[identity profile] gailmom.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] the_yardening
Earth Day was earlier this month. We took the kids to the city's celebration of it. They had a really good time and told me they "can't wait for next year's Earth Day!"

Cool.

I thought I'd update what it is we are doing to be earth conscious/environmentally aware/friendly here at home.

we recycle glass, plastic #1&2, tin, steel, magazines, phone books, aluminum
we give all large metal to our neighbor, who recycles it
newspaper we use in the garden, all paper not already listed we shred and use in the chickens' nest box before composting
we pick up bags of leaves from the roadside, use in chicken pen/composting
all yard waste goes to the compost pile (including that which our neighbors give us)
almost all food waste goes to the chickens, who eat most of it and compost what is left
(note: I haven't figured out what to do with raw meat scraps....any ideas? the chickens won't eat it, and it attracts a lot of flies before it decomposes)
several friends also bring their food waste over for our chickens
we reuse egg cartons (from other people, since we don't buy eggs anymore) to sell excess yard eggs
grow some of our veggies and herbs here at home (GS, can you give us a current list, please?)
we use glass and reclaimed plastic containers to store leftovers, eliminating plastic wrap and bags from our kitchen
(we do still use garbage bags, but I'm hoping to find a local source of the cellulose kitchen bags)
we have eliminated our dryer and are using the clothesline. Hopefully we can make that work.
we replaced our top loader (sold it and the dryer) with a secondhand front loading washer
we keep the windows open often, and don't use the heat in fall or spring. in the last year we turned the a/c off in September, and kept it and the heat off until December. We turned off the heat in February, and haven't had it or the a/c since.
we set our winter heat at 66-70, and our summer a/c on 82-86.
we wrapped our water heater with an insulating blanket, and have a water save shower head.
we use soap nuts and vinegar instead of detergent and fabric softener
we don't use any disposable paper products (tissues, paper towels, tp, or feminine products)
we use the truck less than one tank per months, including my trips out of town and most days it just sits in our driveway.
the chickens eliminate the need to mow half the back yard, and we simply let go wild the other half, mowing only the front
2 of our downspouts have rain barrels, eliminating faucet use for a lot of the garden/chicken watering.
we use cloth bags for all shopping. GS takes the net bags fruit comes in and reuses them when shopping for produce to avoid using new plastic bags
2 of our AAA batteries and 4 of our AA batteries are now rechargeable
many, if not most, of our items come to us second hand, and we donate or pass along almost everything we no longer need

That's all I can think of right now.

goals in the coming year:
fix the electric mower so we can stop paying folks with gas mowers to do the front lawn
get the dead trees removed, freeing up more sunshine areas for garden/chickens
eliminate the section of front yard between the sidewalk and the driveway: patio and garden plots instead
put water barrels on the remaining downspouts
cut down/eliminate all non-recyclable plastic from our shopping
build a chick house to more efficiently raise chicks, so that next year we can raise a run of meat birds
I'd also, when we next buy light bulbs, like to replace the compact fluorescent with led if we can (less hazardous to dispose of and they last longer on less energy, from what I understand)
Hopefully we can also make further strides in replacing disposable batteries with rechargeable ones.
figure out what to do with raw meat and glossy cardboard....
get into the habit of taking containers to restaurants for take-home containers

What about you? What do you do? :D

May all your days be Earth Days!
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Suburban Permaculture Project

May 2011

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