Our Attempts to Live Gently

I've been thinking about starting this blog for some time. We try to live a life that is as gentle on the earth as possible, not wasting, not using more than we need to use, not putting anything in the trash that can be used again, eating as healthily as possible, blah, blah, blah. HOWEVER, reality sometimes intervenes and makes it difficult. We're often faced with choices- and it isn't always easy to follow our desire to live more gently. This won't be a blog about what is difficult, but, rather about how we strive to live "somewhat organic," realistic lives. I wish we could afford nothing but organic food and clothing, but that's not our reality, and I think it isn't the reality for many of us. That, however, is no excuse to live without caring for our earth.

I love a blog called the "Zero Waste Home." She once posted a picture of her trash for something like that past month- it fit in a martini glass! I am here to tell you that it is highly unlikely our month's trash will ever fit into a martini glass, nor do I think my closet will ever be winnowed down to 4 mix and match outfits.
It is great to read blogs like that, they inspire us, and sometimes help to find ways to reduce our trash, but our family isn't going to the extremes. We're a real family, living a real life. That is what I'll write about here. Ways we've found to live more gently, maybe some recipes, gardening tips, things like that.

We live in a home that is 100% rainwater, meaning that rainwater is our sole source of water. We live as do other folks with city or well water, we just conserve where we can. We've lived here for 13.5 years now, and only had to buy water a handful of times. When people hear our home is 100% rainwater (meaning no well, and no city water connection) they're often surprised. "What do you do if you run out of water?" is usually the first question. The answer to that is that we call a potable water supplier-and there are many in Hays County. They come over, usually within a day, back their truck up to our tank, and pump in the water, 2,000 gallons at a time. (Note that if your well runs out of water, you have to drill a new well, with no guarantee of hitting water, a every expensive proposition.) Summer before last, we bought water exactly once, we ordered 4,000 gallons. Had we not filled our little 4,800 gallon pool, we would not have needed to do even that. Last year and this year, we were a little wiser. We put our pool up when heavy rain was forecast, got it filled up, and then the rains replenished our tanks.

We don't have a lush green lawn. I grew up with that in SE Texas, but our rainfall there was about twice what it is here outside of Austin. I've learned to adapt to the climate here. When we plant, we water the plant the first year to get it established. We mulch it heavily to conserve water, too. After that, if it doesn't live, I figure it wasn't meant to be here. We don't have a nice green lawn, either. We have native grasses, and when it rains, they're lovely and green, and when it doesn't, they turn brown and go dormant. Our house is a style that works with the hill country- white stone with a slurry finish, like the old German homes of a hundred years ago. We used cedars cut from our property on the front porch. No one will mistake this for a home from Houston, and it isn't. It is a home in Hays County, at the entrance to the Hill Country and prairie. When it rains, the purple sages sing forth with lovely lavender blooms, the little white rain lilies pop up from the ground and give the appearance of a light snow. This Hill Country has its own beauty, and I've learned to love and live with it.

How do we conserve water? Here are some of the things we do- they're the same things that any list of "water-saving tips" will give you. Whether you're on rainwater or not, clean water is a finite resource, and we should all live as if we had a tank of water outside our homes and it was the only water we had.
1. When washing hands or teeth, turn water on, get hands or toothbrush wet, turn water off, soap up or brush teeth, then turn water back on ONLY when you're ready to rinse.
2. When taking a shower, if you don't have pretty much instant hot water, keep a bucket handy to catch all the wasted cold water. Use that water to put on your flowerbed, your flowers will reward you.
3. When taking that shower, get wet, then turn the flow down (or even off,) soap up, then turn back on full when you're ready to rinse off.
4. If you must water outside, do it early morning or after 6PM, when it's not so hot and you won't lose so much water to evaporation.Water weekly, and deeply, especially for lawns to encourage deep root growth.
5. If you've got a running toilet, fix it as soon as possible. You'd be amazed how much water is wasted by this one thing. Keep a few extra toilet flaps at home, that way, then it happens and you need a new one, you won't have to waste gas going to the store to get one.
6. Run only full loads of laundry and/or dishwasher. (Also good to do this after dark, when it isn't "peak hours" for electricity.)
7. For water glasses, use the same glass for all day. If you've got kids, might get colored glasses, and give each child a particular color, to help keep straight whose is whose.
8. If you're not on a rainwater system, consider getting barrels for your gutters to collect for your plants. Some people will also use this water to wash their hair. You get the cleanest hair with rainwater. Also great for cut flowers.
9. Rather than using your garbage disposal a lot, compost. Your flowers will thank you for it. We have a compost pile, chickens AND a keyhole garden, all of which love our compostables.
10. Mulch your plants, especially new ones. I also mulch potted plants that are water hungry. Plant only plants that are native to your area.
That's it for today. I'll leave you with a favorite quote:

"You can make an excuse, or you can make a difference, but you can't make both." - Jim Key