One.
This month marks five years of not having a car. I know it's not something that works for everyone, but it's worked for me.
The only major difficulty for me is taking Briar to the vet. Mom, Dad, and my brothers have all helped me with this. If I had to I could always call a cab. Lola could go on the bus if I put her in a carrier. She would hate that, but it would be an option.
The bottom line is that I have figured out how to make it work.
It is scary (and I have thought about this as a result of the most recent storms and fires) to think about how I would evacuate without a car. But the reality is that the natural disaster I'm most likely to have to deal with is an earthquake. Evacuating won't help.
Plus one
Today I experimented with making a new cloth bag. I don't have it worked out quite right yet, but this is a good start. For this one I used an old table cloth. It's in the shape of a plastic grocery bag.
I tested the bag with a trip to the grocery store for milk (to make yogurt). Worked nicely.
Plastic bags will be banned in my community starting next year. I haven't used them in a long time and am very glad to see this being implemented.
I'm planning on making a cloth bag just for my dad-something appropriate for the hardware store.
Plus one
The handful of fruit I picked this morning from my garden.
The blueberries and strawberries are just about done. I have a lot of green tomatoes still, but they are starting to ripen. Mostly the yellow currant tomatoes that I planted to add a bit of color to salads. They will probably be my most productive tomatoes.
Reminds me of the value of diversity.
The blackberries would be self sustaining (they are non-native and invasive) and would take over the whole garden if allowed.
Plus one
Still using up the dye bath I made with the elderberry leaves. The fabric will remind me of dahlias when I look at it.
Cotton (reclaimed or organic), wool, silk, hemp, whatever other natural fibers there are and color absorbed from plants seem to gather the essence of sustainability for me.
Cloth is about shelter.
Sustainability
About fifteen years ago I started choosing one way I could become more sustainable each year. It's always been about this time of year that I make that choice. Past goals have included buying organic/local food, growing as much of my own food as I can, making my own yogurt, using glass instead of plastic for storing food, selling the car, making my own socks, not buying new clothing, getting a library card, the chickens, making gifts or buying them locally, supporting local businesses (even if it costs a bit more), and using non-toxic household cleaning products.
I'm not sure what my goal will be this year yet. What I do know is that one + one + one can add up to a lot.