It has been a long winter. Much of it spent daydreaming about Spring's arrival and planning my garden. A bunch of it has been spent dealing with a variety of pregnancy quirks like nausea, exhaustion, weeks of a strange cold, acid reflux, you name it. And my work is at its busiest September through March. I have made due with planning, RSS feeds, reading gardening and gardening inspired books (fiction), twitter, and most recently Pinterest.
Lucky me work quiets down April through August and I can turn my attention somewhat elsewhere... to my family, home and garden. This is also baby's due date (end of March).
Spring is so close I can almost taste it. I am just itching to get outside but the sunny days are still chilly. And the rain is still relentless in Vancouver.
As I plan for this shift in my attention I can't help but think of what motivates me. For a while I was obsessed with frugal or simple living blogs. But I will be honest these aren't quite up my alley. While I embrace some of their philosophies it isn't what motivates me. It has influenced me though. I don't need to have lots of stuff, but I don't want my goal to be 100 personal items. Frugal sites influence how I shop, but I don't want to limit myself in this way all the time.
This journey of self exploration (started when my daughter was born over 3 years ago) has led me to a few priorities. One is "quality of life" and the other is "respect for the world we live in." They actually fit together very nicely. When you choose quality in your day to day living you can easily match it to a greater respect for the world around us (both people and the environment). This can but may not be the most frugal way to live.
It influences my life in a variety of ways. One is to buy quality items and take the time to maintain them so they last. This can be as simple as getting a pair of favourite shoes resoled and making sure they are kept in good condition. It has also included how I purchase or acquire household items. I love hand me downs from my mom- most recently homemade Christmas stockings (from my youth) my children can use and a flour canister I adapted for the cat food. I also found a classic single spindle bed for my daughter on craigslist. We will be repainting it in low VOC paint and hope it will last another lifetime. Unfortunately the organic mattress to go with it will be at least $500 in Canada.
Quite possibly though the biggest influence is on how my family chooses to eat. We have taken some steps but I feel we have a ways to go. I am just so tired of the plastic that goes in our garbage and the recycling bin. I admit I have had tried some home made replacements that have failed- soy milk being one of them (unfortunately my daughter and I react to milk). But there are some constants in our diet we can control and a home garden will be a big part of that. The added bonus is homemade is always tastier.
This is entirely dependent on the eating habits of your family. So planning will vary depending on what you like to eat.
What are some things we do and can do better in my family?
1) Continue to buy flour, rice, oats, granola, pasta, grains, nuts, dried fruit, chia, etc. in bulk. And bring the bulk plastic bags back to reuse. Transfer purchases to our glass jars.
2) Make pizza at home.
3) Make special pasta (like ravioli) at home.
4) Make bread more often (to cut back on plastic recycling waste).
5) Start making yoghurt again (to cut back on plastic recycling waste).
6) Plan more berries to freeze. We froze blueberries this year but it was not enough. This summer we will add raspberries, black berries and strawberries. And store them in our yoghurt containers.
7) Can other fruit and make applesauce this year (daughter is into again and baby coming!).
8) Buy fair trade organic tropical fruit (my trip to Costa Rica for work taught me that pesticides for bananas and pineapples (etc) are a nightmare for their ecology). And if you buy produce that travelled far then make sure it is fair trade and organic (my work trip to Guatemala taught me about the horrendous conditions typical farm workers live in).
9) Buy coffee from Ethical Bean in Vancouver because I know they are true to their word and I can take their bags back for recycling.
10) Find a dark chocolate bulk source.
11) Make sprouts again.
12) Find a source of free range, happy meat with less packaging. Cut back on meat consumption.
13) Get chickens for a home egg source!
14) Cut back on sugar consumption and look at more local alternatives like honey.
15) Continue to recycle soymilk and almond milk cartons at local depot.
16) Make our own juice.
17) Continue to make and eat home made jam.
18) Grow our favorite vegetables: lettuce, kale, spinach, arugula, green beans, runner beans, shelling peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, radishes, carrots, beets, and corn. And try some new ones like broccoli, fennel, asparagus, leeks, potatoes, garlic, onions, and celery.
19) Grow favorite fruit if we have space- like a few fruit trees (cherry, pear, apple, maybe fig). And raspberries and strawberries. Maybe melons?
20) Grow our favorite herbs: basil, cilantro, thyme, parsley, rosemary, chives, and mint.
21) Can tomatoes (as sauce and blanched and whole).
22) Start using dried beans and lentils. We are not that good at this!
23) Oh, I need to make some more produce bags for what I do buy. I reuse the plastic ones a lot, but they still ultimately end up in the garbage.
24) Buy larger pieces of daily cheese- to cut back on cost and packaging. And make sure it is good quality and tasty. And buy specialty cheese from cheese stores to keep packaging to a minimum.
25) Buy deli food with minimal packaging.
26) Finally, meal plan to avoid food waste. And have 1 meal a week that uses up leftover produce (soup or salad).
Next post: How much should we plan to grow or purchase in season?
