Turn “I’m Bored” into “I Made it Myself!”

It finally happened. My kids, who typically are full of ideas, uttered the words that can spark dread in the heart of any busy parent. “I’m bored. What can we do?”

We thought we had planned well for this summer. We had a list! And a calendar! But then plans changed, as they tend to do, and the heat blasted day after day, which changed more plans, and we found ourselves with more time to fill than interesting projects with which to fill it. Add to that two parents with heads full of deadlines and work obligations (rather than fun ideas) and it was clear we needed some help.

Thankfully, I found the Future Craft Collective. Read more

Nature Rocks Truly Rocks

Unbelievably, we’ve hit the halfway point for my kids’ summer vacation. In the fall, our youngest moves to the “big kids’ school” so this summer feels extra precious. We are trying to use this time well but I often have a hard time taking care of the busy-ness of everyday life and work while also being creative about family activities. (For those of you who have figured out how to make that shift successfully, please feel free to share your tips. I’ll be most grateful!) We went into this summer wanting to do more outside but the soaring temperatures have soured our plans for hikes and days at the park.

Then I found exactly what I needed to make sure we have lots of nature-related fun this summer on Nature Rocks.

As they share on their website:

Nature Rocks is a national program to inspire and empower families to play and explore in nature. Our mission is to make it easy for you to have fun in nature, and connect with others to do the same. We want all families in every city in America to see for themselves how much Nature Rocks. Your kids will be happier, healthier and smarter, and besides, it is generally free and a rockin’ way to create and share fun quality family time. Read more

Sales of Organic Foods Still Growing

A recent article on Time.com shared listed 10 Big Recession Surprises. To my delight, surprise #3 was Organic Food Sales Remain Strong.

Over the past few years, I’ve felt that people’s attitudes about food are shifting. Once the recession hit, I read article after article that predicted the economic changes would stop that change in its tracks. At the same time, the waiting list for our CSA was growing and more of our friends started their own gardens. Maybe we live in a bubble, I thought. Maybe it is because we hang out with so many parents of young children, I hypothesized.

So, when I read the article above, I literally pumped my fists in the air when I read that the sales of organic foods are not just holding steady as families wrestle with their finances but they are growing! Hip hip hurray!

Business Review: TerraBurger

My family’s summer just got better. This week TerraBurger opened its second location in northwest Austin at 10611 Research Blvd, right by Costco. Now we have a healthy option for a quick meal at a family-friendly restaurant – what a treat!

When we saw TerraBurger’s sign go up several months ago, we were curious but frankly more than a little skeptical. Lots of businesses have jumped on the green bandwagon for marketing and little else. We wondered how green Terra Burger’s operations would really be. We checked them out online and were impressed with what we saw.

From their website:

At TerraBurger, Rule #1 is “all natural”–we won’t serve anything that contains artificial ingredients, period. No artificial colors or flavors. No flavor enhancers. No trans fats. Nothing highly processed. No artificial additives. In fact, we have an extensive list of banned ingredients that don’t make the cut. For more detailed information on the practical meaning of “all natural”, go here: http://www.naturalingredient.org/naturalingredients.htm. Read more

How We’re Doing on Our Green Goals for 2009

With July already well underway, I realized it’s time to review our goals for 2009. I wrote about the annual goals we set earlier and since then we have added a few more. Here’s how we are doing so far.

Mission Accomplished!
•    Expand our garden beyond containers. We now have a small garden going in our backyard. After doing some research, we decided to stick mostly with herbs this first year while we build up the soil. Even with our record breaking drought, the garden is doing well so far. (Fingers crossed!) Thanks to Heather at Simple-Green-Frugal for answering my newbie questions about gardening in Texas! Read more

Family Friday: Creating Compost

Setting up a compost area is one of our goals for this year so we were delighted to read this month’s article from Lucas Miller on composting. The tips we shared in Five Easy Steps to Reduce Food Waste (Without Going Insane) have significantly reduced the amount of food we throw away but we still toss the occasional moldy item in the trash. (I swear the back of our refrigerator is connected to a black hole.) We’ve now decided where to place our compost area; I hope this article spurs you on as well.

So you’re recycling your bottles, cans, and paper, right? I think that’s a given for our faithful readers. Hopefully, you’re not even taking the plastic bags in the first place but, if you are, you can recycle those, too.

How about composting? My wife and I have been composting off-and-on for over a decade now so I thought I’d provide some thoughts on our experiences. I’m no expert, though, so by all means feel free to contribute your own comments and tips! Read more

Save Money, and the Earth, with Homemade Cleaners

Last week we discussed how toxic many household products are (so toxic that they are routinely referred to as hazardous household waste) and how to safely remove them from your home. This week we want to share some inexpensive and simple recipes so you can make earth-friendly replacements for those items.

We’ll start with cleaning supplies.

Conventional cleaning supplies: Homemade cleaning products can get your home just as clean as conventional products for far less money and with far less toxic exposure. They also smell better! Here are recipes for a few multi-tasking items. Read more