This blog was originally created to be an impersonal compilation of resources for people looking to homestead. But, I think what might happen here, in order to keep up with this project (this one of a million others), is that this becomes a kind of personal chronicle. I’d like to propose that I log my journey to accomplish these goals, and compile the resources along the way. I had set a lot of goals for 2018 and though it’s not over yet, it feels like it’s winding down and I’m not super sure what I’ve accomplished TBH.

However, there’s one thing I am pretty proud of this year: garbage.

We’ve made great strides to lessen our waste this year. What started as simply looking up what can actually go in the recycling (more on this later, I promise), has turned into:

1. a reduction of household waste from an average of:
   1. 4 bags of recycling to 1.5 bags (blue bags)
   2. one half-full (tall) compost bin to one half-full small compost bin
   3. and an average of one FULL (tall) garbage bin per week to one half full small garbage bin per week! That includes diapers guys!
2. burying (most of) half a tree that we took down to make the raised garden beds in our backyard, sequestering actual tonnes of carbon!
3. grey water reuse at it’s simplest form: undrunk water glasses fill a watering can, and most un-used or lightly used water (rinsing water) is caught in a pot or dish and put into our water tanks for use on the garden beds, (& the baby’s bath water is sometimes used to flush the toilet!)
4. diverting all the flyers from our mailbox to the shredder we purchased, to use as compost materials or more exciting – bedding for our hedgehog! Yes! No more trying to remember we have to drive to that one particular pet store across town to buy litter to finally change his stanky cage! This was a super win.

While I wouldn’t classify these things as self-sufficiency, they are tiny wins moving us toward a greater lifestyle change. In the coming year, I’d like to continue our waste reduction, as well as focus on minimizing our energy and resource consumption. Along with, as always, growing & preserving our own food, and DIYing as much as we can reasonably expect of ourselves.

I’m aiming to post once a week from here on out, so tell me: what would you like to read?