Where I’m at right now:

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee. And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15397#sthash.dIwQAfKF.dpuf

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee. And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15397#sthash.dIwQAfKF.dpuf

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee. And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15397#sthash.dIwQAfKF.dpuf

   

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,—
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do
If bees are few.

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee. And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15397#sthash.dIwQAfKF.dpuf

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee. And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15397#sthash.dIwQAfKF.dpuf

 —Emily Dickinson                                                           

     I live in a small rental home with my grandmother. She’s the breadwinner in my family and an awesome human being. She puts up with my eco-craziness but doesn’t see a point for most of it. We recycle everything but glass (the city won’t take it) and we compost. I’ve had a small vegetable garden in the backyard for three years and and a bit. Total harvest so far: a handful each of peas, green beans, strawberries, and carrots. Literally a handful each. I’m stepping up my game this year with two modified African-style keyhole beds. Since we rent and the yard is small, I can’t do anything too off-the-wall, like solar panels, graywater, front lawn garden, get fruit trees, or putting in permanent raised beds. 

Current garden plans have been derailed by snow...in April. I live in South Dakota, it's a special place.*

Chickens are illegal in town, and G (my grandmother) has nixed rabbits, guinea pigs, indoor worms, and bees. I managed to get a chest freezer for cheap (classified ads are awesome) last year, so when I made friends with a deer hunter and someone who had an extra half a hog to sell, I actually had a place to put the meat, yay! G’s mistress of the kitchen, so I have to keep reminding her that we have all this meat, but that’s a whole 'nother issue. 

I finally bought a rain barrel, so I won’t be using my big plastic bin, scoop-out-the-water-with-a-bucket system that I’ve used for the last three years. I have a drying rack in my basement for drying clothes. Less wrinkles than my old leave-it-in-the-dryer ways, and things like linen don’t wear out as fast. I’m working on cloth pads, and I only shower about once a week (don't look at me like that, I use deodorant). 

All in all, I’m being somewhat green in the things I have control over. My dream is to have a small house with a big garden, no trash, grey water, small livestock, be eating local,have renewable energy, and maybe a place out in the country where I turn marginal farmland back into prairie.

This project isn’t necessarily about the destination, though: it’s all about the wild ride!

*Disclaimer: Image taken in North Carolina, though with a similar snowfall to the one we had this week. South Dakota doesn't have Tulip Poplars.