Sustainability. I thought I could just write a few lines on the subject and that would be that. But the more I dug into it the more overwhelmed I began to feel, and the guiltier I felt for my glaring shortcomings.

Knowing that we are responsible to maintain healthy living conditions for all our natural resources left me feeling guilty about my many little offences. Things like using old appliances that were not energy smart, or buying aerosol products were a flashing red light.

Well, I could go on and on about it. Instead, I decided to take a trip around my property to see where I could 'up' the standard of sustainability.

Some of my half-acre is pretty much a blank canvas as far as landscaping goes, but there are several fruit trees that were planted before my time. It took a couple of years to prune and care for them properly, but they're starting to look healthy, and actually yield decent fruit. Last year the apple, plum, and fig trees produced enough to not only freeze, but make jam and give some away. The tomatoes did well too.

I dug in sawdust, seaweed, torn up paper, coffee grounds, and any other available organic material I could salvage. My tomatoes were first class, prize winning monsters! To begin with they were just leafy bushes because I planted them too close. Worried, I stuck my hand into the bush and rummaged around for something resembling a new tomato. Gotta be something in there somewhere, and then my hand closed on a hard green tomato the size of a baseball. When plants grow this well in rich soil I can hardly wait to plant them again next spring.

Eureka! I'm doing something right! I'm going right into heritage tomatoes next year. These species are about 100 years old and they come in all sorts of strange colors and shapes with names to boot. How about Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, or my personal favourite - Mortgage Lifter! There is also the Mammoth Creten that can weigh up to 3 pounds! Hmmm .... got a little off track there, didn't I?

Drifting on to the rest of the property I stopped at the rain barrel and did a quick check to see that the gutters and water trough were lined up properly. It's not actually a proper drain trough, but a long piece of metal I found in the scrap pile left there by the previous owners, and it does the job. I keep a few water loving plants in an old plastic tub right there where it's easy to give them a scoop of rain water as I pass by. If I check the rain barrel I automatically check the water cistern, too. Without it I don't know what I'd do if my well water ran out. As it is I try to conserve my water and rely on just the rain barrel for my plants, and let the lawns go dry.

There's an old wood pile in the back and I often pull out a piece to fix something or other. It's a mix of driftwood I hauled up from the beach last summer, old flooring, some 2x4's, and chunks of cedar rounds that have been sitting around for a while. Some of it makes great kindling and logs for my fireplace, and the rest is going to be used for many campfires in late fall.

Moonlit nights and campfires and Oh!.... There's a moon light in my hall ceiling called a sun tunnel. Go figure! It's sort of a half moon shape and somehow it magnifies the minimal light from a dark sky. It's bright enough that I don't need a night light in the hall and it's free!

As I wandered around my property I forgot the whole reason I was making the trip. Yeah, it was sustainability. That means the 3 R's - reuse, reduce, and recycle, and I guess that's what I've been doing. Avoiding using the 'bad' stuff, breaking down the stuff I can't use, recycling what I can, and sharing the surplus with others. Basically, all it means is that I can help keep the environment healthy by caring for its renewable resources. It's just back to nature, and it feels pretty good to be part of the solution.

August 4, 2008