In the past year I have really ramped up our efforts to ‘green’ our lives.  I am loathe to say it is because greening has become trendy because mainly it is due in fact to my job change.  My ability to work from home and construct a writing career has freed up some of my time.  No longer chugging to work each day doing the long commute I have been able to sit and think a bit. To ruminate on the waste our house puts out and how to conserve, eat and live better.  I have been able to think more about my choices and what we use and put into our bodies. 

Since I no longer order my groceries online while conducting a phone conference at work, I can plan our meals and buy less processed food.  I have switched to the Farmer’s Market when possible. Bought cloth bags to tote to the store. I recycle a whole lot more, waste less, and have eliminated harmful chemicals from our home just to name a few. It’s taken a lot of thought and research but I believe in the end we are better for it. We are making a tiny bit of a difference.  I’m proud of the changes I’ve made in our lives and hope I’m instilling some it it in my child.  I want her to be a good steward for this planet as she grows.  I’m always on the lookout for more ways to green our lives and I try not to be too preachy about the whole thing.

So why was I so irritated when my husband started calling me Ms. Green in the last few weeks? Mainly because he would do it to point out a fault.  “Oh Ms. Green left the TV on.” “Hey, Ms. Green you forgot to shut off the computer.”  Right.  You get the idea.  Every time he would find the TV or computer on he would blame me.  I’m not going to nit-pick here (OK maybe a little) but the family computer is ALWAYS left on because I rarely use that one and neither does our two year old.  I simply turn it off when I find it on.  I don’t chide.  I do the same with the lights and pull out the plugs from the outlets of the countless items my husband keeps continuously plugged in daily (cell phones, chargers, Ipods galore!) around the home.  If my daughter is watching Elmo while I cook dinner and I forget to shut off the TV two rooms away when she gets bored and decides to stir up trouble with the dog, I’m sorry.  I don’t even notice that it’s on. I’m busy trying not to burn the house down with dinner or have our kid come to blows with our hyped up terrier. 

It’s as if with each ‘Ms. Green’ what he is really doing is making fun and being condescending.  He isn’t not taking part in our lifestyle change but he isn’t helping it either.  Each time he calls me by that moniker I feel as if I don’t have him on my side or in my court. I feel that each ‘Ms. Green’ is the equivalent to being told that I’m forcing all this on him when he’s done nothing more than use the new household cleaners and take out the recycling.   If the shoe were on the other foot and he was instituting these changes that have not disrupted our lives in any major way, I would support him, not condescend.  I would stand by him and not make fun. 

Trying to be more environmentally conscious does not make me feel like I’m a better person over anyone else. That isn’t the reason I do it.  I do it for our planet. I do it to teach my child a different way to live that is less wasteful and more thoughtful and concious of those around her.  I expect her to carry these lessons with her into her life just as I have.  What I do not expect or need is to feel that I’m doing battle in my own home.  I, like the earth, need all the support I can get.  So call me crunchy or a tree huggin’ granola head but just don’t call me Ms. Green.

It’s time to shop, reflect, give thanks, eat! During the upcoming feasting and holiday celebrations, may we celebrate in particular the individuals who are changing the world’s story with the strength of their commitment; a story in which currently every other child lives in poverty, almost half of all war casualties are children, and global warming threatens every child’s future.

Let’s take time to honor mothers like the late Dame Anita Roddick who said, “I want to connect with people who share my outrage…But I also want to tell — and hear…stories that lift our spirits, that celebrate how glorious our planet is. Outrage and celebration — let’s run this gamut together.”

Inspired leaders like Greg Mortenson who says, “When I look into the eyes of the children in Pakistan and Afghanistan, I see the eyes of my own children full of wonder. I hope that we each do our part to leave them a legacy of peace.”

Mamas and community builders like Tiffany Bellah, who says, “Having a baby changes everything. Since that wonder-filled day 6 years ago when Grace entered this world, I have been reaching out of my comfort zone. She has made of me a responsible revolutionary, and my role as her mentor and mother has propelled me to take an active part in forming the world she will be inheriting.”

People who, when our common family is threatened, find the courage and strength to change the story. This holiday season, Mothers Acting Up* cheers, stomps, whistles and in every other way honors the individuals around the world who are taking action on behalf of our future generations. YES!!!!

Purchase the 2008 MAU Handbooks for story-changing individuals,
information and actions: www.mothersactingup.org

*mothers and others, on stilts or off, who exercise protective care over someone smaller

Cross-posted from Ms. Booty Homemaker Explains It All To You.
Ever in an effort to simplify, go greener by reduction of my family’s carbon footprint, and live in a way that jives with ideals and principles, I’ve recently made a commitment to shy from conventionally raised meats in favor of locally humanely and free range / grass fed animals. We women of this country, as the buyers of most things our households require, exercise the greatest purchasing power of all: 83% of all spending in the US, according to Time Magazine. And because right is right to do and because it really does matter where we put our money, as we are an economical force ripe and ready to create change that does ALL of us good, I’m doing what I can, when I can, both for the nutritive and ethical health of my family and for the good of my community, and my planet. Lofty? Yeah. Elitist? I hope not.

I’ve gone round and round about this from multiple standpoints, and while my Mister still regularly purchases chicken livers from the Kroger deli in throwaway plastic clamshell packaging, I feel it’s important and worthwhile to continue to do our part as a whole. We’ve had a CSA membership with Delvin Farms for several years now, and now, along with some mama friends, I’ve sought out local humane sources for the meat that our family continues to choose to eat. Vegetarian for a number of years, I’ve found that I just do better with meat, and feel strong and best about it when the source is right. To that end, this week has had a gaggle of us running from one end of town to the other with a host of coolers and drop off and pick up points for whole processed chickens from a Centreville family, and both beef and lamb from a Mennonite farmer just over the Kentucky line.

All of this took a great deal of coordination and phone calls and emails and such, as this is the beginning of something we hope will sustain our community farmers, AND our families for some time to come. One morning as Maria and I hammered out some details by telephone, Ziggy and another child I’ve been watching occasionally played on the swingset and in our backyard sandbox. “You know,” said Maria, “sometimes we might complain about how much all this effort is taking and I have to call so and so again, but think of the community we’re building around this!”

Right she is. We’re also compelled, in these interactions, to rely on one another, to share our lives and to become less isolated. For me, a highly social being with a not so social husband who is gone from home seven days a week, this is critical. As it is for our very social toddler. The Mister, by his own admission, benefits from this network of community though he himself is not drawn toward growing it or maintaining it in large part. I have to say, however, that he is appreciative and involved when called on, as we have all relied heavily on one another in times of distress (illness, hospitalizations, marital strife, work loads…) AND in times of celebration (weddings, births, housewarmings and birthday parties). Too, during these get togethers (in person, by telephone, and online) based on task, we plan up additional projects, share recipes, pass along toys and clothing from one child to another, support one another’s businesses and organizations and in general create a larger nest for our respective broods.

These friends, these connections, keep me wed to not just my husband (five years right ’round the corner) but also to my *life* in a deep way. Spiritually, ethically,  socially, with joy and with gratitude. They keep me accountable and I enjoy that, seeing the rewards reaped for my boy and my man, in addition to my own self. Like I said, I’m social, and I recognize that not everyone shares this need for symbolic hand-holding round the pot of Stone Soup, but for those of us that do, finding our tribe is vital to our wellbeing.

And good food– sown, grown, harvested and then prepared with some local lavish love– binds us all together. Of late, that meant fresh salsas and simply *amazing* vegetable enchiladas for our Fall Fiesta, a combination housewarming and second birthday party for our boy. There’ve been salads and farm fresh egg sandwiches, and this very morning, butternut pancakes, in response to Ziggy’s request for “Cake, please, Mommy!” in all likelihood a holdover craving from the pumpkin chocolate chip concoction for aforementioned party. And then last night there was this marvelous soup, as sustaining for the spirits as for the nurturing of the bodies of my family.

In thinking of how to best marry a chicken I thawed with a slew of goodies from my most recent CSA share, I was pondering on fall and warmth and came up with a nice variation on sweet potato chicken soup.

Sweet Potato Chicken Soup with Greens

Ingredients:

1 small whole chicken
Olive oil, pat of butter
3-4 ribs celery, chopped
1 carrot, sliced in half moons
2 onions, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red Hungarian pepper, minced
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
5 small – medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
Salt, pepper, cinnamon
1 bunch mustard greens, chopped

Boil chicken in liberally salted water and cool in its own broth. Sautee celery, carrot, onion, peppers, garlic in olive oil w/ a small pat of butter until all are slightly caramelized. Pull cooled chicken (will be warm, but NOT hot) from the broth. Add veggies to the broth pot and boil gently. Salt and pepper soup, add a dash of cinnamon. Pick cooled chicken, discarding skin and fat, save the bones in a freezer zip lock for soup another time. You can cube chicken or leave in rough pieces. Ten to fifteen minutes prior to when you want to eat soup, add your greens (use any dark fall / winter green) to the top of the soup pot and place lid back on, allowing them to steam but retain bright green color.

I would have made this spicier, but declined to do so in favor of the boy’s palate, which enjoys spice but not hothothot. The Mister and I seasoned our bowls of soup with the deliciously tangy green Tobasco sauce.

I imagine you could do this soup with any slightly sweet winter squash in place of the sweet potatoes. You could add a shot of lime and tortilla chips and add cumin to the seasoning. Canned tomatoes and / or green chiles would also be nice here. The variations are endless. In this one, the cinnamon with the spicy pepper and the Tobasco was really nice and very Autumnal.

Salmon Sprout Baby Trout in Experiment WTF? Are we really so far gone that we can’t find another, more natural way to preserve various fish species? Perhaps I’m being naive but the idea of tinkering with nature (hello GMO’s) so that we don’t have to change our ways disgusts me.