Zero Waste

I've gotten several messages since I posted a picture of our >almost< zero waste grocery trip. I figure the best way to address it is to write a blog post. 

The overall reactions have been amazing. I've been asked a lot "why?" "what do you do about xyz?" "that looks so complicated!" and my favorite, "what are you trying to prove?"

I'll address that last one first. I'm not trying to prove anything. MY family is transitioning because we feel it's what's best for US. I know this isn't for everyone, and probably not for most. We try to live as sustainable as we can and when we looked though our trash, it was obvious we weren't doing a great job. 

Have you ever noticed exactly how much plastic you bring home from the grocery store? I'd be willing to bet you don't. I didn't. We eat organic, local, as in season as possible with two kids begging for strawberries in December but they all come wrapped in..plastic. I seriously beg you to look into it, as I could spend all day talking about it but that's not what this is about. 

So, what is zero waste? It's a sustainable natural cycle, aimed in stopping materials from going into a landfill. It's more than "oh I recycle a lot too!" (Another comment I recieved) we aim to reduce any materials from going to a recycling center also. We're fortunate in that we compost, and have the ability to burn. All glass that cannot be reused and repurposed gets recycled and we're trying to stop any plastic from coming into the home. 

So, as for some of the most common questions: 

What do you do about storage? 

   mason jars are the easiest and most cost effective for us. 

What do you buy?

    Almost everything we bought before. We've always tried to limit processed foods, but sometimes life happens. Pregnancys, moves, renovations. We've made an effort to stop the convenience of Annie's Mac n cheese (sorry kids!). We don't buy anything with packaging, and if we need something packaged- glass. Luckily a drive into town provides us with two natural food stores that offer bulk goods. Flour, rice, coffee all our dry good needs. We bring our own jars to fill instead of buying pre-packaged or using their disposable bags. We supplement our garden with loose fruit and vegetables. We bring our own produce bags and the kids have a blast handing them out. 

What about liquids? 

     So, we don't drink much of anything new that isn't water. We buy milk from a farm down the road that offers glass bottles. I make most anything we use condiment wise. Everything else I can put into my jars, the salad bar and olive bar are great places to look!

"I don't have time to do that"

    I thought the same time. I don't have a lot of down time. I have animals, kids, more animals, a home, a life. The longest part is getting your jars weighted. It took us a whopping 2 minutes. I saved time putting things away because I didn't have anything to unwrap and repackage. Everything went in their respective places. 

I hope this answers some questions and by all means, feel free to ask any more. Hopefully we can encourage friends to make some changes in their own lives and make 'one time use' a thing of the past. 

Wiping the dust off.

I'm Wow, it's been a while. Yikes! In my defense we've been so busy with the kids, garden, animals, renovations and getting ready for winter. I'm trying to get back into a weekly blog-groove. 

So, a super fast update on what's been happening and what are plans are next. 

Wyatt turned 3, and Sawyer turned 1! We have 21 chickens, 6 turkeys, 3 goats and 7 ducks. The house is pretty much done, we have heat now for the winter! The garden is thriving, we have plans for a small orchard next year. Shawn is loving his new job and I'm loving the busyness of it all. 

Buttercup, our Nigerian Dwarf doe.

 

Snickers, our Nigerian Dwarf wether. 

MoonPie, our Nubian wether

Our Blue Wyandottes, hens

Our Polish crosses, hens

Mixed hens, Dominique, Easter Egger, Blue Copper Marans, Mille Fluer d'Uccle, Polish and Silkie 

We have two Roos, both French Black Copper Marans

Wyatt 

Willa

Clyde

Sawyer

Dakota

What's next for us? We've been doing a 30-day minimalism challenge and I'm anxious to see if we can make it to the end of the month. Were starting our zero-waste journey! I'll be doing our first zero-waste shopping trip this week, I'll let you know how it goes! 

Real world: day 1.

Family came over a week ago to unload the POD. Wy was so happy to have all his things again. 

We spent all last week unpacking, organizing and finishing up some remodeling. 

It snowed again but luckily it all melted as fast as it fell. Since we also had to go into town it was the perfect excuse for hot chocolate. It is suppose to be another warm week so here's to hoping it melts the remaining snow! 

We finished the bathroom minus trim and blinds. Okay so we didn't finish it but we're close, and we have running water! 

Our countertop also came in last week and err...well...

Lowes was pretty amazing and rush ordered a new one for us. 

Shawn swore in on Friday and it would be an understatement to say everyone gushed with pride. It's so amazing to see him manifest his dreams. He worked so hard and landed his dream job. 

Wyatt had so much fun in the Discovery Room, it was a great time and were so thankful. 

This last weekend was spent getting our room straightened out and finishing up the living room. 

And the master. 

Last week of vacation.

Shawn is in his last week of vacation before starting his new job. It's bittersweet but for people who thrive on routine a welcome change. 

It was in the mid 40's low 50's all week, completely amazing! So much of the snow melted and the driveway is now completely snow free! 

It's also snowing outside right now. 

The carpets were installed on Tuesday, cabinets painted and our home goods arrived on Thursday! Family came over on Saturday to unpack and we slept in our bed last night. It was amazing. 

Off to finish unpacking! 

A Hard Lesson Learned.

Temperature. Never in my life did I think I would be so concerned with the temperature outside. It got down to -18 last week and that number is important. 

Temperature is everything. 

It has started to warm up and the snow is melting, finally. We can finally see dirt! It should be full sun and in the 40s this week. 

Our carpet gets installed on Tuesday and on Thursday our home goods will arrive. We turned the water on and aside from the shower everything worked. It's slated to be fixed today. Wish us luck! 

Shawn is officially no longer employed by the U.S. Army! It's been a long 6 years (7 for him) two kids, three dogs, four moves, three states, two deployments and more time apart than together. I'm glad to be closing this chapter. 

We bought goats. Three. Yes three. One doeling and two wethers. We couldn't chose between the two of the boys so we got them both. Wyatt is still going on about his baby goats and Shawn and I are equally excited. We chose Maple, Hickory and Walnut for names. Wy calls Maple 'Mickey Mouse'. 

Maple is the brown and white doe. 

Her brother Walnut. 

The one in the middle is Hickory. 

The babies will be ready in 8 weeks, we can't wait! 

Our seedlings are doing well. We've transplanted some using the block maker and man is that going to be handy next spring. 

So, back to temperature. We ordered our chickens from a hatchery in November. 10 SR Blue Laced Red Wyandottes and 15 female Silver Laced Wyandottes, they threw in an extra chick to make 26. They were slated to arrive March 2-4 which was our ideal time frame. I recieved email confirmation that they had shipped on Sunday. A little thrown off but okay... They arrived on Tuesday and were actually shipped on Saturday. Dead. Twenty Six. 2-6. 26 dead chicks showed up at our post office 4 days later. 

Lesson learned. 

We decided to practice what we preach and go local. 12 SLR Wyandottes, 15 Narragansett turkeys, 4 Blue Sweedish and 4 Fawn Runner Ducks will be here next month. 

We know we'll have bigger losses so we're moving on, learning our lesson and won't make the same mistake twice. 

Life. 

Rest.

I Shawn is out in Colorado and hopefully in a few days will no longer be in the Army! We're using this time to relax and recoup. And plan. Always always planning. 

We've set a finish date for the house and barring any issues when the water gets turned on its completely attainable. I'll be making a big Lowes run this week to get the last odds and ends. 

The back of the house is painted and ready to go. It's looking great! The bathroom vanity has been installed, pipes  fixed and other than blinds and toilet paper holder is complete! 

The kitchen is last remaining area that needs the most work. The composting toilet needs to be removed, cabinets painted and the last of the floor installed. It's looking so great and I can't wait to see it finished. 

We started our seeds and most have begun to sprout. Wyatt thinks it the neatest thing. 

Sawyer popped her second bottom tooth and has found a love of egg yolks, meat and anything everyone else is eating. She's getting so big and becoming independent. 

Wyatt learned how to cut with a knife (dinner knife) he also hit a growth spurt and got his first fishing rod! 

Shawn culled some of his moms chickens this weekend and Wyatt did great with the whole experience! 

He's such a lover of animals I didn't know how he would do and honestly was a little nervous. He did great and stood by his dad's side the whole time. 

So, in a little excitement we're considering adding in a new animal to our little place. We went down to Blue Seal and one of the employees had his 4 day old bottle goats there. Complete swoon! Wyatt fell in love. So did the rest of us. We knew we wanted goats for a while but were thinking next Spring. It's been a few days and Wyatt is still waking around asking about his baby goats so needless to say we are now looking at fences. 

It is the year of the goat afterall. 

We've been in touch with a few breeders and are specifically looking at Nigerian Dwarfs. We're planning on going out next week to visit the farms and see if anything clicks.