It's Summer and Eco Kids

I said good-bye to my puppy this weekend.  Ana cries and cries when she thinks about how she misses him. He was the most gentle and loving lab I've ever known, and I'll never forget holding him in my hands the day he was born.  We used to give some of our puppies silly names before we sold them, and he was "Load" because he was the big guy of the litter.  When it was time to name him he was Fallon-  Fallon's Load of Rox.

It was fitting to spend the last day with him in the yard where he spent his 14 years.  The kids played and had fun, but they would stop to lovingly pet him and say a prayer for him. Yesterday when we stood and looked at his grave, the tears came, but standing there in the peaceful sunset it felt right to go on gardening and playing and doing all of the things that we did just a few days earlier when he was still with us.  Although there were tears, there were lots of smiles too- and popsicles.  Our old guy would have approved.


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Please join me for the Eco-Kids Linky!  I hope that you'll share some great family-friendly posts that are also friendly for the environment. Some ideas include:

•  Nature Activities
• Outdoor Activities
• Crafts made with re-purposed or recycled materials
• Sewing and DIY home projects
• Science Experiments
• Posts on environmental issues for kids or families
• Non-toxic living
• Homeopathic Remedies

Eco-Kids Tuesdays is co-hosted by Organic Aspirations and Like Mama~Like Daughter. This means that anything you link-up shows up on both blogs!
Feel free to link up several of your posts.

There are only a few rules:

Please follow both co-hostess' blogs, and visit some of the other posts and give them some encouragement!   Please stick to posts and photos not giveaways or items for sale.

By linking up, you are agreeing that Organic Aspirations or Like Mama~Like Daughter can feature your photos next week with a link back to your site.  

 Please link back to my site using this button:

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 /search/label/Eco%20Kids" target="_blank"><img
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Gardening and Eco Kids

Last summer I shared each week of the CSA share that I received.  This year the share is no less promising- it's even more packed with goodness, but I have to share a picture of my own crop from this year.  My family has been living on lettuce from the farm mixed with this spicy mix that we harvested from our own garden!  

I transplanted about 50 tomato plants just last week, so I'm hoping for lots of great tomato products to can this year!

What are you hopeful for from your garden this year?  

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Please join me for the Eco-Kids Linky!  I hope that you'll share some great family-friendly posts that are also friendly for the environment. Some ideas include:

•  Nature Activities
• Outdoor Activities
• Crafts made with re-purposed or recycled materials
• Sewing and DIY home projects
• Science Experiments
• Posts on environmental issues for kids or families
• Non-toxic living
• Homeopathic Remedies

Eco-Kids Tuesdays is co-hosted by Organic Aspirations and Like Mama~Like Daughter. This means that anything you link-up shows up on both blogs!
Feel free to link up several of your posts.

There are only a few rules:

Please follow both co-hostess' blogs, and visit some of the other posts and give them some encouragement!   Please stick to posts and photos not giveaways or items for sale.

By linking up, you are agreeing that Organic Aspirations or Like Mama~Like Daughter can feature your photos next week with a link back to your site.  

 Please link back to my site using this button:

<a href="http://organicaspirations.blogspot.com
 /search/label/Eco%20Kids" target="_blank"><img
src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r577/Becki_Lewis/EcoKidsTuesdays.jpg" alt="Organic Aspirations" width="125" height="125" /></a>

It's June! and Eco Kids

So, May was a crazy month for me, but we had a great time anyway! Here's a little montage of what we've been up to.

 We had a great time at the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden Plant Sale (even though I think I killed some of my new plants!)

 They made necklaces from wood from the garden.

 My daughter loves Care Bears, so we've enjoyed hunting the flea market for vintage bears.  This one was 50 cents!

 I made some wall art!

 I love when it's still cool enough for pansies.

 This was her last day as a one year old!

 Retreat!

 They loved the parade...

 ...but the loud sirens made them want to cuddle with Mommy.

We fit in a little geocaching (but we didn't find the cache!)

 Addie's party had simple decorations a la Soule Mama.

I love iris.  They remind me of the beloved time spent on my uncle's farm in Tennessee.

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Please join me for the Eco-Kids Linky!  I hope that you'll share some great family-friendly posts that are also friendly for the environment. Some ideas include:

•  Nature Activities
• Outdoor Activities
• Crafts made with re-purposed or recycled materials
• Sewing and DIY home projects
• Science Experiments
• Posts on environmental issues for kids or families
• Non-toxic living
• Homeopathic Remedies

Eco-Kids Tuesdays is co-hosted by Organic Aspirations and Like Mama~Like Daughter. This means that anything you link-up shows up on both blogs!
Feel free to link up several of your posts.

There are only a few rules:

Please follow both co-hostess' blogs, and visit some of the other posts and give them some encouragement!   Please stick to posts and photos not giveaways or items for sale.

By linking up, you are agreeing that Organic Aspirations or Like Mama~Like Daughter can feature your photos next week with a link back to your site.  

 Please link back to my site using this button:

<a href="http://organicaspirations.blogspot.com
 /search/label/Eco%20Kids" target="_blank"><img
src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r577/Becki_Lewis/EcoKidsTuesdays.jpg" alt="Organic Aspirations" width="125" height="125" /></a>

Happy Earth Day and Eco Kids

Can I just first say sorry to all who were worried abut me Tuesday when I didn't post Eco Kids.  Seriously, I had my kids in the car, dressed, fed, and ready to play at the park in the good weather bright and early.  As I was pulling into the park, however, I realized that it was Tuesday, and that I did not put my Eco Kids up OR share the code with Hannah.  *sigh*

For Earth Day, we decided to volunteer for Collier Township's Annual Keep Collier Beautiful Day.

Photo by Sal Sirabella

We were assigned to the place where we probably would have spent our Saturday anyway, the Panhandle Trail. We collected about four or five bags of trash, but it was sad that there was an entire hillside of trash that we couldn't clean up because we had the kids with us.

We suspected that some of the mess was left over from the flooding cause by Ivan several years back, but many of the things left there were clearly things that people had no other way of disposing of.  There were aerosol cans, tires, building supplies, oil change materials, and construction supplies.  Scott made a good point that there is no place in our area (that we know of) where people can easily take these hazardous materials for easy recycling or disposal.

I think he's right.  It's no excuse for dumping things on the trail, but maybe our public land would be more free of this garbage if people knew where to take it.  I did a bit of research on Earth 911, and there are some places to take some of these things near us.  Earth 911 is an easy site to use, you just type in your zip code and then click on what items you are trying to recycle or safely dispose of.

All in all, we were happy with all of the trash that we were able to pick up from one of our favorite trails, and it inspired us to bring a garbage bag when we geocache so that we can "cache in, trash out."  We won't be able to carry as much as we cleaned up today, but we saw that even a little bit would make a difference.

We decided (even before we won a raffle at the lunch) to make this fun and purposeful event a yearly tradition for our family.  On our way back to the car, we were pleased with how nice and clean the trail was, and we got some exercise, fresh air, and a few geocaches while we were at it!

Last week Eco Kids had an amazing week!  Thank you for over 90 entries!   Here are a few of my favorite entries:


Home Sewn Diapers by The Frugal Farm Wife


100 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day with Kids by Reading Confetti


Recycled Seed Planterss by Life with Moore Babies


If you were featured today, please share this button on your site!
 

<a href="http://organicaspirations.blogspot.com/search/label/Eco%20Kids" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r577/Becki_Lewis/FeaturedonEcoKidsTuesdays.jpg" alt="Organic Aspirations" width="125" height="125" /></a>

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Please join me for the Eco-Kids Linky!  I hope that you'll share some great family-friendly posts that are also friendly for the environment. Some ideas include:

•  Nature Activities
• Outdoor Activities
• Crafts made with re-purposed or recycled materials
• Sewing and DIY home projects
• Science Experiments
• Posts on environmental issues for kids or families
• Non-toxic living
• Homeopathic Remedies

Eco-Kids Tuesdays is co-hosted by Organic Aspirations and Like Mama~Like Daughter. This means that anything you link-up shows up on both blogs!
Feel free to link up several of your posts.

There are only a few rules:

Please follow both co-hostess' blogs, and visit some of the other posts and give them some encouragement!   Please stick to posts and photos not giveaways or items for sale.

By linking up, you are agreeing that Organic Aspirations or Like Mama~Like Daughter can feature your photos next week with a link back to your site.  

 Please link back to my site using this button:

<a href="http://organicaspirations.blogspot.com
 /search/label/Eco%20Kids" target="_blank"><img
src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r577/Becki_Lewis/EcoKidsTuesdays.jpg" alt="Organic Aspirations" width="125" height="125" /></a>

Making Recycled Mini-Greenhouses

With the return of warm weather comes the time to start the garden.  Although in many zones, seed can be sown directly into the ground now, chances are there are a few varieties of plant that should be started inside.  Some examples of plants that need an indoor start in most cases are peppers, tomatoes, and celery.  Rather than buy trays for starting your seeds, why not collect some of the plastic waste that is already in your recycling bin to reuse?  Milk jugs, vinegar jugs, and clear packages that often hold cupcakes or cookies make great mini-greenhouses.

Materials:

• Plastic containers
• Heavy duty scissors (a woodburning tool would also work well for this)
• Packing tape
• Soil
• Seeds

Directions:

1. For jugs, cut around the middle leaving the top and bottom connected in a small space.

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2. 2. Discard lids, and poke holes in the bottom for drainage.
3.  Add about three inches of soil, and soak the soil.  Let the soil drain completely before planting about four seeds.
4. Tape the jugs back together.  Supposedly you can leave these little greenhouses outside even in the winter, but thus far I've had better luck with the ones that only go outside on nice days.  
5. For the clear bakery containers, follow the same steps, but poke holes in the top and bottom.  There's no need for cutting or taping because the container opens nicely and snaps back shut.
6. Place containers next to a window that gets direct sunlight, and add a light if possible.

This week I'm featuring some of my favorite Eco Kids links from last week.  They are all great tips for using around the home:

10 Green Cleaning Essentials by Mums Make Lists

Homemade Orange ACV Cleaner by Scratch Mommy

DIY Flexible Icepacks by Homestead Dad

If you were featured today, please share this button on your site!
 

<a href="http://organicaspirations.blogspot.com/search/label/Eco%20Kids" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r577/Becki_Lewis/FeaturedonEcoKidsTuesdays.jpg" alt="Organic Aspirations" width="125" height="125" /></a>

***********

Please join me for the Eco-Kids Linky!  I hope that you'll share some great family-friendly posts that are also friendly for the environment. Some ideas include:

•  Nature Activities
• Outdoor Activities
• Crafts made with re-purposed or recycled materials
• Sewing and DIY home projects
• Science Experiments
• Posts on environmental issues for kids or families
• Non-toxic living
• Homeopathic Remedies

Eco-Kids Tuesdays is co-hosted by Organic Aspirations and Like Mama~Like Daughter. This means that anything you link-up shows up on both blogs!
Feel free to link up several of your posts.

There are only a few rules:

Please follow both co-hostess' blogs, and visit some of the other posts and give them some encouragement!   Please stick to posts and photos not giveaways or items for sale.

By linking up, you are agreeing that Organic Aspirations or Like Mama~Like Daughter can feature your photos next week with a link back to your site.  

 Please link back to my site using this button:

<a href="http://organicaspirations.blogspot.com
 /search/label/Eco%20Kids" target="_blank"><img
src="http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r577/Becki_Lewis/EcoKidsTuesdays.jpg" alt="Organic Aspirations" width="125" height="125" /></a>