• I want to move more into purchasing 'green' products.  -- The goal being to either move 1 new 'green' product into our usage (ie. shampoo, soap, clothing) or to move 1 new 'green' activity into our lives (ie. bussing, reusing something, whatever, not using something that is not green).
• I also want to begin purchasing Fair Trade Products -- The goal being to move 1 new Fair Trade Product into our usage (ie. coffee, soap, make up, whatever).

These are both easy to track with a sidebar and fairly self explanatory.

• Complete the Leadership Development Module this spring/summer and register for an appropriate number of MDIV courses for the fall/winter -- Self Explanatory and something that I am eager to start!
• Read the New Testament in 2011 - Definitely going to do this again.  Self explanatory and easily trackable with a side bar.

All that's left to talk about is the Money Matters stuff.  & I'm not sure what all I want to say about that stuff yet.  More thinking to do.

It's feeling nice to be reflecting and musing about stuff and things again.  Hah.  Stuff and Things.  I'm so descriptive.

I want to start a small garden this year. I'm thinking a cucumber plant, some lettuce, and maybe something else. Simple stuff. Our yard has never had a garden before. It doesn't even have flower beds. Just grass everywhere. When the snow melts I'm going to work on turning the soil in one of the flowerbeds and see how far I get.

I've never really gardened before, but I have recently kept a plant alive in my house for 2 years now so I figure I'm ready for planting veggies.

1. We have Phosphate Free Dish Detergent. I'm not entirely sure why this is good, but I've heard it is. Probably something do with the fact that it just washes away and leaves nothing behind...or something like that.

2. We compost. We started doing this last Spring and it seems to be going well. We had some smell issues briefly...but it seemed to resolve itself quite nicely. We've even continued composting during the winter. I don't know if the quality of our mud is great, but I'm mainly just pleased because we are keeping compostable food out of landfills.

3. We changed all our light bulbs to the Earth Friendly Light Bulbs last year. My husband actually took the initiative on this one. He even changed our outside lights. Contrary to what people are saying they do work outside...they have trudged on through -50!

4. I take used plastic bags and make plarn. I take the plarn and make lovely and strong re-usable bags.

5. We use only re-usable cotton dishcloths or old towels cut up into squares to do our dishes and general cleaning. In fact, I am still have 2 dishcloths that my mother got for me about 5 years ago. They are faded, but wonderful and trusty. They always get the job done.

Another internet friend of mine is being featured on ETSY.

Thistledown & Finch has a great article on the Storque about how she takes Vintage Suits and turns them into wonderful mens wallets and bags.

Thistledown & Finch explains part of the process involved in (re)creating her gorgeous wallets, "the existing curves and seams make the design process an intuitive one. Not only is the fabric long off the market, but the motion dictated by individual cuts contributes to making each piece unique."


Not only does Thistledown & Finch have amazing creative talent she also shows her love and concern for the Earth in her brand of 'craftivism'. T & F explains:

"The exportation of our discarded clothing, as opposed to domestic re-use, contributes not only to dissolution of long-standing textile traditions in economically vulnerable cultures, but also to dependency situations which would take much longer to reverse than they did to establish. The transportation of these goods, by air, land, and sea, also creates copious greenhouse emissions which could be easily be reduced, were an effort made by each of us to step up and exercise restraint in our buying habits.

Supporting small-scale artisans, working in recycled materials, providing upcycled goods of high quality which will last longer than the season — these actions affect the local community, the country, and the continent. And further, as with any of our actions, our actions have ramifications which affect everyone: the whole world."

I love knowing that there are other artisans and craftspeople out there in the big wide world who share these same concerns with me.

Make sure to stop also stop by and check out Thistledown & Finch's newly created blog. Let her know how you support upcycling and craftivism or even better make a purchase from her ETSY shop

at my work we don't really have a lunch room. we have a small room that someone has put a table and fridge and microwave. there is no sink and no drawers and no cupboards. we do however have plastic everything. plastic cups, plastic plates, plastic cutlery. i've been working really hard at not using the plastic and have my cup and my plate and bowl there. i even bring cutlery in to eat with my lunches and snacks. all the disposables make me feel ill.

i bring the cutlery but i get really frustrated with the fact that my cutlery is at the bottom of my bag and loose and clinks together. i started to think how i could prevent this. & i started to wonder how i could do this in style.

some of the military people had these neat little army issue cases for their cutlery (which was army issue as well)...where could i get one? could i make one? after some internet searching i think can! Instructables has a tutorial on how to make a cutlery case and i've got the support of the hitched chicks. i've got an old pair of jeans that i'm going to use as the base for the case and i'm going to find a funky pillow case from value village for the top part of the pattern. i'm so excited! crafty mojo is back!

if my first attempt goes well, i'm thinking of making one for each of my nieces as part of their christmas present (they're teens but they also seem to be quite practical and i'm not buying them 'stuff' anymore).

wish me luck! cheers!

Remember this post i made about using solar lights inside?

well, this is the bad news...the lights didn't really work. i was really disappointed actually. the first big problem was that the lights are top heavy b/c they're designed to be stuck in the mud outside so i couldn't really stand them up inside. i balanced them on top of my lamp but then i discovered problem number two. the lights are very dim. incredibly dim. unable to read by dim.

but, it's not a total loss. the lights did provide some mood lighting. they would be good for an evening where you're just watching tv or chatting with friends. i'm thinking about getting a large pot, filling it with mud and having that to stick the lights into in the house.

so, if i could find some stronger lights that could stand on their own inside my house i would be all over the solar lights on the interior.

I remember watching an episode of Morgan Spurlocks 30 Days where two participants agreed to live 'Off The Grid' for 30 Days. They went and lived at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. They left cars behind and recycled everything (including human waste) during their 30 days. The episode is downright cheeky, but it did get me thinking. What could I do though? I'm definitely not leaving my air conditioning and my laptop to go recycle my poo.

There was even a post on Hitched a few months back where someone posted that they knew someone who was so cheap that they brought outdoor solar lights inside at night so they didn't have to pay to turn lights on. Everyone responded with variations of 'OMG, how cheap can someone be???' The idea definitely did not go over well with everyone except...me. I've been thinking about it since then. It seems like a great idea...doesn't it?

I've been told a few people about it and they've all decreed that it won't work...the light will be too dim, it won't charge enough, etc... But I'm going to put it to the test. Today at Canadian Tire they had solar lights on sale for half off so we bought a box. i've put them together and planted them outside and tomorrow the experiment begins!

here's my 4 lights outside all in a row

1 up close

This however, has made me very sad...the amount of packaging that was used for my very small 4 lights

I like to think that we’re already a pretty green family. We recycle. We’ve got a programmable thermostat. We have stacks of reusable bags for grocery shopping. I do the sweater unravelling thing and the plarn.

But still. Often, I worry, are the things we do enough? What kind of world are we leaving for Andrew and for his children and his children’s children? I never used to pay much attention to the Environment. I was never going to have children so it was something that seemed silly to worry about. I was here for a short time, not a long time. Why worry? But now it’s all different. Now parts of me are going to be here for centuries.

I’ve been reading this blog for the last week or so. http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/

It’s all about a man and his wife and child who decide to live for one year without making an impact on the earth. Some of the things seemed crazy at first. Not using straws. Psshaw? Who does that…I love the way straws make pop taste. But then they cut out pop as well. Too much waste in the cans. Using Glass Jars for their portable water bottles. WTF? But really, when you think about all the waste from those timmies cups (especially when they double cup them) and even further then that…why are we still drinking out of plastic bottles (especially with all this new stuff about toxins and platic). The year has finished but they are still practicing their no impact life. It is so inspirational. So wonderful to see people doing that. It really gives me hope that my little family can make changes that will affect the earth and the state of things.

I’m looking into composting right now. There’s so much to learn! Who knew making mud was so complicated? Lol. We’ve go the old cupboard doors from our kitchen reno and I want to make a compost bin. This website http://www.gnb.ca/0009/0372/0003/0001-e.asp has been a great resource. It definitely is Magic! I get giddy thinking that our garbage will be drastically reduced. Everytime I through out carrots that have gone moldy or apples that aren’t eatable I have this knot in my stomach. When did I get so crunchy?

Our plans for the summer (at least my plans for the summer) are to start composting and hang our clothes to dry. I want a laundry line outside but will probably settle for one inside.

I also promise not to turn the air conditioner on…unless it is dreadfully hot. Old habits die hard sometimes.