Indedpendence Days

Okay, an Independence Days update. You can join this challenge at Sharon's website. The idea is to break down the sometimes-overwhelming tasks involved with becoming more self-sufficient into smaller pieces that can be done a little bit at a time. It's the whole "How do you eat an elephant?" "One bite at a time." strategy applied to sustainability. It's great! Here are Sharon's categories:
1. Plant something
2. Harvest something
3. Preserve something
4. Store something
5. Manage reserves
6. Cook something new
7. Prep something
8. Reduce waste
9. Learn a new skill
10. Work on community food security
11. Regenerate what is lost

You can read more detailed descriptions of these categories at Sharon's website. Just look at the Independence Days section of her archives. I've added a twelfth category for myself, just to reflect one of my own personal goals - Reduce dependence on commerical/industrial systems. I mostly mean Wal-Mart. A lot of things that will go in this category could probably fit under reduce waste, but sometimes it's a stretch. So, I just added my own. Sometimes, like this week, I will just combine them. I tracked my activities last week and here are my results:
Plant something - lemongrass, rosemary, lemon verbena, basil, pole beans...also planned out the planting for my raised bed, but it was too rainy to plant that day ;), purchased stevia and lavender plants but the planting was thwarted by the rain
Reduce waste/reduce dependence- Finished 5 more of my cloth napkin/"paper towels" (since we added 3 more to our fam back in March, the number I had previously finished was just not doing the job), made a batch of soap for Mothers Day gifts, worked on (and finally finished!) Lance's knitted hat to fulfill the IOU I gave him for Christmas, made a couple of loaves of bread
Learn a new skill - Started reading a book on home canning in hopes that, by the time the season gets into full swing and it's actually time to start canning, this won't intimidate me so much. Plus I need time to get the supplies together.

Wow! I've really enjoyed keeping notes on my activities as it helps me realize that I do actually accomplish things! You know how a lot of the time you feel like you run around like a chicken with your head cut off, but you can't think of anything that you've actually gotten done? Well, I bet if you started keeping track you would be pleasantly surprised. I certainly have been.

I am also thinking about adding another category: Convincing My Husband to Go Along with My Latest Crazy Idea. I seem to be spending a lot of time lately in this area. Currently I am working on convincing him that it is a fabulous idea to pull out the ornamental pear trees in our front yard that, for the first time, actually look really pretty, and replace them with crabapple or cherry trees. Oh yeah, and I want to start keeping bees. I am admittedly quirky, but I don't think the bees thing seems weird at all. Jeff is standing firmer on this subject than he does on most because he thinks it is completely outrageous to keep bees in the burbs. Personally, I think the removal of two perfectly good trees seems weirder (although still a good idea, in the long run). I think he will eventually come around on the trees, but I may lose on the bees. I won't go down without a fight, though!

Until next time,
Brooke