Been a minute...

Wow! I had no idea it had been this long since my last update. So many things are happening with the new house and our quest to live on this planet while making the most minimal impact possible. We are moved in and settled. I have been working for a computer recycling company where I implemented a recycling program.

We have worked on the house weatherizing, composting, and recently finished building our first raised bed garden.

After living here almost a year, we have a good base line for our energy consumption through the seasons. Our natural gas bill is not anywhere close to where I want it, but I am working on reducing and possibly eliminating our need for natural gas by next fall/winter. With is fueling only our furnace, I am hoping it will be a simple solution.

I reclaimed some pallets from our roof repair and grabbed some broken leftovers from work (with permission, of course). We set it up on the sunny side of the shed and loaded it with yard clippings, leaves, and our daily food waste (remember no protein in the compost pile). After encountering the grossness (and sadness) of rats in a bucket, we no longer leave the bucket out back to fill with rain and old veggies. No procrastination allowed here! It seems to be going well. I need to go out and turn it, and maybe add some worms. - Here is a picture of our garden. In the background against the shed is the compost station.


Most recently, we build a garden. Unfortunately, we didn't reclaim materials and hit up the local Home Depot for most of our supplies. Looking back, we could have been way more efficient reusing different materials. We started with an 8'x8' square, staked together landscaping posts and filled it with soil. Before setting up the wood, I tilled the ground, and then tilled again once the soil had been dumped into the space. We planted transplants of squash, Zucchini, cucumber, red, yellow and green bell peppers, banana peppers, Bibb lettuce, red onion, broccoli and cauliflower. Since it is our first year, I am anxious and apprehensive regarding our yields. I hope we have enough food to make it worth it and not too much to make it wasteful. With only two of us in the house, the best case scenario would be to have a plethora to give away.

Well, I have to run, I have a meeting in the morning with a company that installs solar panels. Then, after work I will be headed to the fundraising committee meeting at the GA Chapter of the Sierra Club.