpose, the wren couldn't figure out what to do but the bluebird couldn't figure it out either.

I thought I would wait but this morning I noticed the bluebirds building a nest in another location. I had put my hummingbird camera in this location and hadn't taken down this old house yet. They worked really hard all morning building a new nest. It was a quick process. Nest building usually takes several days.

The second nest is now complete, but the male bluebird is flying back and forth between the two houses. I guess he forgot which is home. We will see which nest they choose. I should say which nest SHE chooses. I have a feeling I know who's the boss. He helps choose the nesting site but she builds the nest, lays the eggs and sits there for hours after the last egg is laid except for a break once in a while. The eggs hatch in a couple weeks and then both parents participate in feeding the young ones.

 I waited to post this in case the egg laying process has begun. It has not. The bluebirds are very smart or at odds. I'm not sure. He has spent the day sitting on top of the house with the first nest. She has spent the day going in and out of the second nest and the wren is sitting on his house of sticks not quite sure who to taunt. I will amend this blog when I know more. 

UPDATE! June 15, 2025. Here is the update I promised for this blog post. The wren is still hollering and thinks she is in charge of the 1st bluebird nest. Meanwhile Lady Bluebird has laid 2 eggs with a couple more to come before she starts incubating them. Keep your fingers crossed. So far, so good. 

UPDATE #2:  It's June 27, 2025. The bluebirds ended up with four eggs. The mama bluebird sat on the eggs diligently and all was going well until last night. It was just a few days before hatching. When I went outside this morning, I knew something was wrong. The hummingbird feeder was taken apart, and I could see nesting material coming out of the birdhouse hole. A raccoon had gotten to the nest and the hummingbird feeder. It had gotten beyond a post with a big baffle on it, then a large metal disc on top of that and onto the nest. The bluebird parents have spent the day going from house to house just like they did in the spring. Seeming very confused. I looked on the camera installed in the hummingbird feeder to confirm it was a raccoon. It wasn't the house wren this time. Nature is cruel. I will have to think about it and maybe I can come up with a solution for next year. I doubt if they will try again this summer, but if they do I wish them well.

UPDATE #3: It's now July 13, 2025. These bluebirds are persistent. They have now built a third nest in their original house. They have 3 eggs so far. I have put the wren guard on which should keep the raccoon and the wrens out. The wrens are busy raising their babies, unfortunately. If the bluebirds end up raising a brood and they survive, I will write a final update. 

UPDATE #4: This is the final update for this 2025 season, but the third nest was also a failure. The 3 eggs made it until hatching. Then when I got up one morning, everything was destroyed again. A raccoon had breached a metal post and got past the wren guard by pulling the door open. I even had a nail securing the door. I don't know what else to do, but I need to think of something. Next year I will definitely use a screw instead of a nail to secure the door and repair the birdhouse. It is sad.