In my last blog I talked of things we can due to reduce bills, live responsibly and be involved more in our surroundings. I will now get specific with some very cheap and simple things we can do with our families and friends. Considering the amount of content, I will be splitting the information up over the next few blogs.
Many of you my be doing one or two things on this list. A few of you may be doing all these things. I truly believe that if we are all doing most of these things we will be creating a more appealing immediate surrounding that will be much more enjoyable to our existence.
Gardening
It was heartening to hear a friend of mine say that she has started her first family garden this year. Starting a family garden is good for teaching children responsibility while they commune with nature and still have the opportunity to get dirty. Ask the kids what they want to grow. And remember, you control the content of what you put into that produce.
We can take the same concept into urban areas where there may be much more limited growing space. If you live in a thickly populated area, find friends in the neighborhood who would like to split the share of work and offer a neighbor who has some space produce in exchange for your maintaining the garden. There are also ways to create vertical growing space. For example, a potato barrel is no bigger than a garbage can so you don't need a lot of ground area to dedicate to such a project. Trellising cucumbers is also a good idea for using vertical space to reduce the use of ground area. Get creative.
Remember, if you try to grow something and fail, don't worry. The Earth isn't going to fire you for bad performance. She wants you to make things grow. And with most all things, practice makes perfect.
Rain Catchments
A friend of mine has pipes attached to his downspouts that feeds a 1500 gallon cistern in the ground behind his house. It was a tank designed for septic, but was used to catch rain for the sake of watering his garden and orchard. You would be surprised how much water you can capture using rain catchments. In the wet season it would almost seem like you can't even keep up with using what a catchment collects. But in the dry part of the summer they are great to have as a substitute for the good ol' trusty hose-on-a-spigot. Plus the plants enjoy the rain way better than the chlorinated tap water.
There are 55 gallon rain catchments you can attach to the downspouts on your home. I am confident that if everyone had two or three on their home, there would be little need to use any tap water all year in your lawn and garden. They are available for under $100 each and no there is not much of a mosquito threat considering it is fairly sealed and there would be a low probability that the mosquito would be able to escape and cause havoc. Saving money on water, when it falls from the sky seems to be common sense.
A Tip: If you live in a climate that has winter freezing, make sure you empty the catchment at the end of the season because expansive ice WILL crack the spigot away from the barrel.
Clotheslines
Yes it may take a few extra minutes out of your day to hang the laundry, but the fuel costs save will put you well on your way to energy savings. When put together with other utility saving action, such as the above rain catchments and carpooling, which I will address, you begin to see changes in the bank account.
Link: How To Build A Clothesline
Composting
Composting is a very easy way to create soil from household food waste. You can reduce your garbage up to 40% by using produce, paper products, ash, grass clippings, leaves, food waste such as egg shells and coffee grounds and so many things that many people wouldn't even begin to think could be returned to soil. If you recycle AND compost, the only thing that you would have in your trash can would be Styrofoam. We so quickly and easily discard trash into our cans and neglect to wonder where it goes and what it does to our environment. We are not collectively being responsible with what we are doing with our trash before it leave our homes. Dumps are so bad for the ground they sit on, they threaten water tables and emit methane gas. Compost gives you rich dirt that will supplement the use of store bought potting soil while reducing what we put into landfills.
Tidbit: If you are composting properly, it won't stink.
Canning
Canning seems to have become a lost art. Over the years we have become more reliant on large canneries and manufacturers to package our food. I was eating out of a bag of Vitner's potato chips the other day. My curious mind always looks at the ingredients and noticed about half way through the list one of the ingredients is Mono sodium Glutamate...trusty ol' MSG. Yum Yum! It's not good stuff. When we are able to can we control what content exists soaking into that produce while it waits on your shelf anticipating your enjoyment. Canning can be done very quickly and easily and you can preserve your food for years.
Link: Shop Pressure Cookers and Canning Jars
I would also like to encourage recycling. It is unnecessary to have such an industry as the trash business when we can conserve, recycle and re-use most of what comes into our homes. (Make it fun for the kids. Let them collect the cans in the house and be responsible for the saving and recycling and let them have the money they make from it. They can also be encouraged to be responsible for collecting the newspapers, cardboard, plastic and glass. Most trash companies that provide recycling cans do not require that newspapers, cardboard, plastic and glass be separated).
These ideas can be implemented and shared by every member of the family. It will be a good amount of work, but if you have loved ones to help with the process it will be much easier and you get the benefit of the interaction that we can have as human beings. And you can pass responsible behaviors along to others.
Remember to Have Fun!
Next Blog will cover some really cool and fairly unused and common sense ideas. Stay tuned....
Many of you my be doing one or two things on this list. A few of you may be doing all these things. I truly believe that if we are all doing most of these things we will be creating a more appealing immediate surrounding that will be much more enjoyable to our existence.
Gardening
It was heartening to hear a friend of mine say that she has started her first family garden this year. Starting a family garden is good for teaching children responsibility while they commune with nature and still have the opportunity to get dirty. Ask the kids what they want to grow. And remember, you control the content of what you put into that produce.
 |
| Trellised Cucumbers |
Remember, if you try to grow something and fail, don't worry. The Earth isn't going to fire you for bad performance. She wants you to make things grow. And with most all things, practice makes perfect.
Rain Catchments
 |
| Typical Rain Catchment System... It pays for its self very quickly. |
There are 55 gallon rain catchments you can attach to the downspouts on your home. I am confident that if everyone had two or three on their home, there would be little need to use any tap water all year in your lawn and garden. They are available for under $100 each and no there is not much of a mosquito threat considering it is fairly sealed and there would be a low probability that the mosquito would be able to escape and cause havoc. Saving money on water, when it falls from the sky seems to be common sense.
A Tip: If you live in a climate that has winter freezing, make sure you empty the catchment at the end of the season because expansive ice WILL crack the spigot away from the barrel.
Clotheslines
Yes it may take a few extra minutes out of your day to hang the laundry, but the fuel costs save will put you well on your way to energy savings. When put together with other utility saving action, such as the above rain catchments and carpooling, which I will address, you begin to see changes in the bank account.
Link: How To Build A Clothesline
Composting
 |
| A typical, removable compost bin |
 |
| One side is for brewing compost and the other for building a waste pile |
Tidbit: If you are composting properly, it won't stink.
Canning
Canning seems to have become a lost art. Over the years we have become more reliant on large canneries and manufacturers to package our food. I was eating out of a bag of Vitner's potato chips the other day. My curious mind always looks at the ingredients and noticed about half way through the list one of the ingredients is Mono sodium Glutamate...trusty ol' MSG. Yum Yum! It's not good stuff. When we are able to can we control what content exists soaking into that produce while it waits on your shelf anticipating your enjoyment. Canning can be done very quickly and easily and you can preserve your food for years.
Link: Shop Pressure Cookers and Canning Jars
I would also like to encourage recycling. It is unnecessary to have such an industry as the trash business when we can conserve, recycle and re-use most of what comes into our homes. (Make it fun for the kids. Let them collect the cans in the house and be responsible for the saving and recycling and let them have the money they make from it. They can also be encouraged to be responsible for collecting the newspapers, cardboard, plastic and glass. Most trash companies that provide recycling cans do not require that newspapers, cardboard, plastic and glass be separated).
These ideas can be implemented and shared by every member of the family. It will be a good amount of work, but if you have loved ones to help with the process it will be much easier and you get the benefit of the interaction that we can have as human beings. And you can pass responsible behaviors along to others.
Remember to Have Fun!
Next Blog will cover some really cool and fairly unused and common sense ideas. Stay tuned....
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