SoyBean's Self Sufficient Life

[lorihadams]

There are lots of little things you can do....use cloth napkins, washclothes and hand towels instead of paper towels/napkins. Stop buying soda and drink filtered water (we have a brita pitcher in the fridge), less plastic waste and you'll feel better too. Buy less convience foods and try to buy things with the least amount of packaging possible. Make your own laundry soap. See if there is a nearby recycling center or drop off point where you could take your recyclables. We have done all this and we have noticed a BIG difference in the amount of waste we produce. All of our food scraps go to the chickens or the worm farm or the compost bin. We really don't have that much "trash" anymore.

 

[Soybean]

One problem is my mother in law doesn't use plates. She uses paper plates and just throws them away after each use. It drives me nuts but we haven't moved our dishes over yet. I think we are going to have to move ours over and just store them in our room since there is no room in the kitchen for them.

 

[lorihadams]

Oooooh I know what you mean. When my parents and grandparents come to my house for a visit they bring their own paper towels and paper plates! No kidding, they know that we don't have them. It is crazy. Getting them to recycle is a nightmare. My granny is the queen of paper products...buys them in bulk at Sam's club every month! It is just her and papa at home too....it kills me that they go through that much stuff in a month. My parents said that they tried to recycle and when they took it to the dump they watched the truck pick up the bins and dump the recyclables in with the rest of the trash so they don't bother anymore

I had to convert my husband...I just slowly stopped buying them and eventually we just didn't have them anymore. Then one day he just looks at me out of the blue and says, "You know I don't even miss the paper towels anymore". It'll happen, just be patient!

 

[Soybean]

My "garden" is doing well. So far I have one cucumber seedling, two corn sprouts, and one carrot sprout. I'm going over to my old apartment that we are currently in the process of moving out of and I'm moving over my big pots and such so I can expand the garden. I'm going to plant a lot more carrots, a few more cucumber plants, more corn, and once the rent is paid, I might go get some seedlings from the garden store.

I'm going to talk to my mother in law and see if she would allow me to take a small piece of the backyard and turn it into a food garden. It will be a very small space but I could get something out of it. The only problem is I think the soil isn't that great for plants. Would mixing some coffee grounds or compost from the store do it any good?

 

[Soybean]

A few pictures of my attempted food garden.

Cucumber

Carrot

Corn

 

[lorihadams]

Cute! I haven't been able to get anything planted yet...we still have to fill the beds with soil and compost....ugh. We have the fence around it 90% done though so that's a step in the right direction. I hope you aren't having to fight the rain too much moving stuff over. This stuff is killing me....we're all getting cabin fever!

 

[Soybean]

The rain isn't too bad. Actually today is proving to be a very nice day. I haven't had to water my plants in two days thanks to the rain. I can't wait till I get more plants in the ground. I need to go to the garden store for some more soil and compost so I can section off a part of the backyard for more plants.