"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."
- Indian Proverb
"Live simply... so others may simply live"
"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."
- Indian Proverb
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Introduction For more information on living sustainably, and top tips on how you can become more eco-friendly visit our articles database in the Journey Tree's Green Pages. The information on this page is just a brief outline of what we've been up to. We'll be adding more detailed pages for each subject as and when we get the time to do so. If you would like to share your own green experiences with our visitors please see our contribute page. It has been our policy for some years now to live as lightly upon the Earth as we possibly can. We have started small and with each year that has passed (and with each year that our children have become more helpful!) we have been able to do more to contribute towards a greener future. We've decided to share our progress towards living sustainably in the hope that some of our humble efforts may inspire others who are thinking of going green. We live in an age where climate change, pollution and resource depletion are talked about everywhere - we can't say that we don't know about the environment and it's problems anymore. So at the end of the day it is our collective responsibility to do something about it. And it is possible, even with kids and a low income! In fact, in many ways living sustainably hugely reduces the amount of money that you need in order to live. Having said all that, we all have our own path to follow and we do not stand in judgment of others, we just hope to encourage others to act. Also... "You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep." - Navajo Proverb Our first step, many moons ago, was to go organic, buy free-range animal friendly produce and to recycle. These are three things that everyone can do - we've managed to do it for years on a low income, with children. Also, we switched to a green electricity supplier. We are currently with Ecotricity (www.ecotricity.co.uk).
More recently we have become immersed in Permaculture (which is basically a sustainable and holistic way of living based upon the processes and principles of mother nature) and have made more inroads towards lessening our impact upon the Earth. We now live in a rented farm bungalow on 70 acres of beautiful valley, we have a good sized garden and now take care of an adjacent apple orchard. Our kids are a bit bigger (three and almost five) so we've just reached a point of green expansion! I'd just like to note that you can live very sustainably and productively in an urban setting with just a concrete patio outside. We've done it, grown it and got the t-shirt!!
The Great Outdoors We have just created a small pond and bog garden (soon to be accompanied by a small reed bed) which will have a variety of uses...
Food: We are planting both the pond and bog garden with edible foods. So far we have planted reed mace, arrow head, water cress, bistort, water mint, chives and marsh marigolds. Where possible we have sourced these plants locally. When funds are available we will be planting water lilies which are also edible. The food output will not be huge due to the small size of the pond but it will provide us with valuable experience for any future, and maybe grander, projects (I'm currently looking more into reed mace cultivation as it provides a whole host of useful end products. Plus, we live in a very boggy area - conditions in which reed mace thrive!). Wildlife: The pond and bog garden have already become a haven for wildlife; attracting predators such as frogs, newts, and a variety of garden-friendly insects to help us reduce the number of garden pests (esp. slugs and snails of which we have more than our fair share!). The water, which was teaming with tadpoles and frogs that we rescued from various nearby puddles (most of which completely dried out!), is now home mainly to the myriad of pond skaters and beetles which were also the first to arrive. Water: We are creating a grey water reed bed system which will process used water from our kitchen and bathroom and channel this into a large water butt for storage and ultimately overflow into our garden via old hose pipes. We will also be diverting any excess roof rain water from our water butts into the pond which will also overflow into the water butt. At the time of writing this (late April 06) all our butts are empty and much of the usually boggy ground is hard and cracked - no such thing as climate change though!
This year we're hoping to completely remove the need for our weekly organic
veggie box (which we currently get from Riverford Organic Vegetables) with our
own homegrown organic produce. Our main growing area
is a small 9m x 5m plot
We are also lucky enough to be left in charge of an old orchard and are already making inroads towards creating a productive woodland garden. The orchard itself consists of 28 apple trees, none of which have been pruned for a fair old while which has resulted in the trees growing into one another and leaning (quite extremely in some cases) in their bid to receive sunlight. Also some of them are quite cankerous - one was so bad it had to be cut down. We started pruning this year and will gradually trim the trees back over the next two years in order not to shock the trees into total submission.
In between the trees we have planted raspberry plants and have restored several clumps of wild blackcurrants. Our landlord has also kindly donated a loganberry bush. Under some of the trees where the sun permits, we will be planting strawberries, borage, chives, lavender, marigolds, comfrey, nasturtiums and runner beans (these will grow up cordage into the lower branches at the outer drip line of the trees). The emphasis, both in the orchard and the veggie patch, is on companion planting and creating a sustainable system where all the plants benefit one another.
We will also be able to sprout most of the seeds that we collect indoors for fresh salad greens during the winter months.
To supplement this we are growing green manures near, and in, the main planting area. Also, on an ongoing basis we are making herb fertilizers such as nettle, comfrey and dandelion teas. One future addition, which is currently a passion of ours, is to create a compost toilet so that we may truly be a part of the garden life-cycle and enter into sustainable relationship with the land that provides for us. This will also markedly decrease our water usage, which we are already trying to keep to a minimum (see below). We've already started to compost our wee (by combining it with hay) which contains the lion's share of nutrients when comparing it to poo, plus it's sterile and pathogen free. We're also using urine diluted with water as a plant fertiliser - the veggies love it! At the moment our livestock totals one chicken! - she's a Black Rock in her third year and now spring is here she's kindly producing 1 egg per day and the occasional bucket of manure. We did have three originally but last year, in my bid to give them even more freedom to roam, our local fox cashed in! We'll be getting a companion for her as soon as we get the funds - that's if we don't go vegan in the mean time!!
The Humble Indoors To be more environmental, save money and to become more self reliant we have started to buy more dried goods, grains and pulses in bulk and manufacture more of our food ourselves. This reduces packaging and is much cheaper. For example, last year we started experimenting with soya beans. We have made soya milk, yoghurt and cheese and with the okara (the pulpy by-product of milk making) we make all sorts of food including burgers, nut loaves and crunchy cereals. We now make milk on a regular basis and our dustbin benefits from the huge decrease in waxy un-recyclable packaging. We make all our own bread. Admittedly we currently use a bread maker much of the time but we only make loaves on average every 2-3 days, and we know what's in it - we always incorporate seeds such as linseed and sunflower which are both delicious and nutritious. Also last year we got into sprouting seeds, grains and pulses in a big way - especially wheat. We have experimented with wheat sprout loaves, which have evolved into a tasty malt loaf (it's not actually a malted loaf) which we now make regularly. And, more controversially, we have grown wheat grass, cut, dried and powdered it and made green chlorophyll biscuits! We have also made wheat grass juice, which is quite a popular detox/vitaliser now - it's very good for you but we haven't quite acquired the taste for it yet! We grow lettuce and herbs on window sills and I'm planning on giving hydroponics a go this autumn - wouldn't it be great to have fresh veg all year round? All of the grinding, milling and juicing is done with manually operated devices which make the process even greener and increase our capacity for self-reliance.
Always remember... "If it's yellow, let it mellow. We generally use much less water than the average family. We conserve water by always using full loads in the washing machine, not using a dish-washer, only flushing the loo for poo, and we do not have showers/baths every day - and no, we don't smell! Also little things like turning the tap off whilst you're washing your teeth all make a difference. We are also recycling our grey water by placing bathroom/kitchen water straight on the garden (not on root crops or salad vegetables though - and always alternate with fresh water to avoid chemical build ups). Soon we will have a reed bed (see above) in action to purify the grey water for greater reuse. Green cleaning is another passion of ours. Why buy all the newfangled cleaning products on the telly when you can make your own? Not only are they full of chemicals and bad for the environment, if they’re antibacterial, they probably robbing your family of an immune system as well. I’m not saying live in filth, but old-fashioned cleaning products are usually adequate, and we need to be exposed to some bacteria, or we’ll have no defence against them when we do.
So we have a few products in our cupboard that do most of the cleaning jobs such
as; White vinegar, Bicarbonate of Soda, Lemon Juice' Borax, Micro fibre cloths, Newspaper,
Eucalyptus oil and a spray gun. Reuse - Reduce - Recycle Our recycling is collected once
every two weeks and these days, because of our lifestyle (cooking/shopping habits) we barely have anything to put in the sack! As
well as this we keep things in store such as margarine tubs which can be used as
seedling trays ( punch holes in bottom). We
wash/reuse sandwich bags etc
Electricity: We have both water and wind resources here, which I would love to tap into, but these are projects that are unfortunately too ambitious for us at present! However, we do try to minimise our use by turning off appliances (not leaving them on standby). We use energy efficient light bulbs and have had our cavity walls and loft properly insulated (both of which you can get free if you're on benefits). We have only used our electric heaters on a few occasions when our house has been very cold (and we're used to low temperatures). We limit the use of our electric kettle and as mentioned earlier we have switched to a green electricity supplier (dead easy to do online at www.ecotricity.co.uk). We also hardly ever use the tumble drier and air our clothes either above the rayburn or outside when it's dry. A must for the house is a battery charger and a good supply of rechargeable batteries. Ok, they're initially more expensive but they must have saved us loads of money over the years, not to mention the environmental savings. For our wedding I was given a small solar-powered battery charger - it's great and I'm still using it years later (thanks Kev).
Also, after being inspired by an article on the Steward Woodland Community website we're building a solar oven made out of cardboard and silver foil - we'll let you know how we get on. Fuel to get from A to B: One of our biggest environmental impacts has to be our four wheel drive car which we can barely afford to keep on the road (the track to our home is 1/3 mile of mud and ruts and our previous car's suspension only lasted a few months). On the positive side we only do 1 trip per week for our shopping and our kids go to school/nursery in the local village. Also our car vibrates once you reach 45-50 mph so we rarely ever take any long distance/high-speed journeys! But... one of our neighbours has just discovered a local supplier of bio-diesel - HOORAH! We've been using it for a few weeks now and the engine's running well - and it smells great! Previously, to clean up our emissions we were planning to start using straight vegetable oil during the warmer summer months but this is riskier as if the temperature drops it begins to solidify and can clog the fuel system. I've read that you also have to keep a closer eye on your seals. Books that we use...
The Earth Care Manual - Patrick Whitefield - Permanent
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(including paths) based upon Joy Larkin's 'Feed
the Family' plan from her 'Grow Your Own Vegetables'. This is being supplemented
by growing in containers (such as potatoes in old tyres, beans in tubs etc), a small greenhouse and
the various unused corners and crevices of our garden. This is accompanied by a herb patch
that will gradually become more integrated into the main growing area.
When we have time we will
forage for local edible wild foods to
supplement salads and cooked dishes. We collected quite a few seeds last year
which are now being propagated to give hopefully higher yields than some do in
the wild having to compete with other plants. I've just
made some dandelion coffee and it was gorgeous, so I definitely want a good crop
of dandelions (the leaves can be eaten and also make a good compost
additive!).
As
our ambitions in the garden have increased, so has the need for a good supply of
nutritious compost. We have pushed the boat out this year and have now
four compost bins on the go; two standard black plastic bins and two 'Earth
Machines'. We're experimenting with different mixes as we were inspired after our
visit to CAT (the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales). Also we have created a bin for leaves and grass,
nettles, dock leaves etc from some old wooden
pallets. When the leaves fall next we'll put them in a wire mesh container to
make leaf mould.
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of milling machines etc
IT: Our main project which involves an actual financial income is the range of
Fuel for heat: Our house is heated, our clothes are dried, our kettle
is boiled, and all of our cooking (apart from
the bread maker