And the Walls Came Tumbling Down!

Ok.  So you may remember from this post a few weeks ago, how excited I was that the neighbor was going to renovate this huge house next door to me, and he gave me carte blanche to dumpster dive.  Well... this morning they came to begin demolition.  I know because all of a sudden on a glorious, radiantly sunny and bird-song filled morning, I heard the shattering of glass and splintering of wood.  I happened to look up to see piece after piece of apartment fixtures flying out the 3rd floor window.  And apparently, no one had bothered to actually OPEN that window - they just threw things out without bothering to make room for the explosion.  I saw pieces of countertops, carpeting, window screens, odds and ends - appliances left behind.  When one of the demo guys (and they were all guys) bumped into the screen door, he grabbed a crowbar and tore it off.  A perfectly good screen door that could have fetched a good $25 from someone needing such a door.  Now it's twisted metal in the back of some guy's truck, laying under layers of ripped wood and tile.  And I have glass where my kids ride their bikes.

Ok.  Now you've guessed my little secret.  I'm on a rant.  A major one.  Not only do I have to dodge the flying glass that falls on our shared driveway, I have to watch as these guys tear into the very heart of this house and THROW IT ALL AWAY.  Not ok with me.  But I feel caught.  This is NOT my house.  I did NOT hire these guys to demo it.  I am NOT paying the bills.  But seriously.  Couldn't someone have come through beforehand and collected the kitchen cabinets and sinks, the countertops and stoves, the old windows and doors?  How incredibly sad to see it all flying out the window, nobody caring one heap of plumber's putty for it at all.  Geez.  Donate it to a salvage yard at the very least.

How would you have handled this?  Would you have told the 'guys' to put aside anything they could salvage?  Would you have called the owner?  The contractor?  Would you sneak in during the night to grab what your arms could carry before the 'guys' come back in the morning?  Would you have done nothing as I did?

The whole experience is making me resent the renovation now, whereas before I was looking forward to having a 'new' space next to me.  What about all the people who would have come to take what they needed from the house and left the rest for the demo 'guys'?  Don't contractors know about this resource?  Ugh.  If I get the guts to talk with the owner or contractor, I will ask about this manner of demolition, which is probably pretty typical.  I will put the response here in a future post.

A Seed of a Thought

I have come across some disturbing information over the past couple of years, and it has finally bothered me enough to write about it.  I have enjoyed gardening for many, many years.  In fact, it's probably a surprise to even my mother, that I enjoyed it as a kid - but would have enjoyed it much more if she had me do more than weed the flower beds.  I was always curious about the flowers, the vegetables, (we had a HUGE veggie garden out back) and could watch the bees and butterflies pollinate for what seemed like hours.  Many years ago, my step-father gave me a subscription to the Seed Savers Catalog.  At first I thought, "Hmm.  How odd."  But then I read it, and was hooked.  For those out there not familiar with their services, Seed Savers has collected tens of thousands of varieties of seeds, primarily from organic, and many heirloom plants, making them available to people who want them.  The catalog is a clearing house, so to speak, of quality plant possibilities, linking gardeners up with long lost, or 'seldom found in the grocery store seed bin' seeds.   Their headquarters, in Iowa, is Heritage Farm - a wonderful place to check out not only seeds, but heirloom animal breeds as well. 

Although I have not ordered from Seed Savers for quite some time, the whole idea inspired me to save my own seeds.  As mentioned previously, I attend the Gore Estate plant sale annually, to obtain heirloom plants from days gone by.  Had they not saved those seeds way back when, we would not be able to benefit from the plants' existence now.  The flowers and veggies of the victorian era are living well and prospering in my yard today thanks to some kind and thoughtful soul's act of reaching in and saving the seeds at just the right time.  I started saving my seeds from the garden, replanting them the next year to expand the flower beds.  I sent packs of seeds to family so they could enjoy a part of my garden at their homes.  When we ate a new species of organic melon we loved, we saved the seeds and planted them the next year so we could enjoy the melons again and again from our own yard.  We still come across old packs of seeds from the past years, shoved in a drawer, or lost in a pile of magazines, and find they are still viable, able to produce beautiful flowers and tasty vegetables.

It pains me to read about big agri-businesses buying up the seed businesses.  The intention here is to control the seed market, moving away from heirloom and organics and toward genetically modified, pest resistant varieties.  Companies such as Monsanto, Syngenta and DuPont focus on developing seeds that can be protected by patents, making it very expensive for growers to save the seeds (not that you'd want to).  Heavy fines are placed on those who get caught saving seeds, making it much more challenging for the small farmer to be successful.  

According to Organic Gardening Magazine, a report issued by the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture has warned that our seed supply is in grave danger.  Over 2000 varieties of seeds have been eliminated in one year alone.  Those are seeds that will never be replaced, at least not by agri-business.  However, if folks have saved seeds, those plants are not gone forever.  It has been estimated, the magazine article goes on to report, that at least 75 percent of genetic diversity among our agricultural crops has been destroyed.

So what does that mean for us?  Buy organic.  Always.  When you can, buy heirloom veggies at the store or farmer's market.  If you have the time and space, plant a few heirloom varieties and save the seeds.  It's really quite zen-like to harvest seeds, and can give you the sense that you are helping to save the world.  Well, it gives ME that feeling - saving it one seed at a time.  Check out what Seed Savers has in store - if not for this year, then perhaps for next or another in the future.  The more seeds we save now, the better off future generations will be.  Think about the victorian plants in my yard - someone had the foresight to save those seeds a very, very long time ago.  And - the seeds and plants are free that way!

A Day of Reflection

What does it mean to be mindfully simple in today's world?  In looking back at my reasons for starting this blog, I revisited my vow to make life for myself and my family a bit more thoughtful, more kind and more generous in a non-financial manner.  I wanted to find ways to give of our time and energy without leaving us exhausted and broke.  I wanted to find ways to involve our children in our community, to help them feel firmly planted in something real that you didn't have to turn on with a switch.  What I find challenging is balancing all that good thinking with the actuality of raising a family, holding down a couple of jobs and trying desperately to keep my head above water at all times.  (How do other people do this?)

First, I took a hard look at my habits for time management.  Knowing I wanted to retire early, I have been making plans to hold on to as much money that we bring in as possible.  In order to bring in more with little time spent, I have had to piggy back a few jobs, working harder for shorter periods of time rather than spreading work out over the whole week.  In this way, I can spend more time in the afternoons with my kids and feel that I am a steady presence in their lives.  After that, I looked at how I keep our home.  A while back, I complained that I am a rotten housekeeper.  I hate wasting my time on keeping our messes cleaned up - always have.  There's always something more exciting to do than fold laundry.  However, I really do love a clean house, and hate the embarrassment of friends stopping by unannounced, so we have jumped into super organized mode at our house for the past 4 weeks.  We have pulled out the stops to get the house and yard pulled together - not bad after living here for 10 years.  Where there were no curtains, we now have lovely and colorful cloths that shade our rooms.  Where there was a pile of styrofoam and packing materials, we now have a clean and clear closet.  Our camping equipment is within easy and organized reach for our inexpensive summer jaunts.  Our dressers hold only seasonal clothing, with the rest packed neatly away for the next turn or New England weather.  Coming home to less clutter makes me want to (gulp) vacuum.  I'm serious.  

Over the past few weekends, I have made sure I found time to garden. I find it so meditating, it is imperative that I get out in the yard regularly, no matter how chaotic our lives feel.  It is also so important that I be able to add to my family's diet by providing nutritious, organic vegetables.  My yard is not quite suitable for all this growing what with all the shade and such, so I am investing all my gardening energy into the new deck as my canvas.  With some coaxing, I think I can produce enough produce to keep our food costs low this summer.  

Beyond this, I am finding more time to consider community service for my family.  There are wonderful websites that offer connections to get started in volunteerism, even for children.  It takes some time to get started, but it is well worth the wait, I am sure.  I notice that just about every magazine I pick up these days has some article (or more) about living green.  It bothers me that our current economy situation has fueled a craze to 'go green' - bothered me because although it is high time someone notice the condition of our global economy, I know these things tend to blow over when the next fad bows in.  I suppose I have the same fear about my own new habits, but I hope they are all unfounded.

What are your reasons for living mindfully?  What makes you choose to be more careful each day with your purchases, diet, thoughts?

The Conundrum of Earth Day Celebrations, and How Green is Your Wallet?

Since I have been away on a family trip for a few days, I am launching into a more in depth post that covers two separate, but related issues.  Once I get the time to download photos of our trip, I will post more on that.

The Conundrum of EARTH DAY Celebrations:

Earth day is fast approaching - this Saturday, to be exact.  Do you have your day of celebrating all planned out yet?  Do you have particular rituals to ring in another year of 'trying' to be grateful for our earth?  Or do you let things roll, participating in random activities that suit you?  Or beyond that, do you let Earth Day come and go without really acknowledging it at all? 

I have to admit, I was shocked when I recently read that Earth Day has been around since 1970. According to Wikipedia:

Earth Day, celebrated April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year. This date is Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.

It was not until we moved to the Boston area about 10 years ago that we became aware of various activities to celebrate the Earth, and began to take more responsibility for our environmental actions.  Although there are many different activities here in our area to participate, the one which works for my family is the Charles River Cleanup.  We spend half of Earth Day walking down by the river, picking up an enormous amount of trash.  My husband loves this day, as he gets to wade into the river to capture discarded bottles, balls, and the many odd items (one year he found a tent!).  I found him wading boots on Freecycle just for this day every year - I'll post photos next week!.  My kids love that the Cleanup organizers hand out munchies and serve hotdogs at the end - and everyone gets a free t-shirt as well.  I love that we are out doing something physical in the fresh air, enjoying friends who do the same thing every year, and beautifying our community.  None of this costs us any money, and no one is trying to sell us anything as we do it.  

But not all 'Green', Earth Day activities are like this.  I'm sure if you are breathing, you have heard, watched, become aware of the scads of advertisements for 'green' this or that out in consumerville.  I have noticed that as more businesses are jumping on the 'green' wagon, consumers get the sense that by buying their products, we are doing something wonderful for the earth.  When in reality, we are still consuming, still moving away from recycling, and still keeping big business in business.  I came across good information at the Huffington Post.  Susan Linn talks about the marketing that is sent out to children regarding being green, and referring to Earth Day.  It always makes my blood boil to read how folks are targeting kids with advertising.  But it seems ludicrous that they think kids, who understand global warming so much better that some adults, would fall for their tactics.  Unfortunately, they use so many chemicals in their foods that they are hard for a child to resist, and they end up succumbing to the ridiculous feast.  I have actually read that participating in the fast food frenzy is much like being addicted to drugs.  Ok.  That's really scary.

How Green is Your Wallet?

As I said above, we just returned from our recent family trip.  Actually, we finish our trip tomorrow as we stopped off in Baltimore to visit family overnight, so we can cut the last leg of our trip into 2 more manageable pieces.  We went down to Williamsburg, Virginia, to check out the colonial community they have there.  It was a really beautiful area, and the weather, though rainy for much of the time we spent there, was much warmer than up north.  The people were fantastic - what they say about southern hospitality is really true.  We had so many people interested in who we were, why we had come down, how our drive was, etc.  But what we noticed right away was the lack of 'green' initiatives with the Colonial Williamsburg complex.  The place is HUGE with at least 5 hotels under the Williamsburg name.  There is the actual colony and shops, numerous restaurants, and museums as well.  Now, I have had the opportunity to stay in a few hotels lately, though I would not call myself much of a traveler. However, in my experiences, there has definitely been in shift toward more thoughtful, resource-saving activities such as re-using towels, recycling bins, glasses in the rooms, and a move away from styrofoam containers.  Well, I am sad to say that where we stayed, we had quite a bit of plastic/styrofoam dishes and cups for meals, plastic cups for drinking in the rooms (which split open within the first using, and so had to be tossed (in the recycle bag to bring home)).  I was shocked that it was not until we walked all the way through the colony (about a 30 minute walk) that we saw our first (and turns out only) recycling bin for glass, cans or plastic - none for paper, outside a sandwich shop in the merchant's center - not even the colonial part.  

I was really surprised to see that here we were in this preserved colonial community, and yet no one was working to preserve the present, so we could have it in the future!!

Is this a southern thing?  A Virginia thing?  I started thinking... it really pays it forward to research how your hotel recycles and reuses resources before you make the reservation.  And of course, I will be sending a letter to the corporate offices to share my opinion, with the hopes that they will begin to think about how to better use their products and processes in order to contain some of the resources we have left.  

But do you think about this before you travel?  Do you think about what mode of transportation gives you not only the best price but the best use of mileage as well?  Do you think about bringing your own food for some/all of the trip to minimize your own cost?  Do you think about camping versus hotels?  Do you have some secrets about how to be resourceful where others (hotels, restaurants, etc) fall short?  Definitely share them here!  And don't be shy - many of you readers are from other countries/regions and we could all learn from what you have to say!