Archive for ‘Sustainable Living’

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May 15, 2012

Do your plants look like you?

As I sit down tonight, hundreds of thoughts swirl through my head.

What am I forgetting?  What’s left to be done?  What have I started?  Did I water?  Did you see the wind today?  Oh, no!  I forgot to water.  Those poor little things are going to die!  When am I going to get back over to school?  The chemicals.  How do we deal with the chemicals?  When is the soil coming?  What’s the bigger picture?  Measure in the morning, design mid-day, consult, baseball game.  I think I have time to measure!  Wait, finish plan, then measure, then design? Not sure I’ll have time…

Life has been crazy lately.  While I’m doing things I love, I’m burning the candle at both ends so to speak.  Yesterday my body tried to give me a wake-up call, it knocked me down for a while.  Sore throat, worn down.  I’m doing better today than yesterday, but honestly ignoring the leftover warnings.  I just have to get through this week and then I can take a breath.  Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

Life is funny that way, at least for me.  When it rains, it pours and I hate to say “no”.  I want to make it all work, especially in areas that I’m passionate about.  But when it comes to living mindfully, I know that what I’m doing is flat-out flying in the face of mindful living.  How on earth can I take in each moment when I’m going mach 10 and my mind is racing 100 miles ahead of my body?  And when my body is waving red flags like an accident in a NASCAR race I ignore them.  I’m really a fool.  For what am I going to do if I maintain this speed?  Crash.  Hard.

But here I am.  Trying to make it all work, trying to make it all happen, trying to make sure I follow through on my word because if my word means nothing, then what does that say about me?

Please tell me you’ve been there.  That you’ve had your days or your weeks, where things keep piling, and you keep pushing, thinking the end is near, then pile on more until the pile gets deeper.  You whittle away until finally you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Tell me I’m not alone.

So what does all of this have to do with gardening or sustainable living?  I thought you’d never ask.  Like people, plants have needs.  We both need ample amounts of water.  We need sunlight (heard of Vitamin D?) so do they.  We need firm ground, so do they.  We need air, so do they.  (Thankfully we exchange our air with each other.)

Our bodies wave flags when something is wrong.  So do plants.  We get tired, get headaches, get run down and finally get sick.  They get run down, wilt and finally get sick.  But if we’re paying attention to ourselves and our plants, we can stop it before it gets that bad.  Plant leaves get dull, cup toward the sky (to catch water), then if we continue to ignore them, they wilt.  Wilt in a plant is called stress.  Funny, we have that word about us too, don’t we?  When we get stressed our skin gets dull, eyes look dull or red, we feel run down… and wilt.

But what’s the long-term effect of stress?  In plants, repeated stress equals death.  Thankfully plants are a little more dramatic than we are.  When we have repeated, long-term stress, we get sick.  Our bodies go into survival mode.  Remember, we started as hunters and gathers except the difference is that the stress then really was life or death.  Now?  It’s “just stress”.  Or is it?  Stress is linked to many problems today including obesity and long-term illness and I guess, if we don’t take care of ourselves and continue that pattern… yes, perhaps even death.

Loving this post, right?  Okay, I’m not meaning to take a sour turn or to bring anyone down, quite the opposite, in fact.  What I’m suggesting is that if you get home, like I did today, and find your plants looking limp, wilted and thirsty, grab a mirror.  How are you doing?  How are you feeling?  Limp?  Wilted?  Thirsty?  Often times the care we give our plants reflects the care we give ourselves.  Too busy to take care of your plants?  Chances are you’re too busy to take care of yourself.  So the next time your plants need water, grab a glass for yourself.  If your plants are getting leggy because they need more light give it to them, then get outside, go for a walk.  Do they just look sickly?  Give them food.  Good food.  Compost.  And while you’re at it, grab yourself an apple, bring it outside and take a break to care for both of you.  Before long you’ll have yourself and your plants looking fabulous!

Kate

Posted in Healthy Living, Mindful Living, Sustainable Living | 2 Comments »

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April 22, 2012

S is for Sustainable Living

Sustainable.  We all hear the word flying about, but what does it mean?

Merriam -Webster defines SUSTAINABLE as:

1
: capable of being sustained
2
a : of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged <sustainable techniques> <sustainable agriculture>
b : of or relating to a lifestyle involving the use of sustainable methods <sustainable society>

When I was searching for a name for this blog, I wanted it to go along with my beliefs.  Something that symbolized, growing (both physically and metaphorically) and living in a way that nurtures our soil, our environment, our planet and each other.  Living in a way that leaves a gentle footprint rather than a deep trench.

Walnuts and Pears stems from the old saying,  “Walnuts and pears you plant for your heirs.”  In other words planting trees, not for ourselves, but for the generations to come.  In addition, living, conducting our lives, in the same manner.  Or in other words, “living today for tomorrow’s generation”.  Taking care of what we have.  Using only what we need in a responsible manner.  Not depleting our resources, but figuring out ways to use less and give back. Planning and planting for the future.  Living sustainably.

I created a list of things each of us can do to live a more sustainable life.

Steps to Sustainable Living (in no particular order):

  • Use a programmable thermostat
  • Lower your thermostat in the colder months
  • Raise your thermostat in the summer months
  • Open windows and use less A/C
  • Take shorter showers
  • Shut-off the water when you’re washing hands and brushing teeth
  • Turn off and unplug what you’re not using (get rid of phantom power usage)
  • Plant a veggie garden
  • Compost
  • Raise chickens
  • Raise bees
  • Plant a tree on the South side of your house to provide shade and help cool your home
  • Plant a tree on the North or Northwest side of your house for protection from winter winds
  • Plant the right tree, shrub or plant in the right location.  Plants that like sun in sun, plants that like shade in shade, plants that like well-drained soil in well-drained soil, etc.  They’ll be happier, healthier and have less risk of insects and diseases, which means they will last longer.
  • Plant a fruit tree for you (or two – most need a buddy for pollination)
  • Plant a fruit tree or shrub (or two) for the birds
  • Learn to work with nature instead of fight her
  • Have less lawn
  • Keep your lawn no shorter than 3″
  • Train your lawn – don’t water daily for 15 minutes it creates shallow roots; instead water once a week until the soil has gotten 1″ of water, this will create deep roots, better ready for drought and ultimately consuming less water
  • Don’t bag ’em! (Leave your grass clippings on your lawn – it’s a natural nitrogen fertilizer)
  • Plant white clover in your lawn – yes, on purpose!  This too is a natural nitrogen fixer and will help keep your lawn healthy
  • Feed your soil, even your lawn with compost
  • Create a rain garden to prevent run-off
  • Mulch your plants – this keeps their roots cool and the soil moist, requiring less frequent watering
  • Compost your leaves
  • Meet your neighbors
  • Share with your neighbors
  • Start or join a community garden
  • Start a Little Free Library
  • Go to the public library
  • Buy less
  • Waste less – water, gas, electricity, packaging, food
  • Repair – repair what you have instead of buying new (Buy from companies that offer this option!)
  • Reuse
  • Repurpose – find a new use for old objects
  • Recycle
  • Buy items in bulk and reuse your own containers
  • Bring reusable shopping bags everywhere you go and use them!
  • Buy a fun water bottle, drink from it and refill it
  • Don’t buy “disposables”
  • Donate what you don’t need
  • Install a rain barrel
  • Use your rain water to water your garden
  • Don’t use pesticides, herbicides in your lawn or garden
  • Bike
  • Walk
  • Run
  • Buy real food
  • Cook from scratch, even if it’s just one day a week
  • Support local businesses and restaurants
  • Buy local as much as possible
  • Buy organic food (organic producers use sustainable methods for growing their food)
  • Eat organic food (it will sustain you)
  • Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) – this provides a direct connection between you and a farmer
  • Clean without chemicals
  • Eliminate toxins from your home, start with fabric softener, bleach and toilet bowl cleaner
  • Eliminate toxins from your health & beauty supplies, start by ditching toothpaste with triclosan
  • Buy from sustainable companies.  What they do effects you.
  • Do a “gut check”.  If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.

These are just a starting point.  Please feel free to comment and add to the list.

Kate

Posted in Healthy Living, Mindful Living, Sustainable Living | 2 Comments »

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January 17, 2012

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

A friend once told me I’ve had more major career changes than anyone she knows.  Well, guess what?  Here we go again!

After giving it a lot of thought and weighing the options, I’ve decided to make yet another change in my career path and venture out on my own. I’ve decided there’s really no better time than the present to take a chance on me.

Over the past couple of weeks, two people I know have passed away, and their departure has made an impact on me.  Although I wasn’t extremely close to either one of them, they always had presence in my life whether they knew it or not. It’s always hard when someone dies, regardless of how well you knew them, at least that’s the case for me.  I always question, Why? Why them?  Why now? In this case, both of the men who passed away left something behind.  Something huge.  They made an impact on all the lives they touched, and are leaving behind a legacy.

That started me thinking, what would happen if tomorrow was “my day”? All too often I think “some day” I’d like to do this or “some day” I’d like to do that.  These deaths reminded me that if I keep waiting for “some day” it might not happen.  That’s when I realized that I need to make a change.  I can’t keep waiting for “some day”.  Although I enjoy some of the things I do at my current part-time job, it’s not really “me”.  It’s not fulfilling.  And for something to be “me”, I need to feel like I’m making a difference.

So after mulling it over a while, I decided that I need to make a change and do something that makes me feel good, because as Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” Or my little twist is that the life is about the journey, not the destination.  We all come to the same destination, so we need to make sure we’re making the most of our journey.

I have a few days left to wrap up some of my projects with my other job and then I’ll be on my way to my new adventure.

My plan right now is to do consulting in variety of capacities, all tied into landscaping, gardening, sustainability, health and well-being.  I’ll be doing some writing, some marketing, some designing, some creating, some selling and possibly even some teaching.  Sounds like a lot, I know, but they are all surrounding a subject I love.  And if I love what I’m doing, I’ll have fun doing it.  Besides, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself over the years it is that I hate to be bored and having many irons in the fire makes me happy.  So off I go, making more changes.  Traveling on a path unknown, but excited about the possibilities ahead.

By the way, remember a while ago when I mentioned that I was on a quest to find my inner spark?  Trying to find that girl who isn’t afraid to chase her dreams?  Guess what?  I found her!

Kate

Posted in Healthy Living, Landscaping, Mindful Living, Organic Gardening, Sustainable Living | 4 Comments »

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November 21, 2011

Was that intentional?

I was just reading an email I got from Land Stewardship Project.  The email was about upcoming Holistic Management Classes.

As I was skimming the email to see if the class is something I would be interested in I ran across this statement, which got me thinking.

“The framework is build upon the idea that the success of all human goals is tied to the health of the ecosystem processes that support life on this planet. In other words, whether you directly manage land or not, Holistic Management can help you achieve your goals in ways that benefit you, your family, your community and the environment.”

What really struck me was the “whether you directly manage land or not”, the key word being “directly”.  Whether we directly do something, in other words, whether we intend to do something or not, it has an impact.   Everyday we’re faced with hundreds, perhaps thousands of decisions and we’re directly doing something or it’s the indirect choice not to, it’s still making a choice, which in turn makes an impact.

This can be applied to so many areas of our lives, but it really drives home the point of intentional living.  Often times we make a decision to do something but forget that the opposite of what we decide (the indirect choice) also makes an impact.  Often times these indirect choices have even more impact that the direct choice.  I’ll throw a big example out there.  Some people may make the direct choice to by conventional produce, the indirect choice is not to buy organic produce.  They may make this indirect choice without even being aware that it was a choice at all.  Maybe buying conventional is all they know.  Maybe they didn’t realize that they even had the choice to buy organic tomatoes, for example, because they are in a different corner of the store that don’t typically shop in.  Or, maybe they made the choice to buy conventional tomatoes because they were less expensive than their organic counterpart.  This choice, this purchase, has impacts in many ways that they might not have even thought about.  They may not even realize that the tomatoes they are eating or feeding their family were grown from genetically modified organisms (GMOs), in other words, altered genetic make-up.  They may not have realized that the tomatoes were sprayed with pesticides, herbicides and fungicides to keep insects and diseases away from them so the farmer could get a better yield but that those “cides” stay on the produce, are absorbed by the plant that feeds the produce and stay in the soil for years to come.  They may not have realized that the tomatoes were picked green and transported halfway across the country and were “ripened” during shipping by using ethylene gas applications. They also may not realize that by choosing conventional produce they are choosing to support conventional practices, many of which have gotten the soil and environment in the situation we’re in today.

The indirect choice, not to buy organic produce, also means indirectly choosing not to support organic or local growers who are making a conscious decision to grow their crops using sustainable methods, not using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, but instead using crop rotations and other methods to preserve and add nutrients to the soil.  In other words, making an indirect choice to support what is harming the planet and an indirect choice to not support making it a better place.

You might be thinking, “Come on!  They were just buying tomatoes!”  but that is exactly the point.  We all need to be aware of the impact of our choices, whether direct or indirect, intentional or unintentional.  I’m not saying to change everything you’re doing today or run out and buy only organic food.  And I’m not saying to make yourself crazy when shopping at the grocery store or any other place.  What I’m saying is that we all just need to be aware, be mindful and make intentional choices.

Kate

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