Keeping It Green Tuesday

Emerson Community Garden, San Luis Obispo, CA

As you might have guessed from some of the recent blog entries, I've been trying to "Think Green" more often. This isn't something new for me, just remembered. Let me explain... about 5 years ago I was regularly recycling, walking and using my bike for quick errands, trying to reuse product packaging and bags and reducing items I bought. I don't really KNOW what happened but slowly I moved away from that thinking.... until the recent gas prices made me aware again. Where do I find myself today? Well, I still have a bike, a bit more rusty than 5 years ago and boy, it's been years since I made it a point to ride it for errands. I had my husband take it out and "service" it and I think the chain is shot and possibly the gear chord is rusted through. Not good but fixable. The plastic bags from the grocery store are a thing of the past with me. I started buying shopping bags a little at a time and using some I had left from 5 years ago as well. My car has bags in it at all times for those impromtu shopping trips. Most of our garden lights outside are solar. We try to conserve water by using the eco cycles on the washer and dishwasher and by taking shorter showers. After going through a really great community garden yesterday, I'm inspired to start container gardening and hopefully make a spot in my backyard for a more extensive garden. There are some things I'd like to incorporate in the future.... more solar power around the house, using a small windmill in my backyard to help power a filter pump in the trough beneath it, even better recycling habits making sure to really analyze my trash and what can be reused or recycled, drive less for close by errands and do more composting.

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Coffee T. Rice House

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