It is a bit of a challenge to train the family members to recycle. I continually pull out cans, plastic and boxes from the kitchen garbage and put them in the recycle bin. As we recycle, I start thinking about some practical ways in which we can reuse some of the packaging items. It is amazing how much (over)packaging companies use. (I have decided that buying lunch meat and cheeses from the deli counter may be a greener option since some of the stuff sold in the deli case have ridiculous packaging). Many of the plastic canisters of food products from the club stores make for great bins in the pantry. Glass bottles with narrow necks can be used as water globes for plants (instead of buying the expensive novelty ones). And tin cans can be crafted into cute little luminaries to decorate the porch or patio (I’m still working on the last one). Of course, as I use up my commercial cleaning products, I clean the spray bottles and use them for my homemade versions. We bought (no, didn’t make – a bit too much of a challenge) a tumble composter from one of the aforementioned club stores. Since we tend to eat a lot of fresh ingredients, and have also been doing a lot of trimming and pruning, it is filling up rapidly. I considered purchasing one of the fancy compost buckets for the kitchen from a home store, but decided I could actually make that. Using an empty large plastic coffee container, I purchased the charcoal lid inserts made for the commercial product, drilled a ring of holes in the plastic lid, and velcroed the inserts inside. It fits nicely and conveniently (and smell free) under the kitchen sink. In theory, I’ll have some homemade compost for our garden (of course, I was never that successful composting in MS, so we’ll see).
The husband and I spent the last couple of days constructing a raised bed garden area in the back corner of our small yard. It is approximately 12×15 feet in size. Now we’re filling it with good soil (from a nearby soil specialty business). Some RAIN for those future veggies we hope to plant would be awesome. I will have to restrain myself (although the drought helps) and start small and manageable. I would love to experiment with a couple of winter crops. I just haven’t decided what yet.