I know. Sustainable sounds so huge, doesn’t it? But don’t worry. I’m not here to insist that you get a sheep and start spinning your own wool to knit a sweater that will keep you warm as you bike to work, stopping to harvest wild greens on the way.
The whole idea behind this site it that sustainability at some level is within our reach. Sure, we’ll all still have to buy things at the grocery store. And maybe some aspects of living a more sustainable life just aren’t your cup of tea. But look around your home or your office. There’s so much room for improvement. And that’s why I’m here.
I’m still on the path to sustainability myself, but I’ve been on that path long enough that I’ve got knowledge to share. I’ve had so many people ask me lately how to plant a garden. Or how to make jelly. Or how to compost. Or how to raise chickens. Because I’ve been doing these things for most of my adult life, it’s easy for me to share that knowledge. On the other hand, I’ve never made my own soap or raised rabbits. When I decide to try to tackle those projects, you’ll be the first to hear about my success (or failure).
This site is here because of a conversation I had with one friend about making a more self-sufficient life doable. The idea of foregoing the convenience of modern America and embracing a do-it-yourself attitude is a daunting one for many people. But mostly? It’s about a change in attitude. In a world where soup comes in a can, pudding from a box, and bread from a bag it’s easy to forget that just a few decades ago those items were made at home from scratch – maybe even from foods grown right outside the door.
Many of those do-it-yourself, make it from scratch skills have skipped a generation or two. If you weren’t raised with that knowledge or have very little experience in living a self-sufficient life, how do you get started? Here’s the ticket: if you make one small change each day to move your family toward being more sustainable and self-sufficient, you will get there. You might not ever plant a garden. But if you can figure out an alternative source for locally grown fruits and vegetables, you’ll support a farmer and eliminate an awful lot of the waste and fuel emissions that come with supermarket produce. You might not ever install a water catchment system, but maybe you’ll become more aware of your water usage and learn to conserve. This is one of those areas in which every little effort you make is worth it.
In addition to being more self-sufficient at home, I’ll also address sustainability out in the world. It’s all fine and good to make changes at home, but when we head out to explore our beautiful planet, how can we do so with less impact on the earth?
Learn more about Kris Bordessa
Disclaimer: For the readers’ information, I link to Amazon products on occasion. Attainable Sustainable does receive a small percentage for sales made through those links.
Hi Kris
Firstly – best site with easily achievable ideas for change!!! love it.
Secondly – just a little note you might want to try.
Don’t throw away pumpkin (squash some country’s call them) seed when you cut up you pumpkin – just dig a hole in the garden and throw them in and cover(even slack people can do this – move dirt with your foot drop in move dirt back with over foot if to much effort for first foot
). By the time pumpkin season comes you will be surprised how many plants start to come up!
And if you find that your not getting your female pumpkins fertilized with the help of the friendly bees – just do it yourself. Break off a male flower and poke it inside a female flower then throw back into the garden.
I have 5 pumpkin plants in my garden at the moment with 12 pumpkins currently bigger then baseballs from this method.
Hopefully this works for you!!!
Lulu
Lulu, Thanks for your kind words. Regarding your pumpkin suggestion, do you do this and then let the seeds “winter over?” Here in the states, there aren’t many pumpkins available until October, which is not a good time to plant as we’re going into winter. If they’ll stay in the soil until Spring, though, that would be cool! (We roast our seeds and eat them!)
Cool! Great blog… here is one I do .. we heat our home with corn – corn that farmers feed cattle and when it turns into charcoal ( burnt corn that didn’t burn all the way) we save it for the spring and add it to our organic garden.It is fun finding another use for something others might throw away.
To me sustainability means cooking and eating from scratch.
http://casa-giardino.blogspot.com/2010/09/sustainable-eating-means-cooking-from.html
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It’s my first time on the blog and I have to say that I AM IMPRESSED. It’s a rare thing to find a blog that contains high quality honest reviews these day, so I appriciate the effotrs
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Tammy of http://wheatgrassjuicer.co/
Hi, Congratulations for your blog. There are great content and useful advices! Thanks for sharing it! I also have a blog about sustainability and I invite you and your readers to visit:
http://sustainableandfashionable.wordpress.com/
Let’s spread the word about living green!
Cheers,
Ana
Hi, Congratulations for your blog. There are great content and useful advices! Thanks for sharing it! I also have a blog about sustainability and I invite you and your readers to visit:
http://sustainableandfashionable.wordpress.com/
Let’s spread the word about living green!
Cheers,
Ana
[...] myself). I’m going to get it together and try it this weekend. Kris Bordessa, on blog Attainable Sustainable, shared her method for preparing Oatmeal in a Jar and makes the point that it’s green, [...]