Green Goals

1. Composting

My personal “deadline” for this is the coming fall, when the leaves are falling off the trees.  I shall compost them.  I may start sooner, but for sure then… I think.  :)  I was originally thinking a container compost, but I have such a large backyard that I may try to just do one in the ground.  The worst (I think) that can happen is that it won’t work.

2. Gardening

Oh, this thought scares me.  But, like composting, I’ve set myself a slightly distant goal so I can psych myself up for it (Spring 2012).  My backyard is very shady (NOT complaining), but I’ve started stalking it out the window for any sunny spots that may work.  I wonder how the Homeowner’s Association would feel about a food garden in my front yard… the middle of my front yard.  That’s where all the sun is.  They don’t seem to pay much attention to us back here; maybe it would work. :)  Again, I think the worst that would happen is that it doesn’t.  Of course, unlike composting there’d be an investment in this one.  I’m actually tempted to try and grow some tomatoes this year.  That fit’s in with my next goal.

3. Preserving

I guess I actually do the tiniest bit of this already when I freeze produce to use later.  I’m really talking here about canning though.  I LOVE all my dad’s canned goodies (fruit, veggies, tomatoes, salsa, jam) that he generously shares with us, and I want to do some myself!  My ultimate goal is to actually preserve the stuff I grow myself.  (Those of you who’ve known me for a while, can you believe this is really me?)  Although I will happily can local goodies if I can find them at farmer’s markets and such.  And tomatoes don’t have to be pressure canned (or whatever that technical term is) because of all the acid in them, which is why I want to start there.  I LOVE the idea of actually managing to grow some tomatoes myself in my yard and can them in my home and eat them later.  Doesn’t that sound unreal?!

And now, just to make myself feel a little better about these lofty goals before me, here are some “green” things I already do.  :)

• We use cloth diapers* essentially all the time.  They go to school, nursery, day trips, overnight, you name it.
• We use very little in the way of paper products.  No paper towels, no napkins, I’m trying to phase out kleenex.  We’ll keep the toilet paper for now though. :)
• We recycle anything they’ll take at the park and ride on the weekends: glass, plastic, paper, aluminum, cardboard.  Oh man you should see our trash can.  I’m pretty sure we can go a couple of weeks with the same 13 gallon bag.  And once we start composting, that will go down even more!
• Natural cleaners (actually I prefer not cleaning at all, hee hee hee) – vinegar, baking soda mostly, although I do use some “heavy duty” stuff from time to time.
• We use reusable shopping bags at the grocery store (not that we don’t sometimes forget).  I typically don’t bag my produce at all (I mean, I’ll just throw some apples in the shopping cart and not put them in a plastic sack first).
• Breastfeeding.  I’m not talking about the health ramifications here.  I’m talking about the impact on the earth.  It’s local, container free, and organic!
• And along the lines of the last one, making food from scratch really cuts down on the waste produced.  I’m working on this goal.  It could go in both lists.

*Now, not all of this results in absolute greatness for the earth.  The cloth diapers and napkins have increased our water usage since we have to clean them.

By no means is that an extensive list of green things we could be doing.  Some things just haven’t occurred to me yet.  Some are beyond our means yet (all organic foods for example).  But it feels good to see how far we’ve come in just a few years.  What green things are on your list?