50 Ways to Go Green That I’ve Personally Tried + GIVEAWAY

In honor of Earth day April 22, 2017, I thought I’d share 50 Ways to Go Green That I’ve Personally Tried. Over the last eighteen months I’ve been motivated to change my habits to be more environmentally friendly. Some of these habits became easy lifestyle changes, others…well…not so much.

50 Ways to Go Green That I've personally tried Continue reading “50 Ways to Go Green That I’ve Personally Tried + GIVEAWAY”

April Go Green Challenge

Go Green

Who’s ready to go green for Earth Day? The April Go Green Challenge will get you on your way!

I’ve had a great time getting outdoors with you readers for my monthly outdoor challenges. March’s challenge was a roaring good time (see below), but I think you’ll all like April’s challenge even more.

April Go Green Challenge Pin

Continue reading “April Go Green Challenge”

Be a Force For Good

Thanks to everyone who entered my Beat Black Friday Giveaways. It’s made me think about Thanksgiving and the entire holiday season. This year my gift to the world is to be a force for good.

Be a Force For Good

Years ago during a Change-Your-Life-By-Making-Goals conference, I was asked to come up with a personal mission statement. Several people at the conference shared a paragraph or more of what they considered their core values, what goals they wanted to achieve and where they saw their life headed in the coming years. My personal mission statement was much shorter. In fact it was only one sentence long. Continue reading “Be a Force For Good”

Earth Day: How Does Your Garden Grow?

Every spring the warm weather teases me into thinking I have a green thumb. Every fall after months of digging, planting, watering, putting up fences, and protecting against frost I remember that I don’t. It seems that only half of what I plant survives weather, forgetful watering, over eager tots and animal attacks, and yet I can’t help but try again the next spring.
The food I may or may not produce is not my primary reason for gardening, which is good because my family would starve. The real reason I garden is to enjoy the outdoors with my kids. It’s an easy thing to do with kids since most love any reason to dig and get dirty, plus it’s so fun to see my tots learn about plants hands on, to watch things grow and to eat fresh peas from their pods.

This Earth Day the tots and I transplanted some seedlings. The seeds were from my late grandmother’s store and some are more than 15 years old. I’m surprised any of them sprouted, but apparently you can’t keep a sunflower from wanting the sun –  they were the best growers despite their age.
Thanks to this post by Mae at www.mommylovestrees.com I learned that the best way to encourage environmental stewardship in my kids is really quite easy. Research shows that it comes down to these three actions:
  1. talking about the environment at home, 
  2. watching nature-related media,
  3. and reading about nature. 

Growing a garden with my kids doesn’t involve a screen or book (Unless you count Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew), but it does allow for lots of opportunities to talk about the environment and why I care about it. I love growing things, even if I’m only successful half the time. Hopefully my efforts to teach my tots about loving nature are a little more successful.