HOW TO: Make Organic Frozen Watermelon Pops

Summer is really heating up and cooling down by making homemade organic frozen watermelon pops is super fun for kids and adults alike. Finding frozen snacks that are great for your child and the environment can be a little tough at the grocery store, but you can concoct frozen snacks that are packed full of vitamins when you make them yourself using watermelon. Since watermelon is packed with H20, making frozen watermelon pops is a snap. Not to mention, since the fruit is super sweet on it’s own, there is no need for added sugars. These cool sweet treats have zero packaging waste and no artificial colors or flavors, but they’re still a huge hit with everyone in my family. Eben and I made a batch of these and you can too in just a few simple steps.

Happy 4th of July Weekend + A Few Green Things

Hello, Friends. Happy Fourth of July weekend. What special plans do you have for the long weekend? Today, Eben and I are venturing over to our lovely friend’s house for a dip in the pool, followed by an early dinner with another dear family friend – the perfect start to a long weekend.

The rest of the weekend, we plan to make Fourth of July inspired goodies, enjoy long lazy days at the beach and evenings full of chilling and grilling. We will be spending the majority of the weekend with family and friends, which makes a long weekend even better, no?

While I check off everything on my sustainable Fourth of July ideas checklist, here are a few green things to take you into the long weekend:

– An easy vegetarian Fourth of July feast. Yum.
– I am so happy these little goats were saved.
– These haunting photos of icebergs took my breath away!
– This raw taco fiesta looks delicious!
– I love these natural rubber stamps. Sweet.
Homemade banana pudding. Yes, please.
– I love this wooden pop-up lion toy!
– There is still time to enter the Biggs and Featherbelle Giveaway.
– Update: Noodles (intro photo) is still doing great! Thanks for asking.

Have a safe, fun and eco-friendly 4th of July weekend. I will see you back here on Tuesday.

xo,
Sweet Greens

HOW TO: Make a Nature Mobile with your Child

Summer is the perfect time to spend quality time with your child creating nature inspired art. For your first project, try a simple nature mobile – it will only take a few minutes to assemble, and your child will delight in making art from nature. Art that is made using natural elements that you can find all around you is a fun way to incorporate science and botany into your everyday routine. The next time that you take a walk around your neighborhood or spend the afternoon exploring your own backyard, take a few moments to collect natural pieces to use in your artwork. Read on for easy how to instructions for creating a nature mobile – Eben and I had a blast completing this simple project.

** When I told Eben that we were making a  “nature mobile”, he thought we were making an automobile – he was so confused at first! It was so cute.

Good Green Fun: Florida Oceanographic Society | Stuart, Florida

Yesterday, we spent the day at the Florida Oceanographic Society, located in Stuart, Florida. The Florida Oceanographic Society is a no-profit organization with the mission of inspiring environmental stewardship of Florida’s coastal ecosystems through education and research.

The Florida Oceanographic Society is a 57-acre marine life nature center located on Hutchinson Island. They have a fantastic collection of sea turtles, sting rays, nurse sharks, fish and birds.

We spent part of the afternoon watching their 10-month of green sea turtle cruise around in his tank and the octopus (that was saved from a crab trap) as he climbed around in his tank. Then, we ventured outside to the large touch tanks where we were able to touch and feed sting rays, manta rays, horseshoe crabs, starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers.

Then, it was off for an hour long hike through the nature paths, stopping along the way to check out the fiddler crabs and blue crabs that crossed our paths. And of course, Mr. Sweet Greens and Eben had to stop and check out any living creatures along the coastline.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent watching the large marine animals (sea turtles, nurse sharks and assorted fish) being feed, followed by quietly observing a tiny mother Killdeer sitting on her nest. She was so dedicated and didn’t budge when we experienced a five minute downpour! Fantastic. Can you find her?

Eben said that this was his favorite Florida adventure to date and can’t wait to go back. If you are visiting the treasure coast or happen to live within driving distance, I highly recommend planning to spend the day at the Florida Oceanographic Society learning about our fantastic waters and the creatures that inhabit them. I am looking into their summer camp for Eben too! You can also support the Florida Oceanographic Society here.

+ Florida Oceanography Society
890 Northeast Ocean Boulevard
Stuart, Florida
772-225-0505

Advertising Space | July 2011

Hello, Friends! I have a few advertising spots available for July if you are interested. These spots are perfect for Etsy shops, green businesses and green lifestyle bloggers.

If you feel your Etsy shop, group, blog or business is a good fit with Sweet Greens and are interested in advertising, just drop me a note and I will send you my full media kit. I have a ton of great green giveaways, guest bloggers, lovely how to projects, fantastic green products to feature, lots of little surprises and a lot of little surprises for the months to come. Advertising on Sweet Greens is a fantastic way to boost your sales and get great exposure!

I am a work at home green mom who completely understands that cost of raising a family, so I keep the rates reasonable – anyone who wants to can advertise on Sweet Greens. As a special bonus, I will help your shop get more exposure by introducing your shop to all of my readers in an introductory post and will also share your shop with my Facebook Fans and Twitter followers.

I would love for you to join Sweet Greens.

photo credit