Give mom... clean air?

Mother's Day is quickly approaching, it's May 10th. You could do the traditional and send Mom roses or daisies, but how about something a little more eco-friendly?

The peace lily, or Spathiphyllum, cleans your air, they remove 'environmental contaminants, including benzene, formaldehyde, and other pollutants', says Wikipedia. They are considered useful in combatting indoor air pollution. NASA did a 2 year study and created a list of the top ten plants to acquire.

This beautiful flowering bulb, is an elegant plant to give your mom on any day. They are easy to care for, need water only 1 - 1 1/2 weeks or when the soil becomes dry. They like the shade and make excellent indoor plants. Mine have recently started blooming, so every year your mom can be reminded of how much you love her.

Tell your mom you're thinking about her this Mother's Day in a unique way that will last throughout the year. Not only will you make your mom smile when she sees this gorgeous plant gracing her home, but you will know that you are contributing to a better, healthier lifestyle for her.

Yum.

Just a quick recipe I tried the other day for all of you that I convinced to eat a little less meat. I found it in Ladies Home Journal under their piece The Healthy Cook.

• 6 oz. dried farfalle pasta (or whatever you fancy)


• 1 tbsp. olive oil


• 1 medium onion, chopped


• 1 cup sliced portabella or other fresh mushrooms


• 2 cloves of garlic, minced


• 4 cups of spinach, thinly sliced


• 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped


• 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper


• 2 tbsp. shredded parmesean

Cook pasta according to directions, drain. In a large skillet heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, mushrooms, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 2-3 minutes. Stir in spinach, thyme, and pepper. Cook until spinach is slightly wilted, about 1 min. Toss mushroom and spinach mixture with pasta and sprinkle with cheese.

makes 4 servings. 225 calories per serving,5.5 g total fat, 1 g sat fat, 66 mg sodium, 37 g carbs, 2 mg chol, 9 g protein, 3 g fiber.

This dish was so delicous even my pickiest kid (you haven't met picky until you've met this one:) raved about it.

Hope everyone enjoys, and if you like we can share recipes from time to time.

Happy Earth Day- one day after....

but really isn't Earth Day everyday? :)

I spent the day pruning my mulberry tree, isn't the song all around the mulberry bush? I was lucky enough to have this tree planted by the previous owners of my house. I didn't really know what it was until 2 years ago, and we just started eating them last year. This was my very first harvest and I didn't even get all of them, we pretty much just took the ones off the branches that were pruned. I have a ton, so if anyone has some good recipes they want to share let me know. I will be trying them out in my smoothie mix later when the kids get home from school.

Hope everyone had gorgeous weather like we did, and did something fun.

Celebrate!

No matter what the occasion, use one or all of these ideas to make your next function eco-friendly.

• Host the party at your local park, beach, or own backyard. When all your guests arrive have a scavenger hunt, scavenge for trash and recyclables. Hand out prizes for most trash collected and most recyclables collected. You can even hide a few prizes in the area to make it interesting.


• Serve all your goodies with recycling in mind. Compostable plates and cups, bottles and cans, bins labeled and available.


• Like to make party favors? Try a worm composting tower. It was fun to make, and the petunias we planted with ours are vivacious and thriving.

• Cut down on the electricity. Bring along some acoustic guitars, bongos, tambourines, harmonicas, whatever you can scrounge up. Got nerves of steel? Let the kids release their inner rock stars on real instruments.

• While on that scavenger hunt pick some flowers, pretty branches, and leaves. Create one of a kind cards to use later.

• Spread the love. Hand out small packets of sunflower or tomato seeds as party paraphernalia.

Have a great time celebrating life. Creating eco-friendly lifestyle changes help to keep the world healthier and in turn us all healthier, which means more celebrating to come.

Books-check 'em out.

I am a reader by nature. I always have something on hand-- fiction, nonfiction, newspapers, magazines, you name it, I''ll read it.

I started thinking about all the reading I am doing and how it affects the environment. Most of my magazines come from my sister, then promptly get dropped off at one or two of my kids' activities. My books I borrow from the library, and if I buy a book or two, it is almost always used. Yes, I buy the Sunday newspaper, but I love to cut the coupons, do the crosswords, and then we recycle the paper, either in my compost or to wash the windows at the house. So not too much paper 'wasted', but I thought there is always another way.

This leads us to the Kindle- an awesome idea. You can now use this unique little device to access and read all kinds of things, not just books, but newspapers, and even blogs. They have a new version out, the Kindle 2, it is the width of a pencil, has wireless access to download your books, it can read the items to you, comes with a built in dictionary, and has adjustable text sizes. The thing is totally awesome---looking, because to tell you the truth I don't know if I will ever get one. It's not the pricey tag, but the fact that I kind of like the way an old book smells, the way you have to adjust yourself at night when reading a giant book, and quite honestly when I am on the computer too long I get headaches. Is this item for me? I don't know yet, but I definetely haven't written it off.

My friends and I routinely share books between each other, we get to help out the environment, dish about the characters we love, and introduce one another to new genres, some we never would have considered without the recommendation. I like to think of this as my own little private book swapping club. Then I found out they have official book swapping clubs, come on check 'em out.

Paperback Swap, Book Mooch , and Swap Tree are all free to join. The idea works like this, you list books lying around your house that you don't want anymore. When someone requests your book, you ship it to them at your own expense and then you earn a credit. Each credit you earn you may then use to request a book from another member who ships it to you at their expense. Swap tree also lets you swap DVD's, CD's, and video games. Pretty cool.

Whatever you decide, read! It's one of those dying traditions, with television and the internet constantly berating us with noise. Sometimes it's nice to unplug all the electronics, sit outside or light some candles, grab a book or a Kindle, and read a great story. It fosters imagination in us and inspires.

Plant Trees Everybody!

National Arbor Day will soon be here, April 24th. Visit arborday.org to see how you might celebrate, what types of trees to plant, and how to care for them once you do. Arbor Day was established by J. Sterling Morton, National Arbor Day was established on the last Friday of April, in observance of his birthday, although some states observe Arbor Day seperately, to coincide with the best time of year for planting.

Planting trees is an especially important habit, soil erosion is one of the things damaging our lands and contributing to environmental problems. When soil erodes, the top layer of the soil is destroyed, either by washing away entirely or through tillage. The top layer of soil is termed "the cream of the soil" which carries the best nutrients. When the soil is tilled for farming it thins down the nutrients of this top layer, resulting in an impoverished soil and crops. Always rotate your crops to keep the soil from becoming exhausted of its nutrients. Also when the soil is washed away by water it carries with it agricultural pollutants, creates "sedimentation in watercourses and dams, disruption of the ecosystems of lakes, and contamination of drinking water." Trees and plant life naturally keep soil from eroding, the soil stays entangled in the roots.

So this Arbor Day gather your friends, family, and neighbors and host a small party of your own. Plant trees in your backyard, teach the kids about the important role nature plays in our lives, and have fun doing it. Encourage your community leaders to strive for the prestigous award the Arbor Day foundation gives, Tree City USA . Not only can you enjoy a healthier life because of trees and plants, but it become a more beautiful one too.

The beautiful crepe myrtle trees I received the first year I became a member of the Arbor Day Foundation. Yes, by becoming a member they reward you with 10 free trees, or you can choose to donate the trees to a National Forest in need. It's a win-win situation, sign up now.

A day late and a dollar short...

Yesterday I was supposed to write my update on bad habits, but as always with me, I procrastinated. Which leads me to... bad habits, I am a procrastinator. I have company coming to visit this week, which means I have a lot of stuff to do. So what did I do all of last week? Nothing. Yesterday, I worked outside in my yard all day, today and tomorrow I will frantically be cleaning my house. Which is why I am a day late, leading me back to ... bad habits.
I am a bad 'greenie', I forgot all about Earth Hour last weekend. It was 9:36 pm my time when I realized that we had missed it. As I looked around the house at all the lights that were on and t.v.'s blaring video games at me, I realized it doesn't take everyone turning everything off all at once, to make a difference. It takes everyone thinking twice about their impact everyday, that makes a difference. So, I made up for it, on Sunday I used as little energy as possible all day. My bad habit change for the environment was incidentally, unplugging my appliances, ironic for forgetting Earth Hour, I know. I have accomplished this task, mostly, I just need to buy a few power strips. My new bad habit change is to stop wasting paper towels, and I am well on my way. How has everyone else been doing? Anyone tackle something that they've been vowing to change? I'd love to hear about it. Don't stop though, with one bad habit down, try to erase another one. Just 21 days to stop a bad habit. Although, I am a glass half full kind of gal, so let's look on the bright side, 21 days to start a good habit. What can we accomplish in the next 21 days? Maybe I'll work on my procrastinating, or maybe I'll try that one some other time.