What We Love  About Humboldt: 

Real Green

By Linda Stansberry

What’s in a name? You’ll see plenty of labels when you walk down your average grocery store aisle: whole wheat, gluten-free, organic, green. But what good is an organic egg from an unhappy chicken? Or a gluten-free donut from a monolithic megacorporation with little to no social conscience? We want Humboldt Made to be synonymous with values that go beyond a few words a box. Real green, all the way through, is a Humboldt Made value. So we asked some of our members how they’re conserving water during this year’s historic drought.

Dottie Simmons of Simmons Natural Bodycare says that her rural Bridgeville homestead relies on a natural spring and they practice conservation all year long, drought or no drought. If you’re going to practice a Navy-style shower (get wet, turn water off and lather up, then rinse off) you could do worse than having a sweet-smelling bar of Simmons Lemon Sheabutter Soap with you!

Spring Garrett, owner of Rumplesilkskin (fantastic fashions made from recycled ties), saves every little drop of runoff when she’s waiting for her shower or sink water to warm up and uses it to water her garden, which has been replanted with drought-resistant native plants.

Meanwhile, up at Monument Mountain Vineyards, Carol Hoopes has switched to dry-farming her grapevines.

And Michael Christian of American Hydroponics writes, “All our domestic vegetable and flower gardens are on drip irrigation and timers. The systems we manufacture are all recirculating systems, the only water that is used is that which is transpired. We also have systems that are zero waste, zero power, they operate on gravity, the ultimate in efficient water use. These are in our R&D greenhouses. These are perfect systems for off grid, rural, and third world. We just fill the drum with dissolved minerals and water… the plants use every drop.”

Thank you to our Humboldt Made members who know what “green” really means, and to all of our neighbors, friends and coworkers who are making sacrifices during this difficult year.