People often ask me how I came to be green. I tell them it’s the leprechaun blood. Seriously, I owe my green roots to my dad. He is the one who has inspired many of my so-called cockamamie (as my hubby claims) ideas. Now my dad is a mixture of Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, the dad from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Ebenezer Scrooge. Not only does he plant trees, cut up dead wood, and build many interesting contraptions (ask him about the electric chair he built as a boy!), but he is phenomenal in his ability to squeeze every bit of value out of his pennies. Much of his environmentalism stems from the fact that he does not and will not waste money or anything else. Take for example the fact that we lived for years without running water. He claimed that that’s what rivers were created for. If we wanted a bath, we could just hike on down to the river and take one. No sense in paying for plumbing when nature provides it for us, right?

I remember him eagerly pouring over issues of Mother Earth News. Inevitably, after reading a new issue would come a new idea. After reading about how to identify edible wild plants in one issue, we were packed up into the truck (My brother and I relegated to the back camper where we could scream and carry on without damaging anyone’s eardrums, but our own.) and off to our cabin deep in the hills where we hunted for ginseng, edible wildflowers, and cattails. My brother and I thought this was a grand adventure…until he cooked up a crazy concoction of cattails and who knows what else. Our eyes watered as we rapidly gulped water in an attempt to wash away the horrible taste. We begged him, “Please, Dad, no more.” Luckily, my mom took pity on us and whipped up some tasty mac-n-cheese so we didn’t starve.

Another time, there were plans for houses partially set into the side of the hill. We poured over the issue, carefully studying the drawings. Then came the dream of finishing our basement, which was built into the side of a hill. Once again, my brother and I were recruited for work on the project. However, it didn’t go too far as we got sidetracked once we started digging , discovering various Matchbox cars and marbles we had buried there and forgotten. Solar panels (fairly expensive even now) were far out of reach at that time so instead my dad opted for the good old, wood-burning stove. This project produced heat in more ways than one. First there was the wood cutting and then there was the wood burning, not to mention all the running back and forth between the woodpile and the house. Still, it was his enthusiasm for being a steward of the land and the so-called, new-fangled ideas such as solar panels and earth-sheltered houses that started me on the path to being green.

Today, I am the one pouring over plans on the Internet for building our own Earthship with a gray water system. When I excitedly presented my ideas to my hubby and kids, they rolled their eyes and reminded me about the time I tried to convince them we needed to buy a farm, raise goats, and keep bees while powering our household with a wind generator. Ahh well, at least they are recycling and the compost pile is a success. All the light bulbs are CFL’s and we just installed a new energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly HVAC unit. If I really want to talk about my plans for an Earthship with a gray water system, I’ll just give my dad a ring.

 PDF

Filed under: Building & Architecture, Food & Agriculture, Forests & Wilderness, Green Humor, Green Living