The garden is doing well. I've had to replant a couple of things, but overall if things stay the way they are, it should be a good harvest. The blueberry bushes and grape vines I bought are doing well too. I wasn't sure how those would do, so I am pleased. The sugar snap pea vines are growing like gang busters. Both girls have pumpkins and watermelons in their gardens. We'll see how those do. Our bean plants are looking good.
I've been a big baby about taking off the bird netting. I raised it so the plants can grow, but I'm so afraid the wildlife around here is going to make quick meals out of the garden that I haven't torn it away yet. I think I'm going to reuse it and make a fence out of it by stapling the netting to some stakes.
In other areas of our home, we switched to an all natural corn fiber cat litter; are now using a biodegradable formula laundry detergent; our disinfecting wipes are made from 99% natural ingredients; we use a phosphate free dishwashing detergent; and switched the night lights over to energy efficient LED bulbs.
The Hidden Recycler from Rubbermaid® has made recycling easier and neater. I'm poking around in the trash a bit more on trash day to see what I can pull out of the office trash cans, so that helps too. My goal is to get us down to two bags of trash a week. I'm not sure if that will happen, but I'm trying.
We've combined some of these new items with things we were already doing: reusing towels, using energy efficient appliances, running the clothes dryer one batch after another to reduce the energy it takes to heat up the barrel (no clotheslines allowed here), turning off lights when we leave the room, unplugging battery chargers when not in use, and limiting shower time.
As I said, it's a slow change, but we're working on it. Leading by example should help the kids get more in tune with the three Rs too.
Have you made any changes to help the planet lately?
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