"goin’ green"

It’s funny how things that our grandparents did very naturally are now “hip”  For example, almost everyone I know who is over 50 either has a garden, grew up having a garden or both, but when I was growing up I didn’t know anyone who grew anything but grass and flowers (other than the “old folk”, of course). Also, the ideas of keeping a little cash back each week for a rainy day or never owing anything to anyone. I remember my grandfather not letting my grandmother put things on layaway! Those were old fashioned ideas in our circles, as was reusing anything that technically should be thrown out. There was this belief that we needed new things all the time, I never even heard of a garage sale until I was in my early 20’s and I would have never gone shopping at a thrift store.

This all changed for me when we lived in Fort Worth for Carl to go to Southwestern Seminary. I did start going to garage sales and thrift stores. I started reusing things and keeping things longer than I would have in the past. We also began gardening (I have to give Carl the credit here, because I was so busy with little ones, he really did all the gardening back then.)  But, it was because we were poor. Carl was working as a waiter and during that time we had our first 4 children. I thought that when he graduated we’d go back to being “normal”.

But habits are a funny thing. I found that I really enjoy gardening and preserving our abundance. I also enjoy “the hunt” of finding what I want somewhere other than the mall. I like the creativity and even the work that comes with upcycling (using something that is destined for the trash in a new way).

I like thinking that we are helping to keep the earth beautiful for our children and grandchildren. You see, the frugal lifestyle and the green lifestyle seem to be closely related. I like this not because we worship the earth or Mother Nature, I like this because I believe that as christians we have a duty to God to be good stewards of his creation. We, as a family, have so far to go. We still do many things “wrong” by others standards. We try to not get all legalistic about it. We do what we can, when we can and trust the Creator to ultimately take care of His creation.

One of the things we are doing is using fabric grocery bags and even though we don’t buy alot of produce since we have a garden I really wanted some small bags for the produce we do buy. I found this pattern and Phoebe and I made some bags from a vintage sheet that we found at a thrift store. We had a great time working together on something that we will use regularly.

What about you, what do you do that used to be considered old fashioned but is now “hip”?

Here’s a great place to purchase all kinds of fabric at a fantastic price. (read our affiliate disclosure here)

Thanks for sharing with your friends!