New Green Scene writer: Meet the menagerie!

It’s a bit mangy with a healthy dose of playfulness. We’ve got stripes and polka dots alongside hay and chickens. There’s an ever-expanding garden chock full of veggies and other edibles. Our hardy kiwi vine supports could double as massive tent poles. There is a friendly mutt lazing about and small children giggling and digging in the sand. The ringmasters (my husband and I) are busy scurrying up ladders and under the fruit trees trying to herd everyone back to where they belong. The flock of tiny chickens is squawking, the bees are humming and the family cat is sunning on a chair. 

 

Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Christy and I will be filling in for Erika while she begins the grand adventure of parenting. Congratulations, Earth mama!

Our home is a tiny 1940s fixer-upper in Belmont with a big backyard (by city standards). And speaking of standards, we try to hold ourselves to being conscientious about our lifestyle choices: recognizing the impact and consequences for our consumption and behavior. 

Over the last few years we have been hungrily ripping out quack grass and amending the red clay that makes up our yard. As the compost and manure have spread their magic in the earth and new trees and plants have replaced the spiky rhizomes, I have been amazed by the diversity of life that now exists in our backyard! Birds have nested and returned and nested again, honeybees abound, and the earthworms seem to thank us with their sheer number. 

All in all, whether naming the backyard chickens or knowing the names of my neighbors’ children, whether soothing a cold with elderberry syrup from home-grown berries to having our family doctor make a house call, whether visiting the farm or getting my hands dirty in the garden–it’s all about the relationships.

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to share some of my latest “green” projects and ideas as well as hear from you, dear reader, about your eco-adventures. My hope from this little platform is to start a conversation and maybe get you asking some questions of your own.

What is your latest project?