Spring clean-up has begun at our house. We’ve been outside trimming the dry flower stems from our 2017 gardens, opening up our birdhouses to take out last year’s nests, and tidying up broken branches from the back yard. I love having a fire going to burn up the sticks and stems… and maybe roast a couple marshmallows while we’re at it. Residential brush burning is prohibited across New York State through May 14. However, small camp fires are exempt, so if you burn yard clean-up like us, keep the fire less than four feet across and less than three feet high. Fully extinguish the embers before heading back indoors.

I love how easy it is to recycle in our area. For the past 10 years, I’ve been bringing my recycling to the Sullivan Transfer Station (433 Mitchell Pond East Rd., Cochecton, NY) on Saturday mornings. It always feels good to empty out those bins and do it in a way that hopefully makes the world a cleaner, healthier place. And am I the only one who enjoys revisiting all the packaging from last month’s meals, taking a second look at what we’ve been eating and drinking? I recently discovered the Waste Management Transfer Station (165 Rosencranse Rd., Beach Lake, PA), which is also great, especially given that they’re open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. And they use a single-stream system, which means you don’t have to sort: all plastic (1-7), glass, metal, cardboard and paper goes in one dumpster. It doesn’t get much easier than that to do the right thing.

While we do recycle everything we can, with two little kids on the go, we use our fair share of non-recyclable plastic products like drinking straws and zip lock bags. But knowing that there is nothing in nature that can biodegrade plastic, I’m making an extra effort in 2018 to cut way back on those in favor of reusable, biodegradable, or recyclable options like paper straws and aluminum foil.

Have you heard that the Town of Tusten is making efforts to improve recycling right here in Narrowsburg? As part of that effort, the town has created “Tusten Recycles” tote bags. If you are a Tusten resident, pick yours up (no charge) at the town hall (210 Bridge St., Narrowsburg; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon) or at a town board meeting (second Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m.).

If you’ve got old electronics to get rid of, now’s your chance. On Saturday, April 28 at the Honesdale National Bank (1207 Texas Palmyra Hwy., Honesdale, PA), you can drop off computers, fax machines, VCRs, phones, copiers, and other unwanted household devices between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. The cost is $20 per carload and proceeds benefit the Wayne County YMCA.

With Earth Day coming up on Sunday, April 22, it is a good time to congratulate ourselves on all we do to protect our world, and challenge ourselves to come up with smart new ways to take extra care of it.