Over the last two years, my family has been on a mission to live a simpler life that costs less, uses less energy, and gives us more time and resources to play and have fun. The first step in the process was to get rid of our McMansion. We sold our 3,000 sqft house for one half the size, and while it’s taking some getting used to, we’re enjoying the financial freedom, as well as the extra time and money we’re saving on upkeep.
The second step was to get rid of the gas guzzling Ford F150 4X4 Supercrew I used to affectionately call “Grave Digger”. It’s been replaced by a Honda Element that gets twice the mileage. My my son calls it “The Lunchbox” and is embarrassed to be seen in it, but honestly, coming from the era of the AMC Pacer, avocado green appliances, disco and polyester leisure suits, if the most embarrassing thing my son has to deal with as a kid is a pumpkin orange Element, he’s doing pretty good.
With the house and the car taken care of, we are now shifting our focus to the 6,000 sqft of lawn in our back yard. We’re in California, where the price of water is about the same as a gallon of gas. So the first thing we said when we spied the back yard was, “That’s gonna go.” And ever since we moved in, we’ve been working on that.
We’re taking it in stages. Unfortunately, the stage that includes a spa, fountain and fire pit will have to wait a few years (unless I see Ahmet from DIY Network’s “Yard Crashers” down at OSH. Then I’m hijacking him so that I can get it sooner, compliments of DIY). The stage we’re starting with first is the side yard that we are converting to a vegetable garden.
Tomorrow, I’m taking a vacation day from my day job to haul 2 1/2 yards of soil into our new veggie garden. I’ve already got lettuce, peas, broccoli and chard waiting to be planted, along with the marigolds and nasturtiums that are supposed to keep the bugs away. I can’t wait. It was almost 15 years ago when I last had a vegetable garden and in those years, my husband and I have missed the heirloom tomatoes and fresh produce we used to get from it. Now, I’ll have it back again while at the same time, doing something good for the environment.
So I’m wondering, with so much talk about global warming and the environment, have any of you made changes recently to live a greener life? Anyone going organic on their produce, meat and dairy? Turning vegetarian? Frequenting the local farmer’s market? If you are, come tell us! I’m curious to know if you’re enjoying the change or if you’re finding it a pain.
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Hi Lori,
Yes! Going green sounds so much easier than it is. I love my local organic farmer’s market. It’s every Saturday but you have to get there early or the stuff sells out. I buy organic produce and eat very little meat any more. Like you, we’re getting rid of lawn and converting our yard to native plants. Here in the pacific northwest, that is mostly ferns!
We just went to our local Farmer’s Market for the first time last week and really had a lot of fun. I haven’t been in years and was surprised to see lots more than just fruits and vegetables these days. One booth that caught my eye were corn dogs made with Louisiana Hot Link sausages. They were HUGE! And being on weight watchers, probably an entire weeks worth of points. But I’m thinking one of these days I’ve got to try it, just to say I did!
I’m good about recycling paper, glass, and plastic. I did trade in my pickup truck for a cute shinly light blue Mazda 3 – but that was more due to the price of gas… I’ve always gone to the local farmers market…other than that I’m not very green…
I don’t know, it sounds like you’re pretty green to me! And trust me, our 4X4 got the axe because of the $700 a month gasoline bill. Though I’m no proponent of high gas prices, I confess there’s no better motive for conserving than hitting us in our pocket books.
Growing up here in my area of PA, it is common place to shop at our local farmer’s market. Many of my neighbors do. Our’s is almost a Foodies paradise. They sell almost anything you could want, all under one roof, year round. I love to visit the stands that sell the choice cuts of meats and poultry, and the bakery and preserved stands all from Lancaster County, PA. If you want organic done right, the original way, or as they say “The way God intended” thats where you need to go. The stuff is just amazing.
My area also just started to use single stream recycling for items tagged 1 to 7 this year. I have to admit that I am having trouble remembering what some of those items are when I’m tossing things out. Plastic was always a given, but some of the other stuff gets fuzzy for me. (Like glass products)
Other than that, all I do at home is use my reuseable cloth grocery bags when I grocery shop and I turn my plastic bags in at the grocery store for special recycling. I have changed quite a few of our lightbulbs over to the energy efficient kind also. For us thats about it.
Thanks for asking.
-Pamela
I use my cloth grocery bags–when I can remember!! Argh, I’m forever forgetting them in the trunk of my car. LOL But your farmer’s market sounds wonderful! I’ve yet to see meat, though I hear the best one around me is up in Santa Rosa. I haven’t gone to that one yet, but just might go this weekend. You’ve got me curious to see what’s out there!
I thought I’d come back and add this in for anyone who wants to see what we here in PA call a “real” farmer’s market. This is the web site for ours here in Allentown. It a permanant year round facility not like the open air ones that most places can only host during the summer months.
http://www.fairgroundfarmersmkt.com/
Wow that looks great! I watch a lot of Food Network and have seen places like that on TV. Seattle’s Pikes Market is very similar, but I’m not aware of anything like it around here. Though we do have a number of gourmet grocery stores around here. It wouldn’t be the wine country without fresh breads and organic produce. But nothing on that scale. Lucky!
I do my best to recycle paper and plastics. I buy fresh veggies when I can. I try to use the green lightbulbs that last longer but sometimes they are expensive. I have yet to figure out if they really last any longer. I’m getting better about buying bottled water, I use a filter pitcher at home. I guess that’s about it.
Linda Henderson
I think that’s quite a bit! I just read an article in Time about the damage meat and poultry does to our environment. Like Nancy mentioned, we’re also trying to eat vegetarian more often, though we’d have a hard time giving up those burgers for good. But I was saying to my husband that if everyone did just a little bit, it would make a big difference. I don’t think we all have to go overboard. Just doing a few things here and there adds up, I think.
Fun post, Lori. I love that you have an orange car. If only my car had come in orange, I’d have been sooooo happy.
I live in a teeny tiny apartment with no air conditioning (summer gas-electric bills are $21 a month!), drive a hybrid car (as you know, since you’ve ridden in it
), shop at the farmer’s market every week, walk rather than drive when I can, avoid buying stuff as much as possible, cook vegetarian at least half the time, and recycle/reuse whenever possible.
Freecycle is a fun way to re-use stuff or find it a new home, but the Freecycle list in our area is so busy I can never manage to keep up with it.
Because gardening isn’t all that feasible for me right now, I’ve tried getting my veggies delivered through a CSA (community supported agriculture), which was VERY cool but I had to cut it out for a while due to budget and schedule issues. I tried Farm Fresh to You and loved it, but our area has quite a few cool CSA’s to try out. I’m hoping to get back into it as some point.
For anyone who’s never heard of it, the idea behind a CSA is that you buy your produce directly from the farm or a collective of farms that produces it, and they deliver it to your home or a drop point in your area once a week. Many of the CSA farms also have harvest times and family visit times so that you can go visit where your food is grown and develop a more personal relationship with the farmers. It’s so cool!
I’ve never heard of CSAs. What a cool idea! Or Freecycling either. I’m imagining it’s like Craigslist, but everything’s free. Wow, such good ideas.
And like you with the Prius, I LOVE my Element. It’s totally me. Practical, boxy, yet a little quirky. LOL
Ok, I don’t garden–I have a black thumb–and the closest I’ve come to meat free is Fridays during Lent. I’m a Texan. We like our steak, what can I say? However, I do use cloth bags for my groceries without exception, I recycle everything that is recyclable, and I’ve begun tolerating a much warmer house by cranking the A/C way up (79-80) most of the time. I admit, that’s mainly because I’m trying not to pay $500 per month on a utility bill, but it also helps the environment, no?
Neither of our cars are gas guzzlers and our house is small… I guess the most UNgreen thing I do is buy books. I just can’t get into e-books, I don’t have a Kindle or Sony. I like a printed on paper book in my hand. It’s one thing I just can’t give up.
LOL Jillian, I imagine the vegetarian society in Texas is rather sparse. LOL
Honestly, I think the America is on the brink of coming full circle. My parent’s generation thinks bigger is better. (My folks STILL don’t understand why we sold our “big beautiful house”). But then again, they’re living on pensions, social security, and have lifetime health care all but paid for by their employers. Despite having 25 years at my corporation, I’ll be walking away with my savings and whatever is left of my 401K. So I really think we’re going to start seeing families going back to smaller, more affordable, housing, driving more economical cars and in general, consuming less. For my family, our changes have very much been financially-based, and we’re finding that as a side bonus, it happens to be green living too. It’s a win-win.