What I have view on your site I have been doing for years. I grew up this way on a rural farm in North Dakota. We never wasted anything. Everything was recycled. All paper was shredded or rolled into tight logs to be burned in the fireplace. All foods Scraps were recycled in the garden or given to our pets. We raised our own vegetables, eggs and meats. We purchased milk from a local farmer. We canned or froze everything for food during the winter. We had a rootceller that we kept potatoes, carrots and such. We rendered our own lard. The only thing my mom had to purchase were fruits and we would buy them in bulk and can them for the winter. Oh we also had to buy the basics such as flour, spices and dish or laundry soap. For cleaning we only used dish soap and bleach on most everything. We only used the dryer in the winter months when we could get to the wash line because the snow was too deep or the clothes would freeze on the line. We very seldom used any paper products. My mom even reused bread bags if she decided to make bread rather than purchase it. All cereal bags were reused to seperate meats in the freezer or used to wrap sandwiches for my dad when he went to work. Only once a year did we purchase new clothes and that was for school…the rest of the time we got hand-me-downs or Mom made our clothes. The only thing we never really was able to save much on was transportation as we lived 2 miles from the closest town (50 people) and 15 miles from the closet stores. And yet then we saved also…we only went to town maybe once per week to get things we needed. We did go visiting and those times were usually scheduled when we went into town…unless there was a special event of some sort.
We were going through some stuff of my parents as they are starting to think about being prepared for their deaths. We had such a good time laughing and remembering things because they still have much of the stuff we used as kinds for traveling distances…the old coolers, water thermoses and all that fun stuff…us kids were shocked they still had it…my parents just looked funny at us and said “it is too good to throw out yet.”
I guess I have been a “green” person my whole life and never realized it. It is nice to see the younger generation doing the things us “older” folks have been doing for years…thanks for joining us.
This post was submitted by Lesha.
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