My First Steps Towards Being Green

Day 9 of the April Blog Challenge from Green Moms Network:

In reflecting upon today's blog post topic, I realized that I have taken quite a few steps towards a more environmentally friendly existence in the past year, although those steps have usually been motivated by a desire to save money, rather than a desire to save the planet.

In September, we moved out of our apartment and began renting a small house.  We are delighted to be on a system where we only pay the water bill for our actual use instead of paying a poorly calculated average in a neighborhood where many people have 4 or 5 people living in a one-bedroom apartment.  We were always careful with consumption, but now I have become even more aware of how much water we use.  I remember to turn the shower off while I am putting conditioner on my hair and washing my face, and I make sure the dishwasher is always filled to absolute capacity before running it.

Our move to the house also meant an increase in electricity use because of the larger space.  I have become even more diligent in being sure to turn off every light, unplug things that are not in use, and close off rooms that don't need to be heated or cooled.  We also have a wood fireplace in addition to our gel fireplace now, and between the two of them, we can generate a lot of heat at a much cheaper price than it would otherwise cost to heat the house.  We saved a lot of money on heating costs this winter by finding ways to get free firewood.

I also made the decision to use cloth diapers for our little ones, starting with our son who is due in July.  Again, this was a decision motivated more by money, at least initially, but I am also glad to know that all that poo and plastic will not be sitting in a landfill for the next 500 years.  I have even started trying to convince others to give cloth diapers a try since there are still some people out there who, inexplicably, are not head over heels in love with fluff.

Since moving to the new house, I also have the exciting new prospect of finally having a real garden.  Within the first week of living here, I had already started a compost pile in one corner of the garden.  I love being able to put all those nutrients back into the soil instead of just throwing things away.  I hate to be always changing the trash bag, so the more stuff that goes to the compost instead of into the trash can, the better.  We also have recycling pickup here, which we did not have at our old apartment.  Instead of throwing away all of our cans and bottles, we now recycle them.

Finally, I have started to really look at how I can reuse certain household items that I would otherwise throw away.  A perfect example of a really cheap, really easy way to upcycle is to revamp and reuse empty canisters, such as bread crumb canisters, and other household items.

How to Get Free Firewood

The hubby and I moved to a house with a wood fireplace last fall, and I could hardly wait to use it.  The wood stove is really efficient and has a fan to push the heat out into the house.  It can quickly raise the temperature in the house by several degrees even with a small fire, and we absolutely love it.

The best part of using the wood stove this past winter was knowing that everything we put into it was free for us.  I started saving cardboard, newspapers, and any documents that we would ordinarily shred (i.e., credit card offers) long before it got cold enough for a fire.  I also mentioned to several people how excited I was to have the wood stove and how I was planning to get some wood for the winter.  Before I knew it, I had two people bring me firewood that they either found free somewhere or had left over from a tree removal.  I ended up with a ton of free wood of all different sizes, which was perfect for quickly building a fire that would burn hot for a long time.

On cold days, I would turn the heat off completely and just allow the stove to do all the work.  When we started to get low on firewood, I jumped on Craigslist and did a quick scan through the "Free" section.  There were usually at least 10 offers of free firewood any time that I checked.  We wound up not needing to go pick up any of it, though, because just as we got down to the last of it, we hit the jackpot the night before our town's scheduled yard waste pickup.

We found a ton of firewood out on the curbs, just waiting for someone to snag it.  There were a lot of small pieces, but also a bunch of big logs.  We stuffed the trunk of our little Corolla with it and could have gone back for a second load had it not been so late at night and so late in the season.  We knew we had more than we could use until next year.

Now, it is April, and the forecast for today predicts a high of 80 degrees.  I am delighted to have a nice supply of wood left over to be saved for next winter, plus a ton of cardboard and paper products that will be great fire starters.  As next winter approaches, we will do the same thing and work on building our firewood stash early in the season.  If you are looking for free firewood next winter, try these basic tricks to get yourself a nice supply at no cost:

1. Tell your friends you are looking for firewood.  You never know who will have some they want to unload.
2. Check Craigslist.  If you are willing to pick it up, you can usually find a ton of free firewood.
3. Be a scavenger.  Find out when your community is doing a yard waste pickup and get there first.  

The Great Celery Experiment

I was browsing something the other day and happened upon a blog post about how to grow celery from the base.  It was one of the very rare occasions when we actually had celery in the house, so of course I had to try it.

I took a mason jar and filled it with water and wedged the celery stalk into the opening so that only the base was covered.  Then I left it by the window and waited.  After 3 days, it had already started to regrow, and after 11 days, it was getting crazy!

March 12 - Day 3                                    March 20 - Day 11

On Day 11, I decided it was time to move this puppy into the ground, so I took the whole thing and planted it outside, where it would have some room to really grow and thrive.  Hopefully, it will continue to grow and in a few months, I will have my very own homegrown celery stalk.  Since we don't eat celery very often, I could probably do this about two more times and have enough celery for the year.  I could not believe how quickly it grew, which was super exciting because it means it will make an awesome indoor project for the kids someday!  

Letters to My Son

A few months before I got pregnant, my husband and I visited his best friend and his wife to meet the newest addition to their family.  They had a little boy already, and they had just had a little girl about a month earlier. We spent some time with them and each got to hold the little cutie pie.

While we were there, Jesse's friend took pictures of each of us on his phone and told us how he had been sending emails to his children since they were born.  He would take a photo sometimes and then send an email to them to tell them about something that happened that day.  He copied each of us on the email he sent, which had our pictures with the baby attached.  The email talked about how we met for the first time that day and contained just a few details of our visit.

I loved the idea so much that I could hardly wait to use it with my own children.  It turned out I didn't have to wait long, since I was pregnant just a few months later.  Even though my son is not due for another four months, I decided to get a head start on writing to him, especially because I have so much I feel I want to share with him, and there is so much I might forget.

I created an email address for him and got started once we found out that we were having a boy.  Here is an excerpt from the first email I sent him:

By the time we got to the car, I had an email and a text message from Mandy, just dying to know if you were a boy or a girl.  She was ecstatic to know that Diezel, who is due next month, would have a playmate.  After we left the doctor's office, we went to get something to eat because we were both very hungry.  Aunt Emily called right after we got to the restaurant, and we put her on speaker phone to tell her the news.  I handed the phone to Daddy, saying that I would let him tell her since he is the "man of the house."  He made a joke about being the man of the house just for the moment, but she was expecting a girl so much that it took her awhile to get what he was saying.  When she realized, she was so excited.  We have all been waiting so long for a boy!

Carolina got on the phone with me to hear the news, and she was excited, too, but in a different way.  She was all business, wanting to know if you were crying and also wanting to know if we had purchased your crib yet.  (The last time she visited, we didn't have the crib yet, and she was not impressed by our parenting skills.)  I assured her that we do now have a crib, a present from Nan and Gumpers, and she relaxed.  Notably, Carolina was the only one to accurately predict that you would be a boy, but it was based on the fact that there are a few boy sleepers hanging in Aunt Emily's closet - gifts from a friend who was convinced that Carolina was a boy.  As your father likes to say, "You may argue with her logic, but you can't argue with her results."

I plan to write to him all along the way, detailing everything from his first steps to all the funny things he says and does over the years.  When he is older, he will be able to look back and remember all of it and also see proof of how much his mommy and daddy loved him, right from the start.

Getting Started in the Garden

Last September, I got to see a dream come true when we moved from an apartment to an actual house with a fenced yard and room for a garden.  We still rent, so I had to specifically ask for a clause to be inserted into the lease to allow me to do whatever I wanted with the yard.  I did some preliminary work in the fall, but I knew most of it would have to wait for spring.

I started by identifying which portions of the yard I planned to use for gardening.  Then, I took grass clippings and spread them over the areas where I wanted to garden.  Grass clippings are very effective as a mulch of sorts because the clippings give off gases that warm the ground underneath and eventually kill whatever is under them.  I used the clippings to kill weeds and overgrown grass in my garden area.

A few days ago, I took advantage of a beautiful day in Virginia to do some gardening at long last.  I started with the area where I plan to do most of our vegetable garden.  Even after lying under grass clippings all winter long, some of the grass was still going strong.  I had to really hack away at the roots to get it cleared properly, so I started with a small area.

 Future Vegetable Garden in State of Disaster

After I had enough room cleared, I started some peas in the back and spinach in the front, then added a thin layer of plant food to help kickstart growth.  I was thrilled to discover a big, beautiful trellis wrapped around a pre-existing rose bush.  Jesse managed to wrestle it free from the rose bush so we could use it for the peas instead.  (Peas do best if they have something to climb as they grow.)

A little progress: Peas and spinach have been planted!

There is A LOT of work to do, and being pregnant means I have to be more careful to not overly exert myself, but I am just so excited to finally be working on my very own garden.  I ordered some blueberry bushes, which should arrive some time this week, and I started eggplant, broccoli, and brussels sprouts inside to give them a good start before moving them out.  I can hardly wait until little shoots start springing out of the ground!

Trash or Treasure: Empty Canisters

I am horrible at staying organized, so I am always looking for ways to be more efficient with our space and find good storage tools like shoeboxes or inexpensive, lightweight shelving. I absolutely love when I can take something that I would normally throw away and turn it into something cute and useful around the house.

When we last finished off a can of bread crumbs, I was so excited to find a great use for the empty canister, and it was something I needed (and planned to buy) anyway.  I am not very creative or crafty, so if I can do it, anyone can do it.  This took about 10 minutes, start to finish.

Step 1: Clean out the inside of the bread crumb container.  If it is metal, you can rinse it and wash it out. If it is cardboard, use the vacuum cleaner, then wipe out gently with a disinfecting cloth, being careful not to get it too wet.

Step 2: Cut fabric, tissue paper, or contact paper to appropriate size to fully wrap around can, leaving no gaps at top or bottom.

Step 3: Add any desired embellishments.

Before                                                            After

For mine, I used silver tissue paper, along with blue ribbon and a yellow flower to complete the look.  They were all left over from packaging at my bridal shower, which gives it a sentimental flare since I am such a sentimental gal.