Write What You Know

by Mother Bumper

The saying goes “write what you know” and that little nugget has been spinning around in my head for days now. When I decided to blog about my spastic attempts at adopting a greener lifestyle, I developed a strange writer’s block centred on what topic to write about in my first post, which is never good. I debated what was the most important topic, which topic did I have the most to write about or what would be the most interesting. It was so confusing. So I stepped back and asked myself “What do I know?” After listening to the crickets for a while, I figured it out. Why don’t I start with explaining where the inspiration to live a greener lifestyle came from? Well that’s easy. My own family of course!

When I was a youngun, my parents set a wonderful example and planted many ideas in my head without being too preachy or too hippy-dippy, not that there is anything wrong with hippies. Anyhow, back in the seventies, curbside recycling wasn’t the norm and the era of mass consumption was going strong (as it still is today). In my house, the seventies were in full effect as demonstrated by our wood paneled, orange, red and yellow rec room décor, blue shag carpets and polyester playsuits but my parents were doing things that are only recently being implemented in some Canadian cities.

As far back as I can remember my Dad composted all our food scraps and other compostables like leaves, garden, and grass clippings. He showed me how to build a composter and turn it so that you get the rich, dark soil that will make your garden look absolutely glorious (like my Dad’s does, year after year). My Mom made it easy by putting the collector in the kitchen and it was emptied outside each night. It became second nature and when I moved into my own apartment, years before composting became a city collection service, I often felt guilty throwing food in the garbage.

We also recycled newspapers by making them into kindling logs. We had two fireplaces and there was nothing better than hanging out in front of the fireplace on a cold winter night.

My parents often bought local produce from the farmer’s markets before it became the hip thing to do in town. Back in those days it was in a dingy hockey rink instead of a trendy downtown location like it is today (not that I don’t enjoy going). They still buy as much local product as possible and know many of the local suppliers by name.

They never preached to us about doing these more earth-friendly actions, instead they demonstrated how easy it is to live that way with little effort. This is exactly what I want to do for Bumper and any future siblings. Husband is of like mind and together we are doing our best to get off our lazy butts and leave a smaller footprint.

With this blog, I want to write posts about the choices I’ve made to make my life greener and cleaner. I’ll discuss such topics as cloth diapers and diaper services, food choices, organics, where I shop, and gardening tips, amongst others. I’m also going to write about the things that don’t go so well and maybe even get some suggestions on how to do things better from you. But I’m warning you: I’m lazy sometimes and time is never on my side but this is important to me so I’m going to do my darn-diddly darndest.

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I’ve lived in Toronto for six years and in that time I’ve married, become a mom and tried to improve my impact on the planet by living a more sustainable lifestyle, all done with some success. My background is in IT and I have a degree in Psychology. That either tells you everything or nothing at all.