Beginnings

Since most of the folks that will be reading this blog are my family and friends, I will skip the "introduce yourself" part and jump right into what's happening on the home-front.

A few months ago, my friend showed me one of her favorite blogs about urban sustainable living--www.gardengirltv.com--and I was instantly inspired to learn as much as possible about this concept. Since that first introduction, I have found oodles of amazing websites and blogs with step-by-steps, videos, forums, and tons of fabulousness for my brain; I've read excellent magazine articles and enlightening books (check out: Animal Vegetable Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver and kin); and I've since set goals for my household to reduce our consumption, limit our waste, recycle as much as possible, grow some of our own food, and purchase as much locally produced foods as we can. Taking into consideration that we are a household of four in one of the most expensive to live in cities in the US, and we have a brand new mortgage to consider with the looming specter of an economic crisis in our country--what I've been learning has given me some comfort, a sense of purpose, and a very enjoyable hobby that's beneficial and great fun. :)

My intro to USL just happened to coincide with purchasing my first home. For the first time in the 13 years that I've lived in this city, I finally have a few precious slivers of land and space to work with, and not just merely a small balcony or doorstep. My partner and I dabbled with growing some plants and veggies over the years with little success due to over or under exposure to light, fumes from passing vehicles, stray cats using our planters for potties, etc. We actually have a few faithful plants that haven't keeled over in those uncertain conditions. Now our faithful old friends (that were on the brink just a few short months ago) are thriving and I finally get to learn how to grow veggies!

Here's a little synopsis of my household's current projects:

1. I have built two raised beds and a build-as-you-grow potato bin and am currently learning how to care for potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, lots of herbs, and some other various flower and veggie seedlings (more on the garden's progress in subsequent posts)

2. Started to purchase as much of our foods from local farmer's markets as possible or from grocery stores who carry some local foods.

3. Started to make my household's bread and pasta and have dabbled in some cheese making. I'm currently growing a sourdough starter in hopes that I won't have to purchase yeast anymore...

4. Joined our first CSA and are currently receiving one (25 lb?) box with a plethora of fresh local organic heirloom veggies every other week. When our trial subscription is up, we plan on going to one box per week!

5. Stopped using plastic produce bags and purchased some mesh reusable bags for veggie gathering.

6. Stopped using napkins, paper towels and dish-sponges. We now use cloth napkins, kitchen towels, and dish-cloths.

7. Stopped using plastic and paper bags for groceries--now we use the oodles of reusable bags that we have purchased (we made a pact that we would have to buy new reusable bags if we forgot to bring ours--this has led to quite a collection of them--but we always remember to bring them now. :)

8. We walk to as many places as we can, and when our bikes receive a little maintenance, we will ride our bikes more too.

This is just the beginning... It's all new to me--so whatever I type here will be my trials and errors and successes. I'll post beautiful pictures of my projects taken by my lovely partner and garden assistant extraordinaire. This is an adventure that is sure to have nothing but excellent effects on my family, our community, and the Earth, and I'm excited to share it with you!


Next post will be pics and progress from the garden! :)