Green… to the Left of Wausau
I think of myself as a Wausau girl,even though I now find myself living just over 20 miles outside of the city limits (and I sincerely doubt that anyone has considered me a girl for some years).
The fact is, I live (with a large assortment of animals) in the township of Wein, about 20 miles to the West of Wausau. My home is an 80 year old farmhouse situated on 80 acres of land that my significant other and I purchased a year and a half ago. We are in the process of planning the riding stable that we intend to build in the spring.
How is this relevant to Green living? Well, we are surrounded by fields… but that is only the flip answer.
Like Marcus, and many other blog readers, we have transitioned to CF lights in our home (including the bathroom, so if any of you find my cosmetic application garish, please have the courtesy to snicker behind your hands).
To save on heating our huge, old farmhouse we have torn the old plaster and lathe off of the walls throughout the lower storey so that we could better insulate. In the process, I have become grudgingly handy at installing, mudding, sanding, sanding, sanding and sanding drywall. The other benefit was that I saved gas/carbon emissions by no longer driving to town to go to the fitness center!
We purchased a backhoe and tractor, and with it, biodiesel made by my brother from waste cooking oil. With our equipment we were able to lay about 3500 feet of water lines. Of that, over 1500 feet are in the form of a closed-loop, which will be used to heat our home geothermally (one we purchase the requisite pump). Our plan is to install another closed-loop system which will heat our barn once it is built in spring.
To insulate the automatic waterers that are in our horses’ pastures, we have built what we affectionately refer to as “the fallout shelters” - insulated 4 x 4′ underground rooms made cinder blocks that serve to eliminate the need for electric heat to keep the water lines from freezing.
The “fallout shelters” were made from cinder blocks that we reclaimed from the 100 year old barn that we unfortunately had to demolish this summer. My father reclaimed metal tubing (from the milk pipeline and cow stalls) and wood to make me a lovely trailer that I use to feed my horses. A friend reclaimed the exterior barn boards to use for siding on her home. The gentleman who demoished our barn took the remaining wooden beams which he turns into flooring for high-end homes while what most would consider scrap wood, he turns into lovely bird houses, decorative benches and planters.
We have begun the process of installing better windows in our home. In addition to being more energy efficient, we have saved the old windows to use in our barn’s lounge.
Our location on the top of a rise with no treelines for several miles is ideal for installing a wind turbine, which we intend to do next summer.
Should we be able to source reasonably priced solar panels, I would love to add them to the mix, but that technology seems out of reach for the time being.
The manure that our horses generate is used on the fields in which we grow the hay that they eat. A local farmer who leases the adjacent land uses our manure to fertilize his soybean and corn crops, in lieu of chemical fertilizers. We even use the manure to fertilize our asparagus bed!
Since we have a lively Amish community in the area, we purchase much of our food directly from the farm stands and Amish homes that produce it. We are carnivores, and eat beef that is raised by a friend down the road - without the use of antibiotics and chemicals. The chicken and eggs that we eat are also raised less than a mile from our home. If I wasn’t so sentimental (some would call it ridiculous) I would consider raising our own meat, but frankly I can’t eat something that I have personally cared for.
In the grand scheme of things, our effort at becoming environmentally friendly may not save the earth, but if we can reduce some of our personal dependance on fossil fuels and keep usable items out of the landfill, it feels like a positive contribution. While our efforts may not be practical for everyone, the simple acts of changing light bulbs and reclaiming materials that would otherwise become waste are feasible for all of us.
Dino Corvino said:
Hey, I dont suppose we can hear more from this writer.
December 12th, 2007 at 3:57 pm #