Category Archives: Green Parenting

Urban Gardening: Green Without The Green

Got a green thumb but don’t have the green space? You don’t have to live on a farm or have acres of yard in order to add some green to your scene. Here’s how to go green without the green:

Contain Yourself: Bring the garden to you with indoor plants and window boxes that surround you in green without taking up any outdoor real estate. Container gardens can be used to grow your favorite plants and trees…and even a whole garden of vegetables. Check out Garden Guides for tips on growing veggies indoors.

Scratch It Out: Grow flowers in your sidewalk!

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Around The Greenosphere: Weekly Link Roundup

So much interesting content to choose from today, especially in this week of emotional days and angry weather. Here are some posts that caught our eye:

The Simply Green channel at Sparkplugging is talking about the possibility of doing laundry without water. Be still my heart…

Green Mom Finds told us about a green socializing site where we can all go find people as crazy as we are.

I wrote about a way to help you clean up your indoor air over at Mama Speaks.

Green Me alerts us to the issue of flame retardants in pj’s.

And this one isn’t from this past week, but it’s important and awesome and should be read by all.

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Breastfeeding Blues

I am counting down the days of pleasure and intimacy I’ve enjoyed and shared with my baby while breastfeeding him. My baby is two months shy of turning two. I am not really sure how well he is going to take it, but some days I can’t wait for
him to grow tired of clinging to me and treating me like a pull toy. When I was younger, I never realized how valuable ALL of my body parts would be, but as I have gotten older, I’m thankful for the way I was made and that all of me has been able to nurture the health and development of my children.

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Starting at Square One

One of the biggest goals for me in my journey toward going green is eliminating paper products, especially tissues and paper towels. Looking back it was easy for me to say that I would just make handkerchiefs and napkins out of squares of old sheets and damaged clothes. Sure, they wouldn’t be perfect but they would be Anthropologie-like chic- of course! It sounds easy enough, right?
Wrong. Since my mom is a well established seamstress, she gave me a Viking Husqvarna sewing machine to start my crafty adventure. Little did she know that I haven’t the foggiest idea of how to use the thing.

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Be Healthy: Get Active with Your Kids

Previously, I wrote about my weight loss journey and overall, journey to be healthy. My children are an extension of me and therefore my journey is their journey. What I eat, how I exercise and the way I view the world affects them. This is why it is extremely important, for me, to set a good example in as many ways as possible. The way I see it, when parents set good examples the children learn what the parents does. Children usually do as they see. I love reading, for example, and I continually saw my mother read and encourage us to read, instead of watch television.

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Around The Greenosphere: Weekly Link Roundup

We love finding fabulous links from around the web for you each week, and this week they are all from the personal blogs of our awesome Green Team here at 5M4GG. Enjoy!

Sommer from Nature Moms is sharing about her success with homeschooling, and making me realize how fun it could be.

Jennifer from The Smart Mama spreads the word about the potential for chemical burns from tagless labels.

Green Mamma, Jessica, started a great series on trash that continues our quest for reducing waste and safely getting rid of the rest.

Sommer from Green & Clean Mom gives us tips on green camping (I adore fall camping!)

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Eat Your Greens!

Child eating corn from the local farmer's market.

My mother always told me to eat my greens. That advice is as true today as it was when I was young. But these days, green foods go beyond spinach and broccoli to organic selections of coffee, fruits, veggies, and burgers.

Conventional farmers use around 300 different pesticides to grow foods that are sold in supermarkets every day. These chemicals pollute the soils and waterways, harming fish, birds, and other wildlife. Pesticides are also dangerous for the farmers who are exposed to them on a daily basis. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that pesticides are responsible for 20,000-40,000 work-related poisonings each year in the United States.At

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Winter Gardening in My Favorite City

GreenNet

Earlier this week, some friends and I were talking about how to continue our weekly gardening play dates into winter. Throughout spring and summer we have been relishing the benefits of planting, tending and harvesting without looking past fall. Now that Labor Day approaches and autumn lurks around the corner, how do we relinquish this simple pleasure we share with our children outdoors?

Brows crinkled and faces twisted with despair as we recall those days spent indoors during the winter months. What to do? What to do?! How do we find a city garden that needs our superior weeding expertise all year round?

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How Much is Too Much Green For Green?

A few weeks ago, late at night, I received an email from a public relations exec about an all-natural children’s hair care product. Called oopsy daisy! leave in detangler and conditioner, this “incredible, must-have” product was $18 for 8.25 ounces. What!!?? My hair care products don’t even cost that much (I admit, I may have screamed out loud)! This was the last straw in a series of eye-popping price tags that I just couldn’t let go without comment. After I hit “reply,” I was as calm and polite as possible, asking the exec to please explain me how a hair care product for children could be so pricey.

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Plastic Fast Food Toys-Reducing Waste

Last weekend we had a family picnic and went to the beach to find rocks. My son is into fossils and thinks he will be a archaeologist and a truck driver. I cheated and decided we would go to Subway and throw this into the cooler for our picnic. It was a long week and I wanted a break.

Rightly so.

Anyhow, even Subway gives toys in the kids meals and to reduce the waste, my children share a meal because neither will finish a entire kids meal. Small eaters. My son looked at this dinky plastic key chain and said:

“That’s dumb.”

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