After two years of eco-living, what works and what doesn't

[XemaSab]

It started with gray water, then escalated to chickens, composting toilets and rain barrels. I'm talking about the two years I've spent transforming my humble California bungalow into a test case for sustainable living — an experience that's cost me hundreds of hours of my time and thousands of dollars, an endeavor that has tested the limits of not only my checkbook but also my sanity — and my DIY skills.

When I launched the Realist Idealist column, the idea was to look at environmentally promising home improvement projects through the eyes of a budget-minded consumer. I had seen so much media coverage that heaped praise on newly constructed eco-manses or expensive retrofit products, but the stories didn't answer my biggest question: For the green-minded person writing the checks, are the improvements worth the time, effort and expense?

Although everything I retrofitted seemed wise at the time I did it, hindsight tells a different story. Over time, I occasionally questioned the wisdom of some actions.

The idealist in me finds value in every improvement, but the realist can't deny that some have been far better in terms of payback — if not financially, at least morally. The systems that easily fold in to my busy life are the ones I've enjoyed most.

http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-realist-main-20101016,0,7206697.story?page=1

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I read this article with great interest.

I'm mostly happy to see that I'm not the only one who has found growing your own veggies to be a dismal failure. :P

[pansypoo53219]

1. well, if not for fucking rabbits, i have done very well with

pole beans. peas, cukes. my rhubarb was awesome last year. but the rest-farmers market. i have lots of 09 green peppers in the freezer. and red peppers for fajitas. i still have about 5lb of onions left(i got a shitload in nov. my carrots lasted til the beginning of feb and they were starting to sprout in the fridge. my potatoes lasted into dec, but too many roots(need a cooler spot). this season i will be getting more carrots and hopefully i use up the peppers. last years it was a bumper crop at the market. i did buy them. i am looking forward to my pepper soup i made up. plus chicken wire to protect my pole beans. try again with potatoes. need to figure out what crops best for you. my peppers always suck.

[XemaSab]

2. Here's what has worked and what hasn't:

Worked: tomatoes, lettuce, greens, artichokes, sage, and rosemary.

Sorta worked: cauliflower and Thai peppers.

Total dud: onions, garlic, zucchini, cucumbers, all squashes and melons, asparagus, eggplant, bell peppers, basil, broccoli, and carrots. Also two orange trees that have done terribly, and an avocado tree that got a fungus.

Total dud but it was probably my fault: potatoes.

The jury is still out on the peaches and grapes.

[Javaman]

12. How did you fail at garlic? that is so easy to grow. nt

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Rabbits is edible too.

[Ratty]

3. GREAT article

I've just bought my first house and am implementing or thinking of implementing some of these things. I admit my motivation is financial rather than ecological though. I'm in the process of doing the edible landscape thing. I just tore out a beautiful hibiscus hedge and planted blueberries. I'm tearing out the lawn and building planter boxes and targeting other decorative plants for conversion to edible. Now I'm thinking how I'll water all this and have been considering graywater and harvesting roof runoff. I'm a very low electricity user so just can't justify the expense of adding anything solar.

I'm very very interested in the comments about growing your own veggies to be a failure. As the growing season approaches I'm trying to decide what to plant. I'm aiming for cheapness, convenience, taste, and appearance: i.e., growing things that are expensive to buy (avocados), or are convenient to pick fresh as needed rather than making the long trip to the store (lemons, herbs), or just always taste so much better than anything you can get at the store (tomatoes, asparagus), or are decorative in their own right (brussels sprouts!). Why do you guys feel this kind of a thing is doomed to failure?

[XemaSab]

5. I don't think it's doomed to failure

but I would caution that if you're doing it to save money, you need to be smart and strategic.

One of the things that was a monster waste here was square foot gardening. I built boxes and lined them with weed cloth, but the weed cloth did NOT keep out Bermuda grass and in this climate a 6 inch box isn't deep enough for the middle of the summer. They worked great for about 5 months, then the plants started dying and the weeds have taken over. I can't get the weeds out without dismantling the boxes and ditching the (shockingly expensive!) mixture and starting over from scratch. All in all, I would guess that we spent about $200 for about 5 small artichokes, 6 cauliflowers, a small mountain of lettuce, and a small mountain of collard greens.

Phase B of the square foot project was taking square foot garden mix and putting it in half barrels to grow things like zucchini, but even though the barrels had holes in the bottom, they retained moisture TOO well and the plants drowned. The mixture turned into an anaerobic mess. Needless to say, we got NO zucchini out of this effort.

The whole reason why I tried square foot gardening in the first place is that there are some things we have NEVER been able to grow in our soil, and we also have a SERIOUS weed problem with morning glories and Bermuda grass.

I've spent 6 years trying to have a garden at this house, and it's been 6 years of throwing money into a bottomless pit. This year we're doing tomatoes and greens and that's it.

[Ratty]

6. Well that's depressing

I've spent 6 years trying to have a garden at this house, and it's been 6 years of throwing money into a bottomless pit.

I spent 10 years at my old place trying to grow tomatoes. I had a big planter box with lots of sun and always planted three plants: 1 cherry and 2 regular sized ones. The cherries always did well but the regular-sized ones ALWAYS died after bearing a couple of tomatoes. After trying different varieties I just gave up the last couple of years. I'm hoping now it was something in the soil or a disease or bug in that particular region and that this time is the charm. Looking to plant something like 10 plants and do lots of canning this year.

[XemaSab]

10. Grow more cherry tomatoes

The big ones are hit-or-miss here. :(

[Javaman]

16. What part of the country do you live in? nt

[XemaSab]

19. Northern California

n/t

[Javaman]

22. Hmmm, could be a evening temp issue.

Tomatoes do best when planted in soil and evening temps are above 45 degrees.

Pruning them will also help a lot.

Also, observe if you are getting enough pollination. Watch the bee activity. You might need to self pollinate. It's a drag but can be done.

Tomatoes need sun and lots of it. Could be that. You might want to pick up a farmers almanac, if you already haven't, to see the average amount of full sunny days in your neck of the woods.

I use lady bug fertilizer. It has worked really well for me. They have one that is made specifically for vegetables. I fertilize at the beginning of each month.

If you live near the coast, that might also play an issue. I recently read an article talking about the effects of sea breezes on vegetable growth. (the salinity).

Hope this helps.

[XemaSab]

24. I live inland

It can be 90 here at night. :o

I think the problem with the big ones is that you have to keep them evenly moist, and doing that when the temperatures are high can be difficult.

Anyone ever mulch with sand? I'm worried that shredded bark will promote fungal growth, but sand should buffer temperatures and moisture at the roots without keeping things too humid. I came up with this theory on the fly, though, and I haven't tested it. :P

[Javaman]

25. Sounds like here in Texas.

Yeah, I think you might be right about the moisture.

Last summer I was watering twice a day. The 100+ temps were killing me.

And still I had some that split.

If you could figure out a way to mulch with sand, you will be a millionaire. LOL :)

You could try mulching with straw.

Cheers.

[Javaman]

15. Tomatoes require regular pruning.

Also soil temp plays a big role on fruiting. However, since you got tomatoes then they stopped going to fruit, it sounds like a fertilizer issue. How often did you apply it? And what kind?

[Ratty]

17. I live in Berkeley

I've never heard of pruning tomatoes. That's definitely a new one to me. Most years I never fertilized at all. But a couple of years I fertilized with fish oil - just once but they still died before I thought any more fertilization was an issue. The symptoms were always the same. Large, glorious green plants that began to yellow and die starting from the inside bottom of the bush and working its way up by the time the first few tomatoes started to ripen. I never saw any parasites.

As for the cherry tomatoes they were never a priority to grow for me. I just grew one because there was room and they always did well. But the cherry tomatoes I get at the supermarket always seemed as good as what a person could grow. I don't know why that is. But it's impossible nowdays to find a regular size tomato in the supermarket with any taste at all. You gotta grow 'em yourself. BTW, our farmer's markets are OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive here so that's not an option for quality fruit and veggies.

[Javaman]

20. Okay, it sounds as if you have a virus or a fungus in your soil.

Sounds like something is getting to your roots.

If you haven't already, go to your local nursery and chat with one of the gardeners. If you don't have raised beds, you might consider it. easier to control the soil that way.

Pruning allows for the plant to produce stronger more resilient fruit. If you are looking at your plant, you want to cut off the very lower "branches" below the first flowering "branch". Also, you want to get rid of the "suckers". They divert nutrients that would otherwise go to the flowers. Suckers are located in the "crotch" of a "Y" intersection. If you look at a "y", you will observe little leaves beginning to grow. Just pinch them off.

I do this about once a week. Also, soil and air temps (in the evening) never want to be below 45 degrees. Your plants will either not produce or give you stunted growth.

I fertilize all my plants at the beginning of each month. I don't use fish oil, I used Lady Bug Organic fertilizer. I believe it's seaweed based. Works well for me.

Also, you might want to get your soil checked, you might have a ph issue. High in either direction could cause all sorts of problems. You can get simple test kids at most nurseries. If you have an school of agriculture in your area, that's the very best next thing to do. Most will do soil tests for free, but it usually takes a couple of weeks.

Texas A&M has great info. Just google their name and tomatoes, you should get a few hits.

Regular tomatoes in the stores are grown en masse. They are usually picked green and sprayed with a "ripener". And because they are, more than likely, grown on factory farms, their soil and fertilizer aren't of the highest quality, just the least expensive.

As a result, the flavor is less than desirable.

For the longest time, before I started growing my own, I hated how tomatoes tasted. Never liked them. Now, since I grow my own, they are actually sweet.

Last year I grew 4 different varieties. One standard Big Boy, one Roma and two types of heirloom. (total of 12 plants).

Growing stuff is easy, making it stay alive and produce fruit is the trick. LOL It took me a couple of years of trial and error before I started getting a good yield.

You can. Part of growing stuff is observing it. Take notes: time of day, weather conditions, when last fertilized, etc. I also do an end of season summation. What I did wrong, what I did right, etc.
Then check back on those notes the following year.

Hope this helps. :) Good luck!

[Kolesar]

7. We use frameless raised beds and have had six years of smashing success

I don't use frames because I loathe the idea of banging my cultivating hoe against the frames. I don't use square foot gardening because of morning and afternoon shade. We use "normal" spacing of about two feet between tomato plants and lots of room for squash and cucumbers.

It all started with the Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Ed Smith:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=vegetable+gardener's+bible&safe=on&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=15582225428915759877#

Then, Gardening when it Counts
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=gardeing+when+it+counts&hl=en&cid=18197116461767571281&ei=WuFvTeTCNJaMwgWBjd0W&sa=title&ved=0CAcQ8wIwADgA#p

and the Winter Harvest Handbook
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=winter+gardening+handbook&hl=en&cid=11354980060731520041&ei=iOFvTebpKoS22ASSp7TmBA&sa=title&ved=0CAcQ8wIwADgA#p

[Ratty]

18. Those books look awesome

Love how they let you read the first chapter before you buy. I don't really have any general purpose vegetable gardening books so I'm picking up a couple of these for my library.

[Javaman]

14. I have to ask you a dumb question...

when you put in your raised beds, did you dig away the grass before you put down your cloth?

I never used cloth, I found it a waste. I used cardboard.

I replace it every season.

I have six inch raised beds. I have been gardening for years. Weeds and grass are a fact of life. If you put down the cardboard each season, the weeds aren't able to grow deep roots and are easy to remove. Each day after work, I go out to the garden and do about 15 minutes of weeding each day.

Down thread you will see a run down of my garden. :)

[XemaSab]

26. I did remove them, yes

They grew up from the bottom. If and when I rebuild the beds, I am going to put them in on top of plywood.

[Javaman]

27. You might want to rethink the plywood..

as it decays it will release formaldehyde from the glues. Plywood is nasty stuff. when left exposed to the ground.

[Javaman]

13. We have 2 375 gallon tanks with two more coming this summer.

Not knowing where you live, here in Austin we experience droughts on a regular basis. Our two tanks got us through last summer but then we were hit with an extended drought through the fall. If I had the two additional tanks, I would have been fine.

I have been doing the slow conversion of all my lawn into low water or editable plants. Unless you have the bucks (which I don't) it will be a slow process, but that is good too.

You will learn what works and what doesn't. Understanding micro-climates and soil temps. When to fertilize and when not to, etc.

I just found a warm summer green that also works as a great ground cover. It's hardy in the winter and grows well in the shade during hot weather. New Zealand Spinach.

We have fig trees, a lemon tree (although it's been a bit of a struggle), blackberry and blue berry bushes. My grapes have been a challenge. This is aside from my general 160 square foot veg garden and flowers beds. I'm thinking of adding an apiary this spring.

Also, what I have learned to do is this: I plant some standard veggies, then have a small area set aside for "experiments". Plants that I have no idea how to grow, just to see if I can. I take extensive notes and ask lots of questions at the local nursery and on line.

It can be done, but because I had to do it a little at a time, it was easier that way for everything to become a part of my life. If I had gone full on hardcore at the start, I would have been completely overwhelmed.

Right now, I have garlic, onions and potatoes growing. In another week I put in my tomatoes and squash.

My next project is tapping my gray water from my washer.

It's a long term work in progress. It will never be done. If you keep that sort of view, it adds to the enjoyment of it all. :) Also, while creating, keep in mind beauty. Because after sweating all day putting up a wooden clothesline, it's nice to be able to gaze upon roses. :)

[Ratty]

21. Loving this thread

I so appreciate what you and others are sharing.

I'm in Berkeley CA and I'm definitely doing this slow. I bought the house in June which required a large financial sacrifice, thus the money issue. The yard isn't as large as I wanted so space is an issue but I believe I have the space to do most of what I want. I'm blessed with a huge deck so many things will be growing there in pots. That's where I plan to put all the tomatoes for example (though I heard it can be more difficult growing them in pots. Just what I need. Oh, well, call it an experiment). That's where the dwarf lemon tree is now and where I'll be putting in all the herbs in the near future as soon as the cold weather stops. I'm still trying to decide what kind of fruit tree to put in as I only have space for one. I'd love to keep a couple chickens but there's just no room. This year I did the dwarf lemon and am still constructing the raised beds. To give you an idea of the space I have, the lawn gives me room for a total of 4 10 x 5 beds with a bit of space between for maneuvering. The lawn is wider than that but I need to leave space for the shade cast by the neighbor's fence and shrubs. My plan is to put 2 or 3 of those beds in this year. I'm waiting to see what to do with the remaining space. I might keep a bit of lawn there or if I want or need more veggies I'll plow it up or put in the remaining raised bed. I also planted three blueberry bushes, with sunny room for another bush. That was a priority for me because I know you don't get a crop the first year. Any suggestions on the bit of extra space? A fourth blueberry? Another type of tasty berry bush? I'm also planting zucchini and butternut squash in the front yard and letting the vines spill over the hedges facing the sidewalk, a kind of whimsical touch for passersby.

The house came with lavish landscaping and I feel so guilty tearing it all out. The hibiscus bush I tore out and replaced with blueberries never hurt a soul and it was really beautiful. So this year is one or two raised beds, the lemon tree, the blueberries, and the deck garden. Next year are the grapes and tearing out more beautiful landscaping along the deck for the raspberry vines, more raised beds if I don't get them all built this year, and possibly the fruit tree once I decide what kind. Year three I'll tackle graywater and roof runoff. At some point I'll have to address the obnoxious persimmon tree in the front. I loathe persimmons and it's taking up space where I could put a tree I like. I really have my heart set on an avocado tree there. But there are guilt issues: the persimmon is mature and never hurt a soul, and neighbor issues: they love those persimmons.

[Javaman]

23. Remember it's not the amount of room you have but how you utilize it. :)

People have done truly remarkable things is areas a quarter of what you have. It's all about planning and observation.

It's a very good idea to start off container gardening. You can grow some stuff while trying to figure out what to do with your yard.

My wife and I did just that. We had several containers going while observing the yard for about a year.

We made a map of the back yard and plotted the sun through the four seasons. From that we were able to then figure out what does best where. We get a very good chunk of sun for most of the day. So that is were our raised bed are.

when planting anything read up on it's sun and water needs. then see if any place in your yard matches those requirements.

For example we planted our blackberrys on the side of our house. That only gets at most 8 hours of sun. But that is plenty (probably a little too much lol) for the blackberrys. Last year was our first yield and we had quite a bit. They grew very well and this year we should at least double our yield.

Berkeley, if I understand correctly, can have fickle weather. Some days beautiful, some days cold, rain on and off. This is perfect type of weather for berry plants. You are right on the mark with blueberrys.

But there are a whole variety that you can plant in that zone. We live in zone 8. Hot. Lots of sun, little rain. So it's always a struggle for us. It looks like Berkeley is in the 7a zone. http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/hzm-sw1.html

You can do a whole lot. But obviously, don't limit yourself to only berrys. LOL I get my seeds from a place local but a great online nursery is Millers. Get their catalog, it's free. Just reading through it will give you a quick education as to what is available to you.

Look at growing stuff in pots, like you would in growing stuff in raised beds. In a way, they are very similar. The benefit is: you can control the soil. The thing with pots you have to be aware of is: drainage. Not to much, not to little. Use a good soil. And make sure you put some rocks in the bottom.

Herbs are take virtually no effort. Just make sure that what ever sun they do get, it generally is not more that 5 hours. Herbs do very well in shade. (but you probably know that already)

How are you making your raised beds?

As far as your extra space. You may just want to leave for a place to sit and enjoy your garden. I did that purposely in my yard. I like to be out among the plants. :)

I like the idea of your zukes and squash spilling over your fence. I don't know how many people there are in your home, but between my wife and myself, two zuke plants do us very well. Otherwise you will be making A LOT of zucchini bread. lol but it never hurts to give the extra to neighbors. Could inspire them.

If you feel guilty about tearing out the landscape, then don't. Enjoy it. Slowly replace it. If there are water thirsty plants there that are killing your water bill, one by one replace them.

As far as water saving, the water tanks I have used to be food beverage syrup tanks. I know, ick. But they are large. 4 x4 foot print and 6 feet high when raised off the ground.

If you want something that large, you have to plan for it. just a little heads up.

You can prune back the persimmon. It's a pretty tree and works well with migrating birds. Avocado's are gender centric. You will need a pair of them to generate any fruit. I found that out the hard way. LOL

Given everything you stated, I think you will have no problem growing anything. I think your only challenge will be dealing with rain (over abundance) and quick changes in weather.

I hope some of this helps. I'm by no means an authority, I just have gardened for a long time. :)

Cheers.

[Kolesar]

8. Photovoltaics = success ... eom

[bhikkhu]

9. What's worked and not worked for me:

This from 4500 feet, in Zone 4 where we get frost regularly into June

Raised beds were never worth the effort - weeds hid in all the nooks and crannies and had to be hand-picked. Its all more or less flat now, with 4x20 plots separated by narrow beaten paths. Its easy enough to hoe weeds up, and the walkways are clayish and packed enough by use that they stay pretty weed-free.

Fancy mulches, plastic and covers never worked well enough to be worth the cost and effort. All we use now is leaves - my neighbors bring me an abundance each fall (saves them from hauling them to the dump) and I cover the whole garden with at least a foot layer. It kills all the weeds and insulates the soil so the worms stay busy all winter instead of dying back (regularly we have a week or two of below zero temps, and plenty of snow). Around the first of spring I straighten things up - clear the leaves off the paths and dig them into the soil. By midsummer they're all composted in and worm-eaten - gone into the soil.

We start spring with no weeds, then when they first come up I hoe them under, and sometimes again in early summer. After that I usually don't worry much - they don't take much away from the growing crops.

Tomatoes always go well, and cucumbers, onions, corn, and lettuce. The cold keeps the pests down so we don't have to use anything other than slug bait in the lettuce. Green beans always do very well, enough that I haven't planted them in a couple of years; sometimes its too much work harvesting every day and canning every week. Spinach hasn't worked, melons sometimes, leeks only once, cabbage never. Broccoli attracts whiteflies, which still gives my daughters the shivers. I always try new stuff, but very seldom do things besides the tried-and-true seem to amount to anything.

We live in a famous potato growing area, but my potatoes always get devoured by early summer. A couple of times they made a late comeback, but I wonder if potato bugs are driven from the commercial plots by pesticides, into my undefended plants.

Drip irrigation didn't work very well for me. I had at one time a quite elaborate system going, with two timers and metered lines running around. In theory it saved me a lot of time and water, but in practice there was always something going wrong, set-up was a pain, and then taking it up in fall so I could mulch and get the soil ready for a spring turning was a pain too. I never put it back down two years ago, just sinking a post in the middle of the garden and nailing a sprinkler to it. Last year I hand watered, and its worth it to spend the time in the garden keeping up with things. This year I'll probably go back to one sprinkler, on a timer for early morning watering.

[FedUpWithIt All]

11. I'll join in. Here is what has worked and has not worked for us.

Chickens...major success. In fact, i am quite hooked on the enterprise. Here is a picture of our new little ones...
We spent pretty little on the coop because we made it ourselves. The fresh eggs and the joy of raising the chickens makes up for the relatively high expense of getting and housing them. We haven't eaten any of our own chicken yet as our flock is still quite small and honestly, we haven't decided what we believe regarding the subject of meat. We have decided that if we are unable to slaughter and butcher the meat for ourselves then we should not be eating it. It is a personal thing that we are still working through. So far, we are not as good as we would like on locally raised meats that we are unable to raise for ourselves. During the summer though, we try and grow or buy local most of our produce. We pretty much eat seasonally and that, as well as buying locally, is much easier in the summer. In addition to the chickens we keep a dairy goat, her wethered kid, and rabbits. I haven't started milking her yet but plan to start this year.

We have been both fortunate and unfortunate with gardening. We've tried, to do container gardening...FAIL. The first year went ok but we were never able to replicate that limited success. We also did a hybrid square foot/lasagna garden and it was quite successful with most things. Some of the root crops were definitely too close together and badly shaded. We've never had much luck with peppers or beans. Herbs grew quite well. Crops that did amazing include watermelon, Zucchini, tomatoes, cukes, beets, turnips, cabbage. We had a lot of extra and gave a lot away. Corn and broccoli...eh.:/ Not bad, not great. One of our main gardening issues has been moving during the summer.

We have enjoyed composting and we've been doing it for so long now that i feel very weird unless the scraps either go into a composter or an animals mouth. I have NOT had luck with vermicomposting...yet. I plan to try again. We haven't really had an opportunity to use much of our own livestock manure yet but we have been composting it. We made and used out own rainwater collecters one year and it worked fine. When we build our place we are going to (if we get an OK from the health dept.)use a composting toilet like the one in the OP and a grey water settling tank and shallow leech field.

Garbage reduction, aside from food scrap, has not gone well. We recycle what we can but the local recycling center is limited and we frankly don't have much room to hold onto things. We do save soda bottles, cans and milk jugs for projects. We have been collecting soda bottles for a little over a year now and plan to use them to make a solar water heater, we use old milk just as cloches in the garden and old pop cans are washed and prepped to become a solar heater for the livestock. We have talked a lot about trying to shop bulk to eliminate the packaging waste a bit but the stores are quite far and we are limited on funds. Buying in food co-ops can be pricey.

We currently do a large portion of our laundry by hand as we rent a place without a machine and i detest the laundromat. It is laborious work and we haven't worked out the glitches in the system. Eventually we'd like to find a machine that can be run on limited solar during the summer. I do immensely enjoy hanging out the laundry though and plan to use this method from now on. The bonus is that it is such a huge energy savings that it just feels right doing it.

I've always done things like canning, home cooking, sewing, repairs, building...so these things are ordinary for us and i do feel they are helpful, environmentally, if only due to less shipping of good and materials. We have gotten our energy use, minus the electric heater in the apt, very down. We do not have a microwave, toaster, electric coffeemaker, electric irons... We live without the microwave fairly easily, replacing that method of cooking popcorn with a stovetop whirly pot, the coffee maker was replaced with a french press. We even like these things better and they are no more time or effort than the alternative. We keep an old non-electric sweeper and use it quite often. The vacuum has been getting more use lately since we've increased the number of animals hanging out at our place.

We barely use cooling in the summer and occasionally on hot days i will have a soaked sheet on our porch. It brings in a nice cool breeze. We make an effort to use the blinds, curtains and windows to supplement heating and cooling. My husband and myself both like a cool bedroom so we don't run heat during the winter. During the day our room is cool with the door closed. At night we leave the door open to the main living area. A down comforter is usually too much even with the room as cold as it is.

I recently started buying some paper towels again. The animals sometimes make it tough to have none. But it had been well over a year that we lived with only cloth and we still mostly do. We use birdeye for sneezes, flannel for dusting and wiping, terry for cleaning and a really thick cotton for drying.

Out of all of the above, the only really difficult or trying things are the laundry washing (although on a nice summer day i sometimes prefer doing it by hand), the garbage issue and the space factor of collecting recyclables for projects. Most of the changes we've made have made life more pleasant while adding very little stress, if any at all.





:)