Life in Your Years Blog: Health, Finance, & More

When Jennifer and I decided to buy a house, one thing I insisted on was a decent-sized yard with some trees. In my neighborhood, the houses are spaced far apart, and it feels like we are in a country development, which means there is plenty of greenery around us. I am drawn to exercising in nature, and do it frequently. Now we may know the reason:  serene greenery improves health. The article Three Studies on the Health Benefits of Living Near Greenery lists three health benefits of living near greenery, all backed by scientific studies. They are:

- More greenery narrows the health gap between rich and poor

- More greenery lowers asthma rates among children

- More greenery lessens obesity among children

Read the entire article for details about the studies. This is really cool. It helps us make a case for adding more green to our neighborhoods!

Image of our sunroom, with view of green space

Dad bought us some wooden stakes and some chicken fencing at a hardware store yesterday, so we could finally take the pile of grass clippings in our yard and turn it into a real compost pile. Our city doesn’t accept grass clippings in the weekly garbage pick-up, but we can take them to the city compost pile for free. Rather than deal with wet grass clippings in our car, we decided to just start our own pile, and in turn have some fertilizer for our plants next year. It’s nothing too exciting, but it is one of the first things I have built for our home. Mind you, it is very, very, simple, and not too pretty to look at, but as I told Jennifer, “relax, we’re building a pen for waste…how nice does it have to look?” I happen to have a few “Do-It-Yourself” type books on my wishlist at Amazon, so I can maybe try my hand at fixing/making a few things in the future. I’ll be honest, being a homeowner has already been changing me…I never understood until now why my dad actually gets a real thrill from looking at, buying, and using tools! Anybody else feel this way?

So why compost? Well, besides providing fertilizer for next year’s plants, composting helps keep waste management costs down because compostable materials don’t end up in landfills, filled in garbage bags made of plastic. If enough people composted there would be fewer garbage trucks on the road, saving oil and gasoline.

Now that Jennifer and I have a house, we are growing a few vegetables in large pots (the pots came free with the house). We got the vegetables, minus the cilantro, for free at a greenhouse that was giving them away in June. We also have a blueberry plant Jennifer ordered online (which she takes on overnight trips with us…parenting practice I guess!). We currently are growing cucumbers, multiple types of tomatoes, habanero peppers, cayenne peppers, romaine lettuce, gourmet lettuce, collards, leeks, onions, cilantro, and, of course, blueberries. Next year we want to expand to include green beans, carrots, garlic, and broccoli, at the very least.

I am not usually into growing plants, although I do like nature. However, I find myself excited about what is growing, and even proud to be helping to feed our family with healthy vegetables, even if it is (at this point) a rather insignificant portion of our food intake. I check on them every morning, and water them if they need it. I remember LutherPunk mentioning on his former blog about seeing the vegetables form, and the excitement that this gave him. I had him in mind when I got the cayenne plants, and I dutifully check every morning to see how long the peppers are. I don’t want to get overly philosophical, but many thinkers believe that man does have a connection with the land. I have heard this expressed by hunters and hippies alike (I know a lot more hunters than hippies though). Where does the Bible place the center of man’s creation, where God himself walked? In a garden! Maybe growing things is really a part of what we were created to be. Philosophy aside, fresh, healthy vegetables make a great addition to our meals, and we have had some interesting vegetable-chicken noodle soups for lunch.

Related to the Garden of Eden, I found this prayer for the farmer (or gardener) that I liked:

O God, Source and Giver of all things, Who manifests Your infinite majesty, power and goodness in the earth about us, we give You honor and glory.

For the sun and rain, for the manifold fruits of our fields, for the increase of our herds and flocks we thank You. For the enrichment of our souls with divine grace, we are grateful.

Supreme Lord of the harvest, graciously accept us and the fruits of our toil, in union with Christ Your Son, as atonement for our sins, for the growth of Your Church, for peace and charity in our homes, for salvation to all. Amen.

From conservation.catholic.org/prayers.htm

The Images are all taken by me. The first and third photos are of our vegetables. The second is a photo of the green cayenne peppers, still growing. The final photo is of marigolds, planted with the tomatoes to keep bugs off them.