{Image found through Google}
I think today is a day to become more aware of our planet and to start or continue taking care of her.
I want to share with you some things I do to help keep my planet a better place for my family
We are a family of 8. My Husband, his parents, our 4 children and myself live in a 2000sq ft house. It is not luxury by any means. we are comfortable and we love each other. That is what counts.
When my in-laws moved in, I noticed they were not much for recycling. Over the years this has changed and gotten much better. This family of 8 only produces about 2 bags of garbage each week. It used to be a lot more! We recycle at least 4X more than what we throw away. The rest is compost. I used to compost casually. I stopped when I got sick and never really thought of it. As I got better I felt that I was supposed to change that. I felt that there were changes needed to be made, so I ACTED on my feeling.
I now compost what I think may be half a garbage bags worth per week! Don't think you can make a difference all by yourself? That add up to 26 bags of garbage per year!!! After 10 years that adds up to 260 bags of garbage that have not gone to the landfill! Things like vegetable peels, melon rinds, crumbs, leftover rice, egg shells and anything else that is food that contains no meat.
Do you know what else you can compost? Human hair! Tissues used from blowing your nose! Finger nail clippings! Dryer lint!! There are so many things that we just throw away that need to be composted!! Start today! Act on it and help save your planet!
{Image found on Pinterest}
I am planning garden beds this year. I try to plant a little something here and there every year. This year I am going all out and planning raised beds and I have even already started growing indoors! In my yard I have over a dozen trees. We get a LOT of leaves in the fall. Why send all that to the dump? I am going to fill the bottom of those garden beds with those leaves. A natural compost that will break down over time. Granted I won't be able to do that every year, but there has to be a way! I may have to mulch them somehow...
Nothing like planning to be more self sufficient! Do you know how much packaging you go through when you buy produce at the grocery store? Too much! lol! No I don't have an exact answer. I just know it's too much. I am looking for reusable produce bags to start, but there is nothing I can do about berry containers. That is, except plant my own food! We will have to see what budget allows, but I plan on expanding these beds every year and helping my planet a little more in doing so.
Here is the Giveaway!! In the comments tell me what you do to help save our planet and give me ideas and tricks to help me get better at it!
With every share, Facebook, Twitter, your Blog etc... come back and leave me another comment to be entered again. Follow my blog for an extra entry, or just let me know in a separate comment that you already follow. Same thing with my Facebook page, follow for another chance :)
Get 5 chances to win if you shop in my Jewelry Shop!
I will give away this pair of earrings
International welcome to participate!
Help save our planet!
Marie
{I will update with link later, blogger is not allowing me to add links right now. Thank You}
39 comments:
These are all such excellent ideas, Marie. Your family of 8 is helping the planet on a daily basis. Best to you and yours always.
Shared on my FB page :)
Beautiful earrings!! I miss chatting with you. I am designing a necklace with one of your pendants! I love the willows!! Wonderful post sweetie. I shall share this on my fb..
Shared On FB!!
And Twitter :)
Here's a plan for those berry containers... you said you start your garden indoors? Berry containers have slits in them to allow water through... perfect for seedlings ;)
I live in a third floor apartment, and don't have a garden, so no composting here >.< I do recycle though, and use cloth shopping bags. Plus I recycle shipping materials and bubble envelopes whenever possible :)
great ideas! we all need to do our part in recycling and what ever we can to leave less of a foot print on our world!
I am now following your blog
and pinterest too!
and will share your post on facebook, and I liked your facebook page too
I follow your blog.
I follow you on Facebook
I re-use plastic bags for dirty cat litter and whatever doesn't get used gets put in the recycle bag bin at the grocery store.
I always turn lights off when I leave a room and if there are only a few dishes I wash them by hand instead of putting them in the dishwasher.
My husband rides his bike to work, the convenience store, etc. We switched to a family car that gets 32 miles per gallon and it also happens to be able to take E85 so we use that instead of regular gas sometimes.
I am also already a follower :)
Instead of buying plastic containers for beads, I use stuff I have around the house. Oatmeal containers (weighted down with a few pebbles) for holding my jewelry tools, flat q-tip boxes to hold ribbon, kleenex boxes to hold wire, etc.
shared on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/MagicMonkeyMehendi/posts/10200640622790754
Ah! I love this post. Last year I gave up my car and mainly use public transportation. I am a member of a car sharing organization for when I need a car. Even if you need a car, if you have other transportation (bike, bus, etc.) it might be possible to downside to one car if you have access to car sharing for when you need two cars. I joined a CSA to get local veggies straight from the farm. They don't travel far and they don't come in packages. I take reusable bags everywhere. I use cloth napkins - even at work. I also keep a dish towel at work to avoid using paper towel. I fear I crush a bit of my eco-friendliness by ordering lots of beads, though.
I am now following your blog.
I liked you on Facebook.
Marie,
I love to hear how vibrant you sound again.
We compost a lot too, and use it in our garden. Sometimes we dig a row and put in compost and cover with next row and put in compost (fresh stuff or aged),and keep going. It is a great way to turn your garden.
We had also have signed up for a CSA farm produce with a local farmer who delivers organic veggies in no wrapping (cloth bags). It supplements our garden produce and supports a local grower.
We have lots of reusable lunch containers but the best are a cloth and BPA- free plastic napkin that folds around your sandwich and seals with velcro. Love these reusable wraps for sandwiches or cookies.
I am trying to get used to the Compact flourescent light bulbs, but we have some older ones that are still going, and I dislike the light colour, the time it takes to get bright. Newer ones are better, but I still have a couple regular light bulbs because I love the warmth of the colour of them.
I do follow your blog, and enjoy your posts. Andrea
I'm amazed at your ecological footprint! We usually end up with 2 bags with a family of 3...and a bin of recycling. This is a wonderful idea, I just posted an Earth Day (Evening) article too, and must hurry on to meet another deadline.
I love your earrings, but will just have to try my chances with one entry for tonight. So generous of you to have a give-away! Best wishes, Marie! -Sharyl
Not sure if you sew (think I linked for your beading)but thought I would share my super easy very useful (use them to store in fridge too) produce bag idea.
Using a nice quality netting from the local fabric store (you can buy nylon or a cotton/poly blend) make a bag with a drawstring top (I used cotton crochet cord). Just made mine in sizes to suit the produce I usually buy, but not too large to hold heavy items as the netting can tear.
Easy to make, wash, dry and as I said they work great for storage in the crisper drawers of the fridge or in the pantry.
Buy local! While I do have a garden, I also try to buy other items while they are in season, and buy as local as possible, I especially love patronizing my local produce stands. Less transportation reduces my carbon footprint. I have composted since I was a kid, it's something my parents raised me to do. Because I also cook a lot from scratch, I have a large amount of kitchen waste that goes right back into the Earth. I'm interested in the documentation behind composting tissues. I've never tried composting those. Do you have any more information on that?
I loved your post.
Great ideas, I shall follow some right away :-)
I try to recycle and have my family do the same, too, as much as possible.
I re-use materials and offer to teach young children about it, with fun projects, for free.
I also use beautiful fabric bags for shopping, I also learned to make my own from a simple pattern I got online.
My best to all,
DESPINA
deb_oro@yahoo.gr
Love all these ideas - we use our leaves also for compost and try to recycle paper, glass, anything. At work, we've started recycling bins also. The earrings are just beautiful. Thank you for the chance to win.
Love all of these ideas. We use our leaves for compost also. We try and recycle our paper, glass, etc. and shop our local markets. We've started recycle bins at work also. Your earrings are beautiful. Thank you for the chance to win.
I am following your blog.
I have been interested in recycling for decades. For my Etsy shop I have managed to ship all of my orders so far in recycled padded envelopes. I try to reuse pretty tissue paper, ribbons, and buttons.
I try to buy local, and now that it's spring, we shop at the farmers market. We also try to tote our own drinks as much as possible. Love your designs and glad your health is better!
I follow your FaceBook page!
I'm now following you on Pinterest!
And I'm now following your Blog!
Thank you for highlighting Earth Day so well, Marie. I couldn't resist commenting as I love the planet, but I love Marsha Neal's lovely beads, too! In our family, we have chosen to have me as a full-time homemaker. This works well for us, as I do not need a car for work, special work clothes, and have the time needed to buy raw ingredients and make meals from scratch, conserve water and electricity, compost and make sure to reuse any plastics we are forced to buy.
Unfortunately, we live in a community too small for public transit, but too large to easily walk everywhere, so we compromise by making fewer trips and combining errands. We use our public library or go online for books, magazines or newspapers. All our electronics are unplugged when not in use.
Our four sons are trained to do all of the above as well. Conserving our resources DOES feel like a great challenge in a society that encourages us to thoughtlessly "buy and toss", but every small action has an impact!
And I forgot to mention that I am now following you, Marie!
I use those light bulbs and I forget the name of them now but I haven't changed a light bulb in years... they are great! They take a little getting used to because the light is a little bit different but they sure do save on light bulb waste!
We compost an amazing amount also. We save our egg shells and coffee grounds. They are very good for your tomato plants and roses. We have chickens, so not only do we have fresh eggs we also compost their waste. We recycle all aluminum, glass and paper.
Thanks for the amazing giveaway, pretty please count me in!
Angi Mullis dj2isme@aol.com
Shared on FB!
Angi Mullis dj2isme@aol.com
I'm hoping to start composting this spring too. Also spent some time talking with the kids about how we can help the earth every day through little things.
Post a Comment