Green Ideas 2010: Time to rehash Green Ideas 2009

2009 was definitely a busy year for me.

I tried my hand at gardening, helped finish a major house renovation, built dozens of chairs and birdhouses from rescued lumber and sewed holes up tight on several pairs of socks.

Because I was so busy on the above I had mixed results on the ‘green ideas’ I was going to try during the year (see right hand margin).


On the first idea, I did pretty darn good.

I.e., 1. No New Clothing - I will buy no new clothes until Jan. 1, 2010.

Though I bought a new straw hat in June or July, I shortly thereafter realized I’d made a gaffe, put it in the closet and purchased a used straw hat at an antique/flea market store in Fenelon Falls.


["How could I not buy the used straw hat?": photos GAH]

I purchased a couple of used hockey sweaters and pairs of used jeans at Value Village in 2009, but no other ‘new’ clothes.

Over the course of the year I learned that most clothing lasts a long, long time and only a few articles of clothing had to be taken out of circulation. Because I darned socks to get more wear and turned ratty T-shirts into ratty rags for the workshop, just two or three pairs of undies hit the trash bin.

(I know some people think that men will wear underwear until there’s nothing left but the elastic. However, since I play two hockey games per week, that doesn’t happen with me. My team-mates would razz me to death if too many holes appeared where cotton used to be.)

Taking into account that my wife purchased four new T-shirts and one sweater for me at Christmas, I think I’m ready to declare that I will add one more year to my pledge and purchase no new clothes in 2010.

Green Idea 2 (I will plant a Victory Garden in Spring 2009) was accomplished but there were few victories with my tomato, bean, onion or pea plants.

Squirrels dug up my beans and peas as quickly as I could plant them (I trapped a few squirrels but not the craftiest one of all), Ollie trampled the onions, and the tomatoes, though lovely, didn’t get enough hours of sunshine and provided only half the crop I’ve grown used to enjoying over the last few years.

In 2010, I’ll plant a garden again but perhaps I’d call it something other than a Victory garden.

Something more realistic is in order. (A Worthy Attempt Garden comes to mind).

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How did the other green ideas fare? I’ll get back to the list soon.

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