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.

I itch to be out in the garden in January. This year, here in Memphis, that’s no problem - our unseasonably warm winter (it was seventy today) lets me get outside to putter in my beds at least once a week, between rainstorms. But there’s not much to do, though, once I’ve pushed some leaves around and picked up the latest round of sticks from the most recent rainstorm. The cold will return, and I’ve planned my “pretend I’m outside” projects to sustain me for the next few months. When you’re ready to do more than arrange supermarket flowers, here are some ideas:

Branch bouquets make cheap and dramatic floral arrangements. Nip outside and gather as many lovely fallen sticks as you can. Arrange them in vases, and leave them as they are, or decorate. I add fake birds for the holidays, or make paper leaves and flowers. You might try your hand and making tissue paper flowers - nothing fancy, just twisting some tissue into buds and wiring them on a branch. Or try glittering the branches by painting on some glue and sprinkling them with whatever color catches your fancy (silver is safe).

Create a miniature garden. There are two schools of thought in miniature garden design. The thorough indoor gardener will want to build a terrarium. More adept gardeners than I have detailed instructions for terrarium building. Choosing the container is half the fun: You can be upscale with a faux-French apothecary jar, or down-home with an upside down mason jar. Horrible china tchockes somehow look incredibly cool in a terrarium. Stick in any old figurine and a fern, and give your living room instant cool. But skip the china deer figurine. Deer are so 2008.

The more casual route is also more child-friendly. A moss garden, planted in a bit on dirt on top of gravel in a bowl will last for months if you mist it regularly. Stick in a little miniature supermarket tropical plant if it needs a focal point (though a bowl of moss alone is truly beautiful). Try adding small figurines. You could even use matchbox cars, or build a garden around some toys—try tiny Eskimos and make a statement about global warming. My grandmother makes a moss garden every winter and peoples it with tiny porcelain gnomes her grandmother bought her as a girl at a London flower show in 1935. She uses a mirror from a broken compact as a pond, and hand-letters tiny road signs. Last week, a sign was pointing towards New Year.

Forcing bulbs is a classic way of thumbing your nose at winter. And it’s always satisfying. Whether you plant the bulbs in gravel yourself, or use a pre-fabricated kit, like this one at Amazon, growing an Amaryllis indoors and watching it develop from tiny green tip to lush flower will help pass the time until spring. The scent of paperwhites makes February gray disappear.

There’s also charming children’s book by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace called Paperwhite which would be a lovely companion for a bulb-forcing project.

People often worry about outdoor air pollution and the effects that this has, especially with the rise of asthma among children. What people don’t think about as much is the air inside their homes. Often, this air is found to be more polluted that what is outside!

Consider these possibilities to greatly reduce the amount of toxins you will breathe while you are inside your home:

• Burn only 100% soy or beeswax candles. Traditional paraffin candles, which are made from a by-product of petroleum, release cancer-causing agents into the air. Soy and beeswax candles, made from renewable resources, do not pollute the air around you as they burn. Another bonus is that soy candles burn longer and support U.S. farmers.


• Paint using no or low-VOC paints. If this is not an option, in the case of moving into a newly painted rental property, make sure to have the home well-ventilated to encourage the paint to dry quickly and to disperse any fumes that remain in the air.


• Avoid dry cleaning your clothes. Traditional dry cleaning uses a toxic chemical known as perchloroethylene. One way to avoid exposure to this chemical is by avoiding dry cleaning altogether by purchasing clothes that do not need to be dry-cleaned or washing your clothes yourself. If dry-cleaning is absolutely necessary, alternative (greener options) are starting to become more available. Or if an alternative is not available, take your clothes out of the plastic bag and air it out outside before bringing in into the house.


• Use phthalate-free air fresheners, or avoid them altogether. The Natural Resources Defense Council recently did a test of fourteen brands of air fresheners, and twelve of them tested positive for phthalates. (Two that came up clean were Febreze Air Effects and Renuzit Subtle Effects. Please note that these are specific products by these brands, and do not mean that all products produced by these companies are phthalate-free.) You can find the NRDC's report on their testing here, or download a PDF summary of their findings.
  
• Switch to non-toxic, environmentally friendly cleaners or make your own cleaner. Seventh Generation and Method are two of my favorite brands of non-toxic cleaners that can be found in most stores. Seventh Generation makes a great All-Purpose Cleaner and my favorite Method product is their eucalyptus scented flushable bathroom wipes which come in minimal packaging and are biodegradable. Lots of books are out now that help guide you in cleaning your own in a healthier way. Both Seventh Generation and Method have books out regarding cleaning with non-toxic cleaners. Better Basics for The Home is a book loaded with recipes, for those that are interested in making their own, that covers not only cleaning but also areas such as personal hygiene and home improvement. Healthy Child, Healthy World is a book by the organization of the same name which offers solutions for many indoor air quality problems.


• Grow plants inside your home. Along with bringing a little nature to the indoors, plants can reduce the amount of pollution by removing air pollutants and purifying the air. Some of the most effective plants include Peace Lily, Gerbera Daisy, Chinese Evergreen, Golden Pothos, Philodendron and Areca Palm. Check out the book "How to Grow Fresh Air" by B.C. Wolverton that rates 50 houseplants in their effectiveness to remove various pollutants and how to care for them.

What other ideas have you incorporated into your home to give your family a breathe of fresh air?