So maybe its not my story, but I was wondering what people do in the springtime to prepare their houses and yards for the coming year. I understand the year has already started but for the most part people do very little in the ways of home and garden improvement until the spring.

I myself spend alot of time cleaning up the messes of the previous year and preparing my house and yard for a new cycle of messing it all up.

As if my name didn't give some of this away. I deep scrub my solar panels and tweak the positioning, preparing for that warm summer sun to return me to a 80% off the grid home.

I usually have a garage sale. I could through everything out and have it end up in the landfill, but I figure, if I can extend the life of a few things, that's better than nothing. One of these years I will figure out how not to accumulate things and the yard sale will go bye-bye.

I plant flowers and start my vegetable garden. Not quite there yet, but its coming. I have to turn the compost pile more often now and prep it for the season. Nothing like fresh grown herbs and veggies.

I usually go out and help out the local arboreal society plant new seedling and other plants. They usually transplant them into local parks, roadsides and sometimes low income housing. Its a really fun day and you end up meeting some really cool people.

I pull out the bikes and put the car keys away. I truly enjoy the retired life and its nice to have beautiful weather that allows me to just enjoy nature rather than being stuck in a car or in the house.

Maybe not what you are getting at here, but I hire new staff. I actually do look for laborers and office personnel who are familiar with green/sustainable principles. Too many of my clients want green houses now, so it helps to always gear up my new staff with this mentality in mind.

I usually start 3-4 projects that will never get finished and 1-2 others which will enthrall me and take all my time for the entire year. I will finish those projects. Last year I set out to build my own solar hot water system on a shoestring budget with as much recycled material as possible. I spent the first two months researching and the next 5 with trial and error. This summer will be the true test of how well it performs. I was getting some power bill reduction over the winter, but I wanted to wait to fine tune it.

planting a garden to supplement my food needs for the coming summer and fall.

I like to plant my garden too. I love having food that I know what went into it. I stay away from chemical herbicides and pesticides. I don't know if I would call my stuff purely organic but it sure tastes better knowing that I put my time and effort into growing my own food.