TKG Threads is where you can ask anything and we can all join in with answers in a chat thread just for us. Today: I am back in the city. (Melbourne) On my way back to the farm. (Central Illinois). I am working on bullet points for Sustainable Sunday. (Coming back soon).
It occurs to me that we can help each other get stuff done. Talk together about issues of environmentally responsible living in a respectful forum laden with kindness and support.
Hence the launch of TKG Threads.
It is just us. You are safe here. I grow my own food using organic, sustainable practices. What is your favorite contribution to environmentally responsible living? Let’s start this weeks conversation there.
It is Saturday and I just arrived back stateside. I have been traveling for almost two months. And every year I look for new ways to travel in an environmentally responsible way.🥕
🦋It is SO HARD!
🦋Other than not traveling at all! We can:
Book Direct Flights. Pack lightly. Carry a reusable water bottle. Pack your own lunch. Be kind and helpful with other travelers. (So many people are anxious and anxiety uses energy! Kind and calm helps). Bus or train wherever possible.
This week will be a very quiet week on TKG TAKE TEN. I am taking this week in Melbourne to rest, regroup and PLAN! For the SUMMER in the MidWest. A whole summer plan for the farm. With all the sustainable theories and practicalities and personalities folded in. That will be amazing. RIGHT? I wonder what it will look like.
This makes me feel a bit like the old farmy is returning, that sort of collaborative effort with a strong leader in our midst to guide and keep things in check and on track. It should be great fun to see where you take us! I also like this space very much with the idea of safety and openness. I hope that others will feel welcome as well and want to join in.
This thread will follow my usual very strict rules of kindness and inclusion. Support. Sharing. Ideas. Small minded, mean spirited behavior is not welcome here. We are building a team. The Tenners. And working together we can make a difference.
Going forward I will send out a new challenge via this chat on Saturday evenings. I think we should be able to keep the same thread going so we are able to scroll back for info. Do you think? Don’t be shy! Pop in with a word.
Out here in the village I am effectively able to use all food scraps to compost, worm farm, neighbour's chickens & ducks. But I met someone who lives in town and has an urban permaculture food forest garden, via our community resilience group who seeing the need in town for a different approach, with her kids created a neighbourhood compost initiative. They provided lidded buckets to about a dozen houses in the immediate surrounding streets predominantly a mix of age pensioner and working households with no use for food scraps/compost. These neighbour people would add their food scraps to the buckets, twice weekly hang the buckets on their fence which the kids would collect, empty, wash and return. Bonus was it created community too via the connections made.
That is a fantastic initiative. And you are right, it would create wonderful community. I have always wanted to do something like that in our local villages but they would not be vegetable scraps. People down there don’t eat the same. They don’t even sell vegetables in the little stores because no one was buying them. 🥺
We are needing to rethink our strategies. We lived in the country for 40 years and were able to compost - recycle food scraps to our chickens - and our village had a great dump with recycling bins and a spot you could put things that others might find a new use for. Now we live in a high rise. The garbage room here does have a good recycling system. Thank goodness! We are finding it strange to put our food scraps in the garbage. Understandably there is not a compost area. Too many people and too great a possibility of attracting animal pests. I’d love to hear from others about ways they try to be environmentally responsible in city high rises. This is all new to me!
Hi Wendy, while I am not in a major city high rise I do rent an apartment in a small town. It provides a few small perks like 2 very small garden beds that I am filling with pollinator wildflowers. I do understand being governed by rules of others so I've found that I often have to pick and choose my battles so to speak. We can compost and there are recycle bins (although I know Celi has many thoughts on recycling versus pre-cycling which are great). I have taken to heart C's views on doing what you can with what you have the ability to change so perhaps that means focusing on a broader view- looking at how you use things like energy, what you buy and where it comes from and are there alternatives, maybe even giving back in some way that has an ecological benefit- something small like picking up trash as you are out, shopping from farmers market vendors, walking versus transit or cars when you can.
There are so many wonderful ways of contributing to a healthy environment. I love walking!! And Precycling. We need to get back to work on the idea of a carbon co-pay. One thing I learn hard when I am travelling is that not everyone can compost. Food scraps often end up in the bin. That must be hard for Wendy after tossing them all to the chickens for so long. I have heard of farmers markets vendors with compost pick up.
Celi, I love the idea of the carbon co-pay but someone recently told me that was invented by the oil companies so that they could just keep doing whatever they wanted while making people feel better. But still, it's a good thing. My father was a backyard organic gardener so I grew up composting food scraps. And in Portland (and even here in England) we have dedicated compost bins that are picked up curb-side. I have read that food scraps are a huge part of the garbage problem and one can help mitigate it on the cooking end by scrubbing veg instead of peeling, etc.
Agree. Planting trees is never a bad idea, and I love compost. My Dad had the biggest compost pile and we, his daughters, always took buckets over to grab some for our own gardens. When my sister lived in California she actually took some back with her on the plane.
I was thinking you might be able to fit a little rolling compost bin out there. One of the ones that have two bins - one you are currently filling and one to compost. You roll them with a never and they are very effective. Then you could use the compost in your balcony garden beds. Just a thought. I am looking on eBay for a second hand one to use as a demo on the farm.
Our city has green bin pick up so we are very lucky. I also have my own compost bin in the garden for veggie scraps in during the non-winter months. In the winter it’s under snow! I have also done vermicomposting, loved it. The worm castings are awesome for the garden. We have a local company called Box of Life. They make lovely wooden stacked boxes that you keep in the kitchen or anywhere.
I can only pick one?! Ha. Ummm...let me ask my better half what his is. He's better at not overthinking ;)
"Cook and honor the food I cook."
I knew he'd have a good answer.
We have layered on so many choices over the years that I'm not sure anyone has time to read all my favorites, but let's go with "saving and sowing heirloom seeds for food crops" as mine.
This is the BEST answer. I truly believe food and its related industries and farming practices is one of our most powerful tools in environmental responsibility. And is why I chose to grow my own food / I have great respect for my food knowing the years of work that go into growing it. Sounds like you both do too!
Right now I am composting everything that I possibly can. That means my actual contribution to the landfill is growing smaller while everything organic that can and will rot is going back to become soil. I feel good about that!
You should feel good about that too. Composting is awesome. My daughter in law lines her compost bin with a brown paper bag from the shopping. Thereby adding a layer of brown in with each bucket of scraps.
It is Saturday and I just arrived back stateside. I have been traveling for almost two months. And every year I look for new ways to travel in an environmentally responsible way.🥕
🦋It is SO HARD!
🦋Other than not traveling at all! We can:
Book Direct Flights. Pack lightly. Carry a reusable water bottle. Pack your own lunch. Be kind and helpful with other travelers. (So many people are anxious and anxiety uses energy! Kind and calm helps). Bus or train wherever possible.
Plant a tree for every flight.
What else?
This week will be a very quiet week on TKG TAKE TEN. I am taking this week in Melbourne to rest, regroup and PLAN! For the SUMMER in the MidWest. A whole summer plan for the farm. With all the sustainable theories and practicalities and personalities folded in. That will be amazing. RIGHT? I wonder what it will look like.
This makes me feel a bit like the old farmy is returning, that sort of collaborative effort with a strong leader in our midst to guide and keep things in check and on track. It should be great fun to see where you take us! I also like this space very much with the idea of safety and openness. I hope that others will feel welcome as well and want to join in.
This thread will follow my usual very strict rules of kindness and inclusion. Support. Sharing. Ideas. Small minded, mean spirited behavior is not welcome here. We are building a team. The Tenners. And working together we can make a difference.
Going forward I will send out a new challenge via this chat on Saturday evenings. I think we should be able to keep the same thread going so we are able to scroll back for info. Do you think? Don’t be shy! Pop in with a word.
Out here in the village I am effectively able to use all food scraps to compost, worm farm, neighbour's chickens & ducks. But I met someone who lives in town and has an urban permaculture food forest garden, via our community resilience group who seeing the need in town for a different approach, with her kids created a neighbourhood compost initiative. They provided lidded buckets to about a dozen houses in the immediate surrounding streets predominantly a mix of age pensioner and working households with no use for food scraps/compost. These neighbour people would add their food scraps to the buckets, twice weekly hang the buckets on their fence which the kids would collect, empty, wash and return. Bonus was it created community too via the connections made.
That is a fantastic initiative. And you are right, it would create wonderful community. I have always wanted to do something like that in our local villages but they would not be vegetable scraps. People down there don’t eat the same. They don’t even sell vegetables in the little stores because no one was buying them. 🥺
We are needing to rethink our strategies. We lived in the country for 40 years and were able to compost - recycle food scraps to our chickens - and our village had a great dump with recycling bins and a spot you could put things that others might find a new use for. Now we live in a high rise. The garbage room here does have a good recycling system. Thank goodness! We are finding it strange to put our food scraps in the garbage. Understandably there is not a compost area. Too many people and too great a possibility of attracting animal pests. I’d love to hear from others about ways they try to be environmentally responsible in city high rises. This is all new to me!
Hi Wendy, while I am not in a major city high rise I do rent an apartment in a small town. It provides a few small perks like 2 very small garden beds that I am filling with pollinator wildflowers. I do understand being governed by rules of others so I've found that I often have to pick and choose my battles so to speak. We can compost and there are recycle bins (although I know Celi has many thoughts on recycling versus pre-cycling which are great). I have taken to heart C's views on doing what you can with what you have the ability to change so perhaps that means focusing on a broader view- looking at how you use things like energy, what you buy and where it comes from and are there alternatives, maybe even giving back in some way that has an ecological benefit- something small like picking up trash as you are out, shopping from farmers market vendors, walking versus transit or cars when you can.
There are so many wonderful ways of contributing to a healthy environment. I love walking!! And Precycling. We need to get back to work on the idea of a carbon co-pay. One thing I learn hard when I am travelling is that not everyone can compost. Food scraps often end up in the bin. That must be hard for Wendy after tossing them all to the chickens for so long. I have heard of farmers markets vendors with compost pick up.
Celi, I love the idea of the carbon co-pay but someone recently told me that was invented by the oil companies so that they could just keep doing whatever they wanted while making people feel better. But still, it's a good thing. My father was a backyard organic gardener so I grew up composting food scraps. And in Portland (and even here in England) we have dedicated compost bins that are picked up curb-side. I have read that food scraps are a huge part of the garbage problem and one can help mitigate it on the cooking end by scrubbing veg instead of peeling, etc.
It is true the oil companies use this term but for me it is like paying for the damage from my travel by planting trees. Compost is the very best!!
Agree. Planting trees is never a bad idea, and I love compost. My Dad had the biggest compost pile and we, his daughters, always took buckets over to grab some for our own gardens. When my sister lived in California she actually took some back with her on the plane.
This is an excellent question Wendy. Do you have a balcony?
I do! Only gets afternoon sun. But could be used for a little garden.
I was thinking you might be able to fit a little rolling compost bin out there. One of the ones that have two bins - one you are currently filling and one to compost. You roll them with a never and they are very effective. Then you could use the compost in your balcony garden beds. Just a thought. I am looking on eBay for a second hand one to use as a demo on the farm.
Might that work?
Our city has green bin pick up so we are very lucky. I also have my own compost bin in the garden for veggie scraps in during the non-winter months. In the winter it’s under snow! I have also done vermicomposting, loved it. The worm castings are awesome for the garden. We have a local company called Box of Life. They make lovely wooden stacked boxes that you keep in the kitchen or anywhere.
I loved having my worms. That is another great idea. Box of Life! That sounds intriguing- I will look them up!
I can only pick one?! Ha. Ummm...let me ask my better half what his is. He's better at not overthinking ;)
"Cook and honor the food I cook."
I knew he'd have a good answer.
We have layered on so many choices over the years that I'm not sure anyone has time to read all my favorites, but let's go with "saving and sowing heirloom seeds for food crops" as mine.
This is the BEST answer. I truly believe food and its related industries and farming practices is one of our most powerful tools in environmental responsibility. And is why I chose to grow my own food / I have great respect for my food knowing the years of work that go into growing it. Sounds like you both do too!
Right now I am composting everything that I possibly can. That means my actual contribution to the landfill is growing smaller while everything organic that can and will rot is going back to become soil. I feel good about that!
You should feel good about that too. Composting is awesome. My daughter in law lines her compost bin with a brown paper bag from the shopping. Thereby adding a layer of brown in with each bucket of scraps.