Tote-ally Set

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”

– Robert Swan

On my quest to live a more sustainably and getting the very cool adulting token of achievement, a Farmgirl Sisterhood merit badge for “Shopping Green” I have been acquiring totes. Before I delve into the how, what, when and where of it I want to share why using totes matters.

Often I hear people, including my snarky teenage son, that doing “x” won’t make a difference because the problem is too big, or if someone else did something it would have more of an impact. Well, that is the curse of change, it is hard to see our full impact. However, people smarter than me have figured out how many plastic bags an individual uses in a year (roughly 365). I have a family of 3, so that means that we go through 1,095 plastic bags. But why is that bad?

These bags are typically made from non-biodegradable materials, meaning they will not break down naturally and instead persist for hundreds of years in our environment. As a result, the negative effects of single-use plastic bags are vast. One of the most significant negative impacts of single-use plastic bags is their contribution to marine pollution. These bags can be mistaken for food by marine animals, leading to ingestion and potential suffocation, and can also entangle animals such as sea turtles and seabirds, leading to injury or death. 

The accumulation of plastic debris in our oceans is not only harmful to marine life but also to us as humans. The toxic chemicals can be absorbed by fish and ultimately consumed by humans. When plastic bags are thrown away, they often end up in landfills, where they can take hundreds of years to degrade. As they degrade, they release harmful toxins into the soil and water, negatively affecting the surrounding ecosystem. Additionally, when plastic bags are incinerated, they release toxic fumes into the air, contributing to air pollution and respiratory issues.

This just highlights why it is important to make any step, no matter how small, to improve these conditions. So how did transitioning away from single-use plastic bags go?

I have never been one to let something going unused linger in my house. I did not have a stash of random bags gathered from conferences, giveaways and the like. If I had, I would have started by using those and only picked up new ones when the need arose. I started by picking up a set of large canvas totes from Amazon. (link here) Then I decorated the bags so I was more excited to use them. I put the Rooted Hearth logo on it, and eventually added my Farmgirl Sisterhood patch to it. I fudging loved these totes, they hold like 90% of the weekly groceries. My husband even prefers carrying the groceries with them. He is able to get them in with fewer trips and prefers the sturdiness.  

While they met my largest need, I still needed more to fit all my groceries on large weeks, or for small trips that require a smaller bag. To fill that need I got 5 small-medium sized. I found some cute ones with the national parks (link here).

Once I had the goods the hard part really started, remembering to bring them. At first, I always forgot them in the car, but I refused to just shrug it off and often secured my full cart in an out-of-the-way place, trek out to my car past the greeter only to reenter minutes later with arms full of totes quickly giving an embarrassed announcement of “Forgot my bags".” Over time the forgetting happened less and the routine slowly built.

So what impact has it had? Welp, we have run out of our massive stash of grocery bags that would be used as trash bags (especially for puppy accidents in the house). Which meant that I had to find a replacement for our small trash bags. It felt redundant to just then buy plastic trashbags. So I did some research and found some biodegradable bags.  The longer I do this, the less pollution I will be contributing.

I know it may not seem like a lot, and these are just small steps, but I have enjoyed this process. Big change doesn’t happen immediately, it takes small steps. Once I conquer this I can look into more sustainable actions to incorperate.

Photo by Anna Shvets: https://www.pexels.com/photo/fruits-in-a-plastic-bag-3645504/

Merit Badges for Adults…Sign Me Up!

Challenge yourself; it’s the only path that leads to growth.

- Morgan Freeman

I am a person who loves a challenge, especially if at the end I get a token. I completed an obstacle course race for a medal. I have completed countless classes and workshops in pursuit of a certificate. So when I saw a video where I could as an adult try new things, conquer new skills, and get badges for doing that I was sold. On top of that, the community that offers the merit badges is geared toward many of the skills that I need to master on my journey to my forever homestead: baking, canning, gardening, sustainability, and more.

Farmgirl Sisterhood is an online community of women who share a common interest in rural living, homesteading, and self-sufficiency. It was started in 2009 by MaryJane Butters, an author, and farmer who wanted to create a space where women could connect, learn, and support each other in their journey towards a simpler, more sustainable lifestyle.

Me being who I am, of course, dedicated time to put all the merit badges into a Google sheet (link here) I was able to see that the the merit badges fell into 7 catergories:

• Cleaning Up- looking at making your house and habits more sustainable

• Each Other- building community and helping others

• Farm Kitchen- learning about the basics of cooking and baking

• Garden Gate- exploring gardening and where food comes from

• Make it Easy- exploring doing projects yourself 

• Outpost- getting outdoors and enjoying nature

• Stitching and Crafting- exploring making handmade items.

Each of the 135 merit badges have a beginner, intermediate, and expert level. I really appreciate how they baby stepped you through the different topics and experiences. One of the first ones I plan to tackle is the Shopping Green one. The beginner level is all about committing to using totes. Also, they have some cooking ones like Bread Making of Cheese Making. I definitely want to try those! If you will I am excited to put my merit badge where my mouth is.

There were a few that caused me to pause. Disconnect to Reconnect’s beginning level is about not using technology for an entire weekend. As a happily addicted technology user that would be a tough one. A couple of the others will take time. Some specifically require ‘x’ number of hours. Others I don’t have the resources, space, knowledge, or even the desire.  

I simultaneously want to start them all and want to focus on one at a time. A lot like the process of getting to my forever homestead. I want to have it all done and ready. I want to already be in my renovated farmhouse, with healthy farm critters roaming about and an established garden. I need to remember that these days, the build-up is going to be precious times and I should focus on the here and now. Appreciate the journey.

Existential thoughts aside, I think the small checkpoints, the plethora of knowledge, and tokens of achievement will go a long way to helping me achieve my forever homestead. 

http://www.farmgirlsisterhood.org/

2023-The Year of Fixing Our Finances

There are few things I have wanted more than to look out across rolling hills peppered with garden beds, native grasslands, and wagging tails and know I am home.

In Summer 2026 (or sooner if the right property comes up) we want to purchase the land for our forever homestead. The most daunting part of this is of course…finances. It is also one of the most stressful parts for me. Whenever talking about money, debt, savings or any of that it creates such a strong anxiety in me that I literally want to ignore the topic. Because of this flight response, when it come to finances I haven’t always made the best descions and it has affected my credit. Additionaly, finances are a stressor for my partner, Scott. While our income is fairly decent, roughly 100,000 before taxes, we often ourselves living paycheck to paycheck. When unexpected costs come up we become panicked to say the least.

We loosely know what we need to do: pay down debt, pay things on time, save…a lot. We don’t know everything though, and we want to learn more about finances, especially around purchasing and running an acreage. So along with those previously mentioned action steps we need to find experts that we can learn from. Again, this makes me feel like I am having a heart attack and want to climb in a hole and hide until it has passed. Why? Welp, lord forbid I not be an expert in everything and need assistance.

As you can imagine, the biggest barrier to fixing our finances is 100% emotional. The stigma around struggling with money is strong, and historically I have not faced it head on. Closing my eyes and hoping things just work themselves out won’t get us to our goal. In preparation for our year of fixing our finances I took a deep dive into where we are with all things related to our funds: debt, bills, income, savings, irregular expenses. Afraid I would miss something I even purchased an annual budget template from Etsy.

I then spent a couple hours going through every account and writing down all the money we owe, all of our expenses, our income and plugged it in to the budget template. I even combed through my bank account to see everything that came out in the last few months. This was painful to do, but valuable time spent. There were 3 or 4 recurring payments that I thought I canceled or forgot I signed up for. For subscriptions I didn’t want, I took the extra step to cancel them. Now I know where we stand.

How our debt breaks down:

• $100,000 owed on the house

• $60,000 in federal student loans

• $5000 in private student loans

• $15,000 in a car loan

• $10,000 in miscellaneous other debts (credit cards, orthodonist, phones etc)

Even typing all that out I am overwhelmed with guilt and shame about those numbers. I deeply want to delete this post, and not share what feels like a personal failing. However, I need to overcome these feelings to make progress. Our goal this year is to clear out the $10,000 in miscellaneous debt, and knock out as much of the private student loan as I can. We will do this several ways:

• Restrict our “fun” spending

• Paying extra towards our lowest bills then rolling those payments into the next ones (aka the debt snowball)

• Building new income streams to help pay those debts down even further

I want to better my relationship with money well beyond obtaining the acreage. To get there, this year I will also be focusing on managing my emotional response to money and deepening my understanding and knowledge about finances. To accomplish this, I will be doing three things:

• Reread I will Teach you to be Rich by Ramit Sethi - I read this two year ago and it gave me a lot of knowledge and confidence around finances.

• Read Financial Feminist: Overcome the Patriarchy's Bullsh*t to Master Your Money and Build a Life You Love by Tori Dunlap- I have followed this creator and they dedicate a lot to overcoming the shame of debt.

• Find an expert in financing an acreage/homestead.

I know this year is going to full of emotional moments and hard work but I also know that we will be taking huge steps toward our goal of getting our forever homestead.