Sustainability and Accessibility

We need to have an honest talk about the sustainability and homesteading movements when it comes to accessibility and equity.

I've been doing a lot of reading and research lately into sustainability and homesteading, mostly because, as a disabled stay-at-home mom, I am trying to find ways to cheaply feed and care for my family.  I've watched many YouTube videos, read many blogs, read through several books on permaculture and homesteading, and I think I've come up with some good ideas on how to change our gardens this year and make them more prolific yet easier overall to manage (in particular, implementing the Ruth Stout method and square foot gardening).

One thing I have not seen in all my research is any kind of discussion on how to do this as a disabled person.  I've seen a few videos and blog posts about homesteading in older age, but even those really did not discuss the elephant in the room: disability.  How can we convince everyone to follow the permaculture philosophy or employ sustainable practices in their homes if we don't make sure everyone has a fair and equitable chance to do so?

I'm reminded of the plastic straw debate I saw raging on social media this last year.  So many people exhorted one and all to give up plastic straws, some places even passed laws banning them, and everyone shared sad pictures of ocean creatures suffering from plastic straw debris.  Thing is, the disabled community online argued against it.  Some even wrote beautiful treatises explaining how there really were no good options for them and how they and others were treated online when they spoke up and said that they should be able to use what they need in a fair, equitable manner.  While plastic straws aren't sustainable, they are desperately needed by many in the disabled community (not to mention children and people with dental issues).  Shaming someone who needs a plastic straw because that's the only decent option available to them may make a sustainability advocate feel good, but all it does is make the other person arguing for accessibility feel like they don't matter.

I find myself dealing with this as I watch gardening videos and think of how I would be able to get around a particular garden, how I wouldn't be able to create that garden in the first place due to my particular disability issues, and how much physical labor is really involved for so many gardening practices.  While I have found raised beds that work with wheelchairs, for example, they're horribly expensive, which means they're out of the reach of most disabled people.

I find myself wondering, as I watch homesteading and sustainability videos or read more blog posts and stuff on Pinterest, if I can even do some of the things I see.  I know from personal experience that I cannot can food by myself.  I don't care if it's a simple job or one that is more labor intensive (I'm looking at you, tomatoes and apple pie filling!), canning takes more than I have most days, which means I would only be able to do it on the weekend with my husband's help or maybe for a couple of hours with my mom or my son.  Before I can even get to that point and put up the food, I have to harvest, often daily.  That's often not easy for me, especially if a storm is coming, but I have to harvest or the food we've worked so hard to grow will go bad or be lost.

For example, just getting food ready for the week takes a lot of energy I don't always have.  My stepson does better if I have after-school snack options already prepped and packaged for him every week.  That means that I have to stand in the kitchen and cut and weigh and put in bags (that I've had to wash and dry so as to save the cost of new snack bags, not to mention the environment) first this thing, then that thing, every week.  Some Sundays, I really struggle to make that happen.  Buying foods in bulk is another example.  Once we get the food home, I have to get the FoodSaver out, weigh out everything, put it in bags, seal each bag, and then carry it to the deep freezer (down a few steps).  My husband is really good at helping me (or even just taking over and doing it), but I often end up going to the store during the day when he's at work and then am stuck back at home alone dividing, bagging, and getting everything to a usable level.  Sure, it's all much cheaper than buying so-called convenience foods, and it's not like we have a ton of money lying around to burn, but there's still a cost in terms of time and personal energy.

I guess that's what I'd like to see from the sustainability/environmental movement: an acknowledgment that not everyone has the time or energy or health or whatever to do all of what they suggest.  I know that, per permaculture and homesteading best practices, we should raise animals, but honestly, I grew up doing that and know just how hard it really is.  I don't have it in me these days to wrangle a goat who doesn't want to go in the pen or chase after chickens to get them in the roost at night.  So, what other options are there?  What equitable, accessible options are there for those of us who need to do things more cheaply and better for the environment?  Please think of us disabled people, too, when you come up with your practices and philosophies.

If you have any good ideas, please post them in the comments!  Let's all help each other out!

Gratitude Can Be Really Hard Sometimes

On this Sunday after St. Valentine's Day with a month to go before Lent, I've had several reminders that I should be grateful.  In reality, I do have much to be grateful for.  I have a loving husband, a car that works, a church family that is kind and supportive in many ways, and today, I could walk.  Not perfectly, not entirely under my own power, but I could walk.

Ever since the flu shot last December, I have had a hard time walking.  I've gotten a little better in the months since, true, but when my fibro pain is bad, the walking thing and weak arms thing gets really bad.

Today, I could walk with my walking stick (that I use instead of a cane since it's a better height for me).  When I helped with the Sunday School class, I was able to stand for a few minutes here and there.  When I couldn't walk easily at all to get to the Communion rail, a lovely member of our church helped me get there and back.  The little Girl Scout who sold me my cookies carried them to my car while I concentrated very hard on putting one foot down, then the other, over and over without falling.

I am grateful I can walk.  My muscles burn now as I rest with my cat, Mr. Floofers, on my legs, holding me down so I can't go anywhere (he is a very needy cat).  I feel like I ran a mile when in all reality, I probably didn't even walk that many steps yet today.  The pain is rather overwhelming.

But at least I can walk.  I am grateful that I can walk.

Halfway through February: Update on Goals

The last month or so has been absolutely awful in terms of my fibromyalgia and pain.  Actually, ever since I got the flu shot last December, it's been awful (see last post's footnote for that explanation).  That's made my goals a bit more difficult than I thought when I set them.  Between the weather and my body recovering slowly from the flu shot, well, it's been so much harder than usual.

January:
Morning and Evening Routines Update:
While I got a little better, I still completely fall apart if my pain level is too high.  I'm only getting my routines in about half the time, which I suppose is better than before, but it's still frustrating.  I've decided to continue this as my monthly goal each month until it's a solid routine.

Knitting Update:
I managed to finish the shawl I'd set as my January WIP-to-finish project, but I'm still not done writing and editing the pattern, and the knit-along I'm running with it is coming up super fast.  Must get that done asap!

Writing Update:
My writing daily and book plans have been entirely put on the back burner as I try to heal from this mess.

February (so far):
Water intake:
I'm doing better on this, but I'm still not front-loading the day with enough water, which means I'm drinking way too much of my daily water not long before bedtime, which is not a good thing.  Lol!  So far, though, I'm doing better on this, so I just need to flip my daily intake amounts to make it better.

Knitting Update:
I've added a new project, but I'm also working on my WIPs planned for this month.  I'm not sure I'll finish them, but I have a decent chance if I really work at them.

The new project is a pair of thicker socks for the women's shelter in town.  This winter has been a cold one, and while I donated several hats, scarves, and mitts to the warming shelters during that extreme cold snap, socks are always needed.  It's also an easier, more portable project than the two monthly WIPs.

Writing Update:
I have not done any at all this month.  That needs to change, but the fibro fog makes writing and keeping track of my writing very difficult.

New Project--Why Not? :)
Last month, I started learning more about herbs and trying to study herbalism.  I still have a long way to go on this, but as a part of my education, I am adding in two new herb beds to the gardens this year in hopes of growing beneficial and medicinal herbs for us.

This has really gotten me thinking more about our gardens and sustainability, which has led to studying more about permaculture and ways to make our gardens both prolific due to building up the soil and easier for me to manage.  We will be trying the Ruth Stout method in our gardens this year, which promises very little watering and weeding, both of which are tough for me to do.  My husband is excited to try it, especially since we have a free source of hay (his mom has a hay field and lots of old hay she wants to get rid of!) and it could make for bigger yields than we had last year.

So, the current plan is to rip out the decorative perennials in the garden beds by the back porch, transplanting most of them elsewhere on the property or selling them, and then putting in a big veggie garden there.  So, we will have the back garden (gets the most sun, has the most room for the big things like tomatoes, squash, peas, beans, and potatoes), the back garden beds (get decent shade, so those are for the brassica family, lettuce, some beans, and a few herbs), the beds by the pool (still mostly decorative and will need serious mulching this year with cardboard in some areas to kill an invasive trumpet vine), the Garden Tower (which I think I've figured out how to improve this year), and the two new herb beds (filled with herbs, aka weeds, so they should be not much work other than gathering).  Um, that's a lot.  I'm hoping to get more herbs and veggies put up this year, and I've been promised more help on that score.

All of that has also lead to working out how to grow my own starter plants.  Today, we went to Horrocks (an amazing small Michigan chain that's part farmers market and part nursery and part hipster store), and I got almost all the seeds we need for this year (and at least two more years if I store them right).  I spent a good hour today reading through each packet and planning out what I'm starting when, so now I have that calendar set.  Now I just need to measure all the beds once the snow melts again to figure out how many of each plant I need to start.  This has led to some research on how many plants I need to feed our family of four-ish (with Anna off at college but Stephen now on the swim team, my food numbers have definitely changed).


So, long story short, I've been researching more lately because I can't be quite as active as the little bit I was before the flu shot, and I need to get a lot more done, not just on my goals but also around the home if we're going to try to feed and care for all of us better.