Love Your Mother Earth

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, why not show your love for mom and the planet with some great green gifts.

1. Instead of cut flowers which only last a few days, buy mom a potted plant, a plant for her garden, or plant her an organic herb garden she can enjoy throughout the year.

2. Treat your mom to a day at an eco-friendly spa or put together a home spa gift basket. Find a fun reusable container and fill it with natural, organic, and paraben free spa products.

3. Give mom some sweets. In honor of World Fair Trade Day on May 9th, give mom a fair-trade and organic chocolate sampler or bake a batch of homemade organic cookies with chips from www.sweetearthchocolates.com

4. Encourage mom to go green by giving her a reusable tote, a reusable water bottle, and a book on living greener.

5. Cut down on waste by giving mom a day of fun and enjoy some special time together - take a trip to a local museum, head to the beach, pack a picnic and go on a bike ride, or head to the local theater for a play.

First Garden

The kitchen staff harvested the first vegetables from the White House garden, including oak leaf lettuce, red romaine, speckled lettuce, fennel and rhubarb last week. That evening President Obama and his economic advisers, dined on "White House kitchen garden salad with spiced Marcona almonds and lemon tarragon vinaigrette" which included lettuces and fennel fresh from the garden. In the Navy Mess, the administration staff enjoyed a garden thyme garnish and three types of lettuce. The kitchen staff was "thrilled to use produce from the White House kitchen garden," said White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford. "It is so exciting to see our efforts turn into usable goods.” The White House donated the rhubarb to Miriam's Kitchen who provides healthy homemade meals to the homeless in Washington D.C. Miriam's will use it to make a strawberry-rhubarb sauce for the mini cheesecakes it is serving at 100 Bowls of Compassion, its annual gala. In the future the bulk of the produce donated to Miriam's will be used for client meals.

Feeling motivated by the White House garden's delicious harvest? Start planning your own garden today. My husband planted some pineapples this weekend in our yard and I worked on planning our fall garden. Need some inspiration for your garden - check out www.organicgardening.com

Phonebook Overload

Well it's that time again - new phonebook delivery time. In the next few weeks, phonebook companies will deposit their huge phonebooks on my doorstep. Their are two reasons that I get annoyed by all the phone books - first, I rarely use a phonebook as I tend to look up numbers on the internet and second phonebooks are a big burden on the environment - their printing require tons of paper & ink.

Now I need to unload last year's phonebook and the numerous unnecessary editions I will receive this year. Fortunately I can recycle the unwanted books in my newspaper recycling bin, check www.earth911.org to see how to recycle phonebooks in your community. Since reducing is always better than recycling, I wish the companies would change their delivery system and only deliver books to those homes that actually want them.

This lead me to do some research online to see if there was a way to stop phonebook delivery and was very pleased with what I found. To opt out of phonebook delivery visit http://www.paperlesspetition.org

Hopefully next year I will not have a mountain of phonebooks destined for my recycling bin.

Simple Steps to Greener Living

Ready to start living a greener lifestyle, but feeling a little overwhelmed? Not sure where to start? Here are ten simple things you can do this weekend and still have time left over to nap in the hammock.

1. Switch your conventional lightbulbs to Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs).

2. It's spring - open up the windows and let some fresh air in instead of running the air conditioner.

3. Clean or replace your air conditioning filter and put reminders on your calendar to complete this task monthly.

4. Hang your sheets on the clothesline to dry. What a blissful way to fall asleep - under fresh, clean sheets dried in the sun.

5. Buy and install a low-flow shower head.

6. Check to make sure your car's tires are properly inflated to save on gas.

7. Make up a batch of homemade earth-friendly cleaners with items found in your pantry. Check my archives for some easy recipes.

8. Tackle some of your weekend errands on your bike.

9. Go meatless this Sunday.

10. Shop your local farmer’s market. You will enjoy fresher fruits and veggies while supporting local growers.