Windowfarms

Recently I watched a video on windowfarms and was totally blown away with the idea. I have not made one yet, but intend to as soon as I can. This spawned because my family was ready to find a house, get out of the city, and start growing (at least some) of our own food. The problem with is that now, we are stuck in city life another year. After seeing a video on this, I think it may hold the answer!

Here is the link to the open source information on how to grow food in your own apartment or condo window. http://www.windowfarms.org/ You can either buy the kits pre-made, which basically all you are paying for is the cost of materials, or you can view the open source and make one yourself using 2 liter pop bottles. It is quite amazing.

The website offers great information on how growing even a small amount of our own food is the best way to reduce our carbon footprints and help our environment. I do shop at the farmers markets when they are open, but that leaves a good portion of the year that I must shop at the grocery store, shipping all that food and wasting precious fossil fuels. If I grew some of that food, then I would save that need to ship.

For anyone interested, please check out the website. There are people you can message with that will share what they have found works best for growing all year around, or specific types of foods that work better than others. It is a great resource for anyone wanting to make a difference in a simple way. :-)

Happy planting!

Opinions Shminions

Over the weekend I went to my monthly writer's critique and since then, I have not been able to stop thinking about the way we let others opinions affect us.

This question goes far into the depths of who we are as a species, because as much as we want to write off what others say, that doesn't mean we always should. If a friend tells me I'm a jerk, what kind of friend would I be to dismiss that?

If, on the other hand, someone makes a comment to me that feels unfair, I probably should dismiss it.

Here are a couple things that I realized pondering all this...

Is what the person said accurate?

Were they making assumptions based on incomplete information?

Was the person speaking from a loving perspective?

Or did the person sharing their opinion literally throw up everything nasty they could think of right on your lap?

The fact is, those around us do often have good and accurate views to share. I know I have grown from things others have told me, even sometimes when they were negative. Afterall, somebody has to teach us how to give the finger... :)

Really though, I think what bothers us the most is when someone has put us down and our fear kicks in. 'Could he/she be right?' That is the hardest of all. But we shouldn't let our fear keep us from facing the truth, whatever that truth is. Without hearing hard things, we never get the chance to grow. Which is something I hope to never stop doing. :)

So for now, I will let my mind rest with the knowledge that for every bad opinion, there is also a good one just waiting to burst forth!