Energy Saver: Plastic Window Insulation

Our current home is drafty.  From what I've heard, most trailers are.  We don't have a central heater or anything, so we're kind of reliant on electric heaters.  From what we've seen, everyone pretty much is.  I suppose in some ways we're doing better for the environment because our energy provider uses 100% green energy, but we'd still like to conserve a bit more.  There's no point in taking up resources we don't need, even if it is green energy.

To combat the draft, I remembered my aunt using some plastic window insulation stuff on her windows.  I don't know if she still bothers with it now since she owns her own home and may have some pretty decent windows, but I'd still remembered it.  When our houses here in Texas have been so incredibly drafty I'd often thought about looking it up, but I never did.  It never got cold enough to make a difference in the house, so I figured a bit of a cool draft wouldn't hurt anyone.

Things changed when we moved into this little trailer.  We originally ordered two heaters for our house. Our Lasko heater was just fine. It really cooks even the largest room in our house. The Lasko Stanley wasn't as helpful. It arrived with a broken fan so we had to replace it (which wonderfully came pretty quick!)  Thankfully that one cooks too, so we've got the advantage of keeping warm.  Unfortunately, the drafts can make things challenging.  The heaters have been constantly running since we got them to keep the place a tolerable temperature.  In hopes of saving electricity, we decided to look into that plastic stuff.

We decided on the Duck Brand Window Insulation Kit.  It was inexpensive and functional.  I was a little worried about using such a thin plastic with kids in the house, but I thought it would be worth a shot.  We ordered enough kits to deal with all our windows and hoped for the best.

When the kits arrived we went to work.  We started in the kid's room.  The double sided tape was a great idea, but we worried since there was supposed to be an inch left on each edge around the perimeter of the window.  However, the stuff was great.  Just insulating one window made a huge difference.  Given there are four windows in the kids' room, we could only imagine how great it would be when we got them all done!  We decided to put tape down on the outside edge of the windows as well.  The plastic was getting pulled up by the kids as we expected, so it wasn't going to be much help.  We also found that the littlest one likes to puncture it with pens, pencils, his fingers.  One of them pretty quickly got a pretty decent sized rip.  It's obviously not an ideal solution with kids and something sturdier would probably have been a better option, but they were inexpensive, so it's not like we wasted a lot of money.  That and repairing the one spot that needs repair isn't going to be that big of a deal.  There was some extra plastic from the edge so we're figuring we'll fashion a patch and that will be good enough.  They look pretty clear, so it's almost as though there's nothing over the window at all, or would look that way if we weren't going to need to patch the one.  I think this would be great for anyone who wants a subtle window insulation that's pretty clear.  Once you hit it with the hair dryer to "shrink wrap" it, it looks pretty sharp!

Next year we might start looking into more expensive solutions, like thermal curtains.  We'll have to save up for them since they are so expensive, but they keep in cool air in the summer and warm air in the winter, so they're a year-round benefit.  They should save us enough money to be worth it, and there's nothing like curtains to make a place feel more like home!  Combine that with these simple window kits and we should be able to minimize the use of our little electric heaters!  Now all we need is a place we can throw some solar panels up on the roof and we'll have incredible efficiency!  Of course, that's not really an option until we own our own place.

Simple things, like sweaters, warm blankets, slippers, and insulation can make a huge difference in energy usage through the winter months.  Common problems such as drafts aren't such a big deal when you've got an option to dress a little warmer.  Slippers keep feet from feeling the effects of drafts and from cold tile and wood floors.  Blankets can be pulled over a lap while sitting in front of the television or working with a project.  Sweaters can always be thrown on if there's a chill in the house.  As much as I prefer the ability to have my house so warm I can sit around in a short sleeved shirt and barefoot all winter, it's not practical unless you have the luxury of sitting by a fire all winter long or don't mind spending a fortune to heat your home.  It's better to dress like it's winter outside!

It may not seem like much to keep temperatures low in the winter, better insulate the house, and dress a little warmer, but these little things can make a huge impact on your energy bill.  Just remember, the more you have to work to heat your house, the more energy you expend.  This is both costly for your wallet, and the environment (unless you use 100% green energy like we're privileged to do...)

Arts and Crafts: Painting a Water Bottle

I know, I know.  It's been a while since I've updated anything.  Shame on me...  Our family has been pretty busy.  Trying to keep busy has meant running out of time to do anything else, like updating my blogs.  However, I've got more to write about!

I've been meaning to write about my daughter's most recent art project.  We went shopping to find some fun projects, since we haven't been including a lot of arts with our homeschooling.  Crayola has a whole bunch of arts and crafts stuff on the market, which has really inspired my daughter to focus on some art projects!

Now talking my daughter into art is like trying to talk a two-year-old into eating candy.  She keeps telling me she wants to grow up to be an artist, but she hasn't done much with arts.  I'd love to get her into art classes, but they're a bit out of our price range right now.  Instead, we've started looking at projects we could do at home, and the current trend in her interests happens to be painting.

Our first big project was painting a water bottle.  It's one of the Crayola Pop Art Pixies projects.  While normally I don't buy into trendy things, I do like some of the projects they've got.  The particular character this was designed for is an environmentalist.  She's also got another project that's little herb planters.  They have a huge variety of projects, which I think is wonderful!  There's really some good ideas started.

Not having any newspaper to put down, we used one of the shopping bags we haven't yet taken to recycle.  Before we put down the bottle on the bag, my daughter picked out all of her favorite stencils from the bunch and sticking them on just the way she wanted them.  She needed some help getting the first couple of them on smoothly, but I have to admit, getting stickers on without bubbles isn't exactly the easiest of things.  It was nice.  It turned into a project we could work on together.

Watching her with the paint was an exercise in releasing my own sense of perfection.  She'd get too much paint on the brush and it would start to run a bit making some of the colors blend a little.  She wouldn't get enough paint on the brush or wouldn't get the water out enough, so the paint would come out thin and runny another time.  I spent my whole time looking at it and having to remind myself that this project didn't have to be perfect in my eyes.  That's the beauty of art.  I could think the end project looked horrible, but the truth is, if she thought it was beautiful, then it was.  It really opened my eyes to view it with a lack of perfectionism, something I wasn't even able to do as a child.  That's why I never really got much into painting.  I couldn't paint the way I envisioned it, so I gave up.

When all was said and done there were all kinds of crazy blended shapes and the whole thing was painted beautifully.  She added some squiggly waves down a the bottom and continued to work away until there wasn't much more room left to paint.  We decided to set the bottle aside and let it dry.  My daughter wanted to sit there and watch it dry because she was so excited, but we decided to find something else for her to do.  Thankfully it didn't take long at all to dry!

Once it was dry we peeled off the stencils.  I'd advise for anyone who gets these kits to peel the stencils off while the paint is still wet, but I didn't even think of that.  We lost some of the detail when the stencils came off because the paint wanted to peel off all as one.  The two of us worked together to fix some of the stuff that peeled off and then I painted her name and the date on the bottle, that way she would be certain to remember when she did her first big painting project.  We waited again for it to dry.

That bottle has become a total environment saver!  She's used that bottle for every drink she's had since she's made it.  Because it's designed for travel she'll be able to bring it with her as well.  She's able to use it both at the house and on the road.  It's even more perfect because she's able to bring around something she's proud of, an incredible piece of art!

The one thing about this that is disappointing is the lack of art projects for boys!  It seems many of the arts and crafts projects on the market are designed for girls.  This has me frustrated over that whole gender issue again.  Why is it that girls are supposed to be interested in arts and crafts, but boys aren't?  With the number of art programs remaining in public schools, I have to wonder how many boys aren't getting any exposure to art at all!  It's a little disappointing to think of all the boys that might be missing out because they don't market these projects for boys as well.

Sustainability Tip: Thermal Curtains

As we were moving some stuff to our new house last night, I made note of something my downstairs neighbors have done that just got under my skin.  They have foil up over the windows of one of their rooms downstairs.  Now, I have to admit, after living in this military town I see foil over the windows and think one thing, drug houses.  It's a common trait around here, but I didn't think our neighbors were that sort of people.  As it turns out, they're not, thankfully!  They're just using it as a quick-fix way to keep the sun from over-heating their game room.  This came with the additional warning that those front rooms get hot during the summer.

I started thinking about this whole thing.  It's winter, so I'm not too worried about keeping our house cool.  Yes, during the day Texas homes tend to get warm regardless of the time of year, though there are plenty of cool, rainy days too.  When I was in our apartment, though it was cool outside, it wasn't terribly cool inside even without heat, but it definitely wasn't a comfortable temperature for taking off coats and settling in.  We're definitely going to need heat in the winter, and air conditioning in the summer is a must all across Texas.  Of course, heating in winter and cooling in summer can get quite expensive and I don't know how well these homes are insulated.  We've already been informed that the boys room will likely have a tendency to get quite hot in the summer, so this is something I need to think about.  How can I afford to keep my family comfortable without spending a fortune on our electricity bill.

About a year ago I found the perfect solution.  There are some thermally insulated curtains for sale at most places you can buy household goods.  They do come with the down side of not allowing light through, but for napping children, or rooms you're not in at the time, these are perfect.  Yes, they won't help too much when you have them drawn away to let light in, but again, you can retain all the benefits of heating or cooling at night instead of dealing with drafty windows.

This is more than a benefit to creating comfort for our climate controlled lives.  This is also a huge thing for sustainability!  The less you have to make use of your heater or AC, the less electricity your house is consuming.  If you're running off strictly solar or wind energy, this may not be that big of a deal for anything but your wallet, but if you're running off of standard energy sources, you're doing your small part to benefit the environment and the world around you.

However, on the side of the wallet, these curtains are expensive, running a minimum of $60 per set for your average drape curtains.  I've been able to find a tie-up shade variety for $40, but that's still expensive for most families budgets.  I do have to say, there is a huge advantage to the tie-up kind, aside from the reduced cost.  Tie-up shades can still cover half the window even when they're opened   While they may not be trapping the heat or cool air so much at that rate, they are still performing the function of reducing the light that enters the room turning the space into a virtual oven in the summer.  The early darkness in the winter allows for much earlier use of the curtains during the day to trap in the heat, especially if you're in a further northern area that gets more cold than we do here in Texas.

Another advantage to these curtains is that, aside from the thermal insulation part, there are many varieties and colors available on the market.  While they may be pricey, they can match the decor of almost any room, so if having a home that's aesthetically pleasing is important to you, this is also a great benefit!  You can pick a style that really works for your home!

For those of you, like me, who would love to do this for their family, but simply don't have the money to spend on expensive curtains, you can always make the investment a room at a time.  Start with the rooms that need the benefit of these insulated curtains the most.  In my case it would be the boys' room, but there was one place I lived where the first choice would likely be the front entry way and living room.  This will give you the biggest benefit on controlling the climate in your house early on.  I would also avoid the area the thermostat is located until last as that will effect how regularly your heat or air conditioning comes on, which is a benefit, but could leave you with hot or cold spaces in your home.  Of course, in the winter that may be ideal if you prefer to sleep in a cool room, or if you spend very little time in the rooms you're not taking the time to insulate first.

While this investment may sound like a lot of money, in the long run it will definitely help save on your heating and air conditioning bill, and as a result, save on the resources that provide those services.  If you own your own home, this also comes with the benefit of only having to be done once, unless you decide to redecorate and the curtains no longer match to your liking.  For those of us who are in apartment spaces it can be a lot more tricky, especially as the number of windows you have in each room may change if you decide to move.

However, if you're so inclined and know how to sew, insulated curtains can be made just as easily as anything else!  Simply purchase some insulating material (often found in the home and garden section from what I've heard, but you may need to ask) and sew it on the inside of the curtains you already have!  You can also make your own curtains complete with insulating material.  This may be more cost effective for your family and allows for greater variety in color, texture, and shape.  Just avoid sheer drapes as they would show the insulating material below.  If you really want sheer drapes, you can always put insulated drapes over the sheer ones and simply pull them back when not in use.  Of course, I have no idea how well these would work for blocking out the heat as this would also require blocking out the light, but in colder climates this could be a good fix for the crafty people out there.

When trying to keep out cold and reduce drafts, here's a couple more things to think about.  Any place the air can seep through, there's a good chance it will.  A good way to minimize drafts is to attach the curtain to the wall on either side of the window.  Tacking the curtain down with tacks or nails just looks tacky and could damage the curtains, but there are alternatives, especially if you're in your own home and don't need to worry about removing things from the walls.  The first and least expensive is Velcro.  You can purchase Velcro strips at just about any craft store.  Even if you choose to sew them into the curtains, you'll want the ones with the sticky back to attach to the wall.  Another alternative, which may be more expensive would be the use of magnets.  Pretty much anything that will hold the curtain as closely to the wall as possible is needed.  This will minimize the draft allowed through when the drapes are in use.  Another thought is the length of the curtains.  A short curtain may look nicer with your decor and window size, but floor length drapes will minimize drafts at the bottom of the window as well.  Any draft that seeps through will then have to travel down the length of the drape to the floor.  As it's warm air that rises, not cool, there's little need to worry about the draft escaping through the top of the curtain.

Something as simple as insulated curtains may not make a huge difference for your energy bill, so it may or may not be a choice that you'll quickly reap the benefits of.  In some cases, insulated curtains really can start making a big difference right away!  It all depends on your home and your circumstances.  However, every little bit helps when combating the use of fossil fuels and reducing energy consumption.  Over time, this choice will also make enough of an impact to pay for itself, and even save you money in the long run.  Obviously, better insulated homes (like those that already have insulated windows) won't see as much of a benefit here.  Very poorly insulated homes may not see a massive change either, especially as the drafts are entering from more than just the windows.  It never hurts to truly assess your home to see what other changes may need to be made in order to best conserve energy in your home, but every little bit counts for something!

Sustainability Tip: Home Made Cleaner

Over the past few years I've been hearing a good deal about the chemicals we've been exposing our bodies to on a daily basis.  It seems everywhere we turn there are more chemicals.  Some chemicals aren't so harsh on our bodies, like soaps, shampoos, and the like.  Others, like many cleaning products, are far more harsh.  There are a million recipes out there for cleaners to do any household chore, most of them very green and much safer for the family than the store-bought heavy chemicals.

After a visit to the ER for my poor, sweet baby boy today I decided we needed to do something about our laundry soap.  I know the boys and I have all had reactions to different perfumed laundry soaps in the past, but never as severe of a problem as my baby boy was having.  We can't positively identify the source of the problem, but the chicken pox turned into a bad rash which proceeded to get infected.  It's entirely possible that the rash was simply a bad combination of the open chicken pox sores and the bad reaction we had been observing with the laundry soap.  Because that skin was already raw and sore, it made the reaction go crazy, where as before it was causing a little minor redness at best.  The doctor recommended we not use cloth diapers until the infection clears up, bleach the diapers well to remove any chance of infection, and from that point on, change our laundry soap, just to be on the safe side.  If he breaks out real bad when we go to cloth again, obviously the problem is bigger than the laundry soap or some lingering contamination, and we'll have to either replace all our diapers or simply change to disposables, something I dread doing.  With luck, we'll be able to salvage the diapers and continue to use them.  As our diapers still had a residual smell after cleaning the last couple of times I washed them, I'm hoping a real deep clean is all that's necessary.

A few weeks back I was talking to some girls on an online forum about dreadlocks.  They had talked about deep cleaning solutions they have used for their hair.  Their deep cleaning process reminded me of the combination I was suggested for hand washing my diapers.  I decided after bleaching the diapers, I'm going to try out this combination and see if it does us some good.

Typically done in measurements, this cleaner can be used for hair, diapers, and I've heard of it being used for clothing as well, though I would definitely test it out on any kind of delicate fabric before you use it on anything with special washing instructions.  For my diapers, I've always kind of eyeballed it.  When hand washing, I usually mix it together in a tub or bucket full of water.  In a washing machine, I typically just add it as the water starts running, or after the water has already filled.  There are two very simple ingredients, baking soda, and typically apple cider vinegar.  Of course, some people substitute white vinegar as per preference for any number of reasons.  For use on the skin, apple cider vinegar may be a bit too strong.  Just be certain that it's all well washed out of whatever you use it on, be it clothes (check before they hit the dryer) or hair.  For those of you who prefer measurements, I've found information that suggests anywhere between 1/4-3/4 of a cup of baking soda combined with a cap full of vinegar.  I know a cap full is not a standardized measurement, but it's pretty easy to estimate.  I've found a couple resources that suggest 8 or so drops of tea tree oil and a couple of references listing lemon juice both with the vinegar and as a replacement for vinegar (an average of one to two tablespoons).  Keep in mind for mixing this to use in hair, you want to mix it well before you add it to your hair.  Obviously for dreads you will need to soak to penetrate all the way through each dread, but if you have normal hair, simply adding it to your hair and letting it do it's job for a while should do the trick too.  I've used it before and didn't even need to scrub my hair.  I just let it do it's job.  Unfortunately, with vinegar, it has a very strong smell, and rinsing it out all the way doesn't necessarily get rid of the smell as quickly as you might like.

So there you have it, a quick and easy cleaner for your hair or clothing that can be thrown together with simple ingredients from your grocery store.  I do apologize for the lack of formal measurement, but I've found that experimenting is really the best way to find what works best as all washers seem to be a little different.  I also find I need to use more baking soda on diapers than I would with regular clothes.  Personally, I'm not a huge fan of using it on my hair as my hair doesn't feel as soft as I'd like afterward, but some people do swear by it.  For me, I'm glad I remember mixing all of this to wash diapers.  It saves all the chemicals that are even found in free and clear products.  Better still, it saves money!

A Greener (and More Fun) Christmas Card

Yes, I'm still on the holiday shopping kick.  It's the holiday shopping weekend!  Everyone is out on the town, spending tons of money trying to hit up all the weekend sales.  It's the first official weekend of Christmas shopping (even though the Christmas decorations have been up in stores since the Halloween ones came down!), the sales are ripe for the taking, and shoppers are going nuts!

What am I doing?  Well, I haven't gone out holiday shopping at all.  I don't know how much shopping I've got planned in the first place!  I doubt I'll be doing much, and I'll let you in on a little secret, some of it's already done!  Instead I'm pondering what I should do this holiday season that would help make the world a greener place to live.

That's when I started thinking about holiday cards.  Yes, everyone sends out cards each year.  These cards help clutter and clog the very veins of our postal system, along with the countless packages of holiday gifts sent long distance and packages ordered by mail.  These cards are a tie back to an earlier time when the postal system didn't feel quite so much like a burden on society and very few people dreaded getting their mail every day.  Instead, they were overjoyed and delighted, wondering what new correspondence they would receive.  Would it be their Great-Uncle Jim that always has such interesting stories to tell?  Would it be a friendly and slightly overbearing letter from their mother reminding them that though they're away from home, they're always welcome over for dinner any time?  Would it be that friend from school all those years back that now lives half-way across the country with her new husband and kids?  Even for children, the mail was always a source of excitement for what new and interesting things would come.  Even catalogs can get a child's imagination soaring!

It hit me then.  People don't have a personal touch on anything like they once did.  Families don't write letters anymore.  Few of them even e-mail regularly.  Cards are pre-printed and informal.  Many of them don't even include the personal touch of a letter or note.  They're just plain printed cards that someone throws their name along the bottom and maybe the name of the person they're sending it to on the top and that's all.  They call it a day, as though that somehow sums it all up.  "Dear Aunt Becky, Hope your Christmas is filled with wonderful sweet memories! Love, Alice".  Is that the kind of message we want to send?  I've thought about the idea of reviving the family newsletter including stories about what everyone had been up to for that calendar year, but that seemed too standard and impersonal.  If I'm going to take the time to write my family for the holidays, it should be personal and from the heart.

Four years ago (wow, it's hard to believe it was that long ago!) my family lived back home and visited my aunt several times throughout the holiday season.  She had a wonderful idea of making cards for everyone in the family.  We would mail them or hand them out on Christmas day.  My daughter loved it.  She had so much fun!  We ended up doing this for Valentine's Day and Saint Patrick's Day too.  It was a lot of fun, and each family member got an item hand-made for them with love by a wonderful three year old girl!  I've kept telling myself I'm going to revive the tradition, but when we've made cards they've only ended up going to local friends of my daughter.  Making it to the post office for each holiday was just too hard.  I have to admit, I've regretted not doing it.  I miss the cute cards my daughter would come up with, and it was a wonderful opportunity to work on her creativity and art skills.  My son never got to make his own, but I think he'd have a lot of fun with it.

This year I'm considering getting up the motivation to do it again.  It really doesn't have to cost much.  In truth, we can get away with some paper, envelopes, glue sticks, scissors, and some crayons, all of which are in the standard homeschooler's box of goodies anyway, well, maybe not the envelopes.  I could also pick up a collection of stickers, stencils, or any number of other things to use on the project.  If we wanted to save on postage, we could simply tuck both cards into the same envelope to be mailed out.  I've seriously considered reviving that as a part of arts and crafts time this year, and as a way to start opening up communication between my kids and their extended family, to show them that we all really do miss everyone!

This isn't just a great craft for the kids.  This can be a great idea for anyone!  If you don't feel terribly artsy, there's always programs like Print Shop that can help you design your own cards to print off.  Instead of making your own cards, you could always stuff each card with a hand-written letter specifically to each friend or relative.  Don't know what to write about that would interest them?  What about telling them about thing you did together that always makes you smile to think about it.  For example, for my aunt, one thing that I think about and makes me smile is watching her help my daughter make cards.  Especially this time of year I think of my Uncle sitting at the piano playing Christmas carols while the whole family sings along on Christmas Eve.  I remember my uncles bouncing me from lap to lap to show me how typing works on a computer, and bouncing me back to the beginning whenever someone said we hit the "return key".  It's funny how no one calls it the "return key" anymore.  It's always "enter".  I remember my great-aunt sitting in my aunt's living room talking everyone's ear off about the Highland games and the history of our family as it relates to the Scottish clans.  I only wish I hadn't been so distracted by everything going on so I could actually listen to what she had to say on all of it!  It was so interesting!  I remember my mom staying up late at night to finish working on a teddy bear she was making, or on her machine trying to finish our Halloween costumes in time.  All of these things remind me of good times with my family.  All of these things are moments I could easily share with them, just because I want them to know they've given me yet another reason to smile.  Tell them stories!  Write them that funny joke that you knew they'd just get a kick out of!  Whatever you do, make it personal.  That's why I say hand-written, because typed up pages are so impersonal.  Let them know exactly how much they mean to you, and that you've taken the time to write them something personal from the heart.

So this year, instead of buying cards, slapping your name inside, and sending them out, consider making something personal.  You can even use recycled materials!  If nothing else, why not include a really sweet letter from the heart into that store-bought card you found that was just perfect for Grandma Grace for a little bit of a personal touch.  This year do something different.  This year show your family just how much they mean to you.  Let's make it personal.

Sustainability Tip: Compost

Every year families throw shocking amounts of food in the trash.  It's amazing how wasteful this country really is!  Much of that food can be recycled in other ways.  The biggest source of recyclable foods are fruits and vegetables, coffee grounds, egg shells, dry leaves, and grass clippings.  Okay, so some families don't actually collect their grass clippings and just let them break down on the grass.  There are fewer and fewer lawn mowers with huge bags attached, but cut grass is great for compost.

All you need for a compost pile is a place where you can let the compost decompose, something that shouldn't be a terribly smelly and gross process.  I've seen tons of ways to do this.  Some people choose to use a compost bin or composter.  Others choose to simply use an old trash barrel.  I've also seen compost heaps that are made up of simple wood and tarps.  They're not hard to make, and just about any family can manage one.  In truth, all you really need is a tarp below to keep the compost from mixing with the soil beneath it, making it easier to transport off and away when it's being used, and a tarp above to keep in moisture.  Of course, on this I've heard mixed reviews as well.  Keeping the compost heap directly on moist ground can attract worms and help the process along, but in Texas, that will mean endless watering of the compost heap through much of the year, so better to keep the moisture in and let the soil below get a bit dry.  Walls on the sides are helpful, but not 100% necessary in my experience.  Another useful tool is a pitchfork or some other tool to turn it.  I've seen some mixed instructions on whether to turn or not turn compost, but there are some composters, like this one, that allow for rotation without so much as opening the bin.  These make composting easy and convenient, especially if you plan to create and use a lot of compost in any given year.

What goes into compost?  Well, the easy answer is a little bit of everything.  Compost is a mix of "green" or living material, and "brown", or dried material.  A good compost heap should be at least 60-75% brown material, as that's what's best going to help the process along.  Too much green has a nasty tendency to rot.  In truth, you can compost without any green material at all!  Nature does it all the time!  However, it does kind of defeat the purpose of composting to recycle foods if you're not going to add any fruits and veggies to the mix.  It also helps to add a healthy portion of good potting soil to introduce the micro-organisms that help the process along.  Worms are only a benefit here as well.  If you find a few worms while gardening, as much as they'll be a benefit to your garden, gardens will always attract more worms.  Grab some of those wiggly ones and toss them in the area you've set aside for a compost bin!  You'll be glad you did!

 So, we're looking at making a majority of this compost heap this mysterious "brown" matter.  What constitutes "brown material" anyways?  For the most part, this is just a bit of logic, dried, brown plants will be your biggest source of brown material.  Chipped twigs or wood (much like mulch) makes excellent compost.  Dried pine needles are great as well, but can be over done.  (As a hint here, think about that live Christmas tree you just toss out every year...Silo Christmas Tree Farm recycles theirs...you could compost and recycle yours too!)  The biggest source of brown matter in any compost heap tends to be autumn leaves, which can be stored up and added all year round.  Dried plant vines, such as tomato plants, or dried stalks from sunflowers and corn are also wonderful sources of brown matter.  In a pinch you can also use newspaper, cardboard (well shredded), and even printer paper, as long as it's not colored or contains colored ink.  That means many old bills, collection notices, letters, and fliers can also be composted.  If you've got a back yard fire pit or a wood burning stove, small quantities of wood ash can be thrown in to the mix too!

What about this green matter?  While I'd love to tell you it's just as logical, it's really not.  The most common source of green matter is found in your kitchen.  Fruits and vegetables make up a majority of green matter.  Pasta, tea bags, and coffee grounds can also be used as green matters.  Dead house plants and dried up flower arrangements are wonderful sources of green matter.  Though it's not green (at least not usually!) animal manure and bird droppings compost as green matter too!  Have a caged pet?  In most cases, the entire waste of their cage can be cleaned out and dumped in the compost bin, waste, shavings, paper, and all!  Even the extra food bits that are dropped all over the cage can be composted.  It's not just furry animals either.  Rats, rabbits, Guinea pigs, and mice are commonly thought of in household pets, bird droppings can also be counted as green matter.  Typically cats and ferrets are not counted in this mix because of the litter they use, and I've read that cat droppings, dog droppings, and ferret droppings should not be composted anyway.  Grass clippings, egg shells, peanut (or other nut) shells, animal and human hair (in small quantities) and nail clippings can also be tossed right in that compost pile!  With all of that, there's an endless amount of green matter around any household.  See why maintaining the balance between green and brown is so hard?

Depending on the contents of the compost, turning regularly may be necessary, and it will change the decomposition time of the compost.  A compost composed of mostly dried leaves, for example, can break down in as little as two or three weeks!  A compost heavily composed of stockier brown matter, like twigs and wood, will obviously take longer.  Whole trees eventually compost themselves in nature, but that can take tens of years to happen, which is why smaller pieces leads to quicker composting time.

The "care and feeding" of your compost heap is also quite simple.  First and foremost, make sure your compost stays moist.  You don't want it good and wet, but thoroughly moist.  Compost allowed to stay too wet can rot or mold.  Turning compost can help spread out the micro-organisms that break down the biodegradable material, which is especially advantageous if you keep adding to your compost pile throughout the year.  Aside from those two things, in my experience, keeping a compost is fairly simple.

One note on composting, anything chemically treated is not a good idea to compost, nor is anything that will seed.  Chemicals from the materials added to the compost bin will transfer to the compost, and then will be brought to whatever you use your compost for.  Would you really want commercial grade pesticides or gasoline fumes tainting whatever food you were growing in your garden?  It certainly wouldn't be something pleasant to add to household plants.  As for anything that will seed, that's a problem when using the compost, especially with weeds.  Seeds from weeds, hay, or grass will likely take root, not something you want in your vegetable garden as it will mean more weeding and work for you.  The same goes with composting pumpkin seeds, peanuts, or any other nut, as nuts are seeds.  However roasted seeds don't seem to present this problem, and should (I won't swear to it!) be safe to use.  Meats should not go into a compost heap as they will rot instead of providing healthy compost, and if you choose to use dairy at all, limited amounts are suggested, usually best in the form of cheese or yogurt instead of straight milk.

So, now that you know how to make compost, what are you going to do with it?  There's any number of possibilities.  Obviously, if you garden, this could be a valuable source of healthy soil and nutrients for your own garden, plant or vegetable.  Compost makes a wonderful addition to potting soil for indoor and outdoor potted plants and container gardens.  I've heard straight compost can be used as a substitute for potting soil, but I haven't tried it myself.  I even knew one person who used to sprinkle it across her lawn instead of Miracle Gro or some other similar chemical fertilizer.  Compost can also be a wonderful resource for a small kitchen garden or herb garden.  As being surrounded by plants can help improve your whole household's mood, provide cleaner, purer air, and create a sense of beauty in your home, many families are finding more reasons to surround themselves with living plants, which means compost can always be useful!  And if you can't use it, there's sure to be someone else who can!  Compost may be a strange gift, but a friend who gardens may truly appreciate it, or you can always look into selling it.  Though this tactic is most often used by big composting industries, like farms, small quantities may be sold to a local home gardener in your own community, and it's always worth a try.  If nothing else, you've reduced the total waste in landfills, and have a good amount of healthy dirt to spread over the green areas around your own home.

Finally, I've known a number of families that wonder what to keep their compostable materials in until they bring it from their kitchen to their compost bin or heap.  In our house, we're simply using one of those plastic coffee canisters.  My aunt over at Craft Attic Resources and Sorting Through Life's Lessons uses (or at least used to use) a plastic bin with a zip-lock freezer bag to hold everything until it went out.  I think those are both wonderful, low-cost ways to start a kitchen compost bucket in your own home!  All it takes is some items around your house and a little creativity.  Or, if you're one of those people who prefers the look or convenience of a store-bought item, there are plenty of kitchen compost keepers on the market.  These can range in price from low-cost to expensive, but tend to have a nice enough appearance that they can be kept out on the counter top instead of hidden beneath the sink.

And if you're really interested in just what can go into your compost, here's a neat link I found as I was researching compostable items that I may not have known about for this very article.  It's called 163 Things You Can Compost!

Looking Back

Have you ever taken the time to look back on your life, just to appreciate the road that brought you to the current point in your life?  I've been doing a lot of that.  Some of it is to prevent making the same mistakes I've made in the past.  Some of it is to truly appreciate the good moments in it all.  Right now it's more in wondering how things could have been different.

For the past year I've really been working on creating a new reality in my life.  In some places that's been harder than others.  I've been trying to do little things to make a difference in the world, but some times it's not so easy.  I've lived in places with no recycling.  I've lived in places where I can't compost or line dry.  Because of this, I've had a lot of challenges when it comes to living in a more sustainable way.

It wasn't until yesterday that I really stopped to think just how off track I've gotten.  I was starting to make progress, one little step at a time.  It may not have been much, but every little bit counts, right?  I'd been making a difference in the world around me.  In some places I've lived, one step was the easiest, so I focused on that.  In other places, it was another step entirely.

Now that I'm starting to find myself on footing that I hope has become stable, I really want to try to bring all of those elements together.  At my last house, sustainability wasn't so easy to focus on, but homeschooling really took off for a while.  In the house before that, homeschooling was a challenge, but we were able to start composting and were finding other ways to be a little more sustainable.  Before that it was all focus on saving electricity in any way possible and conserving water.  I need to start bringing elements of all of those together so that I can move on to a more sustainable, happy home.

I know I can't focus on it all at once.  I need to take little steps at a time.  There's already one easy step with the ease of recycling here.  That's always a bonus.  Homeschooling should be pretty easy to swing back into, as soon as we have a place clear to work on for projects, arts and crafts, and workbooks.  I need to get back into actually knitting, rather than bumming around on the computer and doing other things when I've got a little bit of free time.  I've got plenty of yarn to make socks with, that I intended to make for the whole family, a shawl to make, and some longies for the baby.  I need to get them done so I'm one more step removed from regular consumerism.  Saving electricity is so much easier in a house with such ample natural lighting, and such a beautiful set-up to spend the afternoon sitting outside while the children play in the yard.  I'm trying to limit how many showers I take, and for how long.  More often than not I just need a quick rinse of my body.  Perhaps we can even start composting for a sustainable garden or something of the like.  It shouldn't be too difficult here.

Looking back I feel like I've really let my life get off track.  I keep doing this dance with sustainable living, and have since I was nineteen.  Every time I take a step closer it seems I just want to drift away again.  It's frustrating to look back and see all the lost opportunities in my life.  It's even more frustrating to see all the times I've blamed someone else for making it too challenging for me, instead of embracing the challenge and using that as an opportunity to try harder.

There's a lesson to be learned in all of this.  I can accept all the guidance and helpful suggestions under the sun, but that's not going to give me the answers on what I need to do.  Friends and family can all try to help.  I can receive messages from the divine about what paths are open to me, but in the end, I have to decide what path I'm going to take.  More importantly, when I decide what I want to do, I need to commit to it fully, no matter what the challenges, and start making permanent changes in my life.

Adjustments: I'm not a Morning Person!

My schedule has never been what one would call "average".  I had a horrible habit of staying up way too late and not getting up early enough in the morning.  As a result, my kids would end up staying up well past a good bed time for children and getting on a regular routine was all but impossible.

I have to admit, in certain living situations, it's been all but impossible to get onto a regular sleep schedule.  With my partner working late at night for some jobs, or room mates who would want to stay up all night and chat, it's been all too easy to find myself in bed far later than I needed to be.  Getting up in the morning was always a struggle, and if I got to exhausted during the day, I could always take a nap, not something that would ever help me get a good night's sleep.

I'm sure it doesn't help that staying up is how I deal with stress.  I push myself to the point of exhaustion if that's what it takes so I can sleep at night.  I'm not exactly the kind of person who drifts right off into a blissful sleep, or just plain knocks out from exhaustion.  Stress has me up all night long, and there's been a lot of that in my life.  I'm not saying my life is miserable or anything like that.  It's definitely not!  However, moving, getting on a new schedule, and all of that does come with it's own special brand of stress, not something I'm particularly good at handling, but definitely need to work on.

For the past week or so, I've been making an effort to get up early.  We're not talking "cock's first crow" kind of early.  We're talking about being up before the alarm goes off to remind me about homeschooling.  I'm usually up by eight these days, if I can at all manage, even though that has still been a struggle.  By next week I hope to make it an hour earlier.

This whole up in the morning thing has helped in a lot of ways.  The kids are going to bed earlier, and are up earlier, so I'm able to be up with them.  We're able to start school bright and early in the morning so we can get more done during the day.  I feel so much more accomplished.

A side of this whole morning thing that I hadn't much thought of until now is energy conservation.  Energy usage tends to be lower when you're up in the morning, making the most of the sunlight, and sleeping when it's actually dark.  Of course, there's the obvious way to save energy.  Opening up the curtains and blinds to let the sunlight in will save money on electric lighting.  Day time is also typically warmer than the evening.  On a nice day you can open up the windows and let some fresh air in, saving on your heating or air conditioning bill.  Sun filtering in through the windows can also warm the house, which can also save on expenses and resources.  Turning the temperature down slightly at night will mean the heater doesn't have to work quite as hard for that time period, and it's far easier to sleep bundled up in blankets than to run around bundled up all day long.  It's the best way to make use of natural resources.

Being awake in the morning also has other advantages.  Just like the old farming communities, any gardens, compost, or anything like that is easier to tend during daylight hours.  Any crop watering should be done first thing in the morning or in the evening, so this is an excellent time to tend the garden and care for that which you're producing on your own.  Getting out and getting everything done in the morning means having the freedom to spend time with the family in the evening while trying to wind down, instead of trying to get it all done in a hurry before everyone's bed times.  For those who homeschool, starting in the morning means there's more time in the afternoon to take care of errands and all of that.  Bills can be handled and mailed out before the mailman comes to pick it all up, if you're even the sort of person to send bills in the mail anymore.  Of course, they can also be done early while still fresh in your mind.  Cleaning can be done bright and early so there's very little to worry about until the end of the day.  Best of all, there's no reason to worry if stores and banks will still be open by the time you get there.

I'm finding the longer I'm in this habit of getting up in the morning, the more ready I am to face the day.  Who knew such a small habit change would have such an impact on my whole life?

Crafting for Cloth Diapers

Have you ever noticed that those who do crafts tend to find practical reasons for them.  The more practical the craft, the more practical the use.  Yes, there are always going to be things that are not useful as anything more than home decor, but this isn't the trend.  Why wouldn't we think the same with two natural things that fall so closely in line with each other?

For me, I'm a knitter, a breastfeeding mom that cloth diapers, co-sleeps, and attachment parents.  Obviously, some of these fall straight in line.  Cloth diapering and breastfeeding seem a common overlap.  Co-sleeping and attachment parenting is another.  However, knitting doesn't seem to fall in line with that.

What many don't think of, at least until they cloth diaper themselves, is the connection between cloth diapering and wool.  Wool is a material that is highly absorbent, yet water resistant.  It keeps warm, even when wet.  It wicks away moisture.  With the addition of a little lanolin, it is the perfect substance for diaper covers for cloth diapers.  This is where the connection is made.

Knitting, spinning, weaving, and crocheting all easily utilize wool with the purpose of turning it into fabric.  It's not surprising that many who cloth diaper would see the connection, the use, and the potential to save a lot of money by making their own.  They make soakers, little diaper covers that keep the cloth diapers from soaking through to the clothes.  They make shorties, baby sized shorts that work as diaper covers.  They make longies, knit or crocheted baby pants that also work as diaper covers.  It's a practical connection between craft and function.

I've seen these items for sale and have considered purchasing longies, shorties, or soakers for my sons.  Some of them can get quite pricey.  I've seen longies sell for $60 on etsy and e-bay.  I thought it was completely out of my league.  However, when looking at the cost of making them myself, things changed quite a bit.  I can make a pair of longies for my son at his current size for as low as $9 in yarn and a few hours of time.  I can make them in the largest size for as low as $12.  The patterns range from free to $10, generally offering different options.  Doesn't that even make a $30 pair of longies sound expensive then?  Where if I make them, I get busy work, the satisfaction of finishing and using them, and save a lot of money in the long run.  Doesn't making my own sound so much more practical?

Well, the longies, shorties, and soakers will be parading in soon.  I've got a pattern that I love and yarn on the way.  I don't know why I hadn't thought about that option when I was thinking about going back to cloth.  It would only make sense that I would pick up the needles and make them myself.  I can't wait to start rolling them out!  Not only will that help reduce my impact on the world around me, but they will be natural, not made from chemical processes.  They will give me something to be productive and keep myself busy.  Best of all, they will last for many years through many children, even if all of them aren't my own.

Taming the Jungle

Yesterday we finally got something done for the land.  The large bed of weeds that had overgrown between the mesquite tree and the crab apple tree has finally been cut back.  The small holy bushes can finally be seen.  We found ivy climbing and suffocating some of the weeds.  We're doing what we can to cut back the small forest of weeds and maintain our land.  There's still a long way to go, but progress is being made towards a healthier environment for our local plant life.

A part of me wishes we didn't have to weed our garden spaces.  It's not that I'm lazy and don't like the work of maintaining our land.  In truth, I was somewhat ambivalent about it when I worked for the landscaping company years back, but I think that was a combination of the summer heat and not feeling inspired to maintain another person's land.  However, it's a very different story.  I love the land we live on, and I love the act of maintaining it.  I just wish we didn't have to uproot the plants that willingly chose this land as their home.  It seems somehow unfair to me.  Nature allowed these plants to take root and flourish, so who am I to say that they aren't welcome?  And for what?  Because they're not pretty enough?  Because they're in the way of what I want to grow?  Because they're unpleasant, often spiny or causing some sort of skin reaction?  I wish that the yard could flourish just the way it wanted to, without our influence, to grow wild as nature intended it to be.

In the realm of productive gardens, that's just not the way things work.  We need to cultivate certain plants for a variety of reasons.  In the case of food bearing plants, we hope to support our small household with those plants.  When it comes to flowers and other elements of beauty or shade, they have their own practicality.  Sunflowers and other plants provide seeds, vital to feeding the local birds and squirrels.  Trees provide shade, offering a pleasant and needed escape from the summer's brutal heat.  Even mowing the lawn helps reduce the ticks and snakes that could be potentially harmful to our family, both human and animal.  I suppose these things aren't necessary for life, but they do improve the quality of the land around us.

So yesterday our mission was to cut back that grove of weeds.  Wild bushes, milkweed, and spiny dandelion all had taken root.  We pulled them out and cut them back, though we didn't dig up the roots as I suppose we should some day go back to do.  I know ignoring the roots only invites them to return.  We will get to that when the time is right, but for now our mission was to cut back all the unwanted growth to try and make way for that which we wanted to survive.

It felt good to work with the earth again.  I wasn't exactly digging my hands into the soil, nor was I able to bury my feet into the soft soil.  To be honest, the crumbling mulch bed beneath it all would have likely felt quite unpleasant under my feet.  Even without those happy feelings, I was able to feel like I was taking my part to care for the earth again.  As I cut further and further in I felt like an adventurer looking for a new discovery.  First I found the base of the mesquite tree.  Next I came across the holy bushes.  We even found what looks like a baby holy bush growing in the field of all that chaos.  Next I started to dig out the ivy.  There were two caterpillars hidden in all of that mess.  One was a large, fuzzy yellow one.  The other was about half the size, but the same fuzzy yellow, like a little brother.  They were both relocated to the crab apple tree where they should have plenty to eat so they may grow.  Perhaps the butterfly garden would have been smarter, but we didn't think of that.

On a sad note, there seems to be a lot of death around.  There's a dead tree in the back lot.  There's a tree that seems to be dead in the front lot.  The base of a dead cactus marks the entry way to the drive.  There's a stump of a dead peach tree on the side of the house.  Even the mesquite tree seems to be ready to release it's hold on life to be put to some other purpose.  However, even with so much death, there is life.  The cactus has regrown with a new vibrance, both from babies dropped off from the original plant, and sprouting up from the dead roots.  The peach tree seems to have growth around it's base as well.  Though the mesquite tree was dying, a plentiful number of weeds grew in the soft shade it provides.  From death there seems to be new beginnings, which gives me hope that this land will soon blossom into something vibrant and plentiful.

As I stood in that patch of weeds, debating which direction to cut away next, having visions of the wild and vibrant possibilities that section of land held, I felt connected again.  I felt like I was taking action to improve the land around me, not only in appearance, but on many other levels as well.  The land is destined to be beautiful with both garden harvest and vibrant flowers.  The soil will be improved as we compost what we can to give back vital nutrients to the earth.  The plants will do their part to cleanse the air making oxygen that is so vital to our bodies survival.  The air will smell fresh, sweet, and fragrant from the bounty of flowers.  Our carbon footprint will be altered by our reduced need for groceries from outside the home.  In general, we will be living more at peace with the land.  Everything will come to balance.  I think I'm finally finding happiness in this land.  There is no longer any doubt.  I am where I belong.

Building the Community

It may not be there yet, but I've made the first step.  A sustainable community is in the making!  Better still, it's not just a vision from my own head.  I now have others who share the vision.  We're taking the first step of the way.  We've got an idea.  Now we just have to implement it.

Not so long ago I met a really great couple.  We got along really well.  Our families are very different, yet share enough similarities to make everything work.  They have no children, but they get along really well with our three.  Her husband gets along wonderfully with my boyfriend.  They play video games together.  She and I share a lot of the same ideas and can spend forever talking.  We've got a lot of the same ideas and a lot in common.  I'm not really surprised at the way things are turning out.

It wasn't long before we talked about starting a sustainable community.  We have some great ideas.  We're talking about trying to buy up land.  We want to work with green energy.  We want to focus on sustainable living, healthy habits, and teaching the outside community how to live in a way that is healthy for their whole family (pets included!) and is good for the environment.

This is the tragic thing about today's society, we don't know how to take care of themselves and the world around them.  The standard American diet is incredibly unhealthy.  Most Americans have very low and unhealthy fitness levels.  Many of the chemicals we put in our bodies through foods, medications, and that absorb into the body through cleaning agents and soaps and inhalation.  There are allergens everywhere, but often times go unnoticed because we don't know to look.  These allergens are so integrated into our society that we just get used to the way they make us feel and think it's normal.  Many families have problems with raising their children and can use some help finding techniques that work, which is why shows and books like Super Nanny are so popular.  The same goes with pets and training.  Very few people know environmentally friendly ways to care for their home.  Fewer still know anything about green living.  It would be good for families to have a chance to learn about all of that so they can develop a sustainable life of their own.

Our goal is to set up a whole community.  We would like to have an inner community of those who follow our vision and fit with the family, and a more extended community that lives outside our small family group.  We're looking to buy a substantial amount of land, if we can, including a plot of land that already has wind power.  We've also talked about planning to buy up some of the other local land to house other families from the community.  We hope to have a holistic healing center that includes everything from natural medicines to massage therapy and energy healing (reiki and chakra therapies).  We'll add a dance studio and hopefully that will turn into a full arts and movement center, including yoga and pilates.  If we can find people who are interested in running them, we would love to have a space for martial arts in more of a "warrior's center" and a birth center, but those will have to come in time, should we find the right people.  We want to set up a homeschooling group for the children.  Group discussions for parenting classes would be wonderful.  Lessons in the proper care and training of domesticated animals would also be an option.  Finally, we'd like to have a spiritual center where we hold rituals and lessons in spirituality.  Ideally, we would also have both a men's group and a women's group so each gender could explore spirituality with people of their own gender, with celebrations and classes that bring both groups together as well.  We could hold drum circles and bonfires.  Can you tell we've got a lot of plans?

Maybe this seems like thinking big.  This is a lot for one small family tribe to accomplish, but thinking big is where it all begins.  Field of Dreams had it right with the line, "If you build it, they will come."  I've noticed with every community I've been in, once you create a home for it, interested people will come from the most unexpected places.  If there's an interest out there, this community will come together, and there's always people interested in alternative lifestyles and means of living.  It sets a good example for the rest of the community.  If we can do this, others can too!  Besides, nothing ever got accomplished by thinking small.  It truly is the dreamers that change the world.

We're only able to take small steps and make plans right now, but it feels good to have a life dream finally coming together.  I'm finally feeling like I've found my home, somewhere I can be happy.  I'm finally starting to really build my tribe.  We're going to be capable of incredible things, since we've already put our minds to it.  Now all we need to do is make it happen.

Sustainablity Tip: Plastic Eggs

So, Easter is over, and if your family is anything like mine, you've got a ton of plastic eggs floating around the house.  While families striving for sustainability would prefer something more natural, such as hard-boiled and dyed eggs or knitted or crochet wool, sometimes you end up with plastic eggs from community Easter egg hunts, church events, or from family Easters with those who don't follow sustainable habits.  In my house, there are usually more than a few eggs floating around.  Rather than toss them in the trash, here's an idea of what you can do to reuse those eggs!

There are eggs in all shapes and sizes these days, from absolutely tiny, to incredibly large.  These eggs have varying hardness levels, from your cheap dollar store special with thin walls that break easily, to seriously heavy duty shells that often come with packages containing specialty toys for the Easter season.  Whatever kind of plastic egg you have, here's a quick craft that will make use of those eggs, and provide a fun craft to your egg collecting kids!

Chick Shake!

What you need:
As many plastic Easter eggs as you would like to make
A variety of fillings (seeds, pebbles, sand, and beads all work really well to create different sounds)
Glue (craft glue works, but some may prefer something more hardcore.)
Craft paints
Glitter glue

What to do:

Fill each egg with a small amount of your filling.  Put a small amount of beads, sand, seeds, pebbles, or whatever it is you choose to fill your eggs so they are about a third of the way full.    Close your eggs and shake them to see how they sound.  You want to be careful when shaking them to be sure they don't open!  Adjust the amount and substance in each egg until you get a sound you like.

When you've gotten the sound you want, put a small amount of glue on the lip of the egg that overlaps to seal it.  I find it easier to put the glue on the outside of the inner lip.  Then I wipe off the excess glue with a rag.  Set the egg aside until the glue dries.

Once your egg is glued shut, take your craft paints and glitter glues to decorate the egg however you like!  Encourage children to make each of their eggs unique.  If your kids don't know what to paint, or aren't the imaginative sort, encourage them to paint something that reminds them of what they did on Easter or ask them who can come up with the most colorful pattern.  After all the painting is done, leave the eggs to dry.  If your kids have covered the eggs with a lot of paint or put it thickly on, you may want to let them dry overnight.

The end result?  You now have some cool musical shakers that have saved a little more plastic from ending up in a landfill!  Enjoy making music with your kids!

Sustainable Tip of the Day: Open a Window!

It's a wonderfully warm day today in the state of Texas.  The air is fresh and clean.  It's a wonderful day to be outside, enjoying the fresh air, even if it is a slightly overcast day, so why not bring some of that wonderful fresh air inside?

That's the sustainable tip of the day!  Opening a window will allow fresh air to enter your house which has tons of benefits!  Often times there's a breeze, so air circulating in the house will keep it cool.  As long as the weather is nice outside, you'll be bringing that fresh warm (or slightly cool if that's the kind of day you prefer!) air into your home.  Especially in Southern regions where the instinct is to turn on your AC the moment the heat is no longer required, opening a window to let the fresh air in can save a lot on electricity too.  The house will be cooled naturally.  Saving on electricity is better on your wallet, and better on the environment!  Better still, airing out your house can help clear out dust and stale air that has been sitting in the house all winter long.  Come summer, for many places it's much too hot to enjoy simply opening up a window, so enjoy this nice weather while it lasts!

Shade and Container Gardening

One of the things I most wanted to do this year was start a small vegetable garden.  I was willing to go with a container garden, since I knew we would be moving and didn't know what the conditions would be like.  I had looked into ideas for hanging tomato plants to make the most out of balconies, what kinds of containers I could get my hands on, and even looking into various supply places that offer rack type systems for urban gardening.  I had it all figured out in my mind once we realized what apartment complex we were intending to move into.  I would make use of every inch of that space, if possible, with money saving plants.  Better still, the greenery would help to beautify my apartment, keep nosy neighbors from being able to get too great of a view in the house, and otherwise improve my living conditions.

Here's where my brilliant plan went wrong.  We happened to get a North facing apartment.  What did this mean for my gardening?  While there are plenty of plants that enjoy growing in full shade, fruits and vegetables aren't in that number.  While there are some vegetables, like greens (lettuce, broccoli, and that kind of thing) and root vegetables (potatoes, etc) are happy to grow in the shade, they need at least some sun every day to grow at all.  Well, there goes that idea!  Now if I want a vegetable garden, I'm going to have to employ the use of grow lamps so that I can get anything to grow!  So much for sustainable living!  I wonder if my yield in vegetables would justify the expense of electricity for the grow lamps...

I'm learning day by day that this sustainable living stuff is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, especially if you don't live in the ideal conditions for it.  I've heard wonderful stories about rooftop container gardens, sustainable gardens in back yards, and so much more, but as fate would have it, I don't have the conditions for any of those things.

I guess I'm going to have to wait until we can own our own land or move to somewhere more ideal for gardening for that to happen.  It's sad that one of my sustainable living dreams is so easily knocked down because of the situation we have to be in, or at least we have to be more creative about it.  I guess at this time I need to stop and focus on other things, like living a more healthy lifestyle, producing less waste, and being as environmentally aware as possible in other respects.

An Unexpected Bonus for Sustainable Living

Today I managed to do something wonderful for water conservation and I wasn't even thinking about it at the time!  This has gotten me thinking about other ways I can conserve water, but I'll probably go into those later.  Until we own our own house, it's going to be challenging to conserve water in any other way than to restrict what we use.

As I mentioned earlier, my family has been having a problem with lice.  These are the evil kind that can't be killed by anything but the most drastic of measures.  We got a prescription from the doctor to handle this problem, so hopefully things were going to get better.  Today was supposed to be the great delousing day.  Hair was to be treated or shaved, sheets would be washed, soft toys put away until cleaned, and the lice problem would be gone.  This isn't the best way to spend a birthday, but at least we would be lice free!

Unfortunately, this didn't exactly go as planned, but what ever does around here.  Thinking it would be smart to review the information on the prescription before I attempted to use it, I flipped open the page from the pharmacy.  This had all sorts of useful information like preventing this stuff from getting in the eyes and nose and cautioning children to keep their eyes shut while the chemical was put in their hair.  All of that seemed simple enough.  That's when I get to the warning.  It seems that it is unknown whether or not it is safe to breastfeed while using this medication.  There is a possibility that the chemical could transfer through the skin and into the bloodstream, only to get into the milk and poison the baby.  While, in theory, this shouldn't be a problem, there is no evidence that this is safe to use while nursing.  Further, it is recommended that a woman does not use this chemical while nursing, from the information I've managed to find out.  I don't have enough milk stored to go a full day without nursing, so I wasn't going to take the risk.  Who could blame me?  Isn't the health of my baby more important than killing lice by chemical means?  That would mean I'd have to wait a week or more to store up enough milk for an entire day of feedings, and I didn't want to make my family suffer with these bugs for that long.  My hair was shaved and that was the end of it.

So where does the water conservation kick in?  Do you have any idea how long it takes me to shower now?  Hop in, soap up, rinse off, shave, and out.  I can be in and out of the shower in two minutes or less.  Normally it takes me at least fifteen because of washing my hair and all of that.  I've heard that taking a bath actually saves more on water than showering, but I think in my case, I can shower and use less water than I would in a bath.  It's going to save a lot of water!

This has more benefits than simply water conservation.  Of course, conserving water means that less waste water is being produced.  The state of Texas isn't exactly known for being water rich and droughts happen.  Conserving water is one more measure to reduce the chances of a shortage.  Then there's the financial benefit for my family.  For those who live in states that tenants pay their own water bill, you may not understand the benefit.  However, in Texas, or for most home owners, the water bill is just one more expense to add to the list.  It's one more bill draining family funds.  Therefore, if I'm taking quick showers and using less water, the water bill is lower and that money can be put other places, such as paying off my car or past debts to get us out of debt that much sooner.  Who knew the act of shaving my head would actually save me on money?  On top of that, I'm not using shampoo and conditioner right now, so the water has one less solution dumped into it and I save on the cost of shampoo and conditioner!  It may not be a huge expense, but every little bit counts.  After all, every penny saved is one more that can go towards creating financial freedom and stability for my family.

Of course, all of this resulted from yet another positive act for the environment, and for my family, breastfeeding.  Because I breastfeed, I'm benefiting my family and the environment in a number of ways.  Obviously, my son is benefiting from all the positive effects breastfeeding has on baby, like increased immunities, reduced chances of allergies, and the healthiest, most natural source of nutrition available to him.  I'm benefiting by losing the baby weight that much quicker.  My whole family is financially benefiting because breast milk is virtually free, or at least significantly cheaper than formula.  Unlike the popular claim, I say that breastfeeding is not actually free.  Most mothers consume more calories and have to take prenatal vitamins that they would not otherwise take due to breastfeeding, but the cost of an additional three hundred or so calories to the diet and prenatal vitamins in comparison to the exorbitant cost of formula is still relatively small.  There's the environmental benefit because more formula packaging isn't finding it's ways into landfills and dumps.  Breast milk comes in a natural and (eventually) biodegradable package.  For many families there are no bottles to clean and sterilize, which reduces energy and water consumption.  Even for families that do use bottles for pumping and storage of milk, unless they exclusively pump (which some do), they are still using less bottles and therefore consuming less water and energy to wash and sterilize those bottles and their pump than formula feeding families use.  Finally, there's this unexpected benefit of breastfeeding meaning the only way to rid myself of these lice is through shaving my head, which means for quicker showers and even less water consumption by my family!  Who knew that breastfeeding would end up saving me so much on my water bill every month?

What does this have to do with sustainable living?  A good deal, actually!  Breastfeeding, for example, reduces my dependence on outside sources of food for my family.  This effects my impact on the environment in many ways, everything from the after effects of the packaging to the transportation of the formula to the factory that created it.  I have my own self-sustaining milk production center right here!  That reduces the negative impact on the environment left from my family, which is, of course, better for the earth.  The more sustainable resources we use from local suppliers, the less of a pollution impact we have on our environment.  With water consumption, all the crud that ends up in the water has to go somewhere, even if it's just purified out.  That takes energy.  It takes energy to pump the water to our houses.  Especially in areas where water is limited during portions of the year, water is a valuable resource that shouldn't be wasted.  Saving water could mean there's more available for livestock and crops.  Saving water also means consuming less energy to transport the water to your home, which generally comes from unsustainable energy sources, like most conventional power plants.  Financial independence may not strike many as a step towards sustainable living, but financial independence, freedom from all debt, will help with sustainable living.  It means you need to earn more money to pay off bills and creditors.  In a day and age where most people past the age of retirement can't afford to live off their retirement funds, it's a benefit to be out of debt and planning for your future as soon as possible.  If nothing else, I don't want my kids to be saddled with my bills after I die!  I would like to leave them free and clear, perhaps with something to inherit, even if it is just my house or some land.  Being out of debt means no interest payments, which means more of my money stays in my pockets.  That means more savings, or more money that can be put into creating an even more sustainable home, perhaps a place with solar or wind power.  Everything cycles back to being a possibility to living more sustainably.

So in the end, it all started out as a frustration that breastfeeding prevented me from being able to save my hair, but what's a little vanity for a healthier means of living?  I think the benefits far outweigh the inconveniences in this case.  Who knew breastfeeding and the lice that would not die would end up leading my family to having so many benefits to push us further towards a sustainable lifestyle and more financial freedom?  Maybe it was meant to be!