Who:
Karen Roberts
friend
Where:
Lawrence, KS
Saturdays in the summer start best -- and early -- at the Farmer's Market. I pick up local produce, still warm from the sunny fields surrounding Lawrence, and say hello to my friends and neighbors while a young violinist plays a lively tune. I find everything from soap to herbs, organic meat to homemade rolls, sweet corn to Lebanese food. The market reflects not only a committment to locally grown food, but to the diversity that is Lawrence.
Saturdays are -- groan! -- chore day. We spend time weeding in the garden. We use few chemicals, preferring mulch and hard labor to polluting the groundwater. Later we head out to the store, our canvas bags in tow, to get groceries for the week. We eat a mostly vegetarian diet, for reasons of health and conscience, with occasional bacon and tomato sandwiches thrown in during the summer. We clean the house using natural products to protect the planet, ourselves, and our dog from chemical exposures. I sort the magazines and catalogs for recycling and resale at the used bookstore.
Later we head down to a coffee shop two blocks from our house. We're glad to see a revival of the shopping area on the corner, so we can get things we need close to home. We sip lattes and listen to a bluegrass band. In the evening we take a walk and watch a movie. We use an online DVD service --i t's convenient, more eclectic in its selection, and saves the gas we'd spend getting to the video store. We watch very little television otherwise, preferring to spend time reading or outside.
All of these little choices, made over about the last ten years, illustrate our committment to the planet and a sustainable lifestyle. They have also, in my opinion, improved our quality of life.
