Katie at Cosmos alerted me to today, October 15, 2007, being designated as Blogging for the environment day. I'm participating by listing a few things that we do here at the One Acre Wood.
Eeyore has a complex drip irrigation system for watering all our little gardens here on one acre. He started with his tiny 'meadow' where he nurtures native plants as well as some non-native plants, and has branched out to include our renter Tiggers and my gardens as well as the plants in my Mom's yard.
He's been working on this system for some years with parts of it being on timers and parts manually turned on and off. By allotting 30 minutes of a small amount of water once or twice a week to the different areas, we can enjoy some gardening in the high desert without using excessive water.
E. has also directed some of the rainwater from the gutters on our roof into an ancient, underground cistern that was here on the property. He has directed other gutters into barrels to use for plant watering.
The third thing we do is to shred every bit of waste paper that comes into the house. This includes junk mail, old grocery store receipts, those annoying covers they put on magazines etc.
The first way we use this paper isn't practical for everybody, but it may strike an inventive chord of your own. I've occasionally mentioned our potbellied pigs, as well as our chickens. Both the potbellies and the chickens bed down in shredded paper rather than straw! This has been a boon to our female pig, Suki, as she seems to be allergic to straw.
When the pig and chicken houses are cleaned, the paper goes into the compost. Excess paper also gets tilled into the compost where mixed with leaves, pine needles and manure, it makes excellent compost for our plants. In this way, we turn many pounds of paper into fertile soil.
These are some of the things we are doing in an effort to preserve the environment. I also catch cold water that runs from the hot water tap prior to its heating up, to use as water for my house plants. I'm hoping to glean some ideas from other bloggers to incorporate into my daily routine.
10 comments:
SOLB, we are just getting started with water collection and have wondered about the drip system and the hard water we all have on our block. We assumed that a system would get wrecked by that calcification. No? How has that worked at your house? Are you always chipping out the emitters or soaking them in vinegar? Maybe we can take a tour of your place one of these days??? I think you and Eeyore could help us figure out how we could use a drip too.
What a great idea to use shredded paper instead of straw to bed down chickens and pigs. I have never heard of this before and find it really clever.
I'm making my own compost this year too. I've been putting vegetable and fruit sraps in there with some other things. I didn't know you can compost paper. I will add that to my compost too. I hope My compost works out. I tried it a few years ago and I flopped at it. I may have had it in the wrong spot. Hopefully I'll be more successful at it this time.
Our drip system has not been working too well lately so the plants have been getting water via the hose. Fortunately, the entire front yard is xeriscape so it doesn't take much water.
Our contribution to conserving the environment was to buy new low e windows for the entire house. Hopefully, the heat pump won't be activated too often in summer and winter.
Katie, you're right! The drip and micro sprinkis an ongoing maintenance project here...just as inside faucets are! I'm sure E. would be glad to share what he's done with anyone.
Thanks Olivia! I'm sorta proud of that one..
Lydia, we are lucky to have an area that can be rototiled and so stuff really gets mixed into the soil well. I hope your compost bin or heap works well next time..
QD, sounds like you're doing your part. The new windows must be a double blessing ..good for ecology and pretty too!
Katie! Not that you and Don are just anyone! I meant anyone, but especially you and Don:)
I would like to add a few more things, Linda, regarding the environmental issue.
I stay away from pharmaceuticals, especially antibiotics, and use only natural remedies.
I try to buy organically grown vegetables.
I drive a car, because I need it to get to work. But when I travel to Frankfurt, I take the train/subway.
Because my kitchen is such a long distance from my water heater which means gallons of water before the hot arrives, I recently had a small electric demand heater placed beneath the sink. I turn this on just before I do dishes & off once I am done. Also I just recently bought a cheap plastic gizmo that is supposed to attach to the downspout & spread out the water -- we'll see how that one works!
Thanks Olivia, for some good ideas for daily living.
I think even Doctors are begining to realize that the indiscriminate use of antibiotics has been very bad for humans and the earth!
I'm ashamed to say we buy a lot of vegies from the supermarket, but we also buy from the local natural foods market.
We have virtually no mass-transit in our town. There's a little bus that takes people around from shopping center to shopping center, but that's about it.
No trains. How I wish there were trains!
GJ, that electric gizmo is great! Someone told me that all newly constructed homes are mandated to install them. I hope that's true..
The water spreaderouter (new word-you saw it here first) sounds great too. I think that would be good for the downspout by the front door. Let me know how it works..
Because of the severe drought here, we are always conscious of conserving water. Not letting the tap run, while brushing teeth can save many litres. I save the water that runs till the hot comes in too. My little grandson loves to use it to water the pot plants.
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