Being a Good Steward

[Better Than Rubies]

This thread is for more ways of being a good steward of God's beautiful green earth! This is what my family/I do or want to do, and then I want to hear of more ideas from you guys/know ways you guys are "stewarding" the earth, and save a little money by doing it. ((I like threads like these, and searched and searched 'til I found this one thread by @PirateGirl https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/penny-pinching.1222282/#post-19573024)).

1. Treat all living beings kindly (whether born or unborn...humans and animals, and plants somewhat as well).
2. Using reusable bags when grocery shopping (We do this if we remember to bring our bags! )
3. Recycle recyclable things. I also sometimes give my gerbil cardboard rolls as a free toy...he loves those things!
4. Eat healthier and natural foods (e.g. potatoes, veggies, fruits, etc.) and cut back/eliminate junk foods. Also, support humanely raised meat, milk, and eggs. Support small local famers...that's the way they can continue to make their living!
5. Feed scraps to your chickens, or even the wild birds hanging around your yard.
6. Grow your own food, and share it with others if you have extra.
7. There's nothing wrong with wearing hand-me-downs clothes, or if you don't have siblings/children, then donate your old clothes to thrift stores.
8. If you have shopping to do, do it after you get off work to save on gas, or when you're out and about, try to make lots of stops at once instead of frequently going out.

I don't know what else to put, so I'm looking forward to reading your guys' brilliant suggestions, or hearing what you guys already do.

 

[Melky]

What a wonderful thread to start.
1. We recycle
2. We compost
3. We grow together our own food if able.
4. If not we buy from local organic farmers through farm shares.
5. We enjoyed the free farm tours and those who participated in our area for love of agriculture and establishing a sustainable organic living. We learned so much from them and the gifts they bring to our community.
6. I bought stashers for my kitchen to use recyclable products that do not harm the environment instead of plastics like ziploc bags.
7. I use reusable bags to grocery shop.
8. I have washable reusable fruit bags to shop.
9. We replaced plastic straws with paper or stainless steel reusable.
10. We don’t but Starbucks we buy grind and make our own.
11. We make everything homemade if able.
12. We buy fresh organic to support these practices.
13. We bought an electric car to cut out need for fuel and replaced all fuel powered tools with electric rechargeable. Nice piece they do not break down as much as fuel powered.
14. We drive together for errands to combine trips and use electric car to reduce costs, need for fossil fuels, and remove negative emissions to our environment.
12. We use grocery bags as garbage bags in house to save on garbage bag purchases and we recycle the extra.
13. We eat our food, if not goes to chickens, if not then to compost pile.
14. We donate to charity when able and our church.
15. When we go out we try to find a charity to support so it gives back to our community.
16. We donate a certain amount of vacation time each year to Habitat for Humanity, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, and Housing Opportunities of Northern Kentucky. We support volunteerism to make a difference in our communities.
17. Active church member on committees for Fellowship and Evangelism and Mission Committee to find ways to be a good steward and give back to our community together in fellowship.
18. Head Eyes of Hope to provide eyesight for those in need in third world countries and providing donations for Henry Hosea House a local soup kitchen to provide meals and fellowship to those in need.
19. Donated time to cook and serve in soup kitchen, food pantry, and Mathew 25 which supports disaster and human aid relief.

 

[HuffleClaw]

I love this thread!

 

[Compost King]

I think my list of things I should do might be larger than things I actually do.

 

[Compost King]

one thing I should do, and have plans to do is lining bales of straw along the low end of my property to filter out excessive nitrogen in the run off water from all my chicken runs and compost piles. That stuff all ends up in the eco system. I can always compost those bales and retain more nitrogen in my composts.

 

[GotCoop]

It is amazing how much good stuff we waste (Our ancestors would have loved to have access to technology that we just dump.) I determined I'm not much of a farmer (hate to weed and water) so that aspect of sustainability I leave to others. I enjoy recycling technology (it satisfies the engineer in me). Such as using an blower motor from a furnace to make a chicken plucker, old computer fans to upgrade the incubator, or using a treadmill motor and controls to power my honey extractor (spinner), etc.

 

[feathermaid]

one thing I should do, and have plans to do is lining bales of straw along the low end of my property to filter out excessive nitrogen in the run off water from all my chicken runs and compost piles. That stuff all ends up in the eco system. I can always compost those bales and retain more nitrogen in my composts.

Have you thought of planting bamboo in that location?
Bamboo happens to consume very large amounts of nitrogen and could be a great help. I used to have horses on sloped property and we planted lots of bamboo bushes along the edge of the lower pasture to help neutralize the manure runoff.

 

[Better Than Rubies]

Have you thought of planting bamboo in that location?
Bamboo happens to consume very large amounts of nitrogen and could be a great help. I used to have horses on sloped property and we planted lots of bamboo bushes along the edge of the lower pasture to help neutralize the manure runoff.

Hey, FlappyFeathers!
Really? That is interesting... Never heard of that before.

 

[Searsmom]

Do the native bamboo, make sure it's not asian. The asian bamboo is incredibly invasive.

We do what we can, but prices need to drop on organic foods before we cen go comprehensive. An electric car isn't in our future ever lol.
We compost all food scraps, cardboard, chicken bedding, woodstove ash. Grow what we can...going with raised beds this year because old backs can't handle bending over anymore.

Good thread! Surprised it's not more active.