Green
Friday, April 11th, 2008
In 2006 I made a list of the changes we’ve made to become greener. It’s our goal to be greenest someday.
As of this writing in 2008, we made changes to the changes. The second set of changes are in green.
- Switched to Seventh Generation laundry soap. [use about once a month. Otherwise, I use white vinegar to do the laundry]
- Wash the laundry in cold water only.
- Line dry most clothes. [except socks. Also, towels and jeans go in the dryer for about 10 minutes to get the stiffness out]
- Switched to cloth grocery bags.
- Switched to cloth menstrual pads.
- Switched to toilet cloths. [didn't work out well. Will try again.]
- Joined the co-op (although we don’t shop there too often. It’s a money thing.)
- Plant a garden every year
- Use heirloom seeds & started a seed exchange
- Use manure as fertilizer
- Built compost bins from reclaimed wood.
- Recycle even more (Wolf started a program at work!)
- Make bread [Wolf is not really doing this anymore]
- Make soups/stews/sauces
- Can vegetables
- Cook in more than ever before
- Feed our pets Eagle Pack holistic foods [I don't know the brand we use but it's not Eagle Pack.]
- Switched to Worlds Best Cat Litter [switched back to the scoopable kind. World's Best was tracked all over the house along with little bits of poop. Francesca and Harley go outside so, while boxes are available to them year round, they don't use them much in the warm weather months.]
- Started switching the light bulbs.
- Eliminated paper products [we fell off the wagon on this. Must get back on.]
- Buy only used books, CDs, and DVDs, and Freecycle what I can’t sell
- Cut down on artificial food products
- Turned the heat waaaay down (58* when we’re not home and at night and 65* when we are home.)
- Got chickens in May 2008.
- Built chicken coop from reclaimed wood.
- Knitted dishcloths to eliminate sponge use
