The greenness of a child

1. All her clothes, shoes, books and toys have been second hand except for a few gifts from family members up to year three. My goal was not to purchase new. There was no baby shower.
   
2. We used cloth diapers. She’s potty trained but still wears diapers at night. They are still cloth. We use four of them now at a time. She can’t walk when she wears four. But she’s sleeping so she doesn’t need to walk.
   
3. I nursed.
   
4. I bought all her food at the Wisconsin farmer’s market before she had teeth and purreed it, froze it in ice cube trays and fed it to her. The baby food I did purchase came from the Amish Salvage store in glass which I later sold on Craig’s list to a girl for her wedding. She placed candles in the tiny jars for table settings.
   
5. Rather than have our own pool, this kid is a member of the YMCA, a community program that shares resources with other families, including one pool.
   
6. The holiday decorations that we now put up are second hand (except for the potted tree/plant) that belonged to my mother or my grandmother. I found some brand new green and red streamers in the trash behind the elementary school.
   
7. She knows what the recycling bin is and goes there first before putting something in the trash.
   
8. She believes all food scraps go in the compost bin on the counter, not in the trash.
   
9. She thinks everyone uses handmade wipes from old white t-shirts for cleaning up spills or as toilet paper and cloth napkins are the norm. Paper towels aren’t in the house.
   
10. We do not buy books or videos but use the public library instead.
    
11. As of year three, we have not thrown a birthday party, though I know there is a way to throw a green party. Instead, I made cake or cupcakes myself. We reused the candles from the year before and visited the beach or the park. Maybe next year, I’ll challenge myself to see if I can throw a party “green.”
    
12. So far, this kid has not cost an arm and a leg and has implemented right into our green lifestlye. I foresee her main cost being education. But again, if I can teach her to swim or speak another language myself, I have every intention to try until I’m tapped out and she surpasses me. That’s what tutors are for.
    
13. Unlike the swish of the fairy wand she holds, my little green bug will not be able to change the world alone. But one day she will connect with all the other green bugs brought up by green-ish parents who are also teaching their children the value of resourses and not to waste them, to reuse rather than buy new and to tread lightly…
    I do feel I am fighting a loosing battle here. ESPECIALLY here, when I look around Miami at the waste and I feel I am wasting my time doing all the things I do.
    But then I see her face.
    She’s learning from me by what I DO, even more than what I say.Then I see her face…
    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    How can I not try?
    As they say on ONCE UPON A TIME—We have to give her her best chance.

    
    
    

Greener wipes–Homemade wipes vs store bought

Now that we’re winding away from wipes, I wanted to share with the other green mamas  maybe just starting out what we discovered.

We tried six different brands based on “green-ness” and made our own.

This is what we found:

Natural diaper rash cream already in your kitchen…

I wish I’d never bothered purchasing a bunch of diaper rash cream. I remember it was on sale in Wisconsin at the Amish store so I couldn’t resist. Needless to say, I didn’t need it much. But if I had known a cheap, more natural option was already in my kitchen…

Oh, the things we learn after the fact.

Zero waste with food

I’ve learned from Mrs. Green at My Zero Waste  about the shocking pounds of food we waste annually. By her bringing it to my attention, I attempt to clean out my fridge more often—because that’s really where my waste originates.

And the beat goes on…

Still packing and cleaning.

And it’s still all about the dog…

What’s been goin’ on

I’ve been at mama’s helping her pack for about a month. I’ve tried and tried to pinpoint something different or green that we’ve been doing here. But mostly we’ve just been packing (in boxes we already had, mama got from work, or I’ve pulled out of recycling bins, yay.) And cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Trying to use up the cleaning products that are at the end.

Mostly it’s been all about the dog…  

Composting diapers? You bet!

Humm…diapers that compost. Diapers that will disappear over a short period of time and leave nothing behind. Zero waste. I’ve found very few packages that make the claim their diapers are in fact, compostable. Most green-washed diapers claim “biodegradable and better for the environment.” How so?

Biodegradable does not mean compostable. Biodegradable means the plastic and diaper pieces break down into tiny bits of plastic and stay around forever. Hell, they probably end up in the plastic soup in the sea. Plastic soup you say? Google the Great Pacific Patch and see what you learn.

This is what I’ve discovered and learned in my short time as a mama (trying to tread environmentally lightly) while dealing with diapers. I’m sure I have much more to learn. This is also what the compostable diaper packages fail to stress…

Hmm, really? Because this packaging looks more like potato chip packaging that cannot be recycled. But composted? I sent this one in to Terracycle instead.

Making homemade applesauce for baby

Need to use up those fall apples? Can’t finish the bag?
Here’s an idea if you want to substitute sugar in your recipes–homemade apple sauce! If you choose sweeter apples, you’ll have a sweeter sauce.
Or eat it with kielbasa and cabbage.
Or feed it to your baby.
It’s homemade, easy to do, and 100% natural. (Feel free to add sugar, but I don’t add anything to mine and it comes out yummy and sweet.)

Baby products you don’t really need

As I’ve discussed before in OMG Baby Consignment, baby “necessities” are a huge consumer market. And if you don’t have the money? Or if you’re just not buying into it, then what do you have?

Imagination and make-shift resources! This is something I LOVE doing–figuring out how creative I can be by doing without or better yet, making do with what I have (like in my make-shift bed post). Check out my baby changing station!

What I do all day long with one tiny baby

Not a very green post, this one. Just thought I’d share a little. I don’t do that enough.

I am floored how busy I am with one kid. Just one. And granted, I realize my life isn’t any different from any other mother, but I just thought I’d give a peek into mine. And hey, it’s all new to me.

She looks innocent enough, doesn’t she?