Motherhood and the Environment

Good Evening

It occurred to me today that stay-at-home motherhood might be beneficial to the  environment.

I hope no one goes "Duh" at this personal revelation. Maybe I haven't been paying attention.

So, where has this come from?

Well, I was collecting clothes off the clothesline, which I've been using as much as possible during our wet summer. Why do I do this? Well, it saves money by not using the electricity that the dryer would. I have the time to do this because I do not work outside the home.

We don't have a vegetable garden for a lot of reasons, but next year I would like to try a small one. Maybe we'll get it right this time! I do know that other people have gardens. I do not know anyone who keeps a big garden while also working full-time. Growing our own veggies would save money and also provide produce which would, hopefully, be of better quality than that which we've been invited to purchase this season. If we grow things we can preserve, we can eat some of the produce through the Winter, too, when food is even more expensive.

We will not be able to produce all our own food, but the time I can put into growing our own food will help.

How is this an environmentally sensitive practice? Well, I would not likely be using chemicals, so that footprint would be smaller. There would be no fuel involved in shipping the food. If I preserve, the food will quite possibly end up in glass bottles which have been used and re-used many times.

I can often go days between trips into town. If I worked, I might need another vehicle, and would definitely be burning more fuel getting to work and back.

As an at-home mum, I have the "luxury" of choosing cloth diapers, cloth dinner napkins, and rags instead of paper towels, without having to worry about the increased laundry load.

I also think I can get by with a smaller wardrobe, so fewer resources used there, too.

This would be stewardship, I think. Not only can I care for my family in person, but I can use fewer of the resources God has given us.

That many of these practices also save money, it helps extend the single income on which we rely. Money saved not earned is money not taxed.

I realize that working or not working is not a choice some have the option of making for themselves, and the Church does not, as far as I know, have a position on this. But I think the ideas I present might be new to some people.

God Bless.

Flow of consciousness

Hi Folks

Today I opened a fresh bottle of a new spice blend. I was transported back...about 17 years as I remember. Daughter #3 was a small baby.

One of the civilians my husband worked with was having a party and invited us. He was a pleasant fellow, and going out was a big treat for us, as a Private's salary was meager...and we had three children!

We arrived at the party to find that we knew no one. Well, I knew no one. My husband did know another guest, a young officer, who was there. Everyone else seemed to be college instructors or students.

To say that I felt like a fish out of water was putting it mildly. Because I had brought the baby, I was treated a bit like a leper. She was quiet, and even when she was awake, she was relatively immobile, so it was not going to pose a problem. Besides, I did not leave my babies at home! This was a group of people who did not have babies...or never did. I often felt like ALL I did was babies. Not exactly one of the 'beautiful people'.

After a while, one of the young students commented to me on how 'innocuous' the baby was. To this day I'm sure he meant "inconspicuous". I hope he did!

We found ourselves sitting more or less in a circle and people were telling their travel stories as magazines were being circulated. Now, we had absolutely nothing to say. We had been nowhere further than Portland, Oregon, and for a religious event at that!

I will forever ask blessings for the woman who sat beside me. I do not recall her name. She obviously picked up on my discomfort. She leaned into me and asked "If you could go anywhere, where would you go?" Can I tell you how much I learned from that question?

Making people at ease is a gift worth cultivating. That I still remember this incident after all that has happened in the intervening years shows what an impact it had! I pray that I may be so accomodating to 'fish' that I come across!

So, where does the spice fit in? It's really not a big deal. Later that evening, for reasons I do not recall, our host passed around a spice blend he particularly liked and asked opinions as to what was in it. This was an area where I had some competance, but ultimately, no one, including myself remembers what I thought about the spice.

But I will never forget the woman who sat beside me.

God bless