Going Green in the Country

Before

After

When you hear terms like “Going Green” or only eating “Organic”, I bet you get a picture of some one in your mind that may be a little bit of a yuppie!

But that is not all ways the chase. I grew up in rural Maine, where hunting was a big sport. I used to spend hours in the woods with my dad hunting partridge and white tail deer. In my younger years I never put much thought into the environment and the foot print we left behind. I did have a great love of nature and the deep woods of Maine.  When my father and I did go hunting and we did get a deer, we made sure to use every part of the deer (Malamutes love the legs!). I also spent hours out of old logging trails with my horse, you could go out for five hours and see nothing but trees and breath taking views.

  When I came back from collage I went out hiking on this old trail that I had played on with friends. It was a long trail, nothing more then a foot path really; it was about five miles and led up to a large hill that over looked the picturesque town and lake.  After I got about two miles, I almost fell over in shock. Every thing had been clear cut; there was no trail, no trees, nothing. It was hard to find my may, but by the time I got to the edge of hill it was even worse. There was a logging trail, a road really leading all the way around the base of the hill, and no trees. Even the bamboo forests my friends and played in was gone! It brought me to tears.

  Now the logging business is, or was an important industry in Maine. My own dad worked in a paper mill, and I have nothing against it. Maine has more wilderness then most areas, and for many years logging was well managed. The sight of this was shocking for me, and made me wonder what I could do leave less of a foot print.

  Years later, after John and I married we both changed a lot of our habits. We started to buy more local foods, including meet and produce. This helps to financially feed the local economy in the area you live in and promotes healthier farming methods (for us and the animals).  Or when local foods are not available to us me buy organic foods. We also buy green cleaning products (much safer when Emma Grace decides to lick the table!). Instead of paper towels, we use rags. Which is nothing then worn towels or old sweat shirts we cut up.

  I still enjoying the same things I did as a child.. I have spent many wonderful days behind a pack of hounds in full cry, enjoying the open country! And I hope to one day take hunting deer back up. We should try to lead a responsible life style, but it’s OK to find a  balance between going “green” and living a good country life style

                                   Sincerely,

                                                  Petra