Reducing Our Footprint

Call me "crunchy" if you must...I consider myself to be a pretty earth-friendly person.  I believe in recycling, reducing and reusing whenever possible.  Although I love my plethora of children, I feel bad about the effect our large family has on the environment. Our carbon footprint has got to be as big as a papa tyrannosaurus rex's footprint, and so I work very hard to teach my children about reducing our effects on Mother Earth with my actions and my words.

When we began our vegetable garden, I also started a compost bin.  The effect has been amazing in reducing the amount of trash at our curb each week with the added bonus of less water and electricity using our disposal and less in our sewer system.  Our compost bin has amazed me in so many ways, but I'll save that for another post.

I also started using organic food whenever possible.  This includes belonging to a milk co-op where I pick up my 14 gallons of milk and two dozen eggs every other week.  I believe that organic milk is not only better for the environment and the animals from which it comes, but it is also better for my family.

This really hit home with me after watching the movie "Food, Inc."  If you haven't seen this movie, I really recommend you do.  I waited a long time to watch it because I was afraid I would be disturbed by some of the images, but it was such an eye-opening experience for me.

Whether or not you believe in global warning, two things stuck with me about this movie.  The first is the overuse of antibiotics in animals we eat has led to a large level of antibiotic resistance in people and the second was the unfortunate demise of small farms.

Our family lives in such an agricultural area.  Heck!  Our town has two farmer's markets a week!  Cows, chickens and pigs are all around in addition to all of the local produce!  It would not be difficult for me to support our local farmer buying local produce and meats.

So I started my quest, a couple of visits to our farmer's market, more ordering from my milk co-op, a quick browse from our local environmental council and voila!  I was well on my way to more local and organic food in my kitchen.

Part 2 - My next step..