Sweet Greens
Your Earth Friendly Guide to All Things Green | Green Parenting | Eco Kids | Green Families
A couple of months ago, I was interviewed by Orlando Family Magazine for a piece of reducing food waste by making small changes that can overall have a large impact environmentally and can save you money too. I am excited to announce the issue is now available on news stands – and you can also read it online here. It has a lot of great ideas to get you started.
The Easter Bunny is hopping down the trail, and it’s high time to decorate your Easter eggs! Think outside the store bought egg dyeing kit, which is typically loaded with artificial colors and superfluous packaging, and make your eggs look fantastic in a more eco-friendly fashion. If you want your efforts to last indefinitely, we suggest you use these reusable ceramic eggs, which are also an ideal choice for vegans. Jump over to Inhabitots where I feature 7 super creative ways to make your eggs spring to life, and you can make them alongside your kids using supplies that you probably already have on hand.
photo credit Shutterstock via Inhabitots
Even if you don’t have a green thumb when it comes to gardening – you can’t go wrong with organic succulents. I have them all over my home, they are easy to take care of and come in quirky shapes and sizes. Eben has recently shown quite an interest in succulents – remember this indoor succulent garden he made for my birthday? Whenever we are visiting our local organic nursery, he is immediately drawn to the exotic plants. Anything that comes in a quirky shape, color or texture he finds very interesting and enticing. I thought it would be fun to put together a succulent garden that would be entirely his own. We picked up a few of his favorite succulents, grabbed some supplies from our garage and a handful of small dinosaurs from his toy closet and went to work. What we created is a fun and quirky garden for his bedroom that he was able to create entirely by himself – read on for the simple directions:
1. Gather the Supplies
2. Get Planting
Start by adding a layer of rocks to the bottom of your container, keeping your layers as even as possible. Follow by adding the organic cactus potting soil on top of the rocks. Then, arrange and add the plants to the container, leaving enough space for the plants to spread out as they grow.
3. Dip Paint and Add the Dinosaurs
I gave Eben a set of eco-friendly craft paints to add a little more color to the small dinosaur toys. He simply sponged a little color on them to give them a little pop of color – leaving some of the original color underneath. When they were dry, he added them to the garden.
4. Display and Enjoy the Succulent Garden
We placed the finished garden in a sunny spot on his desk in his bedroom – he enjoys rearranging the dinosaurs, showing it to friends and family who visit our home and sharing the thoughts that it evokes, that is what creative gardening is really about.
EXCITING NEWS: This organic succulent garden with paint dipped dinosaurs will be featured in the spring issue of Green Child Magazine as the Earth Day project. So fun!
Every year for either my birthday or Mother’s Day, Eben gives me an organic plant. This year, he surprised me with a bunch of organic plants – an indoor succulent garden. It sits on our living room coffee table and makes me smile every time I see it.
Do you have organic succulent gardens in your home?
P.S. Do you remember the birthday project that Eben gave the mister a few years ago? The lemon tree has grown quite a bit – giving us yummy lemons all season long.
Happy Valentine’s Day Friends! Are you doing anything special to celebrate today? Eben hasn’t been feeling well – it’s seems the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day is sneaking up on him! I have his Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt ready to go, I hope he is feeling up to it. Then, I am planning a heart themed dinner tonight – and it just might be pancakes. It has been one of those weeks. Ha!
I hope you have a special day full of fun and snuggles from the ones you love – Have a lovely Valentine’s Day!
xo,
Sweet Greens
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p.s. I woke up this morning to find a valentine waiting for me on the dining room table. This pink and red letter was filled with the most beautiful words from the mister – it was the best Valentine’s Day gift ever.