In the month of July, we have renewed our commitment to limit single use plastic in our lives. I will remind you, we are not perfect. However, we are working to make changes. As a family this a a goal we have been working towards for the last couple of years. Taking it up a notch in 2021.

I am going to try and make several posts about the everyday changes we have made to reduce plastic. What has worked and what we have not liked.

For no particular reason lets start with dishes. A job that never ends. We have tried to make our own dishwasher soap out of washing powder, citric acid and something else. I tried a couple of Pinterest recipes. I did not care for them.

I have tried to make my own bar dish soap and wash all my dishes by hand. It worked ok. It still was not my favorite. I did learn however, if there was a issue with soap supply, that I can survive, make my own and clean my dishes. I call that a win.

What we have found that works best for us is a product from the company Dropps. These are dishwasher pods that come in an all paper box, and contain dissolving vegetable based pods. They work. They don’t break the bank. Best of all they come to my door. Win all around and I am not doing all the dishes by hand! Lesson learned with these is dont get them wet. The veggie packets will dissolve easier than other pods. Still a win in my book.

Another change that we have made is we no longer buy sponges. I use washcloths and a reusable scrub brush which I already owned. I will be replacing it with a wooden scrub brush when it needs it, but I am not going to throw away something that works.

These are two simple changes we have made in our dish routine. What have you done? I would love to hear from you.

What if I wrote what my heart wanted to write.  The whispers of the tulips, the hum of the honey bee.   Oh the green of spring.  There is no finer a color.  The color of new birth, fresh beginings and purity.  Leaves so tender, if you touch them with your nail they turn dark green like they are almost a state of matter between liquid and a solid.  The fragil leaves that are nursed around the clock.  Water,  light, beautiful dark earth.  All elements we falsly believe that we can control or take part in.  We only can be so lucky as to make up for our interupting it and allow it to continue as it was created to do.  What a blessing we have to be a part of nature at all.  To plant the seed where we choose, to love and feed the animals as they grow.  All gifts. To tend this garden, to feel the earth.  See it breath and live. Watch it move, streaming with life.  

This is the why.  Connected to the earth I feel connected to our creator.  Blessed to witness the intricate details of design.  The more I participate and interact with this creation the more I learn how interwoven all the elements are.  Everything created for a purpose, to do it’s part of the waltz.  The connection, partnership, and tapistry of creation draws me in.  How can I farm the way it was designed?  Using each detail and talent that the Lord has placed in my dominion.  The connections.  Weeds as much of a curse as they are, have a purpose.  Their roots carry the water and nutrition deep into the soil, helping it to heal from years of abuse and stripping.  When I harvest those weeds they feed my goats, who in turn provide nutrition for the soil and milk for my family.  The milk goes on to become yogurt and cheese, the whey is passed to the chickens and the pigs. Each with their own job to do.  

Learning my place in this amazing creation, understanding the world around me and the creator who spoke it into exsistance.  May I be blessed enough to never stop learning.  May the flowers never stop talking to me.  The sounds of the bees humming in my ears.  The sweet smell of tomato plants and rosemary when you brush up against them.  The feel of the black earth on my skin. The taste of honeysuckle when the wind blows.  What joy it all brings.  May I learn how to listen more intently.  Longing to lessen my impact and increase the nuturing of the design. Attempting to find my string of the tapistry. 

As I spend my Friday night mindlessly exhaused I stare at my computer, YouTube and Social media have me completely unaware of the moments passing.  There are so many  ads.  Ads for things that I never would have even thought about and for a brief second do I think I need them.  Wow!  I am that easily manipulated.  Wow!  

This year we strived as a family to consume less.  I would say that we are definately consuming less, we still have a long way to go.  We do still buy way more than I want.  We order staples from a store about once a month.  High salt food that I can not replace with food on the farm.  I have a condition where I am always low on sodium and feel like I am the only person in the world that needs a high salt diet.  This horrible high salt diet also causes us to eat out way more than I would like.  I really, honestly would never like to eat out, but I need to figure out a way to maintain a healthy low salt diet for my family consistanting of food raised on our property while having 8000-12000 milligrams of sodium a day myself is really hard to do. 

We have researched the things we do need to buy and have tried to buy made in the USA or used when we can.  Unfortantly, that is not able to happen all the time.  

Our vacuum cleaner broken. Instead of replacing it, we were able to get it repaired.  Our washing machine also broke, I was able to find a used Maytag, (made in the USA and used bonus points).  

We are still not physically going into stores, so used clothes shopping is not easy.  We have had to buy a few items, but for the most part we are using what we already have.  

Imperfect Foods and a local dairy delivery service are great for keeping us out of the grocery stores.  We are eating through the foods we have put away from last summers bounty.  We are very thankful for such a productive year. 

Continuing to vow to do better. 

What if I wrote what my heart wanted to write.  The whispers of the tulips, the hum of the honey bee.   Oh the green of spring.  There is no finer a color.  The color of new birth, fresh beginings and purity.  Leaves so tender, if you touch them with your nail they turn dark green like they are almost a state of matter between liquid and a solid.  The fragil leaves that are nursed around the clock.  Water,  light, beautiful dark earth.  All elements we falsly believe that we can control or take part in.  We only can be so lucky as to make up for our interupting it and allow it to continue as it was created to do.  What a blessing we have to be a part of nature at all.  To plant the seed where we choose, to love and feed the animals as they grow.  All gifts. To tend this garden, to feel the earth.  See it breath and live. Watch it move, streaming with life.  

This is the why.  Connected to the earth I feel connected to our creator.  Blessed to witness the intricate details of design.  The more I participate and interact with this creation the more I learn how interwoven all the elements are.  Everything created for a purpose, to do it’s part of the waltz.  The connection, partnership, and tapistry of creation draws me in.  How can I farm the way it was designed?  Using each detail and talent that the Lord has placed in my dominion.  The connections.  Weeds as much of a curse as they are, have a purpose.  Their roots carry the water and nutrition deep into the soil, helping it to heal from years of abuse and stripping.  When I harvest those weeds they feed my goats, who in turn provide nutrition for the soil and milk for my family.  The milk goes on to become yogurt and cheese, the whey is passed to the chickens and the pigs. Each with their own job to do.  

Learning my place in this amazing creation, understanding the world around me and the creator who spoke it into exsistance.  May I be blessed enough to never stop learning.  May the flowers never stop talking to me.  The sounds of the bees humming in my ears.  The sweet smell of tomato plants and rosemary when you brush up against them.  The feel of the black earth on my skin. The taste of honeysuckle when the wind blows.  What joy it all brings.  May I learn how to listen more intently.  Longing to lessen my impact and increase the nuturing of the design. Attempting to find my string of the tapistry. 

It is a new year and everyone is ready for a big change. Here on the farm we are making a new committment. We are changing things slightly, but mostly we are just taking it to the next level of what we are already doing. The year 2021 has us reflecting on our blessings. We are going to try and function with less, do without, live off the food the farm produces, eat local for what we do not grow and reduce our plastic waste. It may sounds like a crazy commitment, but it all goes hand in hand. If we are working so hard on the farm, we should eat what we are working to grow. If I am really eating what I am growing, I do not have room for from the store processed foods. When I stop buying from the store processed foods, I am reducing my plastic use. If we do need something, we will try to find it used or buy Made in the USA products. If I am a part of a farming community, I should support the farmers around me and buy from them and not far away. As I produce more on the farm, I decrease my carbon footprint. The difficult part for me is going to be the processed foods and giving up Chick-Fil-A. I have added a loop hole for my addictions and my children. We are eating foods that are as local as possible. UTZ potato chip company farms and produces their product locally. My daughter agreed to do this year experiment as long as she could still have potato chips. I am getting coffee that is not grown locally, but grown sustainably and roasted locally. Cheese, even though we produce it on the farm, I have not mastered cheddar. We will be buying cheese from a local farm that makes amazing cheddar. Still reducing our carbon footprint and eating local. We will have to buy some raw ingredients that we do not grow, like baking soda, flour, etc. Also, I still will be buying some of our grain products, like some pasta, bread, crackers and rice.  I am not able to grow those things.  We will try to get that as local as possible as well, the foods we can not get local with come from Imperfect Foods, which is still reducing our carbon footprint. So there you have it. Welcome 2021! I also wanted to clarify, we are not starting with an empty house. Our cellar is full, our pantry is full and we have full freezers. Most of the food is food we have grown and stored. We have dressers full of clothes, my kids rooms are full of toys and books. I am not depriving my kids of joy and forcing them to walk around naked! We have already been blessed with so much stuff! We want to stop buying more and truly use what we have already. So before we started this, I freaked out and wanted to buy a couple things, just in case! I admit, I did buy some cheese curls that I am hiding for emergency emotional snacking in the future. The other thing I freaked out about and wanted to buy was pens. Pens. If I ever wondered if I was truly a writer at heart. Pens. I want you to know I did not panic buy pens. There are thousands probably already in the house. I will just clean out drawers, finding the ones I already have instead of buying more. Cleaning out, using what we have, and not giving in to the fast “click” of Amazon. That is my goal. Part of eating what we have is menu planning. With it being winter and the garden is not producing, we are eating off what we have already stored. This allows me to make my menu for months at a time. I wrote another blog on how I do that here. This is what is in the rotation for this week. Menu planning, and a little prep work can cut down on the need to run out for dinner. I made a big batch of sloppy joes for lunches through the week, when that runs out I will make a pot of soup. Today, I will make banana muffins and oatmeal bars for breakfast throughout the week. This is our menu for the week.  Sunday: Pizza and leftovers Monday: Ham, broccoli and rice. Tuesday is always tacos. Wednesday: Salmon, pad thai noodles, carrots. Thursday: Chicken, sweet potatoes and green beans. Friday: Breakfast for dinner Saturday: Meatball subs with homemade rolls.