In Our Backyards...
About Me
Hi! I'm Laura and, yes, you've guessed it- I'm interested in helping the earth. For many years I've been trying, silently, in my corner of the world to make a difference. But recently I realized that since the the earth has no voice, I'd better start using mine.
I've always been passionate about living sustainably.
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​When I was young, I wanted to grow up to become a permaculture princess- you know, the typical little girl dream.
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I dreamed of being whisked away by a hippie prince riding a trusty bicycle. He would whisper sweet nothings in my ear about reducing our environmental footprint, creating carbon sinks and stacking functions. Oh, so sexy! We would make sweet jams and jellies from the berries we grew in our forest garden. Our castle would be the talk of the town: no one would know what to make of our tiny, hand built, cob house. And eventually, once we were settled, our kids would play in the fields: running, jumping and chewing on bushes (I'm talking goats, of course!).
Obviously, we'd live sustainably ever after.
But life doesn't always turn out like a fairy tale- even a rather quirky one. As you can imagine, my life is a far cry from “the dream”.
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I did marry a hippie prince after all but the sweet nothings he whispers these days are usually about letting me sleep in on the weekends or offering to do the laundry. Oh, so sexy! There is very little sweet jam and jelly making in our house since most of my berry bushes are still too young to produce prolifically (I harvested about 5 haskaps last summer). Plus, I discovered I don't even like making jam. I scraped the castle idea years ago. It's hard enough to get a building permit for a conventional house, never mind one that's essentially a sculpture. And besides, cob does nothing to keep you warm on -40 degree winter nights. Despite my lack of castle, I have a small house and I am blessed to have kids running, jumping and chewing on bushes (I'm actually talking children now). Thankfully they know which plants are safe to eat. Everyday I work towards living sustainably ever after.
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But, like living happily ever after, it's a lot more complicated than you'd think.
There are days that I feel like a complete failure. But I go to bed and try again the next day.
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Contact me: curiousgarden@yahoo.com
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If you or someone you know is doing something that's good for the earth, tell me about it and, who knows, your story may end up here! I'm especially interested in fun, unique or inspiring stories.
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