Earth Day/Earth Month Thoughts

[wawa]

I am really really struck today with how many emails I have asking me to buy random shit to celebrate earth day/month.

The east coast greenway org just sent an email talking about how safe walking and biking infrastructure is essential to climate mitigation...and then asked me to buy a t-shirt.  YOU GUYS.  I really feel our rampant consumerism is just such a hard nut to crack. Even here when we have our threads about being greener/more sustainable it's often about what we're all buying.  

My house is also currently so very cluttered with things, and I want to get rid of them all, but also feel guilty trashing things....but even giving things away is a whole thing depending on what it is. 

[keyslover]

Rant- we may need a new washing machine (waiting to see if a part can be found). But when we are looking, we’ve been told to be prepared they will only last about 7-8 years. WTF. That’s disgusting to treat major appliances like they are disposable.

Rave- we are making our yard a Bee Yard! Also going to add wildflowers and pollinator friendly plants/flowers on our Blvd.

[pixy0stix]

Apr 22, 2024 13:47:40 GMT -5 keyslover said:

Rave- we are making our yard a Bee Yard! Also going to add wildflowers and pollinator friendly plants/flowers on our Blvd.

My favorite thing is to watch the entirety of our front yard bounce and sway with the bees moving around. You're going to love it!

This year we're going to focus on the back yard and planting more pollinator friendly plants back there. I've been seeding the bare spots with clover, but want to be more purposeful about it.

[wawa]

Apr 22, 2024 13:55:45 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Apr 22, 2024 13:47:40 GMT -5 keyslover said:

Rave- we are making our yard a Bee Yard! Also going to add wildflowers and pollinator friendly plants/flowers on our Blvd.

My favorite thing is to watch the entirety of our front yard bounce and sway with the bees moving around. You're going to love it!

This year we're going to focus on the back yard and planting more pollinator friendly plants back there. I've been seeding the bare spots with clover, but want to be more purposeful about it.

we have an accidental "meadow" yard just as a result of multiple years of projects with big equipment ripping the crap out of the former owners grass lawn combined with our benign neglect - and I love it this time of year.  So many little flowers.  My whole yard except for the edge along the woods is at least part shade, so growing much else is a challenge anyway, so the clover and violets and dandelions and whatever else is even there filling in are fine by me.  It occasionally hurts my husband's little suburban heart, but then he costs out the weed killer and seed and water that it woudl take to grow a real "lawn" and he gets over it.

I need to figure out what to grow for a shaded pollinator garden.  all the usual stuff they recommend is at least part sun, but I've got a north facing house that shades most of the front yard, and then big trees along the edges of the yard that shade most of the backyard.  One small section of the backyard gets morning and midday sun and that's where my veggie garden lives. 

[keyslover]

wawa, I am in Minnesota. But this company makes mixes. www.prairiemoon.com/understory-seed-packet-collection

So people make them! Hopefully a local place makes them for you.

[aurora]

Last weekend I bought local bee-friendly seeds to plant in some bare spots, which, great! But to wawa's point it was still buying something.

I've become more active on my local buy nothing group in recent months. It's always fascinating to see what people are interested in taking and reusing.

[wawa]

Apr 22, 2024 16:36:49 GMT -5 aurora said:

Last weekend I bought local bee-friendly seeds to plant in some bare spots, which, great! But to wawa 's point it was still buying something.

I've become more active on my local buy nothing group in recent months. It's always fascinating to see what people are interested in taking and reusing.

I literally couldn't give away some random house stuff (a very pretty cheeseboard, some new in votive candle holders), but I once listed a big charcoal grill that was old enough that the bottom had TOTALLY rusted off, was very clear in the listing that it was not currently usable, had pics of the holes, etce tc - it was picked up within 2 hours.  Go figure. 

I have a huge pile of stuff in my living room right now that is giveaway (clothes, books, kitchen & house stuff), but just getting it listed on buy nothing is a whole task, so I've been trying to talk myself around to either just getting it done ASAP or taking the whole shebang to goodwill, even though I KNOW that goodwill is also problematic.  The clutter is wearing on me.  But i hate adding waste for things that could be used by others!  

[Patsy Baloney]

Yesterday we did some guerrilla gardening in a mixed use area we frequent with native wildflower seeds and I’m hoping the rain and warmer but mild temps will help them germinate. I’m exhausted by the suburban pursuit of the perfect lawn.

This year I’ve resolved to not purchase seeds/plants. I need to a)learn to save what I have (veggies, annuals) and b) split the perennials and exercise patience.

ETA: the neighborhood garage sale is this weekend and I’m thinking about pushing all the clutter outside, putting up a QR code with a “pay what you want” sign, and seeing what happens. I don’t really care if we get paid for it, but it might make it seem more desirable? I just don’t want to take it to goodwill and I hate trying to figure out b/s/t or buy nothing. People are loony about pickup almost all the time. Consumerism has done a number on us all.

[meanie]

Sort of related - has anyone tried those laundry detergent sheets? We cleaned out our basement last week and we had a giant pile of empty containers.

I'm jealous of the bee yards! I tried to create a patch of wildflowers that never took hold, but I felt like Snow White when I was casting the seeds so that was fun.

[Pom]

We volunteered at the library Saturday for the annual Earth Day+ program. The kids that came through (I was doing bird seed feeders and Mr Pom had vermicomposting kits) loved everything. The 4-H chicken club was a huge hit too. Young ones need to be exposed early to the appreciation of nature and animals. Attendance more than doubled from last year. Our club project this week is reduce, recycle, reuse and refuse. We are turning clean candle jars into luminaries for a local senior home. Mr P just made a giant garden for us and the kids and part of what we cleared we are planting special pollinator mix. So excited
Oh and we are volunteering for water sampling since we are on a waterway that dumps into the Great Lakes and doing Sturgeon watch to guard and protect them from poachers during their spawning. 🌏. We are all earthlings 💙💚

[Vespasia]

Apr 23, 2024 11:40:34 GMT -5 meanie said:

Sort of related - has anyone tried those laundry detergent sheets? We cleaned out our basement last week and we had a giant pile of empty containers.

I bought these after an eco friendly product thread here and have been very happy with them. I ordered the first box in July and just now need to reorder. It helps that I only use it for my own clothes though, MH still uses regular liquid detergent. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09B35YB5C/

wawa I have the same issue with throwing stuff away. I think we buy less crap than the average household but after being in our home for 9 years we definitely have some stuff to purge. 

On that note, does anyone have good resources for textile recycling? I have some like new clothes to donate and most of my shirts that get stains or holes are downgraded to lounge around the house clothes but I definitely have some things that need to be tossed. 

[DotAndBuzz]

for people who are trying to be more bee-friendly, think about planting a Linden Tree (aka a Basswood). We have one, and when it blooms, it is COVERED in honey bees. Like, you can hear it humming from the street, and see the whole thing rippling with bees. It's really cool.

They are a little more messy than a typical tree, but it's because of the flowers and then the little pods and small branches that fall. They also can get really big, so don't plant them right by your house. Give them some space.

Linden Tree