Month one of our lifestyle change toward zero waste has been full steam ahead. Here’s a breakdown of the steps we’ve taken over the last 30 days to make our home more eco-friendly.
Gardening
One of the first things we did was start a vegetable garden. I should start by telling you that I have a rotten thumb. I’ve never been able to grow plants, and I have killed just about every succulent I’ve ever had. For some reason though, God smiled on our little garden! Our zucchini plant has taken off- I had no idea how big the leaves would get. It’s beautiful! Our basil and bell pepper plants have been doing well, too. They’re growing taller, they’re still green, and the bugs have been kind to them.
Composting
Worm composting has become a cool hobby. Danny got stuck with the stinky part of the deal: blending food scraps. It’s been eyeopening how much excess food we prepare and don’t use. If you don’t blend it up and store it or give it to the worms in a timely manner, it gets overwhelming. Danny feeds them a gallon size bag of food each week (and we still have a few bags worth in the freezer ready to go). It’s cool to see our pound of worms sift through dirt and food, knowing it’ll turn into fertilizer for our bountiful vegetable garden. Our foster even uses the worms as a bragging point (surprisingly)! When her friend came over to visit, she took them straight to the garage to see our bonus pets. She doesn’t like touching them, but she likes looking at them. Even cooler: while she FaceTimed her two little siblings the other night, she chose to read them the book Compost Stew and teach them about making food for the planet.
Food Storage
Another zero waste move we’ve made is shifting our food storage techniques. We bought a variety of silicone bags to replace zip locks and we decided to give beeswax paper a try (in place of plastic wrap). The silicone bags are really cool. August and Eden enjoy carrying them on our nature walks. They start out full of snacks, and by the end of our adventure the bags are full of discoveries like pinecones and moss. Bonus: the bags are dishwasher safe. The beeswax wraps are cool, too. We bought three different sizes and they’re super simple to wash and reuse.
Food Choices
One unforeseen effect zero waste has had on our lifestyle in the first month is how much my grocery shopping strategy has changed. Learning about how our individual choices affect the world we live in has opened my eyes to the detrimental effect our food choices have on the planet. We are big meat eaters, and it was honestly jarring to learn that livestock farming produces more greenhouse gas emissions than ships, planes, trucks, cars and all other transport put together. I’ve also learned that we consume way more protein than our bodies need, so cutting at least some meat out of our diet would be beneficial for all of us, and Mother Nature.
In an effort to fuel our bodies with more plant based nutrition, I’ve made a commitment to make one or two meatless meals each week. My foster daughter isn’t crazy about it, and my husband keeps joking that I’m on my way to going vegan. I’m not prepared to make that big of a leap for my whole family, but I will say that I’d love to be able to cook like vegans do! I’ve made one meal that was an absolute hit with my family, and another that was more yuck than yum to them. Thankfully, my husband and my foster are at least somewhat entertained by what I’m trying to do, so they smile and jump on board when I say things like “I’m going to try something with turmeric root this week.”
DIY Projects
Another hobby I’ve picked up since going zero waste is making body products. I decided to take a stab at making my own deodorant, and I really like how they smell and feel. I’ve made three different recipes with varying degrees of baking soda and I’m giving them to close friends to be my guinea pigs. So far, my products have worked really well for me. I only apply deodorant once a day (twice if I’m getting sweaty outside), and it does the trick! My husband has also asked me to create beard oil for him to use, so that’s next on my list. All of this has sparked a bigger business dream that I’ll share in a later blog post.
Nature Based Preschool
Perhaps the most significant effect our zero waste lifestyle has had on my family is the way I’m educating our kids. I’ve really enjoyed reading books and listening to podcasts about the benefits nature has on childhood development and mental health. I have a three year old and a one year old this year, plus a 14 year old foster who is doing school online due to Covid-19. Everything I’ve read so far says children benefit from being outside for at least 2-3 hours each day. I’ve always known about the Japanese practice of forest bathing, so I decided to take a deeper dive into that and see how it could have a positive effect on each child.
For the littles, I started taking them to the woods every morning for a nature-based preschool experience. Our foster is given the choice to come with us, and she usually does. The three kids wander off the trail into the woods and explore sights, sounds, smells and textures of nature. Our foster takes initiative and steps into the role of teacher by pointing out things the littles may not have noticed. One day she found a turtle and taught them about its shell. On another occasion, she told them each to run a hand along the trunk of a tree, and taught them about tree bark. August (my three year old) loves to hit trees with sticks and try to stick things in the ground. He has a lot of fun throwing rocks into creeks and seeing how big of a splash he can make. Eden (my one year old) likes to look inside things, like old fallen trees. She also likes to pick things up and stash them in her bag for later. She’s determined to keep up with her big brother and follows closely to him. He is patient with her and likes to teach her things that he knows, like “This is moss” or “Look at the butterfly!” I try not to structure their forest play too much because I want them to use their imaginations and see what they come up with on their own. After naps, we usually do a project with things we collected- like making bird feeders out of pinecones.
We are considered a therapeutic foster home, so our teen has been through more trauma than a lot of kids in the system. Her mental health is top of our minds as she attends multiple types of therapy throughout the week. I think the time she spends out in nature with me and the littles has been extremely beneficial for her. She seems more confident in herself. She smiles more. When she’s out in the woods, she has the opportunity to be still and just be. Plus, being around young children who are still learning the basics of the world is good for her, too. She can step into a leadership role as their big sister and reap the benefits of seeing their faces light up with understanding after she teaches them something.
Our Walk With and Understanding of God
My husband and I have also had some really cool spiritual conversations about our planet since beginning this journey. While reading Ephesians with our foster one evening, a verse stuck out to both of us. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:1-2). Could it be that the ruler of the air is Satan, but the ruler of the Earth itself, which sustains life as we know it in human, plant and animal form, is the Holy Spirit and our Father in Heaven? Could it be that the Holy Spirit has always existed around us in the very Earth which God created, but we didn’t have access to its power until Jesus rose from the dead? This living and breathing planet is a piece of the Almighty, given to us to steward. If it’s true that part of God’s spirit lives in our planet within nature, why wouldn’t we want to honor it? After all, it’s the first gift the Lord gave mankind. If God’s spirit does not live and breathe in nature, we should be defending it from the ruler of the air who desires to steal, kill and destroy it and all who live on it.
We’re only at the beginning of our zero waste journey, but it has been a fulfilling month. My dad told me on the phone that he never thought I’d be a “nature girl.” That kind of surprised me because I grew up tent camping with our family! I guess I had to veer away from my love of nature for a season and come back to it in adulthood when my perspective of what matters in the world is weighed more responsibly. My husband said it well in a paper he’s writing for his Master’s in Education. He said it’s important for him to educate our kids on zero waste and how we can be better to our environment so they can turn it into knowledge and apply it to every day life. Our influence on the next generation is so important. To us, our job as Christ’s disciples is inextricably linked to the world God gave us to thrive.