We are a fairly "green" family. I try to remember reusable bags when grocery shopping. Most stores around our home outside of Toronto, Canada charge 5 cents per bag if you don't bring your own. I really like that they encourage people to bring their own reusable bags, but what gets me is that if you forget them at home (which unfortunately I sometimes do) they sell you a PLASTIC bag? I don't get it - encourage the reduction of waste, but only offer something that could take 100 years to decompose if at all as an alternative.
When we first moved to Toronto we were given the instructions for our waste: Every week our Green Box would be picked up which is a kitchen compost - pretty much everything goes in here: paper towels, meat, egg shells, and all other table scraps. The Blue Bins are also picked up each week - which is the recycling of paper, cans, plastic, & aluminum. If there is anything I do consistently in life, it's recycle. I cringe when I'm at someone's house and they have a soda can or plastic bottle in the trash. It seems like the easiest thing we can do to be "green".
The schedule for what is picked up when!
What got us when we moved here is that all other trash would only be picked up every 2 weeks. After kitchen composting and recycling we didn't have that much more trash to pack up - except for diapers. I didn't go the cloth diaper route with the twins. I may have if I had only one baby at a time, but I didn't even consider it once we found out we were having twins. Disposable just seemed so much easier. But, having 2 kids diapers sit in your garage for 2 weeks especially over the summer months was just gross! It was pure motivation for me to get them potty trained this winter in order to avoid that stink over this summer. Success! They only use 4 diapers a day - 2 at nap time and 2 at bedtime.
The list of what goes where!
This spring I decided to plant a garden with the boys. We started some seeds in the house in a green house type kit. We planted lettuce, carrots, pea, green bean, and zucchini seeds. We must be doing something right because we have little plants coming up!
Our little sprouts!
I don't really have a green thumb at all. My Mom is a master flower & veggie gardener so she guided me a bit. I figure if we only get a carrot and pea or two it will be a fun summer project for the boys and I and maybe even encourage some veggie eating by two little toddlers!
My Dad was visiting this weekend and I had him put together this raised bed garden for me. We used the plans from Vegetable Garden Planner. There are rabbit droppings in the yard and I've seen a couple hanging out when I go to let the dog out late at night so we put a wire fence up around the garden to keep them out!
What do you do routinely to be "green"? Did you do anything special to celebrate Earth Day?
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