This week Awesome Stories brings you garbage, cleaning, and genuine voices.
Garbage to Garden Goodness
I love the story of how Garbage to Garden got started. Tyler Frank was in college and noticed how much of the trash was organic matter and wondered why you couldn’t put that at the curb like trash and recycling. He started talking to friends and neighbors and soon had enough interest to start the service. And I love their model of swapping clean buckets for people each week so the mess and smells don’t accumulate. Today, GTG is the most successful composting service in the Northeast serving 5000 homes in Portland ME. The food scraps are used to make organic compost and biofuels with local companies. I love this model of sustainability in turning waste into compost to literally feed the soil to grow new food.
Conscious Cleaning
Being a neat nut, this article is close to my heart. Somehow, I inherited neatness and organization from my mother. In fact, I was so good at organizing, that I ended up being the person who packed our car for family vacations. Like the author Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, I enjoy cleaning and find it a good way to ground myself and refresh my energy, space, and attitude. I feel good when my space is neat and clean. I’m inspired to make cleaning a spiritual practice like Llewellyn. She talks about Sufi’s being called “sweepers” for their work to clean the energetic debris of others. For her, the art of cleaning is part of holistic spiritual practice where we live mindfully of our impact on others and the planet. I agree with her perspective on simplicity where we have only what we need and can care for. May we live mindfully with simplicity and love.
The Genuine Voice
We want to feel thoroughly and completely understood so we can take the guard down and be completely vulnerable, exposed, and absolutely secure. ~ Howard Thurman
I wish I had heard this commencement speech by Howard Thurman when I was graduating from college! And I love the ending about when we find that quiet voice, and the other person does too, then we find the unity and compassion in each other. I’ve been looking for that quiet genuine inner voice for a long time. Only occasionally do I really hear it, and feel truly comfortable in my skin being naked and vulnerable. But I’m much closer now than ever, as I offer myself more compassion, listening, and acceptance regardless of my foibles and failures. Kudos Brad.
May we listen for the “sound of the genuine” finding the oneness in each other.
Now that is a really good idea. We should recycle our organic waste too.
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Exactly. We use it for our own compost and garden, but many people don’t have yards or want to do the work.
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We have Large brown bins here which we pay a yearly fee to have collected, they are as large as our regular bins.. We have three bins, One for household wastes, One for garden waist in which you can put your veggie peelings in, ( no food waste though ) and then one for plastic and paper.. We take bottled glass to the bottle banks..
But we have our own compost bins, so much of our waste goes in there.. A great idea ..
I have yet to click on the other links … But I agree, I enjoy a good spot of cleaning.. It helps relieve stress, 🙂 as you scrub away the debris of outer and inner clutter.. 🙂
Have a perfect weekend Brad.. Take care.. and I enjoyed all your Stories.. The Speech must have been impressive, I will be back.. It sounds well worth a listen.. 🙂
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Thanks for your enthusiastic support Sue. I’m glad you have so many recycling options. We have a pretty good system except for the food waste and plastics which are a big problem. Cleaning is one of my go to activities! 🙂
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🙂 🙂 Enjoy your day dear Brad.. hopefully no cleaning today 🙂
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Ooops! I already cleaned today! 🙂
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And waste, not waist.. though my waist since my hols has plonked on a little more waste.. LOL
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LOL
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Quiet voices and the “sound of the genuine”… This is an inspiring post, Brad. Thanks for all these words. Hugs.
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Thank you Teagan. May we listen and know our true voices.
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Always great stories, friend. That Garbage to Garden business sounds like it could be a country-wide thing in the not-too-distant future. 🙂 I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
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Thanks Cynthia. I would love the compost program to go nationwide!
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I needed the conscious cleaning piece today! Am sitting here procrastinating b/c I have housework and work work to do today. Neither very appealing. Thanks for sharing the new perspective.
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I’m glad the ideas could help you Kay. I’d offer to help if you were close by! 🙂
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Be glad you don’t live near me then :-). I’d take you up on the offer!
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Actually I’ve considered starting an organizing, cleaning, decluttering service. 🙂
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I’d love to be able to compost but don’t have the space to do it, so it would be great if there was a communal service. And I love that article about mindful cleaning – more and more I appreciate the spirituality in simple tasks.
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Thanks Andrea. Maybe there is a neighbor who could use the scraps. I’m with you on living simply and mindfully. An evolving process. 🙂
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What a wonderful model of sustainability. Such a great idea. Love it.
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Thanks Miriam. I’m glad you like the idea too.
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Love the organic waste recycling….our daughter and son-in-law do this for their own organic garden intheir side yard….I figure if they can pull this off in urban LA, anyone can…love the Genuine Voice article!
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Thanks Kirt. I’m glad to hear your family is making use of their scraps. We do it here too, but most people throw away this great resource. May we all listen to our genuine voice.
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Oh, I wish I could enjoy cleaning!! My hubby was the organizer in the family…and the master packer. So now I have to make myself to do it…I am far too comfortable with a little chaos 😀
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Thanks Helen. I’m available for hire. 🙂 Maybe I’ll start offering my services to our community. Then I can meet my cyber friends and travel. 🙂
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I’m trying to find inner peace and satisfaction from fulfilling my househusbandly duties… but I’m just not quite there yet. I’m hoping with enough practice, it’ll come to me;)
In the meantime, its not surprising at all that you add “neat nut” to the list of mindful activities that sweeps you above the daily clutter and chaos of life.
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Feel free to call in Ninja Neat Nut to natter up your abode! Do or do not, there is no try! 🙂 Be well my fine funny friend.
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Turning garbage into biofuels does seem very interesting, just like the “back to the future” movie. It is amazing how just a couple of conversations and some motivated people can turn a problem into a solution. This is the permaculture solution; “the problem is the solution”. Thank you for the post. Merry Christmas. Lee.
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Agreed Lee. I love the values and vision of permaculture. Happy Holidays!
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There’s something about cleaning I’ve always loved and you can guarantee I’ll be doing a lot of it in our new home this weekend… it is a cleansing and putting our own energy into a space. Your inner voice isn’t normally human… and recognizable… it’s more of a sensing and I sense yours a lot… because you allow it to act through you in kind and compassionate ways. Much love, barbara x
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Congrats on your new home Barbara! I’ll be over for an inspection. 🙂 Thanks for the tip on inner voices.
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Thanks for this helpful article! It is necessary to keep our house neat and clean for a healthy family. Keeping the whole house clean is a difficult task you can make it easy through a website called Onata.
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Thanks for following my blog and the tip James. Welcome, Brad
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Thanks for this helpful article! It is necessary to keep our house neat and clean for a healthy family.
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Hi Andrea. Welcome to my blog and thanks for sharing. Feel free to visit and comment, but please don’t promote your products and services. Thanks, Brad
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