Natural Fiber, Quality, Durable Clothing is Important. Getting That 2nd Hand Is Even Better

 All that cheap crap synthetic fiber clothing you buy, then return or wear a few times and "donate" or throw out (most of the donated can't be used because it is crap and no one wants it so it is thrown out).

Here is a summary of the post-purchase, even if "returned" and you got your money back, damage it does:

https://youtu.be/tAw_LCfHJtM?si=C4l6zWGve7Z79oCx

SO DON'T.

Here's my latest thrift, at least 2nd hand maybe 3rd or 4th hand purchase:

Pure wool (yeah..I totally took that phot in a bathroom...), in great shape.  Warm as hell. 6$.  It is from the 1970s to 1980s.  Looks like the zipper has been replaced.  The zipper is heavy duty metal so it will last longer than I will.

How many coats/sweaters have I thrown out?   Zero in the last 20 years.  Donated?  Maybe 2 and those were "redonated" since I had gotten them 2nd hand as gifts or thrifts.  And they were in good shape.  I mend things as I can.

The natural fiber in this jacket will not become microplastics killing fish and birds and staying in the environment for eons.   The bits that come off when I wash this will get picked up by birds or critters for nests (since I hand wash outside with these wool type garments)  (also they rarely need to be washed).

I do have a pure wool sweater that wore out (holes in the elbows, so thin you could read through it, the seams gave way.  I had had it 15 years and it was used when I bought it).  I cut it into rags and am still using a couple of those.   

The jeans that recently disintegrated off my person at the end of a work day (eventually cotton...I buy 100% cotton jeans at thrift) have been stripped of usable parts like zipper, waist band etc.   And now the bits of it are used as firestarters.  It was too thin and weak to use as rags though I do use it to stop up spills now and then.  Once it dries out, it is a fire starter again.  

My used clothes do NOT end up on the beach in a different country.  

If you actually used it up, wear it out, or make it do, or do with out, then you don't trash the damn planet. 

SO stop with the fast fashion.  It might be "fast" in that it spends little time in your possession but the damage it does to the world, your budget, the people who make it, ship it, and sell it (all underpaid and exploited and often poisoned by the substances used in production and transportation and even off-gassing in the stores) is NOT WORTH IT.  Also, it looks cheap and ugly.

So buy decent clothes you will actually wear, wash, mend and enjoy.  They are better, they feel better, they look better and they don't destroy the planet or  your soul.

End of rant.

I Ate Pig Heart

 Not one of the transplanted ones. This one was NOT GMO like the transplanted ones.

It was the cheap healthy meat available at the winter market.

First...a tiny rant:  THE MARKET BOSSES LIMITED THE NUMBER OF BAKERS! to ONE per market. WTF?  I want sweet treats, BITCH.   The one baker there had some bread and some doughy looking cinnamon rolls.  Where were the cranky lefse ladies?  Where was my cute baker with her magical fig cake and lemon bars and every thing she makes?  EXCLUDED.   Plenty of crafts but here's something the market bosses might want to note:  people with low blood sugar don't impulse buy as much as people hopped up on artisanal tarts.

OK, so, I got eggs...some of the best eggs I've seen.   And a pig heart.  It was only 5$/lb for pastured meat.  I asked how to cook it as last time I got a pig heart it was rubber band texture.  And flavor.  It was also small which is nice.  2/3lb.  I cut off all the tendon and silver skin stuff I could which probably took 2oz of meat with it.  The seller told me she cooks it hot and fast after marinating it.   And that any tendon or silver skin would be gross.  (of course NOW I want to can hearts whole in pint jars with the gross bits still on them...what great valentine gifts!!!)

So I did that.  Not the canning, the trimming and marinating.  I used the last tablespoon of olive oil in a jar, some vinegar and a scoop of ras al hanout seasoning from a favorite Aunt (Thanks Chris!).   

I left that for the afternoon on Sunday.   Then heated up the woodstove since it was getting cold inside the wee shed.  And fried up slices of heart in a bit of coconut oil.  It is REALLY lean meat.  

The instructions were to get it to look about medium, take it off the heat and let it sit a few minutes.

I had eaten all my side dishes earlier so I was faced with a plate of heart chunks.  I got out some spicy mustard.

It wasn't bad!  So that's a great improvement on the last time I made it.  It was "meh".  The mustard helped.  It cooled off super fast since it was like 45 degrees in the shed.  I will try it again...and I really really want to try canning whole hearts in pint jars.  It would be so gross and cool.