Freecycle fence slats waiting for a use.


The plan in progress.

 
Some detail on the corner stakes.


The second side.




Finished and filled with soil.


Beans transplanted, beets planted.

To support our effort to not buy new in 2008, we joined Virginia Compact on yahoogroups but it's pretty dead at the moment. Yet to see whether we can unmoribund it.

Update 1/21/08: I've attempted to post, as well as email the list owner -- so far no response.
Update 1/29/08: My first posts finally went through, and there a bit of response. A pulse in the list yet!

We joined Chantilly-Centreville Freecycle on yahoogroups, too, and it's much more active.

We did post-Christmas book shopping at McKay, the used book store.
...Update April 2008: Yay! Christina has started a job at McKay!

I'll try to keep track here over time of....

Slip-ups/exceptions
January:

• Scrapbook binder posts and extenders (Michaels) . . . $5.30
  
• replacement pump for Little Green . . . $15 incl shipping

February:

• Y-splitter VGA cable . . . $28 incl shipping
  
• 2 books from SFBC . . . $36 incl shipping

March:

• Memory sticks (2Gb - M) . . . $68 incl shipping
  
• Spray bottles (3) . . . $11 @ Walmart

April:

• 2 books from SFBC . . . $?? incl shipping
  
• Electric razor ("personal item") . . . $38 @ Target
  
• Memory sticks (2Gb - E) . . . $40 incl shipping
  
• Butterfly net . . . $34 incl shipping

May:

• Cellphone

June:

• Several books -- SFBC, Amazon, B&N -- gifts and otherwise
  
• Other gifts
  
• Garden hose

Freecycle
Offered and taken:

• Rolltop desk
  
• Lawn mower
  
• Swiffer w/pads
  
• Pet fountain
  
• AC filter
  
• Puzzles
  
• Window air conditioner
  
• Various computer cables/plugs
  
• Tabletop lamp
  
• Mirror
  
• Small desk
  
• Sprinkler
  
• Torque wrench
  
• Pair of bird prints
  
• Pair of large framed pictures
  
• Toe socks
  
• Mini bagless vacuum
  
• Elliptical trainer
  
• Skates
  
• Votive candlesticks
  
• Another torque wrench
  
• Patio table
  
• Patio chair
  

Planned to offer/re-offer:

• Glass-front hutch
  
• Microwave?
  
• Misc. tools?
  
• Computer monitor(s) -- 1/21: 1 offered, not taken
  
• Bag of twin sheets

Asked/received:

• Pegboard (x2)
  
• Atlases/dictionaries
  
• Project displays (foamcor)
  
• Freezer
  
• Sand/gravel
  
• Window screening
  
• Plastic 1-qt containers
  
• Wheelbarrow
  
• Car bicycle rack
  
• Tomato seeds
  
• Men's pants
  
• Ladies electric razor
  
• Lattice
  
• Scrap lumber
  
• Ironing board
  
• Electric kettle
  
• Adirondack chair
  
• Barrel planters
  
• Screen spline and tool
  
• Champagne flutes
  
• Wood trim

Planned to ask or find:

• Pegboard hooks
  
• Electric razor
  
• Pitchfork (promised from Maine - hm)
  
• Sheetrock
  
• Women's sweatpants
  
• Any jeans in our sizes
  
• ...

No action yet on the seedbeds -- this weekend, we hope! But we did some outdoor tidying to kick off spring. Everything is happening at once.



Weeping cherry (?) just starting to blossom.



Day lilies.



Rose plant greening.



Parsley by the front door that overwintered very happily.



Bleeding heart is blooming and the plant is barely there.



Compost heap.



Lawn patchery part deux.



The wheelbarrow we got through Freecycle.

Lovely, lovely old used wheelbarrow, free from freecycle.

Veg/herb seeds:
- spinach
- lettuce
- peas
- mint
- oregano
- basil (Genovese)
- thyme

Flower seeds:
- Liatris (bulbs, sort of) -- a kind of butterfly flower.
- zinnias
- marigolds.

I think we meant to get some kind of squash but forgot.

Seed-starting soil.

Researching graywater recovery.

We're both excited.

We hadn't been paying much mind to the compost heap, other than adding stuff to it. All the right stuff, except air and water, according to this article.

So it appears to have become anaerobic, and is breaking down too slowly. I turned it a bit with a shovel but a pitchfork will be better. Adding to the freecycle wishlist.

The other day, I went to put out the garbage. Everything that went to the curb that night was recycling: 3 large bins with glass, tin, and cardboard. There was a bit of waste in one trash bin, but not enough to warrant putting it out.

Also, I notice that Waste Management, our neighborhood trash haulers, are commercial sponsors of the national Freecycle.org.

(Originally posted at pilgrim_eye:)

...to not buy anything new in 2008.

We're still working on this one. Obviously, personal items (toothbrush, underwear) and consumables (kielbasa, hot cocoa) are exempt. But almost everything else we can think of -- appliances, home projects, utensils, clothes, tools, music, movies, etc. -- can be homemade, rented, improvised, bought used, bartered, free-cycled, or simply done without.

Computer gear and books are two areas where we treat ourselves, and bear further study.

The main reason for this (for me) is not to save money per se; it's to foster a culture (of one, or two) where every material desire is examined from the standpoint of global worth. What are the true originating costs? The true long-term costs? It's unnecessary and wasteful, not to mention out-of-balance, to fulfill trifling conveniences with new things that consumed non-renewable resources and poisoned the earth during manufacture, and that will end up in a landfill.

We traded in both the Corolla and the Honda Element on a 2008 Prius. 50 mpg, give or take. We're happy so far.

( Read more... )

A few small logs down...



...many to go.

Pictures! We want pictures!

Yeah, yeah, when I get around to it.

Mini-update:

- One tree only, as far as we know, survived (of the 10 Arbor Day seedlings we abused), but it's all the more precious to us on account of that. It's the Pin Oak, and it has a lovely green-leafed twig sprung from the root node.

- The compost heap is lovely and large and has had several visits from a large turtle who lives in the woods. He/she especially likes cantaloupe.

- With the departure of the boys to college, adjustments to our diet, and Emly's school schedule, household soft-drink intake is dramatically down, along with recyclable waste output.

- I got around to buying the tools that may mean the most to us after the collapse: a large bow saw, an axe, and a maul. In a few weeks I plan to bang together a sawhorse out of 2x4's and cut and split the pine logs I salvaged after the spring storm.

- It's official (actually, it was long since official): The tomatoes were a dead loss this year. We'll need different deck-garden crops, or more aggressive squirrel deterrence. (More aggressive than a chittering cat and a silent basenji peering out from behind a closed window.)

- Speaking of cantaloupe -- who says?? September 22, 2007, 11 a.m.