Recycling With A Purpose

 “Good garbage breaks down as it goes. That’s why it smells bad to your nose. Bad garbage grows and grows and grows. Garbage is s’posed to decompose” These are lyrics of a song by Tom Chapin, an incredible children’s song writer (google the song Good Garbage. You will love it).  In order not to add to the bad garbage problem here in my village, I put my empty water bottles to good use. Last Christmas I made a Christmas tree out of empty plastic bottles.

Now I am using plastic water bottles to grow vegetables.  The process begins by cutting an empty bottle in half and inserting a sponge in the top section.  I invert it and place it on top of the bottom half which is filled with water.

Next I add soil to the top and plant a seed. The sponge continuously absorbs water from the bottom and keeps the dirt moist. My first plants to germinate were zucchini.

I also make planters out of empty plastic bottles and once the seedlings are large enough they are transplanted. Pigs, goats, sheep and chicken roaming around my bungalow keep me from having a conventional garden outdoors, therefore my “water bottle garden” is located inside my gated courtyard.

The zucchini fruit on my plants have yet to be plentiful but the flowers are beautiful.

I am also growing cucumbers and green beans.

Although it does not seem that recycling a few water bottles will make a difference, if we all do our small part it will. And let us not forget that God gave us this beautiful planet. He is the Creator. We must show God that we love Him by stopping and even reversing the destruction we have already caused.  To quote again from another Tom Chapin song: “This pretty planet spinning through space, you’re a garden, you’re a harbor, you’re a holy place”.