I’ve recently realized that the foods that thrive right here in my local community gardens have somehow become more exotic to most families (including mine, until recently) than mainstream items like oranges or bananas.  My grandparents generation regularly ate homegrown cabbage or beets, but today these are somewhat of a culinary rarity in many households.

Our family’s vegetable vocabulary was much smaller until just a few months ago.  Since joining a CSA, I’m humbled by just how ignorant I was about the range of produce available.  We ate the same ten types of veggies most of the time and rarely tried anything outside our repertoire.  Then we got a rutabaga.   

Of course, I had no clue what this alien veggie was even called until I looked it up on our CSA website.  Previously, I had only used rutabaga as a nickname for my infant, but I had no idea how to prepare it. 

After looking in the Joy of Cooking for a simple recipe, I found that it was easier than I imagined.  I peeled, sliced, and sautéed the rutabaga with a bit of red wine vinegar, a few herbs and some salt.  The result was incredible!  The rutabaga flesh was buttery and smooth, with a taste that my toddler loved. 

After that first success, I’ve learned that there are so many simple ways to prepare the veggies outside my comfort zone.  I’ve thrown red cabbage, kale, leeks, and potatoes into frittatas and stir fries with great success.  There’s really no recipe required!  Just chop veggies, sauté them and season for stir fry or toss in eggs and cheese for frittatas. 

My best adventure was making homemade pizza with sausage, leeks, and red chard.  It was a great success and everyone loved the veggies I slipped in!  So, if you’re wanting your toddler to develop a healthy palate, you can take the lead by throwing some unique produce in your cart or planting them in your raised beds.  Enjoy!

National Geographic’s “Green Guide” ranked my hometown of Eugene, Oregon, as the greenest city in America back in 2006.  Popular Science makes us the fifth greenest this year and Forbes magazine puts us in ninth place.  That’s not bad for our mini-metropolis when you consider that there are thousands of contenders. 

So what is it like to live in this green wonderland?  GLORIOUS! Here are some common Eugene sights that you’ll notice as you wander our streets:

More gardens, less lawns. Many Eugene residents have replaced all or part of their lawns with food-producing gardens or flowerbeds.  Many of the people who do have lawns simply let them die out rather than using precious water on them over the summer.  When the fall rains return, so do our lush lawns. 

Compost bins galore. There are homemade contraptions and sophisticated manufactured containers, but they are plopped in the majority of yards here.  Some families are even brewing up their own compost tea for use in their gardens.  To see how to make your own bin, check out this post of ours. 

Rooftop solar devices. Some of these produce energy and others heat water for household use.  EWEB, our community owned power supplier, provides zero interest loans for people who want to use solar power to make their homes more energy efficient. 

Huge recycling bins and tiny trash containers. Sanipac, our local waste management company, provides curbside recycling for just about anything you can imagine, except for Styrofoam.  We can toss take-out containers, individual yogurt cups, newspapers, magazines, aluminum cans, cardboard, and most kinds of plastic into our giant recycling tub without sorting.  Since we also have curbside pick up for yard debris and many of us compost, our trash ends up being pretty miniscule. 

Fabulous food choices. Vegetarians and vegans can get just about anything they can imagine here and organic options abound.  At pot lucks there are usually several meatless dishes and grocery stores are loaded with healthy, eco-friendly foods.

Bikers everywhere. This town was built for bikes.  We have streamside bike trails that run from east to west and loads of bike lanes all through downtown.  Plus, our buses allow people to load their cycles up and find creative ways to commute. 

Is there a drawback to this glorious city of ours?  Hmm…. If so, I haven’t found it yet.  Hopefully this post won’t cause thousands more people to flock to our happy little city, although if you’re looking for a family friendly, eco-friendly city, Eugene is the place to be!

Having a blog with thousands of loyal readers is a great way to feel accountable for those Earth Day Resolutions that sometimes fall by the wayside in the midst of raising a family.  I’m happy to report that we’ve made some progress toward accomplishing our green goals for the coming year in just a few months.

Green groceries:  B+    

We struggled with finding reasonably priced organic produce without driving all over town.  Thank goodness for our CSA!  I have to admit that some pieces of random produce have perished in our fridge but it has provided a wonderful variety of veggies and fruits that usually make it into our menus.

Eco-friendly transport:  A

We just purchased a 2001 Honda Civic to replace the 4 Runner we had been borrowing for the last eight years.  The Civic’s average gas mileage is a whopping ten miles per gallon more than the 4 Runner and I can almost feel the lighter carbon load while I drive.  As if the fuel efficiency wasn’t enough, this particular Civic happens to be forest green.  It was meant to be! 

Energy efficient lighting: C

I have replaced about half of the lights in our home with compact fluorescents, but we now have two halogen light fixtures in our home.  I’m pretty sure they aren’t the most efficient bulbs but I do love the bright light they provide in our tiny kitchen and dark hallway. 

Potty training:   I

That’s an I for incomplete.  Roscoe now tells me right before he performs a bodily function, but doesn’t want to do it anywhere near a toilet.   We may need to break down and buy a more exciting potty to inspire him to help us out on this one.  Still, he’s quite young so we may just hold out and hope that his tiny bladder makes enough progress to get him in training pants someday soon. 

If I manage to overcome my last hurdles on these resolutions I may just have to set a few new goals for the months to come.  Change is a slow and overwhelming process, but it’s nice to look back and see that we are indeed making green progress.  It’s clumsy and imperfect, but we are stumbling in a forward direction.

It’s almost summer and with gas prices skyrocketing, global warming in full swing, and a toddler who loves to be outside, I’m longing to climb on my bike and pedal off into the sunset. But NOT WITH TOE CLIPS!!  You may think my fervor is a bit intense for the rather benign little stirrup that holds a cyclist’s shoe to the pedal, but you won’t after you read this post on my toe-clip trauma. 

Here is the synopsis:

On a family bike ride, my husband stopped short right in front of me.

As I careened toward the pavement, the toe clip trapped my foot.

I dislocated my arm and broke off a few bits as well.

I had to work several doctor’s appointments into my busy life.

I learned how to tote my toddler with one arm.

He’s learned how to cling onto me like a monkey (with sound effects) and climb into his car seat.

Then, I had surgery to fix the nerve so that I could again bend my arm.

A week later, with an arm that is still black and blue and won’t move, the surgeon has told me tat I’ll have to undergo another more invasive surgery to ensure that I can get my range of motion back. 

That means more monkey clinging, more purple arm, and more frustration with the fact that I need two arms to juggle this very full life of mine. 

Have you removed your toe clips yet?  Please go do so before summer bike rides, pavement collisions and future surgeries.  And every time you bend and straighten your arms do so with gratitude—it’s harder than it seems!

A few years ago when I was pregnant with Roscoe, I had a sudden Saturday urge to grow zucchini and hustled off to the hardware store to buy the wares for a small raised bed.  I sat in our driveway with the drill and awkwardly put together a rather pathetic little garden box that has nonetheless yielded some beautiful basil and tomatoes over the last few summers.  In this photo Roscoe is trying to prevent the weed-filled bed from being captured on film. 

This year with the help of my neighbors, I plan on putting together a more respectable raised bed.  Although I could just plop the plants in the dirt, raised beds provide excellent drainage for plants and also allow you to heap in all your own rich new soil. 

If you’d like directions on how to build one yourself, go to this website and check it out.  Then get some dirt, dump in those plants and see what happens.  (One tip: some websites recommend using pressure treated wood or painting the wood with stain, but you might not want those chemicals leaching into your plants.  We just chose to skip that step.)

If you have lawn you’d like to cover with raised beds, you don’t have to worry about digging out the sod.  Our neighbors gave us the great tip of going to a bike shop and getting large cardboard boxes.  Simply place the boxes along the bottom of your raised beds to stop the grass from growing up through your garden.  Then pile the dirt on top and you’re ready to go!

Squash, sweet potatoes, zucchini,  cauliflower, and sweet peas are just a few of the plants that you can easily turn into organic baby food as they are harvested.  Remember that home-prepared spinach, beets, turnips, carrots or collard greens shouldn’t be fed to babies younger than six months because of the high level of nitrates they contain. 

If you need further inspiration to grow your own organic vegetables, check out Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  It documents her family’s year of living off the land and is full of her rich and often funny descriptive writing.  You’ll also find yourself motivated to hit the farmer’s market and maybe even plant your own asparagus.  Enjoy the sunshine!

If both parents have demanding careers and multiple children, how do they manage things like washing cloth diapers, composting, making healthy dinners and spending time with baby? There are also some single parents out there who are handling full-time schedules and parenting while keeping the planet in mind. How do they do it?  I am utterly in awe of people who can juggle so much without feeling overwhelmed. 

My husband and I both work thirty-some hours per week and yet we find the balance of a two career family rather precarious at times. Over the last few weeks illness and injury has made the daily challenge of laundry and homemade dinners seem ever greater.   I often long for take-out, or look lustfully at the frozen entrees in the grocery store,  knowing that those convenience items are designed for the hectic, dual income family.  Even though I’m often overwhelmed,  I don’t want to give into the urge to buy disposable, convenience items, saving time while potentially harming the planet.  At this point it seems we should be able to handle some extra time for green choices since we have just one child, we both work equally hard on domestic tasks, and neither of us are working full time.

I’ve been wondering lately if it would actually be greener for one of us to quit working outside the home. It’s hard to say, but I do have visions of myself cooking up batches of homemade yogurt, biking everywhere with our son, and canning veggies that I’ve grown in our organic garden. On the other hand, I know from having summers off, that the reality of staying home is much more challenging and less productive than I imagine.  It’s WONDERFUL having lots of fun with my son, but I haven’t yet managed to weave organic clothing from the cotton that’s sprouted in my backyard. 

Since my teaching job provides our health insurance, I don’t foresee taking a leave of absence anytime soon. We just might find in the years to come that my husband is the one to be home with the children, which would still provide us with lots of family time to share during school breaks and holidays.

Really it isn’t fair to pick a winner in the working vs. stay-at-home debate since there are so many creative solutions available to families today.  Many parents have found ways to work at home, work part time, or take a leave of absence for a few years before heading back to their jobs. There is no absolutely right or wrong option, but it definitely seems like having more time at home allows parents to enjoy a more earth-friendly lifestyle.  Since summer is just a few weeks away, I’m counting the days until I get to enjoy a few months of stay-at-home motherhood—even if it’s just as a temp. 

Toe clips are the new bane of my existence.   A few weeks ago while endeavoring to save the earth by riding our bicycles, my husband made an unexpected (to me) stop just in front of me in our driveway.  Instead of pulling forward and running over my son in the bike trailer I too tried to stop suddenly.  As my bike slowly tipped toward the cement, I struggled in vain to pull my foot out from its toe clip and ended up sticking out my arm instead.  Crack! 

I knew it was broken right away but didn’t realize it was also quite dislocated. As Roscoe chanted “Uh-oh Mama,” I wondered whether I would actually be able to pull myself off the pavement.  I lay there ungracefully sprawled out for few moments, using Lamaze breathing to try not to descend into shock.  Some very kind passersby stopped to help, the neighbors volunteered to take Roscoe, and we were off to the hospital in search of healing and relief in the form of morphine.

Despite the pain and the long emergency room ordeal, I am very grateful for the small things that have made this bearable.  Here are the lessons that I’ve learned that (abstractly) relate to living green.

• Local is Better: Thank goodness it happened in our driveway rather than a few miles away!

• Community Counts: Friends, neighbors, and family cooked for us, babysat and let me take long naps.  We are so grateful to have a circle of support.

• Children Need To Be Empowered:  Roscoe can do more than I realized and having one arm has helped me allow him more independence.  He now climbs into his car seat by himself and walks more than ever before since I can’t lug him around as much.

• Cloth Diapering Is Shockingly Easy: If I can change a poopy cloth diaper with one arm and a squirmy son, surely anyone can! 

Now that my arm brace is off and I’m slowly improving my range of motion, I hope to be back on the bike before summer begins.  In the meantime, I’m feeling gratitude for all the things I once took for granted, like scratching my nose, having two arms for toddler tending, and being able to type this blog.  

You may recall from my Earth Day Resolution blog that I’m a struggling grocery shopper. Deciding what’s for dinner is hard enough, but figuring out how to get healthful eco-friendly food for reasonable prices has felt nearly impossible.  I want my child to munch on organic fruits and veggies, but when I see the prices my inner tightwad has a nervous breakdown. 

I’ve only been a Community Supported Agriculture member for one week, but already I feel vastly better about our family’s grocery habits.  Wondering what a CSA is? It’s a farm that provides seasonal organic produce directly to community members for a regular monthly price.  In our case we pay $135 each month for weekly bags chock full of organic goodies.  Click here for more info on CSA’s in general and here to find out if there’s one in your area.

Our CSA, Sweetwater Farm, allows people to join a month at a time so I was able to make the giant leap over to a farm subscription without worrying about a year-long commitment. After just one week we love it, and here’s why:

It’s easy!  Every Thursday we head to a shopping center close to our home to pick up our bag of mystery veggies and fruits.  They’re fresh, mostly local and so very good for us.  I don’t have to run around town to get the best prices or scrub my non-organic veggies to get the sludge off. 

It inspires healthy eating.  My friend Andy lost 18 pounds when she joined her CSA just because she found herself surrounded by glorious wholesome foods and subsequently began eating better each week.  She ended up quitting Weight Watchers but sticking with her CSA.

It gets us out of our comfort zone.  The idea of getting a large bag full of unknown produce was daunting at first, but already we’ve had some amazing meals with cabbage, asparagus, and fingerling potatoes that I wouldn’t have picked up on regular trips to the grocery store.

It exposes our toddler to a variety of produce. He’s still young enough not to stick out his tongue when we pile veggies onto his plate.  If he gets accustomed to eating lots of green stuff now, we may be able to avoid the long “cheese pizza” phase that some youngsters undergo.  (My fingers are crossed!) 

It comes with recipes. Last night I made an amazing frittata with Swiss chard and earlier this week we ate a scrumptious stir fry with cabbage and fresh asparagus.  I NEED weekly ideas for meals so this has been a treat!

It sends money directly to farmers. When we buy produce at the grocery store a tiny fraction ends up in the hands of the people who labored to grow the food.  With a CSA your money goes directly to the grower, so  you are sustaining your local economy, eating organic food for less, and helping the planet. 

We’re certainly spending more than we did on produce, but that motivates us to value our veggies and buy less meat, which happens to be environmentally beneficial as well.  My only regret in joining a CSA is that I didn’t do it sooner. What are your tips for finding good prices on organic fruits and vegetables?  

Wow, it’s baby’s first Earth Day today!  What will your tot do to ring in the occasion?  What–you haven’t planned it yet?  Here are some last-minute Earth Day ideas to celebrate with your little one.

Plant a tree.  Stick a tree in the ground this Earth Day and watch it grow with your tyke.  My sister and I both had our “own” apricot trees to admire throughout our childhoods.  If every American family planted just one tree, the existing CO₂ in the atmosphere would reduced by one billion pounds annually!

Give a tree.  The Ecobaby Blog had a great idea for a baby shower present: give a tree!  Now you know what to get that special someone today.  For Roscoe’s baby shower Joy received an apple seedling along with a copy of The Giving Tree, which turned out to be her favorite gift.

Volunteer.  Because Joy met her husband at an Earth Day volunteer activity nine years ago, they are planning on taking Roscoe to a work party to promote native species in their local parks.  Let’s hope Roscoe will save more plants than he rips out of the ground.  Here are links to national volunteer projects that coordinate with Earth Day.

Rent a movie.  If you’re experiencing colder-than-usual temperatures this Earth Day, you may not have the motivation to dig a hole in the mud for your carbon-dioxide-zapping tree.  In that case, perhaps an educational movie about the environment would be in order.  Treehugging Family came up with a list of Earth-loving movies for kids and adults.

Make some Earth Day resolutions.  Earth Day is the perfect time to reflect on ecological failings (here are Joy’s and mine) and then make some resolutions for the following year (Joy and I did that here and here).

What will you be doing to celebrate Earth Day?  How will you involve your little one in this eco-revelry?  Post a comment and let us know.  Happy Earth Day, everyone!

Growing up, frugality was more of a lifestyle than a choice. Even though my parents didn’t necessarily practice penny pinching with the environment in mind, many of their cost-saving practices were eco-friendly as well.  My sister and I thought that showering consisted of getting wet, turning off the water to “soap up” and then following with a quick rinse.  We flattened aluminum cans for the recycling bin and took the compost out without any realization that we were helping the environment.  However, through the practice of penny pinching we did learn that our resources are precious.

Although it may sound like I lived a horribly deprived childhood, the truth is that many of our thrifty practices were quite adventurous. Instead of going to Maui, my family spent our vacations camping in Oregon rainforests or visiting relatives, where we often set up sleeping bags on the living room floor.  On car trips we had picnics at rest areas rather than swinging through fast food restaurants.  No one in my family ever belonged to a gym, but we enjoyed nightly moonlit family beach walks near my home to stay healthy and enjoy the outdoors. 

Roscoe Goes Beachwalking 

Now that I’m in my mid thirties, I’ve learned to appreciate my quirky saving skills and all the benefits they’ve brought to me over the years. Having the ability to prioritize my values and then differentiate between wants and needs has been an extremely helpful skill.  I was able to pay off huge graduate school loans in four years on a starting teacher’s salary because of extreme (and sometimes neurotic) tightwaddery. Most of the time, all that penny pinching had huge advantages for the environment as well.  I biked for transportation whenever possible and bought most of my clothing at thrift shops.  To cut grocery costs, I ate very little meat and rarely purchased convenience foods.

As a parent, I find that all that self-restraint ends up providing personal freedom in more ways than one. Financially, it has allowed us the freedom to take more time with our son and relax about the costs of having a child.  We want to model thriftiness and living simply right from the start with Roscoe.

With that in mind, we outfitted most of Roscoe’s nursery with used furniture, dress him in quality hand-me-downs and use cloth diapers.  Roscoe doesn’t eye his crib with disdain and will never care that another soul has worn his clothes before him, but the cost savings are phenomenal.

Even though as a teenager I swore I would live a more luxurious life someday, I now have a great appreciation for my frugal roots.  When Roscoe grows up a bit and resents the simple life, I’ll remind myself that in the long run, we’re giving him the gift of self-reliance, self-restraint, and an environment that’s just a little bit cleaner.

Roscoe Enjoys Cost-Free Fun on The Playground Slide