Sustainability
The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too.
Luther Standing Bear
Over the last century the world has become so devoted to consumerism that we are in danger of drowning in a sea of discarded rubbish, not all of which is actually rubbish. Some of the things we throw away still have use; some of the things we use are harmful and should never have been used. Add to that the finite resources of our planet and we are facing destruction on a global scale.
At Joleen Meadows we try to do our bit. We recycle all plain cardboard on our compost heap as well as kitchen waste and burn paper in our woodburner to reduce the amount that our recycle team have to collect. On site our chicken manure and bedding gets composted and feeds our vegetables and our vegetables that aren’t sold go back to the chickens.
We are big fans of Prestatyn market which is where most house clearance goods are sold and seek out useable tools and materials for our site. Unwanted craft materials are eagerly collected to make new items for sale on our market stall. However, maybe our best contribution though is to simply avoid buying new “stuff”. Avoid trying to buy the next must-have consumer gadget.
It was a bit of a revelation to discover that having bought a state of the art petrol strimmer, in reality we use our scythes daily. They don’t break down, don’t require fuel, don’t emit fumes, don’t require ear protection from noise and actually (once you learn how to peen and sharpen them properly, do a much better job. You then start to look afresh at everything we are sold as must-haves for the garden and realise that they aren’t must-haves at all. They are just items pushed on us by clever advertising to rob us of our money.
Everyone needs to be mindful of the impact of profligate comsumption. All this has been said very many times by others but it bears repetition here. We are trying to be self-sufficient and self-sustaining; reduction of waste is key in this endeavour as well as removal of toxins from our food chain. Respect for the land has reinforced our determination to improve our local environment and return it to how it would have been before the population of the UK turned to city life and away from nature.