Family Friday: Livin’ La Vida Croak-a

This month Lucas Miller shares a fun, inexpensive, and family-friendly activity. Our last home backed to a creek so we had the luxury of listening to the frogs’ serenades nightly there. We’ll need to take a trip to listen to their beautiful night music now but I assure you that it is well worth it. What a great way to help children experience nature!

It’s spring. Yes, the birds are singing—and so are the anurans (“frogs and toads” for those of you who didn’t study zoology). They’re out there filling the spring nights with their croaks, peeps, trills, honks, clicks ,and various other noises. If you think all frogs go “ribbit,” then think again. As Archie Carr, my zoological mentor, wrote, “Frogs do for the night what birds do for the day; they give it a voice. And the voice is varied and stirring; one that ought to be better known.” Read more

Family Friday: How to Strengthen Your Family’s Immune Systems

All the media coverage of swine flu, or influenza A H1N1, is causing some people to panic. As I listened to the news on my way home from dropping my youngest at preschool, I could feel my own worries growing. So I started thinking about what action I could take. Action is a great antidote to panic!

Once I took a deep breath (OK, a couple of deep breaths), I realized one of the best things would be to make sure my kids, Rich, and I have strong immune systems. Our time at preschool, elementary school, and work gives us exposure to plenty of local germs. I wanted to make sure all our defenses were in tip-top fighting shape for whatever we encountered.

Here are some of the best ways to bolster immune systems. As I wrote this, I was struck by how many of these items have multiple benefits. If we did these things all the time, my family would be leaner, happier, and healthier. Read more

Family Sunday! Spring Wildflowers

Spring is in the air, which means wildflowers are starting to bloom! This month Lucas Miller shares information about the iconic bluebonnet as well as some suggestions for viewing wildflowers with your family. The photo to the left is of Lucas and his family enjoying a beautiful spring day in Texas.

I was raised in Kentucky and moved to Austin, Texas, in my early twenties. I had heard a bit about the bluebonnets, the state flower, and how devotedly Texans loved them. But I really wasn’t prepared for the spectacle when I experienced my first Texas springtime. We had flowers back in Kentucky but the gaudy mixture of colors, shapes, and sizes blanketing the hills of central Texas left me astounded. I’m not Mr. Macho or anything but I never expected to be so taken with wildflowers. Read more

A Day to Remember the Earth

This is my entry to the Affluent Persons Living Sustainably or APLS Carnival. April’s topic is whether Earth Day is still relevant. The selected entries will be hosted by Ruchi at Arduous Blog on April 22 so be sure to take a break from your Earth Day activities to read what everyone has to say. You can learn more about this and future carnivals at APLS.

I believe that while the significance of Earth Day has changed since its founding, there is still a need to designate a day to celebrate and honor the earth and to educate ourselves for the best ways to do so.

In my view, the current version of Earth Day is a cross between an anniversary and the keynote speech at a multi-day conference. I love my husband every day but our anniversary provides us a special opportunity to review our relationship, be proud of the accomplishments we have made, and re-dedicate ourselves to our future. Among the crush of everyday life, we need a reminder to think about how we care for the earth. Read more

Of Milkweeds and Monarchs

Thanks to Lucas Miller’s previous post about milkweeds, we’ve had two young children very excited about spring in our house. My kids were fascinated with the idea of providing sustenance for monarch butterflies and sanctuary for their babies so, ever since we read the article, they have been asking when it would be warm enough to add milkweeds to our yard. We decided spring break would be the perfect time to do so and the countdown began.

Then, days before spring break began, the flu hit. Both girls got sick but with different strains, which allowed us to experience the full glory not once, but twice as germs were swapped. I am now ever more thankful that we own a washing machine.

By the tail end of spring break, everyone was finally feeling better. After a day of waiting to ensure no relapses would occur, we headed to the nursery. With their bright orange and yellow flowers and pointed leaves, the milkweeds were easy to identify among all the other plants. We had looked at some pictures online first, mostly because I wanted to spare the other gardeners a long search by two tired girls and their exhausted mom. Looking at the pictures definitely helped – the girls spotted the plants first. Read more

Green Chores

Today when we left my youngest daughter’s preschool, we discovered some styrofoam peanuts in the front plantings. My kids were very upset since they have heard that plastic is not good for animals. After some discussion, we picked them up to make sure no birds or rabbits, the animals we see most frequently there, would be harmed.

As we walked to the car, my oldest asked if she could have some green chores. She went on to explain that she wanted to do work that was good for the earth but wanted her dad and me to treat them like her other chores and pay her for them. I said I thought this was a great idea and that I would talk it over with her dad. Read more

(Teaching) Charity Begins at Home

I’ve written previously about the effect the book Beatrice’s Goat has had on our life but this month’s APLS Carnival topic of favorite charities got me thinking about the book’s impact from a different angle.

Beatrice’s Goat tells the true story of how a goat from Heifer International changed the life of Beatrice Biira and her family. This little Ugandan girl dearly wanted to go to school but her family was unable to afford the cost. Thanks to the gift of the goat, they were able to save up enough money for Beatrice to attend school, where she excelled. She came to the United States to continue her schooling and has now begun graduate studies in international development. Her plan is to return to Uganda upon graduation so she can expand opportunities for others.

This book led us to donate to Heifer International, a nonprofit that works with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth, and also sparked multiple conversations with our children. We’ve talked about supporting charities before but this experience was different. Since they have been old enough to choose, one of their birthday presents has been the ability to select the recipient of a charitable donation. They usually pick the local PBS station, in part because they are big fans of The Biscuit Brothers.

But those donations were very tangible for them. The Biscuit Brothers perform regularly in our area. (They even sang “Happy Birthday” to one of our girls at a local concert when they saw her wearing an “I’m the Birthday Girl” button. Biscuit Brothers, if you read this, she is still talking about it more than two years later. Thank you!) And we often watch shows on PBS so that organization is a part of our life.The majority of our other donations have been local as well so they have met the people our donations have gone to or seen their programs.

Heifer International was different. The story of Beatrice and the subsequent donation we made to Heifer International helped them understand that there are people all over the world who need help. Even when things are fine here, somewhere somebody needs help. This experience also showed them that what we do here, in our home, can make a difference.

There are many who can use a helping hand right now. How will you make a difference today?

This is my entry to the Affluent Persons Living Sustainably or APLS Carnival. March’s topic is charity. The selected entries will be hosted by Green Resolutions on March 20 so be sure to visit and learn about some worthy charities. You can learn more about this and future carnivals at APLS.

Family Friday: Accentuate the Positive

This month Lucas Miller addresses a common issue – how to keep a positive focus for your children, and yourself, when discussing environmental issues. I love his idea of looking for small changes everywhere – it is a great game to play with children. (Lately we’ve been noticing how many people are bringing reusable bags to stores but I am now expanding our search.)

I’ve been an environmental educator since 1992. I had the good fortune to have some wonderful role models and guidance throughout my career, particularly in those first few years.

One thing that made a big impact on me was a conversation I had with a fellow who hosted an environmental, call-in radio show for kids. He told me that kids would often ask if there would still be squirrels and birds when they grew up; many kids were obviously terrified of the frequent and heavy environmental stories they were hearing. He said he made a big effort to focus on the positive things that people were doing to solve the problems and I made that one of my goals as well.

One thing that I’ve been trying to do with my own kids is point out some of the small things that people are doing to help in our own community. I try not to be heavy-handed about it; I just mention something I notice and see if it sparks a comment from anyone. If so, I try to keep that conversation on the optimistic side and I hope that it reassures my kids that we are beginning to find new ways to live more lightly (even though I know we have a long way to go).

So, as you take your family walk, bike ride, or even drive to the market, here are some things you might want to look for:

1) If it happens to be time to put the recycling bin out, take note of how many are out and maybe see if you can find one that’s particularly full.

2) Have you noticed any of your neighbors trading out to a more eco-vehicle? Our next door neighbor just traded in his pickup for a mini-Cooper–it’s a little victory!

3) Take note of where the rainwater goes on your street. Can you follow the route to the creek it goes to? Do you see anything being done to keep the stream clean like a holding pond, greenbelt or annual cleanup? Cities are making some big changes like this to keep waters clean and it has big benefits for wildlife, too.

4) Do you see any neighbors who are doing something different with their yards and gardens? Is anyone growing some food? Is anyone opting for native landscaping and/or plants that support wildlife? Do you see any bird houses or feeders? Maybe there’s a yard marked with a wildlife habitat certification?

5) Do you have any neighbors with solar panels? A lot more of our energy use is in the form of electricity, you know….

6) What about cisterns to collect rainwater?

7) Are people picking up after their dogs? It’s not just a courtesy to the neighbors, you know, it keeps our water cleaner, too.

8) Do you see bumper stickers or yard signs about protecting the environment in some way? These days, more and more people are “green and proud!”

9) Maybe you can even talk with some of these forward-thinking acquaintances and neighbors so you recognize and thank them for their efforts and start a discussion about other things you’re doing to keep things green.

When you start looking for them, these little things become symbols of hope and may help you and your kids feel like your individual efforts are making a difference. So get out there and feel the growing love for Mother Earth!

Lucas is a professional children’s author and songwriter from Austin, Texas. Check him out at www.lucasmiller.net.

Nurtured by Nature

Shortly after I posted on my children’s gravitation to the natural world around us, I read about an interesting study in Newsweek on the psychological effect the natural world has on humans. Read more

Call of the Wild

This is my second entry to the Affluent Persons Living Sustainably or APLS Carnival. February’s topic is connections between experiences in nature and sustainable living. The selected entries will be hosted by Green Phone Booth on February 20 so be sure to visit and read what everyone has to say. You can learn more about this and future carnivals at APLS.

Both of my children have had a passionate love affair with the natural world since they were very young. Their reactions to all creatures great and small have helped me to see how omnipresent the natural world is and how powerful its hold on us. Read more

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