One of my city friends has a worm compsoter and it's so wonderful. She gives people worms. It's great.
Here's a thought on a 'regular' out door composter: Does it really matter if you can use the dirt quickly or not? It does take some time for it all to break down enough to use, but where ya goin', yk? At least the stuff in your compost isn't going to a landfill, kwim? Of course, if you are planning to move, you might not want a composter, but OTOH, maybe the people buying might want your composter?
I hope to sell my house soon, and I'll either take my composter with me, or not. At any rate, all my years of composting have not been in vain.
A Target opened in my town recently,and it's depressing to think about all that crap people buy. I watched Over The Hedge with the kids last night and it was all so right on. The theme song Suburbia (is it?) is just so heartbreakingly true. What a disposable, plastic society we've created. I don't know how we can possibly continue on like this.
Location: When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
Posts: 9,525
It won't continue forever. That is the sad fact... you can not sustain a world and trash it at the same time. More and more people are starting to think about these things. And the saddest part about it is, those who arn't are making up the difference in buying crap they don't need. As I get older I will walk though Target or one of those stores when I actually need something in there and just look with awe at the things that people are buying.
Not even judging... just looking.
Why oh why would anyone need disposable bibs? Is that 1/4 load of laundry a year so daunting or take so much time? But then I think, do I use old dish towels for my bibs? No... I make new bibs... so even I am not doing everything I can. (Ooooo... inspiration! I have 10 old stained white dish towels that I can make into bibs and then Dye with my friends in two weeks. Ooo...)
We won't servive another 50 years like this... but for the next 20, I think the change is going to come slow.
We've just moved halfway across the country and we aren't getting trash service. It's prompted us to recycle every little piece we can. Even with all of our "move-in" trash we still haven't filled a kitchen size (13 gallon?) trash bag (recycled from a bag of clothing a former neighbor gave us LOL). I've had to think twice about purchasing items because of the amount of waste they will cause.
We've been composting since we arrived here but today we actually completed our compost bin. The kids helped find worms while DH dug out an area to place it into the ground. We had a heap previously but that won't work here since there are so many little critters that would make a mess of it. I need more worms.
We bought meat in bulk and really scrubbed out the containers it comes in so we can reuse them for paints or homeschool stuff or something. Not sure what yet. In Feb is DH's aunt's slaughter season and we're getting 1/2 a side of beef from her. Would that creat more waste than purchasing bulk containers from the store?
We're in the middle of nowhere. Total black sheep in this area. Anyhow, I took my cloth produce bags, etc. into a grocer a few days ago and the woman held them up, inspecting them and trying to figure out what was going on. She just nodded, speechless, when I told her they were in place of the plastic bags.
I'm using old sheets on the back of curtains to add thickness.
I did crochet and knit about 8 dishclothes after this thread started and I've been following (Kimberly's?) routine on using one per day, washing, reusing.
My MIL cleaned the house before we arrived and even though we had a discussion days before about paper towels and toilet paper she still insisted on putting them in the house. They are still sitting as she put them, completely unused.
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They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
Andy Warhol
1. If you type in India and worm composting, you actually get all sorts of interesting all over the world composting essays, including an E- Book by organic farmers in Kenya. I think that was the most interesting one, b/c the issues faced by the K. orgfarmers are the same ones faced by American farmers, except I think they sound way more optimistic.
2. What sort of fabric do you make sandwich bags out of?
I've made really nice lunch bags out of flag- weight nylon. It's the nylon sold at Hancock's. I got mine from a flag manufacturer.
3. If I put printed cardboard- cereal boxes- in the worm composter, will it poison the worms? How fast will they reproduce? I put in one styrofoam coffee cup with dirt and worms in the composter a week ago, to start it up. I put in some food, but I haven't since, since I dug around and found smelly food, and no worms. I assume they are hiding, and maybe I've been overfeeding? Yes? No? Clueless here.
4. The reason to package garbage is that garbage has the potential to be a biohazard, and really, the garbage guys don't want to be exposed to all the possible toxic germs that come from rotting food, rotting diapers, and rotting fluids, plus, say, chemicals, and so on. Unless your city contracts out to a private waste service, it's worth bagging it, b/c your tax dollars pays their pension and healthcare. And in the other case, it's just bad karma.
5. Crowns and scepters are totally recyclable- look at monarchies---what do you want on yours, Linda? Now, you'll need duchesses, and princesses, and - oh, a palace garden, right?
ari
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Boo- yeah!
... a part of devotion and love is the self- discipline to grow a talent into a skill...
this is an old post but...i found it VERY interesting to read!!! so i wanted to give it a BUMP
my family thinks i am kookie!!! i use cloth diapers & cloth wipes on enzo...make my own baby wipe solution...glass bottles...cloth rags to clean the house instead of paper towels...cloth napkins when we eat...glass containers for left overs...always use glass plates & cups...canvas tote bags to grocery shop...use shaklee organic cleaning products...
my thing is it is my family/our lives...don't judge me!!! i didn't grow up crunchy...i made the decision to live this way!!! i despise when people have the nerve to say cloth diapering/wiping is GROSS?!?!?! mind yourself. they ask why do i make everything so "difficult"...once you get used to doing things this way it honestly becomes second nature. it is not DIFFICULT at all imo.
even dh rolls his eyes at me sometimes but he won't dare to comment because i save our family tons of money by living a non-disposable life.
probably not a new thought, and i'm not going back to read all 7 pages of the thread - but my mother thinks i'm a kook, too. not about cloth dipes (which i haven't been using ) but about cloth wipes, cloth hand towels in the bathroom, etc.
she uses disposable *everything*. she'll ask me if i want her to pick up XYZ and send it down when it's on sale. i'll ask if it's disposable, she'll say yes, and i say don't waste your money. my sister is the same as my mom. they both think cloth dipes are great, but only because they're impressed with my sewing skills, lol
rebecca makes a good point. our lives aren't supposed to be easy and convenient...it might be nice if they were, but maybe sometimes a little struggle/coping with inconvenience helps build character. (although i don't see how not using disposable stuff is inconvenient. admittedly, i stopped using c/ds on ds because i was getting burned out on everything - and it was the only thing that could be easily taken off my plate. it was more about the constant redundancy than any inconvenience, though).
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Ame, mom to R, A, G, and S; wife to P since 1998
Location: When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
Posts: 9,525
I loved this thread.
The change is coming slowly... and sometimes I am grateful for those conviences that are way too readily available in our society.
In the judgement sense... it goes both ways. You know? I have had a really hard time with the choice for my sanity to use paper dipes for Logan. The ONLY disposable paper product we usually use is TP. I do get looks from my crunchier friends. But it saved my sanity when Don was away and I was already washing at least three full loads of laundry every day extra due to Logan's reflux... ie: puke on me, on him, our carpet is ruined now... etc.
I now have chickens and worms, and a huge bountiful garden... All in my own backyard on my single city lot.
Do you ever think of things like chickens as "disposable"? I have been thinking about that lately. What about the egg layers that don't lay anymore? Do they eat them? Or put them in crapy processed chicken for McDonalds? And what about the fast food places? Ever walked out of there with less than half a tray of perfectly recyclable garbage? I only go to places like that very rarely, but when I do I feel like taking my garbage home to my recycling bin. Am I the only one? What about the huge parts of cows we decide not to eat? "disposable"? And what about the food that is left over from our own bounty? I have more radishes right now than I know what to do with. I am the only one who eats them. I do put them in my worm bin, but what about them? "disposable"? I know how this thread started... talking about bibs, and napkins, and placemats, and cups... that stuff is just OVER THE EDGE for me in my reasoning... I mean really... you can't wash a sippy cup? Or the car is so dirty that you forget about one and then decide that instead of throwing that one away, you are going to throw all the others away that you buy after that just so you don't have to deal with being dirty or forgetful... gross... but in my head disposable goes to a whole new level when we start talking about food and food production. What is disposable really? How much or how little garbage can one produce and still be part of "normal" society?
I would love to test it out and see... First I need more worms.
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Val; Living the dream we have been working towards for over 5 years.
Mama to Alex, Cyan, and Logan. Wife to my very best friend.
I'm glad that this post struck a chord for you! I too get people asking why I have to make things so difficult - my dh's family finally decided years ago that they wanted nothing to do with us because I am 'too difficult". I feel bad for that, but I cant change who I am!
My resolve on the subject has only stregthened. yes, I fail once in a while, but I am still commited! My latest mission is getting my foster baby's mom to consider cloth diapering.
My husband took a long time to get on board, but over time he embraces more & more.
My thoughts on this at this point in time are how can I bless the earth & my family? Living simply & forgoing disposable convenience is a blessing to my children & the earth. It is an act of love.
Blessings,
Anne-Marie
P.S. - Val, when my chickens no longer lay they will still be family pets. The ones who die become food for the wild animals. We dont eat meat so thats how it is for us. As for food that you have excess of if you dont have friends & neighbors that can use them, try a food bank or I have seen people offer food up on craigslist! I'm actually thinking of taking up a craigslist offer for apricots today! fresh from the tree!
It's been a very slow day at work here today and I've greatly enjoyed reading this thread.
My mom is quite the conservationist and I was raised that way but strayed greatly when I left home. I'm now slowly moving back towards it now that I've gotten what I needed to out of my system. I've never really thought about it much in the past, but in the last half year - year or so I've been incorporating more and more into my life. I've switched to cloth bags (both shopping and sandwich, thanks Amanda), reusable containers for lunches/drinks, cloth pads, being more careful about recycling... I'm taking small steps every day to make myself and my environment healthier. The next step I'm working towards is less paper towels.
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Emily ~ dreaming of owning a home, having a new baby and living with a hunny ~
mama to Zackary 11
In the judgement sense... it goes both ways. You know? I have had a really hard time with the choice for my sanity to use paper dipes for Logan. The ONLY disposable paper product we usually use is TP. I do get looks from my crunchier friends. But it saved my sanity when Don was away and I was already washing at least three full loads of laundry every day extra due to Logan's reflux... ie: puke on me, on him, our carpet is ruined now... etc.
Enzo has reflux too!!! Any luck with getting it under control? PM me...I'd love to chat w/ someone who I can identify with. When I try to explain to our friends/family how difficult having a baby with GERD is the kind of minimize it to "aawww, I hope his "tummy ache" gets better soon" "tummy ache" are you kidding me? well' PM me since we are in the same boat
At any rate, all my years of composting have not been in vain.
) but about cloth wipes, cloth hand towels in the bathroom, etc.
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