Business Review: The Common Thread

In preparation for my first sewing class, I visited the newly opened independent fabric store The Common Thread just over a week ago. What a treat!

As I mentioned when I listed my goal of learning how to sew this year, I haven’t done any real sewing since I took a home ec class in junior high. That was a few years ago (ahem!) so I felt a little nervous preparing for my sewing class. What fabrics would be best for the various projects? I checked out organic fabric online but for my first projects, I wanted to feel the fabrics. The selection of organic fabric at the chain store in my area was nonexistent so I had to find another option. Read more

Available Space Rather Than Size

This post is part of September’s APLS Blog Carnival. Learn how others feel their household’s size affects their efforts to live a green life at crstn85 on September 19 to read all the submissions.

This month APLS took me on a walk down memory lane. As I pondered these questions:

When does size matter?… what efforts that you make are easier to do because of your household size? Which are harder and make you wish there were a better way?

I thought about our current life, our life with a two-year old and a baby, the toddler and a pregnant mom on bedrest life, our adjustment to parenthood with our eldest child, and our life pre-children. Read more

A National Day of Service and Remembrance

Tonight, in response to a question, I tried to explain the significance of September 11th to my children. They are just six and four so there are many, many things about that day that I don’t want them to know about yet so my explanation was very brief.

Earlier in the day I had happened upon an old post by Tall Grass Worship. The post begins:

A couple of years ago we watched the excellent movie “United 93″. The movie takes place on September 11, 2001, and it’s director tried to stay as completely faithful to the events regarding that flight as possible, down to the exact words of the various passengers, as recorded or recollected by their relatives. As you may remember, United flight 93 was the airliner on which the passengers chose to attack the terrorists who had hijacked the plane, resulting in it crashing in a field in Pennsylvania rather than into Washington, D.C.

One of the most memorable scenes in the movie involved a very young woman calling home on her cell phone. She had just comprehended that the plane was destined to crash, one way or another, and that she was facing certain death. At her parent’s home, her stepmother answered the phone. The young woman, in a panicked voice, explained to her stepmother the circumstances she was in. The older woman had already seen news coverage of the other three planes crashing, and quickly understood the situation. She drew a deep breath, and, in the calmest of voices, began to guide the younger woman through her final moments. They expressed their love for each other. Then, the stepmother, seeking to calm the panicked girl, said something like,”I have my arms around you. Do you feel them?” With that, the demeanor of the younger woman changed. She relaxed. “Yes, I feel them,” she replied.

I sobbed as I thought about all the people who have missed the hugs of their friends and family members over the last eight years.

Later in the day I read Honoring the Dead by Serving the Living, which talks about the work two of those people have done since that day. In order to ensure that the memory of all those lost that day is truly honored, Jay Winuk and David Paine founded MyGoodDeed, which is now known as 911DayOfService.org. Their mission is:

to honor the victims of 9/11 and those who rose to service in response to the attacks by encouraging all Americans and others throughout the world to pledge to voluntarily perform at least one good deed, or another service activity on 9/11 each year. In this way we hope to create a lasting and forward-looking legacy — annually rekindling the spirit of service, tolerance, and compassion that unified America and the world in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Now I know how I can better explain the significance of September 11th to my children. The response people around the world had after the attacks, and can continue today, is the main lesson I learned from September 11th and is the lesson I will teach them. Sometimes it is just hard to remember through the sadness so I am deeply appreciative of the reminder from  Mr. Paine and Mr. Winuk.

Please join us, and many others, in engaging in a charitable activity in honor of all who were killed and injured on September 11, 2001. If you need help thinking of ideas or want to share your family’s plans, you can do so at 911DayOfService.org.

Family Friday: Tagging Monarchs

Autumn is my favorite season. The weather finally begins to cool, which in Texas means the highs drop into the 90s, and monarch butterflies begin to reappear. They can use your help again this time of year, just as they could during their spring migration. Lucas Miller explains what you and your family can do to both enjoy and nurture nature by assisting in research efforts to track monarch butterflies. Enjoy!

Back in the spring, I wrote a bit about planting milkweeds to attract monarchs.  The females seek out milkweeds when it’s time to lay their eggs and, hopefully, you had fun watching the little caterpillars feasting, fattening, and metamorphosing while you sipped your morning coffee on the porch.

Monarchs are on the move again so give those milkweeds some TLC (or maybe just go out and buy some more) if yours, like mine, have been decimated by aphids, scale insects, potato beetles, and a series of others.  The toxins in milkweeds are supposed to offer protection but, in my garden, the milkweeds suffer far more infestations than any of our other plants. Read more

Slow Food USA’s Time for Lunch on September 7

How can children learn and grow to their full potential when the food pictured here is what we feed them in schools? They simply can’t.

This fall, the Child Nutrition Act is up for reauthorization. This Act provides the governance for several child nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program. The National School Lunch Program supplies 30 million school children with lunch every school day. For many of these children, the meals they receive at school provide the majority of their nutrition during the school year. Read more

Bats As A Source of Hope

Earlier this week we drove into Austin to watch the bats emerge from the Congress Avenue bridge. Watching the bats come out to feed was simply incredible. As they flew out from the bridge at dusk, the bats clustered into streams so they looked like gauzy black ribbons floating in the sky. At some points, there were so many bats overhead that we could hear the collective flapping of their wings.

I’ve included a video I found on YouTube on our home page so you can get a glimpse of the sight if you are not in the area. If you are in the area and have yet to see the bats, go! And you are in luck because August and September are the prime viewing months. Read more

Want a Green School? Check Out “Cool the Earth”

Can you tell I’m deep in preparations for the start of school? I’ve been wrestling with how to extend our efforts to green our family to helping create a green school environment. And I want to do this in a way that really is helpful to the school.

Our eldest began kindergarten last fall so I don’t have a lot of experience dealing with schools as a parent. We tried several schools before we found the right fit, which didn’t occur until the end of February, so I have even less experience with our current school. We love, love, love the school’s approach to teaching, the teachers, and the other families but are still learning how the business of the school is structured.

We received our student supply lists and my initial reactions fell into four categories. For items like pencils and notebook paper, I immediately started thinking about products that would be more eco-friendly, like pencils made from recycled wood and recycled paper. Other items came with very precise descriptions, leaving me to wonder if Fiskar scissors were really needed or if the non-Fiskar scissors we already have would suffice. A quick conversation with the teacher will resolve these issues and, since the school has encouraged folks to use items already on hand, I think I know how it will go.

Then came the items that I would prefer not to purchase but will because I understand why they are helpful in a group of small children – things like tissues are included here since I just don’t see 10 kids with hankies working out well during the winter. The last category is where I am struggling. The supply lists for both of my kids included plastic zip lock bags – one box for the youngest and two for the eldest. That means 10 boxes of plastic bags will be used one classroom and 20 boxes in another for a total of 600 plastic bags just for their classes! The very thought of that makes me feel ill. Read more

Green Grants for Schools

As kids begin to head back to school, lots of parents are thinking about eco-friendly school supplies, PVC-free backbacks, and stretching a few more months from existing clothes. There is also much that can be done to green your child’s school environment once the fervor of back-to-school has ended. Here are two recently posted grants for schools that could help your child’s school become more green. Read more

Family Friday: Nothin’ Better Than Your Own Backyard (for Wildlife)

For August, Lucas Miller discusses a great program run by the National Wildlife Federation and shows how easy it was for his family to create a certified wildlife habitat in their own backyard. (If the reference in the article’s title is unfamiliar, check out Robert Earl Keen’s song I’m Coming Home.)

Whether you have a .35 acre lot in the suburbs, a sprawling ranch in the boonies or a mere balcony in the city, you can attract wildlife that will intrigue and excite your wee ones with a minimal investment of work and money.  The National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat program provides you with all the information you need to get started as well as the actual “certification.”  I don’t imagine your local bluebird’s likely to notice the certification sign that you can proudly display but, just perhaps, your human neighbors may ask you a few questions and convert their own piece of turf to a haven for native flora and fauna. 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

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