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.

Four-year-old Earth Day preschool coloring

As Denis Hayes, the coordinator of Earth Day 40 years ago, noted recently, it was easier to get things done at that time in our history.  The movement “took everyone by surprise” and there was not the counter-movement that there is today, heavily funded and ready to defend special interests. 

On Earth Day, as www.fabricwrapper.com  gave away free fabricwappers in an effort to spread the word regarding resuables (REUSE does come before recycle!), my kids were at school coloring the earth.  Using ALOT of paper.  One parent objected, but I don’t think we can overemphasize the value of environmental education for the next generation.  Using some paper now might pay off big later.  After all, most of our choices are based on habits and it is harder to teach adults “new tricks”.  But kids… they will be the ones who never start those bad habits to begin with. 

We still have a lot to accomplish and need to stay focused, especially on big issues such as clean energy.  Ignore the hype, the green-washing, the critics, and do what is right for your family.  Remember my article about baby steps?  Use your instincts and we will all live happier and healthier.

We are actually giving away two beautiful fabricwrappers, to celebrate Earth Day!  One contest is open to all new and old fabricwrapper followers on twitter.  So if you don’t already follow us, please sign up now!  If you are already a follower, add a comment below regarding your reasons for using reusables to get an extra entry.

The other is being sponsored on My Eco Family .  Check out their post to see all the different ways to win! 

 Don’t miss these chances to wrap your Mother’s Day gift in style. Fabricwrapper offers a wide variety of reusable gift-wrapping products that will make your mom say “wow”… whether she is into the eco-friendly (and cost-saving!) aspect of having something she can use over and over again, or whether she just likes boutique-quality beauty.

Fun gift-wrap from the Easter bunny!

Looking for gift-wrap to make that Easter gift extra special?  Hide the stuffed chick in this cool, reusable gift bag!  Just as good for wedding showers, baby gifts, or your girlfriend’s next Birthday gift!  Check out the Pink Dot Line here.

Big hair and fluorescent clothing are how we expressed "We are tired of conserving and just want to have fun". Is an 80s-style backlash on the way?

Am I the only one who is worried that our window for major energy reforms is passing by?  The clock is ticking for major environmental initiatives and all anyone is doing is Talking.   We blog, we tweet, we educate.

Don’t get me wrong, talking is good.  If one positive thing has come from our current economic crisis, it is that conservation has become “hip”.  Making it cool to be thrifty and gauche to be ostentatious has been, well, convenient, to an American public that is quick to respond to the latest fads.  And the conversation about the environment has extended beyond the marginal tree hugger crowd to the general public.  I mean, gosh, Michael Pollan was even on Oprah this month!  Oprah made millions of people who had never read a book embrace an “Oprah’s book club” for years, so I am willing to bet that thousands of would-be Walmart produce shoppers are probably thinking of starting their own garden this summer after that show aired.  Average Americans are taking notice of issues spanning from gas emissions to solar energy because “conservation” and “recession” go hand in hand.

But where does the 2007 energy platform stand after the U.S. comes out on the other side of this debacle?  And make no mistake, we will… but history is cyclical.  The 1970s brought recycling and homemade clothes to the forefront only to be followed quickly by the 1980s, a decade of total excess.  What will the next decade look like?   It seems easy to predict that a public that is currently willing to be encouraged to “reduce and reuse” will be grow tired of being lectured.   “What  a buzzkill”, they will say… “I am full of hope, I have money again…. I think I will go buy some bright, fluorescent, NEW clothes”.

Earth Day 2010 is April 22 and I need some help on two fronts:

(1) Parents: Please send me ideas for Earth Day events at school.  I am on the “green team” for my children’s elementary school and I want to organize something really neat for the school.  Something that you know gets people involved and excited!  I found this site that has some great ideas, but prefer advice from a parent organizer who has seen an idea in action!

(2) Business Owners/ Customers:  What should fabricwrapper.com  do for Earth Day?  We promote sustainable living all year round, but feel this globally recognized tribute to the Earth is a good time to do something extra.

Thank you in advance for your ideas and comments!  Let’s all start planning now for local activism that will lead to global attention.

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.

If you have a child, you must check out http://portablenorthpole.tv/home.  This personalized electronic message from Santa will leave your child in awe.  And, as my sister pointed out… it is also excellent for messaging naughty husbands and friends!  Be ready with a picture of the person you are sending the message to to get the full effect.

You know I love electronic messages/ gadgets… anything that is quick and easy but saves travel and paper.