HOW LOW CAN YOU GO??

I haven't added a new post to my blog site in ages.  Lest you think that I've stopped gardening (never), living sustainably (never, ever), or, worse yet, somehow set off for the big garden in the sky, I want to let you know that I am alive and well.  We've added more eco friendly elements to our home and garden, including rooftop solar panels that were installed in December.  We've yet to see much of a change in our electric bill, but we hope to make better progress in the longer (and sunnier) summer months.  We've surrounded our 5 downspouts with rain barrels.  Mother nature doesn't give us much precipitation here in Southern California, but a few hours of cooperation from the clouds (and a bit of a soaking to me as I'm syphoning water into 5 gallon buckets) and I can capture approximately 1000 gallons of water for future use.

Empty trash containers can be repurposed

to hold water during a heavy rain.  

Make sure the containers are clean

if you'll be using the water for edible crops.

If you can't contain it, store it in the soil.  

Your soil can hold an amazing amount of rain.

Much of our household waste is recycled via 7 compost bins, 2 compost tumblers, and 3 worm bins, and I use all of it, along with a healthy amount of purchased organic soil in our raised beds.

Compost Alley!!

Compost bins located next to my raised beds

make it easy to convert garden waste to

black gold!!

Future projects include a backyard shed and pergola constructed of salvaged materials and a chicken coop with (of course) chickens!  Unfortunately, I have more ideas than I actually have time, materials and money, so some things on my list will have to wait a bit longer.  Luckily, one thing that doesn't have to wait is my continued commitment to live as close to a  "waste free" life as I can.  Yeah, I know, that's impossible, right?  I get it.  How can anyone live a waste free life?  Well, actually, it was done for years, and it wasn't all that long ago.  In fact, some of the backyards on my street actually have old incinerators for burning trash.  Crazy, but true.  Now days, with our "one and done" mentality, we barely think about what we throw out.  It goes from our hands to the can, and someone whisks it away so we don't have to think about it again.  Did you know that the average American generates 4.4 lbs of trash daily? That's over 1600 lbs of waste per year, with much of that suitable for reuse, recycling or composting.  Think about how much you throw out each and every day.  What if your trash was sitting in your driveway instead of being hauled away? How much trash would you have, and, more importantly, how would you get rid of it?   What a yucky thought.  All your trash sitting in your yard, smelling up your driveway, attracting rodents and animals.  Wow.  Not cool.  But no one wants a landfill in their back yard, so it really is up to all of us to see how much we can keep out of the waste stream. If you'd like to lower your trash footprint, but don't know where to start, your in luck.  I've been working at this for years, and I'm pretty good at this recycling/reusing/upcycling thing.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I don't make 4.4 lbs of trash a week.  Or do I??

I'm setting out to see HOW LOW CAN I GO!!  Yep, I'm reusing, upcycling, recycling, or whatever it is I need to do to NOT throw away my trash.  At the end of the week, I'll be weighing my trash (and recycling, for that matter) to see where I stand on the tree hugger branch.  I hope you'll follow me and see how I'm doing.  But wait!!  That's not all.  After the weigh in, I'm going to see if I can go even lower.  This is going to be tough.  For starters, I'm already doing quite a bit, but that's my week to host 23 ladies for pot luck and Bunco.  How can I keep the trash count low when it's party time?  Good thing it's not my first party rodeo.

Keeping it trash free means skipping 

the paper and plastic 

 Won't you join me in the challenge and see how low you can go? 

Be well and happy gardening!