The Three R's: Reducing part 2

More ideas to get you thinking about reducing:


1) If possible, buy clothes and other durable goods second hand (Goodwill, garage sales, consignment stores)
2) Grow your own fruits and vegetables.
3) Raise your own chickens for eggs and animals for meat if possible.
4) Read magazines, newspapers and other items online.
5) Buy bagged versus boxed cereal.
6) Purchase reusable vegetable bags and use them to bring your produce home vs. plastic bags in store.
7) Check out books, music, CD's, DVD's, etc from library vs. buying them new.
8) Receive and pay bills online.
9) Make foods from scratch vs. buying convenience foods.
10) Make homemade gifts and cards.

Next post, we will talk about reusing. Share some of your ideas about reducing items.

The Three R's: Reducing

As I talked about yesterday, there are three R's to recycling. We tend to focus on the last "r"--what we can and cannot take to the curb. Here are some suggestions for the first "r"--reducing. Hopefully, the ideas will get you thinking on what you can do at your home.

1) Buy a sturdy water bottle and use it instead of disposable ones.
2) Skip buying paper towels-use rags, dishcloths and towels instead
3) Use cloth napkins instead of paper (these can be cheaply made or found at secondhand stores and yard sales).
4) Use rechargeable batteries.
5) Use lids for pans and casserole dishes instead of plastic and foil.
6) Use reusable storage containers instead of baggies.
7) Use reusable shopping bags when shopping.
8) Use regular plates, silverware and cups. Avoid the disposable kinds of these.
9) Buy 2 liters of pop, juice, kool-aid etc instead of little individual serving size containers.
10) Call catalog companies and ask to be removed from the mailing list.

Be creative and start reducing.

The Three R's

The past couple of days have been spent putting together my class on recycling for the sustainable living class. We talked about the typical conversation which is what can go in the recycling bin. The rest of the class we spent talking about ways we can do the other two R's of recycling: reduce and reuse. If practiced well, they can cut down on not only trash but what needs to be recycled at the curb.

Reducing is also called precycling. It is looking at the packaging at the store and making conscious decisions about buying things based on the amount of packaging. One of the most frequent suggestions in this category is buying in bulk. Another one not covered often is asking beforehand, "Do I really need this object or is there something I can use at home?". "Is this something that is made so cheaply it will break quickly?" "Is this something that I will use a lot at first because it is a novelty and then it will end up on my shelf?". Not only do these questions help with precycling but they also help with the budget and help curb impulse shopping.

I would encourage you to ask these questions next time before you reach for that impulse item that is on clearance or at the dollar store.

Family Day

I have been trying to work really hard at making sure that we have some fun together as a whole family. It has been more difficult as Mary gets older but it is still important. Yesterday was one of those days. As I had blogged on Saturday, we love festival season and try to partake in them as we can. Yesterday, we went to the Spoonbread festival in Berea.

We arrived just in time to find a good place to watch the parade and found a front row seat underneath a shade tree. We watched the crowd and goings on around us as we waited. The parade was definitely a small town parade. All of the local police agencies and firetrucks were represented. There were the typical campaign floats along with old cars, trucks and tractors. A motorcycle club also participated. Of course we saw the local horse club and myriad of beauty queen contingents. The most unusual thing that we saw was the line of old hearses that had been restored by a local funeral home. There were probably 6-8 of them including an old time ambulance equipped with working siren.

After the parade, we walked around and looked at all the booths. There were plenty of different arts and crafts that are always fun to look at. There were the political booths and all the local service organizations giving out there goodies with their names on it. We ended our time there at the local food booths with all our favorite novelties. My husbands was the fried Twinkie and the girls enjoyed splitting a funnel cake. I had a pulled pork sandwich. We began and ended our day listening to a variety of local musical artists. Fun day all in all.

I would encourage you to check out your local festival schedule, find one that looks intriguing and enjoy a day visiting all the fun things that it has to offer. Happy festival hopping!

Festival Season

Fall is festival season here in Kentucky. My husband and I love to go to festivals during the fall to admire all the different artisans with the goods they have created. We seem to have an abundance of talented people here in Kentucky and the festival season is when you can see all their handiwork from the past year. This weekend, we have to choose between three of our favorites but it seems like Berea Spoonbread will probably win out over the others.

These festivals not only contain handmade crafts but local music of all varieties. It is so relaxing to sit and listen to people sing and play music. We go to spend the day when we go. We walk around the different booths, maybe try a food treat or two and then sit to listen to the music. Going to local festivals is a great way to support local artisans. I pick up quite a few Christmas and birthday presents during these events. I am supporting someone local plus buying something special for the one I love.

I would encourage you to take some time this fall and enjoy the variety of local festivals. A good place to look is your local paper. If you live here in Kentucky, Google KY festivals and you can get a list of upcoming ones. Festivals can be an inexpensive form of entertainment. Spend some time admiring the craftsmanship of the articles exhibited, listen to some great music and maybe knock out some of your Christmas list while you are there.

Good Read II

When I was reviewing my blog some, I realized that I have not listed the series of books that set me down the sustainable living path. They are written by the Sleeth family who reside here locally in Wilmore although I have never met them. There are 3 books in the series and all are good reads.

Serve God, Save the Planet by J. Matthew Sleeth, MD (talks about the whys)
Go Green, Save Green by Nancy Sleeth (talks about the hows)
It's Easy Being Green by Emma Sleeth (written for teens)

I would encourage you to get these books and read them. Be prepared though to have your life changed!

Keeneland Horse Sale

One of our good friends works at a farm in the horse industry. Sunday, he invited us out for the first day of the Keeneland Yearling Sales. If you are not familiar with this sale, it is the premier horse sale of the year. People from all over the world come to buy their race horses here in Lexington. It was an interesting and exciting day full of glamour, new sites, and sounds. Still, while I was there, I couldn't help but feel uneasy about what was going on around me.

The extravagance and easy money flying around was overwhelming. One horse sold for 4.2 million dollars. Yes, that is "millions"! Most of the other horses were going for hundreds of thousands of dollars. As they say, this is definitely a rich man's hobby. Yes, we can say that it supports our local economy, furnishes many jobs and supports many of our local charity organizations in the form of Keeneland Grants each year. Still, it is hard to not be judgemental about the amount of money being spent on a "hobby". I could not help myself but wonder how many people that money would feed or how many water wells it could drill. It is easy to look at others and point fingers but then eventually those fingers start turning back to me and all the extravagances that continue in my life each day.

I wonder how much money could I give if I did not eat in any fast food restaurants again. How much would it help if I ate only the food my body needed for nourishment? How many water wells could I pay to have dug if I didn't need that next best gadget? How much would I cut down on my carbon footprint if I truly gave up my car for most trips and used my bike or public transportation? It is easy to point fingers at others people's "extravagances" but it is hard to look at my own and honestly call them what they are in my life.

My continued goal in life is to cut down and eventually eliminate these and other extravagance's. It is a hard transition though. It all boils down to the fact that I am taking away from others the basics for their lives. There are only so many resources in the world and they have to be divided among 6 billion people. It is not right if I am using, with the rest of America, 25% of the world's resources for only 6% of the world's population. The more I do research for my sustainable living class; the more I realize how much my actions affect those in other countries and, yes, even here in America. I also realize the impact I am placing on the future of my children. These are the lessons that I truly have taken away from the Keeneland Sales. I can only change myself and my actions and there still is a long way to go.

"Blessed" chickens

A few weeks ago the person who heads our True North (Sunday school) program asked if I would bring our chickens to church today. Our children are using a curriculum put out by Heifer International to help them learn more about world hunger, their programs and how they can help. The chickens seemed to be a hit.

We took all three and talked about chickens in general and how they could help someone who did not have a lot of money or food. I showed them the eggs that they had recently laid, how we care for them, and a little bit about chickens in general. I took one (Titania) out of the cage and let each one pet her. We then gave them some bread ends and let them feed the chickens. After services today, there was a continuous stream of people around the cage looking at them.

I am glad that we were able to do this. Heifer International is a great program (you can find their website online). Most of these kids have probably not seen a chicken up close or been able to pet one. Being around livestock helps them fill the disconnect between the grocery store and where their food really comes from these days.

Spinning Wheel

This week my friend gave me her spinning wheel to see if I might enjoy learning to spin my own yarn. I never realized how much coordination this took to do. It involves working the foot treadle at the same time you are moving your hands doing two separate tasks. Coordination is not a strength of mine but I will not give up easily. I have gained even more admiration for the spinning demonstrators I have seen at local fairs.

Last night, I watched several you-tube videos to see if I could begin to conquer this skill. They suggested spending time first learning how to control the foot treadles without trying to spin anything (you think I could of thought of that myself instead of trying to learn it all at once). After about a 1/2 hour I could at least figure out which way to move my feet to get the wheel to go in the direction I wanted it to. Next, I was supposed to take some fiber and slowly try to draft it while I was letting the spin go into it at a steady rate. That will take some time.

I am excited to be learning a new skill. I started looking online though for some local beginning spinning classes last night. I think I may need to get some hands on lessons. In the meantime, I will keep trying here at home.

Rabbit

We have a new critter at our house. Mary has acquired a charcoal grey rabbit from a friend. We have placed it in a used hutch in the backyard and have decided on the name Thumper (since we haven't figured out yet if it is a boy or girl). We are learning how to take care of it now. I spent some time when I was growing up taking care of our neighbors rabbits when they were on vacation. I seem to not remember a lot about them though. Fortunately, my Dad was visiting when Thumper was delivered and he was able to get us up to rabbit care speed rapidly.

The rabbit spent the first couple of days hiding out from the world. It has gradually adventured out to the point now that it will stay in the open part of the hutch as long as we keep our distance. We are gaining ground. Mary has been spending time each day petting it and getting it used to her. We shall see how it goes over the winter to see if we will acquire some more. Time will tell.

EPA and McConnell Springs

Last week, I took the home school biology class to McConnell Springs here locally for a field trip to further learn about their new wetlands program. I learned and was reminded of some important things while I was there. First a quick sidetrack for those who don't live here in Lexington. McConnell Springs is where the charter to establish Lexington was drawn up in late 1700's. Several years ago, it had turned into an illegal land fill and was about ready to be bought and paved over for more warehouse space. A group of citizens organized, bought the property and started to clean it up. It is now a forested habitat in the middle of an industrial area here in Lexington.

Now, fast forward a few years. Per our guide last Tuesday, Lexington is the only city in the nation to be sued by the EPA and lose over our lack of clean water. The fines the city paid were put in a fund and used for water quality improvement projects here in Lexington. That is where the funding for the wetlands project came from. The people at McConnell Springs built a wetland that replicates what a natural wetland would do. It drains a large area of two streets and surrounding homes and businesses in that area. The water comes in polluted and after running the course of the wetland far exceeds the EPA requirement for clean water.

One thing we learned from all of this was that the amount of fertilizer running off of people's lawns is causing algae blooms and other water hazards in our water system. Fertilizer run-off contains nitrogen and phosphates. Algae thrives on this, prospers, making it out of balance with other systems and can actually kill the fish in the waterway.

Two, we have over several decades straightened out many of our rivers and waterways in order to make them easier to navigate. Unfortunately, rivers and waterways "meander" for a reason. It slows down the water causing less erosion and flooding. The wetland at McConnell Springs was specifically designed to recreate this natural meandering to slow down the water and let it filter better through the wetland.

The best thing of all is that a new habitat has been established which supports local populations of animals and plants. They are replanting the area around the pond in native grasses and wetland plants. This has attracted native wildlife to the area. It was neat to see damsel flies and dragonflies dancing around the pond. It brought back pleasant memories of when we used to see them around my grandparent's lake cottage when I was growing up.

If you live or are visiting in the Lexington area, stop by, check out the project and then take a leisurely stroll around the walking trails there. This is a project and park that Lexington can be proud of these days.

Good Read

The past little bit I have been reading a great book on localtarianism recommended to me by a friend. It is called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and is written by Barbara Kingsolver. In the book Mrs. Kingsolver shares her families journey into localtarianism. They have decided as a family to eat local foods for a year. The nice thing about the book is the amount of detail and recipes that the book contains. The book is interesting throughout and I enjoyed several of her stories as she learned to grow and cook her own food. The best thing is she is not fanatical about it and offers many common sense approaches and reasons to pursue this lifestyle more.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking at living a more sustainable life style.

New School Year

I apologize that it has been a while since my last blog entry. The school year has started once again. We homeschool so this usually means a drastic change in routine for us as well as a new schedule to uphold. This fall, I am teaching 3 different classes at some of the local home school cooperatives that we have been members of at some point. This is in addition to home schooling my 2 daughters as well as the rest of the normal responsibilities.

Mary has started 2 community college classes along with her other high school work. The work load has been an adjustment for her but she seems to be getting into a study routine. The new therapy schedule (school and home health) seems to be getting into place with Makenzie. Tomorrow, she starts back with ballet. School lessons are going well for her.

Our garden is very rain starved. We have been watering regularly the past couple of weeks. We have been watching the radar tonight in hopes that we may get some much needed rain. My tomatoes are about done for the year. We are working on getting our fall crops established. This has been a little harder due to the lack of rain.

All in all a fairly good beginning of the year.