Tuesday, April 5, 2011

A Conversation in a Sustainable Backyard





Picture this hypothetical conversation of two people and how it relates to sustainability. Sure the purists out there will fill in the blanks to this conversation, and that is great, because the more we discuss the topic, and the more information that gets inputted the better decisions we can make.

Person 1: “What did you have for breakfast today?”

Person 2: “Eggs. I have eggs pretty much every morning. “

Person 1: “Doesn’t that get expensive?”

Person 2: “No. I have chickens in my backyard. I get my eggs for free.”

Person 1: “It can’t be free, you have to feed the chickens?”

Person 2: “Actually I grow their food, corn to be exact.”

Person 1: “But that still isn’t free. You have to water the corn. You can’t possibly get enough rain to sustain it.”

Person 2: “I use rain barrels to harvest the rain to use the water later in the event we hit a dry spell.”

Person 1: “But you still had to pay for the rain barrels right?”

Person 2: “No I found someone getting rid of old 40 gallon trash buckets on Craigslist. I simply converted them into rain barrels.”

Person 1: “Don’t you have to fertilize the land where you grow the corn? I hear corn uses up a lot the soil’s nutrients?”

Person 2: “That is what the chicken manure is for. This year I will grow their corn on the left side. After I harvest it, I will move the coop over to right side where their manure will then rejuvenate the ground with nutrients so I can grow there again in the future. I just simply switch sides every year.”

Person 1: “I hate eggs.”

An obvious and straight to the point conversation, but I am sure you get the flow of where it’s going. Think to your own garden and how you can make some of the items you currently pay for, free. It’s out there, you have to look. The more you can make your garden low cost, or as close to free as possible, the more sustainable it will be.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the administrator for the largest Vegetable Gardening page on Facebook. Join in the vegetable gardening conversation today with your Facebook account and find out how you can get 2 packs of seeds absolutely free.

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