Our family has discovered the game of Frisbee. The pictures have little to do with the following post, but I can't bring myself to post without pictures, so....
I recently met the wife of one of George's co-workers. After about twenty minutes of conversation she said, "Oh, you must be green."
George and I both examined the skin on our arms and he replied, "Actually, we're kind of tan."
"Yeah, you probably recycle, huh? So do we," she said.
Yes we recycle. We also compost, garden, unplug appliances when not in use, live without AC in the summer (except for maybe two or three days when it is over 100 degrees), heat exclusively with wood in the winter, generate solar power, bike or carpool when possible, fill our tanks with bio diesel, buy local and organic when possible, avoid processed and packaged food, line dry our clothes. Do these things make us green?
My grandma once called me a hippie. I told her I preferred the term Bohemian. My husband calls us eco-freakos. He might be right on the freako part.
The ATT operator trying to sell me satellite or cellular phone service was speechless when I told her we didn't watch TV or use cell phones. You can't play Frisbee and talk on a phone at the same time.
I don't usually talk or write about the "green" or "Bohemian" things we do (do I?). I like to think that actions speak louder than words. Most of the time I don't think our lifestyle is that different, until I meet someone who can't believe I don't cook meat, don't have a cell phone number or didn't see that commercial on TV.
Yet I believe we have a long, long way to go on our journey towards sustainability. We've been taking a few extra steps lately, so don't be surprised to see some "green" tips popping up around here. I'm feeling the urge to spread my freaky Bohemian ways.
I can't even count how many times ATT has tried to get me to purchase their TV service. Normally I just get the sales call, but they even went so far as to send someone to my door once! I always reply the same way "TV is not a part of our lifestyle.", and the response is always similar to what you described... speechless.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog through Heather & Amy's...
ReplyDeleteOur family has one foot in one world and another in the other... Although I was raised in Berkeley by one of them bohemian hippie eco-freako's :) it has taken me until now, in my early 30's, to come full circle..and start to re-embrace those 'green' values once again. When I was younger, I felt like my mother really crammed the lifestyle down my throat (along with the vitamins and brewer's yeast) and made it a burden rather than a joy....
I NOW, of course, totally understand the deal and value (especially since I'm now a mom).
Your perspective is refreshing and your lifestyle choices are gentle, celebrated and seem to come naturally.
Bohemian. Totally digging that :-)
ReplyDeleteYou know my oldest said to me the other day, "We're not like other families are we?"
"Um, I dunno, why?"
"Well nobody else makes cheese, or takes their own bags to the store or has chickens for pets."
"Yeah. I guess you're right."
I was thinking he might be looking at this "differentness" as a bad thing, but he got this smug grin and said, "Too bad. More people should have good cheese and chickens"
Bohemian...I love that...but I also love eco-freako...don't love the "hippie" one as much though :)
ReplyDeleteI like your terms. We are quite hippie/bohemian/green/eco-freaks. I am lucky to be surrounded by like-minded people, so I am always surprised that others are not. I LOVE telling people we don't watch TV - this usually follows there awe when my children don't understand who "Dora" is. We do have cell phones for long distance and my husband's job, but I would love those to go away.
ReplyDeleteEco-freako...I'm still cracking up on that one. I think whatever works for you and makes the world better is worth doing. Keep going! I enjoy learning about ways to be more green. I try to include some practices at our house. Recently I switched to bringing my own bags to the store. Now to just remember to bring them with me. We walk to the pet store and grocery store on occasion, which can be exciting on Luther and in Bel Air shopping center...kind of take your life in your hands if you don't chose your time wisely!
ReplyDeleteFreakos Unite. Inspire us, tell us, don't hide the green pallor in your skin. Cannot wait to read more.
ReplyDelete"Hippie" definitely does not fit you. I guess you don't dress the part ;) But that's just my opinion. And I would have to say that your actions do speak louder than words. It's that way with so many things in life, I think.
ReplyDeleteOh the "green marketing" machine. . . it can make a cliche out of anything.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, not that we want to think about it now, but one can also go out of life with the same priniciples one lived it by -- coffins made out of recycled, biodegradable material, no embalming fluid, and no tomb stone to clutter a natural area. . . something to think about. . . later, much later.
Had to de-lurk to say BRING ON THE ECO-FREAKO TIPS!
ReplyDeleteyes, molly, please share some of your freako green tips! seriously, you are quite an inspiration. thank you!
ReplyDeletewe aren't even close to where we could be when it comes to being *green* (why don't i like that word?...) but it's funny how many people call me an environmental fanatic or a tree hugging hippie all because we buy local produce and use vinegar for cleaning. i hope one day it just becomes part of EVERYONE'S way of life. not just a trend, and not just for hippies.
looking forward to your bohemian hippie eco-freak tips! i want my family to be greener.
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny; my husband just called me a hippie because I thought vacationing on a working farm sounded like fun. I think bohemian sounds better too.
ReplyDeleteWe have very trying phonecalls (and frankly far to frequent) with the Great Phone Monopoly that must not be named around here and after too many minutes of my life wasted while talking to them (no we didn't call to turn off our internet service, please turn it back on ) they always ask who is your cell phone through and who is your cable through and refuse to believe that we choose to have neither.
ReplyDeletewe must be nuts!
I would definitely love to be more eco-freako myself. :)
ReplyDeleteMy nickname in high school was "hippie" and it wasn't cuz I was plump, either! I think I always marched to the beat of a different drummer and now that I have a family of my own, it comes out even more. There is so much more I want to do, and we are slowly getting there.
ReplyDeleteWe are making plans and dreaming of future plans and implementing other plans and when my girls question why we do a certain thing, my answer is always: because it's better for us and better for the earth we live on.
Please, share your tips, I'd love to learn new ways of doing things! :o)
Ahh! See? I knew we were kindred spirits :).
ReplyDeleteMy husband calls me "fundy-Wendy", because some of my ideas about how we should be living are a little ... umm ... out of the mainstream :), and I tend to be very passionate about my desire to live more sustainably (I think he's still a little freaked out about the cloth toilet wipes - which he refused to even consider ;).
I like the term eco-freako better - it doesn't have quite the negative connotations "fundamentalist" has. I think I'll tell him I'd rather be a freak than a fundy ;).
Go, Eco-Freakos, go!
Yes, it's good to have community in something so wonderful!
ReplyDeleteHurray for your eco-freako, green ways! Inspire us please!
ReplyDeletePeople in my world like to call me a hippie but we would definitely be considered a much lighter shade of green than you guys...Please share your secrets I'd love to learn how to be even more so. I don't really mind the term hippie but Bohemian definitely sounds cooler.
Yes, share your tips, all you have, I love this!
ReplyDeleteYour "freaky bohemian ways" are ever so attractive! Keep spreading the love. I am learning from you.
ReplyDeleteThank You,
Tracey
I love your blog, Molly. It's funny, you know, so many of us buy into this "machine" we loosely call life that's so full of distraction and noise that we can't remember where one day ended and the next began. We can't imagine doing without "necessities" that really aren't and build our lives to sustain having them. And then, with no sense of irony at all, we wax nostalgic for a "simpler" life. That's the real freako way of living, I think.
ReplyDeleteWe are not very green in my little family, but more from a lack of understanding than wanton disregard. But, the last year and a half or so has impressed upon me how much more we can have when we strive for *less* in all we do. With Michael going back to school in the fall, our priorities are far less about stuff (cell phones, senseless trips to the store) and consumption and far more about what's important--having a quality life, memorable life that's not going to fall down like a big Jenga block when one little piece suddenly shifts. I think a lot of the Bohemian, if you that's the term, lifestyle is about that, really. Living life in your own skin a little closer to how God made us and made our world with not so much care how it looks to outsiders looking in.
I think it's scary for some people to slow down and be quiet in their own house with the people they love best. Less distraction, less noise, and less waste suddenly makes that quality time, that simple life that so many of us say we want possible.
So, bring it on, friend, bring it on. You teach us not only by what do you, but througy the gentle and wise way you share your world.
Oh my, I didn't realize I wrote so much! Does this make me a blog hog???? Gasp!
ReplyDelete