We throw away far too much in this country. It’s not enough to sort the garbage into recyclable and non-recyclable. We have to find ways to stop throwing away anything and everything. One small way we’ve started was to try to compost the vegetable matter, which to be honest hasn’t been all that successful. But that’s me learning to do it correctly.

Another way to minimize waste is to find another use for it. For about a year I’ve been taking the parts of the vegetables we eat and attempting to either save the seeds they might have, or in the case of carrots and green onions (amount others), get them to grow again. In the case of six carrot tops where I cut off of the tubers, I put them into a container with a bit of water. All of them have started to sprout green in my very simple starting container (a recycled 30 oz Temptations container). No, those carrots won’t regrow the tuber portion, but the lovely green that’s coming up will leaf out further and, given time, bloom. And if they’re in my backyard garden with all my other flowers then perhaps they’ll help to attract and feed butterflies.

In addition to green sprouting up, the carrot tops are also growing roots around their edges in the water.

One reuse that has worked out just fine are green onions. The hanging pot you see before you has five clumps growing new tops. Every time I have I cook a recipe that calls for fresh green onions I go out with my kitchen sheers and cut off about a dozen, then go in, wash them, then cut them up into small pieces for cooking or garnishing, or a bit of both. And to make it even sweeter (financially) I no longer have to rush to a grocery store and buy a new bunch when I need some. I just step outside my back door.

All of this is leading into my starting a small raised garden in the back this year for other vegetables. I’m looking to raise tomatoes, bell peppers, pole beans, and perhaps small squashes. I don’t know how the coming weather will effect our efforts to grow anything in our garden, flower of vegetable. But I have to try. Our back yard is a very small green space with a huge live oak over everything. I need to keep it all watered. In addition to the butterflies we also have a number of bird feeders for the smaller songbirds in the area. I’m always thrilled to see red cardinals flitting about, as well as a number of butterflies of all sizes and colors. And then there are the flowers blooming.