recycling.... by my own hand

I know that some people will think this is silly, but I find it great fun. I cut up the plastic grocery store bags... or really any plastic bag I can lay my hands on... and make it into yarn. Here are some pictures of a bag and some yarn in progress. The bag is made of one ply in white, I really like the flower detail. The brown is going to be spun into a two ply yarn for the grocery bag I am going to knit once I am done with the bag and shawl.

Decluttering

that office closet and trying to remember to post here daily!

That office closet is a danger zone. So I am working on getting the stuff sorted into recycle and donate piles.

The picture for today is a cold hardy rose in my front yard. It has been blooming for a couple of weeks now but I haven't taken the time to take the picture. Even after nights that are freezing and a couple of snows it is still setting flowers. Last year it flowered until late November, perhaps if the days are nice it will do it again.

Boy do I need to get the rake out!

Challenge!

My friend Rebecca has challenged herself to post for 365! I am unsure if I can keep up but I intend to give it a go.

Pictures included.

Since I have not charged my camera batteries I am going to post an older picture for today, it may not have anything to do with the world at large really, but I am going to have to start where I am right now.

I am at a point where the eco anxiety has me all freaked out. I know that there is nothing really that I can do from a global picture so I am going to have to do it on a micro level. I make my choices, and I try to keep it as green as I can.

I have found that cleaning with hydrogen peroxide seems to keep my house clean and without those funky odors that one can have with dogs and babies in the home. LOL

Here is how it goes most of the time... take one spray bottle and add one half cup of water and one half cup of hydrogen peroxide. Now take two cloths... one white cotton rag kind of cloth and one micro fiber detailers cloth. That will give you one to wash with and one to dry with.

Spray your chosen item to clean and let it sit for a minute, then wash it down with the white cloth, and dry with the detailer rag. There you have it... clean, deodorized, and dry again so nothing can really grow on it. I started this a couple of weeks ago to avoid catching the lung gunk( technical term that!) everyone seemed to be coming down with and I found that it works like magic. (Ladies it even took the man pee odor from the bath room... ) I use it to clean almost everything now and find that it even works on the floor, so no more buckets of dirty water. I have a microfiber mop head that just goes into the washer and dryer with the rest of my cleaning rags so I am as happy as I can be about it. Washing is a chore that I have not managed to get rid of yet.

Just an amazing thing...

http://www.nature.com/nature/videoarchive/antikythera/index.html
This is about a mechanism found in a ship wreck about 1900, through technology it has become alive again.

eco-anxiety

Seems to have me in its grip. I am almost unable to make myself do anything in here lately.

Here is a link to a couple of teens (brothers) who are doing something to educate the world about hunger and what can be done about it with a little bit of water and lots of creativity. I suggest that you check it out, I think I am a fan!

http://www.globalbuckets.org/

Because I liked this one...

http://www.rmi2009.org/eslns/rmi2009.html

I would like to invite everyone to read it!

What does it take...

to make us want to care about how we treat the water on this planet? A friend sent me a link to the LATimes blog called Greenspace a couple of days ago. The story was about how you should avoid beaches and going into the water after a rain because of the increase of fecal matter. Though the popular belief is that California has pristine beaches, the truth is that many are a natural resource nightmare. California waters have been ranked worst in the country according to the story. That there is a warning to keep away from the beaches after a rain due to storm water carrying human and animal fecal mater in amounts high enough to sicken people that would go into the water is frightening.

I don't know what the answer is to this problem. I only began to really pay attention sometime in the last couple of years. I only know that if we are going to be hanging out on our "big blue marble" that we need to address some of these issues. I hate the idea of how we are treating the water of this world as though it does not have some dire impact on us in the long run.

Am I paranoid with visions of the future that read like a scene from Tank Girl? I no longer think so. I suppose getting angry is the first step to learning what to do.

Everyone seems to be up in arms about post peak oil production, and that is a concerning issue, but what are we going to do if we are unable to use the water?

Please read this

http://www.postcarbon.org/disaster_transitionism

I had not stopped to think who was making the money from disaster relief before. If no one was making money there would be no disaster relief on a large scale is just common sense. This was a real eye opener for me.

A busy summer

Has left me slacking on my writing. I think that I am always behind myself this summer!

Today I am taking the time to catch up on my blogs. I have been thinking and jotting down lots of notes, that look horribly random once a few days go by. Before I lose it all I should put it down.

Life depends on having a garden in my opinion. Even if it is only for the spiritual aspects. Though my biggest reason is because it allows me to make better choices in what I feed my family.

Eating locally raised food is part of the important new choices that I feel must be made.

You see the change in critical energy supplies will create energy shortages that will cause prolonged economic impact. Now that we have reached post peak oil production, we are now in a energy decline that many are in denial about. Food production today is heavily dependant on fossil fuels. Unless this system undergoes a metamorphosis, agriculture as we know it will fail. This will lead to massive shortages in both fuel and food supplies. According to many studies (which I am not going to look up to notate here...lazy me) say that this will happen within the next 20 years.

Our lifestyles have been created to give us a level of comfort and convenience that is totally unsustainable due to our energy consumption. Today we must make choices that will lessen our impact on the world that this over consumption seem to be leading to.

Realistically the only changes that I can personally make are small. My family and I are living on a limited income, in a rental home, that will make the choices limited. I cannot put in solar panels, or wind production as I am not the home owner. I can however take public transportation or walk more often. Still my favorite choice is my garden. Eating locally grown food not only allows me to know what has gone into raising the food, but it seems to be a spiritually fulfilling activity. Sure... I recycle, and recraft, but my favorite "Re-" is renew. My garden is renewing the earth in a small way.

My garden teams with life. From dachshunds to microorganisms, my garden heaves with life. Most of this is from my compost piles Freddy and George. I know it is silly to name them but it keeps me tending to them as I would the pets. I use them to get my exercise when they need turning. I use them enrich my garden. I have used them to cook before when Freddy was running so hot. My plans are perhaps to use them to heat my polytunnel season extenders eventually. Experimentation seems to be the fun of it all now.

This is just awful... and should not be read by the faint of heart

I know that factory farms are hell on earth. Rolling Stone Magazine has done a wonderful article on it. It is really hard to stomach so if you are easily upset please do not read this.
That they are allowed to call this farming is awful. That they pollute water like this is something we should all be concerned about.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12840743/porks_dirty_secret_the_nations_top_hog_producer_is_also_one_of_americas_worst_polluters/1

I have been introduced to a system...

that seems to conserve alot of water, and time, and still allow you to grow wonderful veggies.
It is a bottom wicking system using water bladders. When I find the link I will post that also.
I made it through my little surgery like a champ. Taking the afternoon to relax with my feet up and read a good book.

Hen and Chicks

The house leeks are growing crazy large this season. I am encouraging them to grow in all the spots that the dogs enjoy because they seem to leave them alone!

Being a succulent they are a great choice for the Colorado gardener. They need less water than many other ground covers.

I have found that it is illegal to save water from the roof in Colorado, so I am going to divert the down spout to help keep this bed watered. It is mostly day lillies and hen and chicks right now with a thriving cat mint plant that is a volunteer.

Roses are blooming

It is not raining and that seems good today as I am beginning to worry about root rot. Deoxygenation the people on the news called it.
I have decided that growing roses without chemicals is going to be a challange. Though one of the benifits I have found is that the finch and other small birds love to eat leaf rollers!
Bit of neighbor hood wisdom here... if you put leaf based compost on the lawn dandelions do not grow well. So you can reduce your weeding load if you add more leaf compost. Some say that the application will reduce the growth up to 80%. I don't know where to find the details or studies or anything.

Neice had the baby...

so last week was completely taken up by baby drama.
I have found no real way to express myself with this so far. I wanted to say that the garden is coming along in some wonderful way, but the truth is it has be very chilly and so nothing is really growing hard. I am going to post some pictures later in the week of the new stuff once it is more than seed leaves.
The compost pile is cooking away, and I think if it gets much hotter I might look for a way to really cook with it! LOL Turning it seems to be hungry work some days and it might be left to just sit and digest soon. I get tired so easily.
I have been checking my account at hyperlocalvore and not finding anyone interested in gardening with me as yet. However I do think that in the fall when the greenhouse is up and ready that I might find someone that is more interested in learning season extending ideas.
We went out to the dog park today and picked up some litter in the area and found a place to dispose of it properly. I suppose I believe that even the microenviornmental efforts should add up eventually. Perhaps in the hundredth monkey kind of way.

trying not to feel like a slacker...

But I am not so active this week. The MS jumped on me again and I took a few days to recover my sense again. Now that the temper fit is over with I think I am doing alright.
Since all the gutters are off the house except on I think that I am going to continue to design a rain operated fountain. I am designing a gargole (please forgive the spelling today it seems to come and go) to go at the top of a short piece of guttering that will be on the back deck cover. It should drop water to a rain chain that has some bells on it, and then on to a water fall to a rain garden. The idea seems to be valid.
Materials should include much hypertufa as it is something I like to do. Several large clay pot bottoms, or perhaps found objects that will hold water. This should be rain driven so it will need no pump.
Something that I am playing around with so that I can keep some of the run off on the property.
Not much but I am hoping that the 1% rule will keep me happy until I can figure something else out.

Greeting Earth Dwellers

It was always a joke between my brothers and sisters and myself. It was from some old space invasion movie. Still doesn't it make more sense now? I like to think of myself as dwelling on the Earth. To dwell... to remain for a time, to live as a resident, to keep the attention directed upon, to speak or write about insistently.... got to love Webster! I am not certain what form this awareness of dwelling is going to take in the long run, but for now it is enough that I am becoming aware enough to know that I dwell. I am not just here, or just living there, or gardening... I intend to dwell!
We are looking at a lifestyle that lives more simply on the Earth. Learning as we go, and passing some of this on to others through this site.
Wish us luck!