I have been bugging Ryan since mid-March about planting a garden this year. Last year it was severely neglected due to the little squirming baby we brought home in June, but I didn’t have time or energy to care. Now the squirmer is perfectly happy to sit in an exersaucer for a half hour and sleeps 11 hours straight, so it was time to get started on “yard of the month”.
Last Friday we went and bought all the plants and flowers and mulch that we would need. And with the price of food going up this summer, I got a couple of tomato, pepper and mint plants. I wanted to go all out and get enough to make a fresh salad everyday, but I have no clue what I am doing when it comes to gardening… so I started small. My next door neighbor is one of those guys that knows everything about everything and his entire back yard is practically a Whole Foods produce section, so I guess I could have asked him. But the squirmer, she is still only 11 months old. Maybe next year. I’m sure by then he will be selling ethanol to fuel our cars out of his garage.
Anyways, I was excited about the pretty flowers and plants until Ryan said, “Okay, first thing we have to do is rake up all this old mulch and pull the weeds out.” To steal a line from Dooce, Blink. Blink blink. Okayyyyy. Sure thing. I put on my cute new pink gardening gloves and got to work. Only, it really is work! Its hard and dirty and sweaty and itchy! Those are NOT a few of my favorite things. But after a couple of flowers had been planted and I could see it all coming together, I started to relax and enjoy the beautiful day and the sounds of the wind and the smell of the dirt. By the time our garden was done, I was mapping out the backyard’s transformation.
I think my newfound eco-friendliness has opened a lot of new doors for me. The other day I needed to go to Dollar General (a little store about 5 blocks from my house) and instead of hopping in the car, I strapped Aubrey into the stroller and walked. It provided some great time with Aubrey, exercise and a break from the ordinary. Finding little snippets of just being a mommy is rare, so its something I want to make an effort to do more often.
I have said this so many times, going green doesn’t have to be extreme. It doesn’t have to be expensive. In some cases, it can save you money. It is more of a change in lifestyle than going out and buying a hybrid car (even though I really, really want a Prius). Some easy suggestions to start changing your habits are:
- Turn off the lights if you aren’t using them
- Unplug an appliance when its not in use
- If you are in traffic, turn off the car. It emits less carbon if you stop and start the car than idling.
- Turn the thermostat up (or down in the winter) when you leave the house for the day
- Make your own household cleaners
- Take showers instead of baths
- Use re-usable shopping bags
- Recycle
These are just a few of my own suggestions, but you can click here and here and here for more! See? All that eco-knowledge, done right from the comfort of my office 
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