Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

I'm so jealous of your chicken poop. :impouting

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

Want some???? :sillygrin Bring your own shovel and come on out. ;) You might get chased by my queenie hen, Sweetie, who is so into her privacy that if you even look her way when she is trying to lay an egg she will read you the riot act...for a while. (bok-bok-bok-b-KAW!!!!!)

Anyway, I am OT. I will bring it back on topic by saying, having chickens is economical and environmentally sound! ...and fun.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

It's a journey, isn't it?

Well, here are some of the things we do:

* Heat set to 65/day, 60/night; a/c set to 76/day, 78/night
* Hang wash out to dry between Mar/April and October (sometimes November)
* Make our own foam soap
* Have switched to HE washer, so I'm using far less detergent and water
* Cloth diaper #2 most of the time
* Cloth liners and pads for me
* Cloth napkins
* Recycle as much as we can, and look for packaging that is recyclable (glass, metal, paper or type 1 or 2 plastics -- that's all they take here)
* Reuse plastic shopping bags as garbage can liners
* Reduce trips into town and combine stops when we do go in
* Use less shampoo, toothpaste
* CF or flourescent bulbs for as much as we can
* Swiffer WetJet: Made pads out of microfiber and resue the bottle with my own solution
* Rechargeable batteries :tu
* Get hand-me-downs and clothes from garage sales for kids (so I don't have to buy so many new things)
* Purchase clothes for me that I wear for many years (hardly any trendy stuff :no )

Things I'm working on:

* Getting us off of prepackaged, processed foods
* Switch completely to natural cleaners

Things I want to do, but haven't figured it out yet/don't have buy-in from dh:

* Compost
* Start a small garden (container gardening just isn't working :/ )
* Freeze veggies and make my own pumpkin for pumpkin pies (and other recipes that require pumpkin)
* Switch to LEDs
* Collect rainwater (but I'm concerned about mosquitos :nails )

What I most likely will never do:

* Cloth toilet paper (not with 3 males in the house :shifty ) :yuck :haha

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

If you want to catch raid water from your down spout (or whatever you call that thing that comes down from your gutters), you can cover whatever container you use with cheesecloth or old panty hose...water goes in, bugs can't get out. ;)

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

Window screening can be cheap to get, too, if you're going to need to buy something to cover it.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

But with the standing water, doesn't that attract mosquitos? :scratch

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

That's the reason for the screening. It keeps the bugs out. Mosquitos are always hanging around standing water because that's where they were hatched. If you prevent the first bugs from laying eggs in the water, you won't have a mosquito cloud over your barrel. If you can't screen it effectively enough, but really need the rain water, you can add stuff to the water to kill them, or prevent them from hatching, but I don't know how many natural or safe options there are for that.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

Okay, for those using CF bulbs... can you find them without mercury? I'm not comfortable with using CF bulbs that have mercury in them, and I wouldn't feel good throwing that in the trash either. KWIM?

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

That is funny you guys are starting this thread up again...

Sara from http://walkslowlylivewildly.com/

is at my house for the week end and with her Veggie oil powered RV that she takes across country:

www.livelightlytour.com



(oh and you should see the inside of the RV :jawdrop... it is like her house ...but in an RV. She decorated it so well and painted it,.... it is soooo cozy, I am ready to move in :giggle)

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

Neat! :rockon I love reading her blog.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

How fun! Thanks for sharing that, I hadn't read anything yet about their trip. That is such a neat way to promote these ideals!! :tu

I just adore her style. Her websites are just as pretty as her home stuff.

Just curious about the vegetable oil stuff....AFA cost, is it cheaper than running on gasoline? I know that *ideally*, all the alternative fuels are better for the environment, but practically, I'm starting to hear that it's pretty expensive as compared to traditional fuels. Just curious.

:think

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

You know, the people who REALLY tread lightly on the earth and are the most "green" of anyone are those who don't have money.

The people who collect bottles and cans from trashcans for extra money. They ride bicycles to work. They wear their clothes for longer and often gotten at garage sales. They live in smaller homes that require less energy and resources.

People always say that being "green" is expensive...

But not if you don't have money...

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

No it does not cost anything because they get it free at restaurants. They just go up to the grease pit and if there is some they just ask permission to get the grease.
they have been traveling for 2 months and a half on veggie oil from retaurants.

As far as biodesel, you can make your own pretty easily and then you would run your car for practically nothing as well.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

Tell me more!

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

You have to have a diesel vehicle to run it on homemade diesel. So that means buying a new car, or converting the one you have, and neither option is cheap or easy.

In TN, moonshine stills are legal again, under certain licenses, for making ethanol from corn for fuel.