"Unless." Dr. Seuss

Happy Earth Day!

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,

Nothing is going to get better. It's not.”

Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

There are so many simple ways to celebrate Earth Day for both adults and children.  While its symbolic to do something specifically for Earth Day, small efforts and changes any day of the year can make a big difference.

Just a few ideas:

Organize/Volunteer to be part of a neighborhood clean up

Plant a tree

Go vegetarian one day per week

Buy local

Purchase a reusable water bottle instead of plastic bottles

Compost your garbage and utilize in your gardens

Stop littering

Recycle

Plant a garden

Educate your children about the environment

Walk or ride a bike if possible

Skip the lawn chemicals this year

Use natural household cleaners (e.g. vinegar) instead of harsh chemicals

Bring reusable bags to the store

When it comes to small children there are many fun spring time books that you can use as tools.  Two of my personal favorites are Dr. Seuss's The Lorax and Margret & H. A. Rey's Curious George Plants a Tree.  My son is just shy of 3 years old and we spend time talking about gardening, flowers, trees, pollution, recycling, etc.  We use simple terms and apply the concepts to daily life.  Children are like sponges - starting early discussions about how we can help the environment and how nature helps us can have a huge impact on their lives.  

Signs of Spring in the garden

Early Spring this year has been, well not so Spring - like.   I live in Northern Rhode Island, on the southeastern border of Massachusetts.  It's been fairly brisk and we have seen snow more than once since Spring's official start.  It's time to keep your eyes open for more welcome signs of Spring.  I even decided to create a sign or two for myself.  For example, I purchased some beautiful orange tulips and imaged how lovely they would look in my front garden with the yellow daffodils and red tulips that are beginning to pop out of the ground.  Every time I walked through the room, this simple sign of Spring made me smile.

We are finally starting to see a warm afternoon here and there.  It's a perfect time of year to start thinking about clean up from Winter and mapping out what you might want to see in your yard/garden this year.  My husband simply spent a couple hours on a couple occasions, clearing out old leaves that may have blown into the yard over the winter, as well as any trash/debris from the street, assessing our compost situation, etc.  A little love can go a long way.  

In addition, it's a great time of year to begin mapping out your herb/vegetable garden. Start thinking about some of these questions:  Do you plan to start your garden from seeds or small plants? Do you need to rotate your crops to maximize your yields? Will you be using conventional or organic gardening practices?  How many types of plants are appropriate for the space you have available? How can you cohabitate your herbs/vegetables to ensure they are working together to ward off pests or enhance flavor?  Gardening can be as simple or complex as you would like.  On Friday afternoon, my son, Rhys and I went outside to play and ended up weeding our herb/vegetable garden in preparation for planting.  It amazes me how many weeds make there way into the garden throughout the winter.  We do practice organic gardening and as a result face some additional challenges throughout the season/year.  One of the biggest problems we have faced over the last two years - squash bugs and vine borers (SVB).  Stubborn beasts!  We literally had to go out to the garden on a daily basis to inspect and protect our squash, zucchini, pumpkins, watermelons and cucumber plants and remove these nasty pests by hand.  Not all battles have been won.  It truly gave us a new respect for farmers.  More on squash bugs and vine borers another time.  

This year we do intend to try planting squash varietals that are more resistant to SVB, such as moschata varietals, Long Island cheese, trombochino, seminole, etc.  Other vegetables we will be planting are green beans (Rhys' personal favorite), tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers and maybe one or two others.  Our herb garden consists of rosemary, lavender, mint, cilantro and basil.  Gardening has been both fun and educational for my whole family.