So our month of doing seven things to make our lives greener is almost over. Bleh. That about sums up how I feel about it. I don't mean to make light of the situation at all, but it didn't really have the outcome I was hoping for. What was I hoping for - I don't even know I suppose.
I think the disappointment over how impossible it is to be all-out green in a tiny midwest community is holding a gray cloud over the month's experiment. Amanda and I were at the "local" grocery store and buying steaks - the "local" (from 4 hours away) beef was 2-3x the price of the regular meat! I cannot pay $12 for a pack of "local" hotdogs or pound of ground beef!
And yes, I know that there are semi-local cattle farms in the area that I could purchase a cow from - and plan to do that yet, but not this month. And yes, we have a whole foods store, but that does not equate to local. We are buying local produce, and even got bags of local sweet corn to bag and freeze. Otherwise, its just buying from USA instead of other countries and that has to be enough - though come winter, I don't know how that will pan out either.
But, we are recycling what our little town will take, and we are using our compost bin. And honestly, I just need to waste less food, because even though we compost it, I hate that there is food just being thrown out!
I am not feeling like this month has thus far led to earth-shattering heart change, and I think I was expecting that. My eyes are open and the hunger is there - I just haven't found the whatever-it-is that will satisfy the itch.
August 23, 2012
August 14, 2012
August 5, 2012
This is harder than I thought...
It turns out that buying food locally is difficult when you live in a small town. And as such, I have been avoiding our monthly shopping trip, and the result is a lot of "local" eating out. We have a few restaurants in town that are not national chains (enter my new favorite, the Viking). I am also claiming Zorbaz as (fairly) local. Local food is expensive. Or rare. Even my favorite produce stand is not actually local (dang it Country Stop!). There is a "whole foods" type of store in town, but the prices and selection are not really practical for a family. My dear husband, who hates what he has labeled "Tree Hugger Month", argues that Service Food is technically local since its not a wal-mart scale chain. He proudly announced that he had bought the kids a local meal…. of Kraft macaroni, Banquet chicken nuggets, etc… but they were local! HA - not quite my dear. I think to function as a "local" buying family, we definitely can't afford to be stringent on this rule long-term. I like the idea of buying whole foods, produce from local vendors (but I LOVE the country stop!), and even meat can be purchased locally - but it will/would drastically change our monthly food budget, and our menu, etc. Perhaps what would be practical in the long-term would be to look for items that are as close to local as possible - and also to touch base with local farms about certain items. I counted Cass Clay milk as "local" - but even that is much more expensive than the Holiday brand, and when your family goes through a whole cow's worth in a day, it adds up fast.
He scrambled to find any and all garbage in the house on July 31 so that he could avoid having to sort it out the next day when we began recycling. And we couldn't find recycling bins prior to the month starting (still haven't ordered them!), so our recycling is currently happening in paper bags in the kitchen amongst the totes that have yet to be unpacked. Classy. And here again, I don't know how this is going to play out. Yes, we are sorting out EVERYTHING. But our town doesn't recycle EVERYTHING. So is it a waste of time? Steve concluded that we will just burn what they won't accept. Hmm.. And I refuse to sort the bathroom garbage. Yes, wipes or paper is easy to sort - but feminine products? I'm not dealing with that. And the idea of touching other people's kleenex grosses me out too. We'll see what Steve decides tonight when its garbage time :) We have been using the compost bin. Luckily, the previous owners of the house had the bin and had it going, so we are just adding to it and hoping for the best. I do like that food isn't ending up being left in the sink, but I think we are getting better (or attempting to get better) at better portioning. Its hard with kids - some days they will eat ten bites and sometimes they will eat none. Makes it difficult :) But I think the composting idea is something that we could easily continue (if it works!).
The easiest thing (?) should be using less energy. I am ramping up my role as the energy police, and its definitely drawing my attention to how much we WASTE. The other night, Steve went out - and I initially left on three lights, and then sat down with the Xbox and TV turned on while I was using the laptop. I wasn't using the TV - just left it on waiting for me to use it. And I definitely didn't need the kitchen and hall lights on. But I was almost instantly aware of it - and got up and shut things off. Boy does this old house get dark with no lights on! I have also been trying to teach the kids that they don't need lights on during the day. For the most part, these rooms have TONS of window light - and turning the light on actually doesn't make any difference anyway. We have turned the thermostat warmer so the A/C isn't working as hard (couldn't bring myself to shut it off - can't sleep with it as it is, poor me, right?!). I had to break the rules when we refinished the attic floors last week - A/C and fans had to be on! But other than that, its been okay. We are not, however, succeeding at using only one car. While I have used the stroller with the kids a bit, we've been at the lake during these high-fume days at our house last week, and it didn't save on energy/emissions to have steve drive us out there and then go back to work only to come back to get us and bring us home. Plus, as he contends, the van gets less MPG than the car, so it makes it less practical. This next week, we will definitely have to kick up our efforts here.
Overall, I think the first week has been a semi-success. I will openly admit that I was not all that concerned with my trash or my footprint on the earth prior to this experiment. It's all too easy to say that it's something someone else can figure out. The reality is that Our Creator spent 5 amazing days putting together this beautiful place - to reflect His glory. As the author points out, we put so much effort into taking care of ourselves, but yet ignore how we treat everything else God Created. Yep, that's me. I don't think I will turn into a preachy, "tree-hugger"(Steve!), but I pray that I will continue to be more aware of my role as a care-taker.
He scrambled to find any and all garbage in the house on July 31 so that he could avoid having to sort it out the next day when we began recycling. And we couldn't find recycling bins prior to the month starting (still haven't ordered them!), so our recycling is currently happening in paper bags in the kitchen amongst the totes that have yet to be unpacked. Classy. And here again, I don't know how this is going to play out. Yes, we are sorting out EVERYTHING. But our town doesn't recycle EVERYTHING. So is it a waste of time? Steve concluded that we will just burn what they won't accept. Hmm.. And I refuse to sort the bathroom garbage. Yes, wipes or paper is easy to sort - but feminine products? I'm not dealing with that. And the idea of touching other people's kleenex grosses me out too. We'll see what Steve decides tonight when its garbage time :) We have been using the compost bin. Luckily, the previous owners of the house had the bin and had it going, so we are just adding to it and hoping for the best. I do like that food isn't ending up being left in the sink, but I think we are getting better (or attempting to get better) at better portioning. Its hard with kids - some days they will eat ten bites and sometimes they will eat none. Makes it difficult :) But I think the composting idea is something that we could easily continue (if it works!).
The easiest thing (?) should be using less energy. I am ramping up my role as the energy police, and its definitely drawing my attention to how much we WASTE. The other night, Steve went out - and I initially left on three lights, and then sat down with the Xbox and TV turned on while I was using the laptop. I wasn't using the TV - just left it on waiting for me to use it. And I definitely didn't need the kitchen and hall lights on. But I was almost instantly aware of it - and got up and shut things off. Boy does this old house get dark with no lights on! I have also been trying to teach the kids that they don't need lights on during the day. For the most part, these rooms have TONS of window light - and turning the light on actually doesn't make any difference anyway. We have turned the thermostat warmer so the A/C isn't working as hard (couldn't bring myself to shut it off - can't sleep with it as it is, poor me, right?!). I had to break the rules when we refinished the attic floors last week - A/C and fans had to be on! But other than that, its been okay. We are not, however, succeeding at using only one car. While I have used the stroller with the kids a bit, we've been at the lake during these high-fume days at our house last week, and it didn't save on energy/emissions to have steve drive us out there and then go back to work only to come back to get us and bring us home. Plus, as he contends, the van gets less MPG than the car, so it makes it less practical. This next week, we will definitely have to kick up our efforts here.
Overall, I think the first week has been a semi-success. I will openly admit that I was not all that concerned with my trash or my footprint on the earth prior to this experiment. It's all too easy to say that it's something someone else can figure out. The reality is that Our Creator spent 5 amazing days putting together this beautiful place - to reflect His glory. As the author points out, we put so much effort into taking care of ourselves, but yet ignore how we treat everything else God Created. Yep, that's me. I don't think I will turn into a preachy, "tree-hugger"(Steve!), but I pray that I will continue to be more aware of my role as a care-taker.
August 1, 2012
Here we are, the beginning of month 1!!!
The rules:
1. Buy local food
2. Recycle EVERYTHING
3. Shop thrift/second hand
4. Tami is learning how to compost. Not so much an option in my apartment building, but I will be focusing on not throwing away any leftovers!
5. Conserve energy/water
6. Tami's family will be driving only one car. I will be combining all of my errands to one trip per week.
7. Repurpose instead of buying new
Today seems to so far be fairly successful! Spent the day enjoying the lake, and now having a dinner of locally caught deer :) and corn we bought from a farm down the road. I'm debating whether the bacon is alright?! Turns out it's from Missouri.... Boo. I may be sneaking it in anyway until I get a chance to buy some more groceries. Feel free to share your thoughts. :)
-Amanda
The rules:
1. Buy local food
2. Recycle EVERYTHING
3. Shop thrift/second hand
4. Tami is learning how to compost. Not so much an option in my apartment building, but I will be focusing on not throwing away any leftovers!
5. Conserve energy/water
6. Tami's family will be driving only one car. I will be combining all of my errands to one trip per week.
7. Repurpose instead of buying new
Today seems to so far be fairly successful! Spent the day enjoying the lake, and now having a dinner of locally caught deer :) and corn we bought from a farm down the road. I'm debating whether the bacon is alright?! Turns out it's from Missouri.... Boo. I may be sneaking it in anyway until I get a chance to buy some more groceries. Feel free to share your thoughts. :)
-Amanda
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