A sustainable life is not only cheaper and healthier, we also find that it is far more satisfying and honorable than the standard American consumer lifestyle!
We're often asked for sustainable tips. Because every single aspect of life is re-imagined at the Garden of Eden to be more beneficial to all life and our living planet, we have countless tips to share, but it all comes down to the bottom line:
We use WAY less water, electricity, natural gas, and ALL resources than a typical American household. We have found alternate methods of achieving the necessary functions of having a healthy body, functional house, and a happy life.
We use less gas to fuel our cars because we are not running all over town every day. We use baking soda to wash our hair and many things needing washing, vinegar to wash the windows and floors, newspaper or phone book paper to wipe up just about any mess, the fresh air to dry our clothes, the sun to dehydrate our food and heat our water; the list goes on and on!
We wash our clothes, bodies, dishes, etc., using the minimum amount of soap and water needed to get clean. We wash only when we actually need it, rather than habitually washing "just because". One way we do this is to keep sets of clothes for getting dirty and sets of clothes for keeping clean. We wear our clean clothes only inside the house, thus reducing the amount of house cleaning and laundry that is necessary.
Many, many little adjustments like this add up to create a big difference in the amount of resources we use as a community. This not only saves money and environmental damage, but it also saves us the energy of having to do all that extra washing.
We also use alternative solutions that utilize free and/or renewable resources to do everyday things.
In summer, we take beautiful and refreshing outdoor showers that uses water supplied from our well. One of the highlights of the 100 degree F Texas summer season is using the 55 degree F well shower any time of day to get genuinely cold within 30 seconds.
In winter, we shower indoors in water heated by the wood-burning stove that also heats our common room.
Our outdoor well shower is covered in grape vines and rose bushes.
Rather than using an electric or gas burning stove, we cook using forsaken wood that would otherwise be in the trash. In warm weather, we use our outdoor kitchen with the cob rocket stoves and cob oven. In cold weather, we cook on the indoor wood burning stove that also heats our common rooms; we also heat all water for showers at the same time. This makes it an extra-efficient use of the wood, and a great alternative to gas or electricity.
We turn off the lights, religiously. Since sustainability is important to us, it is a natural part of the flow of our day to be conscious of what electricity we are using. If we leave the room, we turn off the lights and/or fan and/or computer and/or whatever is not going to be used while we are out. If no one needs a light to see something important, it is off.
We purchase just about NOTHING from stores. No purchase means no financial support for their unsustainable ways. If there is something we just absolutely can't get around having for some technology or construction project, we will trade for it or receive donations.
We make one with the elements. We do not rely on conventional heating or air conditioning to regulate our environments. If it is chilly, we wear more clothes. If it is sweltering, we wear much less, and douse our hot bodies in the outdoor 55 degree well shower to cool off.
We are conservative and purposeful about our travel. If we do go out in an automobile, it is for a purpose that serves our greater purpose of living and sharing sustainability. We go out with the intention of making the world a more sustainable and life-supporting place such as facilitating a festival, conference, or catering an event with WAY more sustainable food than what is available anywhere else. When we choose to make a trip to a festival or a market, we are doing so with the purpose of spreading awareness, sharing perspective and changing people's lives for the better. And even then, we do so in the most efficient and sustainable way we know how. We don't go out cruising to clear our heads or just to get away or put the children asleep.
We consolidate tasks on our trips out, and we get as many things done in one trip as possible, choosing locations that are as close as possible to achieve our purpose.
We always pick up something that enriches the GOE vortex when out. If running to the bank or the post office, the driver also stops by somewhere to pick up some cardboard or sawdust that would have otherwise been trash. Those are then used in our garden and composting toilets, respectively, and then become compost/soil. No one ever comes back empty handed.
We salvage a vast amount of resources from the trash- literally TONS! Every year the GOE saves hundreds of thousands of pounds of forsaken matter that would otherwise pile up in a toxic land fill. We do this either by getting it before it is thrown away or even sometimes right after. A quick peek behind the dumpster gate or into the pile of stuff on the curb has proven a worthwhile gander many a time for the Eden Knights. Landscaping companies dump whole truck loads of wood chips, leaves or other organic matter on our property for free rather than paying to dump it at a landfill, and we use the resources for our garden. We even have people who save their trash and bring it to us instead of throwing it away.
We made our chicken coop from trash-sourced pallets.
We grow lots of our own food! With water not processed or supplied by a municipality, we pay only for the electricity to pump the water up through our well. We use NO processed or commercial fertilizers, only our own rich and nutritious compost.
We compost everything organic: paper, cardboard, food, pee and poo. It all becomes soil and then enriches our land, which enriched our food, which enriches our bodies, which we use to further the cause of living and sharing sustainability.
Cardboard and mulch make dank soil.
There are many elements that contribute towards our super sustainability and negative carbon footprint, and these are a few facets of life that we practice almost without thinking. To make a shift from a traditional consumer lifestyle towards something more beneficial to humanity and the planet takes a bit of thoughtful reprogramming at first, but we hope you are inspired to give it a go until it becomes habit!
www.intothegardenofeden.com
I am also on my way to stop consuming for consuming and since a few month totally avoid supermarket,avoid buying for buying, reuse as much as possible. But I still have a lot to learn from you
Keep posting
Great JOB!
Every little bit helps. All we have is now and NOW we CAN do something!
I love your sustainable living and your efforts to spreading this message. Everyone should try reducing waste and forsaking items instead wasting stuff that might end up floating in the ocean for a million years. Every single person can make a difference.
Yes every little bit helps. Even in a "normal" life there are SOO many small and simple practices that can be integrated to make BIG differences in the long run.
It's so awesome to hear people understanding the truth about these things @blockchainevo. We can all make a difference. Thanks for tuning in.
Wow this is one of the best posts I have ever seen on Steemit. Its so sad there are only 88 views on it. I wish everyone would atlas read this post even if not implementing any of it. There are so many lagatimnt practical tidbits of insight here to be able to integrate into almost any life style.
A little bit at a time goes a LONG way~*~
It's so fun to see put into words some of the practices implemented here at the Garden of Eden. Even little changes go a very long way to making global change. I'm truly grateful for this example!!!
@quinneaker tuned me onto a more in-depth realization of how I had become complacent about my living habits. I was paying for things that I had always been paying for, not because I necessarily needed them, but because it was my daily norm to engage them. Paying attention to the wisdom he shared, my life became incredibly simple, my needs for $$ fewer, my requirements for upkeep of my lifestyle diminished greatly, and the time I had for myself drastically increased. I no longer had to worry about my future as I now know I can thrive on very little, and I do not have to give up my time, energy or money to maintain my needs.
Transformation is possible, and oh so rewarding!!! Thank you Quinn for showing me possibility, and for creating the @gardenofeden as an example of how to be the change. Awesome post!
Its so easy and normal to just keep doing what has always been, what parents, friends and family do.....
School and jobs help make sure of that.
Oh the rabbit hole......
Right? It's incredible how unaware we are when we are following the "norm"!!! That is one very deep hole indeed!
Oh yes....been going on for GENERATIONS.
Thankful to have died and been reborn, transformed~*~
<3
I have my own garden, and when I say garden its sounds small but its actually two pieces of land in total of 2.22 acres. As a vegan and someone who pursues freedom and independence I am vary proud of eating only my own plants and vegetables. Last season I had everything from greens, beans, veges to spices like oregano and basil. Its located by the lake, and we have our lake house that needs to be finished soon. Its a fantastic feeling when you eat your own labour in a sense, but also knowing what you eat. I'll probably do a post on it, with a video walk-through in the next couple of days.
2.22 acres is a sizable garden indeed! Food freedom is an incredible accomplishment. There is a much more intimate connection with food when you raise it yourself. How many people do you have in your space?
Wow that is a mighty achievement!
Congratulations and THANK YOU!
Thank you all! I didn't know that Steemit has such an enthusiasm toward gardening. In Serbia where I come from, due to the economic situation many people are getting back on the country side and practicing self-sustainability. Everyone was a land on the country side, but many still stay in the cities looking for a job, and leaving the rat race. I don't see the point of leaving in a large city where you work your ass off just to live like a mouse. I wrote an article about this topic a couple of days ago - not being able to escape from the obligations of everyday life. The answer to the question that I ask in the end is simple - self-sustainability. Check it out of you are interested:
https://steemit.com/anarchy/@drumsta/the-great-alienation
@gardenofeden I didn't understand you question fully, but our smaller garden is for our needs, we are a family of 4. And the other bigger one is for sale. This season my father planted flowers more then vegetables, because of the higher retail price and we use all that money to further invest in our property.
Ok I promise to do at least a walk around video in the next couple of days, and I'll post the link here.
Cheers!
@gardenofeden @quinneaker @everlove
As promised here is a post about my garden with a walk-trough video. Check it out:
https://steemit.com/life/@drumsta/my-vary-own-garden-behind-a-lake-house-for-self-sustainability-vegan-lifestyle-and-food-freedom
Woohoo @drumsta!!! Way to better yourself and the world. Thank you!
you perfectly summed up my goals in life so thank you!
Hahaha---now that I've read your profile bio I see why you say that!!! AWESOME! You're doing it!
I'm really glad that you found the @gardenofeden. Life here is truly a blessing like no other I have ever known.
This post is one of the most powerful I have read long time
I totally agree! Wish more people would actually read it even if not practice it.
Yay!!! So glad you've found value in this post. To feel the implications of change is indeed a blessing. Imagine more of us investing focused attention on creating the world in which we wish to live!!!! In that even greater power resides. So glad to have you here @zyzz.
I moved out of Arlington not too long ago. Seems like good work you're doing. Good luck!
Yes we're quite successful at "good work"!
Deleted - I must have clicked on the wrong Reply link.
Wow you lived in arlington? I say good riddance hahahah though we do have a wonderful life and help this local community a great deal it is NOT a very holistic, sustainable or conscious place.....
SteemON!
Yeah, honestly I'm glad to be out of Texas. I wanted to live in a vastly more progressive state, although I love Austin, and used to live there too. I heard it's getting very crowded and expensive though. And goddamnit, it's so fucking HOT!!!!!
Hahhahha can't argue with that!
I can also say that I have never seen or heard of a better quality of life than at @gardenofeden!
Awesome! :)
Seriously!
Most people are very surprised to find us here in Arlington. It is one of the most unsuspecting places, considering the very conservative, bible-belt nature of the city. That just goes to show--if we can do it here, we can do it anywhere!!! Glad you've found us now @akhenkheires!
Thanks :)
And I think I heard the Dallas area is becoming more progressive though. It makes sense to me. Looks like you're contributing to that! ;)
We're living true which shines a lot of light on things!!! We're grateful to do it together and to be committed to such a high standard for ourselves. Grateful to connect with you @akhenkheires.
Thanks :) I'll check out your website.
Quite a wise move @akhenkheires. Hope you find some inspiration there! <3
Thank you for making the world a better place, and for sharing your tips for sustainable living.
You're welcome! May it continue to inspire~*~
Yes this truly was a very valuable post!
keep up the good job!
Breaking the chains that bind us to a broke system!
namate!
Thanks for the encouragement, @jesse2you! We are the change!!!
Conscious effort on a moment-to-moment basis. Grateful to share it with you @jesse2you.
Beautiful lifestyle of yours that cares for nature , congratulations @gardenofeden .
Thank you @katari!
Love what you're doing. Making a difference and setting a great example. Great post.
Thank you @sthomestead!
Well done! great work run a grass root in kerala, India, with a few friends. We are building water wells, rainwater harvesting systems and support an orphanage. We're also dreaming of creating an eco self-sustainable orphanage. And your projects is greatly inspiring. Check out ours here www.anahatama.com
Great job! I wish everyone did things this way.
Me too!
Very encouraging post.
Agreed!
Congratulations! Thanks for make the world a better place
Regardless of if we get thanks or not we will continue to do so and it will benefit ALL regardless of if they are aware or not!
SteemON!
Followed you guys! Do you have a post about putting together your cob oven? We're looking to do that hopefully this winter depending.
I have a bunch of posts on making the Cobb Rocket Stoves. Not one on the oven. Will make one though next time I make an oven!
Leaving in such environment , increases your life expectancy.It explains why our forebearers lived longer.
Love the concept! I just don't think this is possible for people living in big cities. there is no farming space ( I know because I've asked permission to plant vegies all around the city and the shortest waiting period was 3years)
Maybe one day when I'll be able to get a spot outside of the city...
Good story you that you share
Beautiful place that you are in.
Please follow me @patricksanlin and upvote. Thanks
bien sigueme y te sigo
Love you guys!
so is nice if we have Owen garden but the in popular city and capital city if you living i think is not possible
If you read the post u will see there are MANY things in it that can be done without a garden, land or even in a city. It may not be much but every little bit helps!
I am also on my way to stop consuming for consuming and since a few month totally avoid supermarket,avoid buying for buying, reuse as much as possible. But I still have a lot to learn from you
Keep posting
Great Job!
Truly truly inspiring. So many of the little things add up so quickly to make such a drastic change all for the good and the soul. Rewarding. This lifestyle although I do many of the simpler things already, I strive to live. Thank you, and upvoted and re-steemed so that this can inspire others, and take on that challenge.
This is awesome, Great for you guys.
I will probably never be as sustainable but I just started a mini herb garden outside our apartment, well I will be moving in soon but even before I move things get going :D
Soy tu tio
I really enjoyed your post. Over the last several years we have decided to live simpler too. We still have a long way to go but are constantly taking steps 💕
It's really great to be friend with a cool person like you :) Steemit community really needs a person like you to grow bigger!
I UPVOTED and FOLLOWED you. Please follow me back @apple64 so that we can become the best friend forever :)
I miss this lifestyle very much. So glad i have it in my experience. I raised my son with these same values. Nice and informative post. Thank you.