GardeningNude

The Recycled Holiday Tree Challenge: Make All Your Holiday Ornaments From Reused or Recycled Products

Late in November I sat at the kitchen table playing games with my youngest daughter and discussing holiday plans. She said to me, “You know what? I bet we could make a few holiday ornaments this year.” This triggered a genius idea between us: what if we could decorate our tree with all reused or recycled holiday ornaments?

During this difficult economy many families cannot afford to buy new ornaments, so this effort will simultaneously teach how to reuse products and how to save money.

After some intense discussion, we came up with a plan for the Recycled Holiday Tree Challenge. While we had hundreds of holiday ornaments here at the house, we could not use them. It was important to reuse, recycle, or make the decorations ourselves so we could help educate our friends, family, and community about recycling and reusing.

To be placed on our incredible sustainable holiday tree, the decorations had to qualify by following the below rules:

Recycled Holiday Tree Challenge Rules -

1. Reused, or
2. Recycled, or
3. Garage Sale Purchased, or
4. From a Resale Shop, or
5. From the Natural Environment

Any craft parts beyond glue, staples, and needle/thread also need to be from a resale shop or disassembled and reused from a previous source.

We decided on a “blue” theme – decorating the tree with blue lights and trying as much as we could to stick with blue decorations whenever possible. Then we took a trip to the local resale shop.

For $4.10 we purchased several used blue colored blankets made out of fleece, a snowman table cloth, and a few blue sweaters which had snowmen embroidery to use as crafting material on-the-cheap.

First step was to assemble the artificial tree. We then hung twenty-four blue glass ball ornaments which I bought at a garage sale two years ago and had never used. My daughter hung a plastic Cinderella ornament she had found from a pile of old toys which had gone off to the needy, and we topped the tree with a fabric angel which was also found at a garage sale years before. We put an old white sheet on the floor as “snow”, then topped that with one of the snowman tablecloths we had found at the resale shop. What a great start.

Over the next several weeks we shall make more ornaments for the tree and demonstrate each craft so readers can see how to make it for themselves. My daughter and I hope you will follow along and make reused and recycled ornaments for your holiday tree as well.

Please send us photos and links so we can see what you have done with holiday trees to help save the landfills. Thanks!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Save Our Landfills From Textile and Clothing Waste; Reuse What You Have!

 

American textile waste, according to the EPA's 1988 study on the United States Generation of Solid Waste, accounts for over 3.9 million tons of the solid waste stream. Post-consumer textile waste is most typically garments or household items like old towels and rags that the owner discards because the items are outgrown, worn out, damaged, or have gone out of fashion. Often, these items are given to charity, but more typically they are thrown into the trash and help to fill our municipal landfills to the bursting point.

Perfectly good clothes wasted, when over a billion people on earth struggle every day to have water, food, clothing, and medicines. This is a basic human need being thrown away.

While donating your old clothing to charity is a start; why not think about reusing the clothing you have instead of buying new? It will save your family money, so you can spend the money on food or education for your children.

In the photo above you see my daughter’s creative idea for reinventing a t-shirt. On a rainy day a few weeks ago I cleaned out one of my closets, separating items out I want to use for garden work. A friend of mine, Ben, gave me this Leapfish t-shirt earlier this year and when my daughter spotted the word “Leapfish”, she snatched it up and begged to keep it as a sleep shirt.

Within thirty minutes she had redesigned the t-shirt; filling it with hand drawn leaping fish. Lovely. Good for the environment. A perfect idea to help teach a child about the value of reusing what you have so you can keep it out of the waste stream.

Help your community save a landfill – make a difference!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Pumpkin Seeds - How Halloween Can Teach Your Children About Nature

 

All summer long our family grew pumpkins; first we planted tiny plants in the soil – they flowered bright orange flowers as large as my hand. Green balls soon formed in the early summer and grew into larger pumpkins mid-summer. Finally, in September, we watched the pumpkins ripen orange.

Picking the pumpkins involved my daughter steadying the pumpkin while I used heavy garden scissors to snip them off the thick vine; their lifeline to water and nutrients. Leaning down, she picked up a pumpkin and shouted, “WOW! This is heavy!”

Our “babies” sat smiling on the front porch for weeks, then one day Grandma came over and helped my daughter decorate for Halloween. They decided to carve the most famous pumpkin we grew this year; Peter Pumpkin. As they cut open the lid of the pumpkin, my daughter gasped and peeked inside. “Ewww… what is all that stuff in there?”

Grandma said, “Seeds. Now we have to clean them out so we can bake the seeds and have a treat.”

“So that’s where the seeds come from?” said my daughter. “Yep. Right in the middle of all those pumpkin guts.” They smiled at each other and continued on. In the photo above you see my kiddo carving Peter Pumpkin while Grandma sorts the seeds.

Watching them helped me realize that every little thing we do influences our children. Carving a pumpkin can become a scientific lesson about nature – learning where seeds come from. Planting the pumpkin plant and watching it grow was also a lesson – learning where our food comes from with the process of photosynthesis and seed production.

Every day we should be teaching our children a little more about life. It is not the sole responsibility of the school system to educate our children. Take a moment today to make a difference in the life of children and spend time educating them.

Below is a recipe for you to try with your family. Enjoy!

Garlic Pumpkin Seeds

1 1/2 tablespoons real butter, melted

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

3 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (135 degrees C).
2. Combine the margarine, salt, garlic salt, and pumpkin seeds. Mix thoroughly and place in shallow baking dish.
3. Bake for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

A Trip To Indiana in Fall – Get Out In Nature For Better Health and More Energy

Can spending time in nature – you know – out in the dirt and weather - improve your health? According to growing scientific evidence on nature’s healing power – YES!

Last weekend, my family’s journey to Indiana is testimony of that. Of course, Indiana is beautiful, I am biased since it is my home state. Spending a fall day in the woods of Indiana with my family last weekend did more for me than I can say on both an emotional and a physical level because reconnecting with nature and touching the environment goes a long way towards anti-depression and better health.

It began with the crisp fall air, and extended all the way to the sunshine. Best yet; spending time outdoors with your children learning about nature is a fantastic way to stay connected with them as well. Building your familial community means closer and more emotionally stable families.

According to Richard Louv, the author of Last Child In The Woods (Algonquin Books, 2006), by encouraging our children to get outside more, we are helping to prevent "Nature Deficit Disorder." This condition, according to Louv, encourages diabetes, poor test performance, overweight children, as well as allowing other disorders such as ADD and ADHD to manifest itself. I believe Louv has it right and that we should be getting our children and ourselves out in nature far more.

Our family owns a good sized ranch in Indiana and uses “mules” – little mini off-road vehicles – to drive around their extensive wooded property to maintain and manage a nursery of trees. While the mules are not a particularly “green” choice, the experience of touring the ranch and property on a fall day in an open air vehicle was marvelous. Above (from right to left), you can see my cousin, Sunday, my oldest daughter, Kelsey (now in college), and me bundled up and riding off-road through the woods on a beautiful fall day.

Connect your family with nature – take them outside to enjoy activities which involve sun and air exposure. Get dirty! Have fun! Do things which stretch outside your ordinary box of life boundaries – it will make a difference both for yourself and for the people you touch. Do it today because tomorrow comes much too quickly.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Feeding the Hungry – A Homemade Video On How You and Your Children Can Make A Difference For A Food Bank!

According to AmpleHarvest.org,”an estimated 100 billion pounds of food, enough to totally eliminate hunger, is thrown away annually in the United States.” Be shocked – and then make a difference for your community by stopping the waste.

Regularly clean out your food pantry - – if you are not eating the food in your home, donate it to a local food pantry before it gets outdated. If you grow a garden and have leftover vegetables, do not leave it standing on the plants; take it to a local food pantry and donate it to someone who could really use it like we  did in the above video. Organizations like AmpleHarvest.org enable neighbors in need to obtain garden fresh produce that might be left standing unharvested due to over production in home and community gardens. Please send food pantry’s that are unregistered to this website to help make a difference for people in your community.

Above is a homemade video my daughter and I made about collecting vegetables from the garden and taking it to be donated. Having my eight year old help plant and grow the plants, then film our trip, gave her a strong sense of ownership with the experience. Notice how excited and proud she is that she is bringing “her baby” the pumpkin to give to some other child.

All of our children should understand and identify with the feeling of caring for others, most especially those in need right in our very own neighborhoods. Building our community means building our economy and contributing to the emotional health of other human beings. Of all lessons in life, I believe this one should take priority for our children. Grow a garden if you can because it can make a real difference for the world. Teach your family and neighbors how to grow a garden as well. Get started planning right NOW – at the end of this gardening season – to plan for next year’s vegetable garden. Purposely plant vegetables which are easy to grow and which might be mass producers so you can contribute more to help those who really need it. If you cannot grow a garden on your property, invite your neighbors to participate or build a community garden on a local community property.

What will you do to have your children understand the importance of helping the hungry?

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Kids and Recycling – Expand Their Brains When They Say, “I’m Bored!”

Fall rainy days and children combine to produce the inevitable complaint, “I’m bored.” Not too long ago my youngest daughter and I came up with a genius solution to the “I’m bored’s” which was fun and educational. Here’s how it went:

“Mom, I’m bored.”

“You can’t be bored. You’re nine years old – go play.”

“I’m still bored.”

“Do the dishes! That’ll keep you busy.”

“That’s not the type of bored I am.”

“Hmm…” As I glance around the kitchen, my eyes fell on the recycling bin. “Hey! Look at that – you have an entire recycling bin full of craft supplies.”

“I do?”

“Yep. You do.”

Two hours later my daughter put the finishing touches on the above creative crafts. One milk jug car and another aluminum can sports car, plus several other fun things. All ended up back in the recycling bin after dinner, but the products provided two hours of active, brain-building play. She had to figure out how the tires would fit on to balance the vehicle, why we all have license plates on our cars, and aluminum is very thin so it can also be sharp and dangerous. She learned just a little bit more about life.

We currently live in a country where 4.5 million children are diagnosed with ADD, millions of children suffer from depression, and childhood educational programs are being cut due to funding problems at our public schools. Enabling active play where children learn to build and create at home is an important part of brain development. Schools are just the beginning of a child’s education; we as parents, friends, and family of children should be actively working together to help our children learn and be healthy.

Make a difference in the life of a child – suggest creative and green ways to solve the “I’m bored’s” and your child will begin to see the world in a whole new way.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Show Your Children Nature – I Spy A Green Leaf Bug

 

Katydid’s can be heard all over the Eastern United States as well as the Midwest, but rarely do we see them because of their incredibly wonderful camouflage. Today my nine year old daughter and I got lucky and spotted one on the front window, which is located next to the front lawn vegetable garden.

It sparked a lot of conversation, and inspired me to remind my wonderful readers to take every opportunity to talk about nature. It expands kids’ minds and allows their natural curiosity to bloom.

Katydids, seen above, are nocturnal and arboreal; meaning they sing in the evening. The males have song-producing organs located on their front wings. When courting, the females respond with a chirp in counter-balance to the noisy song of the males, which sounds kind of like this "katy did, katy didn't," hence the name. The female Katydid lays eggs in the ground or in plant tissue; the eggs hatch in spring.

Make a difference in the life of your child; spend time in nature and talk about nature to expand a few brain cells as well as to help your kids get outside in the sunshine and be healthy.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Children Can Make A Difference and Help Their Community – Case In Point – The Llama Mama Saga

Jennifer Lund is one determined woman. For twelve years she has dreamed of having llamas on her property in Warrenville, Illinois. Jennifer is a skilled knit and fiber artist with no pets at home. Having llamas seemed an imaginative and creative way to combine her passions of obtaining their special wool for use in her hobby, and of course, loving and caring for a unique pet.

When she was finally able to prepare her property and go for the impossible dream of owning these pets, she came up against a lot of restrictions from the City of Warrenville. Livestock was limited in the city to horses. Llamas are not horses. Both the planning commission and city council had to get involved in determining how to rezone property within the city. It took over an entire year and countless meetings to finally bring the llamas to Warrenville.

My eight year old daughter, who had never been exposed to government procedure before, wanted to help. She believed in Jennifer’s dream of having llamas because my daughter knows the joy of having pets and wanted Jennifer to have that happiness too. She also wanted to see the llamas and care for the llamas with Jennifer and was curious if the city would really pass the rules to let her have them.

Although she was unable to attend EVERY city council meeting – there were many over this issue – my eight year old went to several of them. Not because I told her to go, but because she wanted to and felt it was the right thing to do.

She did research on llamas to understand more about them, she made signs (see above photo), she showed up to city council meetings after her bedtime when there were all adults and no children to support the llamas. In the process, my little girl was able to understand how the government works better. That running to the forefront of a cause and demanding change without due process is not fair to the rest of the community. When you want something improved in your neighborhood, you need to go the proper route to do it. This applies to so many things in life that I felt it was an important life lesson for her to understand.

Most importantly, she learned to give emotional support to a wonderful member of our community who truly wanted and deserved something special. She barely knew Jennifer Lund when this all started, but now she knows someone else in our suburban community who is caring and supportive – she made a new friend.

Happily my girl was there on September 8, 2009 at 8:30 PM (past her bedtime), to congratulate Jennifer as the City Council passed the motion to allow llamas in the City of Warrenville. She was the only child in the room, but she sat quietly while all the other motions were agreed upon first so she could be there at Jennifer’s special moment. Above you see the photo from that evening of former Mayor Vivian Lund, my daughter, Jennifer Lund (future llama mama), and current Mayor David Brummel smiling over Jennifer’s victory. Congratulations Jennifer!

We should all be teaching our children that supporting our friends in the community and helping each other is important. We are in difficult times when having our community around us means more than ever.

It is true that society is more isolated in many ways than it ever was. Therefore, now is the time to encourage your children get out and make a difference in the community because they need to be less isolated and more connected with the world to be emotionally healthy.

Make a difference!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

“Mom, what does a cricket eat?” Is Your Child Suffering From Nature Deficit Disorder?

Is your child touching nature regularly? It might just be detrimental to their health if they are not able to experience the greater natural world.

When my daughter asked me “Mom, what does a cricket eat?” I immediately jumped online and found out. Why? Because I want her to understand more about the connection between nature and her body. Turns out crickets are omnivores. That means they eat everything – including each other.

She kept the little buggers in a jar overnight and learned that although they do like vegetable material, a tomato needs to be more fully rotted for them to really eat it. Therefore, she let the crickets free in the morning and learned a science lesson about nature.

Richard Louv, the author of Last Child In The Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin Books, 2008) is the person who originally coined the phrase, “Nature Deficit Disorder.” His strong belief is that children who have not been exposed to nature can suffer all sorts of medical malady’s, both physical and mental. My daughter spends a significant amount of time outside and it has truly educated her on more than just play – she’s learning how nature really works.

Next on my daughters scientific learning journey with crickets, she wants to capture them and try feeding them varying foods like bugs, and see which they prefer.

Please give us suggestions on other experiments we can try to help my daughter learn more about nature and I will share them with my readers!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Greening is Easy AND Can Make You A Profit – Garage Sale Sustainability

  

Here it is – a giant fallacy about living a sustainable lifestyle: that you need to spend a lot of time and money to make it happen.

Many times I have heard my friends say, “I refuse to do anything about being green – I mean, c’mon who can live like that?” What they are referring to is the ridiculous amount of money you have to pay for a bamboo-blend outfit which can cost over $100 and is supposedly “green”. Worse yet, the exorbitant costs of organic juice drinks, which can sometimes exceed $6.00 seems outlandish. This might be “green” to some people, but it is not the type of practical green living I am talking about for every day living.

Being green, definitively, is living life with more awareness of where all your stuff comes from and where all your stuff goes to. For instance, when you are done with your kitchen waste, do you just throw it in the landfill to become someone else’s problem, or do you compost it to keep it out of the landfill and to use it in your garden?

It is all about simple choices that are better for you because they save money – and even earn money. Sometimes they are choices that are simply healthier for both you and the earth.

For example, if your kids out grow their clothes, what do you do with them? Do you throw them out? Do you give them away? In this economy a simple and very easy way to reduce, reuse, and recycle is to have a garage sale. It EARNS you money.

Faced with my oldest daughter leaving for college this fall, the family decided to have a “Get My Kid To College Garage Sale.” Each of the family members contributed. Soon we had old toys, clothes, books, and even sold fresh veggies from the front lawn veggie garden I built this year. You can see in the above photos we made homemade signs and sold our hearts out.

In the top photo you can see what my youngest daughter and I did not expect – -RAIN! In the end, we were rained out (notice the soaking wet hair and clothes). All was not lost, we worked together as a family and earned a little money which helped my oldest daughter get started with her college career. It was fun!

Use Garage Sale Sustainability ideas wherever you can to make your life greener – remember – it’s all about using simple common sense.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

“WATER” – The Chicago Field Museum Educates on the Importance of Earth’s Most Precious Resource

Water. Earth’s most precious resource. With only six countries holding nearly half of the world’s fresh water supply, you can imagine the importance of our educating our children and neighbors on why we should be conserving water.

The Field Museum of Chicago does a fabulous job educating community about water in their special exhibition titled, Water. My 8 year old daughter and I went to the exhibit this week to learn more about how water really functions in the world. Above you see her studying a very cool reservoir simulating machine.

First, the exhibit addressed the basic properties of water. One of my favorite parts of this section was the amazing water sculpture (see below) that showed water in it’s three physical states – liquid, solid, and gas. Visitors can touch and feel all three states with a hands-on, water-cycle sculpture.

John Drengenberg, corporate spokesperson from Underwriters Laboratories (UL) (one of the sponsors of the incredible Water exhibit in Chicago) walked with us through the tour. While we talked about the importance of water, John explained UL’s involvement in testing water in over 7000 community’s nationwide.

John emphasized that having access to and keeping water clean and safe is important for the survival of our world. UL feels it is one of the most important roles they have in helping our communities live cleaner. Shockingly, more than a billion humans live without dependable access to safe drinking water. Imagine that GIANT number – one billion people - who suffer daily simply because they do not have clean drinking water.

My daughter experienced the difficulty of trying to lift a typical jug of water that millions of women and girls have to carry every day in developing countries. As you see in the photo to the left, she could not lift it easily, in fact neither could I - it was quite a humbling experience. These women and girls must forego school or jobs simply so they can spend all their time dedicated to the simple and basic task of carrying water for the family. This means their family must live in poverty.

Perhaps one of these women could have been the next Marie Curie or  Amelia Earhart or Georgia O’Keefe; important women in our world’s history. We shall never know because they must spend all their time dedicated to a type of slavery – water slavery – born out of necessity.

Water is organized by the many museums in a grand partnership with will have the exhibit touring around the nation and world. Please go see the exhibit if you can – it will show you a whole new perspective on a resource we simply take for granted. The link to more information detailing the water exhibit is here - www.fieldmuseum.org/water.

Make a difference in your community by not wasting water. Use less chemicals such as fertilizers and insecticides on your property as well. Do your part to keep the clean water we have. To learn more about your home water usage, please go to the online Water Calculator provided by the Field Museum - watercalculator.fieldmuseum.org.

This exhibit will be open through September 20, 2009 in Chicago – do not miss it!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

How 14 Days In The Yucatan Made Me Realize the Value of Planet Earth – Part 2

Visiting the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve was one of the most interesting and powerful experiences I have ever had with nature. Sian Ka’an is recognized under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme and is considered a World Heritage Site. My eight year old daughter and I were able to truly touch this unique and beautiful reserve.

Definitively, UNESCO sees a biosphere reserve as an ecological area with three core needs and functions: conservation, sustainable development and logistic support for scientific research and education.

Natural World Heritage sites must be of outstanding universal value in accordance with the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and indeed, Sian Ka’an is an absolutely amazing property.

Located on the Mayan Riviera, it is a large area - nearly 1.3 million acres. It has 23 known archeological sites with relics dating up to 2,300 years old, 103 varieties of mammals and 336 species of birds. Currently it is home to over 2,000 inhabitants who are mostly native Mayan Indians – one of which was our guide to tour the jungle and cenote lake system.

Jungles are noisy places. Birds, insects, wind, and the creaking of branches combine to make a beautiful symphony of sound. Our Mayan guide, Antonio, pointed out many medicinal plants and warned us away from treacherous ones.

Amazing canals stretched for miles through the system of mangroves and wetlands. On one side of the canal system is mangroves, and on the other side of the canal system is wetland savannah which is quite beautiful.

My daughter and I were plopped into a canal – without our guide or any protection beyond a life vest – and we floated in our bathing suits down a one mile stretch of canal. As Antonio dropped us in the water, I was concerned about crocodiles and predators – it left both of our hearts pounding with excitement. However, there was no need to be worried; the sound of the wind blowing the mangroves and savannah grasses was quite amazing. Touching mangrove roots while we floated and really feeling a part of this special environment was powerful for both of us.

Having all your senses tantalized by nature is something everyone should experience, particularly children. Understanding that the jungle helps provide earth’s inhabitants with oxygen, the mangroves help protect the coastline from eroding, and that key medicine’s and antibiotics needed for mankind’s survival are found in this diverse world is enough to humble even the most confident human.

By introducing your family to nature you are educating them on the world’s needs and therefore helping them to understand the value of our eco-system as well as the value of our humanity. It is the green thing to do – the right thing to do.

What are you doing to introduce your family to nature? Whatever it is – do it today.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Get Your Children Out In Nature – Study Cabbage Caterpillars In The Garden

We discovered cabbage worms in our broccoli. Ick. Gross. Blech. Nasty. Then my eight year old and I discovered that the Cabbage Worm Butterfly (known as the “Cabbage White”) is what the Cabbage Worm Caterpillar develops into. What a fantastic way to get your children out in the garden to learn about nature! You can see our discovery in the video above. 

In hopes of seeing the butterflies in our own front yard, we are now rescuing wayward cabbage worms and placing them on all our broccoli. The idea is to save the cabbage, kale, cauliflower, but to use the brocooli as a breeding ground for the little green caterpillars.

We are already finding chrysalis’s around the garden filled with the sleeping babies and cannot wait to see the butterflies emerge.

Get your children out in nature – it is a very green and healthy thing to do and they will love the time you spend together learning. Happily, the front yard veggie garden has turned into a wonderful experiment for our family.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Get Yo’ Green On Tuesday – Food Waste Is A Serious Problem – Do Something About It At Home

This is what I saw several weeks ago when I went to clean up breakfast. Wasted food. I am sure you are wondering why six or seven bites of bread crumbs really makes a difference, right? It makes a difference when you understand that a few bites of bread is just the beginning of a giant problem we have here in the United States: food waste!

According to Food Production Daily (FPD), Timothy Jones, an anthropologist at the UA Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology and an expert on food loss, says that American households waste nearly 14 percent of their food purchases.

FPD goes on to say, “Fifteen per cent of that [waste] includes products still within their expiration date but never opened. Jones estimates an average family of four currently tosses out $590 per year, just in meat, fruits, vegetables and grain products.”

Amazingly, FPD says, “household food waste alone adds up to $43 billion.” Imagine how eliminating as much food waste as you can might help our environmental problems. “Jones estimates that reducing food waste by half could reduce adverse environmental impacts by 25 percent through reduced landfill use, soil depletion and applications of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.”

With our economy in the dumps, it makes more sense than ever to SAVE MONEY as well as save food waste. It makes more sense than ever that parents must take on the firm responsibility to educate children about how to live more conservatively. They will learn good habits and maybe when they grow up they will be able to support themselves through difficult times because they have this knowledge.

My eight year old and I had a little talk about her bread crust plate and she agreed to only take what she can eat on to her plate and promised not to waste food in the future. Is it perfect? No. I waste, she wastes, we all are relearning that there is a better way to live which saves money and the earth. At least we are trying one small step at a time.

Help your children understand food waste and sustainability – a lesson learned at home with family will last a lifetime!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Monday Whazzup – Learning To Be Green in High School

One of the most important life lessons we can ever teach our children is how to give back to the world. That is what Gloria Latta and her team of environmental educators at Wheaton Warrenville South High School is doing in Wheaton, Illinois – sharing the future with kids.

Gloria’s kids worked together this year to learn about greening and sustainability in her Environmental Sciences class. From understanding the importance of prairie grasses, to studying the basics of “reduce, reuse, & recycle”, to studying alternate ways to utilize power – all of these things helped these ordinary kids learn a bit more about how our world works. When I recently came to meet the class and see their model green home projects, I was amazed at what they have grasped and retained related to the physical science of sustainability. Their model homes had great features that included self-generating power sources such as solar, wind, and geo-thermal power; water conservation techniques such as rain barrels, permeable paving driveways, native plantings; and chemical fume reduction ideas such as special non-fume paint, low-fume floor-boarding, and carpet made from recycled water bottles. These concepts are a great basic introduction and begs the point that all of us should be looking into how we can better educate our children on the basics of environmental learning. After all, we learn about cleanliness, behavior, and society from our parents – we should also learn about how to take care of the earth from our parents too.

Kudos to Gloria Latta and the WWSHS science team for working to do the right thing for our kids! I hope more high school’s across the nation take on the challenge of educating our most precious resource – our children – on environmental science.

In the photos above you can see a few of the environmental science teams with their awesome “green” houses. I am proud to say one of the houses above was made by my daughters team. Can you guess which one is my daughter?

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Get Yo Green On Tuesday – Teach Children To Shop With the Brilliant, Amazing, and Beautiful “Reusable Bag”

Last week I wrote about my experience with Borders – that I was overjoyed about their new “no bag unless requested” policy. Why? Plastic bags are made from ethylene, a petroleum byproduct. In the United  States, approximately 12 million barrels of oil is used annually to make plastic bags that Americans consume.

With the great “greening” push many think it is the government’s responsibility to educate consumers on the basics of living a more sustainable lifestyle. I say, “poppycock!” Okay, honestly, I don’t normally say “poppycock,” but today I am saying it loud and clear: it is our responsibility as parents and caring people in the community to educate each other and our families on a less-wasteful lifestyle.

While it is still important for our governments and communities to set a positive green example, it is even more important that we teach our children these examples ourselves as well.

By educating our children on conservation oriented practices we are teaching them to be more caring citizens. When children learn a life-lesson at an early age, it becomes an intricate and important part of their lifestyle – lessons like not throwing trash out the window and not physically hitting others. These are important things to learn. So is greening and conservation.

A surprising benefit of practicing conservation techniques is most basic conservation practices helps us be less wasteful AND saves money. What a great lesson to give our children which they can use for the rest of their lives – a way to save money and help the world at the same time.

Teach children to bring reusable bags to use for grocery’s and your other shopping needs as well as caring odds and ends needed in daily life.

Reusable bags are sold everywhere and most only cost penny’s. I got the Whole Foods “I Used To Be A Plastic Bottle” bags for $1.00 and $.50. Online, a great reusable bag resource is www.reusablebags.com. Some stores give away the bags and all are a fantastic idea to get started educating our family’s about a greener lifestyle.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! http://www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - http://www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Get Yo Green On Tuesday - Oak Savannah Prairie - A Day To Remember

Near my home in Illinois, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) exists on hundreds of acres and is considered unique because the site contains most of the major types of ecosystems representative of the Midwest. These include tall grass prairie, oak savanna, agricultural fields, woodlands, grasslands, and wetlands. It is a great place to take a child to experience nature up close.

One perfect late summer day last year I drove my youngest daughter over to Fermilab with my mother-in-law. I drove as far out into the prairie as I could on an unpaved path and stopped near a stand of old oaks, some over 100 years old. We spent a remarkable afternoon wandering around the old oak trees. If you looked to the sky - nearly 40 feet up - you could see a canopy of leaves with dappled sunlight dancing through the shapes.

If you looked down beneath your feet you could see litter from the trees and prairie. There were seeds of all sorts if you knelt on your hands and knees and nosed about. My favorite moment was when my little girl held up a handful of burr oak acorns and asked me what they were. Grandma took over and told her all about their growth cycle, what they meant to the ecosystem, how they grew, and how she played with them when she was a child. My daughter asked why people were sometimes called “tree huggers.” I told my girl about how the term “tree huggers” was sometimes intended as a negative. It is true that not everyone believes the prairie and forest should be saved. The special prairie and trees we were standing next to were some of the last in the region due to land development. Her little eyes sparked up, and without saying a word, she went to the nearest Oak and wrapped her arms around it and hugged tight. Expressing clearly what nature meant to her. What a memory.

We enjoyed an Indian Summer moment as the sun beat down on our shoulders and we walked farther out through the prairie. Wind blew and we could hear the whisper of grass blowing. Seed heads full of their autumn harvest, shook and trembled when we walked past. Insects twirped and flew as our shadows passed by. Truly a day to remember.

When was the last time you took your children or family out into nature? Get yo’ green on and do it today – make a difference in their lives.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Monday Whazzup - Recycling Old Headphones Into A Necklace - Another Awesome Green Teen Craft

Most teens and college aged music lovers go through headphones like they're going out of style. While there are several things I use the old headphones for - including garden ties and ties to organize extension cords - my favorite by far was taught to me by my seventeen year old daughter.

Here she is modeling her recycled craft idea - she reuses the old headphones creatively as a choker necklace. What an awesome idea!

HOW TO MAKE A NECKLACE FROM AN OLD SET OF EARBUDS OR HEADPHONES

Supplies:

One set of old earbuds or headphones, a charm (if you prefer)

Steps:

Step One -  Tear the two cords apart to the base (the part that plugs into something)

Step Two - Start knotting the way you start to tie a shoe (left over right and pull it from under).

Step Three - Repeat knotting. It helps to switch left over right then right over left because it evens out the ear buds.

Step Four - Leave enough room to be able to knot the ear buds over the plug.

Step Five - Tie on with the earbuds worn in the front. For a more creative look add a large stone or charm on the necklace and wear the earbuds towards the back with the charm on the front of the choker. Very cute! 

Finished!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Get Yo Green On Tuesday - How to Recycle A T-Shirt Into A Carry Bag - An Eco-friendly Teen Craft!

Recently, my teenager took a class at her high school on the environmental sciences. Happily, the class taught her a lot about the concept of reduce, reuse, and recycle - she enthusiastically walked prairies, collected seeds in nature, and studied woodland areas with her classmates.

Experiencing greening and conservation at a scientific level enabled her to intimately investigate how our earth is being threatened, and more importantly, the steps every individual should take for positive habits related to greening.

She learned that every little bit counts and we all need to work together to accomplish something great. Many of the lessons learned in this class about conservation, recycling, and landfill rescue will stay with her for the rest of her life.

One of the fun things her class did as a group was learn how common "throw-away" items can be converted into something reusable. One easy craft related to this subject was recycling an old t-shirt into a new carry bag. Here she is modeling the carry bag. Awesome!

HOW TO MAKE A CARRY BAG FROM A T-SHIRT

Supplies:

One Old T-Shirt, Scissors, Needle and Thread (or Sewing Machine)

Steps:

Step One - Turn the t-shirt inside out.

Step Two - Cut off sleeves (all the way to the seam).

Step Three - Cut down the middle of the neck to about chest high.

Step Four - Cut  from one side of the neck band to the slit in the middle and repeat for both sides (this creates the handles).

Step Five - Sew the bottom of the shirt closed and turn right side out.

Finished!

 

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Get Yo Green on Tuesdays - SAVE LANDFILLS - Recycle Carpet With Green Kid Crafts

Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) is a joint industry-government effort to increase the amount of recycling and reuse of post-consumer carpet and reduce the amount of waste carpet going to landfills. According to the CARE statistics, 5 billion pounds of carpet was sent to landfills in 2003 alone.

Used carpet can be sanitized and recycled in an industrial facility. New carpet is also thrown out by retail carpet stores. We can prevent this waste. I went to the local carpet store searching for rubber backed samples for crafting purposes and found that management was very cooperative and willing to give samples for free.

Getting children involved in "reduce, reuse and recycle" for carpeting is a great way to have fun and increase their understanding of how we all need to care for landfills. Doing crafts with your children is a great way to spend time "unplugged" and building your relationship.

RECYCLE CRAFT - MAKE NON-SKID COASTERS OUT OF CARPET SAMPLES

Tools Needed:

Discarded Carpet which has a rubber backing (samples or new is preferred, however, old carpet is good if it is not contaminated somehow)

Sharp scissors

Step One: Measure carpet for coasters. We have extra large mugs at our home, so we measured 5" square carpet sections.

Step Two: Cut. Carpet is difficult to cut through for small hands - children might need parental assistance.

Step Three: Give as gifts or use yourself. Perfect for coffee mugs!

Spending time with your kids is great. Better yet, children get a great sense of self-esteem and community when doing something good for the planet - teach them to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Teach them to make a difference!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Gardening Nude Naked Winner of the Week: Greg Christian, The Green Catering Super Hero

On Friday's, Gardening Nude The Blog features a special person for the day. This person is the "Naked Winner of the Week." Every person featured in this category is a winner for doing great things for the community and is trying to make a difference for the world. You can make a difference too.

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The naked winner of the week for 01-09-09 is ::drum roll please::

Greg Christian, for changing the face of American public school lunch and spreading the message of greener living. Greg is teaching the world how to eat and live healthier!

As one of the most inspiring and energetic green people I have ever met, Greg Christian, a Chicago-based caterer is revolutionizing American catering. Greg Christian Catering thrives on his concepts of buying local, composting silverware and dishes, and educating the public on how to live a green lifestyle is changing the way the world sees food and catering. Greg is making a difference in other ways as well; he believes he can revolutionize the way school systems feed children; building a healthier community in the process through his not-for-profit organization, the Organic School Project.

I was so inspired by Greg that I wrote about him in my recently published greening and better health book, Gardening Nude. You will find the full excerpt from the book at the end of this special Friday Naked Person of the week.

Working with children to educate them on better nutrition has been particularly rewarding for Greg. The kids often say the darndest things and I recently asked Greg what some of the things the kids said when working with him.

Below are the top five cute responses said by youth enjoying breakfast, lunch or snack in one of Organic School Project’s programs:

5. Eww…the peas are green!

4. This cheese tastes like cheese!

3. The fruit is crunchy!

2. This milk tastes like it came from a cow!

1. It actually smells good in here!

It is awesome to see children recognizing the value of nutritious foods! Thank you Greg – for being an incredible green example for the world to follow - you win a pat on the back and a big shout-out for being a fantastic green lifestyle example. You are changing mindsets one vegetable at a time - way to go!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

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Click the link below to continue reading more about Greg Christian and how he's doing his best to make a difference for the world. The write-up below is the full feature excerpt from the greening and better health book I wrote, “Gardening Nude.” Enjoy!

Greg Christian is making American meals healthier and greener

When I think of Greg Christian, I think of a passionate man who puts children first—his own as well as all youth, as they are the future of human kind. He is a man who cares about the environment and his neighborhood community with an equal fervor. Christian believes in doing what is right for the global population, and starting with the neighborhood community has been the best place to begin.

Get Your Green On Tuesdays – Teaching Children Recycling and Green-Crafts

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: the “greenie” mantra. One of my favorite ways to practice the 3 R’s is to save trash from the landfill by recycling it in the form of a craft.

Being the first week in January, my kids and I took down all our old calendars. Instead of tossing the calendars in the recycling bin, we decided to re-use them. Similarly, I have been saving some full-color folders from the Chicago Art Institute, awaiting a good excuse to reuse them for a craft.

We are reusing these products to make bookmarks which can be used for writing notes on [by writing on the back of the bookmark]. It is an easy craft children and adults of all ages and helps teach about how to rescue reusable products from the landfill. One 12 month calendar and one folder made an amazing 90 bookmarks - all beautiful and artistic.

RECYCLE CRAFT - MAKE BOOKMARKS OUT OF USED CALENDARS AND FOLDERS

Tools Needed:

Old Calendars or Folders – any colorful paper product which has a “stiff” feel so it will not fold or bend when being used for a bookmark.

Scissors or Paper Trimmer (I prefer a paper trimmer because it is quick to measure and cut)

Step One: Disassemble calendar, separating staples or cutting pages off the holder.

Step Two: Measure and mark 2” X 8” rectangular areas on the full-color design. If you are using a paper trimmer you can eliminate “marking” the rectangular areas and simply measure with the measuring marks on the trimmer.

Step Three: Cut as many 2” X 8” bookmarks as possible with paper material. Save leftover scraps to make smaller bookmarks.

Step Four: Recycle remaining scraps.

Step Five: Give as gifts or use yourself. We like to use the bookmarks when reading reference material - we write notes on the back-side of the bookmarks.

Happy Crafting!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Monday Whazzup - Get Your Children Out In Winter Nature to Encourage Better Health

Kids spend too little time outdoors in nature. During the Winter, particularly in the northern states, it is particularly difficult to get children active outside. However, it is critical for their health.

According to Richard Louv, the author of Last Child In The Woods (Algonquin Books, 2006), by encouraging our children to get outside more, we are helping to prevent "Nature Deficit Disorder." This condition, according to Louv, encourages diabetes, poor test performance, overweight children, as well as allowing other disorders such as ADD and ADHD to manifest itself.

January is a great time to encourage outdoor activities. Yes, I know you think the little mini-you is going to freeze to death. It is simply not true. By sending them outside for a while you allow them to get fresh air; away from indoor dry air, dust, and other allergens.

Experts agree that spending time out in nature can help elevate mood - that is particularly important for children who are faced with more and more stressful lifestyles in our modern times. Relieving stress, enjoying nature, laughing, and playing are important to a child's immune system and emotional well-being. Contrary to popular belief, being outside in cold weather does not encourage colds, flu, or illness. In fact, fresh air is good for people of all ages.

My eight year old recently enjoyed "pretend" ice skating outdoors on our front side-walk. She and I both had great fun ice skating for an hour on a patch of flooded sidewalk. We held hands and performed fantastic ice skating tricks to an audience of winter birds. Both the time together and the time outside was rewarding for us.

Before we went out, both she and I were feeling kind of blue and bored with life. Although quite chilly, while we were outside it was a mood-uplifting sunny moment. Feel good brain chemicals were working over-time while we laughed and enjoyed nature. When we came back inside after our out-in-nature break, our cheeks were rosy, but our hearts were filled with a happy memory of she and I playing together for a little while out in nature.

Get outside this winter with your children - enjoy life and enjoy nature - it is good for you and your family!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Get Yo Green On Tuesday - A "Green Teen" Activity During Winter Break - Recycle and REMIX!

It is Winter Break - that dreaded time when all parents sigh a collective groan. How do you keep your kids busy for two weeks of no-school-snow-day-filled holiday?

I have the answer: RECYCLE!

Teens and pre-teens are all about self-expression. Why not encourage them to pull out the old magazines, catalogs, books, photos, and art supplies and creatively build a poster board. Including newspaper and magazine cut-outs can be very artistic and encourages the reduce, reuse, and recycle mindset.

New York City has started its "Recycling Magazines is EXcellent (REMIX)" Television Campaign to encourage citizens to recycle catalogs and magazines. Reusing magazines and catalogs keeps them out of landfills and this is a great opportunity to teach your teen, and all of your children, what that can mean for our environment. Here is the latest commercial for the REMIX program -

Recyclables are picked up via curbside service here in our community, and fortunately magazines and catalogs are a part of that service. However, instead of simply tossing products into the recycling bin without a thought, why not consider alternative uses for them? Reusing products can be a fun artistic outlet, particularly for teens and pre-teens, and the perfect activity for a snowy winter break day.

Activities which include a lesson are always great for kids. They learn without realizing they are getting an education. Teaching your kids how to recycle new products is just the beginning. If you have a houseful of children, baking is the perfect activity to occupy their time; measuring means counting and math. It IS the season of love, giving, and SUGAR - - spend some quality time together enjoying the best of what that offers and BAKE COOKIES.

Spend some time this season teaching your children how to be green and how fun activities can teach surprising things. Your kids will be happy to enjoy some special time with you and the holiday break will go by quickly. Happy Holidays!

www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Green and Simple Tip - Turn Water Off When Brushing Your Teeth!

The simplest and easiest green thing that everyone in the world can do with no trouble at all?

CONSERVE WATER AND TURN THE FAUCET OFF WHEN YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH!

It is so easy a child can learn to do it as demonstrated by my eight year old this morning:

  

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Get Yo' Green On Tuesdays - Dangers of Christmas Lights, Garden Lights and Mini-Light Toxins - A Christmas Light Product Warning

Get ready to be shocked: holiday lighting, is poisonous! Every year my children and I decorate our tree with holiday lights - so do millions of children and parents around the world. Did you know that these lights are filled with lead and that by handling them, your family is exposed to lead? Nope? Neither did I.

Like other holiday revelers, I decorate my tree from lights I have had for over twenty years - before the day when holiday lights had warnings on the boxes. Typically, I buy the lights, then recycle the boxes once the lights are up. When it is time to take the lights down, I store the strands wrapped in rubberbands to keep them from knotting together until we do it all over again the next year. Imagine my surprise when I finally bought new lights this season and examined the box carefully. There were multiple warnings on the back of the box stating that the light strands contained lead in a significant amount.

This year, the holiday lights I purchased came from Target and are the Philips Multi-Heavy-Duty Mini-Light Set. After I purchased them I read the box, saw the warnings, and returned the lights to the store. Guess what? After searching all of Target, Walmart, and many other retail outlets I could not find a single light set without a lead content. None. Nada. Zip.

It is particularly important to be cautious with products which have a lead content. Lead is poison to our children and many people are concerned about the toxic level of chemicals in our household. Millions of holiday lights are put up every year BY CHILDREN. My concern is not to stop using these lights, but to educate on the proper way to put the lights up so less people in our community are exposed to toxins.

When I discovered most mini-light sets have lead, I decided to use common sense and assume that all the lights I have - the older sets particularly - have lead content also. Keeping the Philips Multi-Heavy-Duty Mini-Light Set, I used surgical nitrile exam gloves which I use when gardening to install the lights. Afterward I threw the gloves out and washed my hands well. For safety's sake - teach your family and friends about this danger - use gloves when installing all your holiday lights and wash well after the installation is complete.

 

Have a safe and toxic-free holiday season!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blog - www.gardeningnude.com

Get Your Green On Tuesday - Shower Together and Conserve Water

Drought is not seasonal in most of the world and water is becoming increasingly scarce within the United States as well. What does this mean for the average person? It means that conserving water and not wasting should be something everyone considers every day.

The solution? Shower together! A brilliant answer to a difficult problem, don't you think? Ask any child in your household this question, "Wanna shower with the dog?" The answer will be a resounding, "YES!"

Harry the pug is often seen showering with various members of our family. He is not fond of showering in general, you can usually tell by how his ears sag miserably and his tail straightens out. His body looks like a frown. I know what he is thinking, "I hate you. I hate water. I hate blueberry shampoo." The kiddo, however, is delighted to share shower water and create an instant dog-wash at the same time.

Harry the pug (the one with the straight tail and pitiful eyes) and the youngest kiddo (the one with the bruised up legs and extra white untanned feet) conserving water together in the shower. 

There are many other ways to conserve water around the home besides showering together, below are my top five tips:

1. Utilize water saving toilets and shower heads.

2. Do not let the water run when you are brushing your teeth or shaving.

3. Plant drought tolerant plants in your garden to reduce water needs.

4. Use the dishwasher and clothes washer only for full loads.

5. When you are waiting for the water to get warm in the shower, place a bucket under the shower head to fill. Water plants inside or outside the home with this extra water. Toss any leftover water outside in the grass so it goes back to the water table instead of going through the storm sewer system.

In my family we often discuss water conservation. Why? Because if you do not discuss it at home with your children, how are they going to learn about water conservation? When you have a giant perennial garden which is hundreds of feet long you might spend your entire summer watering unless you plant the garden with conservation as a consideration. Also, our community, Warrenville, Illinois, takes its water from the water table instead of Lake Michigan, like many suburban communities do. Chemical use can destroy the water table and too much residential and commercial use can lower the water table before it is replenished by rain. Therefore, water conservation is critical to our community.

It is easy to teach your family to conserve water. My children are the first ones to "fill up the bucket" for water conservation and help our community help itself. Choose one of my favorite tips above and get started being environmentally friendly and conservation conscience today!

Are you surprised to learn that Harry the pug, the water conserving shower-hater, would be perfectly satisfied if he never had another shower ever again? One look at his face in the below photo and his opinion is crystal clear.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blog - www.gardeningnude.com

Monday Whazzup - Make Green Holiday Gifts and Bring Family Together

Scarf making fabric - $30. Hot cocoa - $1. Scissors - Free. Spending a snowy afternoon with your children making inexpensive, green-packaged, no-sew, thoughtful homemade gifts - Priceless!!!

Why spend hours at a shopping center agonizing over the ridiculously expensive, overly packaged, tremendously materialistic holiday gifts, when you could be spending that precious time with a child or friend? Making homemade gifts for the holidays sounds trite and dated to some, but for my family it is a valuable opportunity to learn how to give greener, more eco-friendly gifts while spending really special time together. Building family community is so important, and the process of making the crafts is a gift all by itself because of the fun we have working together.

Surrounded by scarves, my daughter holds the completed efforts of our scarf-making afternoon of fun.

Our homemade gift of choice this year is a scarf made out of fleece. It is a no-sew project, which means we do not use the electricity of a sewing machine or utilize chemicals or glues of any sort which might be harmful to the environment to make our gift.

While it is possible to measure and mark precisely, of course, my daughter and I choose to use an old scarf as a template. We lay out the yards of fabric, smooth it down, and I cut the long strips which will become the scarf.

While I do this, my daughter is snipping fringe designs on the end of each scarf. It is easy work although time consuming, so while we work, we talk about life, school, and family. She and I laugh hysterically at our secret jokes and she tests each scarf to make sure it is "perfect". We discuss what it means living a greener lifestyle; it does not mean we have to be extremists, it does mean we are trying to do our little part every day and children can be an active part of this experience.

 

Soon our project is done and our hot cocoa is empty but we are left with the memory of a beautiful afternoon where we have truly made a difference in each others lives. We have saved money, done something green, and spent time together.

Encourage your family and friends to become closer - make a craft together for the holidays and build a healthy community of relationships. Many are alone and depressed during the holiday season, so when you spend time together, you can truly change a life and brighten someone's day. I know my daughter and I brightened each others afternoon - we are still smiling.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blog - www.gardeningnude.com

Thanksgiving Inspiration - Foreclosure and Bankruptcy Does Not Mean The End of Nature's Beauty For Children

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This special Thanksgiving blog is an excerpt from Shawna's newspaper column, The Casual Gardener (www.thecasualgardener.com). Enjoy!

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Dear Casual Gardener,

This year so many things have changed at my house. I am eleven years old and my parents went bankrupt. They have foreclosed on our home. We are moving into an apartment, we are all okay, but life is going to be different. We will no longer have a garden or a yard and I will miss playing in it. I am thankful this year that my family is still together, but I am sad that I will not be able to play in my yard or pick tomatoes from our garden any more. I wanted to know what you are thankful for?

Thank you,

Michelle

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Dear Michelle,

My heart goes out to you Michelle, and I think I might understand a little about how you feel right now. When I was a young girl I lived on a farm. It was a beautiful place.  During the spring the farm was filled with nesting barn swallows, a swing set, and pink peonies.

Living on the farm meant learning to work hard and to take care of nature. During the summer the farm was filled with tomatoes from my grandmother’s garden, fields of wheat that stretched as far as my eye could see, and pastures with cows lowing in the early morning.

Get Yo Green On Tuesday - Recycled Homemade Holiday Gifts From Children

This year has been tough - many are losing homes and businesses. Millions of people are being forced to make cut backs during the holiday giving season. Because of this years' hard times, it might be an especially good time to help children understand that Dad and Mom cannot spend as much money. It is time to teach children how they can reduce, reuse, and recycle and help their family live better during a difficult economy.

An amazing quantity of perfectly good and useful products are thrown into the landfill daily in the United States. Recently, I happened to drive-by a trash bin in a public parking lot and spotted a treasure laying on the ground next to the industrial sized waste bin: an abandoned frosted glass checkers board. No kidding. It had a tiny chip on one corner, but was otherwise fine.

When I brought it home to the kids, the youngest excitedly jumped up and down saying she had a great idea on how to reuse that checkerboard and give it as a gift to Grandpa for the holidays.

Within minutes she had cut up an old egg carton and painted the pieces to resemble red and black "checkers." The project was simple, fun, and green - she learned how to save money and make a nifty hand made gift. Grandpa is going to love it!

Get green and save a landfill - recycle - it's easy to do. Teach children to make a difference for the world!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community!www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blog - www.gardeningnude.com

Monday Whazzup - A Story of EBay-Recycling The World's Ugliest Purse

Shopping via eBay is recyclicious, uh yeah, new term I invented: Recyclicious! Getting your "green on" has never been so easy as when you recycle on eBay (and you might be able to earn some money at it at the same time). Case in point: even my eight year old is into the eBay recyclicious ball game.

Recently, my mother-in-law, bless her heart, brought over the ugliest danged purse I have ever seen. Out there in the world somewhere are a bunch o' women who would just love a used, ripped, fake leather, metallic pink, imitation crocodile purse studded with cheap silver-tone studs, diamonds, and a giant metallic emblem sewn onto the front of it, but not me. That purse made me dizzy.

My mother-in-law smiled and said, "Got it for free - family was throwing it out. It's shiny!" That could mean only one thing; my youngest daughter would love it. As soon as my kiddo saw that awful thing she grinned and said, "Shiny!"

Get Yo Green On Tuesday - Touch Nature and Be Healthy

Getting your green on means more than recycling and removing chemicals from your property. Being "green" means to make a conscious choice to spend more time out in nature enjoying the real world.

Today children often grow up thinking that "the real world" is what is perceived on television and in computer games as reality. However, there is no substitute for the beauty of nature. Breathing fresh air, living in the sunlight, and sharing nature from an up-close perspective is an amazing experience.

Take Katie Kleinwachter's recent experience, for instance. She and her father went for a walk in the prairie and found this young Meadowlark. After she had the experience of holding the bird, Katie said, "You can't see this stuff from the couch!" Indeed. I couldn't have said it better.

Get outside with your family and friends. Spend time in nature year round and reap the rewards. Being out in nature gives you a stronger sense of community and the environment, it helps you to be energized and stay physically healthy, and most importantly, it gives you a sense of the greater world and how you fit into it. Being exposed to nature helps build good mental health.

Shawna Coronado says Get Green! Get Healthy! Get Community!

www.thecasualgardener or The Blog - www.gardeningnude.com

Monday Whazzup - Make a Difference in Nature and In The Life Of A Child

This photo is a picture of my daughter in front of the twelve foot sunflowers we grew in the back garden this year.

Life is what we make it. What if I told you that every day you could make a difference in the life of a child simply by exposing them to nature? You could make your life better and your child's. I know this fact as truth - that exposing children to nature will make a difference for them - because of my own children's reaction to the world surrounding them.

My oldest daughter, a senior in high school, became involved in an environmental class this year and spends several times a week out in a prairie or in the woods studying nature. She can identify prairie plants, talk about beneficial insects, and tell me the sounds that nature makes - more importantly, on the days she is out in nature, she comes home more cheerful and happy. Being outdoors is a mood enhancer. Simple exposure to sunlight and nature helps a young person's brain chemicals, such as serotonin, move the way they should.

This type of energy is the type of energy we want our children to have instead of caffeine- or sugar-generated energy. It is longer lasting, healthier, and stimulates lasting memories. Bottom line; it is fun and makes the kids feel happy.

Testimony to this claim is the Sunflower adventure my youngest daughter and I had together this summer. One afternoon I dumped a handful of sunflower seeds in my hand and said, "will you look at that!"

"What?" said my youngest, leaning low to my hand so she could get a close-up view of the seeds.

"That!" I smile, "This is a sunflower!"

"MOMMMMM, it is not, it's too little!" she answered incredulously.

"It will be in a few months," I said. "Let's go outside and plant them." We got our old shoes on, grabbed a shovel, some popsicle sticks, and a watering can and headed out behind the fence.

Monday Whazzup - Educating Children About The Meaning of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

This weekend my eight year old daughter came to me, held up a toy perfume atomizer and said, "I have invented a breath freshener! Wanna try?" Ah... a cure for morning breath. Awesome.

My daughter breath freshening her dolls.

"Of course, let me try the cure for horrendous smelling breath!" She squirted a liquid in my mouth. Hmmm... tasted kinda mintish with a hint of clean. I asked for another squirt. Hmmm... reminds me of water. Only a slight change in the smell of my breath, however, I was drinking coffee prior to the taste session and that takes a mighty powerful cure.

Without skipping a beat I looked her in the eye and said, "How is it good for the environment? How is this remarkable product of yours 'green'?"

This threw her into a stuttering reply much like the recent Kouric/Palin interview, "well... uh... uh... hmmm..." She then walked off aimlessly looking at the ceiling.

Five minutes later she came running back with joy spattered all over her face, "I've got it! I have an ingredient that's recyclable." Apparently, the breath freshener was developed in a laboratory (the kitchen) by a professional (her) with only the best ingredients (water, toothpaste, and pulverized Altoids). These delectable ingredients were made into a fine mist spray you can squirt in your mouth via a toy perfume atomizer for a refreshing morning breath cure. Not a thing that's recyclable that I can see. "Remember, Mom? We recycle the Altoids boxes for underprivileged children to hold crayons in."

So close! She's almost got it, but recycling packaging is not the same as a recycled or rescued ingredient. With a twinkle in my eye, I smiled at my soon-to-be lecture victim. She looked warily back at me thinking, "Oh oh - looks like a lecture." Carefully, I explained what "reduce, reuse, and recycle" means.

How will our children understand the concept unless we discuss it with them at home? They, of course, will learn to recycle by watching and imitating our actions, but considering most schools fall woefully short in teaching children the basics about how to be good to our environment, I decided this was my special opportunity to educate a young mind.

Surprisingly, she participated in our discussion. She enthusiastically told me ways she reuses her craft supplies and toys instead of throwing them out. We talked about our home reduce, reuse, and recycle practices and how these things touch the world and make it better. It was a wonderful conversation between a mother and her child, and I hope you also have a similar conversation with children close to you. Educate them so they make better choices the rest of their lives.

After our talk she ran off to play, but came dashing back after she remembered an important point: "WAIT! One of the ingredients was recycled because I saved it from the landfill!"

My heart went pitter-pat, the child actually understood my lecture. She got it! She saved something from the landfill! Choirs were singing. Happy people were dancing. The world is filled with rainbows and unicorns! IT IS A MIRACLE!

Smiling, eyes brimming with tears, I asked, "What was it that you saved from the landfill?"

"The Altoid! I dropped it in the garage and was going to throw it in the trash, but THEN I decided to make breath freshener out of it instead." She grinned evilly at me and ran away before I could tackle her.

UGH! ACK! CHOKE! Well... she definitely saved an Altoid from a landfill, and I learned an important lesson: always ask your child where their scientific experiment ingredients come from.

Shawna Coronado says Get Health! Get Green! Get Community!

www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blog - www.gardeningnude.com

Get Yo Green On Tuesday - Recycle Mint Containers and Help Children

It is DOUBLE Get Yo Green On Tuesday - I want to show you an idea of how you can make a difference for children in need, while at the same time recycling by rescuing packaging materials from landfills.

Imagine if you were a small child in middle of a hurricane relief camp; ripped away from your snug bed and comfortable home, you might only have the possessions you were able to put in your backpack before being evacuated from your community.

In a relief camp you might share a cot with your other family members in a tiny trampled area and receive water and food from the relief workers. You would not know if you were staying for days or weeks at this camp. Hour after hour you have nothing to do and must sit and wait for word about your home and when you can return.

Then someone brings you a small care package filled with coloring books and a trample-proof tin of crayons. The crayons are used, but you do not care, you love the tin which can later be used to hide secret treasures. You are happy that someone took the time to give you something to do to keep your mind off of the horror that surrounds the experience you are living through.

S.C.A.R.C.E. (The School and Community Assistance for Recycling & Composting Education) is saving millions of crayons every year from the landfills by recycling them. Using crush proof candy tins is one of the ways they have found to rescue "newer" crayons from the landfill. They donate the crayons to under-privileged children, schools, and relief efforts across the world.

Smiles In The Garden; Little Boys Make My Day

Yesterday was a rough day - one of those insane days that takes you by the heal and drags you behind a horse for eight hours.

Still, there were two brilliant and shining moments that made me feel incredible on a day that was anything but -

#1 - While rushing through the garden I looked down and noticed this incredible picture of nature - my Sum & Substance Hosta and Asters dancing together in the breeze - a smile just waiting to happen.

#2 - Yesterday was story-time at my second graders elementary class. I go regularly to read to the kids to help the teachers out and contribute to my daughter's class. We've been in middle of the intellectually stimulating read, "Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle."

While almost ready to start, I was surprised by a cute little boy who stood up and said loudly, "HEY!"

I smiled and responded, "yeessss?"

He continued, "YOU ROCK!"

I smile at him. There's a chorus of "Yeah's" from the crowd and then he says, "No really - YOU ROCK!!!"

"Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle" was the best read ever yesterday - it made my day to think I had touched these kids by being kind to them. They "got" it. Taking time for them makes my day and theirs.

Do you see a pattern here? Both things that made me feel the best in my day is what "Gardening Nude" is all about - being in nature and building community.

You can feel great too - go out and touch your community. They will reward you in unexpected ways. Strip away the toxic living and do good for nature and the community and you will feel wonderful!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community!

www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blog - www.gardeningnude.com

Get Yo Green On Tuesdays - MOO-NURE Adventure and Product Review

While I was at one of the local Home Depot's, a rather loud and frustrated 40-something mother was standing over her toddler exclaiming, “Jeffrey, take the petunia out of your nose right now!” After careful consideration, I am absolutely sure that when she was her former 22 year old nubile self, she never pictured those words coming out of her mouth. Less than three minutes later she slapped his hand viciously and shouted, “I told you not to eat the ‘MOO-NURE’!”

Now THAT got my attention. I walked over to the giant aisle filled with row upon row of compost and rotted manure pallets - my personal gardening Mecca. With choirs singing and a golden halo surrounding the pallet, I discovered MOO-NURE. Pause here for crescendo.

MOO-NURE is a creatively packaged purple bag of rotted cow poop. No kidding. There’s a rather large photo of a very happy black and white cow on the bag. Yes, I said happy. She’s actually looking out of the corner of her eye in a provocative way; a cow supermodel declaring her poo-confidence.

The label announces that MOO-NURE is 100% Organic Compost with Cow Manure. Words float across the purple and white plastic which tantalize me. Like, “clay breaker,” “excellent rich soil amendment,” “retains moisture,” “mild manure suitable for all flowers.” I read the nitrogen content and my eyebrows raise up so high they touch my hairline.

Quickly I reach for the other composted manure bags – the one’s that are less beautiful and not so happy. They have virtually no nitrogen, yet, in my opinion these sorry non-purple packages are singularly responsible for the miracle Hydrangea growth I have seen in my perennial beds. I frown and thinking carefully, then put two and two together. The secret in my garden has always been rotted cow manure. This lovely purple bag is filled with SUPER-POO, I might even add, happy poo. My garden deserves happy poo, I’m convinced of it.

With a sparkle in my eye and a racing heart, I realize I must have this for my garden! It is remarkable! It is amazing! It is purple! It is poop! Faster than you can say “pee-you” I have heaved five of the 25 pound bags onto my bright orange mega-center cart and raced for the cash register.

With receipt waving in my hand, I run to my car through the maze of flowers and clunk over water hoses with my heavily laden cart. As I reach the car I see Jeffrey and his mother. She’s strapping him into the family van in between increasingly large Jeffrey-screeches. “Jeffrey,” I shout, “you’re a genius!!”

His mother shoots me a vicious, might I say hateful, look. But Jeffrey, of course, smiles at me as I dash by. I smile back and laugh because he’s holding an orange sucker in one hand, which has attached to the hair on the side of his head. His cheeks are covered with a loud brown smear of compost – I’m certain it’s the MOO-NURE.

I drive off feeling satisfied and excited at the thought of the garden waiting for me at home. I’m sure you’ll say I’m a victim of the marketing executives – the “man” has triumphed because I have fallen prey to a smiling cow. Indeed, it is true. I am weak and cannot resist the power of super-poo. The MOO-NURE has been the best rotted manure I have ever used in my garden. It’s the best! My garden is happy now, and I know all is right with the world.

Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community!

 www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blog – www.gardeningnude.com  

Nature Deficit Disorder? Get Your Children and Yourself Outside NOW!

 

This morning my youngest asked, “How about we go for a walk or bike ride before school?”

What a fantastic idea! In fact, we should all be getting our over-computered, over-tv’d, over-stressed kids (and selves) out the front door and into nature. Richard Louv, the author of Last Child In The Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin Books, 2008) is the person who originally coined the phrase, “Nature Deficit Disorder.” His strong belief is that children who have not been exposed to nature can suffer all sorts of medical malady’s, both physical and mental. I happen to agree, so when my daughter made the suggestion I jumped at the chance.

We did take our walk / bike this morning and it was awesome. But the truly hysterical part was my seven year olds commentary while we were getting ready for the adventure.

“So kiddo, why do you think we need to get out this morning?”

“Are you kidding Mom? You are going to look like a new woman by the time we get back!” I’m sure she meant FEEL like a new woman, but still, I think about that for a moment. Hmmm. Wonder which woman I’ll be looking like when I return? Britney Spears, perhaps? Maybe Catherine Zeta-Jones? It’s far more likely that I’ll look like Jodie Foster – that’s who I get mistaken for all the time anyway.

“You get your socks and shoes on while I go grab my watch.”

“Mom, which watch are you grabbing?” She continues to talk, walking six inches from my back end, as I head to the bedroom, “Did you know I won another foot in exercise club this week? It’s blue. But they ran out, so now we have to wait for more. Hey! Also – I caught all kinds of crickets yesterday out front. They sure know how to jump high. My birthday’s coming up, I can’t wait for our picnic. What kind of cake should you make do you think?”

In the time she’s said all of this we’ve walked from the front to the back to the front of the house again. I turn to her, interrupt and say, “Socks.”

“OH YEAH – socks. I forgot.”

She dances off to her bedroom, meets me in the front hall and has socks on and a tiny, itty-bitty doll in her hand. “This is my little doll, I’ve named her Thumbelina ‘cause just look at how tiny she is?” She says this with an itty squeaky voice.

Once again, I interrupt and say, “Shoes.”

“OH YEAH – shoes. I forgot.” She spins around in a circle floating Thumbelina in front of her then scurries back, grabs her shoes and shoves her feet into them without untying the laces. This is a losing battle, and while she’s putting her feet in the shoes I hear an unending stream of talking. She tells me about how many times around the elementary school is a mile, how far a cricket really jumps, why she prefers cinnamon on waffles instead of syrup, and why her hair is so very silky this morning (“…because that new conditioner works wonders.”)

Now we are ready to go out into nature, breathe some air and get some exercise! I walk and she rides. As we are going along, my daughter looks up at me and smiles perhaps the biggest smile I’ve ever seen – she is happy that we are together and enjoying nature together. Everything feels right with the world. This is the right thing to do with your morning.

Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community!

www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blog - www.gardeningnude.com