Just doing our teeny, tiny part....

I have always been a passionate person -- a go-getter, an activator. I see a problem and I fix it. If I can't fix it, I get someone else to fix it. If someone else can't fix it, I worry about it. (That's where it becomes a problem!) So when Tim, the science teacher, began coming home with bits of information about "greening" up our lives, vital information he was teaching his students, I SLOOOOWLY took action. And when I say "slowly," I mean little bits at a time. If you had asked me 10 years ago if I thought I would be recycling my trash, growing my own produce, making my own laundry detergent and fabric softener and body wash, and buying enviro-friendly organic groceries, I'd say you are NUTS! But look at me now...
Our family has been recycling for years. I mean REALLY recycling - every bit of paper, plastic, glass and metal that we come across goes to the recycling center. We take it there ourselves because the recycling center does not pick up in our area of town. This has never been a big deal. I think it was difficult to get used to in the beginning. But now it is just a fact of life. The kids don't know any other way than to rinse their juice bottles or applesauce cups and toss them in the recycling tub.
In fact, here is a picture of our "family" kitchen trash can that we fill about once per day:


And here is a picture of our recycling bins, always packed to the gills:




Just this summer, Tim began growing veggies in the back yard - cucumbers, bell peppers jalapeno peppers, and tomatoes.

But what really impresses me is his WATERING SYSTEM. Things like this usually don't interest me, but this is truly amazing. He is using the water run-off from the air conditioner (this water can amount to gallons per day!!!) and syphoning it to his vegetable garden. He rigged a system that works like this: the water fills a tub; once the tub fills to a certain point a magnetic mechanism is activated and a plug opens (a plug like the inside of your toilet tank); the water runs out a hole in the bottom of the tub and into a network of pipes that run through the garden; the pipes have holes that allow the water to run out into the ground around the vegetable plants. It works wonderfully, and I told him he should market the whole mechanism somehow.
Here are some pictures:
Yummy pepper

Water run-off from air conditioner filling tub

Network of tubes that disperse water throughout garden

So that's our latest venture to help out Mother Earth. We don't do these things to show off to the world that we are so amazingly conservative. Most of our friends and family don't even know we do these things. We just want to do our tiny part and, most of all, teach our boys that taking care of the planet does not begin and end with the garbage man.