Favorite Blog Posts

• Super Yummy Sunday Recipe/ SBC Day 18
• The Omnivore's Dilemma Book Party
• What's In a Tomato?

What's a simple eco-friendly habit all families can start?

Change the thermostat by one degree. You will use less energy, thus lowering your carbon footprint and the power plant's carbon footprint, not to mention saving some money on your power bill! Just commit to that one degree and don't change it back! For more tips, read this post on 10 easy ways to go green now. http://www.mamamakingchanges.com/2012/03/10-easy-ways-to-get-greener-now.html

What would you say to moms who want to be more eco-friendly, but worry it will be more expensive?

I worried about the same thing! I have learned that in the long run the opposite is actually true. Put recycling in your used paper grocery bags and buy fewer garbage bags. Use old socks or clothing for rags and give up on paper towels. Invest in a $12 bay of soap nuts and don't buy any more laundry detergent for a month or longer. Use less water and power and save money on the bill. Eating green can cost more, but if you stop eating out it will balance out. Grow a garden for extra help with the grocery budget. It takes some time and effort but it's very gratifying when you run outside to get ingredients for tonight's dinner instead of driving to the store.

What's one of your favorite eco-friendly brands you've discovered?

I love Green Virgin Products soap nuts. They come in a cotton drawstring sack and include a smaller sack to use in the washer. A small handful of soap nuts in the little sack will do about 5 loads of laundry! It's natural, sustainable, hypoallergenic, fragrance-free laundry detergent. And when they are used up, keep them in a container till you have to reorder. Then you can boil the used nuts on the stove and simmer down the resulting liquid till you get a great all-purpose household cleaner that you can put in any reusable spray bottle! I like their soap, too! Check them out here: http://stores.greenvirginproducts.com/StoreFront.bok