and now an earth day

In the name of Earth Day I thought I would hop on the bandwagon and rattle off some things Dave and I are doing to green up our lifestyle.

We are slowly but steadily working on redefining normal (this way, Bella will have an easier time of it!). It's a luxury of starting a new family, plus we have very supportive extended family and friends who don't make a big deal of us while we attempt to pave new roads with granola. Still, there are certain thing we haven't greened up to yet, either not having the ability, money, or desire. Yes, that last one sounds terrible but we're talking baby steps here. It's not easy to reprogram a lifetime of consumerism. So our list:


Buying organic when possible.

Even better, buying locally at our seasonal farmer's market.

Starting a garden. We had planned to join a work-for-CSA, but with jobs and schedules all up in the air we can't possibly commit.

We EC with cloth diapers as a back up, except we use one disposable overnight and when we're going out somewhere relatively inconvenient (since we have never bought diaper covers. haha, i think that would have been useful and is on my list. as the diapers get bigger they get more expensive, and i'm tired of throwing out a diaper every day).

dip our own candles with local beeswax.

bake our own bread.

make our own jam with wild berries and apples.

we live in a place that we can get away without ac and minimal winter heat (yay hot water bottles!)

we no longer purchase paper towels and don't miss them a bit.

we clean almost exclusively with vinegar and soda.

we repurpose old clothes as rags or fabric for baby clothes.

freecycle!

when in need of baby entertainment, we repurpose items as toys or buy quality natural toys.

we breastfeed, and i could go on forever about all the ways this is green :O)


me personally:

i've been using the bottle of shampoo for a year and now that it's almost gone, i'm slowly transitioning to no 'poo. (the constipation sensation that's gripping the nation!)

cloth tissues (hey, those used to be called handkerchiefs, no?) and my nose thanks me.

cloth pads (still working on sewing some that work and that i like) or diva cup now that my period is finally back.

i almost forgot to mention that i wash my face with olive oil. i started doing that a year ago when i realized that if it works for baby, why not for me?

and of course some goals:

find a local organic meat source, local organic dairy and egg source.

having a tv-free night, keeping lights down at night (since we tend to be up at all hours)

oh there's probably so much more, but it's 11am and i just got home from work and my brain is shot (i did mention we keep odd hours, didn't i?). oh man, it's killing me not to edit this, but i just have to get it out before tomorrow, so take it as it is!


happy earth day, everyone.