Old Cedar Knoll Farm: April 2012

Monday, April 23, 2012

According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; "Earth Day is a day in early April each year on which events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth's natural environment." The first Earth Day came about in 1970 after U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, witnessed the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California.

I honestly don't know how far we have all come since then, but I know my family and I do our part in how we live. We tend the earth, we grow and preserve much of our own food and we are always conscious of our surroundings and the effects we have on them. My husband and I both grew up on farms so we didn't really need an official Earth Day to influence the way we interact with the world around us. It was simply the way we were taught to live by those who came before us.

My concern is with all the trash we produce and the fact that most of that is plastics. Everything we purchase comes is disposable containers! I am so disappointed that most of what I purchase from Whole Foods comes in plastic boxes. How does that even make sense? Even my organic, vegan, gluten free cookies have a plastic tray inside that pretty paper box they come in. Why isn't anyone making a stink about that? In Virginia, you are still allowed to burn your trash in many localities and that just blows my mind! Even in the dead of winter you can't see a soul from our property, but if the wind is blowing right, you can smell the acrid, toxic odor of burning trash or I guess it is burning plastics.

Our farm is accessed from a small gravel, rural road and on a daily basis someone throws their trash out into the road. Recently, that even included a mattress! We were nonplussed! What would motivate someone to drive out our way and dump a mattress on the side of the road! We have lived out here for 8 years and we have tended our section of the road and maintained the grasses and embankments and ditches and it seems that the nicer we make it, the more the trash gets dumped. It is as if we put up a sign that says, dump your trash here because these nice people will clean it up for you!

So what is my point, you ask? It is great that we can do our feel good part and buy everything "Green" - don't get me started about the whole "green", Eco-friendly movement - and it is great that one day out of 365 days a year, we celebrate Earth Day, but when are we going to start doing something about affecting real change. I was born in the 50's and I can tell you that in 1970, almost nothing you purchased in the grocery store came in plastic. It was paper or glass, and you had to recycle your glass. How have we allowed corporate profits to get us so far off track that virtually all consumables now come in plastic? Oh, and what is the number one ingredient in all that plastic? You guessed it, crude oil! Plastics are made from oil. Oil is a carbon-rich raw material, and plastics are large carbon-containing compounds.

Now that I got that off my chest - well not really, I choose to celebrate Earth Day 365 days a year in how I live and what I consume and what I put back in the earth. I live on a beautiful plot of land and try to be conscious of how what we do on our small farm affects the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, which in turn affects all of us. What are you doing every day for earth day?

'Earth Day Tones' by TheBeasKnees

Watercolor Painting Art... BarbaraRosenzw... $29.00	Terracotta Beach Pendan... AgapiSeaGlass $29.00	Dragonfly Bracelet with... Phoebedreams $12.00	Raku star chunky earrin... ElephantBeads $22.50
1898 Vintage BUTTERFLY ... BlastsFromTheP... $11.25	Brown, Swarovski, Lucit... jewelrybyNaLa $21.50	Mustard Yellow poppy f... seragun $5.00	Pendant of Natural Elem... JudithGayleDes... $49.00
Earthy Beaded Scissor F... TJBdesigns $18.00	Handmade Micro macrame ... EgyptianInspir... $31.00	Earth Tone Vintage 9 Bo... jaysworld $50.00	Red Fox Fluff Knit Scar... MadeforMebyOak... $23.00
Bird Tags - Italian Pos... TheNestinSLT $6.00	Dragonfly, Cattails and... JimAndGina $28.00	Small rustic earrings, ... JudysDesigns $18.00	Fabric Wallet - Tan Pai... BonniesSewCraz... $12.00