Category: low-footprint living

One fun and simple way to promote wildflowers as legitimately beautiful flowers is to put them in a vase. Generally, I do not prefer to cut flowers. I prefer to let them grow. However, if they are encroaching on the sidewalk etc., I cut them back.

Blanket flower is my favorite flower. They are gorgeous, salt tolerant, drought tolerant, and to me they totally symbolize feral beauty and resilience.

I have brought them up often in my discussions with our city public works department, planning board, citizen input boards and so on. Because they’re so pretty, they are almost like an ambassador for natural low maintenance approach to landscaping.

But it never occurred to me till yesterday, that by putting them in a vase after I needed to cut some back, I was actually helping to legitimize them. In the mainstream public eye. This may or may not be true, but it’s just a thought that occurred to me. Your input and experiences welcome as always.

(Note, nobody — person, plant, animal, insect, microbe etc. — should have to be “legitimized.” They are all part of our world and we owe them respect and we need to let them live.)

But, in a society where a multi-billion-dollar industry is dedicated to defining some plants as “weeds” that need to be eradicated, sometimes a bit of social boost might be helpful. I like this example because it’s on social media, and it’s also right next to a sidewalk that gets a lot of foot traffic. Including tourists as well as residents.

celebrating wildflowers; natural dune beauty; respecting the ecology

pix here

If I had a dime for every time I’ve heard that. Someone in my feed was mentioning how great her garden have been in 2020, and how it had gone fallow in the years since “we went back to real life.”

But, I say:

Such a lovely garden! And glad you have such a good experience to build on as you move forward with getting it going again.

And, Side note: “Real life”?? Is that what we went back to? I think it was more like we accidentally (via Covid shutdowns) had a temporary experience of how wonderfully, multidimensionally real life could be. Unexpected silver linings. (And no I’m not denying the suffering.)

And then we just went back to the planet-destroying treadmill. BAU (Business As Usual.) <desolation crying emoticon> Back into our gray tiny boxes.

With (for the people who happen to have any extra money) only “revenge travel” <nausea emoticon; vomit emoticon> and ordering constant shipments of trashy online crap as consolation.

(I mean we collectively, not me, I’ve always been very fortunate/privileged to be able to work outdoors a lot, have creative & occupational freedom, and know my neighbors — and be engaged deeply in community. Including this wider online community. And deeply engaged in immediate surroundings of urban nature etc.)

(I talk about this extensively here on this blog, and elsewhere; it’s a pretty major soap box of mine.)

See the OP with photos here.

It wasn’t a conscious process at first, but over the years at some point I realized I was creating tiny microcosms in my personal space, an attempt to replicate — even imperfectly — some time or place that has a left a deep impact on me.

Even though I’ve become aware that I do this, I will sometimes still find that I’ve created one of these niches without having consciously tried.

First photo, with the net and the sunglasses, turns out to be a re-creation of the backyard of a delightful rambling multi-storey wooden fishing shack/general store that I stumbled on in a small town on the gulf coast of Louisiana, in 2005. A few months pre-Katrina. The town name wasn’t even in my big atlas, so I wrote it in, with India ink and my fine-tipped pen.

The whole space is kind of a composite re-creation of that, plus other places like that. The heightened state of mind and visual bliss that I’ve experienced on the grounds of Buddhist temples in Japan (back in the early 90s when I was living and working in Tokyo); and at faery camp-outs and urban RV park community with my sweet witchy tribe back in Austin, ca. 2000-2010.

And before that, Zen koans I first stumbled on in the public library back in my teen years …

and and and.

I guess it’s sort of like a memory-collage sculpture that’s always evolving.

Full disclosure: I simply love the beads outdoors, but — even with aforementioned faery wicca Austin tribe influence –- probably would not have thought to do it … except that I was having terrible terrible trouble keeping track of my enormous bead collection, which I purchased from a lovely lady who had had a shop and was ready to pass them on to the next bead-fanatic steward. So now there is at least a bit more breathing-room in all of those bead-boxes and jars that live in my garage/crafting shed.

For many reasons, I no longer travel to speak of, other than family visits. I am very fortunate to have experienced so much when I did. And I feel obligated to make the most of the lavish life-feast I’ve received, by sharing it in my art. Both verbal and visual.

Photos here.

I have often written about the ecological benefits of leaving fallen leaves in place, using them as valuable ingredient for mulch/compost pile, etc.

But also: Fallen leaves left in place can just be really beautiful! (pics at link)

I sometimes leave them deliberately for that very reason. (As long as they are not slippery and causing danger on a pathway.)

I also leave them deliberately as a way to de-escalate what I call “relentless fussbudget tidying-up of the great outdoors.”

It’s possible that if some spaces look a little softer and less rigidly tidy, people in neighboring spaces might feel a little less compelled to constantly keep things clipped and sanitized.

And, if the environment is not super rigidly edged, it doesn’t give people as much to fixate on, so it makes the job of code enforcement personnel easier – freeing them up to address situations that are actually dangerous and harmful, as opposed to a flower or leaf sticking out here and there.

I notice the psychology of this indoors as well. If you don’t want to be nitpicking all day, don’t have bright-white carpet or a fancy bright-white sofa. (Off white or beige can actually be very good and user-friendly.) And don’t have a lot of things that have to be symmetrical in order for your place to look tidy.

Responding to a post in one of the anti-consumerist groups. Someone who loves cooking and baking on a daily basis, and she & her family are getting ready to move to a much hotter climate.

Here are some of my tips for reducing heat in the kitchen in a hot climate. (And reducing electricity consumption caused by extra AC demand from heating up the kitchen.)

I live in a hot humid climate (coastal Florida) and we never use AC at our house.
But, we are near the ocean and also have good roof overhangs, really good awnings and window covers. Helps a lot!

With or without AC, You are very wise to aim at reducing heat in the kitchen.

I have always found it very helpful to cook outdoors as much as possible. SOLAR OVEN!!

(oops, Just now reread and notice that you were not seeking suggestions to use grill, which I had mentioned initially. Charcoal grill, gas grill — The first thing I thought of)

… BUT — I highly recommend using a solar oven.

It simplifies cleanup as well, cooking outdoors instead of in.

Comments by a number of other people, who bring their toaster oven, hot pot, air pot, or other conventional electric appliances outside to cook in summer are also great suggestions.

Also: I’ve known some people who built or purchased outdoor wood-fired ovens for baking bread and pizza and so on!

There was a big communal outdoor oven at the Kerrville folk music festival in central Texas. It may still be there, has been there for a long time.

Regarding a solar oven: A lot of people aren’t familiar with a solar oven. And yet it is an absolutely wonderful addition to one’s cooking setup.

I’ve used it for everything from beans and rice to baking bread and sometimes even cakes. It doesn’t reach super high temperature is but it’s adequate for a lot of breads and cakes. And the beauty of it is you can leave a box type solar cooker unattended, there is no danger of fire or the food getting burnt.

It’s something you can buy, or DIY. I have been using a solar oven as my regular oven for almost 20 years now! There’s tons of info out there on YouTube etc, and also I write about it a lot on my blog. And there’s a good website solar ovens dot net that shows a lot of the options.

We do have a normal indoor kitchen with regular appliances too, and I use those more in winter. (The very brief winter that we have in my part of Florida.)

There’s also a mode of cooking called haybox cooking, where you start cooking the food on a conventional stove top but then move it to an insulated container where it finishes cooking by itself. Without additional heat. Ends up generating a lot less heat in the kitchen, and using considerably less electricity or other fuel.

Large amounts of information about the above methods are available on youtube etc. And I have written about it on this blog as well.

Another option might be cooking communally with your neighbors. Either taking turns, or dividing tasks. (For example, if you don’t like to grill — Same here, it’s not a skill of mine — but a neighbor of yours might love to. And you could be cooking the beans or making the salad or whatever. And another neighbor makes desert etc. etc. Or just alternate evenings.)

As a bonus, *eating* outdoors in addition to cooking the meal outdoors can save on the indoor AC bill.

Good luck, enjoy your new place and your cooking and baking adventures!

Following is a comment I wrote in one of the “blue” women’s groups. Someone had posted looking for an HOA, preferably 55+, that was not overwhelmingly red.

I commented that HOA’s tend to attract people who are attracted to authoritarianism. Another person said something similar.

Another group member laugh-reacted our comments and said they were silly.

At first, I laugh-reacted that person in retaliation. But the old “taste of their own medicine” thing doesn’t sit so well with me these days. So I changed it to a sad react, and wrote the following comment:

A bit earlier, I changed my laugh-reacts to sad-reacts because the latter are a more honest reflection of my emotions. Regarding the slow but steady creep in authoritarianism in our country.

Of which the increasing prevalence and dominance of HOAs is but one manifestation.

I say this as a Boomer. It’s been a journey to see so many people of my generation who were all about Woodstock and “question authority” and protesting the war and all that

… and now wanting to live in planned communities that severely restrict creativity and freedom of expression.

Of course, freedom of expression always has a flipside. If we are all free to express ourselves, then a neighbor might do something we don’t like. But I am willing to deal with that. I’d rather have my neighbor be allowed to put up some weird decorations or paint their house a wild color (personally, I actually like those things, but to each his own), in exchange for me getting to do the landscaping and decorations that I want to do.

I guess to a degree it will always be human nature that some people are willing to trade a bit of freedom for what they see as stability and security. And we will all have different ideas about that.

Myself, some pretty extreme stuff would have to be going on in a neighbor’s house or yard for me to want to tell them what to do.

Note, there are and always need to be prohibitions against hate speech – displaying swastikas, painting obscenities on one’s house or fence, etc.

That’s not what I’m talking about here. I live in a regular neighborhood, not an HOA, and still nobody would put up with us putting swastikas etc.

We also have local code enforcement to make sure people aren’t creating a health / safety hazard on their properties. Like for example, if a person is breeding dangerous animals on their property, or has a bunch of leaking cans of chemicals sitting out in the yard. That kind of thing.

(Example of inviting the public to experience my eco yard)

Subject: “jenny’s corner” 501 house

Greetings Neighbors!

At our meetings, I have mentioned my mini forest & wildflower yard, where I have set aside space for the public to enjoy. (I call it “porous property.”) This is my home and place of business (I am a writer, artist, landscaper, and eco educator.)

Many of you have already been here. But it’s always evolving!

The public amenities include benches, and a Little Free Library.

See 3 photos attached.

Also, because it’s a corner lot, much of the property is readily visible from the sidewalk, making it easy for the general public to check out examples of various trees & plants.

On any given day, you might also notice the solar oven in action using the sun’s free energy to cook food. Or you might observe the rain-gauge displaying the liquid bounty from the latest storm.

Additionally, various signs and art objects are placed for everyone’s enjoyment and education.

This, my home and workplace, is the most durable tangible embodiment of my mission as an environmental educator.

I sometimes joke that my extra-high-visibility urban corner lot is like an Uncle Milton’s Ant Farm, where I am the “ant” being observed by the passing humans as I go about my experiments & data-gathering.

IMPORTANT Note, this house and grounds is also shared with my housemates, who are private citizens and not part of the educational outreach. Therefore a large part of the property is restricted to residents only.

BNW members and friends who would like a landscape tour beyond the sidewalk and benches are welcome to email me, or text my phone 512-619-5363. I can also give you a tour by FaceTime or other video chat app. We could even make it a group tour if you like!

Additionally, there are several neighboring properties that have been past winners of beautification awards from the Beautification Tree Advisory Board of our City. I will be happy to point you to these wonderful yards. There are some superb examples of edible landscaping, stormwater mitigation, and xeriscaping, to name just a few features that you can observe from the street or sidewalk.

Much love to all of you! Enjoy this beautiful spring weather and the abundant rain we have received.

PS. Caveat!!! Although my space has a very eclectic look, please be aware that this is a meticulously curated space. If you have clothing, knick knacks, or other items that you no longer want, please take them to our Lady of Lourdes thrift shop, or other worthy organization that is set up to accept and distribute such bounty.

One exception: Of course, all are welcome to donate books to the Little Free Library! Just put them directly onto the shelves. If there is no room on the shelves, there are numerous other little free libraries all over town that could use your gift. Thanks for promoting literacy!

See 3 photos attached.

Also check out my little 1-minute “before & after” video here on my YouTube channel. (Sorry about the music; it came with the TikTok and I don’t know how to shut it off. You can just turn down the volume if you’d like.) https://youtube.com/shorts/lICC3POSRvI?si=8oomqebYKiB-5nTO

(The “before” is from when I first moved into the house, in March 2018. This video was taken a while back, so even more lush landscaping and other beautification has been added since then!)