This Mom is Going Green Follow Kristy on Her Adventures for a Greener Family
Adventurously Green. According to practicallygreen.com, that is where my family is on our quest for environmental responsibility. We scored a 7 on their quiz. I’ll be honest, I was a bit surprised. More on that later. I’m Kristy, I’ve been married to my husband Joe for over 11 years and we have two little boys, Zane, 3 and Ethan, nearly 2. I’ve always been interested in eating healthier and avoiding unnecessary chemicals. However, the biggest change came about five years ago when my husband was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. We switched to almost all organic food and body care products. Good news, it seemed to work, he went from maybe having 10 years to his blood work coming back clean. It also seems to be a snowball effect. Once you start changing one part of your life, others seem to follow. Later with kids, the baby food jars started to pile up. It seemed wrong to throw them all away. After seeing a commercial on television about how many times around the earth you could wrap plastic bottles; I couldn’t stand it anymore. I located a place nearby that collects paper, plastic, metal, glass, and cardboard. We now take a truckload every two to three weeks. Now we only have one garbage can of trash every week, for a family of four.
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We live on a 40 acre piece of property in northeast Ohio, so growing our own vegetables is not a problem. At least it is not a problem in the summer. The key is to plan ahead and grow enough to can or freeze the produce to last through winter. You then need to make sure you have storage for the food. It is a labor of love for sure, but enjoying early spring asparagus you grew in the middle of December is worth the work. The question was posed not too long ago, “Why? Why go through the hassle of collecting the recycling, and dropping it off somewhere? Why spend the extra money on organic foods?” My answer was, “Why not?” Unless they start a terra-forming project, this is the only planet we have. Yes, that sounds cliché, but why not take pride in the world we live? Our planet is amazingly beautiful, if doing a few small things helps keep it that way, why not? Of course, not pumping all sorts of chemicals and artificial additives into my babies just makes sense. Don’t misunderstand, my children have had fast food, and candy; but if I can keep most of their food natural and chemicalfree, I don’t beat myself up over the occasional “treat.” Our children are our future, and like any mom, I believe my children will make a difference. They are going to be important, and I want there to be a healthy world for them to inherit.
I would love to be more green. Part of what holds us back is the expense. I realize that most projects save money in the long run, but that initial price tag can be off-putting. Another hurdle is convenience. It is easier to throw away plastic utensils then carry them back home with you.
So, this brings me back to the quiz. It never occurred to me that the few “small” steps I was taking would make such a big impact, or such a high score according to anyone. It surprised me that other people don’t make some of the same changes. Now, I want to up my game, let’s find out how easy it would be to check off a few more projects.
I’ve found the positives are easier to focus on; you feel like you are accomplishing something.
Check back on Kristy in our next issue to see how she is doing on her green ventures.