Something that often prevents me from eating vegetarian is that I don't know how to cook as well without meat. All the recipes I learned from my parents are meat-centric, but this winter I learned an awesome recipe from my friend who is a fantastic vegetarian cook. •Coconut Milk •Cauliflower •Carrots •Onions •Garlic •Ginger •Lime zest and juice •Brown sugar •Fish sauce •Thai Curry Paste Steam veggies in big covered pan for 5 min, then uncover and brown on pretty high heat for 10. Meanwhile, whisk together a can of coconut milk, about a tablespoon of fishsauce and thai red or green curry paste and however much red pepper you want When the veggies are done sauté three cloves of garlic and a tbs of shredded ginger root in the center of the pan for a minute and then pour in the sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes and taste test it. You can add paprika, curry powder or chili powder if you'd like to. Also you can add cilantro to pretty much any meal and it will taste good. Sometimes I put a scoop of greek yogurt on the side as a sort of creamy sauce and protein boost. Enjoy!

As part of our decarbonization plan, we recently replaced our gas hot water heater with a heat pump alternative. The new water does a great job, water is hot and plentiful. We went with a Rheem and a slightly bigger tank as it can take the water a bit longer to heat up than the gas option. Coming in 2023 there will be robust $2,000 federal tax credit for heat pump appliances. Don't wait until the water heater fails, plan for it and proactively replace it. We had a scare with brown water and issues that made us take the plunge for our 12 year old heater.  We loved our plumber DH MacLeod, office@dhmplumbing.com ; (617) 828-6126‬. They offered competitive prices, transparency about the state rebate, and a referral to an electrician, we needed to update the electrical service. 

Our insulation project was great. We took advantage of MassSave incentives resulting in a warmer house. And the attic insulation solved an ice dam problem, along with some roof repairs that had been a chronic issue. 

We recently installed rooftop solar on our house. The Energize Wayland Team was extremely helpful including explaining the process, comparing the three different quotes we received and answering any questions we had. The Energize Wayland Team provided their expertise and experience with solar, which gave us the confidence to move forward with the project. One concern we had was with the aesthetics of the panels as they would be on the front of our house. We worked with the solar company to ensure any metal piping would not be visible and that black panels would be installed. We are extremely happy with the look and energy output of the panels so far. 

I am trying to take a step each year to decarbonize my home. This year, I removed my 12-year old natural gas water heater and installed a Heat Pump Water Heater. I could not be happier with it! The water is hot and plentiful, it has leak detection feature so that when I am traveling it will text me if there is a problem, and the new federal tax credit of up to $2000 went into effect in 2023. But really, it is knowing I took the next step to fossil fuel freedom that makes me happy!

Bolivar heating & plumbing, a Wayland based small business did a great job. Ron Bolivar was knowledgeable, got me a Rheem and passed through the MA $750 rebate off the cost of the equipment. 

We LOVE our new hot water heat pump. Obviously, it's great that we're no longer using oil to heat our water, but the main thing is that this is a stable piece of machinery. We got a Ruud 65-gallon one, and it has a bunch of modes (Vacation, Energy Saver, Heat Pump, and High Demand among others). It's certainly enough for a family of four plus visitors. We also pay a bit extra to have our electricity provided via wind power, so it's neat to think that our water is wind-powered. It has a built-in dehumidifier (a bonus for a basement). It's quiet. It came with an instant rebate of $7500, so it was around $4200 plus $500 to get the electricity connected to it. Our old indirect water heater kept having its coil damaged from the hard water of Wayland, which led to pressure imbalances and then the overflow valve kicking in - in other words, basement flooding. We are really happy to be done with that setup. Great conversion, done fast. Dana McLeod and team were excellent.