Lara Busch

Biking: Ever since we got a car this year, it's been WAY too easy for me to chuck the bike and drive. So in October, I will track how many miles I ride and calculate how much I'm saving in gas, etc. as a reminder of how awesome my bike is!
Water: I've had a wine barrel for a couple months that we still haven't turned into a rain barrel for roof drainage. I want to finish that project so that we can sign up for the discount from the city.
Food: Recently I started working on eating a more varied and healthier diet, assisted by my little veggie garden. (1) To take that end, I want to learn how to harvest the seeds from my existing plants to make next years' Spring and Summer gardens faster and easier to get in the ground. (2) As well, I pledge to spend 10% of our food/restaurant budget on locally produced items, which is triple what we spend on it now.

My EcoChallenge Blog

October 1st, 2011

Wow, it's Day 1 already! I'm sitting here with my grocery receipts, and I didn't do too bad. (Luckily these will be cumulative for the next 2 weeks, though!) After taking out dish soap, etc., and not including coupons, bottle returns, bag refunds and the like, my 'local' food purchases total 47.2% of today's groceries! (And would be higher if 'local' was the whole Northwest, because I got Alaskan salmon... but ces't la vie!) Pretty good for the first groceries, and made much easier by my Chinook Book coupons! Next I need to figure out my plan for the water-collection barrel... because Fall is here, and the rain has come with it. Sweet!

September 7th, 2011

Well, my lovely co-worker Lisa is going to join me for the fun task of turning a wine barrel into a rain collection barrel! She will have two of her own, so best to do them all at once. And my friend Cherie warned me about junk collecting at the bottom from certain types of shingles, so I need to do my homework on that soon... I was prepared for the leaves and debris, but hadn't thought about things as tiny as grainy shingle-sheddings!

Comments

From: Mike Mercer

Have fun with the challenge Lara. You are right, the bike is so much fun - even in the rain! Let us know how rain barrels turn out. Looks like some rain is coming next week to this part of the country.

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My EcoChallenge(s)

Water Conservation

Sustainable Food Options

Alternative Transportation

My Fundraising Goal

$250

My Pledge Tally

$0