This March, I avoided planting my garden seeds until this past weekend. Though I knew I was blowing the schedule for many seeds, I hadn’t done any additional homework about them until last week. I’ve not even completed the list, but the image above shows you the crops that I should have started earlier, based on our May 3rd frost-free date. See, last year, I thought frost-free was three weeks later; no wonder I had such a paltry garden.
Even starting late, it’s still worthwhile planting your own seeds. I found out last week that a lot of greenhouse seedlings are treated with neonicotinoid pesticides at the seed/seedling stage, and I don’t want anything that will harm native pollinators in my garden. So I used seeds I’ve saved, and some I bought.
There’s a difficulty with most so-called economic behaviour in the world: it pays attention only to the first price tag, and rarely to the second. The first price tag is the sticker at the store. The second price tag is the cost of operation and maintenance. Then, there’s the third — the price you don’t pay, but someone else does. It’s called an externality, and there’s a lot of that going on, and it usually falls to government to pay it, or no one at all.
Truly economic behaviour would consider all prices, including these externalities. For these, a mitigation fee could be paid. I’m going to talk about this now, but first, admire this rubber coaster:
Ontario has a Tire Stewardship Program; this is one of two coasters I have of recycled rubber.
In Quebec, we pay the Electronic Waste fee when we buy electronics. We also pay an environmental tax when we buy tires – at $3 per tire. Then, when you want to scrap your tires, you can bring them to any garage that does tire service, no questions asked. Many go to developing countries for a second life, and those that are not fit for reuse go to a recycling plant. They used to be stockpiled — a good practice where recycling technology hasn’t kept pace with the supply — but then, in the early 1990’s, someone accidentally set one ablaze both in Quebec and in Ontario. That kicked recycling into high gear! Quebec announced last summer (2012) that the last stockpiled tires from its various dumps have now all been recycled.
These three price tags (in fact, there are more) also exist when you buy a home. After the purchase price, you first have to pay the excise/land transfer/”bienvenue” tax (and the seller has other closing/selling costs to pay at end of ownership). Then you have the necessary mortgage and condo fees on a weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly basis. After these, the cost of upkeep: annual taxes, house insurance, and the energy and other utility (e.g. water) bills. Lastly, and inescapably, repairs and renovations.
(When shopping for a home, it’s good to consider all the costs. I created a spreadsheet to track these, along with square footage and features. It helped me consider the objective value of what I was looking at purchasing. I gave properties a star rating for meeting critiria and also the important, subjective value of how the place felt.)
This is a long-running “lifestyle” blog about the pleasures of living like a farm kid in an urban context. You’ll find a wide range of topics that pertain to food, crafts, energy efficiency, and DIY. There’s a big focus on ecology and wildlife because this has brought me a lot joy – but this is also the greatest potential we have of restoring some balance to nature where we live.
Given that, I’ve turned my attention to providing more content for people to switch traditional lawns over to native landscaping and green driveways and things that will support climate readiness, drought and flood-prevention, and increased habitat for biodiversity. Comments and questions are welcome!
If you’re in the Montreal region, you can also use my “Rewilding” service to landscape your property using native plants, convert to a green driveway, and prevent your windows from killing birds.
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