A Day in the Life of an Eco Advocate

Across the Nation and around the world, 'a day in the life' is recorded. Published in photo-journalism style, a series of books capture cultural diverse lifestyles of people, places and events. Intrigued by this concept, I decide to record 'a day in my life'.

Choosing a Monday, I began the day with leisurely consuming a second cup of coffee. Having deliberately delay activities, I  assume commuter traffic presently to be minimal; so,I pack my gardening golf cart with supplies and head out to begin landscape maintenance chores. As a present-day caretaker for generational family property located in central Virginia, chores start in an area that connects to a public road. After removing weeds from a landscaped area, I pick up trash and using a mower, next cut grassy areas. Then, I step outside of our private property area and focus on clean up of the County right-of-way area. Why do I make this choice? If I don't make an additional effort, it could be weeks if not months before public funded clean up occurs.

After taking a brief break, supplies are packed and slowly I travel back into the family complex. Passing individually maintained properties, I inspect for 'needed clean up' but there is no need to stop. In fact, it is not until I reach an intersection that I chose to stop. After pulling a few weeds, I cut grass; still, there is little or no clean up necessary. A final stop is an area  which  provides access to the property's original house site. After trimming over grown shrubs, I cut grass and opt to spray for invasive weeds.

While most properties are associated with publically funded 'common areas', we because the area is a family complex maintain an one-half mile private road and its surrounding landscape. Because this space is shared with others, I exchange ideas with a neighbor related to improvement of the area's eco maintenance. And, when grandchildren arrive home from school, they are included in this process. Changing my 'gardening cart' to the Nana mobile, we ride around and inspect installed cool and warm season veggie gardens. We also inspect the progress of what is refer to as the 'Noah  Ark' - one or two plants as necessary - orchard.

As a result, this 'day in my life' experience is a blend of private and public space chores with input from multiple generations of community residents; so, what life lessons are identified? In this case, it definitely 'takes a village perspective' to make maintenance of a generational property work. Why? The area hosts open green spaces which are farm, wetland habitats occupied by critters, home site areas occupied by people; and, receives runoff from over 500 acres of surrounding suburban urban development which makes eco conservation a 21st century priority. In other words, it takes a perspective of CARE - conservation, accountability, recovery and eco efficient - to sustainably land manage this area.

If you were to record a 'day in your life', what would you identify? Would you discover that you 'walk your talk'? Would you be seen as an eco advocate? During the year of 2013, I've issued a challenge to all to 'get real' in their communication. So, if someone observed your 'day in a life', what message would you communicate? Would you be seen as a person who has a perspective of CARE?

Whether interested in effective communication and/or eco efficiency tips and strategies, visit web site www.TheWrightScoop.com. Together, let's get real - walk our talk, be seen as people who have positive eco impact during a 'day in our life'.   

Sylvia Wright  www.TheWrightScoop.com
Move from eco-weak to eco-chic – ‘green’ life’s garden, one scoop at a time! Link to column,
http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-richmond/sylvia-wright or Sylvia's book store, http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/syhwright
Member of www.NLAWP.org

And allow me to share this excerpt of my upcoming book: "I once had a Farm in Ireland"

A Day in the Life of a Farmer & his Wife (Excerpt)

Here is what our typical day looked like: Get up at 6 a.m. Make breakfast. Let out the geese and broilers as soon as the sun is out. Wake children. Grind wheat grains into flower in the pantry. 1kg takes about 45 minutes. Have breakfast. Start baking bread or cake while children get dressed and pack their bags. Prepare lunch boxes. Let bread rise and put in the hot Aga for an hour. (Mac would take it out when finished; usually on his coffee break). Mac would go out and check on animals if there were any in the stables. Together with our children, he would feed horses and muck out. Children feed dogs and cats. Shower and get dressed. Pack my books and get ready, equipped with shopping list. Get kids in the car. In the first years, drive kids to local school, later to the one in Limerick (45 min). Go to work: teach a few hours at the University while Mac ran the farm, collected eggs and let the hens out. In the afternoon, I’d pick up children, grab some groceries with our tired offspring in the car. Time for coffee and cake break while kids do their homework. Mac would go to do his errands, as soon as the car was back or all go horse riding. I had to prepare classes for next day or do some gardening-- or harvesting, depending on the time of year. Once a week in the second and third year I would give German classes to local kids around the kitchen table an hour or two. Then the stables have to be mucked out again, animals fed and put to bed: Geese & chickens rounded up and locked in. Cook dinner. Tidy up kitchen. Time for a book or paper. Then crash exhausted, usually by 9 p.m.

Siggy Buckley

The Ex Farmer's Wife's page on FB who is also an Eco advocate since 1980.

 

Our 200th Posting

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Over the weekend I read a little eBook by Brian McGrath and Pandora Poikilos called Genetically Modified Foods vs. Sustainability. Non-fiction books of such a serious matter don't often come your way in the freebie department. Our readers here may know that I have a strong interest in organic matters and all things green due to the experience in my previous life on an Irish organic farm. (In fact, I'm working hard on finishing that book called "I once had a Farm in Ireland".)

In the USA a lot of children think milk comes from the supermarket and peaches from a can, according a recent survey; even the kids in Georgia where most peaches are grown. That shows how far removed from the sources of our food we’ve become. Kids never set foot on a farm.
By the same token, most people think the food in the frozen food isle is actually real food, not realizing it's chock full of unnatural additives; preservatives, colorings, and artificial flavorings. That was one of the reasons we chose to grow our own food/produce already over 20 years ago. We felt that returning to natural eating habits was a must. 
Now more than ever! Healthy Eating Starts with NO GMO (genetically modified organisms)! The problem here in the States is that genetically modified produce need not be labeled. So you don’t know what you are eating. You can assume, however, that you take in 70% genetically modified foods, if you live off the fast food isle. I highly recommend reading two other books by Jeffrey Smith’s: 'Seeds of Deception' and 'Genetic Roulette' for more in-depth information.
Smith documents at least 65 serious health risks from GM products of all kinds, including (and I quote:)
“Male mice fed GM soy have damaged young sperm cells.
The embryo offspring of GM soy-fed mice have altered DNA functioning.
Several US farmers have reported sterility or fertility problems among pigs etc.” 

The list goes on and on. To sum it up: GMO foods can be: • Allergenic • Toxic • Carcinogenic • Anti-nutritional.
How can we avoid GM food? By buying organic. I experienced firsthand how difficult it is to acquire that well-earned label “Organic”. If the idea of eating GM foods bothers you, get the quintessential shopping guide that lists GM foods: http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho of the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS) explains why GM foods are so dangerous: Playing with Technology We Don’t Fully Comprehend (read the full article on Mercola Article on GM.
Products to avoid that contain these at-risk ingredients are 1. Soy 2. Corn 3. Cotton 4. Canola. I don’t know how cotton gets into the food chain, but soy and canola oil is prevalent here and hard to circumnavigate.

I watched the first court cases taking place in Ireland against a certain chemical giant that is behind GM food and has the monopoly on seeds. I saw the struggle of our fellow small holding farmers who became surrounded by experimental fields testing the Multinational's seed and growth progress. Here 70 % of foods are genetically modified. In spite of  9 out of 10 Americans according to a 2012 poll are against it. In Europe it only affects 5% of produce. There it's forbidden not to label them as GM. Corn on the cob here is GM- that's a given, also the canola oil made out of it. In Germany and some other European countries it's forbidden. The least one would expect here as well is to have these produce labeled as such so that the informed consumers decide for themselves whether they want to ingest a veggie that has been altered by a bacterium that  makes the plants grow its own resistance against pests. To leave the labeling at the voluntary discretion of the companies involved seems to invite the fox into the hen house.
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine has called for a moratorium on genetically modified foods. Genetically modified foods That’s food for thought, ain’t it? 
Good luck to the authors Brian McGrath and Pandora Poikilos spreading the word! The eBook it's not free anymore although it is worth the investment of $2.99. My review is up on Amazon.

The Ex Farmer's Wife
www.InandoutofIreland.blogspot.com
@Hernibs