So here is the great (and potentially not-so-great) thing about blogging. Different than personal journals or verbal promises, online blogging holds you accountable for your typed words. At the beginning of 2009, I announced my healthiest intentions for the year, and at the top of my list: Grow a Garden.

I remember laughing out loud when I wrote that goal, because any plants under my care have only withered, never thrived. However, at the end of 2008, I had just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, and her book greatly inspired me to join the “locavore” (local eating) movement in any small way that I could. And so I decided that growing my own vegetable garden is the best way to cut back on wasted food resources and costs!

We were lucky enough to already have a sectioned amount of our yard, perfect size for a small garden, on the west side of our house. And my husband grew up working on farms in Ontario, Canada, and he naturally has a green thumb and a love for the outdoors.

Since I live in Colorado, we have the potential for blizzard conditions in April/May, and so it is always recommended to hold planting until Mother’s Day weekend. So last Sunday afternoon, we started our first vegetable garden. Initially, we turned over the soil several times, added peet moss, turned it again, added peet hummus and organic fertilizer, turned it again, used a garden weasel to break up the clay and large chunks, made 3’ furrows and planted our favorite seeds! I love my green veggies, so we planted one row each of zucchini, peas, lettuce, carrots and broccoli. And yesterday, I went to the farmer’s market and purchased two different varieties of tomato seedlings – I wanted to cheat and make a small head start on the tomato plants.

Our vegetables won’t sprout up for at least a few more weeks, but I am already giddy thinking about a hot July day, grabbing the freshest zucchini to make a beautiful salad or loaf of bread with my daughter. As Kingsolver’s book reminds us, it is important for children to understand where food really comes from (it doesn’t grow in the air conditioned grocery store)! So I hope that my 2-year old will pick up some of our enthusiasm and want to grow her own fruits and veggies someday soon. (As an extra incentive to keep her interested now, we added a kids’ water table next to the garden).

I have attached a photo of our vegetable garden – it is difficult to see where the seeds lie, but I am hoping to inspire even the most intimidated vegetable lover. If I can do it, so can you! And if you can’t find the space to plant a garden in your yard, consider growing some herbs or tomatoes in a large pot this summer.

You might think this article belongs on our Gardenaut website, but I can’t call myself a gardener yet – if all goes well with this first project, I might earn that right in August! And if you're looking for more ideas for helping your child understand food origins, check out this great game Z Recommends recently reviewed.

The screened-in porch may be the most family-friendly room in a house. It’s certainly the least expensive, and perhaps the greenest addition. Screening in an existing porch usually costs less than $200 and, while somewhat complicated, can be completed in a weekend if you have reasonable carpentry skills. Building a porch from scratch will certainly set you back less than adding a "family" room, and you'll pay no heating or cooling bills, nor worry about off-gassing building materials. We find the porch more essential than another bathroom, and if pressed, I would sacrifice my washer and dryer before giving up my screened porch.

Once a standard feature in American homes, this room lost favor with the advent of air-conditioning, but it makes perfect sense for today’s families. It’s a like a playroom for the entire family that you can clean with a hose. Even if mosquitoes aren’t a problem in your area, screens provide a magical intimacy. The space becomes more of a room, and this opens up its usefulness. People linger at the table. Nerves are calmed. Sleeping outside begins to feels like the right thing to do. And consider these family friendly benefits:

• Messy meals are no problem. Sweep up the food, hose it off, or leave it. In the morning, the baby-flung rice is magically transformed into silver snail trails. (Not recommended if your scavengers are mice.)


• A simple meal on a porch feels like a picnic. Bird songs, breezes, and afternoon sunlight can’t find you in the dining room.


• Our child spends hours spotting squirrels and pointing out birds.


• For parents, the porch provides an escape from the noise of the washing machine, the telephone, and the to do pile.


• Messy art projects are no problem. I recently provided 6 toddlers with brushes and paint, and watched them paint the paper, themselves, and my porch with nary a moment’s worry.


• Being outside takes the edge off a crying baby, a harried mother, and the visiting mother-in-law.


• A rainstorm becomes a theatrical experience.


• It’s your turn to sit in a swing.


• After the kids go to bed, when you open a bottle of wine and sit on the porch, you’ll feel like your vacation self, something every parent should feel as often as possible.

The smell of fall in the air always makes me sad to leave the garden, but I’m brokenhearted to leave the screened porch. A porch with a even a small footprint can make your house feel much larger, with no new mortgage required.