Going Yellow

With the state of our dear planet, I’m sure you’ve all heard of “going green”...well I’d love to be able to say that I’m going green too. However, I just know that there are some aspects of my life at the moment, where I face internal battles of doing what I know I shouldn’t, not knowing what I should, and just not being able to do what I want at this stage when it comes to changing things to help  our suffering, stressed out natural environment.

To say “I’m going green” just puts way too much pressure on me. So instead I guess you could say I’m “going yellow”. I’m not going to claim that I live a lifestyle that’s perfect, but in my own small way, I do and will continue to try to do little things here and there and gradually implement a more environmentally friendly way of living and improve our health at the same time.

So today instead of jumping in the car this morning, I hoped onto my bicycle and peddled the +- 35km to return my library books and on the way home stopped in at the shops to get a couple of groceries. Now that may sound like it was an easy peasy task for me, but it took quite a lot of determination to actually do it. Firstly, I am not terribly fit at the moment, but I am working to change that. Secondly, I’m dreadfully self-conscious, to the point of being a pain to myself. You see I don’t mind wearing my cycling shorts when I’m on my bike (and they certainly make riding far more comfortable than normal shorts), but to be seen wearing them without my bike just makes me cringe, add to that to be seen all sweaty and red faced wandering around for groceries is not an image I’d like to share. Thirdly, the issue of what to do with my bike when I got my destination – security of one’s possessions  is instilled in me and although you still need to be sensible here, I am probably over cautious. That said we did buy a bike lock a few weeks ago, at my insistence that I wanted to use my bike more, but my excuse had been that its safety stressed me out.

So the ride to the library was a bit slow, but I made it, and when I got there I found that the bike racks where up a serious flight of stairs so had to lug my bike up the stairs, but it was then just a short walk to the returns bay which I managed quite easily. The ride back towards home was great (being 3 fat library books lighter and with a tail wind for part of the way). My next hurdle going to get the groceries was also fine, though after I’d locked my bike up, it did cross my crazy mind that there are a whole bunch of detachable that could be stolen while I shopped, but I shoved that thought to the back of my mind and pushed on. The self conscious issue was also shoved to the back of my mind, and I darted around the shop so quickly I’d like to think I was a blur to the other shoppers JMission almost complete, I just had a few kilometres to lug the groceries in my backpack home...it’s surprising just how heavy 3Lts of milk, a bottle of coffee and a loaf of bread can be!

The feeling of accomplishment when I finally got home made it all worth it and I’m a whole lot more confident to use my bicycle more.

My next “yellow” task was in the garden. To put things in perspective, my garden pretty much consists of a whole lot of pots in a tiny paved courtyard, I wish it was a real garden, but as we are in a rental, it has to do for now. Anyway, back to the task at hand...I discovered that my poor lemon tree had an infestation of Cottony Cushion Scale (Icerya puchasi).

The adults are the large white ones and the babies are a different colour and look like other scale bugs (like little bumps on the bark and leaves)

Firstly, I removed the larger bugs by hand and then filled a spray bottle with water and dish washing liquid and sprayed every inch of the tree. This will be have to be repeated several times over the next few weeks, but I’m sure the lemon tree will be a lot happier for it. Next some general maintenance was required, trimming back a few vines, moving a few pots around and sweeping up leaves.

And now here I sit...it’s Monday, but it feels like it’s the middle of the week...it’s been a good kind of busy day.

To finish off, I’ll leave you with a couple of “Going Yellow” ideas...

     Keep a bucket in the shower to catch the cold water before it warms up and to catch the other drops while you shower and use this water to water your garden.

     Recycle (check with your local dump what they accept and make an effort to keep recyclables out of landfill)

     Ride you bicycle or walk when you can if it’s safe to do so. It might be once or twice a week to go buy a bottle of milk or go to the beach or park or library – that’s great! It saves a bit on petrol, reduces your carbon emission and improves your health

     In the garden, try avoiding using nasty herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers (esp. ones that contain phosphorus). Rather use different cultural methods, like companion planting, hand removal and home-made sprays (garlic spray and dish washing liquid have a multitude of uses for garden pests) and if you must buy, then look for organic ones. The Internet is a great source for home remedies for your garden.

There are so many more so keep an eye out for future posts...

If you have other simple, little things we can do to go yellow, please share by adding a comment.

Cheers