Photo Courtesy of Christian Rasmussenapoltix.dk

I have a confession. I love my microwave. Why is this even a confession, you may wonder? Or, how could someone who calls herself a natural mamma even think about zapping her (and her family’s) food with a microwave oven? Well, let me tell you. It just might be good for the environment.

While on my quest to learn more about energy conservation and how to make easy changes around our home, I stumbled across the fact that households who rely on their microwave oven may reduce cooking energy by up to 80 percent! That’s right. I now have a legitimate reason for not wanting to use my stove top to prepare food for my family (dare I say “cook”). Of course, pressing the start button on your microwave may not necessarily be the answer to reducing global warming. Yes, I’m back pedaling a bit. Here’s why:

1. Microwaving food may save 50 percent more energy than conventional ovens (Energy Star says that you’ll save up to 80 percent more energy with a microwave); however, these numbers and statistics only work when you’re preparing a small portion of food (i.e. left overs). So, based on these stats, you have every reason to be a pro-leftovers for supper kind of guy or gal.

2. Microwave ovens may zap the nutrition out of your good-for-you foods. More precisely, microwaves alter the chemistry of the foods, so the healthy nutrients are pretty much lost after a short rendezvous in the ‘wave. Based on the research I am reading, the verdict on how much radiation is unhealthy for us versus “potentially okay” is still out. Possible solutions? Zap your leftovers for a few seconds to a few minutes versus cooking an entire meal with your microwave.

3. Packaging for microwavable meals adds up to a whole lot of trash. As someone who stays out of the kitchen (except when Annabelle wants to bake or I have been wooed in for one reason or another) and as the sole vegetarian in my house (my dear little one is now eating organic chicken), many of my meals consist of whatever my husband is cooking plus a veggie burger, veggie dog, hummus/beans or veggie pizza. I do my very best to steer clear of animal products (including cheese and eggs), but what that means is that I tend to buy vegetarian foods that are shelved at the grocery store with alotta packaging. My solution? Well, as it turns out, my vegetarian starter kit (I ordered it out of curiosity even though I’ve been a veg. for close to 8 years) from the Compassionate Action for Animals just arrived with several recipes and a food triangle that shows vegetarians and vegans how to meet their daily nutritional needs without doing any harm to animals. I am psyched! I plan to try a few of their recipes in the coming week.

4. Microwaves may make you fat. The argument that microwaved food = a big butt (for many of us) is based on the idea that since microwaves zap the nutritional value of foods, our bodies end up craving additional calories (err, food) that pack a real nutritional punch. So, lest you long for a wide set of hips, it may do your hips some good to work (or turn on) the stove.

So, on the one hand, you’re doing our environment a favor by reducing your energy consumption when you reheat your food in the microwave, but on the other hand, you might be doing your health (and your family’s too) a disservice by zapping your food.

What say you? Are you a microwave fanatic? Or, do you scorn those who whip up their meals with the ‘wave?

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Today I am happy to announce yet another free giveaway! This time I am giving away the Duraban Total Defense Kit, which includes:

• 1 Bottles of Laundry Rinse
• 1 Fabric Spray
• 1 Hard Surface Spray
• 1 Bottle of Duraban On The Go!

If you haven’t already heard about Duraban, it’s an environmentally friendly collection of green cleaning products that are effective against harmful bacteria and viruses including:

• INFLUENZA A
• STAPH
• SALMONELLA
• MRSA and SARS
• HIV B

I am excited about Duraban since we are entering cold and flu season (not to mention our kids being back at school), and Duraban works as a barrier on surfaces to help prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses. If you hadn’t yet caught on, I am a little bit of a germophobe . . .

So here’s how the giveaway will work. Leave a comment on this post telling me why you’d like to win. Two weeks from now, on Friday October 3rd, I will announce the lucky winner. To learn more about Duraban, go here.

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Photo Courtesy of Kessner Photography

Have you ever heard of the book Worms Eat My Garbage? Written by Mary Applehof, Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System is the book for you if you are a) interested in recycling your food scraps, and b) live in a moderate climate with a year round annual temperature between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you haven’t yet and are committed to leading a green lifestyle that includes monitoring your trash, then check out Worms Eat My Garbage and begin your very own adventure with worms and composting.

My own journey as a composter and worm lover began several summers ago when another green mommy suggested I check out Applehof’s book. A few hours (and chapters) later, I sat down to a romantic dinner with my husband to talk worms. Not always the great enthusiast for some of my ideas (he’ll never go for living without toilet paper), he dismissed my first idea and said that a compost would stink up our apartment. Friends, who I invited into our discussion, sided with my husband saying that food scraps could more efficiently be managed with the garbage disposal.

A year passed. Everyday I was growing greener and greener, swapping out household goods to organic and homemade items and often choosing not to make a purchase at all (now I think the greenest thing we can do for our planet is to not buy anything). Then we moved to our townhouse where, though we do not own much land, there is enough land to support a small vegetable garden and a flower garden. My wheels started turning yet again when our new neighbors told us about their multiple compost systems (not only did they have worms but they had a big rotting pile of compost in 2 of their gardens). One afternoon I paid a visit to our neighbors to see and smell the worms for myself. Let me tell you. These worms smelled delicious (not to eat of course! I am vegetarian afterall). There was no odor, and I even awed over them because little baby worms were wriggling all over the place. Oh, and Annabelle thought the worms were fantastic.

Finally, around the time I turned 27, I told my husband that I wanted to get the worms for my birthday. After a little bit of web browsing, I located a worm dealer and compost container who not only got me started by giving me a good price but who called me to guide me through the process of creating a worm bed.

The day the worms arrived my husband and I went out to the backyard, gathered some dirt and leaves and got started brewing up our compost. An hour or so later, our little wriggling guys were squirming all over the place in our very own compost. And, I’ll say it again, the worms didn’t stink one bit. Not at all.

Over the summer, we collected food scraps, learned that chopping the scraps into small pieces helps the worms more easily digest, and sort of stepped back and let the worms do their thing. Oh boy do those little hermaphrodites like to make worm castings (or awesome worm poop that is super yummy for our plants)! Some weeks I would forget to visit my wormy friends, but they usually do fine, so long as we feed them well (and watch that we don’t overfeed them–that creates a stink).

So, if you’re interested in starting your own worm compost (or any compost at all), there are a few ways to get started (although I totally recommend Worms Eat My Garbage for a more precise way for getting started).

1. Decide what kind of compost bin you want. The size of your home and yard may factor into your decision unless you keep your compost at a community garden or a neighbor’s house.

2. Learn what is good for your compost and your worms. Worms love fruit and veggie scraps (although we avoid adding citrus), newspaper, egg shells, egg cartons, and bread. We avoid adding bones, meat (from my husband’s diet), and any trash that is not biodegradable (but you can read my earlier posts about fun ways to use or recycle non-biodegradable trash).

3. Keep a trash inventory. Note the number of bags of trash your family produces each week and also what kinds of trash you produce.

4. Order your worms. Your worms will likely arrive with instructions on how to prepare their bed. Read these carefully. Make their bed.

5. Start composting. Pay attention to the mixture of scraps and trash, keeping it oxygenated and damp.

The advantages of creating and maintaining a composting system are abundant so far as our planet is concerned. Not only are you making something from otherwise unusable food scraps (that would otherwise rot in a landfill) but your compost will become a nourishing meal for your yard and garden. Free food!

What are your thoughts on composting? Do you keep a compost? Would you like to? If you compost, what tips do you have for those of us who are new to it? Thanks again for sharing!

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Happy Monday everyone! To get started with talking trash this week, I thought I’d share another article that I wrote for 5 Minutes for Going Green called “Eco-Friendly Ways to Manage Tricky Trash.” In this post, I share details on how to safely dispose of our home and auto’s hazardous waste, prescription medications, batteries, and CFLs and high intensity discharge bulbs. As always I love hearing about your good green efforts, ways you are mindful of our earth, and the challenges you come up against when living green. Please have your say in the comments.

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Thrifting is one of my favorite parts about living green; not only is it a terrific way to save money (especially for a single income family like ours) but it’s a great way to keep materials in the cycle of use (and out of landfills).

Last week Annabelle and stopped by one small shop tucked away onto a backroad where I found 2 vintage crafting books (I am especially excited about one entitled Winter Book, with a number of activities and green living ideas for cold weather and time spent indoors with kids), a couple of Melissa and Doug learning activities (great resources for our homeschooling adventures), a cardigan, and checkered curtains for our kitchen (I have been searching thrift shops and the Goodwill for over a year now to find these! If I were a better seamstress, I would have made my own curtains, but sadly, I will have to admire all you fabric goddesses out there who create beautiful items available on Etsy).

So here are my new, well used, curtains! Not only do I love my curtains (they were well worth the wait), but they are hand made too.

What about you? Do you frequent thrift, consignment, and other secondhand stores? What are your favorite finds? Has thrifting helped you cut costs or enhance your creativity? How else does your family help reduce waste? Do share in the comments. Thanks!

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A tell tale sign of any family’s commitment to the environment is whether or not they recycle. Since many communities and waste treatment facilities offer free recycling bins, it is always a wonder to me when I notice a house without one.

Recently I stumbled across one of the smartest ways to encourage recycling in every household: Pay as You Throw garbage collection programs. As a unit based approach to garbage collection, Pay as You Throw offers a financial incentive to households to reduce the amount of garbage they produce and to find alternative and environmentally friendly ways to manage their trash.

Coinciding with my discovery of the Pay as You Throw programs (in over 4,000 communities across the U.S.), are our children’s’ return to school. In honor of our kiddos going back to school (or resuming home studies) and inspired by SouleMama’s 30 Days of Summer project, I am hosting a 10 day mini project over here at Green Mamma to encourage creativity, recycling, and waste reduction.

Over the next 2 weeks, you can expect 10 days of trash talking; basically, I will share tips for repurposing household items, prolonging trash from entering the solid waste stream, and creating fun projects to do with your kids. As always, I am looking to learn a thing or two myself, so I welcome your comments and tips for reusing and repurposing old stuff to make new stuff and ultimately stopping lots of stuff from winding up in the landfill. I invite you to join me in my quest to talk trash. I’d love the morale boost and plus, it’s always fun to have some company when doing good deeds for Mamma Earth.

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If you have a minute, I have 2 new posts over at 5 Minutes for Going Green.  Check out “5 Minute Miracles” and  “Healthy Green Pets.”

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Prompted by the challenge “Create Against the Clock” at Inspire Me Thursday, Annabelle and I spent this past Sunday afternoon playing with tempera paints. Since I’m hoping she’ll learn a bit about color blending and the color wheel in the coming year, I brought home red, blue, yellow, and white and black paints from the craft store so that we may create other color variations.  For paint containers, we used old plastic food containers (like hummus, butter, and yogurt containers), and for tools, I invested in high quality brushes since they’re likely to get a lot of use.

Here’s what we made:

In 10 minutes, Annabelle achieved this brilliant masterpiece. Not too shabby, if I do say so.

In a little under an hour, Annabelle and I applied purple tempera to a dried, unfinished wood paper organizer that I picked up from a freecycler.

And while Annabelle worked on her 2 paintings, I played with her stamps to make the “mystery box” sign for her box by the same name. It is essentially a homemade version of this mystery box, although far less expensive. To make your own mystery box, repurpose a cardboard box (I used the one that my Nikon arrived in), cover with paper, paint, and other decorative materials. Ask your child to help decorate too.

Playing with the mystery box is a way for toddlers and pre-schoolers to focus on their sensory awareness, by “guessing” or identifying objects in the box based on texture, shape, and feel. For now, Annabelle loves putting her stuffed animals inside the box and playing peek-a-boo with them.

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Okay, so I have a strange neurosis regarding floor cleanliness and not wearing shoes indoors. Sometimes I even wish I were Asian so I could simply tell people that they have to remove their shoes because it’s a cultural thing. My husband looks a bit like Keanu Reeves, so I guess we could lie . . .

Anyway, to read more about my obsession with clean, green, and healthy floors, go on over to 5 Minutes for Going Green and read “Shoes Off!”

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A good friend once told me that she is a collector of friends. In my own lifetime, I have met many wonderful and interesting people with whom I cultivated friendships that lasted the years. More recently, since becoming a mamma and a blogger, I have met and become friends with many environmentalists (and discovered old friends who had been living environmentally all along), many who I not only admire but whose reverence for planet earth I can only hope to emulate. A few months ago I met such a person when I brought Annabelle to the park. While Annabelle ran around and around the playground, she caught the attention of 2 older little girls who followed her and doted on her. The girls belonged to Laura, a mom who loves to talk as much as I do. When we discovered a shared love for the environment, so began a new friendship.

What I love about Laura, aside from the fact that she shares my passion for green living, is that she is a passionate thinker. When Laura comes across new information, she researches it until she finds answers that satisfy her. And as a full time mother, she is not one to sit and watch her children play by themselves in the yard but feels free to run around and play with them. A few weeks ago when I visited Laura and her girls in Hamilton, she showed me her backyard where her children are tending a large vegetable garden. Propped up next to the garden was a huge repurposed water barrel, which once stored pickles for a Greek exporter. Laura and her girls water their garden by collecting water in the barrel and transporting it over to their garden.

Water conservation is vital in Laura’s hometown of Hamilton; because of the cost of water there, as well as Laura’s commitment to protecting the earth’s resources, she has become an expert on how to save water. Since she knows a bit more about water conservation than I do, let me turn you over to her:

There are the usual water saving tips like turning off the sink when you brush your teeth or put soap on your hands [before washing], [but] there are less obvious ways to conserve too:

Outside

1. Add compost. When planting a garden add compost. Compost acts like a sponge and absorbs water [to help nourish the plants in your garden].

2. Mulch heavily. Mulch acts like a blanket keeping the moisture in and decreases the weeds that grow and steal water from your garden plants.

3. Water 2 in 1. Hold smaller pots over larger ones when watering in order to catch the overflow from the smaller one.

4. Say no to mow. Keep your grass a little longer in dry spells as freshly cut grass allows for more evaporation.

5. Don’t throw the baby out with the kiddie pool. If you have a young child who likes to use a wading pool use the water to water your garden after play is over. Better yet, fill it with water from a water barrel and refill the water barrel with it when done.

Thank you Laura for these wonderful water saving tips! By making small changes, even one or two, in our own homes, we are able to make a huge difference for the environment.

Do you have a water conservation tip? If so, please share. I love hearing your thoughts! =)

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