Miywasin Moment: Small steps for sustainability at home

By JoLynn Parenteau on January 12, 2022.

Eco-friendly solutions to kitchen food storage like homemade beeswax wraps help to reduce plastic waste at home.--PHOTO BY JOLYNN PARENTEAU

“The Earth is our Mother. She nourishes us. That which we put into the ground she returns to us.”

– Big Thunder (Bedagi) Wabanaki, Algonquin

“Indigenous peoples have known for thousands of years how to care for our planet. The rest of us have a lot to learn and no time to waste.”

– Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, 2015 U.N. Climate Change Convention

Definition: Sustainability [suh-stey-nuh-bil-i-tee], noun. The quality of not being harmful to the environment; supporting long-term ecological balance.

In elementary school I picked up a book fair magazine about being a good Earthling. It had tips about recycling, riding your bike to school, composting and never littering. I enthusiastically organized a neighbourhood back-alley trash cleanup with my fourth-grade peers that made my mother proud. Now in my 30s, I still never litter, I own a bike and always recycle, though I never did pick up composting.

Over the holidays I received a beautiful, unique gift that brought back those earth-friendly, do-gooder memories: a do-it-yourself homemade beeswax wrap kit from Canadian Métis artist Kaija Heitland, the visionary creator of small business brand Indigenous Nouveau.

Wipe-clean beeswax wraps are an eco-friendly alternative to disposable plastics in the kitchen to safely store food in the fridge and lunch kits, including cheese, sandwiches, fruits and veggies, and baked goods.

Each time I get excited about reduce-reuse-recycle-type crafts, I am reminded that my past projects inevitably wind up being massive undertakings, like the time it took 12 hours to make a ruffled newspaper gown for an Art Gallery of Alberta soiree with a ‘Deconstructed Materialism’ theme. That gown stole the show, but was trashed (recycled!) immediately afterwards.

Undaunted, I set aside this past Sunday afternoon to make my very own beeswax wraps. Indigenous Nouveau’s kit came with five cloth pieces of varying sizes and beautiful scrap cuttings from her line of ribbon skirt fabrics. Also included were three beeswax pucks, a bristle paint brush, stir stick, cloth storage bag and instructions.

Disclaimer: What unfolded in my kitchen was a comedy of errors and should be a cautionary tale for anyone interested in making their own wraps at home. I am an adult and still could have used adult supervision, better preparation and greater safety measures. If you do look up how-to instructions for this project online – of which there are many blogs and videos – be careful. Yay, DIY!

Melting the beeswax was a test of patience, and I collected burns from steam, wax and hot pans. Did you know beeswax is highly flammable? This project is likely safest on a glass cooktop stove but possibly perilous on coil elements or open gas flame.

You can avoid finding paint brush bristles in your sandwiches later on by switching to a silicone brush for painting the melted wax onto your fabric squares. You’ll need a drying line with sturdy string and clothespins over a dropcloth to hang your wax-painted cloth squares to drip-dry. Avoid burns to your fingertips by having tongs at the ready to pick up your wraps off a hot oven pan.

As the wraps dried on my hastily-assembled makeshift drying line of a yoga headband stretched over my kitchen cabinet knobs and some chip bag clips, I called Stella Sehn of Sweet Pure Honey in a panic about melted wax all over my countertops, stove, phone and floors. A hot scrubby cloth, cream Vim and some elbow grease will take it all off.

For the fearless DIYers still interested in making their own wraps at home, prewashed 100% cotton can be found at any of our local fabric stores. Cut to sizes from six to 14 inches. Beeswax pellets or blocks are available in-store at Nutters on Dunmore Road, or shop beeswax blocks online at sweetpurehoney.ca for 25% off with discount code MIYWASINMOMENT25.

For thousands of years, our Indigenous ancestors acted as guardians of the land, waterways and skies. Let us each do our part of caring for the Earth in small ways each day to protect her for future generations.

For this week’s Miywasin Moment, that’s a wrap!

JoLynn Parenteau is a Métis writer out of Miywasin Friendship Centre. Column feedback can be sent to jolynn.parenteau@gmail.com