>Is it easy to become green? Live a more eco-conscious life? It seems like after taking the basic steps – recycle, compost, start a garden – it takes a little more effort to incorporate additional green habits into our lifestyles. Today Husband and I spent more time in the yard getting ready for spring. Here’s the Green Task List from today’s chores.

1. Brush pile. Dear darling Husband cut down a small tree last weekend, and today was the day to get rid of it. We thought (briefly) about renting a chipper and chopping up the entire thing, but decided against it. Why? It’s free to drop off the branches etc. at the brush dump. The brush dump staff will chip this wood and add it to the dump’s mulch pile. Mulch is free to city residents. Why pay to rent a power tool when we’re already paying for the service with our taxes? Decision: take the branches to the brush dump. Pick up mulch when we need it. Cost: $0. Time spent: three minivan-loads to the brush dump about a mile from home. Green factor? Pretty darn good. Rationalizes keeping my (not a guzzler, but not exactly fuel efficient) minivan, too.

2. Basic Maintenance on south side of house. This is the side with the tulips, the mums, the annuals, the Hen & Chix plants, mint, and if I’m lucky, hollyhocks. I raked out the old dry leaves, cut down the old dead mums, lost my clipper, took all the dead and dry goodies to the compost bin, found my clipper, moved a shepherd’s crook with two wind chimes, and pronounced the area ready for spring. Green factor? Typical, which is good.

3. Emptied and moved the rain barrel! We planned to set up the new rain barrel under a downspout at the back of the garage between the rhubarb and the garden itself. We dropped it back there, went back to our normal lives, and then it rained. And filled the barrel. I’ve used the water to clean bunny litter boxes and rinse out the compost bucket, but it was still three quarters full and too heavy to move. My solution: hook up a hose to the spigot and water a few bushes. I drained enough of the barrel that it was light enough to move, and then recruited Husband to put a few concrete blocks underneath it. Now it’s propped high enough that gravity can help me use the hose with more success, and Husband will reattach the downspout and aim it toward the barrel itself – hopefully before the next storm arrives. Green factor? Great! The neighbor behind us (a new gardener!) saw it and now wants one for himself.

4. Basic weekend chores: laundry. I bought a pair of anti-static dryer balls to replace fabric softener. So far, I’m seeing – or should I say feeling? – good results. If they work in the long term, it’s another victory for green living and fewer chemicals in our lives. Simple and eco-conscious, just the way I like it.

>It’s shovel ready. The economic benefits may be localized (okay, merely personal), but it fits the times. As soon as the weather cooperates, I’m on it.

You guessed it: Daisy’s small but wonderful backyard garden.

I’ve never formally defined it as a Kitchen Garden or a Recession Garden. It is what it is: a backyard garden of vegetables for the family, both human and rabbit residents of our fair home. The plot has grown a little each year we’ve planted it, and we’ve added simple environmentally-friendly tricks along the way. This year our goal is to use the space efficiently and get a better yield.

Here’s the to-do list.
Move walkway boards out of the dirt. These are re-used from an old fence. When it started to fall, we knocked it down the rest of the way and used the boards as stepping “stones” between the veggies.
Move trellises and tomato cages. I’m still doing the research to find better and taller supports for the tomatoes now that I’ve discovered some of the techniques for nurturing them well.
Spread the compost. It’s still in the bin, and I’m eager to get out the soil-ready batch and start anew.
Till. Husband does this. He now has his family’s old rototiller, so we don’t need to rent one any more.
Hook up rain barrel. It’s ready to use; we need to set it on its blocks and direct the downspout into it. Painting optional: I would like to paint it, though.
Buy the seedlings. I have the seeds; the tomato, pepper, and broccoli plants will come later.
Sketch the new layout. I know what I want; I just need to make sure I’m putting it all in the right place this year.
Plant!!

Ta-dah! list:
(That’s the “finished” or “outbox,” for new readers to Compost Happens.)
Make rain barrel! It filled with water during a rainstorm earlier this week; it’s “shovel-ready,” too!
Buy seeds!
Get excited and motivated! Okay, that’s always a given. I’ll never be a farmer, but I do enjoy my tiny plot in the backyard. Playing, er, working in the dirt feels good. Feels right.

>BlogHer asked members to comment on ways they’ve been “greening” their lifestyles. The post has a sponsor, of course. Doesn’t everybody? I started to comment, realized I’d forgotten my password, and vowed to come back. As time passed and life went on, I couldn’t help but think that my recent Green Growth couldn’t possibly fit in a comment box.

You can tell from my blogs’ names that I’m an environmentalist at heart. Compost Happens, A Mother’s Garden of Verses… no doubt about this blogger’s philosophies. Not at all. Then look through the archives: start with Mom’s Playing in the Dirt Again! and then check out others under the labeles of garden and It’s not easy being green. Green isn’t just a color; it’s a way of life.

I’m not “crunchy” green in the hippy sense, though. I gave in to Husband’s desire to hire a lawn service. We use a clothes dryer, not a clothesline. Our home is air conditioned, although in our part of Wisconsin we are fortunate not to need it often. I drive a minivan, too. Hey, I’m a mom of a teen and college student. We’re always filling the back of the minivan with someone or something.

The pale olive comparison (see above) is here so readers will know that green, like any lifestyle, has limits and levels. Seriously, it’s easier than many people think. Teacher friends like to say “Inch by inch, learning’s a cinch. Yard by yard, learning’s hard.” Incorporating environmental actions step by step, inch by inch, can be easy.

I garden. This section of lawn doesn’t grow grass, doesn’t need mowing, doesn’t need any chemicals. It provides delicious and fresh vegetables for much of the summer.
We compost. Composting is easy, it cuts down on our family garbage, and it produces a nice soil additive each spring for the garden.
We conserve energy by using a programmable thermostat, minimizing the use of the clothes dryer, washing clothes in warm or cold water, and more.
There are more, many more, environmentally friendly practices in my home and family. Really, it’s quite easy to bring green living practices into everyday use.

Back to the top. It would be cheating to simply list the above practices in the comment box on BlogHer’s question. These are not new; they’re habits we’ve built into our lives for years. New and recent additions in my family’s eco-conscious behaviors do exist. For example:

We stopped buying paper napkins last fall. I keep them on hand (well, we haven’t used up the package that was in the pantry when I set this goal!), but we have switched almost 100% to cloth napkins. This was a frugal choice: I bought the first set from a store’s going out of business sale, and picked up a set of holiday napkins in new condition from a thrift store before Christmas. I wash them with the rest of the dirty clothes and towels each weekend – no extra laundry, no additional water/ heat energy used. This decision was so easy I wonder why I didn’t start years ago!

I set a goal last fall of buying No New Wrapping Paper. My family resisted a little, so I didn’t push it on them, but I predict they’ll come around. I reuse gift bags, make tags from last year’s cards, and collect rather than recycle packing material. It worked; I bought no new wrapping paper, and (don’t tell them I noticed), my family didn’t come home with any new paper, either.

My husband and I make a conscious effort to pay attention to buying local, especially in foods. That’s tough in a cold climate like ours, and we’re hoping to freeze more of our garden produce in order to avoid buying produce imported from out of the country. This is a nutrition decision as well as a commitment to minimizing our carbon footprint, as well as noting that local and fresh simply tastes better.

So, BlogHers, are you satisfied with my contribution? I almost hope not. I’m committed to living lightly on the earth, and there are many easy ways to lighten my footprint. In my future I predict a second compost bin, a rain barrel or two for the garden, and possibly a food dehydrater to make the most of my garden yield. Spinning the rabbits’ shedded fur into yarn might not be possible, but I know that inch by inch, my family and I will weave the green consciousness into action.

And action, after all, is what environmentalism is about.