There is something most anyone can do that will make you extremely Green & Thrifty.
It doesn't involve giving up bathing.
It doesn't involve going off the grid(=giving up electricity).
It doesn't involve selling your car and walking or biking instead.
It doesn't even involve giving up meat.
Very simply, it's this....
Go plant something that will provide you with food to eat.
One of the best things you can do for this old Mother Earth and for your own financial bottom line is to grow some of your own food.
Just take a trip down the produce aisle of your local grocery store.
See those squash, bags of lettuce, green beans?
See what those things cost??
With a little bit of a financial investment in some seed, and some time, you can grow your own and stop giving some of your money to the grocery store!
It's almost as good as having a Money Tree growing in your backyard!!
It doesn't matter where you live in most cases, you can grow food.
If you have some land, cultivate as much of it as you can take care of.
If you are planted in a suburb, convert a piece of your lawn or commandeer a flower bed to put in some crops.
If you live in a townhouse with no or little yard, get some pots and make a container garden.
If you are a city apartment dweller, chances are there is a community garden in your town that you can participate in. If there isn't, there SHOULD BE, so get out there with some friends and make one happen!
When I moved to this little subdivision in rural Teeny Tiny Town almost 9 yrs. ago, NOT ONE House here had a garden! Some homes had flowers outside in the flower beds(not many) but nobody grew food.
My motto is.....if you have a choice between growing something that's nice to look at or growing something that's nice to look at AND it can feed you, grow the one that feeds you!
Get some seeds.
Put then in the ground.
Water when & if it's needed.
Watch the plants grow, flower & produce food.
Pick the food.
Eat it.
Anyone can do it.
EVERYONE should at least try!
But what if you've never grown anything before?
Just do it!
Ask for help from someone who has done it before or find help from any of the many online resources.
And don't be afraid to fail.
That's how we learn. Failure often is the best teacher!
I've had seasons where things got washed out, or the birds or other little critters ate my seeds or starts, or bugs munched on the food before it got picked or it was too cold or not enough sun or the plants got some disease.
Yep, everyone has those things happen.
But don't let what might happen keep you from trying!
But I live in a community that restricts what I plant, or won't let me plant a garden?
Then go Commando! Sneak a pepper plant here, a tomato plant there amidst the 'proper' shrubs and flowers. No one will be the wiser....
Do like me and rip out the nasty overgrown landscaped shrubbery and put in a garden bed.....or rip out a chunk of lawn and convert the space to a melon or bean patch.
Be the subject of neighborhood conversation!
You might just start something GOOD happening in your town.
Sluggy
Besides being green and thrifty, nothing beats a fresh from the garden veggie!
ReplyDeleteYou show me anything more satisfying than a hot from the sun just picked tomato and I will eat whatever that is! Nothing beats fresh tomatoes out the garden.
ReplyDeleteOh and one more thing! When we have an exceptional tomato my husband will take the seeds right out of it, wash them carefully and leave them to dry on a paper towel. Save these in an envelope till time to plant and you will get a whole plant of those tomatoes. This only works with heirlooms, beware of store tomatoes. You never know what they will be like next generation.
I so totally agree about nothing beating the taste of a fresh-grown, just-picked tomato! I have 12 heirloom plants doing really well out in the back yard (first flowers appeared yesterday!), and I cannot wait :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this!!!