Feldman has since made over 20 quilts and been involved in quilting retreats at Todd Hall, where she’d collect even more fabric. Feldman also repurposes her clothes.

“Friends will bring me something that needs mending, and I’ll try to add an artistic spin on it with scraps so that it’s more than it was and it doesn’t have to be given or thrown away,” she said.

As Knobbe is a horticulturist, the couple has vegetable, herb, and flower gardens where Knobbe plants native species. They also compost, avoid paper and plastic items, and recycle.

“I just try to be very intentional about the things that I do so that I’m mindful of not wasting it if it’s not necessary,” Feldman said.

Feldman hopes to make an impact as an individual and to remain connected to her grandmother, who was a bird watcher and gardener.

“We live in a society where everything is about convenience and time and it’s easier to not do it,” she said. ”I’m doing it because it takes me back to the roots that I had and the values that I had growing up.”

She also said it’s important to make an impression on children to be more conscious about the environment to move forward.

“Instead of trying to make corporations stop, if we teach enough kids how to have [the environment] as a value, in 10 years there might be some change,” Feldman said.