April 25, 2008

Begin at the Beginning

I've been procrastinating about this first post for quite a while now. I have many excuses - I need to learn html first, I'm too busy with work and the garden, I don't have all my goals for the year ironed out yet, and so on. Finally I've just decided to get it over with, begin at the beginning and move forward without worrying whether things are perfect along the way.

My name is Lori and I live with Rob, my husband of eight months, in a small St Louis suburb called Webster Groves. I moved from Seattle to the St Louis area to attend graduate school more than eight years ago, and I never thought I'd stay here this long. Things change, economies change, we need new people (that's you, Rob!), priorities change, and I'm still here. As I recently began to read
my sister's blog, I realized that I'd been using my location in the Midwest to take the easier path when it comes to sustainable living. Somehow in the midst of the last eight years I managed to ignore much of my left-leaning, tree-hugging, planet-loving roots, and I want to find them again.

When I decided to start up my own blog, friends asked me "what will you blog about?" This seems like an innocent enough question, but for me this was curiously hard to answer. Here's what I finally came up with.

  • I will establish my goals for sustainable living, document my progress, and share the trials and tribulations I expect as I reduce my ecological footprint;
  • I will help other people, even in some small way, understand why living more sustainably not only the right thing to do, but the only thing to do; and
  • I will use this blog and my relationships with other bloggers as a support-network, a fall-back, if and when I find myself slipping backwards or at a loss for how to move forward.
So here it is, the beginning. I hope you enjoy the ride.

8 comments:

Green Bean said...

Lori

I came over here to add you to the Be a Bookworm challenge and got all interested because your journey reminds me very much of my own. It is so hard to get off the track and distracted with, well, life. And then I saw you are Melinda's sister! Yeah! She and I have exchanged a few emails and I adore Melinda. It is great for you and she to have each other to support and inspire each other.

On a final note, I just finished Common Wealth, which closes with The Power of One and what we can all do to make a difference. Interestingly enough, blogging or other social networking on the Internet was on the list. So it sounds like your reasons to start a blog are right on! Look forward to reading it.

Lori said...

green bean,
Thanks for the kind welcome. I'm excited to be a part of the blogging community, and looking forward to starting Omnivore's Dilemma. Sounds like I may also need to add Common Wealth to my list.

Joyce said...

I saw you listed on Green Bean's blog so I thought I'd pop over. It's nice to see some else from the Midwest getting into the blogger loop (even if you hesitate to claim the Midwest as home!).

Stef said...

Welcome to the blog world. Good luck with it all. I'll be reading and of course talking to you too!

Lori said...

joyce,
Thank you! I don't think I'm a particularly reluctant Midwesterner, just somewhat surprised to still be here. After cruising the eco- and garden blogs for the past few months, I've realized that there are quite a few of us who care about the planet and live in the Midwest. I know, how did I miss that before, but let's just say that I'm glad to be a part of that community...

Chile said...

Welcome to the blogosphere, Lori! It took me a long time to get my first blog post, too, but now they can't get me to shut up. ;-)

Now, re the whole nepotism in blogging thing, I hope you and Melinda don't have a sniping rivalry like Rechelle (Country Doctor's Wife) and April. Somehow, I think you two probably help each other along on the journey to green living.

Anonymous said...

Found you through Green Bean's sidebar and had to come welcome a fellow St. Louis green blogger! (I'm in Breckenridge Hills.) Your 2nd post is inspiring me to lug those railroad ties out of the garage and actually build a raised bed for my veggies.

Lori said...

Chile,
Hm, I hadn't thought of it as nepotism. Mainly I think that Melinda has inspired me to follow in her footsteps (in some small way) for a while. I do promise not to snipe, even a little bit, as I'm definitely very proud of my big sister's work and her blog...

Blue Collar Crunch,
I too am glad to hear from a fellow St Louisan green blogger! It's exciting to hear that my post has inspired you to lug out those railroad ties. Let me know if you need advice on how we constructed our bed, and on what not to do (we also have a few examples of that from our weekend build).