March Moves Monday Run Down #4 (from The Hummingbird Project)

Do Something Month is coming to a close. In this final week of March, I, like the hummingbird, kept up doing what little I could in my corner of the world. It wasn't much, but I feel like my contributions will grow into larger, life-long actions that will influence my family and friends and who knows who else beyond that realm!

Composting is something our house has needed for a LONG time!

I am declaring myself a composter. Honestly, I know I still have a lot to learn, but I am actively collecting my kitchen scraps, bringing them to my bin outside which is layered nicely and my garbage has been reduced. In fact, just the other night, when my husband and I were out we return to a typical scene - a garbage bag strewn across the floor, chewed through, with various items taken out and explored through. The culprit? Buffy, the beast.

She's a beagle, she can't really help herself and she was taught by Chewy, who passed away in 2009. Anyway, as I got to the routine of cleaning up, which didn't seem that bad my husband said, "Well this is one huge benefit of your composting!" He was right! There was nothing but boring garbage in the bag - no food scraps, nothing messy - she basically went into the bag because of some old deli container my husband threw away, and she was kind enough to lick up every trace of whatever the heck it was he had in there! B.C. (you know, "Before Compost") there would have been potato peels, apple cores, melon rinds, strawberry tops, etc all over my kitchen floor, in the living room and, perhaps, even buried in Buffy's bed!


Gardening on the horizon with total appreciation (finally!).

I may even get started with this today. I purchased a nice planter for a small herb garden along with some herb seeds (I have basil, oregano and cilantro). I bought sunflower seeds, too. I am not sure where I want these yet (mom once grew them on the side of the house), but I really look forward to their growth. As for my husbands resistance to growing food in our yard, well, we had a very interesting exchange on Saturday:

Me: I saw this cool book that is all about gardening and homsteading. I think I am going to get it.

Hubby: Oh yeah?

Me: Yeah. I thought it was awesome because it talked about everything from planning your gardens all the way to canning and preserving which I don't remember anything about. I would just love to be able to can my own tomatoes.

Hubby [putting XBox controller down]: Wait... What do you mean? We can do that? OH WOW. I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT.

Me [smiling/laughing]: How do you think my grandmother was doing it back in Palazzo Adriano?! Why do you think I want to grow my own food so badly? THINK of how DELICIOUS it would be!

And for some reason, after all of these years, after so many long, arduous conversations about growing our own food he finally gets it.

Turning out the lights enlightened me.

This past Saturday my husband and I participated in Earth Hour 2011. It was not a public gathering, but, instead a small act in our own home. The experience drove us to a simple evening together over a book. It was wonderful, relaxing and gave me much to think about in terms of my own abuse of electricity on a daily basis. I wrote a complete post about our experience, including candle-lit pictures called Lights Out for Mother.

What's something YOU DO that we can replicate in order to make great changes from small moves?

*If you think you might be interested in writing a guest post about any action you took during Do Something Month, please feel free to e-mail me at BlogWithNV@gmail.com.

A Day of Action

The Rally for the Right to Know
 

For those of you that follow Searching for Sustenance's Facebook Page, you know that today was the Rally for the Right to Know all over the US. While the event in Washington DC is still going on (it is running from 11am to 3pm), the New York City rally at City Hall had a shorter event time from 12pm to 1pm.

I am ashamed to say, I missed it. I had to rely on mass transit since my husband was working, and when I realized it was nearly 11:30am and I was still standing on a bus stop in Staten Island with no signs of my stupid bus that would then take about an hour to get me where I was going, I admitted defeat. I now have a $20 MetroCard burning a hole in my pocket and a raging headache from spending my time reading about homesteading and composting in the Barnes & Noble next to the bus stop (I am NOT supposed to read regular books because this is, inevitably, what happens!). I am looking forward to hearing, seeing and reading about what went on at City Hall and all around the US. I do hope there were large turnouts everywhere.

Here are some things you can do about GMOs and Monsanto so you can still be a part of this action:

• Join the Virtual Rally for the Right to Know How awesome is this? If you can't be there that doesn't mean your voice shouldn't be heard! 
• Tell the Department of Justice to Break Up Monsanto Remember trust-busting? Well, we NEED it in our agriculture industry NOW!
• Download and Print Some Right to Know Materials to Share with Friends and Family Tewo informative leaflets, one entitled "What you can do to avoid GMOs" and the other called "10 things Monsanto does not want you to know."

Earth Hour Beckons...

After I complete my virtual actions, I am going to redirect my disappointment in myself into some productive energy trying to figure out what to do tonight for Earth Hour 2011. I have always loved the idea of Earth Hour and have long thought it would be something to do once a month, instead of just once a year, however, like everything else in my muddled mind, it often gets forgotten until the Earth Hour season springs up again.

This year, however, the Earth Hour cause seems even more relevant to me not only on a compassionate note, but now on a financial one as well. The amount of electricity being used in my home, month for month has been greater this year than it was last year. I have been checking my bills closely and noting it. Sadly, this falls on one pair of shoulders: mine. The only difference between this year and last year is the fact that I am now home from work on medical leave.

I had an electrical epiphany when I took my ASAP Pledge for the Baglady in week one of the Hummingbird Project - I was not turning off my computer EVER. Beyond that, the television is on more during the day, I think I have more "wall warts" than ever and, of course, I put lights on from time to time!

Here are some of the things I am thinking about doing in preparation for Earth Hour, during Earth Hour, and beyond:

• Make a power-outage list. It seems the only time I ever truly realize how much I use electricity is when I lose it! To sit down and really think about what can and can't be used in the event of a power-outage will give me a good place to start to think about what changes I can make.
• Assess the list. Are there anythings I can be doing differently? Do I have things plugged in 24/7, that I only use once in a while ("wall warts")? Am I making the best use of the natural light in my home?
• Pull out the candles and matches. Put them all in one place. Growing up we always had one spot for all of these things (the power in this neighborhood used to go out like crazy in the summer), now, I am not really sure where they are!
• Play more board games. My husband and I love to do this, but always forget because we have all of "our shows" to watch - isn't that sad? Well, enough is enough!
• Get the leashes and flashlights out - let's take the dogs on a nighttime adventure! They would seriously love this and who knows if we will run into a opossum!
• Get a blanket (and, in this weather, unfortunately, I would still need a coat!) and drive down to the beach/park/ferry. We have an amazing view of the Verrazano Bridge from our beach and the night sky is so clear down there as well. In fact, there are a number of fantastic places to go on this island to go check out some amazing views. The view of Manhattan from the ferry is unbelievable.
• Convince my husband to read aloud to me by candlelight.  I think he might do this, and it is so much fun!!
• Check out the Earth Hour website for more ideas! I noticed that the official site has a link to find your local Earth Hour website, so that seems pretty cool!

Questions for you:
ABOUT THE RALLY
Did YOU get out to one of the rallies today? If so, how WAS IT?
What are your feelings about genetically modified foods? Do you think they should be labeled?
ABOUT EARTH HOUR
What are your plans for Earth Hour?
What is the one thing you would miss most if you had to live without electricity?

March Moves Monday Run Down #3 (from The Hummingbird Project)

The third week of Do Something week seemed as though it might not be as productive as I had hoped. My health was not on its best behavior, but the moment that it decided to come back to me - I pounced!


I played in the dirt! 

After spending Saturday night running in and out of my house trying to catch a glimpse of the Supermoon we were promised, I awoke on Sunday ready to get into my garden! Here's what got done:

• The Dirt Emerged When I went outside I found my "garden" was covered in all types of death. Dead weeds, some debris from all of the wind as of late and a pot with a dead blueberry bush in it. I grabbed a rake and freed the dirt! It was beautiful! The soil is so dark and looks AWESOME. I have not yet explored the soil testing process, but I will be shocked if there is anything wrong with this stuff. It smelled wonderful.
• The Compost Bin is Erected After seeing all my hard work, my husband treated me to my very own compost bin. The details of the entire event and first filling of the bin is laid out in the post My Composting Adventure Begins! Long story short: I am a full-fledged composter now!

Looking Ahead: EARTH HOUR IS THIS WEEK!!

Visit the official Earth Hour Website

 Each year we are called to unplug for one hour on March 26th. It is the one big DO SOMETHING of March that is pretty simple to do and, as physically dark as it may seem, enlightening. We will definitely revisit this idea later this week, but I wanted to remind you today so you could start making plans for your weekend.
 

How did your third week of DO Something Month go?

What would you like to do during this year's Earth Hour?

Remember that the Hummingbird Project is a  MONTH LONG challenge, so join in ANY time!

What's something YOU DO that we can replicate in order to make great changes from small moves?

*If you think you might be interested in writing a guest post about this (or even Earth Hour), please feel free to e-mail me at BlogWithNV@gmail.com.