Did you ever wonder what happens to all of the clothing that you no longer wear? Times that by all the people on the earth and you have a lot of clothing that no one wears anymore. Somewhere around 4 trillion pounds of textiles each year get thrown into landfills, that is a 4 with 14 zeros behind it.Companies like Dust Factory Vintage clothing are set to make people aware of how many textiles are put into our landfills and provide a solution to the problem.
Dust Factory is the brainchild of two Eco conscience soul surfers from Southern California. With the desire of transcending the boundaries or traditional fashion Dust Factory is a recycled driven lifestyle brand free from passing trends. Appearing as natural on the shelves of boutiques as on those of an actual vintage shop. Dust Factory gathers fashion forward relics from the past and reintroduces them into today’s market with a style and appeal only found in Vintage Clothing.
While operating their first vintage store, the founders at Dust Factory vintage felt the need to keep an abundant selection of top quality vintage clothing on hand to keep their wide array of customers happy. Unable to manufacture an authentic vintage product a new concept was born.
The concept behind Dust Factory grew to offer retail customers not only vintage clothing, but the best quality vintage clothing available in the market. For the retailer, this saved hours upon hours of searching and allowed them to offer their customers simply the best variety of products out there. The way Dust Factory operates began changing the techniques in the vintage industry and began truly setting the standard of how the industry works.
Today, Dust Factory has grown in operations from one man’s vision to an entire team’s realization. With an knowledgeable and dedicated staff behind it, Dust Factory is now a global wholesaler with its product in the far reaches of the world.
“Our task isn’t easy but our mission is rewarding.” Along with saving over 10 thousand pounds of clothing a month from being put into land fills, Dust Factory distributes what is not usable in the vintage market to those in need through local charities and street shelters.
Dust Factory Vintage Clothing has given us a few ideas of what we can do with our old clothing:
- Take your used clothes to a textile bank. Contact the recycling officer in your local authority if there are no banks in your area and ask why; they may collect textiles through other means. Alternatively you can take used clothing to local charity shops.
- Give old clothes/shoes/curtains/handbags etc. to jumble sales. Remember to tie shoes together: part of the 6% of textiles which is wastage for merchants are single shoes.
- Buy second-hand clothes – you can often pick up unusual period pieces! If bought from a charity shop, it will also benefit a charity.
- Buy things you are likely to wear a long time – a dedicated follower of fashion can also be a green one if items are chosen carefully.
- Look for recycled content in the garments you buy. This should be on the label, though at present there is no conventional marking scheme and some companies do not always advertise the recycled content.
- Buy cloth wipers instead of disposable paper products as the product can be used repeatedly.
If you are looking for more ways to contribute to recycling clothing check out the fashion & Recycling News Blog at Dust Factory Vintage today.
Laying out a garden gives you the opportunity to be creative while maximizing you food production. Richard Teasta at Richard Teasta Naturals has added some interesting tips on how to layout your garden so that you not only produce great fruits and vegetables, but it looks great as well.
This time of year many of us our getting ready to start our spring gardens, before you start plantin hear are a few tips according to Richard Teasta:
- Think about how you a re going to lay things out.
- Make sure that the plants are compatible
- Do not over plant
For more information check out http://richard-teasta.com/spring-planting-season/
When I was in Costa Rica last month I noticed that some of the nicer restaurants were using Tilapia as their fish protien when they made their ceviche. Ceviche is a dish typical to many Latin American countries with some slight variations on how it is prepared. In some countries like Mexico, Ceviche is often prepared and served with a tomato base, in other Caribbean countries, and Costa Rica, it is served with vegetables, minus the tomato base. The main similarity is how the fish is prepared. Instead of cooking it on a fire, you let it sit in lime juice and the acid from the juice cooks the fish. This is not to be mistaken for sushi, where the fish is served raw, in ceviche the fish is actually cooked i the lime juice as it changes texture and color when it is done. With all of the fresh sea food in Costa Rica I was a little shocked that they used Tilapia until I found out why. They used the Tilapia becasue of the light meet and texture that is so common with Tilapia fillets, also becasue of its ability to absorb flavor. So needless to say, the other day I gave it the ol’ college try and made some Tilapia ceviche for our friends to munch on while we watched the Rose bowl game at one of our neighbors homes. I grabbed the recipe off of the internet then added my own special touches to make it unique. With the exception of the lime wedges, avocado, chips and cucumber everything else we grew in our garden. I was really blown away on how good it tasted and so were a few others.
Tilapia Ceviche Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds tilapia, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice, (about 14 limes), plus wedges for serving
2 tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 avocados, halved, pitted and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Hot sauce
Small tostadas, for serving (optional)
Directions
Combine fish and lime juice in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and marinate for about 8 minutes; drain, pressing into strainer to remove excess liquid. Return fish mixture to bowl. Stir in onion, tomatoes, avocado, cucumbers, and cilantro. Season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Serve immediately with tostadas and lime wedges.
Yesterday I decided to catch one of our larger tilapias so that I could try out a new recipe. Catching the fish is always an experience, especially when you fillet them. I find it easier to cut the head off of the fish entirely so that it is not looking at me while I try to get a clean cut on the meat with no bones. We use every part of the fish that we can. The dog eats the left over skin, why the chickens get the head and insides. What is left over gets buried in the garden and acts as natural fish mulch fertilizer for our plants.
I call the recipe Fiery Tilapia Taco’s w/ Pico.
This recipe serves two but also makes a great appetizer for up to four people. The salsa or pico calls for vegetables that we were growing in the garden that the fish grew up in, mainly because that is what we had on hand. You can mix and match on the salsa is some of the items this recipe calls for are not available.
You will need the following ingredients:
Ingredients:
- 1 chopped jalapeno
- 2 40z tilapia filets
- 1 anaheim pepper
- 2 chopped tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp cayenne pepper
- 1 Tbsp ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 1/2 tsp white sugar
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
- 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
- 1 whole onion chopped
- 1 cup of sliced cabbage
- 1 lemon juiced
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 2 Tbsp Sour Cream
- 4 corn tortillas
- 1 cut lime
- 1 chopped red pepper
Directions:
Salsa:
- In a large mixing bowl place finely chop onion, red pepper, anaheim pepper, jalapeno, cilantro, tomatoes.
- Add 1 tsp of salt, 1tsp of pepper, 1tsp of garlic powder, and 1/2 tsp of sugar and mix in with lemon juice
Tilapia:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- In small bowl combine 2 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper, 2 tsp salt, 2tsp black pepper, 2tsp garlic powder, 2 minced garlic cloves then sprinkle fillets with spices.
- Arrange fillets on grill grate with tortillas, and cook for 3 minutes per side.
For each fiery tilapia taco, top corn tortillas with fish, sour cream, cabbage and salsa. Serve with lime wedge.
We have been very blessed with our aquaponics system and the continued growth of the fish and the vegetables even through this cooler fall season. One of the first reasons that we set up an aquaponics garden was to help off-set our food costs and to have something edible just in-case we needed it for survival. Fortunately for us, with no major catastrophes as far as earth quakes, fires or tsunamis we started to develop a plethora of extra fish.
As the cooler winter months began to slowly approach us we decided it would be a good time to pull a few of our fish out and share them with our friends. Last year when we were in PR we had a freeze and I nearly lost all of my warm water tilapia. This year I have added a couple of tank heaters, but they will only keep a tank so warm. So before it gets too cold I decided to pull a few of the larger fish from the front and back tanks and brought them over to our friends house and got them cleaned up for a surf & turf fish fry. I have to admit I would much rather have a feast with the tilapia instead of having to eat them for survival.
The larger tilapia I decided to fillet and prepare with the rub from my Firey Fish Taco Recipe, the smaller ones I cleaned, scaled and cooked whole or entero. The whole fish I prepared with freshly squeezed lemon juice, lemon wedges, minced garlic, salt , pepper, cajun spice, green onion, and cilantro. Both the fillets and the whole fish were equally wonderful. Our friends also served tri-tip an Asain salad, potato salad, and fresh home-made guacamole. It was the perfect meal to get us ready for the annual OB Christmas Parade later on that evening.
