My computer is back to good health (fingers crossed) and I can finally do the post I had intended to do last week. World Earth Day marked the end of the Small Change challenge and I was able to enjoy the celebrations happy in the knowledge that our family had done its part to join in. Along with Individuals and families, world wide, we made an effort to create lots of little changes hoping to result in a big, lasting and positive difference for our planet.
January ....
saw a switch to locally sourced veggies - An investigation into all the options led us to Riverford Organics and a solution that is working well for us as a family. A weekly box delivery of vegetables has been added to and now all our meat and a good proportion of our fruit and dairy products are delivered alongside. The flexibility of Riverford means we can chop and change our order up to 48 hours before delivery, a benefit often lacking with box delivery services I have tried in the past and one that means that this is a small change we will definitely be sticking with.
February....
was the month where plastic bags disappeared from our lives completely. Shopping bags had long been banned from our house but I realised that other types of plastic bag were still managing to make it through the door. In february I worked hard making cloth bags of every description and I can't imagine ever being tempted back to the alternatives. My boys are now used to their cloth bags and enjoy showing them off to their friends - I have even had requests from those friends for the pattern - Another successful and permanent change.March....
was no spend month - not something we have any intention of carrying on forever but an amazing learning process that taught all of us some very important lessons and something we fully intend to repeat at least once a year.April....
was our month of planting and planning for the future. Our seeds are in and sprouting nicely, the garden is prepared and later in the year we hope to harvest some of the freshest and most local produce you can get. We'll have to wait and see what the weather brings before we see how successful this change is but so far it all looks quite hopeful and we are all very enthusiastic.We have loved every moment of taking part in this challenge and I would like to say thank you to Suzy at Hip Mountain Mama for all the hard work she has put into organising it. I think like most people who have taken part we feel we have gained much more than we have given up and that although the process has come to an end the changes that we have effected, will stay with us forever.
I am off now to catch up with what has been going on while I was absent and to answer all your kind comments and well wishes. I will be back soon with some progress pictures of my crochet project using all that cotton yarn and another exciting realisation of part of my 'to do' list - can you guess which bit?
