A good friend once told me that she is a collector of friends. In my own lifetime, I have met many wonderful and interesting people with whom I cultivated friendships that lasted the years. More recently, since becoming a mamma and a blogger, I have met and become friends with many environmentalists (and discovered old friends who had been living environmentally all along), many who I not only admire but whose reverence for planet earth I can only hope to emulate. A few months ago I met such a person when I brought Annabelle to the park. While Annabelle ran around and around the playground, she caught the attention of 2 older little girls who followed her and doted on her. The girls belonged to Laura, a mom who loves to talk as much as I do. When we discovered a shared love for the environment, so began a new friendship.
What I love about Laura, aside from the fact that she shares my passion for green living, is that she is a passionate thinker. When Laura comes across new information, she researches it until she finds answers that satisfy her. And as a full time mother, she is not one to sit and watch her children play by themselves in the yard but feels free to run around and play with them. A few weeks ago when I visited Laura and her girls in Hamilton, she showed me her backyard where her children are tending a large vegetable garden. Propped up next to the garden was a huge repurposed water barrel, which once stored pickles for a Greek exporter. Laura and her girls water their garden by collecting water in the barrel and transporting it over to their garden.
Water conservation is vital in Laura’s hometown of Hamilton; because of the cost of water there, as well as Laura’s commitment to protecting the earth’s resources, she has become an expert on how to save water. Since she knows a bit more about water conservation than I do, let me turn you over to her:
There are the usual water saving tips like turning off the sink when you brush your teeth or put soap on your hands [before washing], [but] there are less obvious ways to conserve too:
Outside
1. Add compost. When planting a garden add compost. Compost acts like a sponge and absorbs water [to help nourish the plants in your garden].
2. Mulch heavily. Mulch acts like a blanket keeping the moisture in and decreases the weeds that grow and steal water from your garden plants.
3. Water 2 in 1. Hold smaller pots over larger ones when watering in order to catch the overflow from the smaller one.
4. Say no to mow. Keep your grass a little longer in dry spells as freshly cut grass allows for more evaporation.
5. Don’t throw the baby out with the kiddie pool. If you have a young child who likes to use a wading pool use the water to water your garden after play is over. Better yet, fill it with water from a water barrel and refill the water barrel with it when done.
Thank you Laura for these wonderful water saving tips! By making small changes, even one or two, in our own homes, we are able to make a huge difference for the environment.
Do you have a water conservation tip? If so, please share. I love hearing your thoughts! =)
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I love that you met on the playground…I was never such an extrovert until I had kids!
Water tips: Laura covered most we’ve used, but we also use the dregs from all the sippy cups to water plants ;) – shower and bathe much less (ie once/twice a week), catch water from washing vegetables in a basin to water plants, hmmm, the biggest I think would be that we stopped pre-rinsing dishes before putting in the dishwasher – we still have to scrub them off but use just one bowl of water for the whole sinkload if you kwim. HTH! Great ideas.
MamaBird, me too (being an extrovert after becoming a mother)! Thanks for sharing the no to little water rinse tip for loading the dishwasher. It does seem redundant to wash our dishes before putting into a machine that washes our dishes, doesn’t it?
Thanks for the great profile. I feel honored. I got my first water bill since implementing all of the mentioned items (I don’t even rinse the dishes before using the dishwasher unless they have rice or some other food item that is really sticky) and purchasing a new front load washer. My bills from just basic water usage awareness were about $270 every two months. It has now gone down to $170. Think of all the water I have saved and it doesn’t feel like we have made any sacrifices. I have been active in the environmental movement for 22 years and this is the first time I have had a tangible way to measure my efforts. It feels great!
Laura, thank you for being such an inspiration to me (and many other folks, I am sure). I often think that the major differences we make in the world are intangible, but it sure does feel good when we can somehow quantify the outcomes of our efforts. Thank you again for being featured on Green Mamma.
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