I hate when I leave a store with one item and forget to bring my own bag or the clerk tells me that no I can't "just place it in my purse". Uhm rude! Mother Earth needs no more plastic bags in the landfills. I want the earth to be a safe and beautiful place for my kids to grow up and for their kids, and so on. Granted, I am super single, but still, it's the thought that counts. And, I have tons of friends having babies.
I used pine kitty litter, reusable grocery totes, and I try to be a good recycler in a complex which doesn't have a recycling center. My mom and I are notorious for seeing a cute reusable shopper tote and being unable to pass up buying it. I have two wine bottle/jar reusable totes because every time I go to Trader Joe's, I forget it. Same goes with my IKEA bags, got two or three of those. (Also, IKEA like Sam's Club, does not give you bags.) Sam's Club has been green before most other stores. But when you think about it, we were so green prior to like 1995 then all hell broke loose and we started consuming so much styrofoam and plastic we will never be able to recover.
I can remember when all they used at Krogers was paper bags. Soda came in glass bottles that you took back to the store to be cleaned, reused, over and over again. I can remember fighting with my cousin to see who could place the bottles up on the conveyor belt that took them to God knows where at Krogers. It wasn't until Krogers remodeled the second time in my life about 1998 that the opening went away.
I used to walk or ride my bike every where. As kids, we looked forward to the days we could walk to church or to the market (yes, an actual market where you could buy some food and drinks). The market started out as run by my family but then moved on to another. If we couldn't get permission, we'd sneak up the rail road tracks to grab a Canadian Water, carbonated Cherry flavored water and some candy. Oh, the candy. We bought most of our vegetables there and at the farmers market. I grew up going to the farmers market with my mom, grandma, and aunts. The farmers knew my grandma by name, and it used to be the only place you could get Oliverio's peppers (a true WV delicacy). The farmers market used to be in a open air space under I-77/64 right before the split in Charleston. I loved running around that place.
My grandparents always had a garden, my grandpa still does. It's his hobby, true gardening. He grows some of the best tomatoes and cucumbers. He even started growing cabbage and lettuce. He would grow the cucumbers and peppers and my grandma would make me dill pickles and the rest of the family hot pickled peppers. And beets, she would can beets every year. Not my thing but she was good at it. I always helped with the tomatoes and green beans. Half runners and canners. From blanching the tomatoes to peel the skin, to squishing them down in the Mason jars. My grandma's family were all farmers, and she raised me like that too. My mom's dad would take me to make apple butter with our farmer friend, and we bought a lot of canned goods from her too. And her strawberries. She can grow fruit then make preserves like no one else. We even had a peach tree that I started with a pit when I was like 6 years old.
I miss when I was a kid, I think thats part of the reason I like living in the South so much. I grew up in a family who could provide for themselves if the need be, and while I live in a large metropolitan area, I'm not far from farm land. There are black angus cattle a mile from my apartment. The South may grow and expand, but the history is still there. Now if only there were more historical homes and buildings like in Charleston, Huntington, Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, I'd be completely happy. And an old rialto theater like the Keith Albee in Huntington. I miss that place. Such a pretty, historical building.
Peace & Love my friends.
