Family Friendly Ways to Save Energy

Like many people, we’ve been reviewing all our bills and looking for ways to reduce our spending wherever possible. Since we’re also trying to reduce our use of nonrenewable resources, finding ways to save energy are bonus items. The Koala Sisters (aka our daughters) got into the act so we bring you four family friendly ways to save energy. Read more

Family Friday: Owl Prowls

With the days getting shorter and the nights getting longer, what is a nature-starved family to do? Once again, Lucas Miller has the answer! This month he discusses how to go on an owl prowl with your kids. With a little preparation, warm clothes, and patience, you are sure to have a good time. And the possibilities for learning about the world around us are owl-t of this world!

This month we’re going to talk about owls.  Owls have fascinated and humans for millenia (they appear on many ancient petraglyphs and artifacts) but, with Harry Potter and a number of other children’s books featuring them prominently, they seem to be especially hip at this cultural moment.

Most owls are non-migratory so, even in the winter, you can still hear and even see them. Winter’s actually a great time to go on an “owl prowl” because you won’t have to keep the kids up way past bedtime since the sun sets earlier. Read more

Family Friday: Enjoying Nature Around Us

It is the first Friday of October so that means another thoughtful article by Lucas Miller. This month Lucas urges us to notice, appreciate, and enjoy the nature all around us. Take advantage of the great fall weather by getting outside with your family!

In the past couple of years, Last Child in the Woods, a book by Richard Louv, has had parents, environmentalists, and educators contemplating, discussing, and making some pretty big changes.

If you haven’t read it I suggest you do, but I will summarize. Louv presents a heap of scientific evidence and a whole lot of anecdotes that compellingly show that children need nature. They suffer emotionally, mentally, and physically when it is denied them and show tremendous benefits when they are reunited with it. Children have never been more inundated with scientific factoids by multiple cable channels dedicated to wildlife and “discovery” (and singing zoologists) but information is trivial compared to unstructured time spent in contact with nature (that means soccer practice doesn’t really count). His term for our children’s lack of free-time in the natural environment is “nature-deficit disorder.” Read more

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

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

Help Support the Sustainable Food Center

On Tuesday, August 25, Edible Austin, Alamo Drafthouse, and the Front Porch Project are hosting a Film Feast at Boggy Creek Farm to support the Sustainable Food Center.

Starting at 7 PM, the event will include cocktails and conversation; a locally-sourced picnic from Alamo chefs John Bullington and Trish Eichelberger; and a screening of the movie FRESH, which “celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system.”

Tickets, which include drinks, dinner, and the movie, are $35. They may be purchased in advance only online at Alamo Drafthouse. Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets to spread out on the lawn as seating is limited.

The Sustainable Food Center is an Austin-based nonprofit which works to “cultivate a healthy community by strengthening the local food system and improving access to nutritious, affordable food. SFC envisions a food secure community where all children and adults grow, share and prepare healthy, local food.”

Through their Grow Local, Farm Direct, and The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre™ projects, SFC is improving the lives of children and families throughout the Austin area.

Nourish your body, your brain, and your community by attending the Film Feast on August 25.

This article was syndicated on the AustinEcoNetwork. If you live in the Austin area, or want to learn about eco-happenings in Austin, be sure to visit the site.

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

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

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