It is imperative for sustainability that we stop using things that only get used once. Plastic packaging and gas for our cars both come from a resource that is not easily renewable but it's extremely difficult for us to get away from these habits of use. One step at a time. It's important to value ways that we can change these habits. It's not going to happen overnight but I think the key is to change our values. What is it that we value that gets us to use these items? Time? Money? Ease? How often do we even think about it? Or maybe we don't because we wouldn't like the answers. Maybe that's a heavy start to this blog post but examining our values is a heavy subject. The interesting thing is we probably don't need to change our values that much, we simply need to shift our emphasis. Kind of like changing where a comma goes in a sentence. My New Year's resolution was to use Bulk Barn's reusable container program. Bulk Barn (a bulk dried goods retailer in Canada) now allows you to bring your own clean containers and fill them up. They weigh the containers first so that they can subtract the weight of the container later and then you go and fill them up with their products. I spent about $30 on some new mason jars and now I buy most of my dried goods there. Coffee, spices, pasta, rice, flour. They even have peanut butter and not just the natural stuff (I know but we like the sugary stuff better). I've drastically reduced our packaging garbage and the side effect is that my cupboards look really nice. When I started using the container I needed to change my shopping habits. It's a little more effort to remember to have some jars in the car so that I can stop in on my way home from work. I'm a little more organized because I always have a list going for the things I need. Another side effect is that I spend less because I'm not so tempted by the grocery store's convenience foods and although the snack aisles at bulk barn are sorely tempting I'm limited by the number of jars I brought that day. All in all this New Year's Resolution has made it to the middle of February and it's not a pain in my ass so I think it's a habit now. I value all the benefits that creating this habit has given me. Now I'm hoping Bulk Barn or some other smartie pants will expand the bulk/own container trade into things like oil and soap. Let me bring my own container to get cheese or ham from the deli. How many throwaway containers can we eliminate? We've been recycling for a while now, let's move it to the next step. I know this is a farm blog and you probably want to know how this works on the farm. I guess that feels to me like the easy stuff but maybe it's not. Farms these days use a lot of fossil fuels, tractors, lawn mowers, plows and the like. We use plastic for greenhouses. Plastic is an extremely useful material which is why it's so ubiquitous and hard to let go of. Permaculture doesn't ask us to stop using things like plastic and fossil fuels but to find ways to reduce our reliance on these things. A garden farm made up largely of perennial plants with a good mulch layer doesn't need to be plowed and rarely irrigated. Using recycled windows to help create a greenhouse lessens the need for plastic. Growing a grove of bamboo will give you garden stakes for life. Building swales and ditches means less piping needed for water works. Growing and relying on crops that work in your climate also reduces the need for a greenhouse. Renewable resources like chickens, perennials, leaves, wood chips, broadforks, rain water and compost deserve a higher place on our value list as we create a sustainable food system.
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JackieI'm a garden farmer, herbal enthusiast, motherwifesisterfriend and Archives
April 2022
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