The Colors of the Rainbow

I saw this gorgeous rainbow today shooting out of the Foothills! It reminded me of this great green family activity.....


Go outside to look at a rainbow with your child, or if there is no rainbow, go outside and ask your child to draw and color a picture of a rainbow.

As your child identifies each of the colors ask her to name a person in her life who is like one of those colors. For example, perhaps she says that her grandma is yellow because she is sunny and nice.

Then you can plant different color flowers for each color of the rainbow and for each person she named. Depending on your climate, you may be able to plant red roses, yellow sunflowers, purple pansies, and others!

Pictures Say It Best

Was that another world?

I think I may have been in another world and not California this past weekend. The stereotype is that there is traffic, smog and freeways in California and that is much of what I see on a daily basis. I am blessed with a beautiful backyard of trees and hills, and visiting deer and coyotes, but what I saw these past 4 days truly felt like a dream.

When I landed at Elkus Ranch in Half Moon Bay, CA this past weekend, I was in shock! I truly thought that I had found another planet. I had been up to this area to drive through, but had never spent days just BEING there. I saw sunrises and sunsets that lit up the sky. I saw stretches of land with absolutely no stores or cars. I sat on the beaches under the stars and breathed in the cool, clean air. The ocean and the bluffs, the vistas, went on forever.

Then, I did go into Half Moon Bay and met up with people cramming the streets to go to the local pumpkin patches and veggie stands- what a great reason to hit a one country road traffic jam. What an incredible lifestyle to farm and share your delicious creations with so many of us searching for this peace of heaven outside of the city.

I was floored by Elkus Ranch and all of the education and information they offer to children and people with special needs. Please read more about this excellent program here.

I took a class in Horticultural Therapy and met two incredible teachers who are passionate to bring horticulturists, gardeners and therapists into this life-changing profession. Read more about the Horticultural Therapy Institute here.

There were so many signs offered to me that I was in the right place for the right reasons. I met amazing students in my class who are gardeners, farmers, therapists - all givers of life. Each helped to inspire me to continue on this green journey toward inspiring children and families to help the earth. Another sign was simply the peace I felt in being in an area of such beauty and remembering how powerfully healing nature can be.

As I digest all that I learned about horticultural therapy I look forward to finishing an article about this topic for a journal soon to be published at Ocean Seminary College. And, as I sit with all that I have learned the past few days I look forward to sharing some new ideas about how to help families and the earth grow stronger together everyday.

One of the themes at this class was New Beginnings. Planting a seed is a new beginning. What new beginnings might you be experiencing right now in your own life?

Will be back soon

Off to a Horticultural Therapy class and I can't wait! For info on the classes check here!

Great review!

Bella Online's Preschool Editor reviewed the Green Quest app as a great educational tool for kids to learn about the environment. They recognized that parents and children can enjoy playing this game together!

Read more here.

Ecoplay

Check out Green Queens and Kings for a great article about the benefits of ecoplay!

Is Going Green really a hippy, dippy, trippy adventure?

My husband continues to share, without prompting or interest on my part, that people who go green are "hippy, dippy, and trippy." Now, I think he says this because he fears that one day I will stop shaving, showering, and choose to live in a tree as I continue on my own green venture. But, perhaps he brings up a good point to ponder.

There seems to be a spectrum of green people out there. Just as there is a spectrum of people in any activist "category." This spectrum ranges from those building homes out of mud and hay and living in them leaving no carbon footprints on a daily basis to those who choose to use cloth bags instead of plastic when they shop to those who volunteer as firefly counters to help to learn more and save them. Now, of course, this spectrum doesn't include everyone, but it highlights very few examples of how much we can all choose to incorporate green into our lives.

Fortunately, with the huge amount of information and research today on going green there are less and less people who think that they have to be taking extreme measures and pulling a Henry David Thoreau living in the woods experience as the only way to contribute to the healing of the earth - not that there is anything wrong with that, but there are other ways to contribute if you are not able to leave your family behind and take off to the woods with your sandals and tent. There are less and less people that classify or stereotype people who go green as "hippy, dippy and trippy." In fact, going green has become less hippy and more hip!

So, it is up to me to continue to educate my husband about the green spectrum, the variety of ways we can all contribute to a healthier environment, from the simple to complex, from the everyday to the once a year. All of these ways matter because ALL of these steps make a difference. And, if he wants to continue to call me a "hippy, dippy, trippy" wife, well, perhaps he will just come home from work one day to find me living up in our big, comforting backyard oak tree.

What are some of the many different ways that you embrace going green - not only your own actions, but the actions that you, your kids, and your family do together? Share those here so we can all see the spectrum, and we can all see where our green adventures can take us!