Transitioning to Natural Living

I have a lot of plans for this year, especially for the blog. I’m taking a leap and am going to work on something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time now.

I’ve made some changes over the years to help me move in that direction, but I still have a long way to go.

Now I live in a condo in California, so I’m obviously restricted in what I can actually do. I can’t raise my own animals and I have limited space in what I can grow. That doesn’t mean I can’t try my best at natural living, and I’m going to see how far I can actually go.

I thought, maybe people would like to see this transition and my journey along the way? Apron Warrior has been about creating doable foods made from real ingredients. While it will still be primarily about food, I am going to include this journey for 2017. I don’t know if I will keep posting about it after the year is up, it really depends on how it’s working for me and how you guys like it. I’ll hold a retrospective at the end of the year and decide then.

There are 5 areas I plan to work on and include on Apron Warrior:

1. Natural household items

This is a big one. I want to spend less time at the store, less time buying products, and less time producing waste. I will be attempting to make household items such as shampoo, body soaps, cleaners, etc.

I have no idea how this is going to turn out! Wish me luck!

2. Gardening

I love the idea of gardening. My grandma used to grow avocados, citrus, loquats, peaches, strawberries, and so forth. She would oftentimes grow these from seeds. I loved going to my grandparent’s house and eating the fresh fruits and veggies. The peach tree was in the center of my grandparent’s yard and every New Years Day we would have poppers and pop streamers into the peach tree in celebration. The tree would be decorated in these streamers and looked so beautiful when they caught in the wind. Memories.

Now, I’m not the best gardener. Once I accidentally water my seedlings with a cup of water I had on the table. I thought it was the water I was drinking, then I smelt vinegar as it poured onto the plant. Yeah. I grabbed the cup I had used to clean up a dog accident earlier in the day. The plants didn’t last in case you were wondering.

I’m going to try really hard this year. I’ll be speaking with some talented gardeners and will let you in on their secrets. I’m pretty excited.

3. Cutting down on waste

I hate the idea of how much waste I create. I’m going to be cutting down, not just in trash, but in food waste. Did you know that food waste is the second highest component of landfills?

The steps I want to take for this are:

Buying only what we really need. I want to avoid excess waste in any way.

Compost. I need to figure this out, especially with an HOA. I will need to do it in my home or garage. I’m looking into Bokashi which is basically a Japanese pickled composting method. It’s suppose to not have any terrible smells and can be done indoors.

Less plastic. I want to try and purchase less product that is wrapped in plastic. This also is a nice transition to #4. Make what I need.

4. Creating what I need and DIY

I’m going to make everything I can within reason. The more I make at home the better, whether it’s food or items. This year I’m not buying gifts for family and friends (except kids) and will be making them. I always think homemade gifts are so much more personal anyway.

5. A bit about me

A few people have asked me to show more of myself on the blog. I’ve talked a little bit about myself before and included some things I’ve been working on, but it wasn’t very often. I’d like to be more personable with you guys and also get to know you. I’ll be taking you along every once and a while on fun things I do, dinner parties I throw, and changes that are happening in my life. My goal is to add a personal touch to each post. So let me know how I’m doing throughout the year. I always love hearing from you guys.

So that’s the plan for this year. I hope that this will be a good foundation to more natural living and will hopefully be useful for others as well. I will also be redoing the Apron Warrior website and logo. I’m not sure exactly when my relaunch will be, but it will be coming up soonish. I would say at the end of the first quarter. I could be wrong though, so don’t hold me to that 😉