Have a Lovely Green Weekend + A Few Green Things

Hello, Friends! How was your week? Are you ready for the weekend? Eben's spring break vacation starts now - and I am so excited to have him all to myself for nine whole days! Hooray for spring break!

On Sunday, we will be celebrating Mr. Sweet Greens' grandfather's 97th birthday. Yes, you heard me correct - 97! Can you imagine? He has always loved to play cards, so we are surprising him with a poker party at the clubhouse in his neighborhood. Fantastic.

While I gather up the supplies to bake him a fabulous organic chocolate cake, here are a few green things to keep you busy:

- Finally! Swiss Parliament bans imports of live dolphins!
- I agree that you can have happy pets without having a yard. We do!
- The world's largest wildlife conservation area is established in Africa.
- You don't need to add green food coloring for a fun St. Patrick's treat - give avocado a try instead.
- I have told the mister a hundred times that I want a mirco pig. Do you?
- Did you know that squid have giant eyes?
- Do you love frogs the way I do? 

I hope your weekend is full of fun in the sun - I will see you back here on Monday.

xo,
Sweet Greens

HOW TO: Make Non-Toxic Finger Paint for Creative Kids

Do your kids love getting their hands dirty? You won't cringe if they're creating something colorful and fun with finger paints. But forgo expensive store bought finger paint that are typically filled with toxins and synthetic colorants - after all, your kids could easily put those paint-covered fingers in their mouths. Instead, make your own eco finger paint using non-toxic, safe, organic ingredients - the DIY art supply will be better for the environment and won't harm your child if he decides to taste it. Discovery how to make easy DIY finger paint for your budding artist today.

P.S. Make sure to check out the photo of my Eben fingerpainting when he was 3 - it's amazing how quickly times flies by! 

Do you make your own fingerpaints?

HOW TO: Make Organic Sweet Pickles with Your Children

Finding fun ways to get more vegetables into your children's diet is always great. Especially, when those vegetables taste so yummy, children will be begging you for another. Sweet Pickles fit this bill - not only are they fun to eat, they are a super fun way to spend a spring morning with your children. Check out my step-by-step directions and make your own organic sweet pickles with your little ones.

Have you ever made pickles with your children? 

Olli Lolli Organic Hoodie Keeps Allergy Medication Close to Your Child

If you have a child who has a life threatening allergy, you know how important it is to keep their life-saving medication close by. Olli Lolli has created organic hoodies that are specially designed with the Olli Pocket, a built-in pocket that holds your child's emergency epinephrine auto-injector, asthma inhaler or insulin injector, keeping it close by for when they need it. The pocket also has a tag where you can write all of our child's emergency contact information. The hoodie comes in green or purple and sizes x-small, small, medium and large.

I love the idea of empowering children while promoting allergy awareness at the same time!

P.S. While Eben doesn't have an allergy that requires him to carry medication - he is allergic to penicillin, so I completely understand the importance of allergy awareness. 

Does your child have a life-threatening allergy?
Would your child benefit from an Olli Lolli hoodie?


+ Ollie Lolli Hoodie $59.95
+ Ollie Lolli

5 Healthy Shamrock and Rainbow Meals for St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner and it's a holiday that is all about shamrocks, rainbows, leprechauns and fun! Since it's a fun holiday to celebrate with your kiddos, start the day off by setting a leprechaun trap and then plan shamrock green snacks and meals for the rest of the day. Your little lucky charms will look forward to devouring these yummy organic green themed meals, jump over to Inhabitots to see my 5 favorites for a very happy St. Patrick's Day!

Do you have a special St. Patrick's meal planned for your kiddos?

Physical Geography Project: Interior Slice of the Earth from Eco-Friendly Clay

Eben has been working on a 3-D project for Physical Geography - his project: create an interior slice of the earth showing its layers. He sketched a drawing of what he wanted his project to look like and that he planned to make it out of clay.

This worked perfectly for me - I had gifted him with a large stack of Plastilina modeling clay from Stubby Pencil Studio last Hanukkah, so the only other supplies he needed were a piece of paper from the recycling bin and a handful of wooden toothpicks. I love to watch him create things with his hands!

 Would you like to see the finished project?

When your child has school projects, do you use eco-friendly art supplies and materials from your recycling bin?

Have a Lovely Green Weekend + A Few Green Things

Hello, Friends! The weekend is here! Are you excited? We are having friends over for dinner tonight - Mr. Sweet Greens has a delicious Italian dinner planned. I can't wait! The mister hurt his foot earlier this week, so the rest of our weekend plans will depend on how he is feeling. I have high hopes that we will get some sailing time in. While I get ready for our dinner party, here are a few green things I thought you might enjoy:

- Do you think those babies belong to Mrs. Turtle? I hope so!
- For the Mister: Baby Otters too adorable for words.
- What do you think of a living table?
- What do you think of edible food packaging?
- I love winter crop circles - do you?
- Super-duper cute and eco Easter bunnies!
- I love Glacier National Park - check out these fantastic photos. 

Have a wonderful weekend, I will see you back here on Monday.
xo,
Sweet Greens

HOW TO: Make Local Trap-Caught Shrimp Tacos + Organic Sour Cream Sauce

When Mr. Sweet Greens makes meals that contain seafood, he always uses local, trap-caught seafood - in our case from Florida. Last night he decided to make shrimp tacos - complete with a homemade organic sour cream sauce and pico de gallo. It is one of my favorite seafood dishes - they are delicious. Are you in the mood for shrimp tacos? Read on to learn the easy recipe - just in time for the weekend. And if you are in the mood, you could make a batch of organic margaritas to go with them!

What you will need:

For the Shrimp:

• Local, trap-caught shrimp
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon organic chili powder
• 1 teaspoon organic cumin

For the Sour Cream Sauce:

• organic sour cream
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• juice from 1/2 organic lime
• salt + pepper to taste

For the Pico de Gallo:

• 2 organic de-seeded tomatoes (chopped)
• 1/8 cup organic onion (chopped)
• 1/2 de-seeded organic jalapeno
• 1/3 cup organic cilantro
• juice of 1 whole organic lime
• salt + pepper to taste

For the Tacos:

• organic corn tortillas
• organic Monterey Jack cheese
• organic cabbage (chopped)
• organic lime wedges

Step 1: Sprinkle the shrimp with the salt, chili powder and cumin. Then, saute the shrimp in olive oil.
Step 2: Warm the corn tortillas in a warm pan.
Step 3: Add shrimp, cabbage, cheese, pico de gallo and sour cream to each tortilla - top with the juice from a lime wedge or two.

Would You Dare? Jeb Corliss | Grinding the Crack

I saw this video of Jeb Corliss, Grinding the Crack on my brother's Facebook and it got my heart pumping! I don't consider myself an adrenaline junkie, but I do like to watch. And I am afraid of heights, so watching Jeb BASE jump in a wingsuit in Switzerland freaks me out - a lot. Can you image the view he has when he is flying. Amazing.

Would you dare?

Jeb Corliss Grinding The Crack via YouTube

Wooden Palette Upcycled Into a Beautiful Planter

Now that we live in a tri-level townhouse, I have been looking for ways to keep a large amount of plants on our three patios. Right now, we have our vegetables and herbs growing in pots in our front yard - which is lovely, just not really convenient, our kitchen is on the second floor. We do, however, have two patios that are on the same level as the kitchen, the only problem is that they are very small - even the large one! Once I put a super-comfy (and small) sofa, small table and the grill on the larger patio, it didn't leave enough floor space for fruits and vegetables - there isn't even space to hang plants. Mr. Sweet Greens took the patio on our third level over - it now houses his collection of potted citrus trees. And the third patio has a couple of small chairs and our composter on it - however, I am thinking of removing the chairs and adding plants!

With all of these space constraints in mind, I have been trying to think of alternative ways to get some plants on all of our patios and the front porch too - and I think I found a solution. Wooden palettes. I saw a discarded wooden palette the other day and wondered if there was any way I could repurpose it into a planter. I came home and searched on Pinterest for a little inspiration and found wooden palettes recycled into beautiful planters. I wonder if I could plant vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers in the top section and herbs in the lower sections. The mister doesn't know it yet - however, this is a project that I have added to his weekend list. Ha!

What do you think - would you use wooden palettes in your home's design?
Do you think it will work on three small patios and maybe even my front porch?
I would love your thoughts!