Last week I introduced Jenny, an environmentalist and green bride who is committed to a lifestyle that puts Mother Earth first. Due to the impressive list of ways that Jenny “goes green,” I am happy to share a few more of her tips with you now, which I hope will be helpful to those of you focused on fall and winter composting and organic gardening. With the weather cooling down, many of us will be raking leaves and tending indoor composts during the winter months, Jenny’s suggestions are of great value to anyone who gardens, yearns to garden, composts, and who wants to learn about how easy composting can be. Below are several common questions I had about composting and gardening followed by suggestions from Jenny.

How do I dispose of fruit and vegetable waste and other food waste, like egg shells, in an environmentally friendly way?

We place vegetable waste, fruit waste and egg shells (that are rich in calcium) in an indoor worm bin. When the worm bin is full, we place remaining waste in a compost bin that we keep outside. We also place citrus peels and vegetables with strong odors (like garlic) in the outdoor compost bin because the worms in our indoor compost do not like these foods.

* From Jessica/ Green Mamma: Remember that in order to create an organic compost, the food scraps that are added to the compost must be leftovers from organic foods. Food scraps from many conventionally grown foods may contain traces of pesticides, which can end up in your compost when you add these foods to it.

How can I use the compost created by worms in an indoor worm bin?

The worms produce vermicompost, or worm poop, which is a valuable worm soil amendment. We mix this with potting soil and use it to repot our plants. We also sprinkle vermicompost on top of potted plants and outdoor plants. We do not use synthetic fertilizer for our many indoor plants.

What kinds of materials from our yards can be added to a compost?

Good question. Our family uses grass cuttings in a number of ways. When we mow our lawn, we leave the bagger off so that the grass cuttings decompose and recycle nitrogen back to the ground. For maintenance and landscaping purposes, we add grass cutting from the front yard to the compost bin to keep our front yard clean.

During the fall, we also place the fallen leaves in the compost bin. We bought a tool to turn our compost and we aerate our compost weekly. We have three compost bins outside and we alternate filling them up so that one bin is always ready with compost. We mix kitchen scraps with grass clippings and leaves to create a good balance between nitrogen and phosphorus. We do not use pesticides or synthetic fertilizer outdoors. We will be using our compost pile for mulch to retard termites.

How did you select your compost bin?

Currently, our county gives away compost bins to residents.

What other materials can be added to a compost?

We place lint from our dryer in the outdoor compost bin. Worms in our indoor worm bin also break down newspapers, although I try to eliminate the pages with colors as the ink used to print color are harmful to the worms.

Do you have any other suggestions for reusing materials that might otherwise be disposed of and end up in landfills?

We go to our local Starbucks/coffee shops and ask them to save used coffee grounds. We use this to mix with the clay soil we have in the yard and also as fertilizer in the yard. The coffee ground increases aeration and drainage of our clay soil.

What other changes are you making to your garden and landscaping that benefit our earth’s environment? Have any of your gardening tricks allowed you to offset global warming?

We are slowly converting portions of our grass lawn to gardens. For the back yard, we want to choose plants that can produce flowers or berries for birds. We also want to plant some fruit trees. We are hoping that the little amount we do can [in our garden and with our many composts] help towards locking in CO2 [and reducing the impact of global warming].

The results of our many gardening and composting changes? We went from throwing out 2-3 bags of regular trash and 2-3 bags of yard waste per week that ends up in the landfill to throwing out less than a bag of garbage per week. The rest of our trash is recycled.

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With Halloween just a few days away and fall festivities in full swing, I thought it would be worthwhile to talk about how to throw an eco-friendly Halloween party and offer a free giveaway to boot!  Sometime over the next ten days, leave a comment on this post with a tip for  how to go green and celebrate at the same time, as well as why you would like to win 2 free bottles of Santa Cruz Organic Teas.  Perhaps you are hosting a kids’ Halloween bash or are inviting friends over for an afternoon tea–whatever your reason for being the host(ess) with the most(ess), leave a comment and enter for a chance to win these tasty organic beverages.

To get started, here are a few simple ways to green your Halloween:

• Get Technical.  Forget about traditional paper invitations and instead opt for the more glamorous and yes, technical, evites that are widely available on the Internet.  Evites travel faster than snail mail and allow your guests to instantly R.S.V.P.

• Buy Local and go Organic. Many parents will thank you when you choose to serve delicious fruit and veggie dishes to their favorite little people (yes, I mean their children =)).  To make sure that you are serving healthy snacks that are good for the planet too, check with your local farmer or note the sticker number on your produce.   A sticker beginning with the #9 is organic whereas a 4 digit number is conventional.  5 digit stickers beginning with the #8 means that your produce is GM, or genetically modified.

• Create. While manufactured decorations may look nice inside of stores, remember that many  are not built to last, which means that a lot of cute chach-kis wind up in our landfills.  To reduce waste, as well as the energy consumed for transporting commercially made decorations, host an afternoon of fun homemade decorating with other crafters or with your kiddos.  For a few ideas, go here and here.

• Be green and be merry. Whether your guests are sipping wine or organic apple cider, serve up your beverages and treats on washable plateware, or if you must, select biodegradable disposables.  Not only will your guests thank you for hosting an awesome party but they’ll feel good about participating in an environmentally mindful party too.

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Meeting individuals who are committed to living in alignment with the earth’s environment and working to protect the planet is a great pleasure of mine; however, when such a person is dedicated to the earth and planning a wedding at the same, I am green with awe (and well, maybe envy too. I wish I had had made more environmental choices when planning my own nuptials). Recently my good friend Prasanna put me in touch with her friend and co-worker Jenny, a green bride and ingenuous environmentalist. Believe it or not, hosting your very own green wedding is achievable and practical. Interested in planning an eco-wedding? Think it’s impossible? Think again! And, keep reading . . .

Green Wedding Ideas

1. Serve with bio-degradables. Jenny wanted to make sure that the plateware, cups, and flatware for her wedding left a wonderful impression on her guests and as little impact on our planet as possible. Her solution? 100% biodegradable plates, bowls, drinking cups, and flatware made from corn polymer resin, which breaks down within 2 months in commercial compost facilities and about a year in a regular compost. The green frosting on this eco idea? Our bride not only purchased enough eco plate and flatware for her wedding but also gave samples to her guests to use at their own gatherings!

Jenny purchased her biodegradable plateware and flatware on Ebay from Earth-centric, LLC. Earth Centric, LLC. 6017 NN Sandy Boulevard. Portland, OR 97213 Phone 503-281-0307.

2. Get by with a little help from your friends. Behind the scenes, wedding caterers and reception halls rely on a lot of tools that are often disposed of. To reduce the amount of waste created for her big day, Jenny borrowed big bowls, serving utensils, trays, coolers, and more from her reception manager. And since her reception was an active one, she invited her guests to get on board with living green and being good green neighbors; to be precise, Jenny asked her friends to lend her sporting equipment that could be used during the reception. What a healthy green way to spend one of the most meaningful days of one’s life!

3. Send a postcard. To reduce the amount of paper ink generated in the traditional production of R.S.V.P. cards and thank yous, Jenny opted to request that her guests save the date and our earth by enclosing postcards as R.S.V.P.s. Jenny also expressed her gratitude to her guests by mailing them a sweet thank you note on a post card. Neat and genius!

4. Recycle. Jenny encouraged her guests to keep recyclables separate from non biodegradable garbage. An added bonus on her big day? A guest offered to take responsibility for getting the recyclables to the recycling center!  Amazing what we can do and inspire in others when we set a good example, isn’t it?

5. Share. Jenny encouraged guests to bring home the delicious food she provided at her wedding. One guest took home an entire tray of ribs (since his dad is a pastor at a church). To make it easy for guests to bring home food and help her refrain from wasting valuable meals, Jenny made sure that she had appropriate food containers available for her guests to do so.

Hosting a green wedding or other green event is not only possible but is a wonderful and loving way for a couple to commit to each other on their special day. Jenny impressed her guests on her wedding day by being a beautiful bride with a beautiful, green heart too.

To learn more about Jenny and her green lifestyle, stay tuned. She has much, much more to share about making environmentalism an accessible lifestyle for all people.

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I saw Barack Obama yesterday!  On Tuesday I received an e-mail from the Obama campaign announcing that a rally would be held in Leesburg, Virginia, which is just a half hour away from where I live in Northern Virginia (despite what some may say, we actually are part of the “real” Virginia, or at least our tax dollars lead many of us to believe that we are).   I have to be honest in that I really did not think I would make it to the rally, which was set to begin at 5:30 with gates opening at 3.  Not having attended a political rally ever before, I wasn’t sure how early I would need to arrive in order to get a spot close enough to actually hear and see my candidate.

Earlier on Wednesday, I hosted our Montessori homeschool group until 12:30.  I knew I needed to manage fitting in a nap for Annabelle, pack appropriate clothing, food, and diversions for a toddler and all the while doing so without relying on any bags (none were permitted into the rally).

I left my house at 1:00.  My daughter fell asleep in the car on the ride out to Leesburg.  I sat in a long line of traffic for about a half hour, but fortunately, I arrived early enough to manage close parking in a wide field.  When Annabelle woke up, I bundled her up and we mostly ran across the field where we waited in line for 2 hours!  Once we moved through security, we waited for another two hours in the closest spot I could hold down.   I have to say that Annabelle was a real trooper and even made friends with several other toddlers whose parents had brought them along.

Before Obama took the stage, Governor Kain and former Governor Warner (who is running for Senate here in Virginia) took the stage to rev up the crowd and introduce Senator Obama.  When Obama finally walked out, the crowd roared with excitement and I couldn’t help but whoop and clap too.  I hoisted Annabelle up on my shoulder and she too tried to steal a glance of the very tall Barack Obama.

Excitement aside, it was an awesome experience to listen to Obama speak and hear what voters in the crowd had to say.  I overheard several young people discuss how discouraged they were by the McCain/Palin attacks that accuse Obama of being a terrorist; at the same time, I felt hopeful since I heard others in the crowd defending Islam as a religion of peace (and not as a religion that is equivocal with terrorism).  Much of Obama’s speech was familiar to me since I have been following his campaign from the beginning; he touched on his conversation with Joe the plumber and made the crowd laugh when he said he was simply trying to save Joe the plumber a few bucks rather than Joe the hedge fund manager or Joe the C.E.O. (who are likely well compensated since our government just nationalized many of our banks).  Obama also referenced his tax plan when he asked the crowd how many earned under 200K a year, and well, virtually everyone in attendance raised their hands.  He joked, “You too, huh?”

After the rally, I found my husband standing out towards the road along the fence; he had arrived a few hours after me and had to wait in a long line before being told that they were not letting anyone else in.  Still, he was able to listen to the speech, and we both saw the Senator wave and exit the rally as we walked a mile or so to my husband’s car.  A little while later we purchased french fries for our ravenous little one and made the trek home.

What a night!  I am still amazed that I was able to see and hear Barack Obama.  I hope this will be the first of many great speeches and experiences that I will have with Obama leading our country.  This weekend I am planning to canvass our neighborhood, so the election excitement will continue.

How are you participating in the 2008 election?  Are you volunteering, organizing, or encouraging others to get out and vote?  Also, what resources are you referencing to learn more about the candidates and the issues?

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I am totally digging my new Ocean Minded eco-shoes. If you haven’t heard, Ocean Minded is a company that creates quality footwear and is committed to protecting our beaches and the environment. What I love about Ocean Minded is that their shoes are hip and super comfy, plus, when sporting them, wearers may experience a do-gooder high. Ocean Minded leads community beach clean-ups and educates their customers on the importance of leaving the ocean and all waterways in better condition than when they were found.

Speaking of clean oceans and waterways and the creatures who live there, last week I had the opportunity to meet Milton and Feebee, the soon-to-be stars of the film The Turtle’s Song. While admiring these beautiful loggerhead turtles, our family learned about the ill effects of litter in the ocean on our sea friends. To my embarrassment, our daughter toted a large balloon through the nature center that houses Milton and Feebee, and well, guess what is a major source of ocean litter? You guessed it. Balloons. Sea animals get caught up in the strings and ingest the plastic. Not cool. So, we’ll be sticking with latex balloons since they biodegrade (if accidentally released) and safely disposing of the string too. Below is a picture of the beautiful Milton, who has a blue sex marker on his shell. Next month, Milton and Sophie will be released into the wild. I felt grateful and lucky to be able to have met them.

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For the second day of a bloggy Oktoberfest, why not go pumpkin picking? For those of you with children, this is a fun way to get outside, enjoy the fall weather, and let your little pumpkin pickers shine by selecting their very own pumpkins. Plus, the possibilities are endless! You can carve a pumpkin, paint a pumpkin, bake pumpkin seeds, bake pumpkin pie, eat pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie, and carve a jack-o-lantern.

Last week I learned about a pumpkin grower named Steve Connelly who may beat the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s largest pumpkin. Weighing in at a possible 1900 lbs., Connelly’s pumpkin has been growing since the year 2000! To see an interview with Connelly and take a peak at his pumpkin, head on over here. And to learn more about the contest he is participating in, go here.

What aspirations do you have your pumpkin(s) this year?

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Hay! I mean, hey! Our first year with a walking and running toddler means lots more walking and running for mom and dad and lots more fun too. This year for the first time, we visited a popular local farm that hosts a hayride, maize maze, hay slides, potato sack slides, and more ways to have fun that we could manage in a 3 hour visit!

Annabelle spent a large part of our trip to the farm on the slide pictured above; nothing I could do or say convinced her that there might be more to the world (er, farm) than the hay slide. At the same time, I envy my daughter’s ability to stay present and focus on what’s fun. Meanwhile, her mom needs to run, walk, write, and chant “om” to get in the zone and just be. Sometimes I watch my daughter and think that she makes having fun look so easy and is naturally able to just be “there.” Then I realized that well, being “there” for myself, for my daughter, and the people in my life is as easy as well, staying “there.” Do you find yourself ever wondering when your mind will be with you, not off and running and thinking and telling you what you need to be doing?

Which brings me back to the point of this post. It’s October. It’s a month full of great playground weather (at least in our neighborhood outside of D.C.). It’s a wonderful opportunity to run after your children, hop on a slide, and yell, “Whee!” at the top of your lungs.

So, over the next week, I will share posts with an Oktoberfest theme; sorry to disappoint, but there won’t be much content regarding beer or beer making (although I am sure there are other blogs out there to quench your thirst for a good brew), but what I am planning to write are posts about having fun and being there with your children and loved ones. Likely, I’ll write a little bit about pumpkins, things to make with pumpkins, yummy recipes for October, and other ways to connect with yourself, your kids, and your family and friends.

Of course, what would an Oktoberfest be without friends? I hope to “see” you there. What fun ways are you celebrating the month of October?

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Eating cereal and making cheerio necklaces are just about the only things that ever occurred to me when I thought of cereal; but this week the Inspire Me Thursday challenge was to grab an empty cereal box and get creative. Since it is the month of October and all things pumpkin and Halloweeny are on my mind, I thought it would be fun and practical to create cardboard Halloween hangings.

To create the pumpkin, the witch, and the son of Frankenstein, I collected 2 cereal boxes, used gesso on the printed sides, sketched my subjects (I got ideas for their looks from a flyer), painted with tempera, and then used a good old sharpy to outline for emphasis. Meanwhile, Annabelle assisted with this project and created several of her own paintings; below you may admire her work:

For more ideas on homemade fall and Halloween decorations, check out my Fall Window Clingers post.

What have you created or how have you decorated to set the scene for Halloween?  Will you celebrate with a spooky and scary Halloween, or a happy kids’ ween?

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Image courtesy of Zyance

A few days ago I posted an article on Green Mamma about how to navigate meat and dairy markets; specifically, I set out to understand the meanings and marketing behind the multitude of flesh food labels and seals of approval. From recent conversations I have had and from comments and e-mails regarding this post, I am coming more to believe that the motto “thinking global and eat local” is the way to go; that is, by purchasing produce, grains, dairy, and meats locally, consumers have help offset global warming and may still eat and live in a way that resonates with their culture and values.

On another note, my post took aim at flesh foods and highlighted how eating meats and other animal products can introduce unwanted hormones and antibiotics into our diets (if we do not pay attention to how foods were treated by farmers and manufacturers). My interest in the nutritional value of meat is for sake of knowing how to provide my husband and daughter with a healthful diet, which includes meat. At the same time, my own vegetarian diet includes foods made from soy, which is a food ingredient that may or may not be healthy, when consumed in large quantities, for the long term.

Today, I was forwarded an article entitled “The Evidence Against Soy” published on Mercola.com regarding whether or not soy foods are healthy; below is a segment from this article:

Ever since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a health claim for soy foods in 1999 (which said diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol that include 25 grams of soy protein a day may reduce the risk of heart disease), soy sales have skyrocketed. In the years between 2000 and 2007, food manufacturers in the U.S. introduced over 2,700 new foods with soy as an ingredient, including 161 new products introduced in 2007 alone.

This has resulted in a booming multi-billion dollar business. From 1992 to 2007, soy food sales increased from a paltry $300 million to nearly $4 billion, according to the Soyfoods Association of North America.

However, the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit nutrition education foundation, submitted a petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January of this year, asking them to retract its heart-health claim from soy in light of the inconsistent and contradictory evidence showing benefits, and its many proven health risks.

To continue reading “The Evidence Against Soy”, click here.

While the verdict on whether or not soy is a healthful food to eat, vegetarians (and omnivores too) may choose from a wide variety of high protein foods sources that are plant based; a few to consider:

• lentils
• beans
• tempeh (Dr. Mercola says that fermented soy foods have reduced levels of dangerous isoflavones)
• nuts and nut butters
• seeds
• wheat and grains

What are your thoughts regarding whether soy is healthy or harmful? Also, continuing with the discussion of animal food products and their labeling, how do those of you who include meat and animal products in your diets, determine what and where to buy your foods from? Last, I would love to hear suggestions on other plant based protein sources.

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Just in case you’d like to see what I’ve been up to around the blogosphere, I thought I would share a few articles that I’ve written over the last couple of weeks.  The most recent is on API Speaks, the blog of Attachment Parenting International, and is entitled “Tantrums: Opportunities to Connect.” As you might expect, I was inspired to write this article because Annabelle is talking more and more and feeling ever more frustrated.  Writing this piece was a wonderful opportunity for me to reflect on what we and our daughter are experiencing and how we can be the parents she needs us to be right now.

Two  green living articles are available on 5 Minutes for Going Green; one is called “It’s Getting Cool: 5 Easy Ways to Warm Up,” and the other is “Go Green and Get Happy!”

As someone who loves to write, I tend to find topics that are relevant to my own life and interests.  With the weather cooling down and fuel prices soaring, my husband and I are looking to save money and stay warm.  Researching and writing about how to manage the cold weather and our energy use was practical and fun to do.  Also, I have been searching for ways to become more active on behalf of the environment and get out and meet like-minded people too.  Thus, crafting “Go Green and Get Happy!” gave me a few ideas and the push I needed to take action.  Now I am planning to participate in a tree and shrub planting day this coming November with the National Audubon Society.

I hope you will share your thoughts on volunteering on behalf of the environment with me.  I would especially love to hear from those of you who bring your children along with you, as it has been a challenge for me to find volunteer work that welcomes small children.   Also, I’d love to learn your ideas on staying warm and saving energy as well as managing and connecting with a tantrum prone child.

Thanks again for taking a peak,

Jessica

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