I've always agreed with, and often campaigned for, green causes, but applying it all to the place I live in has been much more difficult than I thought. The amount of research seems to be *ridiculous*. So this is what I'm actually doing, as opposed to researching.
In a new-to-you house, the priorities are making a cup of tea and getting somewhere to sleep set up. That much, I think we all agree on. And after that, there are a million pathways to what makes us happy!
For me, it was unpacking books (with four full height sets of bookshelves in a small 3 bed semi, having the books on the floor was a nightmare of *epic* proportions). Then it was setting up the room that I work from at home - work is what enables me to keep the bills paid, after all. Then it was getting the toilet built and the electrics renovated - the first gave me privacy in my living room if clients needed to use the loo, and the second stopped my house from burning down in the night. Thats always a good thing.
Then, it was just getting through the winter and getting well. Lately, its been preparing for a family wedding. Right now, I've been trying to set the garden to rights a little bit - I have an elderly buddleia with a rotten trunk, so I now have dead branches strewn all over the little garden, which I'm clearing away. The man down the road is a ranger for the local wildlife association, and he has a woodburner in his house! He's going to take the trunks, which are fine to burn.
On the bright side, the buddleia seems to be putting forth new leaves :) buddleias are happy plants, even very old ones. And I now have the freedom to paint/protect the wooden fence.
On the other side of the garden, protecting the fence has become more important than ever, as I'm chopping back overgrown ivy thats obstructing my route to the back garden proper, and in chopping it back, I'm exposing areas where its pulled the top protective layer of wood away from the fence panel. Dee-dah, dee-dah,sirens blaring - Casey Greenpath to the rescue with her pot of paint :)
And then, finally, all the little plants I brought with me from my previous house can put their toes in the soil again! More happy plants!
What this tells me about being green, actually, is that maintenance is just as important in being green as spiffy new projects. If I maintain what I have carefully and well, I don't need to chuck everything out and start again. And whether thats nurturing a buddleia or a fence post, it applies. Oh my god, wisdom, of a kind anyway. I think I may faint.
And now ... the Good Life beckons. In future posts, I'll be going through the rooms, looking at the options, and seeing how green I can be.
