Annabelle sits in her booster seat, smiles at her dad and me, raises her hands above her head until her fingers touch, and says, “T-wee!” My husband laughs but his eyes betray his curiosity. “What is she doing?” he asks me. “Yoga,” I tell him. “She’s showing you the “tree” pose.”
Our summer has not been slow, to say the least. Between making out-of-state visits with family, building our first vegetable garden, working on our house, and seeing friends, we are on the go 24/7. The result? A tired and frazzled family in serious need of a break, or for us–an activity that allows us to reconnect with our surroundings and each other.
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I must confess, I have never written a confession post. When I was invited to write for 5MFGG, I was eager to express more personal feelings about being green. As much as I love writing at teensygreen about eco-products, services, and activism that helps all of us, being eco is also simultaneously a deeply personal part of my life (as I know it’s probably yours if you’re reading this). That being said, I do have some ranting I’d like to “put out there” in a purely hypothetical, non-offensive manner.
My oldest daughter is turning six in October. I’m not ready to let go of birthday parties just yet, so we’re going to have a small gathering of some friends and family.
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If you happen to live in a place that has one solid outdoor growing season like I do, then the harvest is fast approaching. Here and there you’ve probably begun to pick a few things out of your garden already. Soon, though, your garden will be overflowing with produce and it will be a good idea to have your food preservation methods ready to go.
What? Preservation methods? I can’t just eat it all fresh?
You’re going find out quick that you cannot eat everything fresh out of your garden, and your friends might get tired of you popping by with baskets of offerings.
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When I had my son, four years ago I was far from green, but my husband was–kind of. He was the one that hassled me to recycle or to not go over board on purchasing and consumption. I was the wife that threw the soup can out verses cleaning it and recycling. Sorry, but I just wasn’t in to it and frankly, I didn’t get it. Now, I’ve got it. Funny thing is, it took having my second child for me to wrap my head around toxic chemicals and how bad they are and how I want to be more earth friendly.
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So many juicy pieces of green to sink your teeth into this week. Here’s a sampling:
–Our own Crunchy Domestic Goddess gave us the dish on throwing an eco-friendly party (and there’s a giveaway, too!)
–Eco Child’s Play told us a story about getting rid of lice naturally (I’m still itching since reading this one).
–I reviewed Kiwi Magazine and Preserve toothbrushes over at Mama Speaks (a rockin’ review blog). One of them keeps your green cravings happy, the other cleans up afterwards.
–Our lovely Crunchy Chicken found herself linked up on The Huffington Post (and coincidently I’m watching Arianna Huffington on “Supper Club with Tom Bergeron” on Planet Green right now, but I digress…), in an article about eco-friendly dining out.
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While I certainly know that we are all connected, sometimes I forget. Not today. I was shaken out of my complacency today. I usually think I’m doing my best to go green and save the world, making solid choices, trying to consume less, and teaching my children to do the same. But, sometimes some story or event comes along and smacks you in the face, jolting you so much that you have to go out and do something. And thus, an advocate is born. Or hatched. Or created.
A story this week on Yahoo! Games regarding The Playstation War shook me out of my complacent, I’m-mostly-doing-good-in-the-world, minivan mom bliss.
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You’ve probably heard of taking a staycation (staying home during vacation time rather than traveling) and you’ve probably heard of the 100 mile diet (eating foods only grown within 100 miles of your home). Well, how about the 100 Mile Vacation?
I’m sure that many of us aren’t willing to completely eliminate our vacations, regardless of fuel or increasing airfare costs. But instead of traveling long distances why not take a trip close to home thereby saving money on gas or airfare? You don’t need to take a big trip to Europe or Hawaii to enjoy time away from home with friends and family.
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When my family and I began this journey going green, we started with simple recycling. I am telling you- it is really addictive. We began to notice that trips to the alley for the garbage dwindled as the trips to the recycling center increased. Good, but I knew we could do better. The next step was creating ways to discard even less and begin reusing materials more.
Paper was the easiest material in the beginning so we incorporated the following changes in our daily routine:
- Created a recycled paper bin where we went to get paper for art projects, making cards, wrapping presents, packaging supplies for my ebay business, scrap paper, pretend post offices, etc.
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There are times when I wish I had the knowledge I have now, back when I was starting my family. It seems that parents are so much more informed environmentally than they were even 13 years ago when I had my first child. There was no internet when I had my son. What I learned was from books I read or people I talked to. There was no emphasis on cloth diapers or BPA issues. It’s wonderful to see parents of young children and babies making the conscious effort to teach their kids from the start how to live “green”. These children will grow up understanding that our earth is precious and worth saving from the beginning.
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No one wants to be greeted with bugs in their home. They create everything from fear to annoyance to health hazards. So let’s look green and natural ways to get rid of them!
There are two key things you want to avoid:
Keep your rooms free of clothes and materials on the floor that provide great places for bugs to move around unnoticed. Don’t leave food out and keep your counters clean.
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