The stove arrived by semi, which in and of itself was an ordeal. We got about a foot of snow that day and the driver was afraid to come down our road. So we had him drop it off in town and went to pick it up Saturday.
It was defective. Not only was it defective, it wasn’t made in this country as the manufacture led us to believe. With the vast quantities of snow and plummeting tempuratures, we’ve decided to wait until spring. Probably a good thing all around.
Bill and I purchased a wood stove. It should be delivered today. We ended up purchasing it mail order because every reasonably priced stove in our area was sold out. At current propane prices the wood stove should save us about $1000/year in fuel costs. We’re lucky in that
I’m really becoming concerned with oil prices and the continuing availability of oil and have been actively trying reduce our use of electricity and propane. Last year we replaced most of our light bulbs with fluorescent ones. I made sure all the heat vents to the basement were closed. Turned down the water heater (did we really need the water so hot it could cause serious burns? No.). We’re making a concerted effort to just turn off lights when we are not in a room. I’m wearing pants twice before washing (unless really dirty). Some of this stuff is a real duh for other people, but hey, we all gotta start somewhere. I think, to some extent, we were so poor when I was growing up I associated some of these behaviors with being poor, so I just need to make a mental shift.
I’ve been planting a few veggies every summer for the last few years, but this coming summer we’ve both agreed to plant a real vegetable garden…enough to substantially impact our buying habits at the grocery store. We already raise most of the meat we eat and have LOTS of poop for soil improvement (Northern Michigan is one big sand pit!). I’ve also started a compost bin. The animals get most of our food scraps, but there’s plenty we don’t give them…coffee grounds, banana and citrus peels, anything that would make the animal in question a cannibal.
The biggest change I need to make is to start to recycle. We started raising our own livestock to have healthy food choices. The massive antibiotics and hormones fed to factory farmed animals as well as their treatment just made me nuts. By doing that we were being good to ourselves. But I heard a great line the other day (can’t remember where)…”By eating organic, we’re being good to ourselves. By purchasing Fair Trade items, we’re being good to ourselves AND our planet”. That clicked with me as far as recycling was concerned. Already, we reuse a lot of stuff, but out here in the country we don’t have any curbside recycling programs. And I just need to make the effort to find out where my local recycling center is and use it.
And lastly…if you haven’t heard of podcast they are awesome. A podcast is like an independent radio show. Usually they make an MP3 available for download, so an iPod is not required. I’ve been listing to More Hip Than Hippie and loving it. These women are funny, they love beer and chocolate AND they have great ideas for making less of an impact on the earth. All presented in a supper entertaining show.
