Tag Archives: kids

New School Garden at Alta Vista School Finds a Place in the Community

Posted on by

New School Garden at Alta Vista School Finds a Place in the Community

by Melody Kasulis


On a Saturday afternoon, families from Alta Vista School could be found pushing wheel barrels, shoveling, and making signs at Alta Vista’s “Work Party in the Garden.” The independent, co-ed K-8 school in San Francisco launched their new school garden with a community work-day. Lindsey Goldberg, the Sustainability Lead at Alta Vista, and fellow garden party organizer Jane Mauchly, created a range of activities that included produce sign painting, filling planter boxes with compost, making “zero-waste” snacks and photographing the event. Lindsey is already a veteran when it comes to organizing garden parties. She helped create a rooftop garden at Glide, on Ellis Street in San Francisco. “It’s a great example of place-based transformation,” says Lindsey, and an opportunity for parents and students to come together for a day of shared learning and physical activity.

Alta Vista’s curriculum is grounded in scientific method and emphasizes science, math and technology. AVS also uses experience-based learning and incorporates social development and play into its curriculum. It makes sense that AVS would create a school garden, as the space provides a bounty of hands-on learning potential while promoting collaborative work between classmates and communities, through events like “garden work parties.” Garden classrooms are becoming increasingly popular at schools nationwide. Many initiatives such as American Heart Association’s Teaching Gardens and Let’s Move are tackling the problem of childhood obesity by providing holistic programs and resources on eating healthy, exercise, and gardening. The school garden is a space for students to learn about the environment, nutrition and can even be used to enrich other subjects such as science and math. It really sounds as good as it is- an outdoor classroom that garners a better appreciation for the environment and health while making learning more exciting.

If not for its educational benefits, Alta Vista’s school garden also allows parents to get involved and help out in a community setting. Alesha Bishop, whose son Henry attends AVS, headed over Saturday with her mom and son to volunteer. The event is part of a “service-based” activity component of AVS’s curriculum. “It was amazing to see all the people that came out to help,” says Alesha, who helped paint signs and photo document the event. “There’s art, gardening, and lots of fun.” Alesha always knew Alta Vista was special and originally chose the school because of its small size and project-based learning. It is an added bonus that the school has such a supportive community and initiatives to parents getting involved in their child’s academic space, “If you haven’t done something like this with your child I highly recommend you do. It was a wonderful time for our whole family.”

{lang: 'ar'}

Favorite Fall Family Activities

Posted on by

Green Goes Simple: Family Footprints

Favorite Fall Family Activities

By Marisa Belger for Green Goes Simple

This autumn, make a commitment to have more fun — family fun. Fall is the ideal season for outdoor family frolicking. Emily Anderson — author of Eco-chic Home: Rethink, Reuse & Remake Your Way to Sustainable Style, blogger at Good With Style and mother of two — suggests you try these easy autumn activities for kids and adults. Turn off the TV, throw on a sweater and experience the bounty of the season!

Become a Leaf Detective
“Fall foliage is a perfect way to experience the earth’s natural state,” says Anderson. “Head to the park and enjoy the changing colors of the leaves.” Gather leaves of different shapes and colors, and then learn more about them when you get home by checking out LeafSnap, an online app created by the University of Maryland, Columbia University, the Smithsonian Institution and FindingSpecies.org.

Pick Your Own Harvest
Head to a local farm and pick your own apples, squash or pumpkins. Once you unload your bounty at home, Anderson recommends making an easy recipe together, such as butternut squash soup or applesauce. “Spending time on a local farm is a great way to support agriculture and to teach your kids about where food really comes from,” she says. Check out PickYourOwn.org for farms near you.

Eat Seasonally

The change of seasons is a perfect time to teach your kids about eating food that’s seasonal. Check out your local farmers market for the best of in-season produce that’s been grown nearby. “Eating locally grown food is good for the planet and can be a lot more affordable than the alternative,” says Anderson. “In-season items to look for are sweet potatoes, artichokes, arugula, beets, broccoli, carrots, cranberries, eggplant, kale, leeks and zucchini.” Visit LocalHarvest.org to find farms in your area and check out FruitsAndVeggiesMoreMatters.org for fall recipes you can make with what you find.

Go Slow
Consider hosting a fall-themed dinner party that features nothing but local and in-season food. It’s a great chance to bring friends and family together and to teach your kids about cooking with seasonal foods. If you’re not up for hosting, Anderson recommends checking out Slow Food USA, a sustainable and local food nonprofit that hosts local events around the country.

Decorate Naturally
“Use the bounty of fall to get started on your holiday decorations,” suggests Anderson. Acorns, branches and leaves can all become beautiful festive items with a little paint and imagination. Collect items from your backyard or visit a local park, and this Thanksgiving you’ll have nature’s answer to the ultimate holiday table setting.

Photo Credit: @iStockphoto.com/ericmichaud

Marisa Belger’s work has appeared in Travel + Leisure Family, Natural Health, Prevention and TODAYShow.com, where she wrote a column about eco-friendly living. She was an editor at Lime.com and collaborated with author Josh Dorfman on his bestselling books, The Lazy Environmentalist and The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget.
{lang: 'ar'}

Make it Be – Cut Bay Area Poverty in Half by 2020

Posted on by

The Make It Be Vision

We all have a vision for a diverse, caring, and economically vibrant Bay Area. But 1 in 5 of us lives in poverty, standing in the way of that vision. 1 in 5 is not OK. Not in one of the richest, most forward-thinking regions in the world. We can’t sit on the sidelines. Let’s come together. Collectively. Let’s use our power to change our communities  – step by step – block by block -  one problem at a time.

MAKE IT BE is a United Way of the Bay Area campaign. We are a growing movement of Bay Area residents and organizations committed to cutting poverty in half by 2020 and building thriving communities. Make it Be – Cut Bay Area Poverty in Half by 2020.

{lang: 'ar'}

Posted on by

Green Goes Simple


Green Goes Simple: Family Footprints

Spring Fling: Helping Kids Go Green This Season

By Amy Levin-Epstein for Green Goes Simple


Did you become greener after becoming a parent? Then you joined a conscientious club of moms and dads who increased their eco-efforts as their family grew.

“To me, there are two aspects to being green: The first is about how you and your family affect the environment, and the second is about how you let the environment affect your family,” says Dr. Jenn Berman, mother of 4-year-old twin girls, and author of the eco-friendly book SuperBaby: 12 Ways to Give Your Child a Head Start in the First 3 Years. Plus, “compassion for the earth inspires compassion for other people and animals,” she says. Try these six tips from Berman and other eco-experts to help your kids live greener lives this spring.

Make Composting a Family Affair
For Mary Talalay, an eco-friendly writer and mother of one in Maryland, composting is a huge part of her family’s green efforts. “We started a simple compost pile by fencing off a small section of our yard — away from the dogs’ prying noses — and now we literally never throw kitchen scraps anywhere but the compost pile,” says Talalay. “I weighed one of our daily tubs of scraps, and it was about a pound of carrot peels, orange peels and the like. That’s 365 pounds of waste that makes worms happy and stays out of the landfill!”

Go Meatless on Mondays
Switching the whole family over to vegetarianism might be too big of an undertaking for your family plan, but just one meat-free day a week can have a positive effect on your family — and the earth. “Research has shown that animal agriculture is the single largest source of methane, which is a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more powerful than carbon dioxide,” says Berman.

Lead by Example
If you forget to recycle those empty plastic bottles or turn off the lights when you leave the house, your kids will too. “How we act is so important,” says Bruce Harley, author of Cut Your Energy Bills Now: 150 Smart Ways to Save Money and Make Your Home More Comfortable and Green. “The lesson of bringing cloth grocery bags to the store is lost if it takes a 6,000-pound SUV to bring two of us to the store in the first place.”

Rack up Environmental Goodwill at Goodwill
Secondhand stores save gently worn clothes from ending up in landfills, which makes them a great — and wallet-friendly — way to green your family’s wardrobe. “We bring clothes to Goodwill and we also shop there,” says Talalay. “Sometimes I feel like I am renting clothes because we buy things there, my daughter wears them until they’re too small, and back to Goodwill they go if they’re still in good condition.”

Make Showering a Water-saving Game
Kids like to compete, so the most fun way to make bath time green is by making it a game. “Shower timers in the bathroom are an easy and fun way for kids to get used to using less water and taking shorter showers,” says Caroline Howell, founder of Green Beanie.  “No one wants to be a ‘water waster,’ as we call it at my house.”

Watch Your Garden Grow — Together
Have a picky eater? Green gardening is a great way to make sure your family is eating more wholesome veggies, says Talalay. Kids who help dig in the dirt will be excited to see — and eat! — the fruits of their labor. And you’ll rest easy knowing that the food you grew flourished naturally.

Photo Credit: Andy Cawood

Amy Levin-Epstein is a freelance writer who’s been published in magazines like Glamour, Self and Prevention, on websites like AOL, Babble and Details.com and in newspapers like the New York Post and the Boston Globe. You can read more of her writing at AmyLevinEpstein.com.

{lang: 'ar'}

Go Green for Earth Month

Posted on by

Green Goes Simple


Green Goes Simple: Conservation at Home

Go Green for Earth Month

By Elizabeth Dwoskin for Green Goes Simple

There’s nothing more precious to parents than their kids — nothing more important than making sure they are as healthy and as safe as possible. Earth Month is the perfect time for parents to put their kids first by making small, easy changes that protect the health of both their little ones and the earth.

While parents can’t control every aspect of their kid’s lives — though most wish they could — there is one place where they can take full charge: the home. And these days, lots of parents are looking for green solutions to make their homes more sustainable. Don’t you wish that you had someone to just whisper in your ear, giving you quick and easy green tips every time you needed them?

Enter Janelle Sorenson, chief communications officer for Healthy Child Healthy World. For 20 years, this nonprofit group has been all about giving families the tools they need to create cleaner, greener and safer homes. Sorenson gave us some easy suggestions that you can use to start greening your home — and saving money — right away.

1. Add some cool, clean air to your home.
Because children have sensitive lungs, the quality of indoor air is a big factor in creating a sustainable home. Indoor air can actually be more polluted and contaminated than the air outside. That’s because asthma triggers, including chemicals, dust and particles from outdoors, can settle into furniture. And inside there’s no sunlight to break down contaminants, or wind to blow them away.

To improve your indoor air quality, there are some easy things you can do, like having a no-shoe house (this cuts down on the grime that gets tracked indoors) and opening your windows once a day. Sorenson also recommends vacuuming with a HEPA (high efficiency particle) filter. “Your carpet can really become a sink for whatever is in your air — dust, pollen and the dirt you track inside with you.”

Another super-simple remedy for improving indoor air quality is keeping lots of plants around your house. Sorensen recommends placing one medium- to large-size plant every 100 feet. NASA — which for years has been studying what plants will help purify the air inside a spaceship — has discovered three common houseplants that do wonders for cleaning up the air: areca palm, mother-in-law’s tongue, and money plants. These are all like oxygen factories in that they remove volatile organic chemicals from the air.

2. Cut down on pesticides.
Pesticides may get rid of bugs, but they’ve been linked to asthma, hormone imbalances, and even learning disabilities in children. Fortunately, it’s easy to avoid exposing your kids to these toxins.

With spring and summer on the way, kids are going to start playing outside again — and that means bites from the buzzing critters that live in our backyards. If you have red ant piles around your house, one green solution is to sprinkle chili pepper flakes around them. Ants despise chili pepper; they won’t go near it. And for fruit flies, and even mosquitoes, potted basil just might do the trick. When your kids go out to play, try rubbing basil leaves on them as a toxin-free substitute for bug spray.

“These are all tricks that our grandparents probably knew, but we’ve become so used to just reaching for the first thing on the shelf that we forgot them,” says Sorensen.

If those pesky summertime mosquitoes still won’t stop devouring your kids, make your own bug repellent by combining eucalyptus, lavender, citronella and geranium oil — all of which naturally repel bugs.

3. Teach your kids to stay green even when they’re not at home.
While making easy green changes at home is a great start, kids are ambassadors of eco-friendliness who will take these lessons and more on the road with them. Teach your kids that little changes can make a big difference.

An easy ways to do this? Encourage them to bring a reusable lunch box and water bottle to school, instead of paper bags and plastic bottles. Let kids pick their own out so they’ll be more likely to never leave home without them.

One of the biggest away-from-home trash producers is parties, both in the classroom and at friends’ homes. Encourage your child’s teachers and the parents of his friends to switch from plastic party favors to DIY crafts or food items like cookies. Kids will like them just as much as the non-green alternatives and they’ll go a lot easier on the earth.

The most important thing is to just start somewhere. It feels good to begin making small changes toward a healthier lifestyle. And after a while, they really start to add up.


Photo: @iStockphoto.com/akurtz

Elizabeth Dwoskin is a staff writer at The Village Voice as well as a frequent writer for The New York Times. She’s also written for The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast.

{lang: 'ar'}

Conservation in the Classroom

Posted on by

Green Goes Simple

Green Goes Simple:

Conservation in the Classroom

By Elizabeth Barker for Green Goes Simple

Raising environmentally savvy kids is one of the most powerful ways to help them enjoy a protected planet. To foster your children’s eco-education, encourage their schools to go green.

As part of National Green Week (an annual program developed by the Green Education Foundation), schools can devote any week from now until Earth Day (April 22) to projects that help create a more sustainable classroom and community. “One of National Green Week’s goals is for schools to start making environment-focused changes they can stick with for the rest of the year and beyond, so that the program can truly have a lasting impact,” says Green Education Foundation president Victoria Waters.

To spark each child’s green spirit, says Waters, it’s crucial to let students take charge in choosing which environmental issues they’ll hone in on during National Green Week. Parents and teachers can check out the Green Education Foundation for a wealth of resources and tips on making the program fun and meaningful for kids. You and your kids can get inspired with Waters’ suggestions for fun National Green Week projects:

Waste-free Snacks
In 2010, National Green Week participants eliminated 300,000 pounds of trash by packaging their snacks more sustainably. With a goal of slashing snack waste by 500,000 pounds during National Green Week 2011, the Waste-free Snacks project prompts kids to ditch plastic baggies and juice boxes and start using reusable containers and bottles. With all the fun, kid-friendly container options out there, this challenge is sure to be a hit with your tikes!

The Green Thumb Challenge
By growing their own garden, kids can connect with the earth and foster a lifelong fondness for fresh fruits and veggies. For schools seeking to transform their grounds into a bountiful green space, the Green Education Foundation suggests using National Green Week as a garden-planning period.

Keep it easy by focusing on cultivating easy-to-grow goodies like watermelons and radishes. This project highlights sustainable gardening practices that help nurture the planet. “Lots of schools taking part in the Green Thumb Challenge have gotten into working with earthworms for use in composting, which helps cut the amount of waste that ends up in landfills,” says Waters.

The Green Classroom Pledge
Designed to give schools an eco-makeover, the Green Classroom Pledge includes 10 simple steps for fighting pollution and reducing the use of natural resources. Along with paper-preserving strategies and energy-saving initiatives, the pledge involves cleaning up classroom air by switching to nontoxic supplies and adopting plants that help purify the indoor environment.

To shore up your school’s National Green Week efforts, the Green Education Foundation offers a sustainability-centric curriculum for each grade — from kindergarten-friendly lessons on making Solar Sweet Tea to a middle-school-level guide to growing hydroponic flowers. But no matter which activities schools select, National Green Week should ultimately serve to inspire students.

“When kids hear about the doom-and-gloom of what’s going on with the environment, it’s easy for them to feel helpless,” says Waters. “But once they take part in hands-on projects where they actually see a positive outcome, it really empowers them and gives them the sense that they can make a difference.”

Elizabeth Barker is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and executive editor of fashion blog NoGoodForMe.com. Her work has appeared in Body + Soul, Natural Health, Vegetarian Times, Variety and Kiwi.
{lang: 'ar'}

Hood River – Solstice Wood Fire Café

Posted on by

If you are every in Hood River you must check out Solstice Cafe!

Solstice Wood Fire Café offers fresh, local, seasonal and organic food skillfully prepared by hand at family affordable prices. Featuring an imported Italian wood fire oven, the café specializes in rustic Tuscan-style pizzas, house-grilled panini sandwiches, hearty soups and stews, crispy wood-fired chicken and local farm-to-table salads. The café also serves award winning local wines and FIVE rotating local microbrews on tap.

Founded by husband-and-wife team Suzanne Wright Baumhackl and Aaron Baumhackl, Solstice is designed to be a warm and welcoming every day community gathering place complete with private meeting space, outdoor patio seating and art by local artists. Little ones are invited to enjoy the children’s play area, HUGE chalkboard wall and kid-friendly menu where all items are priced under $4. Solstice welcomes private parties, special events and offers scrumptuous catering and lunch boxes. Open Six DAYS A WEEK, all day starting at 11:00 for lunch & dinner! Closed on Tuesdays for family day.

Solstice Wood Fire Café | Bingen, WA.

{lang: 'ar'}