Green living and the economic collapse

So, Tony has been reading a lot this week about the economic collapse that many people claim is coming soon. We have agreed that now is the time to really move forward with some of our green ideas and investing in a few things.

We are strongly looking into solar and or wind power for our home. We realize that we will not be able to get enough to cover all of our energy needs, but if we could cover some essentials it would be great.

We have a lot of things that we need to do in and around our home and then a lot more things that we want to do.

I think our priorities need to be:
- Building a storage shed/pump house that will cover our well before winter.
- Finishing the wiring in our house for internet access (Tony started this when the house was built, but has not tied off the outlets yet)
- Solar or wind power - at least starting w/ a small affordable or semi-homemade unit that will provide some of our monthly usage.
- learning more about gardening and beginning to do so.
- building a compost bin to use. ( I have a "compost pile" at the edge of the woods, but it is not very efficient)

Then the ideas that we are toying with are:
- possibly getting some goats for two purposes - eating grass/weeds and milk/cheese
- Tony is now talking about having a few chickens also.

We are also considering buying some gold and/or silver to have just in case the economy gets REALLY bad. We want to be prepared for anything. I just keep trying to imagine what it would be like if we had a collapse/depression like the 1930's. I don't think most people would be able to handle that. I wouldn't like it one bit, but I think that my grandparents, parents, and Tony & I could make it through. I think my family has lived closer to the land throughout my life than most people that I know. That is I think where America needs to get back to as much as feasible. Local, sustainable, and self supporting is really what we all should be thinking about, rather than bigger, better, and more reliant on foreign imports.

The other new thing that has been going on around here lately is that we got a new grocery store called "The Fresh Market" here in town AND it is less than 5 miles from our house!! We went last weekend and this weekend. We are totally in LOVE with the place!! They have tons of fruits and veggies, plus lots of whole foods. We also bought 2 reusable grocery bags from there today. They are very pretty And only $.99 a piece!! I just have to remember to use them now.

I also am back to reading green blogs for ideas and inspiration. I am reading one today that has me truly intrigued. It is called the Accidental Enviromentalist (theaccidentalenviromentalist.blogspot.com) and they go weekly to the farmers market and pass out reusable bags. I think that is a Great idea! Also, she talks about making reusable bags out of tank tops, called "T-Totes", which I think is a cool idea. I may start doing that myself and give them to friends and family.

So, I'm currently really inspired to reduce, reuse, and recycle when possible. I just have to continue that momentum ;-)

I'll let you know. :o)

I'm back!

Well, it's been awhile since I posted. Way longer than I had ever intended. It seems I hit a small bump in the road of life and it derailed me further than I realized. Anyway, several months later, I'm trying to get back on track.

So, an update on the little challenge that I had set for Tony and I. We didn't do very well with it. We started out strong and then tanked BAD. Basically we did ok w/ not eating out much in July, but then in August we went WAY, WAY off track and ate out constantly! We did not exercise at all and really suffered for it when we were at Disney World.

We had a very nice and enjoyable trip to Disney World and even managed to go to DragonCon for a day and a half beforehand. We were completely exhausted afterward, but enjoyed ourselves none the less. We have said that we will not be going back until we have children that are old enough to remember at lease some of it. So we will not be there for awhile. I think that I have gotten my fill of Disney for the time being though. I love it, but I think I will be ok with not going back for several years. We want to go to some new places anyway.

Since I've been back I've been trying to get back into my exercise routine and eat better. I haven't really been working on any green initiatives lately though. However, this week we have been talking a lot about the changes we want to make.

I'm going to try to post here more often now and give regular updates of what is going on, for better or worse.