“There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and find enjoyment in his hard work…” – Ecclesiastes 2:24

It was almost dark and we were still outside tossing large hunks of the rotten Mountain Ash tree that my husband finally cut down for me. It laid the foundation for the final hugelkultur bed added to the garden last year. There are 10 of them in all, each approximately 7 feet wide x 13 feet long. Built completely out of blood, sweat, tears, muscle, elbow grease and without any help from machinery save for the chainsaw.

Just last year alone, 50 wheelbarrow loads of manure from our chickens, ducks, and rabbits were added to those beds. The dirt- dug up, hand sifted, mixed with compost and other goodies- all prepared here. The straw mulch was dried out bedding from our ducks, often raked up, turned over, raked again.

Sustainability.

I wasn’t always aware there was a word for it. Hard work and appreciation for doing things by hand goes way back to when I was a little girl pulling a sled full of firewood through the snow and filling the wood shed. Or when I was a young teen getting her first horse and having to build a fence for said horse using a rusty hand saw, log peeler, and post hole digger. And in more recent memory, living in a 500-square foot cabin without running water, 9 months pregnant with 2 young children hauling 80-pound water jugs and giving a sick child a cold sponge bath in the middle of the night because there just wasn’t time to heat the water.

A lack of fear of hard work and the desire to live a more simple, sustainable lifestyle are as much a part of me as the red hair on my head.

But what, exactly, is sustainability and why is it important?

sustainable

adjective sus·tain·able \sə-ˈstā-nə-bəl\

Some powerful synonyms for sustainable include:

justifiable, maintainable, and supportable.

On the other hand, the opposite of sustainable is: insupportable and indefensible. Merriam-Webster even goes so far as to list additional antonyms such as absurd, illogical, ridiculous, unreasonable…unacceptable…

…ouch.

You see, friends, sustainability is a pretty important thing to consider. Many times, I’ve found myself pondering “What can I do to live a more sustainable lifestyle?”

Making choices and putting them into action doesn’t happen overnight.

Or over a month.

Or over a year.

It happens in small steps that start with a thought and then followed by an action. Taking one thing at a time.

So where to start? Here are some ideas, broken down by category. Pick one. Try it out. Rather than overwhelming yourself by trying to obtain everything at once, take things at your own pace until they become a natural part of your daily life.

In the Home

• unplug anything not use- TV, coffee pot, toaster, lamps, etc.
• turn the lights off
• use cloth napkins instead of paper towels
• improve energy efficiency in your home by sealing leaky windows and doors
• cook from scratch using food procured by yourself or someone local
• hand wash and/or line dry whenever possible
• try to fix it before you throw it- or, better yet, find another use for it

Consider what you buy and bring into the home:

• what happens when I’m done with it?
• can the container be reused?
• how often do I go through it?
• where does it come from? how many miles did it have to travel?

Everything we buy and use had a process in getting there. Sustainability involves reducing the resources and considering those negatively impacted in the process of bringing you that product. Make smart choices.

In the Garden

• if you don’t garden, start- even if you have an apartment and use containers, grow some food…any food.
• use raised beds and apply permaculture methods to avoid negatively impacting the soil and its inhabitants
• consider water-storing hugelkultur raised beds, especially in drought areas

• learn to use no-dig methods in the garden as opposed to a roto-tiller
• whenever and wherever possible, use your hands rather than a machine
• take advantage of resources readily available to you on your property or locally
• aim to grow heirloom varieties in your garden so you can save seeds for the following planting season

Whenever possible, learn to live with certain types of “weeds”. In the garden bed, things like clover add nitrogen to the soil and act as a cover crop. In the walkways and other areas around your beds, flowering plants such as stinging nettle help support pollinators like the bees. Dandelions are not only edible and beneficial, but can also act as a repellant to pests such as the dreaded fall army worm. These are all ways in which we can work in harmony with nature.

• use natural fertilizers from animals instead of chemical fertilizers like Miracle-Gro
• instead of buying conventional mulch, use leaves and compost

At Work

• does the coffee station offer a compost container for coffee grounds or recycling for Keurig K-cups?
• if possible, shut your computer and other office equipment down before you go home
• technology greatly enables the ability to reduce paper waste; be mindful of this
• bring your own utensils and coffee cup rather than using disposable ones at work
• bring your own lunch (or at least your own bag when you must buy lunch on the go)

On the Farm

• never take what you can’t replace/replenish: topsoil, water, nutrients/minerals, etc.
• rotate pastures regularly; this not only benefits the land but helps prevent worm and parasite issues with your animals

• rotate crops
• plant cover crops and encourage beneficial “weeds”, just as you do in the garden
• raise animal breeds and plant varieties suitable for your area, rather than buying the “fastest growing, biggest breed”

• animal feed: can you grow your own? where does it come from? is there a local option?
• consider fermenting your feed to get the most out of it
• putting in permanent fencing? consider existing trees or other structures already in place to serve as part of that fence

The point is, start thinking.

Thinking about how you can reduce your carbon footprint. How you can be a contributor in the reversal of the incredible damage already done. How we can be those who teach the younger generation the importance of sustainability, and how they can one day become teachers and doers themselves.

Because it matters.

So get your sustainability on, my friends. You will find yourself inspired, I promise.