WHAT WE DO

What We Do button (c) Katrien Vander Straeten

An Organic List of Little Changes We All Can Make to Make our Children’s Future Happier and Healthier

(read also “Manifest“)

(and read about our Riot for Austerity and Transition Wayland)

  • Resilience and adaptability

Personally I thinking peak oil /climate change / food scarcity / depression are already here and a lot of what I do I do to be prepared. Not in a head-for-the-hills survivalist manner, but prepared in the best sense, as adapted, by weaning ourselves off oil consumption and other unsustainable practices and by ensuring our food safety by making eating and growing food ecologically sound and local again.

  • Community: Transition Initiative

Such efforts cannot remain within the household level. So in April 2011 I started a Transition Initiative here in my town. It’s now July 2011 and we have found an “initiating group” and held several events. Find out more from the Transition Wayland website.

In October 2010 I joined the local Green Team, a Task Force to green our schools. Check out that website to see what our vibrant group is up to.

One needs to walk the talk, so on the household level we do the following:

  • Our Food Matters
  1. we grow as much food as we can (2011 = 3rd year gardening)
  2. we eat in season (e.g., we don’t buy tomatoes in winter)
  3. we keep bees for pollination and honey (2011 = 2nd year, 1 hive, seeking to expand)
  4. we eat only a little meat
  5. we buy locally grown foods at the local Farmer’s Market
  6. we put up as much as we can of the season’s local crop for the winter by canning, root cellaring and freezing
  7. we use only natural gardening practices in our garden (compost!)
  8. we grow a winter harvest in our hoop house
  9. we are working on getting a flock of hens for eggs
  • We Save on Energy
  1. we do the Riot for Austerity
  2. in Winter we have the thermostat at 59 F
  3. most of our heat comes from a super efficient wood stove and wood harvested on our own property (oil is our backup – no gas line)
  4. we have a fully insulated house and super efficient oil burner
  5. we don’t have AC
  6. when doing dishes and laundry, we use the lowest temperature necessary – usually that’s cold
  7. we use a tea-cosy (it can be that simple)
  8. we hang laundry out to dry
  9. we use an electric lawnmower and…
  10. our electricity is sunshine, harvested on our roof (new in 2011)
  1. we only run the dishwasher when it’s full
  2. when brushing teeth or washing our hands, we don’t run the tap
  3. we shower less: every other day, and take short showers
  4. we water the garden with rainwater from our barrels
  5. we want to install a wetland/pond area in our garden
  • We Reduce-Reuse-Recycle
  1. we compost kitchen scraps, grass clippings (from friends and neighbors, we don’t have a lawn) and fall leaves (got lots of those year round!) (compost facts)
  2. we recycle even the smallest piece of paper, the tiniest plastic cup or lid; so far we have reduced our trash to one small shopping bag a week
  3. we Freecycle and set up exchanges with friends, especially for baby/children’s clothes, toys and books
  4. we use no paper napkins/towels at home (we use a cloth wipe) and only the minimum at restaurants
  5. we bring own reusable cups to coffee shops and work
  6. we wash out ziploc bags and baggies and reuse them
  7. we call up junkmail/catalogue companies and request being taken off their mailing lists (it works: most will).
  • We Decrease Pollution
  1. paper or plastic? Neither, thanks! We bring own canvas bag to shop, they’re stronger and much more stylish anyway (amusing/disconcerting article on the topic)
  2. we don’t buy bottled water, EVER (according to the Whole Foods “The Whole Earth Weigh-In” pamphlet, “80% of the 25 billion single-serving plastic water bottles Americans use each year end up in landfills.”)
  3. when buying something, we consider its packaging (lots of nonrecyclable plastic? No thanks!)
  4. we say no to paper, styrofoam or plastic cups (we bring own mug)
  5. I do not buy leather handbags and would rather not buy leather shoes either.
  • We Grow and Make our Own Medicine
  1. I have started on the path of learning about herbal medicine
  2. I would like to grow the plants and make the tinctures
  3. read more here for my take on herbal medicine

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