EcoHearth: Come Home to the Earth

I packed us up—my car, my toddler, myself—for a 12-hour ride, intending to follow my parents all the way home, all the way to Alberta, Canada. This trip was to be the big one. Could I do it? Could I find a way to practice what I preach, could I travel naturally, even with a toddler on the road? Travel with a toddler, eating only homemade and healthy, and no disposable diapers? Was I crazy? Read on...

As a child, I used to plant everything from pepper seeds to ash keys (winged seeds from ash trees) in pots in the disused greenhouse at the end of our garden. I’d water them every day, waiting for the thrill of spotting the first green shoots pushing up through the soil. Any failures were part of the experimentation—the unpredictability fascinated me. Do children have the time, space and patience to plant seeds in the technological age? If we want future generations to care about the environment and look after it, we must involve them in its creation. Read on…

My family moved to a new community about four years ago and, as with any new situation, we had to blend our old routines with new rules and customs.

When our realtor handed us the keys to our house, she gave us a welcome basket. Along with the map to the city, muffins from a local bakery and a bottle of wine were several neon-orange 3”x4” cards. I grabbed these hoping they were a gift certificate to a local hot spot, but to my dismay they each said “Trash Sticker.” Read on…

“What's the deal with this potty training before she is even one?”

A dear friend of mine responded with this question when I emailed her pictures of my daughter, Asa. Included in the set were shots of her sitting on the potty reading a book. I figured people would comment on Asa reading, not on the fact that she was using a potty at what I’ve since learned is a controversial age for potty training in the United States.

Before my daughter was born, I decided without question that I would use cloth diapers. I believed it was the environmentally responsible choice, and being well aware of the toxic lifespan of the disposable diaper, I went ahead and stocked up on cotton pre-folds and Velcro diaper covers that I would wash at home myself. Read on…

A friend of mine recently gave a talk to an audience of 35 rural kindergartners. Her topic was nutrition. She asked them to draw a picture of where their lunch came from. Two kids drew pictures of cows. The remaining 33 drew one of the following: chicken nuggets, an Oscar Mayer “lunchable” and Chef Boyardee microwaveable ravioli. When she told me this I wanted to cry. Read on…