Last Friday I was taking an early morning walk around our estate and when I got to the lake, I literally stopped dead in my tracks – its tranquil beauty was breathtaking.

I so loved being there in that moment and appreciating that I had the presence of mind to stop and absorb its peace for some minutes.

I say presence of mind, because that is why I am taking some early morning walks lately – I am needing the mental break. 

Last week was emotionally challenging for our family – and that impacts on how I feel and react to building our home too.  Last week I felt a bit of a fraud because while I appreciated and wrote about the positives on this blog, my facebook page to my friends read a bit differently.  Last week I had to find ways to stop myself saying “I need this building to stop, everyone go home for a while”. 
Last week on facebook, my friend tagged me and I shared this quote, “If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, resold, recycled or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production. Pete Seeger”

I agree wholeheartedly.

But I am also feeling like I am finding it increasingly harder to maintain this ethos in building our home.  I fear I am losing the optimism to build ‘green’ and hence losing momentum and enthusiasm L.  It is not a nice feeling at all.

We met with Richard, our building supervisor this week – and it has got me thinking!  That is always a good thing!!

Here’s what I am thinking - Things to remember!

·        The environment – choose wisely, it may cost more in the beginning, but it will pay for itself in the long run. 

·        The environment – build strongly – using materials is only ever going to be environmentally friendly if they last a long time and you avoid the ‘throw away’ mentality

·        The environment – quicker is not often better – have patience!  (so not my strong point so remind me again and again!)

·        The environment – refuse, reduce, re-use, recycle – in that order.  Keeping this in mind has guided our house planning – refusing to be seduced by gimmicks and gadgets and reducing our wants to our needs – but I need to remember it with choosing building materials too – it is proving too easy to just think (when you are tired) “Just go get what is available” and not remember these principles because they take a bit more thinking and doing.

Life is a long learning curve – I’m happy to oblige :-)