Sustainably grown holiday trees from LH Natural Home

Linden Hills Natural Home is offering sustainably grown holiday trees from Oneota Slopes - no chemicals, no dyes. Quanities are very limited, so please call 612-922-1159 to reserve one. They are scheduled to be delivered on November 30 and I'm sure they'll sell out quickly!

Greening Your Holidays - tips from Hennepin County...PLUS comment to win solar powered LED lights!

For those who were unable to come to the last EcoParents meeting, we distributed a great little flier from Hennepin County on "Greening Your Celebrations," which we also discussed quite a bit.

It's chocked full of great tips on how to reduce waste, save energy, and just generally reduce the additional negative environmental impacts associated with the holidays...25% more waste typically produced between Thanksgiving and New Years! Check it out online here.

At the meeting, we bdiscussed the tips and talked about some of the ones we plan to put into action this coming season. Make a comment about what YOU plan to do and be entered to win a string of 50 LED solar powered outdoor holiday lights!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, and keep checking back for more ideas about greening our holidays!

Pop-in to local artist eecee bb on Saturday - cute organic & recycled clothing

Local artist and owner of eeceebb and Small Sage (and EcoParents participant!), Beth Bogle, is hosting a pop-in event at her Linden Hills studio on Saturday, November 22.

eecee bb is a super cute design business that uses vintage fabrics, recycled cashmere, remnants, and other surprising materials that are carefully chosen for softness, texture, color, top quality, and visual impact.

Small Sage is her line of organic cotton tees shirts, skirts, and sometimes pants for babies, children, and women. The cottons are exceptionally soft, and hand dyed them in fantastic hues.

eecee bb also has a really neat 'collaborative design' process where your child can help to create a whole original and one-of-a-kind outfit which uses your child's artwork as inspiration!

The pop-in event is Saturday, November 22 from 10 am to 4 pm at eecee bb, located at 4409 Beard Avenue South in Linden Hills behind Turtle Bread.

"Gift Your School" at Wonderment; this Thursday, Nov 20

Super-big thanks to Lisa MacMartin from Wonderment for coming to our EcoParents meeting last night to share great tips and ideas for purchasing for kids in a more sustainable and eco-friendly manner, as well as donating a fabulous wooden rainbow toy for our giveaway! Some of her tips included:

• Buy Appropriately. Kids don't need every toy option under the sun. Too many choices can actually be deadening to kids. Pick a few nice pieces instead. For sets such as blocks or marbles, start with the smallest 'set' and add to it over time, if your child shows interest in it, rather than buying the biggest set out there.
  
• Plan your toyroom. Consider having one 'centerpiece' item that can grow with kids over time, such as a dollhouse, barn, kitchen, etc...
  
• Invest in open ended play toys. Toys that can be used in a variety of ways have a longer life in your playroom. An example could be a set of nesting bowls. They can be used in a play kitchen, for stacking, for nesting, dumping, etc... It encourages creativity as well, rather than toys will clearly one purpose only.
• Appropriate quality. You don't need to buy the top-of-the-line for everything, especially items that cater to a relatively short period of development oe fleeting interests. Considering investing in high quality items for items that are likely to have longevity in your children's lives.
• Pay attention to packaging. Look for items with minimal packaging and made locally to reduce environmental impacts associated with excess packaging and shipping.
• Encourage creativity. Consider items that have creating, building, and playing aspects, such as a set to put together a car or a craft kit. Your child can design the car, put it together, and then play with it! This is also a good suggestion if there are different ages in your house, b/c the older one can build something, but both kids might be able to play with it.

If you are considering shopping at Wonderment for the holidays, you'll want to go THIS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20 to take advantage of their first ever "Gift Your School" event at Wonderment. Shop on Thursday and Wonderment will donate 10% of your total purchase to a school of your choice! They will send a donation check directly to your school at then end of the event! What a great way to support our local independent businesses AND support your school, not to mention purchase a high quality gift!


Thanks again to Lisa and Wonderment for their support of Linden Hills EcoParents!

Linden Hills EcoParents Mtg - Mon, Nov 17; "Greening Your Holidays"

Just a reminder that the next meeting of Linden Hills EcoParents is Monday, November 17, from 6:30-8:30 pm at Linden Hills United Church of Christ (4200 Upton Ave S, Mpls), in Fellowship Hall on the lower level. Enter at the door marked 'office' located on 42nd Street.

Lisa MacMartin from Wonderment will present ideas about purchasing for kids in an eco-conscious manner, plus we will have a sampling of green gift ideas and waste reduction ideas from Linden Hills Natural Home. We will learn how to wrap gifts using furoshikis (Japanese cloth) or any other cloth, as well as how to make gift boxes from paper! If you have a square scarf or other piece of fabric, please bring it to practice various 'wrapping' techniques!

We will also outline the EcoParents Rebate Program at tomorrow's meeting, as well as distribute the kitchen scrap buckets generously donated to us from Hennepin County.

Hope to see you on Monday!!

Reminder - Green Gifts Fair THIS SATURDAY!

Just a reminder about the Green Gifts Fair at Midtown Global Market (Lake St & 10th Ave) on Saturday, Nov 15 from 10 am to 5 pm. See the original post here.

There will be lots of options for green gifts and green holiday ideas, plus food, a fashion show, workshops, lots of local vendors, etc...

Also, I will be a guest on the Everything Green radio program this Saturday, talking about Linden Hills EcoParents! The show is on from noon to 1 pm on AM950, and a podcast is available from their website as well.

Carpet Cleaning with no residue...

Some of you may have heard my yapping about the messy work in our house the past couple of weeks. For those who haven't...we got a new boiler. Which meant that our OLD boiler (as in original to the 1914 house OLD, and wrapped in asbestos) had to be removed...and then a new boiler installed. Oh, and we also switched out our super inefficient electric baseboard heaters for new copper fin hot water baseboards, which is GREAT, but meant that the workers were running pipe all over the house and various already messy rooms had to be cleared out, etc... ARGH.. Chaos here. And lots of dirty carpet...

ANYWAY, the point of this post is not to complain about the messy chaos of my life, but rather to let you know about the CARPET CLEANERS I found. Based on the recommendations of a couple of friends, we had ZeroRez come to clean the carpets. ZeroRez (as in zero residue) uses no toxic chemicals in their cleaning. Instead, they use 'empowered water' via low-pressue spray to loosen embedded dirt and clean the carpet by eliminating bacteria. The dirt and water is then removed with a unique extraction wand. They claim that the carpet is clean without any residue and the dry time is dramatically reduced.

They also do tile, drapery, air ducts, leather, upholstery, hard surfaces (e.g., countertops) and hard flooring, and they have a 'protectant' service as well that they claim protects against bacteria. If you're in the market for some deep cleaning, check them out at http://www.myzerorez.com. We had our basement carpet, one bedroom area rug, and the bathroom tile floor done, and the total cost was $218. This is a bit pricier than some traditional cleaning services, I think, but they claim that the spot removal lasts (b/c they get it all out rather than just the stain at the surface) and that it is gentler on your carpet (less wear & tear)...plus the piece of mind that you don't have to worry about kids or pets on the carpet due to chemicals.

Make a comment if you've have experiences with other low/nontoxic cleaning services...

Free Electronics Recycling (TOMORROW ONLY)...and $100 Samsung coupon!

While I was at yesterday's Vikings-Packers game, I spotted a notice for an electronics recycling event TOMORROW (Nov 11), sponsored by the Vikings and Samsung. (My dear hubby also told me about this event, as he heard about it last week on KFAN radio, but it slipped my mind until I saw it again at the game.)

Bring electronics to the Main Parking Lot of the Metrodome and you'll receive a $100 coupon, courtesy of Samsung, towards the purchase of a Samsung HDTV. Vikings players, cheerleaders and Viktor (the mascot) will be there as well to meet participating fans.

This is a no-cost recycling program, limited to ONLY consumer electronics. Home appliances will NOT be accepted.

Sorry for the late notice.

Skip the Plastic at the Grocery Store

Are you ready to move beyond just saying no to the plastic grocery bags at checkout when you shop? There are SO many other ways you can skip the plastic at the grocery store if you take the time to think about it. I've been uber-conscious lately of all the grocery products that are typically packaged in plastic and trying to switch to 'better' containers when I buy things.

The arguments against plastic are many: it is made from a non-renewable resource, the production process creates pollution, it can leach chemicals into your food, it never truly biodegrades and there's a big, ugly mass of it sitting in middle of the ocean.


Keep your eyes out in the store - even in categories that are usually packaged in plastic (like juice for instance), you can almost always find alternatives:

• Glass - it's easily recyclable and can be reused in your home for so many things.
  
• Peanut Butter - Maranatha and Arrowhead Mills are both brands that come in glass.


• Mayo, salsa and other condiments - Most conventional brands come in plastic jars but some, like Spectrum and Newman's Own come in glass jars.
  
• Juice - Knudson and Santa Cruz Organics use glass instead of plastic.


• Pasta Sauce - It's especially important to buy tomato products in glass. The natural acid in tomatoes makes leaching from plastic jars a big problem.


• Oils - Olive oil is commonly sold in glass, while most other oils are usually sold in plastic. Spectrum uses glass for all cooking oils.


• Milk - You might need to make a deposit on a glass container but bringing it back to be refilled is double good for the planet!


• Paper or Cardboard - Recyclable in most areas. Paper made with recycled content is best of course!


• Meats - Buy straight from the meat counter wrapped in butcher paper and you'll skip the styrofoam tray and the plastic wrap.


• Pasta - Pick the cardboard box instead of that crinkly plastic bag.


• Milk - Paper milk cartons are recyclable in many areas.


• Bread - Fresh bread from the bakery usually comes in a paper bag - and there's no comparison to the plastic wrapped version.

Better yet - make your own, homemade version of many of these foods and skip the packaging altogether! And don't forget that a few of these items can be refilled at your local food co-op - peanut butter and vegetable oils for example.

Can you think of any other food items that traditionally involve plastic packaging - and a plastic-free alternative? No doubt I've forgotten a few!

Hello from Mindful Momma!

Hi! I'm so happy to be guest posting on the Linden Hills Eco-Parents blog! Isn't Keiko doing a great job getting this all set up?!! I can't wait to get more info on recycling at our next meeting.

In the meantime, if you are looking for some more 'green' reading, check out the monthly Green Mom's Carnival. In case you're not familiar with the concept, a blog carnival is a collaboration of blog posts all on a similar topic. The Green Mom's Carnival is a group of Moms and 'mothers of the earth' who care passionately about the environment. We're a very diverse group of women from all over the country and it's really cool to see our different perspectives on the same topic. The group is constantly growing - anyone can submit a post - you don't even have to have a blog! We write about a different topic each month - check out the carnival homepage to see what's coming up!

For November we wrote about gratitude for our favorite green things. I wrote about gratitude for good food and I raved about all the fabulous farmer's markets and food co-ops we have here in the Twin Cities! We are truly lucky!

Green Gifts Fair - Nov 15

Shop for all your green holiday gifts in one place! The Green Gifts Fair will be held November 15 at the Midtown Global Market (Lake St & 10th Ave) from 10 am to 5 pm!

Shop! LOCAL GREEN BUSINESSES
Shop over 40 businesses and artists offering unique recycled, organic and green gifts such as clothing, gift bags, jewelry, toys, organic flower arrangements & more!

Celebrate! DO IT GREEN! ANNUAL
Kick-off event for the 2009 Do It Green! Magazine fresh off the presses — Give them as gifts to friends, family and co-workers!

Learn! GREEN YOUR HOLIDAYS
Alternative gift wrap ideas, energy efficient lighting, repurposing clothing, green holiday tree ideas, earth-friendly decoration & more.

Eat! TASTY HOLIDAY TREATS
Sample warm holiday foods and drinks with local chef demos, and stay to eat lunch from a variety of vendors at the Midtown Global Market!

There will be also be an Eco Fashion show and workshops, as well as music, food tasting and local vendors. Sponsored by Do It Green, Midtown Global Market, Citypages, KFAI, and MetroTransit. Find a complete list of vendors and workshops at www.doitgreen.org.

Change a Light for Daylight Savings Time

Daylight saving time ends Nov. 2, which means more hours with the lights on. If you haven't made the switch to compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs at home, now is a great time.

Lighting accounts for about 20 percent of the average home’s electric bill. An Energy Star qualified CFL produces the same amount of light as an incandescent bulb, but uses about 75 percent less energy and lasts up to 10 times longer. Using a CFL bulb saves an average of $30 in electricity costs over its lifetime and will prevent the release of more than 450 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.

Because CFL bulbs contain a small amount of mercury, they must be recycled to protect the environment. It is illegal to place fluorescent light bulbs in the trash. Easy and convenient recycling options are available to households for CFL bulbs. Home Depot, Menards, and Ikea stores offer free recycling of unbroken CFL bulbs.

Hennepin County also accepts all types of fluorescent, high intensity discharge, and neon bulbs free of charge (up to 25 light bulbs) from households at drop-off facilities located at 1400 W. 96th St., Bloomington, and 8100 Jefferson Highway, Brooklyn Park.

The above was reprinted with permission from Hennepin County.