My mother doesn’t go out of her way to buy organic products or sustainable clothing but she may still be one of the greenest people I know, without even trying. She just lives her life as she always has; doing what is naturally ingrained into her DNA.
My mother is almost seventy one years old. She was born in 1937 to a poor family, during the Great Depression. She was a child during WWII, during the time of rationing. Being thrifty and making do with what you had was a natural part of life for her from the very beginning.
Her world was not the disposable one we live in today. Back then when you had something you took care of and made it last because it wasn’t likely that you’d get another if something happened. My mother still has precious items from her childhood like her baby doll buggy and a couple of her dolls, even a small wooden child’s table that was passed to me and now on to my children.
Some of my earliest memories of my mom are of her in nature, gardening. She worked the ground and planted food for the family along with her pretty flowers. I don’t know if she was trying to be an organic gardener or if it just came naturally. She didn’t use pesticides or synthetic fertilizers she just worked with the resources she had on hand. She doesn’t grow a whole lot these days, maybe a few flowers and tomato plants but she still gets out there and weeds everything by hand.
She was also an avid Ms. Fix It; from electrical wiring to woodworking my mom could do it. Even today at seventy she tries to repair things herself before paying someone else to do it. She hates to throw anything away and even once something is broke she’ll find a new use for it. If it’s not broke she donates unwanted stuff to Goodwill, The Salvation Army or Saint Vincent DePaul. She also hates to see anyone else throw out perfectly good stuff and is always dragging something home that she pulled out of someone’s trash.
Disposable items aren’t even disposed of easily in her home until every bit of life has been used from it. Plastic butter bowls get reused as water catchers under her potted plants and storage containers for buttons, screws and other little what- nots. She doesn’t buy many garbage bags; she reuses all the plastic bags she gets from the stores as garbage bags. Microwave dishes get reused as outdoor food dishes for her cats, newspapers get used for all kinds of things from shredded paper for cat boxes to mulch and ground cover for the garden.
When I was working on a book about green weddings she didn’t even know what that meant. She asked me “What’s a green wedding?” She isn’t hip to all the lingo and trends of today. She didn’t even know what it meant to be “green”. I think that’s funny because she is one of, if not, the greenest person I know and she doesn’t do it because it’s cool or trendy, it’s just natural for her.
She still does things the old fashioned way, buying from local markets, cooking from scratch with fresh ingredients, preserving what she has. She makes things last and holds onto everything. Her house may be a little cluttered but it’s full of a lifetime of memories that aren’t disposable. I’m proud of my naturally green mom and I try to pass on some of her thrifty green ways to my children.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Life with Dial Up and Coyotes
I am unable to get high speed internet service and coyotes have recently invaded my back yard.
I never really considered myself to be a country dweller, not really, at least not since I was a child. Civilization is just a mile or two down the road. I can even see a big neon Arby’s sign from my front porch if it’s a clear night and no trees are in the way.
But in one week I was told high speed internet service was not available in my area and a pack of coyotes were spotted eating something (gross) in my backyard. Suddenly I went from being living in a comfortably quiet area to feeling like an isolated farm girl out in the middle of nowhere in 1853. Strange.
While I definitely do not live in a city or even in a suburban neighborhood, I have never really believed that I live out in the boondocks. I’ve been to the boondocks...you know...way out in the middle of nowhere (Ithink I might have been lost there) and that is not where I live. Yet suddenly I am starting to wonder.
OK, there was an old ramshackle outhouse and a falling down chicken coop in my back yard when I first moved in and there are a lot of cornfields around, but that doesn’t mean I live out in the boonies…does it?
Oh there is also a horse farm around the corner. And that guy at the end of the street used to have cows or a cow, I am not sure. The only and last time I heard much from Bessie was when she was standing in the middle of the road blocking traffic. A police officer and his car were shielding her and rerouting traffic. Like people couldn’t see the huge cow in the middle of the road. Who can’t see a cow in the middle of the road? They are pretty big.
Anyway, cow or no cow I’ve never really considered myself to be a “country” girl. Sure I have a garden and I deal with stuff city people probably never do, like wildlife. There’s a lot of that in my yard.
I have all kinds of creatures big and small that live in or near my yard; bunnies, skunks, groundhogs, raccoons – lots of raccoons, squirrels, possums, deer and many, many species of birds. Hawks, eagles, woodpeckers, cranes, and the usual robins, wrens, blue jays, and that pesky cardinal that wakes me up bright and early every morning by pecking on my window (have I mentioned I am so NOT a morning person). I am even graced with ducks in the spring when the backyard is full of water.
My whole family has seen beautiful red foxes except for me. I guess I don’t wake up early enough to see the fox. (Again, NOT a morning person)
Other than the raccoons that drive me crazy sometimes by getting into the garbage, the wildlife has never disturbed me much. Ok there was that one night I had that fight with a raccoon that involved an air soft gun, a squirt bottle and a bucket of water and ended with the drenched raccoon eating a plate of french-fries I put out for it. I guess that means he won.
Over the years my wildlife encounters have been comical not frightening, not too much anyway. I have heard a groundhog scream (at least I think it was the groundhog, could have been me), I’ve been run over by a possum and annoyed by birds and entertained by squirrel antics.
Of course there was that night something was making so much noise in the backyard my ex-firefighter husband and an armed police officer wouldn’t even go back there to check it out. I still wonder what it was. It sounded big and definitely not human that's for sure.
I’ve enjoyed my life here. It’s beautiful and usually pretty quiet. But now I’m worried and stressed. Being a writer I really need high speed internet to get my research done faster and more efficiently... and then there’s the coyotes…
I have small children and my elderly mother (don't tell her I called her that she'd have a fit) lives next door. I don’t want to worry about them when they are outside. Plus my mom has a lot of cats... (coyote bait).
I don’t know what gives me more worries, the coyotes or lack of high speed. My husband assures me he’ll take care of the coyotes. He is, after all, a pest control technician and a hunter.
I do have faith (maybe) in his abilities as far as taking care of the coyote problem but what the heck am I going to do about internet access? He can't do anything about that.
ATT be damned (long story, first I was getting it hooked up then they cancelled my order then they said no service in my area) and... well... let's just say Comcast and I have issues and we'll leave it at that. I'm not sure about Verizon yet and no Charter in my area and satellite is just too expensive and unreliable.
I guess I’ll just have to make the best of living in the boonies with dial up and coyotes for now.
I never really considered myself to be a country dweller, not really, at least not since I was a child. Civilization is just a mile or two down the road. I can even see a big neon Arby’s sign from my front porch if it’s a clear night and no trees are in the way.
But in one week I was told high speed internet service was not available in my area and a pack of coyotes were spotted eating something (gross) in my backyard. Suddenly I went from being living in a comfortably quiet area to feeling like an isolated farm girl out in the middle of nowhere in 1853. Strange.
While I definitely do not live in a city or even in a suburban neighborhood, I have never really believed that I live out in the boondocks. I’ve been to the boondocks...you know...way out in the middle of nowhere (Ithink I might have been lost there) and that is not where I live. Yet suddenly I am starting to wonder.
OK, there was an old ramshackle outhouse and a falling down chicken coop in my back yard when I first moved in and there are a lot of cornfields around, but that doesn’t mean I live out in the boonies…does it?
Oh there is also a horse farm around the corner. And that guy at the end of the street used to have cows or a cow, I am not sure. The only and last time I heard much from Bessie was when she was standing in the middle of the road blocking traffic. A police officer and his car were shielding her and rerouting traffic. Like people couldn’t see the huge cow in the middle of the road. Who can’t see a cow in the middle of the road? They are pretty big.
Anyway, cow or no cow I’ve never really considered myself to be a “country” girl. Sure I have a garden and I deal with stuff city people probably never do, like wildlife. There’s a lot of that in my yard.
I have all kinds of creatures big and small that live in or near my yard; bunnies, skunks, groundhogs, raccoons – lots of raccoons, squirrels, possums, deer and many, many species of birds. Hawks, eagles, woodpeckers, cranes, and the usual robins, wrens, blue jays, and that pesky cardinal that wakes me up bright and early every morning by pecking on my window (have I mentioned I am so NOT a morning person). I am even graced with ducks in the spring when the backyard is full of water.
My whole family has seen beautiful red foxes except for me. I guess I don’t wake up early enough to see the fox. (Again, NOT a morning person)
Other than the raccoons that drive me crazy sometimes by getting into the garbage, the wildlife has never disturbed me much. Ok there was that one night I had that fight with a raccoon that involved an air soft gun, a squirt bottle and a bucket of water and ended with the drenched raccoon eating a plate of french-fries I put out for it. I guess that means he won.
Over the years my wildlife encounters have been comical not frightening, not too much anyway. I have heard a groundhog scream (at least I think it was the groundhog, could have been me), I’ve been run over by a possum and annoyed by birds and entertained by squirrel antics.
Of course there was that night something was making so much noise in the backyard my ex-firefighter husband and an armed police officer wouldn’t even go back there to check it out. I still wonder what it was. It sounded big and definitely not human that's for sure.
I’ve enjoyed my life here. It’s beautiful and usually pretty quiet. But now I’m worried and stressed. Being a writer I really need high speed internet to get my research done faster and more efficiently... and then there’s the coyotes…
I have small children and my elderly mother (don't tell her I called her that she'd have a fit) lives next door. I don’t want to worry about them when they are outside. Plus my mom has a lot of cats... (coyote bait).
I don’t know what gives me more worries, the coyotes or lack of high speed. My husband assures me he’ll take care of the coyotes. He is, after all, a pest control technician and a hunter.
I do have faith (maybe) in his abilities as far as taking care of the coyote problem but what the heck am I going to do about internet access? He can't do anything about that.
ATT be damned (long story, first I was getting it hooked up then they cancelled my order then they said no service in my area) and... well... let's just say Comcast and I have issues and we'll leave it at that. I'm not sure about Verizon yet and no Charter in my area and satellite is just too expensive and unreliable.
I guess I’ll just have to make the best of living in the boonies with dial up and coyotes for now.
From Bird Phobic to Bird Lover
Even though I am a nature lover I never expected to be someone that gets excited over birds. Bird watching was not a hobby I had any intention of taking up. My youthful thinking thought bird watching was way too boring plus for a very long time I was thoroughly creeped out by birds.
I attribute my extreme fear and paranoid phobia about birds to three incidents in my childhood. The first being the movie The Birds. I watched it at a very young age and was completely traumatized. For a long time every time I seen a bird I would cry and scream and try to hide. Then there were those horrible chickens my parents had when I was little. My memories are repressed but I am sure they did bad things to me. I couldn’t wait to tear down that dilapidated chicken coop when I inherited my grandmother’s house. Then there were all those birds that just roamed free at the Detroit Zoo. Every time I went to the zoo as a child I was stalked by turkeys, peacocks, ducks and geese. One time a really big turkey chased me.
After a childhood of bird trauma I entered adulthood with a full blown case of ornithophobia. This fear lasted even after cultivating a love for gardening and crafting. It’s funny I would make decorative bird houses and bird theme crafts and feel like such a hypocrite because I hated birds.
Lately I felt the fear slipping from me and being replaced with interest. My computer desk overlooks the wooded landscape of my backyard. I guess now that I’m getting older I’m taking the time to notice my surroundings. I love watching all the critters roaming in my yard from squirrels and stray cats in the day to raccoons and opossums in the evening and yes, I even started enjoying the antics of the birds. Much to my surprise I started wondering about them, what kind were they, what did they eat, and all that. I knew the basic birds; cardinal, blue jay, robin…but what was that little guy with the black head, or the brown speckled one that was kind of fat, or the little yellowish green guy that was so tiny?
I found an old copy of Birds: a Guide to the Most Familiar American Birds and put it right next to my computer so when I see a bird I can look it up. Now it has become almost a ritual with my little toddler and I to look for birds every morning together and my eight year old daughter likes to join us when she’s not in school. We look for birds together and then try to figure out what kind they are. One day we were graced with a visit from a red headed wood pecker. My daughter really loved that one. We are having fun scouting for birds and watching the squirrel antics that tend to go on. It’s a great way to spend quality time with my kids and they are learning about nature.
I’ve come so far as to actually buy birdseed and bird feeders to attract more birds to my yard and my outdoor to-do list includes building and putting up bird houses that are actually usable, not just decorative and I would like to put in a bird bath.
I have definitely come full circle; who would have thought a person could go from bird phobic to bird lover?
I attribute my extreme fear and paranoid phobia about birds to three incidents in my childhood. The first being the movie The Birds. I watched it at a very young age and was completely traumatized. For a long time every time I seen a bird I would cry and scream and try to hide. Then there were those horrible chickens my parents had when I was little. My memories are repressed but I am sure they did bad things to me. I couldn’t wait to tear down that dilapidated chicken coop when I inherited my grandmother’s house. Then there were all those birds that just roamed free at the Detroit Zoo. Every time I went to the zoo as a child I was stalked by turkeys, peacocks, ducks and geese. One time a really big turkey chased me.
After a childhood of bird trauma I entered adulthood with a full blown case of ornithophobia. This fear lasted even after cultivating a love for gardening and crafting. It’s funny I would make decorative bird houses and bird theme crafts and feel like such a hypocrite because I hated birds.
Lately I felt the fear slipping from me and being replaced with interest. My computer desk overlooks the wooded landscape of my backyard. I guess now that I’m getting older I’m taking the time to notice my surroundings. I love watching all the critters roaming in my yard from squirrels and stray cats in the day to raccoons and opossums in the evening and yes, I even started enjoying the antics of the birds. Much to my surprise I started wondering about them, what kind were they, what did they eat, and all that. I knew the basic birds; cardinal, blue jay, robin…but what was that little guy with the black head, or the brown speckled one that was kind of fat, or the little yellowish green guy that was so tiny?
I found an old copy of Birds: a Guide to the Most Familiar American Birds and put it right next to my computer so when I see a bird I can look it up. Now it has become almost a ritual with my little toddler and I to look for birds every morning together and my eight year old daughter likes to join us when she’s not in school. We look for birds together and then try to figure out what kind they are. One day we were graced with a visit from a red headed wood pecker. My daughter really loved that one. We are having fun scouting for birds and watching the squirrel antics that tend to go on. It’s a great way to spend quality time with my kids and they are learning about nature.
I’ve come so far as to actually buy birdseed and bird feeders to attract more birds to my yard and my outdoor to-do list includes building and putting up bird houses that are actually usable, not just decorative and I would like to put in a bird bath.
I have definitely come full circle; who would have thought a person could go from bird phobic to bird lover?
Welcome to My Newest Blog
Welcome my newest blog: with this blog I'll be focusing on my creatively green life, nature, gardening, crafts and whatever other ramblings that come to mind that don't really fit in with my green wedding blog.
I hope you enjoy.
I hope you enjoy.
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