Today I figured I would give you a quick garden update. We have FIGS!!! I'm sure we're going to end up having way more than I will ever know what to do with, but for now, I'm excited and looking forward to teaching myself the process of canning and preserving.
Mostly corn, some cucumbers, squash and carrots.
Our blueberries
Doug and I recently had a conversation about "going green" (trendy) and "living eco-friendly" and/or "thrifty" (not-so-trendy). Although we disagreed on a few of the meanings of words, we both agreed that living eco-friendly as well as thrifty was important. We realize that God has given us what we have and that we need to be good stewards of that. What I'm trying to figure out is how to remain somewhat sophisticated yet do what we should with the resources that's been entrusted to us.
Due to the oil spill(ing) in the ocean, a lot of conversations have come up in our circle about using our renewable resources and looking for ways to be not so dependent on what is non-renewable. I feel like gardening is only a small way of contributing and we are continually looking for other ways to go crunchy (a term I'm new to and am testing out). Some of those ways include: starting our own compost pile, recycling, shopping at ALDI and at thrift stores, turning lights off when not in use, being aware of the amount of energy we're using, using the toaster oven instead of the oven, not running the AC too low... and the list goes on. We are by no means perfect and we're still trying to figure out what works for us.
Today I tried out something new. Laundry. Now laundry itself isn't new, in fact, it's my least favorite thing to do next to pulling weeds. What I do with the laundry is what's new. Today I didn't use our dryer. At all. Instead, I took the extra few steps, hung the laundry in the sun and let the heat of the day take over. All in all I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly our laundry dried and at how much energy we didn't use by turning on our dryer. Unfortunately, I picked a bad day to line dry my clothes because it started storming and I had to rush the remaining shirts inside before they got drenched.
I know I've written more today than normal so I thank you if you've gotten this far. I just had to share with you what has been going through our minds and hearts over the last few weeks/months. It certainly isn't easy or convenient but it's worth the effort in the end. Plus, you get this great feeling inside like you're serving the greater good and helping something bigger than yourself.
I realize I didn't talk too much about being thrifty, but that's another conversation for another day. In the mean time, are there any other eco-friendly tips you'd feel compelled to share?
Love yall!
-jb
