Healing Hillary

no dairy results

My my...I did it again. I set my goals higher than I was able to hit. My One Small Change for April was "no dairy." I will be the first to admit, I did not give up dairy for the entire month and it was much harder than I had expected. I had little bits of dairy here and there, my local raw milk and butter called my name a time or two. So instead of saving the 1000 gallons of water I had hoped, I probably saved 700 gallons. 

I will say that I felt physically really good seriously cutting back the amount of dairy I consume. I also found some yummy nutritionally charged alternatives. I fell in love with coconuts! 

Throughout the month, I did however, keep my thoughts focused on water. I was thrilled when my rain barrel began to be put to regular use with our garden. 

 Again I go back to the point of making One Small change...not one giant change. I will continue to make small changes, ever evolving my eating and ways of life. 

What one small change will you make today? 

Yours in evolution,

Hillary 

one small change :: no dairy

Humor me for a bit as I wind the title into this next photo. As it is only natural to think...no dairy, what on Earth (ha, ha...ok sorry, cracked myself up) does that have to do with water???

At my parents house I saw this unread National Geographic on the kitchen counter. It got me curious. As I flipped through there were photos that really stood out to me...clearly no laughing matter.  

And this...can you see the little girl on the top right hand side?

So not having even read any more than the captions, I was hooked. 

Where did the dairy come in, you ask?...well there was a fold out map.

 OK so I know you cannot see this...but I'll give you a quick recap. On the left, this graph depicts how many gallons of water it takes to make/raise a pound of ____. So for example: 1,857 gallons of water for 1lb. of beef. 

On the right are some water comparisons for specific items...2900 gallons for a pair of jeans, 766 gallons for one cotton t-shirt etc. 

I took a good hard look at this and thought, what if I gave up something on this list...how much less water would be used. I decided I would plunge into no dairy...(since I am not a meat eater). I started calculating how many pounds of dairy I eat in a month and figured I would a thousand gallons of water by making this dietary change. 

So instead of drinking milk, I am drinking water.

I hope that this information inspires more thoughtful consideration and conversation. 

Yours in consciousness,

Hillary 

 

One Small Change :: snack bags

Here I am wrapping up March. Whew, ya'll seriously...where does the time go? 

OK but onto my greater point. I absolutely loved my One Small Change of Eco-Crafting for the month of March. The soul of these items increased my love of crafting all the more. 

My last installment of my little craft series is this pair of snack bags. 

I followed this tutorial and whipped these little cuties with my daughter on my lap (she's in charge of pins). The outside is a repurposed pillowcase and the inside is a vintage flour sack.  They are just perfect for on the go little nibbles. 

I will give you a little spoiler for next week's post on April's One Small Change...I am not eating dairy (just for this month, on day at a time). Yes, just wait...you'll never guess the reason. 

And one last thing before I head on out here with my snack bag (filled with dried fruit and nuts). Please join me on Facebook and become a fan of Healing Hillary.  I am giving out treats to milestone fans.  I am making a pair of these practical(ly adoriable) bags for my 100th fan. Am closer to 200 now...hmmn, what to make for #200?

Crafting on,

Hillary

lucky eco-crafting

First off, Happy St. Patrick's Day!  

Pretend it's a shamrock :).

And my promised crafting post. So for One Small Change I am eco-crafting in March. You may remember this post. 

So I decided next on the list...dish scrubbies. 

I followed this great pattern and knit this little sweetie up in a flash. Now that I have shared her with you, she is ready for her first scrubbing job. 

 
Now this second eco-craft just sort of happened accidentally. Wait...that wasn't funny, that actually made my finger throb. See I cut my finger while cutting the tulle for the above project (did I say be careful, well, be careful tulle is unruly) and then shut the same finger in the door in a flurry out of the house. Ooooooouch! There was blood and probably an attempt at not swearing and the need for a bandaid or in our house a "bandanna". 

Our bandanas (as T calls them) first came about when she got a bug bite last summer. To keep her from itching it and to help her bite heal, I snipped a piece of comfrey and placed it under a strip of cloth and tied the cloth over the bite on her sweet little ankle. Thus our invention of the eco-bandaid aka bandana. 

So back to my finger. After the first cut, I grabbed an old tshirt and snipped it and tied it over the cut. Nice, bleeding stopped. Then later decided to try a commercial bandaid. My finger was all in a sweat and was all itchy. So I decided to go back to the nice worn-in breathable cotton bandana. Aaagh, relief. 

These little bandanas are almost free...(especially if you just tie them up)...compared at the bandaids at the store. I priced them, they are $3 for 20. Am I the only one that things this is nuts, 15 cents each? It's just a little cotton pad, adhesive and plastic. So I have no real directions for you other than...cut it to your size, don't cut yourself in the process (seriously), voila! 

My skin being sensitive to adhesive, I am happy to wear my little bandana around my index finger...it's been a reminder for me to be a bit more careful. 

With any luck (please, I am part Irish after all), my finger will heal soon...so I can return to my crafting! 

Sending you hopes of luck,

Hillary 

Eco-Crafting :: One Small Change

I think I have found something that is reasonable and feasible.  I have been all over the map trying to decide our One Small Change for March and have concluded that I want to eco-craft.  So what that means to me is that I will dedicate some of my crafting time to inventing things that will make a change.  My first eco-craft...a Soap Saver.

This little guy is now hanging in our shower ready to catch those little bits of soap that are too small for use but too big to waste.  Once it has a few soaps in it, it will be a great little wash bag. 

Some other eco-crafts on my list...

:: Another soap saver (a his and hers pair)

:: Scrubbies (to replace our disposable ones)

:: Snack sacks

:: Draft dodger 

I'd love to hear more ideas, if you have them.  I probably won't get these all done, but now I have a list going and would love to add to it. 

Warmly,

Hillary 

One Small Change :: wrapping up February

So in February I promised to be more conscious of water waste.  Truly I was originally inspired by Boatbaby's post in January and her section on Water.  This really shook my view of water up.  With encouragement and inspiration I set forth to reduce our water waste. 

 

This meant paying attention to the glasses that accumulate in our kitchen with extra water. 

And using this water in resourceful ways.  Such as watering plants, drinking it, using it for cleaning, cooking or for pets. 

We made a little reduction in our water usage.  I was more mindful of doing loads of laundry that were not completely full, and running our dishwasher on the Eco wash, as well as reducing our thermostat from 67 to 65 degrees.  And you know what? our bills were lower!  Nice little reward for some environmental consciousness. 

With the upcoming gardening season, I made good on a promise I made to myself last year.  I bought a rain barrel to collect rainwater that will be used in watering our garden.  I was thrilled to find this from a local source and wanted to share the site with you all.  For those of you in various places around the world, there are instructions on how to make your own rain barrel as well as valuable ideas on how to reduce storm water run off...I am already dreaming up a rain garden.  Here is the site: Cumberland River Compact.

Now the question is...how will I make One Small Change in March, back later this week with that.

Yours in Gratitude,

Hillary 

one small change :: february

So I am going to be real honest with y'all about my One Small Change commitment last month of hanging out our laundry, well I didn't live up to my own expectations.  If you were around here at all last month, you'd see that I wasn't.  I was sick...I mean I haven't been that sick in years, *gratefully.*  It knocked me out for a good two weeks, over a week of which I had a fever for, and then I spent the rest of the month trying to regain my ground.  My blogging was put off, along with some other things as I focused on healing.  But I digress with my rationalizations...

I found a moment of self-discovery in not living up to my own expectations.  I set myself up for a let-down with my expectations.  I am only one woman, and I have a choice.  I can always do the next right thing.  While I may not be capable of dragging my feverish self outside in the frost to hang wet laundry on our line (pitiful image, but at one point it seriously crossed my deluded mind), I can toss a few items over the shower rod. 

 I can turn the thermostat down a degree or two. 

 I can hit "Eco Wash" on my dishwasher. 

At every moment, no matter what is going on, I can choose to live consciously.  For me, that is really what it is about.  It is about paying attention to what I am doing and allowing myself the time before doing it to make a conscious choice.  I try to do this in my parenting, in my partnering and in my life choices.  I made one small change in the month of January...I lived a bit more in the present and aware of how I flow through life.  Making little decisions, one at a time, to choose the next right thing. 

Suzy wisely did not call this One Huge Change or One Heroic Change...she called it One Small Change.  I don't have to make a huge change, no, I put that on myself.  What I can do is some small changes.  With my heightened awareness, I was able to make these little changes that were easy and almost effortless. 

So today, as I thoughtfully considered what I would commit to do in February, what I will (let me rephrase my commitment term) *consciously* become more aware of, is the water I pour down the drain. 

This picture of a glass with a wee bit of water at the bottom on our table is very common around here. Today, I will not pour this water down the drain, I will consider my options. I will drink it, use it to water a plant, pour it in the cat or bunny water dish, use it to wash with or use it to cook with. 

I can make one small change. 

With love,

Hillary

 

one small change

My blogging friend, Suzy of Hip Mountain Mamas has a challenge to make One Small Change each month and blog about it. So every month between now and Earth Day (April 22nd), I have committed to making one small environmental change and blogging about it. 

So I feel that in order to shed light on how changes are easy and can happen with a bit of intention and sometimes ingenuity, I'll be honest with you. 

Over the years we have made many intentional changes in an effort to be more environmentally aware...buying organic, buying local, growing our own, reducing waste, cloth diapers, cloth napkins, (no paper towels in the house!), family cloth, reducing toilet flushes, family baths, low thermostat settings, recycling, reusing, using art as wrapping paper, catching extra water, making our own and the list goes on. After some very thoughtful consideration I decided I should first start out by revisiting an old intention that fell by the waste-side {had to pun...just too easy}. 

Hanging laundry....

Last year we got a retractable laundry line installed in our back yard and have a million clothes pins. I hung laundry out for quite a while and then...I don't know what happened. So this month I plan to return (at least partially) to hanging our laundry. It will be a bit of a challenge...since it is burr chilly outside. But I like a challenge. 

What can you do to make one small change?  

hillary