I am a proud Greeny

Love being called a greeny... :)

People that have gotten to know me know that I am a bit of a greeny. I love being called that and don't mind at all really. I love to help out the environment seeing it can't help itself. I believe that the government is doing way too little to encourage us Aussies to do the right thing. The first step has to be taken by each and every one of us and we do our bit here on our little patch of heaven.

I love it that my rubbish bin is never full, very rarely gets 1/4 full as I reuse and recycle as much as I possibly can. I can't wait for Queensland to follow South Australia and get rid of the plastic shopping bag. The ones that I use from enviro bags to old bread flour bags is enough for me.

I also like to replace the carbon dioxide that our two cars put into the air by planting trees every year as an offset. We try to do this not just with shade trees but with fruit trees as well, so that we benefit from them as well as the animals that need shade. I like to plant shrubs as well for the birds or small lizards that come and visit our garden. Another reason why we have not used any pesticides while we have owned this property. I realise that owners near us love to use the most deadly poison, that has not been on the market for many reasons for decades but I know that when they hit our 8 little acres they are safe.

I am in the middle of getting our property soil tested. This requires 500 grams of dry soil. This is taken by using a stainless steel apple corer and taking around 30 samples from all over your property. Send the soil to the soil testing company (I am using SWEP) and I am also paying an extra $10.00 for the test results to go to Pat Coleby. You can then ring her and she will advise you on what you need to do to get your land back into shape. This way we can then grow our own fodder which is something that we are aiming to do. I don't want to have to buy off the land all the time as I want to grow here, then the nutrients go back to the soil it came from from the manure...

I am glad also in alot of ways that we are not able to use anti bacterial cleaners, toilet block cleaners, bleach, etc in our waste management system. This way it is also better for the environment. We have had to change alot of ways that we do things and it certainly has stretched us but all for the better I believe.

The boys are also alot more aware of the environment and I must say I love it when at the end of 'No Electricity Wednesday', they ask me, "So how did we do Mum?" They loved doing it so much that they asked if we could do another day during the week without computers, DVD's, DS, etc and I was happy to offer as that day being on a Monday. This also means I won't be blogging on Mondays or Wednesdays.

A friend of mine told me last week that she was also doing this from now on with her two boys. It is really encouraging to see...

Another friend at work is now keeping old jars and milk bottles to reuse. This is also very moving to see as I try to encourage her as much as possible and show her the possibilities of reusing. She is on her way that's for sure. :)

I don't use the dishwasher unless full, same with my washing machine and don't use the dryer, unless absolutely necessary. The boys also bike to school as much as possible too. We only go into town when we have alot of errands to run or we make do with what we have. We also switch off all power points and don't leave anything on stand-by. What a waste of electricity and resources. Our hot water is solar and am looking at the solar electricity at the moment as well. More to come on that as details are finalized.

If there are any other ways that my family can help the environment that I may not have thought of let me know in the comments please?

Cheers Damaris