Sustainability - Our Green Health

How do we Personally Try to have a Sustainable Lifestyle?

15/04/202107/04/2021 by Hannie Mommers

In the article Easy Sustainable Living Ideas – Pick 1 or 2 and Start Living Green, I have listed other things Tom and I could do to try to have a sustainable lifestyle. For now, I’ll write down what we do at the moment. Let’s call it the baseline measurement.

Whenever I read articles from others who have a zero-waste or a sustainable lifestyle, I have the impression we don’t give it enough effort. But then I recite my favorite quote in my head: “We don’t need a few people who do everything right but a lot of people who do some things well”.

How to Start Organic Composting at Home Immediately

13/09/202101/04/2021 by Hannie Mommers

It’s such a long time ago that I started composting at home, I can’t even remember when it was exactly.

At first, it was done in a very simple way: I dug holes in the garden and threw the kitchen waste and coffee drab in them. Later we bought special containers that moved with us to every new house and even emigrated with us.

Over time, we have become more and more precise with what we throw in the compost heap. At first, I used to throw all our kitchen waste, tea bags, and coffee filters on the pile, nowadays we absolutely don’t want everything in the compost anymore.

Organic Companion Planting for a Healthy Kitchen Garden

06/09/202125/03/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

Organic companion planting is the key to a healthy kitchen garden. When toxic herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides aren’t allowed, as they aren’t in organic gardening, companion planting is the only solution.

From our following short introduction, you will get a limited grip on the ins and outs of companion planting. It requires knowledge of plants, plant diseases, insects that threaten and insects that benefit plants, which plants can be combined, and which not, etcetera. However, on a small scale as a kitchen garden, everybody will be able to manage the mutual dependencies.

Citizens Devoted to the Conservation of Biodiversity

01/03/202222/03/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

The conservation of biodiversity appeals to many citizens. In this article, I introduce 2 examples of citizens initiatives, committed to the conservation of biodiversity: GREFA, a wildlife biodiversity initiative, and RMDS, an agricultural biodiversity initiative.

Because we live in Spain, the examples are Spanish. We’re convinced, however, that these types of citizen initiatives can be found everywhere.

GREFA is a citizens’ wildlife conservation intitiative: Grupo de Rehabilitación de la Fauna Autóctona y su Hábitat (Group for the Rehabilitation of Autochthonous Fauna and its Habitat).

Throw an Eco-Friendly Party for Unique Birthdays or Holidays

22/08/202111/03/2021 by Hannie Mommers

Whether it’s a birthday party, one of the holidays like Christmas or Eastern, or just a party because we feel like it. Food, family, friends, and fun – it doesn’t get much better than that, does it?

Well, actually it can get better than that. We can have that same food, family, friends, and fun while also having a positive, or at least a neutral, effect on the environment. It’s so easy to forget all about our intentions if it gets too busy with preparations for a large group.

Yet, it certainly is possible to be sustainable and conscious, even when you are preparing for a large number of people. Here are tips to throw an eco-friendly party.

Grow your Own Herbs Indoors or Outside for Quality Herbal Tea

04/03/202204/03/2021 by Hannie Mommers

Grow your Own Herbs Indoors or Outside for Herbal Tea

As you may know, Tom and I are huge advocates of organic food. Yet we are also aware that in some places organic produce is hardly available. So why not grow some yourself? And if you don’t have a garden, herbs are especially easy to grow indoors.

Some are easy growers, others need more attention. The orientation of your window is important, as well as the soil you put them in. You can sow them or use cuttings. And nowadays there are complete, highly sophisticated indoor systems.