Day 1

Just two years ago the idea of living an eco-friendly life way out of the fringe of society--at least to me. The environmentalists I knew were mainly in the music industry, a little hippy, definitely Democrat, and usually pretty cool. I live a small life: I'm the mother to two, I work from home, I'm not cool. I'm a most-of-the-time Republican and I'm deeply religious. But I've become convicted. It's time to make some changes.

We joined a CSA. We quit buying paper napkins. My baby drinks from glass baby bottles. And I buy most of the kids' clothes used at consignment sales. And I don't think anyone notices, which I count as a good thing. My point is, we're not freaks. We're not extremists. We're normal people making small changes for a big difference, I hope.

A long-time dream of ours has been to build a house on a few acres of land. My primary reason is aesthetic--I love the idea of seeing beautiful, rolling landscapes out my kitchen window every day. Second: I want the kids to have a yard to run around in. Our 0.18 acres on a steep incline isn't conducive to play. So why not merge the two, build a sustainable, eco-friendly home while we're at it?

Today was the beginning of that journey. We found a couple pieces of land that look promising, and we've called the real estate agents. One emailed me the plot graphs, which are completely confusing to me. This is going to be an interesting road we're traveling!