Waste: Day 9

Today the kids and I spent the afternoon in the city. We had to pick Eric up from work, so we decided to make an afternoon of it. We met up with Eric for lunch at the Blue City Deli… I highly recommend it! It was super yummy, and very Mom and Pop. We then headed to the zoo for the afternoon while we waited for Eric to get off of work. We do the STL zoo a lot. We love it! This totally hit the mark with using local attractions as entertainment, so off we went.

We spent the next several hours at the zoo… face painting for all my little people was a rare treat for the day, everyone got to choose which animal they would like to see, and then a carousel ride and it was time to pick up daddy from work. Fun afternoon and some major cool points for mom (because of the face paint that I always say no to was a yes for today ;)).

A lizard, panda, colorful kitty, and tiger at the zoo.

I have also started washing all the dishes by hand rather than using the dishwasher since the purchase of the drain rack. This is definitely saving in the water department… not so much in the time department. 

This is what your counter tops look like when you don't wash dishes all day

Fact 1: you can not let the dishes pile up for an entire day and expect to get them done in 10 minutes when washing by hand. 

Fact 2: when allowing people under the age of 4 to assist… there will be more water on you and the floor than in the actual sink.

Fact 3: when allowing little people to help with the process of clearing the table and hand washing dishes (which takes time) you get so much more out of it than clean dishes.

Addi and I had a nice little mommy/daughter visiting time today. I also had a verse come to mind when we were washing and rinsing and she kept asking, “is this how you do it mommy?” “where do I put this one mommy?” “can I turn the water on mommy?” Proverbs 22:6 (I dig the New King James Version on this one) Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

I know the Lord was not talking about washing dishes in this passage, but it really hits home to realize that EVERY single thing we are teaching (or not teaching) our children impacts their future. Whether it is teaching your child to be kind and compassionate and put the needs of others before their own, or to pick up their dirty laundry, clear their place at the table or wipe their feet when they come in the house... both sets of skills will effect them (and their spouses)later in life. 

Sometimes it becomes very overwhelming in moments of clarity to think of all the things I want to teach or “train” my children to do in the short time that I get to be the primary influence in their life. There are just so many things I long to just put in their little minds and hearts. Sometimes I get so lost in the busy day to day routines, trying to get done what needs to be done, that I forget I am to be teaching and training my children, not always doing it for them. 

This month has been so great thus far. Almost everything we are doing has been family oriented. We talk about things we can do as a family, we are enjoying entertainment together as a family, and we are shopping and picking things from gardens and farmer’s markets as a family. Even if we walk away from nothing else this month… it is an AMAZING time I am spending focusing on God’s creation with my family. The forced slowing down of things and the time spent during this month go way beyond recycling, conserving water, and shopping local. It is quality time that I don’t always take the time to enjoy or embrace. And for that I am extremely grateful.

Thanks for joining me on the journey.

Waste: Day 5

Amish Awesomeness!!! Today was so great for me… loved it! The simplicity of their lives, the hard work you see everyone (even the children) participating in, the “togetherness” of everyone, and their commitment to their beliefs… regardless of what the outside world is doing. 

Let’s start at the beginning… the conversation leading up to me taking all the kids to the Amish community…

Me: “We are headed to the Amish community today to buy some food at their store and to see how they live. Who’s excited?”

Landen: “I don’t want to go, they totally freak me out” (this would be my child that does NOT like change or anything new… and also has no idea what an Amish person is)

Brayden: “They aren’t freaky Landen. They really just live pretty much like the pilgrims did. So really it is just like we are taking a trip back in time. Also, they are mostly populated in Maine.” (This would be my factoid kid that likes to read about EVERYTHING and wants to discuss and discover new things ALL of the time, and never gets embarrassed in the process).  By the way… “populated in Maine” is an incorrect fact… but Delaware has a large population, so he was at least on the correct coast. :)

Me: “They aren’t freaky, Landen. They just live different than us. Some thing that is different is they don’t use electricity. They also drive horse and buggies instead of using cars. It will be fun.”

And off to the Amish community we went.

On the way, we stopped at a local honey self-serve station to pick up some honey. They kids loved opening the door and finding the honey inside. Brayden could not believe that they would trust you to leave your money without cameras or anything. It was a sad little moment knowing the world our kids are growing up in. 

Once at the Amish store they kids were impressed at the amount of stuff they had, and also that everything was in the same type of container. Very different from the grocery store where there is a picture of what is inside on the outside of every box. The first thing Landen wanted to point out to me was that there was a ceiling fan going in the store and “I thought they didn’t use electricity” came up. I pointed out that the fan was operated by water pressure coming from outside the store. It was really very cool. And I absolutely loved that they hold true to what they believe, and find a way to make it work.

We picked up several items, and all the kids got to pick a treat. Then we headed down the road to the furniture store. It was all amazing, hand-made stuff, and surprisingly priced cheaper than it would be at Lowe’s. The kids enjoyed playing with the animals while I talked to a man about the furniture. They had lots of little kids running around… 2 boys and 2 girls… just like us. We drove through the community and the kids used “clues” (was there a car or a horse and buggy outside) to decide if Amish people lived there or not. It was a fun adventure.

I wanted to snap pictures of everything because I was so taken back by the simplicity of everything, but as to not be offensive… I just grabbed a couple of shots… mostly when I didn’t see anyone around. 

The simplicity of the way these people live was so comforting and peaceful. And just like Brayden said, it was almost like a trip back in time. A much simpler time that didn’t have bad things to shield your kids from around every corner, and when there wasn’t so much glorification of busy. Just doing what you need to do to manage you and your family and loving and helping your neighbor… that is a world I long for.  

I love the little things God is showing me this month. Slowing down, considering the world around me, using what He has provided, taking the time to take care of it, and using the things that are in my community(or the community I am visiting) to provide what I need. I know it is only the first week, but it has been an enjoyable month so far.

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Waste: Day 4

The kids and I went to mom and dad’s for several days. For those who don’t know, I grew up in a small town. One of the benefits of this (especially this month) is almost EVERYTHING is locally owned/operated. Aside from the Pizza Hut, McDonalds, and Sonic… there are not really big chain stores there to shop from. Within hours of being there, I had already hit several local places and totally scored! I went to Do-Dads and found something perfect for one of our earth friendly projects, a bike helmet for me (been looking for months as to not have to pay $25 for one), and the best thing of all…. Shoes for the boys! Brand new, still have tags on them, the perfect size, only $4 a piece shoes that I just knew I wouldn’t be able to find this month shopping second hand stores before school started. God likes to give me those little encouraging moments just when I need them. :)

We then headed into town to pick up Pogo’s Pizza, fresh peaches and eggs from the local green house, made a stop at the conservation office (to talk about the possible mountain lion getting the sheep), headed downtown to Alli’s Flower Shop, Dad stopped at Ehler’s (local hardware store) to pick up a drain rack for me (as to not run the dishwasher anymore this month), then back home. Afternoon=Success!!!

The kids found lots of fun weird things to play with at Marmee and Grandad’s.

Side note: This was completely embarrassing growing up to always have tons of weird, random things around… but has turned out to be an awesome, fun thing for the grand-kids to have lots of new “discoveries” every time they go home.

And then we spent the evening picking things out of the garden and playing on hay bales.  All in all I would say the first day away from the house on this fast was a success! The kids had a ton of fun and I felt very “local” and “green” today!

  

Tomorrow is Amish country... I am super excited!

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Waste: Day 3

Packaging… there is so much of it! It didn’t super notice it until I am being very aware of every single thing that goes into my trashcan and recycle bin. I made homemade corn and bean salsa tonight. This required 3 cans to be opened and recycled, 1 plastic non-recyclable bag to be put in the trash, onion, lime and tomato parts to be put into the “red bucket, and stickers to be removed from vegetables (that also cannot be recycled). This does not count the plastic bag the chips (that I used to enjoy the salsa) came in or all the extra packing and packaging that it requires making it to our local store. That seems like a lot of waste for one yummy treat. There has got to be a better way.

Yummy salsa!

I also realized that we buy a lot of individually wrapped things. This is extremely convenient when you have multiple little people (everyone gets their own/responsible for their own) but absolutely horrible when it comes to the waste factor. Granola bars, cheese sticks, freezer pops… and then when you buy big bags of things like animal crackers or pretzels to be divided  for all the little small people, you have the ever famous and oh so convenient baggie. We go through a lot of these (ridiculous amount actually) at our house.  Obviously it doesn’t all change over night, but we are making some changes that I hope we can carry over. Hunking up big blocks of cheese instead of individually wrapped sticks, making popsicles in reusable containers (this is a healthier/less chemical option too), and I made a big batch of energy balls as an alternative to the trash-producing, individually wrapped granola bar. I bought each of the kids small individual containers that have lids as an alternative to the baggie. Hoping these changes last.

Alternative to granola bars.

The upside to having to haul 4 kids with you to the store… when you forget your reusable grocery bag, everyone grabs stuff, you load up your over sized purse, and whala! Not plastic bag used! :)

I am having a bit of trouble finding some of the things I need for the Earth Friendly projects when limiting myself to only shopping local… so that either becomes a problem or I amend the rules… Not sure what wins on that yet, but I have a few other places to check out before I give up hope.

The kids and I are headed to my mom and dad’s for a couple of days. I am hoping to find a few of the things I am looking for down there at some local stores (and on the farm… there is always tons of random stuff there), and excited about taking the kids to an Amish community to do a little shopping. :) I won’t be able to post until I get back, but I will keep journaling and update you on our adventures when we get back! 

Thanks for joining me on the journey.