{ Green }

The past year we have really made a huge effort to green-up our lifestyles. I'm really proud at how far we have come in such a short amount of time! While we are by no means perfect, I feel that every one thing we can do matters. I was so proud of my son when I found him lecturing his grandfather about not recycling. He was telling him what he can recycle and wanted to know why he wants to kill the Earth-lol. My son was so bothered by his non-Eco ways that he tried to bring his recyclable garbage home with us-a 2 hour drive. My little environmentalist!

• We make our own earth friendly laundry detergent(which works awesome!)
• 75% organic diet at this point
• Cloth Shopping Bags
• Cut our trash out put by about 65% by recycling everything possible
• Upcycling fabrics into new clothing for my children
• Breastfeeding-& cloth nursing pads
• No BPA, Paraben, GMO items as much as possible
• Vegetarian family
• Have a huge garden this summer, including the yummy tomato's above
• Buy local! We visit the local farmers market every Saturday. There is a lovely organic farmer we buy from there.
• Buy in Bulk whenever possible to avoid excessive packaging-gotta love Wholefoods
• Cloth Napkins
• Reusing glass jars and anything else we can find a use for.
• Reduce-Reuse-and then-Recycle

Every little bit helps! I want to save as much of the planet as I possibly can for my children, grandchildren and beyond. If each of us makes knowledgeable, Eco-friendly choices we can change the world. While many of these items do cost more, I don't put a price on my families health. Battling cancer or diseases caused by the pollutants and food themselves is costly in the future. I would rather put that money towards prevention.

We have made sacrifices to help finance the extra costs associated with organic and all natural. All the things we had to cut out were no good for us anyways-processed food, snacks, sugar cereal, etc. We have maintained a healthy, organic diet on the same income we were using to eat before...which as a family of five, means a lot of food. Growing our own food in the summer really helps to supplement too-and it's so easy!