Sauron Has an Eye For Good Stories
He may be evil to the core, but dang nabbit ‘Sauron’ can pick a good story to Hugg!
I was actually going to say he has a good “aye’ for stories, but I think combining bad pirate jokes with bad LOTR jokes in a single post is punishable by death in some countries.
One thing is for sure, it MUST be Friday…
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming:
There is a great article @ Groovy Green I would encourage our readers to check out - ok, let me rephrase that… anyone who is passionate about sustainable living, green business, and/or gardening should check it out! I fit into the ‘all of the above’ category so this one really hit home for me (especially with my recent foray into the wonderful world of Mother Earth News).
The article in question is called Green Cottage Business: Making A Difference and was written by Beo (from ‘The Future is Insight‘ blog). Again, this all comes back to where I’m at these days, in terms of my thinking/dreaming about my ideal living and working scenario. Don’t get me wrong - life is very good, but of course this idea of ’sustainable living’ is becoming more than just an ‘idea’ for me - thanks largely to my continued blogging efforts these last 5 months. It’s now firmly lodged into my psyche, and colours the way I now see the world around me.
I’m bordering on rambling here, so let me get to the point…
Beo seems to have reached a similar frame of mind as I now find myself - in terms of thinking about how to live with less impact, and how find/create work that he can be truly passionate about! As a result he decided to launch a small green gardening business called Someday Gardens - a ‘cottage business’ started on weekends while he continues to work at his ‘normal’ job.
Here is an exerpt:
As we waited for our own Someday, when we could live a simpler life on a small acreage in a purpose built Green Home, we decided to start a Cottage Business installing ecological gardens, native plantings, and rain gardens to help some of neighbors lessen the footprint of their lawns. When we bid out our own new rain garden, it came to $5000, a staggering price that I certainly couldn’t afford, and I doubted any of my neighbors would pay either. One of the goals of Someday Gardens is to provide ecological gardening services at prices regular people can afford. We are not trying to get rich; we are doing this because we care about changing the world which means getting as many of these gardens out there as we can.
My financial goals of the business will be to offset any tools needed (such as our new small trailer), and to perhaps offset the moderate yearly expenses of my own gardens. A good example is the rain barrels that we offer. They are constructed in our garage from Oak Whiskey barrels that I source from a local brewery. Because I am using what is essentially a manufacturing waste product, I get them cheap. Oak Rain Barrels typically sell for $175 or more. Mine are $60. Not counting the time it takes to pick them up (about 7 miles away) I can make 2-3 an hour. So I can keep up with demand and only work an hour or so a week, and still make about $30/hr doing something I love.
This is similar to some of the ideas Steve and I have been tossing back and forth re: the ‘real world’ expansion of EcoSherpa, and also somewhat similar to the idea Shea brought up awhile ago that got me all excited.
Needless to say I’ll be thinking a lot more seriously about all of this in the next couple weeks and months. Bare minimum I at least want make my own property into something of a green oasis - a beacon of eco-hope out here in the suburbs!
Anyway, be sure to check out the story at Groovy Green and have yourselves a great weekend
Technorati Tags: gardening, sustainable living, organic, rain barrels, rainwater recycling, permaculture, xeriscaping, gardens, ecological gardening
Written by Bentley on January 12th, 2007 with 2 comments.
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