Now that Election day has come and gone and history was made, I found myself wandering through my own sleepy world with a small smile on my face. I feel so pleased with our election’s results, as many of you may well know. I do offer my apologies to readers who enjoy my blog but who may not like to hear my politics. I promise to get back to talking about the small stuff, the green stuff, the homeschooling and parenting stuff that bring many of you over here. So, let’s get to it.

Today, with autumn as our backdrop, our Montessori group planned to head outside to spend a day raking, jumping, and playing in leaves. Not only is raking leaves a practical living skill for our preschoolers to learn, but being outside collecting leaves and playing with them inspires a love and connection with nature that is invaluable.

But before I get ahead of myself, let me share a bit about how our lesson went. The mom/guides enthusiastically guided our children outdoors with rakes in hand. Once outside, our children noticed this or that and the raking of leaves was all but forgotten. Still, we reminded our children that there was fun to be hand and leaves to raked, so we (the moms) began to rake.

Minutes later our little ones noticed that their stomachs were rumbling. It was snack time. Indoors we went. Once inside, the children set the table with place mats, bowls, and plates. We then served them apples and carrots to fuel their energy for another round of raking. Here are pictures of the hungry ones:

Once snack time ended, our children headed back outdoors although this time with a little more gusto for leaf raking. Another mom and I carried our rakes to large leafy patch of the yard and began to rake and rake and rake. Eventually, the older children took notice and wandered over. Then, the younger ones joined us to observe the work that is raking leaves. A 3 year old in our group told me, “This is hard. I don’t think that I like raking leaves.” So the other mother and I reminded him about the best part of raking leaves, “You can jump in them, dear.”

And so we raked some more. Below are a few more pictures from our lovely morning with the leaves:

Annabelle uses her head to rake . Max is amused.

Max shows the younger children how to rake.

Sabrina is enthusiastic, at last, to be among the leaves.

I have to confess that when I was growing up in a leafy, leafy neighborhood in Connecticut, I detested raking leaves. What I remember though are funny and sometimes odd conversations had with my parents, neighbors, and my grandfather. Raking leaves was simply a matter of having patience, hanging in there, and feeling a little bit of relief when the yard was clear. As an adult though, I am learning to like it (although our yard is much, much smaller than when I was a kid) and am hopeful that Annabelle may enjoy it too.

Below I’ve included resources for fun, enthusiastic leaf raking with your children:

Mommy Lounge

Whole Family

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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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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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A few weeks ago, on a whim, I purchased a butterfly bush for our back garden. Since we didn’t have a flower bed available, I dug out a spot in the vegetable garden for her. She grew beautifully, but unfortunately, she expanded across the entire bed (so our tomato and pepper plants looked a bit claustrophobic). This weekend, my hubby surprised me by suggested we visit the gardening center for stones and dirt so that we could build the butterfly bush her very own bed. Together we transported the stones (Annabelle rode atop the wagon full of bricks since we used her Radio Flyer), dug out the bed, split bricks, leveled the ground, and achieved a sturdy and pretty stone wall. We like the look of it so much that we are thinking of replacing the wooden slabs on the vegetable garden with stones and adding yet another stone bed to our backyard this coming Spring. Oooh, I almost can’t wait!

The best part about this whole project, though, is that our butterfly bush helps to contribute to the conservation of butterflies, since they have lost their natural habitat due to development and urbanization.

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“Flowers are beautiful hieroglyphics of nature, with which she indicates how much she loves us.”

–Wolfgang von Geothe

These are just a few pictures I took last week at the Hahn Horticultural Gardens in Blacksburg, Virginia. What a delightful way to spend an afternoon.

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After a few days away from home and from Green Mamma too, it is good to be back. To start the week off right, I thought I’d return to one of my favorite posts: gratitude Sunday. My word for this week is hope, and gosh, considering my own life and what is going on around the country and the world, a little bit of hope sounds like something we could all use more of right now. Here are a few things I am hopeful for:

a stronger economy . . .

leaders who I (and the rest of our country) can believe in (and who don’t pander to us as though we were ignorant fools) . . .

an end to the war in Iraq

how about no more war

no more violence

no more grudges to be held

appreciation for all human beings, not just the rich ones, the powerful ones, the ones we notice

that women across the world have access to an education

safe schools (where there are no guns, bullying, harassment)

a clean environment

clean air

clean water

humane treatment of animals

respect for our neighbors’ choices (so long as they do no harm)

that my bulbs sprout next spring (since I have no idea what I’m doing as I plant them)

that my daughter, my husband, my mother, my sister, my nephew, my extended family, my friends stay healthy (and happy would be nice too)

that I have many healthy children (and pleasant pregnancies . . . a girl can dream)

that I get to see my daughter (and other children too) ride a bike, tie shoes, graduate high school and college, and maybe even get married

and that I remember that right now there is a lot to be had (and grateful for) in the moment I am in, looking at my daughter’s plump cheeks and big eyes, and watching her dad gaze at her, so in love.

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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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After picking our own peaches this past weekend in Berryville, Virginia, my husband and I prepared ourselves for a first try with canning and freezing. Oh boy was it work! I think the hardest part was removing the skin, which, while made easier by blanching the peaches, still took the bulk of our time and energy. The best part about canning peaches though, in my opinion, is the delicious aroma of peaches and spice throughout the house.

Since we are beginner canners, we referenced 2 articles on canning. One article comes from my green friend Elizabeth, whose tips on canning were not only useful but detailed in such a way that I knew what to look and listen for (the sound of my cans popping when sealed was music to my ears! Thanks Elizabeth!). To create the recipe for my peach jam, I followed another article: Recipe Zaar’s Peach Jam Recipe. All together, the canning process took me about 2 1/2 to 3 hours from start to finish. It was quite an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon with the family, and the rewards this winter, I am sure, will be well worth the time and effort.

In addition to canning our peaches and making peach jam, my husband and I portioned off about 8 lbs. of peaches for freezing, which is a little bit easier than canning (although you still need to blanch the peaches and remove the skin). Here are a few tips on freezing your fruit. I can’t wait for winter smoothies and vegan fruit jello! Yum!

Hopefully we’ll continue with our canning and freezing in a couple of weeks when more apples are in season. On a final note, I think it is a good idea to invest in a pair of jar lifters (metal tongs are not necessarily the safest way to handle hot jars and it’s a little bit tricky to do too).

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on jarring, freezing, and preserving foods for the winter. Thanks for sharing!

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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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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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