Party Planning - WWYD?

Fletcher's birthday party is this weekend and we're planning a BBQ outside with some of his friends. They'll be going on a treasure hunt on our property, so we're sort of going with an "explorer" theme I guess you could say.

Instead of the typical party favors, we bought the kids aluminum water bottles that they can decorate, and some binoculars. We'll be doing pitchers of water, lemonade and tea, instead of bottled water or soda. We're trying to stay away from the usual waste that is created during kids' parties and make it as eco-friendly as possible.

The problem I'm running into is dishes. Since the party will be outside, and there will be children, I'm hesitant to use real plates and glasses. The kitchen is on the other side of the house, so it's not convenient to run dishes back and forth. Not to mention I really don't even have enough dishes for everyone, so it's not actually an option anyway.

So.... Would you go with paper plates that have a chance of actually biodegrading? I guess I could attempt to compost them, although that's a lot of paper to compost. Or would you perhaps buy plastic plates that can be used again and again over the years, but will eventually end up in a landfill somewhere? I hate buying plastic on purpose, so I'm really leaning away from that option. What about cups? Utensils?

Maybe I'll hit Whole Foods tomorrow and see if they have any compostable items.

I'm open to suggestions!

Green your dish washing {and a giveaway!}

So my dirty little kitchen secret is that I use those green Scotch Brite scrubby things. My mom always used them and so I use them too. It's one of those things you just do because it's the norm, ya know?

A few months ago I was talking to some other green beans about what they use in the kitchen. The two most popular tools were hand-knit dish cloths (kind of a cross between a sponge and a wash cloth I guess) and those plastic pot scrubbers that are roughly the size of a credit card.

I honestly didn't think either would meet my needs. The dish cloths certainly wouldn't scrub a baked-on caked-on pan clean and buying a plastic pot scrubber would really defeat the purpose of getting rid of the Scotch Brite in the first place.

After being shamed by my little green scrubbie every time I did dishes, day in and day out, I finally bit the bullet and found both of the recommended products.

These little bamboo pot scrubbers are only $1.95 at Green Feet! They have lots of cool stuff actually - bamboo utensils that would make great stocking stuffers, glasses made from recycled bottles, and much more.


And I found these dish cloths at Sassy Joy on Etsy and was lucky enough to get 3 for $4.50 during her grand reopening sale. Normally they are 3 for $9. They're really gorgeous and high-quality. I almost hate to clean a dirty dish with them!


If you'd like to try these dish towels out, just become a follower of my blog using that "Followers" section over there on the right. Once you have, let me know in the comments section. If you're already a follower, just leave a comment. I'll draw a name next Monday and notify the winner. I know you'll love these!

Less green in the wallet = less green at home?

As times get tighter and tighter here in the Brown household we seem to let some of our green ways go by the wayside. Does this happen in your household too?

Buying organic and/or locally grown food has just gotten too expensive. We still eat plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, but I buy the non-organic kind at Sunflower Market for dirt cheap. Rather than buying food as we need it, we stock up on things when they're on sale. Of course these aren't always the most healthy things. For example, I bought turkey dogs for the kids the other day because they were on sale for $.99 and I had a coupon for $1.00 off of 2 packages. So $.99 for what could be 2 weeks worth of lunches.

I really need to refocus in the food department. I saw a news clip a few weeks ago where a woman said "Why would spend so much on healthy food when I can get 2 hamburgers for a dollar?" I'm understanding this perspective a lot more these days. Don't get me wrong, times are not that tight. The Browns will continue to eat fruits and veggies and all the healthy food that we love, but I can see why -- especially when times are this tight -- people would make, say, a box of mac and cheese for $.29 instead of making it from scratch with organic ingredients for $3.00 - $5.00.

Another area where I've slacked off is in personal products. Rather than buying Tom's toothpaste, I've been buying what's on sale. A few weeks ago I found Colgate toothpaste on sale for $1 and I had a $1 off coupon. Can't beat free! So I stocked up since I had 3 coupons.

Instead of organic shampoo and conditioner for $8.00 or more per bottle, I bought an all-in-one (Pantene I think?) on sale at the drugstore for 2/$7 plus a $2 off coupon when you buy two. That's a LOT cheaper.

While I'm certainly proud of the money I've been saving by scouting out sales and coupons, I can't help but feel bad about backsliding.

Judging by a recent post by the Conscious Shopper on the Green Phone Booth blog, it seems that I'm not the only one wrestling with these issues. Erin's solution was to cut back in other areas so that she could continue to spend a little more on local and organic food.

How are you fairing in this sad economy? What sacrifices have you had to make? Where have you cut back?

Mountain Living

You might remember our Composting Conundrum from a few weeks ago. We decided just to keep the outdoor compost heap where it was -- about 300 feet from the house on the edge of the woods. After getting this from the HOA yesterday, we are rethinking our humming bird feeders though. This was just down the street from us...

Little gifts ~ Photo Envelope

Whew, July is a busy month! I'm stressing that there are still 8 more birthdays this month and I'm *really* trying to make all of the gifts, some of which have to be mailed out of state.


Both of our moms have birthdays around the 4th. As part of their gifts I gave them some of the family photos that we just had done (see our other blog for more photos!) in a little cloth photo envelope. This way they can carry them around in their purses and show everyone they meet...'cause that's how grandmas roll.

This was a great project for some of the smaller fabric scraps I'd been saving!

This one was for my mom, made from some of the same fabric I used to make her a little wallet for Christmas...


This one was for MIL who likes brighter colors...


And I made a few out of this fabric (actually an "upcycled" skirt) that I love. One is in my Etsy shop!


I think these are perfect for anyone who carries photos around to show - moms, grandmas, aunties, brides, those showing off a new house...anything. They're great for when you want to give someone a little gift to show you care.

I can't wait to try some in felted wool (a la Betz White) with a pretty little applique on the front. Of course, that will come after all of the July birthdays and the bazillion other projects I have in my queue. I did received Betz' book Sewing Green for my birthday (yay for not-so-subtle hints!) so I have all sorts of ideas lined up. Hmmm...maybe I should have asked for more time as a gift instead.

Patchwork Baby Quilt is DONE!

Just finished up with my first homemade gift of the season (The Gift Season, that is. We have 14 birthdays and several baby showers in July and August, so I've committed to making as many of the gifts as I can.)

So here is my very first ever patchwork baby quilt!


I think it came out well for a first try! I definitely learned a few lessons in the process. I sewed a set of blocks in backwards, so there were too many dark blue and brown on the right side and too many baby blue and patterned on the left. My sweet hubby assured me that no one would ever notice, so I opted to leave it that way. I thought I was being so careful to keep in all in order. :(

I had planned to use the easy way out with binding and just wrap the backing around to the front. The backing I used was way to stretchy and thick to do that though. I ended up sewing the front and back right sides together and flipping it out. It would have been so much cuter with a binding on it though.

You can see the soft blue backing in this photo. I added these little taggie ribbons as a last minute thought.


I appliqued this little felt pup...


...embroidered "bark"...


...and put on a few little felt bones as well.

I'm really pleased, even though it's not professional quality, it's still a nice little accomplishment for me and I hope it will make a great gift! I think the next one I try will be a little lap quilt for my living room. After birthday season is over, of course.

Composting Conundrum II

I'm feeling a little guilty and could use some moral direction today.

I believe firmly in composting. It's not that we waste a lot of food but, with six people in our house, we do have a lot of food scraps - banana, apple and orange peels, stems and such from fresh vegetables, and other odds and ends. We empty our compost bucket outside once every few days.


Our outside bin is an open air type, which we chose specifically for our location. (That's a photo of it from last summer when it was first built.) Living in the mountains, we have a lot of wild life. When we first moved in, a bear broke into our "bear-proof" garbage corral. Heck, we even have a squirrel who ate through the lid of our plastic trash can. So most of the plastic composting bins available just wouldn't cut it for our needs. The animals would destroy them.

We decided if we can't beat them, we'd let them help. Super Uncle created a three-sided open bin, built on the side of a hill, to throw scraps into. The animals would have free access. If they went mulling through it, then at least they were helping us by turning it.

Thus far we haven't had any issues. The deer stay away from it (possibly because we throw hair in there from our bathroom compost). The fox pokes around once in awhile. We had a regular bear visitor last summer, but again, I never saw him eating from the compost -- he much preferred to destroy our trash cans.

So.......all that said, this week a bear attacked a llama in our neighborhood. (Yes, it does feel very funny to type that sentence, but hey, we live in the mountains, stuff like that really happens.) Now we're getting "gentle reminders" from our HOA. Stuff like,

"This could have easily happened to you, your pets or children there are a few people who are throwing table scraps out for the wild life, leaving smelly trash out and now we have 2 separate bears to deal with a black one and this brown one none of them have human fear. Living here on our mountain is a privilege because we get to witness the wild life but when we deliberately attract them to us we are planning a sure death for these wonderful animals who share their mountain with us humans. As responsible people we should know that by not doing the above we don't put the bears, mountain lions at risk."

What's a green bean to do? I don't want to throw our scraps in the garbage and send them to the landfill to create more methane gas. On the other hand I don't want to endanger neighborhood pets and children (which probably more important) or threaten the animals themselves. Okay, and I got this really cool bamboo compost bucket for my birthday so I could finally retire the old plastic ice cream container I've used for the last two years.
Anyway... I was thinking that vermicomposting might be an option. We don't have a basement or a garage though. The only spot I can think of is the laundry room. Does vermicomposting smell? I'll have to research that since I'd hate for my laundry to smell like compost.

The other idea I'm keen on right now is pigs. From what I can understand though, it seems like pigs are an April to September thing in this area as you don't want to have them outside in the winter. So that wouldn't solve my table scrap issue the rest of the year, but I'm still thinking of them for other reasons (very locally grown, organic meat). I think I have a lot of convincing to do before that happens though.

So any other ideas? Advice? What would you do about the composting?