Earth Day 2010

This blog is dedicated to our family trying to live more lean and green (though hopefully not mean!). So a quick review of the first four months of our project. Successes: I am happy to report that we have had a paper towel dowel sitting empty for several weeks now. We are using cloth towels almost exclusively. My daughter is only using a single pull-up for bedtime. She is doing great on the potty (with the occasional accident) and I think that has been helped by using cloth. What cleaning products we have bought have been green products and we have worked with the kiddos about turning off lights and water. Finally, we have started our patio garden, including utilizing containers from our coffee to create larger planters.

Areas to improve: I want to use more homemade cleaning products and we have still been eating from boxes more than I want -- for us or the environment. Finally, I think that we still create more trash than we should. I am looking into a small composter that won't stink us out of the apartment. We could then lessen our trash and fertilize our new garden.

So that's our Earth Day Update. I try to think of it as a marathon, not a dash. Every little change we make matters. I'll keep you posted!!!
:-)

P.S. Check out my Earth Day Post on my other blog, 38 and Growing. I am supporting Heifer International. It is a wonderful organization that supports the planet's health while fighting hunger. If you want to help me buy a cow, please click here.

Here We Go!

Remember I told you that we got Sesame Street starter seed kits. And I told you they were fun and colorful and cute... well here they are. And here we go. These are the pictures from our planting day which was a couple of weeks ago.

We are growing watermelon (Cookie Monster blue ), orange sun peppers (Bert & Ernie orange), garden beans (Oscar the Grouch green), tomatoes (Elmo red), and pumpkin (Abby Cadabby pink -- my daughter's favorite). The kits come with stickers which really got the kids eager to participate. The boxes are supposed to make mini-greenhouses. We'll see what happens. We are very excited!

Remember all great things start small. And here is our start. Follow-up pictures to come!