In the Times Argus, a Vermont newspaper, a story ran on a mother daughter team who are taking green living, sustainability, and less consumption to seriously admirable levels, and blogging about it.
Jane and Dana, along with their husband/father and son/brother, grow all their own food, or buy it from local sources within a 100 mile radius, making them Localvores as I discussed in an article last week. Not only that, but they live in home they built themselves with a solar water heater, and they heat with wood.
And the most amazing part-- they live on.... a ready for it? $400 a month budget (not counting food).
Not only that, they are doing it all within the city limits of Vermont's capital, Monteplier.
"Their yard is one big vegetable garden surrounded by apple trees and berry bushes. The chickens that sunbathe on the stone entryway lay several dozen eggs a week. Mother and daughter make their own yogurt from local milk and bread from local spelt (a grain that’s considered the grandfather of wheat).
They do occasionally buy imported coffee, chocolate, olive oil and nuts from local suppliers. But everything else stays on the supermarket shelf."
Imagine the environmental and social impacts of this kind of living for a lifetime. Then imagine if hundreds or thousands of people started living this way.
Read the article to be inspired, or follow their blog posts over at Vermont Commons.
If Jane and Dana can maintain this kind of lifestyle, I can at least cook more whole foods and try my best to purchase mostly local foods. I'm not signing on for the chickens, just yet-- I can barely manange the day to day of raising two kids 3 and under. But I am inspired!
Here is the dynamic mother daugther duo on 10 Common Sense Things Everyone Should Know, and believe me, I'm working on several of them.
4 comments:
It's amazing. One thing I learned while living in Europe was how to use local/available ingredients. I couldn't get some of the items I was used to, because stores simply did not carry them. I have carried that over in to my living in the US and now am a member of a CSA and buy additional products locally whenever available. I have changed the way I cook and eat for me and my family, and on top of the reduced environmental impact, I feel healthier and am happy knowing that my son is learning to make smart decisions for his own eating habits.
Maria, that is great! I am so glad you are making it work for your family. What does a typical night's dinner look like in your house?
For us, it depends on what is available, but usually there is pasta or bread and a lot of vegetables-- steamed-- and a salad and fruit. For example, last night, we had linguine with sautéed snow peas, onions, garlic, peppers, spinach with an asian sauce.
Thanks for posting about this great story. We're working on getting rid of our lawn here in Montpelier, and replacing it with edibles. This is inspiring for sure!
Post a Comment