Food Snobbery on a Budget...

this post also appears at "Cooking Green with Lia Jean"

Hi, my name is Lia Jean Green bean-eating-machine Mack, and I'm a food snob.

I blame my parents for having us live in Italy for three years while I was growing up. Every Friday morning, the town we lived in held an open air market - mercato - where you could purchase anything and everything fresh.

Fresh fish from the sea, fresh artichokes picked that morning, homemade pastas that took two seconds to cook...and eat ;) Oh, and let's not forget the cheese wagon. Every Wednesday at the same exact time, a man pulling a cart of cheese wheeled down our street singing, "formaggio... mozzarelli... provelone..."

Now that's a real cheese wagon :)

So I got mega used to eating whole fresh foods...and fell in LOVE! There is no beating the taste of a ripe red tomato mixed with fresh basil, straight from the garden. I think that's why everything tastes so much better in Italy. Everything is fresh and local. So what if I couldn't drink the water or that the heat and electricity went off daily at 3pm because someone had to go home for siesta. I was in food heaven!!!

And then we moved back to the States - God love America - where there is a grocery store open daily on almost every corner. Only thing, most of the food available here comes in a box. Or a plastic bag. Or worse! And it's not fresh. It's not even local!

Oh, the horror!!!

Well, fast forward to 2010. I'm married to super conservation man and together we are raising two amazing little greenies. I've been a stay at home mom for six years and have not one thing in my life to complain about. Nothing, that is, except my food budget. It's tight. Living on one income in a very expensive part of the country and being able to buy good whole food that is fresh, organic, and local is difficult to say the least. But it's doable. And for a while there I was doing pretty good.

For the last two years, however, I've been feeling the pinch. Food prices continue to rise, utilities are still going up, and summer is coming, which can only mean one more thing will be getting more expensive. Gas. Just in time for everyone to want to get out and have fun after being frozen all winter. So nice of them...

Yet, I still want to be able to feed my family well, but wanting to buy and eat only organic, local, fresh foods can be quite costly. I know of one local mom who spent over 15K last year in food alone because they ONLY eat local, organic, fresh meats, cheeses, fruit, vegs, ect.... That's a lot of money.

Of course I could easily manage to buy all sorts of shit food (pardon my language) with my food budget. I could feed my family from the box and dollar menu and have money left over! But I'm a food snob, remember? I cannot eat that stuff. Ingredients I can't pronounce? Food that doesn't even look or taste anything like food? Packaged, frozen, processed, freeze dried disgustingness???

Oh no. Not me, baby. Not after eating REAL food. It's just not possible.

Plus, I don't want my kids eating shit - crap - either. We are what we eat. When we eat crap, we feel like crap and therefore act like crap. And I'm not interested in taking care of kids who act up all the time and get sick all the time because they are being fed crappy food.


So, having very little wiggle room in the budget, but wanting only the best (what mom doesn't?), I've learned how to get most everything we need (aka: I want) on the budget we have. It's fun being a food snob. You just have to find a way to do it when you don't have endless amounts of the green stuff lying around. Below are some of the things I do to get what I want, thus enabling me to eat really yummy good for me food all the time

I don't do all my shopping in one place.
Some things at my main grocery store are too expensive, yet elsewhere they aren't. Took me a while to scout out all the good deals, but now I know that by going to three separate stores on a rotation, I can come home with a lot more of what I want for less $.

I garden.
I grow tomatoes and herbs and carrots and potatoes and all sorts of yumminess :) By doing so, I control what goes in and on my food. The kids have their own garden plots too, and we spend a good deal of time with our beloved Mother Earth to keep it going. After the cost of seeds, what we reap is free. FREE! Best price ever :)

I go to Farmer's Markets.
And stock up. What I find for good deals, I buy bunches of and freeze what we're not eating that week. Frozen blueberries, frozen green beans, frozen anything. Tastes great when picked and stored at peek season. Nothing better than pulling out veggies in the dead of winter that you bought fresh and know where they came from. Tastes great.

I buy in bulk.
When I can, I save up and buy staples in bulk. Flour, sugar, pasta, rice... This year I'm buying 1/4th of a bison and a neighbor of ours who likes to hunt is getting us a deer. Who knows how long this supply of meat will last, especially since we only eat meat two to three times a week. (Meat is pricey) This, of course, will happen after I find an inexpensive deep freezer on Craigslist (anyone have one they don't want?)

I do without.
Yes, you heard it. We don't buy pop (soda). The kids drink juice once a day and that's it. Instead we drink water, H2O, aqua fresca...you get the picture. Same thing with junk food. Since we don't eat it, we don't buy it, thus we save big bucks. And if it's not on sale and it's not in the budget, oh well. Better luck next time, right?

I stretch it.
I can make five meals out of one chicken. And that doesn't include the amount of chicken stock I make and use from the bones. So I might spend a little more buying an organic chicken - or A LOT more buying an organic local chicken - but I'll make that dollar stretch as much as possible. With a little ingenuity, you can think of ways to make anything stretch more than one meal.

Of course, all of this takes time, energy, and knowledge, something that most of us are hard pressed to find. But it CAN be done if you put in the work. The biggest benefit from all of this? You won't have to compromise. I don't. Just know that there will be times when you can't get the big ticket items, but that's fine. You don't have to have exactly what you want ALL the time, do you? My goal is to have good for us food only, and don't concern myself with specifics.

Everyone can be a food snob on a budget. All you have to do is learn to go with the flow, enjoy what's in season, and make the most of what you've got.

:)

Baby food...doesn't have to be PUREE

When you think of baby food, a few words come to mind, bland, dull colored, puree, mush, all around YUCK! As my 6 month daughter is venturing into the world of food I have realized how many options there are. First, let me start by saying that I had already decided that I would be making my own baby food. For a few reasons, first and foremost because I want to be able to expose my daughter to a variety of different flavors, textures, colors, fruits and vegetables. If I was to buy her food at the store I would be limited in what I could expose her to, if I make it myself the sky is the limit, well actually the produce section at the grocery store but you get the idea.

I want to be able to control what goes into her food, if I make it myself I know EXACTLY what went into her food and I could add things like leeks, basil, vanilla bean, nutmeg...of course not yet she has to get introduced slowly but the options are limitless. I can make kale for her, how many times have you seen kale on the baby food aisle at the grocery store? The future for her and her palate are as big as my imagination.

I think the biggest revelation I have had is that baby food doesn't have to be PUREE. Of course I'm not saying that I can just cut up and apple and gave it to my daughter. What I'm saying is that we start our babies off on food that is a consistency that unless you're eating pudding everyday for the rest of your life isn't a natural consistency. Not that pudding everyday would be a bad thing, but I think one of the greatest things about food (other than the taste) is the different textures everything has in your mouth. How a pear feels when you bite into it compared to an apple, of course you can tell an apple from a pear by the taste of it, but if they both had the exact same flavor you would still be able to distinguish the two by texture.

Anella's first food was avocado, I was really excited to start with avocado because when I feed it to her it will be the exact same texture as when I eat it myself. After avocado, we moved onto peas, now we had a rainy weekend and I decided to puree some peas and freeze them for her. So we heated up the puree fed it to her and she enjoyed it. At dinner that night my husband and I had peas as well, and I realized that if I just pop them out of their little shell she would be able to eat the small pieces that were left. And so it goes, pea after pea. I placed them very carefully on her highchair table and she would slowly pick it up, look at it and stick it in her mouth. Once she got it in her mouth she would make a "chewing" motion and it would be gone. And so it goes, pea after pea. Every once in a while I'd take a peek into her toothless mouth to make sure she wasn't storing them all for later, but after much searching I found that her mouth was empty and she was just enjoying her new ability to feed herself. So this got me to thinking. baby food doesn't have to be puree, and why should it be!

Green Tips for Green Mamas... Sunscreen

With summer just around the corner it's time to start thinking about how to protect ourselves and our loved ones from sun exposure and worst of all a sunburn. I've always struggled with finding a sunscreen that does not cause irritation of my skin. I have very sensitive skin as does my 7 1/2 month old daughter so as we started spending more and more time outside I knew that I had to find a solution. A sunscreen that didn't give her a rash but also one that I was comfortable with the ingredients. After much research I feel confident in my decision, this is now the only sunscreen for my household. This sunscreen has no synthetic chemicals and the packaging is made from recycled and sustainable materials and is phthalate and BpA free. I love knowing that not only am I protecting my families skin from the sun but I'm also using a safe product.

Are there any Green Pros to Homeschooling?

I plan on homeschooling my children next year - yeah! - and have been thinking about how this change is going to effect everything from daily routines to our lifestyle.

One change that came to mind this morning, as I drove my kindergartner to school, was how homeschooling is going to help us be even more green.

Transportation
I won't need to drive my kids to and from school five days a week, 9 months a year. We might have field trips here and there, but for the most part we'll be at home and either bike or walk to our destinations, like the park. No brainer there that that will cut down on the amount of fuel we consume in a year, not to mention how much less pollution will be emitted by us.

School Gear & Supplies
New school clothes, new backpacks, new lunch boxes, new school supplies. At home, we don't really need a whole slew of new clothes to 'keep up' with the trends. My kids can keep on liking what they like, coming into less contact with peer pressure to switch from one popular thing to the next.

Curriculum
Besides being able to green the focus my curriculum, there are so many used books and online resources for homeschooling that I won't need to purchase anything brand new unless I want to. Most homeschooling parents I know share and reuse materials from year to year, and that advantage will help not only with costs on my end, but also cut down on the amount of new material needed to produce such books and items.

Food
What better way to teach children how to eat healthier than to involve them in the process, from garden to table. Each of my children have their own 'plots' to grow whatever they choose in the garden. I've always sent my children to school with a packed lunch, and tell them to bring home their recycling. But next year will be different as we'll all be together for lunch! My mother used meals as a way to teach us about many different subjects - math, reading, cultures. She didn't know it, but when we weren't at school, she was always homeschooling us, and it was always fun.

Do you know of any other green pros to homeschooling?

How have you incorporated green teachings into your schooling?

I've managed to make my children's school year this year as green as I could, and I was happy to find that the school recycles paper and school lunch trays, which are made of Styrofoam. It's a start with a lot of room to grow. Wanting to insure my children live green is not my reasoning behind my choice to homeschool. Except switching to homeschooling is wonderful since, by doing so, we will be able to be more green!.

And isn't that always one of our most important goals as a family?

Love each other...Love our Earth...

:)

Everyday living with Cloth Diapers

It's been a while since I've had a chance to get on and blog. My little family traveled back East for Christmas and with the holiday's time just got away from me. We got to introduce our little miracle to Aunt Lia and the rest of the family, it was a great trip however since we've been back we've all been sick. Those darn airplane germs!!! We are finally all on the road to recovery and I decided I needed to get back into the habit of posting blogs.

My daughter is now 5 months old, which I still CANNOT believe. It has gone by so fast, I have enjoyed every moment. Everyday is something new, she is just getting so big and my life is finally complete.

I was thinking back to when I was expecting and all the advice (wanted and unwanted) I would get from fellow mothers, other pregnant women, or just random strangers who for all I know have no children. One of the things I heard a thousand times was "how HARD cloth diapers were going to be." I still remember mentioning cloth diapers to the nurse at the hospital the day my daughter was born, and she said "Well good luck, it's going to be way too much work." I just smiled and nodded, that was my response to most of the "unwelcome" advice I would receive about everything from breastfeeding to the sleepless nights.

I knew even before I was pregnant that we would use cloth diapers, I was NEVER worried that it would be too much work. And guess what, I was RIGHT! It's been so easy. Seeing that these are the ONLY diapers my daughter has worn since the minute we got home from the hospital we took them on our week long vacation. Yes, that's right! We took cloth diapers on an airplane and used them for a whole week away from home. Crazy I know!

I wanted to do a quick calculation to see how many diapers we've used on our daughter since she's been born, the number is astounding. Roughly 1,200!!!! I can't even imagine having thrown away 1,200 diapers. Instead I have an endless supply that just go into the washer, then the dryer, I fold them and they're ready to use again. I never have to run to the store to pick up a new pack of diapers because we ran out, or because she grew out of the size we had. I love knowing that these same diapers I am using on my daughter right now will also be used on all of my future children.

I find with most things regarding having and raising a child the advice you get is typically filled with horror stories. I remember how people told me I'd never sleep again once I had a child, I'd never get to do the things that I've always enjoyed doing, how it would change my life. And you know what, it has, it has changed my life, but for the BETTER. I am the person I have always wanted to be, from the moment I gave birth to my daughter, I became empowered.

If you are interested in learning more about cloth diapers visit Nurtured Family.

Mama Needs A New Scent...Organic Perfume

My husband bought me perfume on our honeymoon ten years ago. If you know me well, you've heard the story behind where he fell in love with the scent in the first place. Initial reasons aside, I fell in love with the perfume. Never thought about changing.

Then I had babies.

What does perfume and babies have in common? Well, if you breastfeed and wear perfume, you run the risk of confusing your baby's milkie radar. Babies know your mommy's scent the moment they are born. And your milk has an aroma all it. Wearing perfume can get in the way of the breastfeeding relationship getting off to a good start.

Plus, some perfumes are toxic. Since your skin absorbs anything you put on it, the toxins will make their way to your breastmilk. Even change the flavor or smell of it. Babies don't get too excited about anyone messing with their milkies.

However, if you are at the tail end of your breastfeeding relationships, love to 'stink nice' as my children say, or are going out for a special evening and want to wear a nice sent - it always feel nice to play adult for a couple hours here and there, isn't it? - are there healthier green options?

Of course ;)

That's why I'm so excited about searching for a new sent. I'm making my wish list!

• Red Flower Roll-On Champa Organic Perfume
  "A pure flower and herb distillation. Apply over wrists, neck and pulse points. Created to offer a subtle gesture of the self and to touch the essence of the individual. Stainless steel roller ball applicator for smooth, sensual delivery. Box is 80% recycled paper produced and printed at 100% wind-powered plant in USA.
  
  
• Amka Eau de Toilette by Jo Wood Organics
  "Using the finest grade organic and natural oils extracted from organically grown ingredients, Amka Eau de Toilette has been officially certified organic by ECOCERT."
  
  
• WHOLEARTH just created the first ever USDA certified organic perfume spray. All natural, it contains no synthetic ingredients or dyes and is made with organic alcohol, fragrance and water. Comes in a wonderful variety of aromas like lavender, vanilla, ginger and orange. A little out of my price range, maybe I'll ask Santa this year.
  
  
• More in my price range is Aubrey Organics Ocean Waters Eau De Parfum (Aubrey-Organics.com) Made with a minimum of 95% certified organic ingredients, their fragrances are free of synthetic aldehydes and petrochemicals and formulated for the woman with sensitive skin. How cool is that?! And they also have men's fragrances too ;)

Not having gotten a new perfume in years, I'd be happy with any of the above.

Here's to hoping my hubby sees this post!

:)

Done with your Fuzzi Bunz? Now what to do with them???

Did you make the decision to use Fuzzi Bunz on your baby and now wonder what to do with them? I have found the perfect solution. You can donate your Fuzzi Bunz and they'll be sent to orphanages in underdeveloped countries. I cannot think of a better way to retire your Fuzzi Bunz.

Just visit Mother of Eden and it will give you all the information you need to be able to donate your Fuzzi Bunz.

When a Child Looses a Friend... Bereavement for Kids

A few years back my beautiful sister-in-law sent me a book, The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, to help me with the loss of someone very special. Although it was a child's book, I did find it sweet and welcoming in my time of need. And when I had my own children, I kept the book around as part of their ever growing collection books.

I've read the book to my children numerous times. It's a tale about the life of a little leaf, Freddie, and how he comes to terms with finding purpose in his life, enjoying it, and then finally accepting death as a part of everyone's circle of life.

It's always been one of those books that I pull out from time to time, a simple reminder that although we don't know how long we have on Mother Earth, we all have time to make the most of it. Unfortunately, this summer we witnessed a horrible tragedy as a family: the death of a little boy.

A sweet little friend of my children. Practically a member of our family. A soul never to be forgotten...

My children were there and saw the unthinkable. Understandably, they still talk about it to this day. My three year old even says she can see him and talks to him frequently. Just today I thought I could hear his little voice in the wind while we were at one of his much loved parks..."Come on Juli...let's play!"

And although it doesn't make things better, it doesn't help us know what happened, this little book about Freddie has helped us remember that life is not only short, but precious. We all have a purpose. Andrew, someone who was only on here for such a short time, had a purpose. He showed us that we should enter all situations with the best intentions. That there is cause for smiling and laughing-out-loud all times of the day. That we shouldn't take another minute to hug those we love, and to tell them so...

If you know of a child who has experienced a loss, The Fall of Freddie the Leaf is a very good companion to all the words and hugs of sympathy. It's also a good book to have to help explain to kids that we all have a purpose for our lives. That even though a leaf is small, it's part of a great big tree. And that everything living is part of the same cycle of life.

When Being Green isn't So Easy...

Have you ever felt like you were on conservationalist's overload mode? That no matter how many plastic water bottles you save from the trash, that you use all local organic food, or that you barely used the AC all this smoldering muggy summer to conserve dollars and help with pollution...that it's never enough?

What about the crude oil industry? What about people who don't have clean water to drink? What about all those schools and companies and hospitals that trash everything on a continual, day-in-day-out, basis? What about the oceans? What about the polar bears? The wolves? The forests? My kids? My kid's kids?

There is so much to do, so much to be done, I just want to...scream! Being one person against a whole world of problems can sometimes kill the very passion out of you. You start to feel as though you are drowning in the toxic waste that fills your air, water, food.

The need is so great, how on Earth can we ever do enough?

Easy...don't give up!

Even though you are just one person, you can make a difference. Just think about your kids watching you take care of Mother Earth: watching what you put into her, making sure not to add to her hurt. You're raising greenies! Little green ones that will grow up to be big powerful green movements. That is something to be proud of!

And if you have kids that go to a school or you work somewhere that doesn't recycle, why not help them implement a system so that they can? Or show them how easy it is being green by packing a lunch box using reusable containers, napkins, and water bottles.

I sometimes get so bogged down with the insurmountable task of greening my family's life and what I can't do - buy solar, get a electric car, grow all our food - that I feel like I'm not doing a good enough job. But then I go out in the real world and see that I am not alone. That my seemingly small efforts are being compounded by everyone else's greeness...

There may be a lot for us to do...but there are a lot of us...

Keep up the good fight...

"If it's Yellow, Let it Mellow...If it's Brown..."

Flush it down!

Not a hugely complicated water conservation method, right?

And when you look at the statistics - instead of flushing the toilet after each and every use (12-15 times a day), and wait for a a brown addition to flush it all down - you can reduce the number of times you refill your toilet with fresh new water to 4 or 5 times a day. And at 1.6 gallons per flush, that's a savings of 5000 gallons per year of water!

And when I saw our water bill the other day, I realized that we use on average 10,000 gallons of water a month. I don't know about you, but I think this to be an outrageous amount!

Imagine if I had to walk down to the local stream, collect that much water a month, and carry it back to my house. 10,000 gallons? Insane!

So, I'm on a quest to reduce our water consumption. Although my husband takes 2 minute showers and I try to stay under 10, I'm certain we use/waste much more precious water as a family than we should. That's why we have instated the "if it's yellow let it mellow" rule to our household.

And if I could find a way to purchase this sign, I'll have it hanging up behind the toilet in no time!

The Story of Stuff...

How much stuff is too much stuff? And where does our stuff come from? Or maybe more importantly, why do we feel we need so much stuff?!

Annie Leonard - who spent 10 years tracking how our stuff is created and then disposed of - presents with clarity how stuff creates the excessive amounts of pollution and problems we now have for all people and our beloved planet.

The Story of Stuff...

Watch it. Have the kids watch it. Pass it along to all those skeptics in your family...

www.storyofstuff.com

Be a Mad Scientist! Eco-Friendly Alternatives for Everyday Cleaning...

by guest boat-dwelling mama blogger Cindy Wallach of spinsheet.com ...and yes, Cindy actually lives on a boat...isn't that cool ;)

A friend who was born and raised on the Chesapeake Bay told me a story recently. When he was a boy 40-some years ago on Harness Creek there was so much seaweed they had to constantly pull it off of their oars as they paddled along. And there were so many crabs that he and his little friends were constantly jumping around to avoid them as they waded into the creek. The one word he used to describe the Bay back then was "alive". I can count on one hand the number of living crabs my son has seen the past 5 years (though the dead ones rack up on fingers and toes) and we live aboard full time. Talk about a wake up call.

If you've got green running through your veins, greening up your everyday life is easier than you think. So get to it.

Instead of using... Use these Eco-Friendly Alternatives

• Bleach... Borax
  
  
• Detergent & Soap... Elbow grease
  
  
• Scouring Powders... Baking soda. Or rub area with one-half lemon dipped in borax, then rinse
  
  
• General Cleaner... Baking soda and vinegar. Or lemon juice combined with borax paste
  
  
• Floor Cleaner... One cup vinegar + 2 gallons of water
  
  
• Window Cleaner... One cup vinegar + 1 qt. warm water. Rinse and squeegee
  
  
• Aluminum Cleaner... 2 Tbsp. cream of tartar + 1 qt. of hot water
  
  
• Brass Cleaner... Worcestershire sauce. Or paste made of equal amounts of salt, vinegar, and water
  
  
• Copper Cleaner... Lemon juice and water. Or paste of lemon juice, salt, and flour
  
  
• Chrome Cleaner/Polish... Apple cider vinegar to clean; baby oil to polish
  
  
• Stainless Steel Cleaner... Baking soda or mineral oil for polishing, vinegar to remove spots
  
  
• Fiberglass Stain Remover... Baking soda and salt in a wet paste
  
  
• Mildew Remover... Paste with equal amounts of lemon juice and salt, or white vinegar and salt OR diluted tea tree oil
  
  
• Drain Opener... Dissemble or use plumber’s snake. Or flush with boiling water + one-quarter cup baking soda + one-quarter cup vinegar
  
  
• Wood Polish... Olive or almond oil (interior walls only)
  
  
• Rug/Upholstery Cleaner... Dry corn starch sprinkled on; vacuum
  
  
• After Cleaning Cocktail... One part rum mixed with 2 parts fruit juice. Add ice as needed...
  
  :)
  

Nurtured Family
Your source for cloth diapers, baby slings, nursing bras and more

Yummy Drumsticks...Perfect for Summer Supers ;)

recipe provided by guest mama blogger Cara Bergman, licensed Acupuncturist specializing in fertility...

My daughter Lily turned 5 this weekend and this is the chicken she wanted for her party. It was surprisingly delicious!

• 7 garlic cloves, pressed
• 2 Tbsp. local honey
• 4 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 4 Tbsp. wheat-free naturally fermented soy sauce
• 4 Tbsp. organic lemon juice
• 1/2 cup of a mixture of equal proportions of coconut oil, sesame oil, and olive oil
• 4 tsp. Celtic sea salt
• 2 tsp. pepper
• 30-40 local free-range chicken drumsticks
  

In a bowl, combine all ingredients except chicken. Place chicken in one or more gallon sized Zip-lock bags. Pour mixture over chicken and let it marinate for 1 - 24 hours in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken in several 9X13 glass pans. Bake 40 - 45 minutes until chicken is cooked.

Enjoy!

My "Victory" Garden...Simple Beginnings of an Urban Homestead

I've always loved the taste of fresh tomatoes tossed with fresh basil and it's always been easy to purchase a tomato plant or two, plop them into a pot, and reap the rewards of regular watering with mouth watering flavor. Yum, yum, yum!

That's about all I did during the years I worked outside of the home. After having kids, I wanted to garden earnestly so that my children would benefit from seeing and learning the love of gardening. It was something that I wanted to do so that my children's children would inherit a love, desire, and understanding of gardening and working with Mother Earth.

A few years ago, my three year old son and I started with a little patch of dirt. The following year we moved our garden plans to a more sunny local in the backyard (darn Maple tree leaves!) This year we have continued in the same area, adding another bed.

It's been three years now of gardening and I have to say that - although things grow and thrive, sometimes - I have no idea what I'm doing. I've planted in the shade and nothing grew. I planted 12 tomato plants practically right on top of eachother and they thrived. I borrowed wood pallets to make an open air composting area in my backyard and I think I'm doing it right... The kids and I have fun making and creating a garden together, and, honestly, this haphazard style of gardening has worked for us up until now.

What's different now?

Necessity has come into play. With food prices and gas prices going through the roof - again - I am fed up with having to worry if I can have fresh organic food for my family come dinner time. So, what's a green mama to do?

I'm challenging myself with the ultimate goal: to become as self-sustained as possible. I want to grow as much food for my family as possible. I want to eat fresh organic food everyday, and freeze and can what I can so that our little harvest will go the distance.

Only problem is, we own 0.17 acres that a house and a pool set upon. So that leaves me some room in the backyard, a side yard, and possibly some of the front yard. I live in Podunk East Coast with no HOA to worry about. If my neighbor can park his car on his lawn for the past 14 years, I can have a veggie farm in mine!

And that makes me so giddy and excited! I asked my darling husband if he'd mind NOT having a lawn to mow. He said he'd be all for it.

So that got me thinking...

My inspiration to start farming my little land came from the Dervas Family of Pasadena, CA. They converted their entire front, side, and backyards into a "Little Homestead in the City", complete with all the food they need for the year, a means to create an income, and their own chickens, goats, ducks, and more! This summer while in California I'm going to take a field trip to their homestead and check it out for myself...a Green Mama's destination for sure!

While I'm patiently and excitedly awaiting my trip, I will be frequenting their Freedom Gardens website, "an online social community of gardening enthusiasts who are fed up with foreign oil, frequent food miles and high food prices. Gardeners of all types of gardens are welcomed". Awesome. I'm sure they won't mind a haphazard gardener then ;)

This year I will be adding another bed to the veggie garden, but that's all. I'd love to do more and would if I had the green...(oh, will the gas prices stop rising!)... That said, I better start making a list of all the supplies and materials I'll need to save for for next year's growing season. Maybe I'll find some frugal ways over the summer to start extending my garden sooner... I do love that Craigslist!

Here's to dreaming and planning...wish me luck! ;)

Organic Gardening 101: All The Basics to Help You Get Started

From composting to beneficials to conserving natural resources, organic gardening goes beyond bypassing synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. It encompasses a wide range of methods and techniques that work harmoniously within the natural cycles of our Earth.

Yet, with all the tilling, digging, planting, and watering, to a new comer, gardening organically can seem somewhat of a daunting task. Armed with a handful of gardening basics tossed in with a few beneficial local resources, creating your very own backyard harvest is easier than you may think. Before you know it, you’ll be well on your way to reaping the benefits of having your very own organic garden. Besides, the best part of gardening organically is that you “control exactly what goes in the ground, what goes on the plants and what vegetables [you] get out of it,” says Suzy Provine.

From the Ground Up
And it all starts with compost. All of those curbed bags of grass clippings, raked leaves, and thrown out kitchen scraps is what gardeners refer to as “black gold” – the most basic and essential component to every organic garden. Rather than bagged in plastic and added to the landfill, this wonderful mixture, tossed into a compost bin and briefly attended to ensuring the right amount of air, moisture, and heat, turns into the very thing your garden needs to grow and thrive. Where conventional gardeners would add synthetic fertilizers to boost their soil, the organic matter in compost delivers a slow time-release of nutrients to your plants to help sustain your garden.

There’s a Method to Happiness :)
Planning your garden, figuring out what to grow and where, is another essential aspect of gardening and one your gardening adventure cannot begin without. When planning your garden, find a spot in your yard that gets at least six hours of full sun during the day. No amount of beautiful compost, watering, or love and attention can replace the need for good ol’sunshine.

What to Plant?
Most beginner gardeners want to know what to plant. And the answer is easy: list all the veggies and fruits that your family eats on a regular basis, making sure that your choices will grow in our climate zone. This will not only ensure that the plants survive and thrive, but your family too will attend to the garden and enjoy the harvest.

Diggin In
Gardening is not only an act of growing your gown food and herbs, it’s also great exercise, a chance to get up close and personal with Mother Earth, a calm and relaxing respite from busy lives. And if you have the time and energy to devote to it, fabulous. Time to get dirty!

Water, Water, Water
Your plants will need regular watering and, during our hotter months of July and August, even the most frequent waterings from the hose sometimes isn’t enough to keep your garden from thirst. Rain barrels will help you conveniently collect and conserve water from your roof and transport airborne and deposited nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) to your garden plants. Made from recycled food barrels, these kits include netting to prevent mosquitoes and a valve for easy watering.

What’s more, when you connect this water to your drip irrigation system, you’ll not only be conserving water and reusing it in your garden, you’ll also reduce your water bills. Quickly installed, drip irrigation will get water to the roots of your plants, making it environmentally efficient with no water loss to wind and evaporation.

Kids + Dirt = Fun!
With mom and dad having so much fun in the garden, the kiddos are sure to want to get in on the action. And why not? Children will get to learn a great deal about the decomposition process while turning the compost pile, the life cycle while watching seeds grow into plants, how nature works keeping an eye on the bees while they pollinate. And what kid doesn’t love to dig around in the dirt and find earth worms, busily wiggling their way through the garden. Children easily see that the garden is alive and needs food, water, and tender loving care just as they do.

“The boys love digging,” says Suzy, mother of four dirt lovers. “They are really good at loosening up the soil and mixing in the compost. They also like planting seeds, though some of the tiniest seeds are really tough for them too handle and we end up with very dense patches of things like lettuce and carrots.”

Coupled with the love for getting dirty and being outdoors, getting your children involved is simple. Depending on your child’s age, temperament, and abilities, you’ll be able to see where you can enjoy their help and when it’ll be a good time for a distraction. By setting aside a space of their own, let the kids create a fun children’s garden, where they can grow their own giant sunflowers, easy-to-plant veggies, a bean teepee, and snow peas to snack on.

Bug Off!
Oh, there is one final lesson in organic gardening. The bugs: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Oh, yes, there are good bugs. Called beneficials, these bugs - like Lady Bugs, the Praying Mantis, and Bees - help your garden stay healthy and strong, naturally, organically. With jobs ranging from pollination to feasting on those pesky bad bugs that would otherwise eat your crop, beneficials help you keep your gardens free and clear of problems without the use of harmful pesticides.

Ask an Expert!
A great online resource to know about is the Home & Garden Information Center that will answer all your pest and plant problems and questions. Call their hotline, Monday-Friday, 8am -1pm, at 1-800-342-2507, or go to their website at www.hgic.umd.edu. From online, you can send a question, including an uploaded photo of an insect in questioning.

Keep it Simple, Keep it Fun
If this is your first time gardening, remember: a healthy, well tended to garden will provide you with a better bounty than a large stressful, ignored one. All gardening skills are acquired through trial and error, so keep note of what works, what didn’t, and always try again next Spring!

Moreover, when gardening organically, focus more on what you can do rather than trying to do it all perfectly.

It’s your garden.

Have fun with it and enjoy!


as seen in Nesting Magazine by Lia Mack

Get Rich!....A Secret To Absolute Wealth

Oh, yeah, baby...I'm rich!

I'm the richest person I know...And I'm richer than I've ever been in my entire life! I have everything I've ever wanted and more...

Why? How?

I'll let you in on a little secret...

I have close to nothing and almost everything, all at the same time...

"They may not have a lot of material things, but that doesn't mean they are not successful," says A Cherokee Feast of Days, a daily meditation book by Joyce Sequichie Hifler. "The Elders say that what everyone really wants is to be happy and have a peaceful mind. Material things by themselves do not bring happiness and peace of mind."

Therefore, when you define true success in the peace, love, and happiness that you feel and share, there are no boundaries to how rich you will become!

I personally don't have a lot, but I always tend to give away almost everything I have. And - somehow, some way - all that I need seems to comes along. I think it's the Universe's way of saying, "Thank you for your generosity" with a smiling handshake.

Charles Eastman once wrote, "When I was younger, I knew the love of sharing. Since I have become civilized I have lost such wisdom." Today, we are so consumed with consuming - building our own little castles of stuff, collecting every thing that we can buy - that most of us have lost a bit of what it is to be human. We are all struggling with something (or someone) and if we just helped eachother out a little more, all the woes we feel would be greatly alleviated.

Giving is also a way we can live harmoniously on and with Mother Earth. She shares with us everything we need to live and survive. It's all about being like fruit, and living life like a Three Sisters Garden - the corn, bean, and squash - sharing with eachother nutrients, shade, and support thus creating a strong and healthy harvest.

I feel that by sharing everything you have - whether it's left over compost or simply just the love and compassion in your heart - you will not only be taken care of - somehow, some way - but you'll also feel richer beyond your wildest dreams.

The moment you stop being consumed with your own needs and start reaching out to others and sharing all that you have - all that is you - and helping in any way you can, you'll instantly feel it. That richness will fill your life, your soul, your spirit.

You will be blessed.

:)

Go "Green"...or...Go Home

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about going "green." Is that it's all or nothing. You may be interested in going green but can't afford to trade in your SUV for a Hybrid, or you would really like to buy organic food but either your store has a bad selection or it too is cost prohibitive. I think this all or nothing mentality has made people hesitate to make any changes in their lifestyle. But it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Actually if you start out thinking it has to be all or nothing you're setting yourself up for failure. It's impossible to change all aspects of your life at the same time.

Our mantra is “Make small changes, don't try to do everything at once. Small changes multiplied over time by many people makes a big difference.” When you decide to change something in your life to be “green” it is more likely to stick if you make it a habit. Take using reusable shopping bags, just because you buy them doesn't mean you will use them, it has to become a habit to remember to bring the bags with you. Whether you leave the bags in your car so they are always readily available or you put the bags next to your grocery store list, whatever your routine may be just add the bags.

Making small changes to your daily life can make a difference, trade out your cleaning products to use more environmentally friendly products, change your light bulbs out for CFL’s, buy organic food, if not organic think local. Next time you’re at the grocery store and pick up an apple look to see if it says where that apple came from, Chile, Peru, Fiji, or was it grown in the U.S.A.? Stop to think how many miles that apple had to travel to be in your local grocery store, these are thoughts that can make a difference. It will surprise you how this will become part of your shopping experience, and may change what you buy.

Even the smallest of changes to your lifestyle can make a difference. Don't think that just because you can't change your entire lifestyle that you shouldn't attempt to change the things you can.

Beat the Heat! Be Green & Save Money this Summer...

If you have an energy star rated air conditioner and solar panels (aka: free electricity) than this post is probably not for you...But for the rest of us who are limping along with old worn out AC's and not enough in our budgets to upgrade (and go solar), we'd like to find other greener options to help us beat the heat...and save a little green at the same time :)

Just a few weeks ago, we had a stretch of days that were in the 90's. Thankfully it didn't get as humid as it usually does here when it gets hot (most days it's 90*F/90% humidity...gross...) but still, it was nice and hot! And usually we turn on the AC when it gets that hot. But I wanted to try a different way of keeping the house cooler without raising our energy costs. Besides, it always seems that the moment we turn on the AC, the outdoors seems so...HOT...causing us to not want to venture outdoors for the fear that we might burn up and expire!

So I decided to turn back the clock and try out the old fashioned methods of dealing with rising temps. In addition to turning on the ceiling fans, I opened the windows.

Breathe In, Breathe Out...
First thing in the morning the air outside was nice and chilly. By utilizing low energy using window fans (not to be confused with window-shakers) I set them to intake so that they would pull the cool air from the outdoors into the house. We have about four, so I spread them around the house, creating a chilly spread of fresh air.

A little after lunchtime, I noticed that the air outside the house was starting to feel just like the air inside. So, with a quick flip of the switch, I set the window fans to exhaust, pulling the air inside the house out. This worked out great, keeping the house well below 75 all day long.

Up, Up, and Away!
On the more hotter days, when the indoor temp was raising above 78, 79, 80...I tried something that my grandmother always used when I was a kid. We have a fan that helps cool off our attic, but our attic is closed off to the rest of the house unless we open the trap door in the ceiling. So there is a ton of hot air trapped down in the house that would otherwise escape up through the attic and out the fan if it were open.

To my 5 year old's delight, mommy opened the attic door, which is nicely situated in the middle of the upstairs hallway...and I kept it open, just about a foot'ish, all day and night, allowing that air to get sucked up and out of the house. (Thankfully he's still short and can't jump to get the ladder down yet! ;)

Create a Cross Breeze...
To create a huge cross breeze effect from this, I opened the front door and left it open to the screen door, allowing the cool air from the front door to get sucked up to the attic opening. I'm not good with all the engineering details of all of this, but it did work! Just use a little inginuity and creativity to find what works in your house.

Get Outside :)
Honestly, if you start using this method now you'll find that you stay more comfortable letting the airflow do the work longer and than rushing to turn on the AC. The body acclimates to this method (the Amish say within 3 weeks you won't even notice it anymore) therefore you can keep the AC off longer, saving money.

I know I found myself spending more time outdoors - which is really good for all of us (most Americans spend 90% of their days indoors!). There wasn't that huge shocking factor between the temps outside and inside, so it was just as easy to be inside as it was to be out. We all know it's easier to stay indoors all day if it's 65 and chilly, the AC chugging along... Who would want to go outside in the 90 degree heat then?! And the kids didn't complain a bit. They'd rather be outdoors too ;)

Do What You Can Do...
I know - with the way summers are here where I live on the east coast - there will be days that are way to humid and hot that we will cave in and use the AC. But knowing that I can use this method more than using the AC this year, I can't wait to see just how much money we will save.

Interestingly enough (as explained in minuet mind numbing detail by my HVAC expert hubby) using the ceiling fans, window fans, and attic fan all together, all day long, will costs less over the course of the summer than if we were to use the air conditioner all day and all night. That really makes me want to try this method as many days as I can throughout the summer. We need to save money anyway we can, and this is one of those things that we can rather easily.

Above all, living green is about doing what you can do whenever you can. Don't get yourself down about not being able to do it all...especially if you're just starting out on this green venture. We all grew up with quite a few non-green conveniences, so sometimes it can take a stretch to think about what we can do differently to be more green, and to keep implementing those ideas rather than falling back on the not so eco-friendly ways...

So focus on the little green steps that you make everyday and get excited about the compounding effect it'll have on the way you live!

This is one of my an experiments anyway...
I'll let you know how well it works out! ;)

The Birth of a Blog!

The labor wasn't too bad, only took a few moments of excited back and forth emails, and then wham! The Green Mamas blog was born ;)

We're excited to introduce you to our new blog. This blog is the brain child and joint effort of two very awesome everyday green mamas who happen to live in two very different worlds although couldn't be more similar in their quests.

So, come travel along with Green Mama Amanda & Green Mama Lia as they blog their adventure to be more green in everything they do, every way they can ;)

Feel free to kick off your shoes and stay awhile...this is going to be fun!