Farm Friday: The Peanuts Don't Measure Up

Wow. I finally went ahead and took the peanuts in to get processed.

They were around 11 weeks old, which is four weeks older than their meat bird brethren.

I probably could have waited a few more weeks to let them get to 100% of their mature weight, but they were going through the feed like gangbusters, so I got tired of waiting for them to "flesh out" a little more and just took them in.

And like I said, wow.

What an extreme difference between the meat birds and these layer-breed cockarels.

Have a look.....

The layer-breed cockarel is the skinny one on the right, and again, he was about a month older than the meatie on the left.
The meat birds have been bred to reach mature weight very rapidly, and that mature weight is almost all breast meat and meaty legs.
Though the peanuts looked fairly close in size to the meaties when I took them in, they looked NOTHING alike once they were dressed.

Or should I say undressed.


I haven't tried cooking them yet, but my plan is to throw one or two in a soup pot. If the meat cooks tender enough to eat in the soup, then great. If not, I'll just use the meat for dog food, and keep the broth for future cookin'.

No harm, no fowl.

Get it?

Gotta love that chicken humor.....




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Rudeness disclaimer:

I love all your comments,
I read every one!
But I can't hit 'reply',
I've no time for fun.
Please don't judge me,
Please don't hate.
If you have a question that just can't wait,
Send me an email at farmbeachgal@yahoo.com,
And I'll answer right back because I'm, you know, the Mom.

Farm Friday: The Cost of Sustainability

OK, as I promised in my last post, I am going to answer a few questions about the process of raising chickens for meat.

Cost to the Wallet
Let me get this out of the way:
It is not cheaper to raise chickens for meat than it is to buy them in the grocery store.

However...
That is assuming you are buying regular-grade (as opposed to organic) meat, or that you are buying whole chickens and cutting them up. If you just buy parts (boneless, skinless breasts, for example), then you would probably save money by raising your own. Or like I said, if you pay a premium price for buying organic, or buying local farm-raised chicken, you will definitely see a cost savings.

So....

Here's how the costs broke down for me:

12 cornish-rock peeps @ $1.97 (I'll call it $2) apiece..........$24
3 - 50lb bags of Start-n-Grow feed @ $15 a bag..................$45
Processing costs @$1.50 per bird x 9 birds..........................$13.50
6 cockarels (company sent for free as "fillers").......................0
1 extra bag of feed to take cockarels to maturity..................$15
Processing costs @$2 a bird x 6 birds (over 9 is cheaper)....$12
_______________________________________________________________________
                                                                                             $109.50

$109.50 divided by 15 birds = $7.30 per bird, which comes out roughly to about $1.80 per pound (based on a rough estimate of 4 lbs a bird).

Now, here's how costs could be less:

*Ordering more peeps (I plan on ordering 50 next summer), will reduce the cost per bird.
*Having them all processed at the same time will reduce the processing cost per bird.
*Raising them in the summer, with time on pasture, will reduce feed costs, as they will get a portion of their nutrition from grass, weeds, and bugs.
*Better "management" for reduced loss. I lost three birds: one died a couple days after shipment (which is pretty normal), one was (I think) taken by a rat or something. I don't know, it just disappeared. One drowned in a bucket during a hurricane. If I hadn't lost any, that figure would change to about $6.30 a bird.

Before I raised my own, I had bought farm-raised chicken a few times in an effort to steer clear of the factory-farm stuff.  I believe it was $3.00 a pound, for a whole chicken, so raising my own was definitely cheaper than that.

Oh, and I didn't include "facility" costs, such as heat lamps and pens,and the like, b/c I'll be using them for future batches of chickens, as well.


Cost of Time
Obviously, there was way more work involved with raising my own vs buying from a grocery store.  But really it wasn't all that bad.
Basically, it's a twice-a-day committment, of between 5 mins and 1/2 hour at a time.
Mornings (when they were little) I would let them out of their pen, and refill feed and water as needed, and then put them back in again in the evening.  Bedding needs to be refreshed now and then.  Waterers need to be scrubbed out from time to time.  That being said, I always spent more time out there than was needed, b/c they're so darn cute!  And entertaining.  And relaxing.

Cost to the Heart
Some asked if I had a hard time taking them to slaughter. 
Given my history with animals, a valid question.
However, I have to say, I really didn't have a problem with it.

All it took was me watching a couple of those videos of factory farm practices to realize that if I cared at all about animals, I either needed to become a vegetarian, or pay for the pricier stuff raised locally, or humanely raise my own animals for meat.  I chose the latter.  Well, at least for chicken (and eggs).  I will likely venture out to pork and beef in the near future, but baby steps, right?
So when I dropped them off, I didn't feel bad about sending them to their death, I felt good about giving them a good life.  If I'm not going to change the fact that a chicken is being killed for me to eat, I can at least change how that chicken lived and died.  Make sense?

Fortunately, almost the whole family felt the same way, and ate the very first meal I made with the chicken: chicken spaghetti (thanks, Ree Drummond!).  We had only one that didn't feel comfortable eating it, and that was OK by me.  There were no forced feedings under this roof.

Heavenly....

So bottom line, I was able to get chickens for about what I would pay in the grocery store, but I have the satisfaction of knowing I am feeding my family with food that has been raised humanely, and was not filled with antibiotics and steroids and nasty chicken "food", which more often than not includes: same species meat; feathers, hair, skin, hooves, and blood; manure and other animal waste; plastics; drugs and chemicals*.

I spent a lot of my time in the care of my chickens, but in my book it was enjoyable time.  Grounding.

My family and I (with the exception of one child) were able to get behind the concept of raising something for slaughter.  We have been able to move on with our lives and no one will be hitting the shrink couch because of it.  For other things, perhaps, but not for eating food we raised.


Anyway, I'm not sure if I covered all the questions, but I think I got most of them.
Have any more?  Send 'em my way and I'll do my best.









Image courtesy: thepioneerwoman.com
*from the Union of Concerned Scientists

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Since today is Friday, I'll be linking up with:
Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Fresh Eggs Daily's FarmGirl Friday
Little Becky Homecky's Fantabulous Friday
@Home Take 2's Weekend Blog Walk
Oh So Amelia's Friday Chaos

Check out my full blog hoppin' schedule in my sidebar, and come join the fun!




****************

Rudeness disclaimer:

I love all your comments,
I read every one!
But I can't hit 'reply',
I've no time for fun.
Please don't judge me,
Please don't hate.
If you have a question that just can't wait,
Send me an email at farmbeachgal@yahoo.com,
And I'll answer right back because I'm, you know, the Mom.





.

Farm Friday: Chick Update

If you follow along regularly, you'll remember last week I dropped the bomb that I am raising some chicks for meat.

With luck, you'll have collected yourself by now.

So I thought it would be a good time to give you an update.

In a nutshell, they are now two weeks old, and they're growing.

A lot.

They've gotten big enough that they seem crowded in the rabbit hutch make-shift brooder they started out in, and they're starting to fight a bit.

So now I keep them all in there at night, for safety, but in the morning, I let them roam around in the space surrounding the hutch.

They have a lot of room to run around and scratch and peck, and they still do a bit of fighting, but they seem happy.

I should also mention that when the company sent me the chicks I ordered, they also sent "filler chicks".

Filler chicks are layer breed males that the company throws into the boxes of smaller orders, for "warmth and packing". In other words, they are those plastic air bubbles or styrofoam peanuts.

I wasn't sure what to do with them, but I figure I'll just raise them for meat along with the others. They will take longer to mature to a decent weight, so they will go through more food, but then again, they were free, so maybe as far as cost goes, it will be a wash. They may not be as tender as the Cornish-Rocks, but I don't know. We'll see. From what I've seen from that awful video, if layer breed males are not used as packing peanuts, they are ground up (live) for God knows what.  Dog food, maybe?  So even though they'll still end up as meat by staying here, at least they're getting a chance to have a good - if short- life.


Here are a few pics of them I took yesterday....

Look at the gams!

I put a small log in the pen, and they were enjoying trying to sit on it.

These colored ones are the layer-breed cockerels. They are spunky and fiesty, and will start fights with the Cornish-Rocks, though are no match in size.

Anyway, so far so good. I'll keep you posted.

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Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



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In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop, The Chicken Chick's Clever Chicks, A Cat-Like Curiosity's Monday Mantras Link-Up, and @ Home Take 2's Mom's Monday Mingle
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday,   Crafty Garden Mama's Tuesday Greens, and The Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny, Tilly's Nest's Down Home, and Crafty Spices Wordless Wednesday
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop, and Two In Diapers' Mommy Brain Mixer
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, Fresh Eggs Daily's Farm Girl Friday Blog Fest,Little Becky Homecky's Fantabulous Friday, and Oh So Amelia's Friday Chaos
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up.

Since today is Friday, that means I'm linking today's post with Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, Fresh Eggs Daily's Farm Girl Friday Blog Fest, Little Becky Homecky's Fantabulous Friday, and my post "Mid-week Date of a 40-something House Frau" with Oh So Amelia's Friday Chaos.

Come join the fun!

Guest Post for Farm Friday - How to Grow Healthy Pumpkins

As I wrote last week, I didn't have too much luck raising pumpkins this year
is it raising or growing?

That's putting it too mildly.

I failed miserably, is what I did.

Swooping in to the rescue before you can say pumpkin pie in your face is Eve Harrow.

She contacted me about writing a guest post, and as it turns out, she knows a thing or two about sustainability and all things green.

So with a minimum of begging and pleading involved on my end, she agreed to write me up a post about how to successfully raise/grow pumpkins.

Perhaps next year I'll be able to redeem myself.

And here it is....

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How to Combat Pests and Grow Healthy Pumpkins

It’s a fact; pumpkins are hard to grow. Well, they’re easy to plant, and easy to feed, but if you want them to look perfect – bright, plump, orange and rounded – you’re going to need to do more than pop a seed in the ground and add water. Pumpkins take a long time to mature – around 85 to 125 days. During that time, they are vulnerable. There are many garden pests that take advantage of this and will damage – or even destroy – the plant of your orange beauties by spreading harmful bacteria and plant fungus.

The good news is, there are several organic methods you can take to prevent this damage. Hopefully, the following tips will ensure that if you’ve not had success with pumpkins before, your luck is about to change.

Grow in late season
If you plant your seeds at the beginning or middle of the season, you’ll be subjecting them to prime bug time. It’s a frequent mistake; thinking that by planting at the beginning of the season, you are allowing your pumpkins the maximum time in which to grow. In reality, it opens them up to increased risk of infection. Make sure you leave enough time before the end of the season for your pumpkins to reach full maturity, but by leaving it until the end of the high season; many of the colonies of bugs will have reached the end of their life spans. To give your pumpkins extra chance to flourish, start them off indoors so they are totally protected in their earliest days.

Pyrethrin combats squash vine borers
Pyrethrin is an organic pesticide, which can be found in many anti-insect products. The substance – harmless to humans and animals – protects the plant from squash vine borer eggs before they hatch into pesky bugs. For maximum effect, douse your entire pumpkin plant in a pyrethrin pesticide once every two days during the first week it starts to surface.

You should always keep an eye out for squash vine borers as, after the larvae are inside the plant, pesticides are much less effective. The small black and orange moths can be easily spotted grazing on the plant’s flowers, and they tend to lay their yellowish eggs at the base of plant stems. Make sure you tackle them before they get inside your pumpkin plants!

Encourage pollination
Pollination – by insects such as bees – to the plant’s flowers will aid growth of the pumpkin. You can aid this process by making sure the flowers are fully exposed. Remove protective row covers on a daily basis (first thing in the morning is the best time) and then replace again in the evening.

Prevent slugs
After squash vine borers, slugs and snails are probably the next most harmful creatures to your pumpkins. They feast on the new and tasty flesh of your pumpkins and create unsightly – and unhealthy – holes and tunnels all over the plant’s fruit. You can deter these pests by placing a layer of sand underneath your pumpkins as they appear. The dryness and blandness of the sand will keep slugs at bay and prevent them from going any nearer to your pumpkin.

Water properly
For those that farm pumpkins professionally, watering is not as easy as it sounds. Many will employ the use of a farming vehicle to distribute the right quantities of water. It’s an expensive and complex business though, such to the point where farm vehicle insurance is paramount and a specialist watering vehicle or equipment is a necessity. On an industrial scale, watering pumpkins is like science.

Luckily, if you are just growing a few for fun, it’s a little simpler (and you don’t need a tractor – or insurance!) However, an understanding of the pumpkin’s ideal water intake is key. Pumpkins require a lot of water for their growth (they consist of around 80-90% water) so having the right equipment – and knowing the right dosage – will ensure you grow a family of healthy pumpkins.

The secret to the watering process is not to give it to them unless they really need it. Check the soil moisture before watering; if it is moist and the plant looks healthy, it doesn’t need watering. When the soil starts to dry out, or the plant starts to wilt, that’s when it is thirsty. In this case, give it a good, long soak.
Deep and infrequent watering is key to ensuring healthy pumpkin patches. Furthermore, water plants at the base of the stem, not on the leaves. The best time to water is at the start of the day, so the plant is fully soaked when the light kicks in. This will also help protect from fungal diseases, which are rife in dry plants during the day time. When your pumpkin starts going orange, it will require less water. It will hardly need any water during its final 7-10 days.



Good luck for next season!



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Thanks, Eve!





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Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!


***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Friday, that means I'm linking today's post with Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, but I'll also be linking this same post up with some of the hops listed above in the coming week. Come join the fun!

Farm Friday - Pumpkins. Bleh.

So as I wrote over the summer, I tried my hand at pumpkins this year.

Although I started them late, they got off to a good start.

They grew quickly.

They grew well.

They got a little scary.

They were kind of beautiful.
























But now?

Bleh.

They're not looking so hot.

Lots of vines all over the place.

Dozens of flowers.

















So that would mean.... dozens of pumpkins?

No.

We have one honest-to-God pumpkin.

We have a couple wannabe pumpkins.

We have a lot of anemic vines and pathetic, droopy, splotchy leaves.

















Anyone out there know pumpkins?
Can anyone advise me on what I did wrong?

Or can I blame it all on the gargoyle?























***************************


Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!


***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Friday, that means I'm linking today's post with Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, but I'll also be linking this same post up with some of the hops listed above in the coming week. Come join the fun!

Farm Friday - Frightening

Last week, I wrote a post about planting pumpkins.

See my picture of the cute little punkin plants pushing up through the soil in an orderly fashion?

But holy Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, now they're HUGE. Monstrous, even.

Take a look see...

No pumpkins yet, but I can see little buds of flowers tucked up under their gargantuan leaves. Judging from the number, we're going to have a boatload.

They're also shooting out these little curly tendrils, which fall somewhere between pretty and scary....



















Even the gargoyle is frightened...

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Hey guys and gals, guess what? I'm at BlogHer today! I'm hoping I might bump into one or two of my favorite bloggers while I'm there, in between learning all kids of bloggy things. Look for me! I'll be the painfully shy, socially awkward bumpkin with unmanicured hands, comfortable shoes, and frizzy hair.

*****************

Hello? Is this thing on? For some reason, my ratings on the Top Mommy Blog thing have been slipping lately, though my blog views are way up (thanks to all my awesome followers, new and old!). Can you take a sec to vote so I can get back on the first page? I hate not being in the top 25. Just click on this brown button with the juggling chick. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!


***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Friday, that means I'm linking today's post with Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, but I'll also be linking this same post up with some of the hops listed above in the coming week. Come join the fun!

Farm Friday - Punkins

I planted something new-to-me this year.

Pumpkins.

I have this stone wall that I usually plant annuals by, but then I don't keep up with the weeding and it looks like an embarassing jungle.

So I thought, pumpkins grow all rambly and viney, so if I plant them by the stone wall, it'll still look like a jungle, but like it's supposed to be a jungle.

There is a difference.

I planted them late, so I don't know if I'll have mature pumpkins before we get hit with frost, but I'm hopeful we'll have something. Kids can paint them, we can set them on the porch, we can feed them to the chickens.

It's all good.

Fingers crossed!

************

Hello? Is this thing on? For some reason, my ratings on the Top Mommy Blog thing have been slipping lately, though my blog views are way up (thanks to all my awesome followers, new and old!). Can you take a sec to vote so I can get back on the first page? I hate not being in the top 25. Just click on this brown button with the juggling chick. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!



If you have a sec, could you vote for me for the Circle of Moms contest? It's for Top 25 Moms With Big Families. To vote for me, click this pink badge, then scroll down till you see my blog, and click on the thumbs-up button. You can vote every day till the contest ends on 8/1 (next week). Thanks!



***************

In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Here's the schedule I keep:
Monday: Homestead Revival's Barn Hop
Tuesday: Heavenly Homemaker's Gratituesday
and Wrinkled Mommy's Tuesday Archive Link-Up
Wednesday: My Life and Kids Finding the Funny
Thursday: A Rural Journal's Rural Thursday Blog Hop
Friday: Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday
Saturday: Camera Critter's Life With Dogs Pet Blogger Hop and Country Momma Cooks Saturday Link-Up

Since today is Friday, that means I'm linking today's post with Deborah Jean's Dandelion House's Farmgirl Friday, but I'll also be linking this same post up with some of the hops listed above in the coming week. Come join the fun!

Farm Friday - Snake in the Grass

Put my garden in a few weeks ago.

Weed-wacked it.
Tilled it.
Raked it.
Mulched it.
Planted it.
Watered it.

All the greenery at the back is strawberries. They're coming in like gangbusters this year.

I buy my plants already started.
FAR too lazy to start them from seed. Don't judge.
And the place I get them was out of some of what I needed, so I'll need to make another trip. Right now I've got parsley, chives, tomatoes, red peppers, and cukes.

I need to put in a bunch more peppers and cukes, plus some basil, mint, and scallions. I'm also going to plant carrots in pots, and try growing potatoes in a trash can like I've seen on the internet.

What else. Oh, I'm going to grow some corn and some sweet potatoes over by the chicken run, and feed them directly to the chickens as they come in.

Also going to try growing a whole mess of pumpkins this year.

Anyway, when we were raking and tilling and what-not, I noticed Cindy was watching something in the grass. So of course we all went over to investigate. It was a snake. Just a harmless black snake, but it was a doozy. Cool, huh?

Doesn't that just make you wanna go start a garden?





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Thanks for stopping by.
If you like my blog, I hope you'll be able to take a minute to add yourself as a follower.
Come back soon! I'm here every day, rain or shine...

~Anne


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Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a couple votes:

Circle of Moms: click the pink badge, scroll down to my blog (Life on the Funny Farm), and click the thumbs-up button to vote. You can vote every day till June 20th!





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I'm linking up today's post with the barn hop at Deborah Jean's Dandelion House. Come check it out!

Farm Friday - Green Pumpkins

You know the mantra: reduce, reuse, recycle.

And that other one: buy fresh, buy local.

Well, I've done my part. Check, and check.


Like every year, we bought our punkins at a local Mom and Pop Pick-Ur-Own farm. Complete with hayride by Pop Lytle himself, and three generations of his kin to help run the place.


And after carving them and setting them out on the stoop for no one to see (we don't get any trick-or-treaters round here), I decided I could offer our pumpkins-turned-neglected-jack-o-lanterns one better than the garbage can.

One better even the compost pile.

I gave them to the chooks!

And they loved them.

The circle of life? It looks a little something like this:

Pumpkin seeds = pumpkins = jack-o-lanterns = food for chickens = eggs.

Orange = green = brown (eggs)



Looks like orange is the new green.

Love Your Mother

Lucky for Mother Earth, she is very "in" right now. When I took my girls shopping the other day I noticed how popular she, and her good friend "Peace" were on t-shirts, sweatpants, the backs of short-shorts, and every accessory known to teen-kind. While I know this is not much more than a fashion trend, I can't help getting excited because I know that any press is good press. The more people are bombarded by images of Earth, nature, green, peace, the more we will benefit, both locally and globally.

In fact, all this buzz about going green has gotten me to examine my life to see if I could be doing things a little more eco-friendly. And you know what? I found that by tweaking a few small things here and there, I can make a difference. It's a minuscule difference, given that I'm one of about 6 billion people in the world, but it's a difference nonetheless. And if the 2.3 people who read this blog can also make a small change, well then I've done something here, haven't I?

With that in mind, here is a short list of simple things you can do to make this world a more habitable, sustainable, everyone-hold-hands-and-sing-kumbaya - able kinda place:

Do Something Drastic, Cut the Plastic
Buy yourself a bunch of those canvas bags and keep them in the trunk of your car. Whenever you go shopping use these in place of the plastic grocery bags for bagging your food. Keep one or two folded up in your purse for times when you run into a department store but forgot to bring your bags with you. I estimate that by using canvas instead of plastic, I will keep about 1000 plastic bags out of our landfills and oceans every year. If you want more info on how harmful plastic bags are to our world, check this out: http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=the-dangers-of-plastic-bags-do-something-drastic-cut-the-plastic-&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#

Just Say No To Disposable Plastic Water Bottles
About a year ago I decided I was throwing my money away buying plastic water bottles when I have water flowing like water from my kitchen tap. My hat is off to the guy that got the world to fall for that one. Not only is it a waste of money, but those bottles are a HUGE problem that won't go away. Remember all the trash that Wall-E had to clean up? That's what's coming if we keep piling water bottles in our landfills. Plus now they're saying the bottles have some kind of chemical that gives you some kind of cancer of some kind of organ, and who needs that? If you're thinking to yourself that you can't live without water bottles, go back in your mind to when you were a kid. What did you do when you got thirsty? Filled a glass at the tap? You can do that again, I promise. When I was a girl, I don't remember the streets being filled with people who dropped dead of dehydration. When we were thirsty, we got a glass of water, no big deal. For times when we're out at a sports activity or we're taking a roadtrip, I have bought water bottles from Wal-Mart that are dishwasher safe. That's right, they can be used more than once! You think your kids need to drink the bottles of vitamin water you buy them? Here's a thought, give them a vitamin and a glass of water. NO MORE PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES!

Buy Fresh, Buy Local
By buying food that is in season and produced locally, not only do we support local farmers, but we cut back on how much food is transported by diesel-fed behemoths across the country. So wait till spring to eat your asparagus, and then buy it from a farmer's market or look for a "locally grown" section in your produce aisle. No need to be eating fresh asparagus in January that's been imported from Chile.

Reduce/ReUse/Recycle
Reduce the amount of stuff you buy and clutter up your home with, because eventually you'll get tired of looking at it and want to throw it away (I'm talking about impulse purchases, not spouses).
Before you throw it away, ask yourself if it can be "repurposed". Ricotta cheese and Cool-Whip containers make great Tupperware. Old school worksheets can be cut into quarters and used as scratch paper for taking phone messages. Pause before you pitch and see if you can get creative.
Recycling. Just do it. Don't doom your cardboard, paper, glass and plastic to a life in the landfill. Give them new life by tossing them in your recycle bins. Who knows what they'll be reincarnated into?
Stop the Stuff
Remember when I said you eventually get tired of looking at the stuff you buy and it ends up in the trash? Wow. You were paying attention.
That's the problem with 'stuff'. We all have way too much of it and it ends up in a landfill because it's too small, too old, too last-year, too boring or broken. So first, stop buying so much crap for yourself, your house, your kids, because you just don't need it. Second, come gift-giving time, instead of buying stuff to give someone, consider some alternatives:
*A donation in their name to a charity like Heifer International, Habitat for Humanity, Nothing But Nets, etc. There are a million good causes out there in desperate need of funds and there are countless gifts we have to give throughout the year. So let's kill two birds with one stone here.
*A gift of something to do out in the wide world such as gift cards to the movies or miniature golf, a family membership to a zoo or museum, a pottery class or pony rides.

Get up. Get out the door. Live life. Discover our world.

It's a good place.