Picking fruit can be fun for all ages

You’ve heard that tune, “Summertime, when the living is easy”?  Well this is one season when it is also easy to eat local. 

I really look forward to summer meals… everything is so, well, FRESH!  Whether you are picking from your own backyard garden, or you have joined a CSA (the video in the link will tell you all about CSAs and how to join), or just frequent a farmer’s market on Saturday mornings, you can be eating food that is day(s) from the dirt. 

Not only does eating local food save fuel useage and help your local economy, but it usually tastes better since it is picked when ripe.  Getting the experience of picking on a farm yourself is priceless, and a really great way to entice kids outside.   If you have not already read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, check out our previous post.  The advantages to knowing where your food comes from are countless for your health as well as the health of our earth.

Watch out, though, because you (and your kids if you have them) will eat local fruit like candy.  We can’t get enough of the sweet blueberries this year… yum.

We just got back from Steamboat Resort in Colorado and I am so impressed by their recycling efforts!  It just goes to show you that anyone can do it.  If this resort can have their cafeteria staff at the very top of the mountain sort through every tray to make sure it is all recycled properly, then any resort can make this effort.

When I met the Food and Beverage Director for Steamboat at a Green Festival in Denver, I wondered if her personal interest in sustainable living was reflected in Steamboat policies and I was glad to see that it is!  Kudos, my family will definitely visit again.

All of us who enjoy the outdoors see a link between the way we treat the world around us and the ability of future generations to play on this earth as we do: to hike, to kayak, to fish, to surf… and to ski!

The kids added a sign to prevent parents from "forgetting after the kids go to bed"

The kids are in a trance during breakfast before school, eating off their “snack trays” in front of the TV.   My husband and I turn the news on and then realize 3 hours later the TV is still on, providing constant background noise to our evening’s activities.   Enough is enough!  TV was making us run late and was, as I tell my kids, “killing our brain cells”.  Last month our family decided to have a “No TV week”.  Hard?  Yes.  Rewarding?  Also, yes.

I challenge everyone to try it.  The best part was having so much more time for the things we like to do.  Homework got done early and we were outside more.  The kids were super creative about coming up with games and there was less whining.  Background noise can be annoying to creative thinking… turn it off and enjoy the quiet!  Or enjoy music that does not get turned on often enough.

I will admit that the only time in the week we were tempted to cheat deviate from our agreement was Saturday morning.  We are lazytired on Saturdays, and anyone with young children who says they do not use the TV as a babysitter on occasion is lying not truthful with themselves!   But otherwise, since we don’t have a ton of favorite “programs” to begin with, this was a great week!  Please check out the following stats about how the TV has taken over most households and make your own resolutions… one TV-free week might lead to less TV every week!

TV Statistics from Screentime.org (also check there for future National Turn off your TV weeks):

• How many people are in the average American household?   2.55
  How many televisions do they have?  2.73
   
  We are a society of more televisions than people!
   
• 50% of American homes have at least 3 televisions or more
  19% of homes have only 1.
   In 1975 only 11% of US households had more than 3 TVs…and 57% only had 1!
   
• The average American home has the television on for well over 8 hours every day. That is an hour more than just a decade ago. 
   The average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of television each day.

1. 

   Best of Intentions: New Year’s Resolutions

   Bike More, Car Less. 

    

   My oldest child’s school is only 1.5 miles from our house. When school began, we rode our bikes every day. Full disclosure leads me to tell you that at this point I am trying to ride the bike at least 50% of the time. The typical excuses abound… we are running late, the kids are whining, I am freezing (I am seriously not equipped for cold weather, so I am a wimp when the air temp dips below 50 degrees). But then I have to slouch down in the car as we ride past all of my neighbors who are happily biking with their kids. A few have “green” motivations for being on the bike, but mostly they just love being outdoors with their kids, getting some exercise.

2. Create a Spring and Summer garden. I have wonderful memories of my parents sending me out to the garden to gather vegetables for our supper most summer evenings. I have killed more tomato plants than I care to mention and have never ventured beyond container plants. Surely I can aspire to more! We have been working on our composted soil for almost a year and I feel ready to try this. Any suggestions for veggies (middle eastern coastal area)?
3. Spend more time with friends and family. I really think there is a connection between this resolution and creating a more sustainable lifestyle. Life balance and focus on basics rather than “flash” allows us to break out of bad habits of old.

Do you agree? Do you have any to share?

Also, thanks to everyone who used reusable gift wrapping from fabricwrapper.com this holiday! We appreciate your support and all of the kind words regarding your satisfaction with our products.