Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Green Day: A Day in the Life of a Crunchy Chicken

This month's Green Moms Carnival, hosted by She Who Eschews Plastic, is all about describing a day in the life of a green mom.

When I first started writing this post, I thought I didn't have much of interest to say, that I really didn't feel like I was doing anything all that green yesterday since it was a work and school day. But, upon thinking a little more about it, living a green lifestyle is so ingrained in me that I don't realize that I'm actually doing a lot.

So, here it is. A Day in the Life of a Crunchy Chicken.

  • 6:30 am: Wake up and go to the bathroom
    -Using cloth wipes
  • 6:45 am: Exercise
  • 7:15 am: Make kids' lunches
    -Lunches are 100% organic packed in 100% reusable lunch boxes
  • 7:30 am: Wake up kids and take a shower
    -I save the shower warm-up water
    -Our shower-head is adjustable, so I set it at really low-flow
    -All our bath products are non-petroleum based, low CO2 and non-toxic
  • 8:10 am: Dump saved water in rain barrel
  • 8:15 am: Eat breakfast with kids
    -100% organic cereal and milk
  • 9:10 am: Walk the kids to school and walk back home
  • 9:30 am: Telecommute from home
    -I telecommute two days per week, saving about 1500 car miles per year
  • 12:30 pm: Coffee with husband, combining trip to the library to pick up books on hold
  • 3:15 pm: Walk to the post office box on the way to pick up the kids
  • 4:00 pm: Walk home with the kids and have snack
  • 4:30 pm: Water plants with captured water from rain barrel
  • 6:00 pm: Make dinner and eat at home
  • 7:30 pm: Read to the kids
  • 8:30 pm: Kids bedtime
  • 9:00 pm: Watch Netflix movie with the hubs

    Since it's springish weather, we don't have the heat on (and we don't have A/C) and it stays light out until 9:00pm so we don't use many lights at all during the day. In sum, the main points from the day are water saving, organic food, limited driving, little electricity and 100% non-toxic, low-CO2 products.

    What about you? Do you generally have a green day or is it dependant on the day?
  • 8 comments:

    Anna Marie said...

    My day is pretty green-

    Starts off with a breakfast made from my chicken's eggs, my goat's milk and organic sausage (from the local food co-op), plus whatever greens are in the garden.

    Then I bike to work on a local organic farm.

    Then I get back home, and if I get up the gumption, I'll work out in the garden.

    Dinner, and then relaxing at home with family sans tv.

    Unknown said...

    Today is pretty typical.

    Get up and feed the baboo at around 5:30. Pray she goes back to sleep for at least and hour.

    Have breakfast (organic cereal and local, organic milk or on the weekend some sausages from a local piggy and some eggs from close by) and put the diapers that washed during the night on the line to dry.

    Go for a walk with the baby for any errands that we have to do (library, fish market, look at the dogs...).


    Tidy up the garden and pick anything that we can for dinner.

    Feed the baby lunch (organic peas or sweet potatoes pureed in the food mill). Put together diapers, perhaps go for another walk, take the baby out to watch the fish in the pond and maybe a swing.

    Make dinner (jane-adventuresindinner.blogspot.com) and coax the baby to go to bed so that I can hang-out with the husband unit.

    My worst felon for energy consumption is my laptop. I listen to the radio a lot but I got a wind-up one.

    Sabrina Ahmed said...

    I am most definitely on board with the Green mission. After recently hearing information about how using recycled rainwater makes a big impact on the environment, I also bought a rain barrel and have been using it religiously. I think it's great how making minute small changes to the way we live our lives can make a sincere difference.

    For anyone else looking to try it, there is a great green store at http://www.greeneutopia.com . They have some really affordable products including the rain barrel I purchased, and even some great green cleaning supplies. They also had some wonderful information and articles for those always looking to educate themselves on living life off the grid! I hope this resource helps!

    God Bless,
    Sabrina

    Lynn from OrganicMania.com said...

    Hi Deanna,

    I am really getting charmed as I read through the contributions this month. I love that you get your exercise in early each day, that you get so much walking in, and that you stressed how all the steps add up. My post was a bit more of a self-deprecatory poke at how things don't always go the way I'd like...but when I re-read it, I notice that it also shows I sometimes run around like a (Crunchy) chicken with my head cut off.

    Sandy said...

    Hmmm, here's mine: Breakfast for hubby and myself was organic and local berries with yogurt and granola sprinkles (also organic).

    I spent the day preparing food for the week: a pot of sauteed broccoli greens (my own), with onions, scapes and some other greens I had leftover, sauteed in the fat from about 1/8 pound of local bacon; all organic and local. We each had a dish of that for lunch, then I put the remainder in a sheet pan and made a fritatta with local egg whites and local, raw cow's milk.

    I used the rest of the milk and the egg yolks to make ice cream (with local strawberries and blueberries).

    In between, I composted the trimmings from the greens, and used the waste water to water my container garden. I bagged up the ribs of the broccoli leaves to take to the farm for the goats. Also took a quart of ice-cream for my friends there to share.

    At 3:30 PM, we drove to the farm (it's about 10 miles away: www.flinthill-farm.org), and Peter watered our garden there with well water while I milked the 19 goats and fed and watered them and the other 40. That took about 2.5 hours. I left with a quart of raw goat's milk and a dozen fresh, grass-fed eggs. The eggs are the first installmentof the payment I'm receiving for the money I spent on a freezer, found on Craig's list (for the farm's cheese, butter etc.)

    Came home and had father's day ice cream with my husband, daughter and grandsons. Life's good.

    And this was a Sunday...most weekdays are a bit more hectic. I love Sundays!

    Anonymous said...

    Reading this, I think I really need a rain barrel.

    I try to have a green day. I am not working outside the home right now, so that definitely cuts down on driving. It also facilitates a lot of scratch cooking. I could be doing more, though. Like the rain barrel thing.

    Lisa said...

    This makes me want a rain barrel even more! I have been looking at one but haven't decided for sure yet.

    It's awesome when our lives get to the point the green things are habits so we don't even notice them anymore. :)

    Lola said...

    I can't be as green as I would like to cause green is EXPENSIVE! Organic veggies and meats cost double than the other ones, so I resort to making as many household products as I can (so far all soaps and detergents are home-made) and recycling almost everything. Also, I try to reuse containers, don't buy any more ziploc bags (I freeze everything wrapped in aluminum foil, it is awesome!) and bought reusable bags for groceries and those little reusable ones for veggies. Also, I use as little water as I can. I hand wash my dishes, if it is yellow I let it mellow and I take 2-3 showers/week. I also wash my clothes once or twice a month. I have tons of clothes though so I can just use something different each day, or wear the same thing more than once.