Many of us are welcoming spring today, so I thought it would be nice to go over some nature loving, tree hugging, eco-friendly ideas that will carry the entire family through the better part of spring and into summer.

1. Quit looking at nature through your frosty windows. It’s warming up, so get out there and enjoy nature in real time, in real life, in full blown color.

2. Throw open your windows wide and let in the fresh air. Natural ventilation is actually a really effective green home goal to aim for. Proper cross ventilation naturally helps to remove any indoor pollution caused by molds, mites, varnishes, paints, cleaners, and more.

3. Have a spring reusable bag sewing party.

4. Use the spring lilacs to create something sweet.

5. Celebrate spring like other cultures do:

• In Egypt, you throw open your windows and breathe deep on the first day of spring. Later have a picnic.
• In Poland a large straw doll is dressed up in old clothes, and then thrown in the river – ok, maybe don’t do that one (not great for fish).
• The festival of colors, or Holi, is a Hindu spring festival, observed in North India and Nepal where children squirt colored water on each other to celebrate.
• What other spring traditions do cultures celebrate? Tell me what you know.

6. See the zoo babies.

7. Try left-over heat cooking for your spring recipes. This means turn the stove top or oven off when food is almost done. Pasta, veggies, rolls, and even meats in the oven will be ok (and fully cooked) if you turn off the heat a few minutes early. Just leave the oven door shut, the pot top on, etc. Imagine how many minutes of energy you will have saved by next spring.

8. Enjoy new blossoms and leaves sprouting to life on the trees.

9. Build a rain barrel to collect spring showers.

10. Rent lawn equipment that you know you will only use occasionally.

11. Alternatively, start a neighborhood co-op of lawn equipment. Purchase together and share major item.

12. Visit a waterfall – this is the best time of year for waterfalls, snow is melting, and the water comes crashing down.

13. Spring clean – just don’t spring clean with chemicals and other icky stuff. Make this year’s spring cleaning actually clean and healthy.

14. Learn which fruits and veggies are in season and eat bunches of them. Buying in season and locally grown is better for the earth, your wallet, and your health.

15. Choose a recycled plastic picnic table.

16. Fold a “springing” froggy out of recycled paper.

17. If your coffee shop of choice serves single serve sugars and creamers, choose a new favorite coffee shop or ask them to get large, bulk containers of cream and sugar.

18. Visit a wetland area – there are still enough wetland areas so that it’s safe to assume that there’s one near you, but there may not be for long. Without conservation we could lose some major wetland areas. I’d visit soon because it’s not clear yet that enough people care to save them. Ask your local visitors center where you can find a wetland area near you.

19. Get some cool spring worthy eco-toys. These new toys from Green Toys are created from curbside recycled milk containers. The actual shop should be open in the spring sometime, but until then you can contact the company directly with purchase inquiries. They have a great Sand Play Set or Organic Gardening Set.

20. Is it still too cold for flowers where you live? Make some colorful recycled tissue paper garlands to add spring to your house. (Use that used holiday tissue that I know you saved). Better yet, make a garland and give it to a neighbor, friend, elderly home, or children’s ward at a hospital.

21. Rejoice in spring flowers.

22. Help your kids to join Journey North.

23. Buy a reclaimed wood garden bench so you can sit outside and read.

24. This season, and each season have your car engine tuned up and serviced. Following a decent tune up schedule will reduce the amount of pollution your car emits by 20%. Better yet you’ll save on fuel – good for the earth and wallet.

25. Hunt for birds nests – don’t touch though, just look.

26. Build your own compost bin for recycling spring garden and kitchen scraps.

27. Visit a rural farm. Notice how a farm in spring differs from where you live. Unless of course you do live on a farm – then visit a city park and observe the same differences.

28. Go ahead, green your entire Easter celebration.

29. Or at least make your own recycled magazine Easter baskets.

30. If you go on a green picnic this spring make sure six packs with plastic rings aren’t on the menu. One, the plastic rings when not cut can kill birds, fish, and other wildlife. Two, plastic won’t degrade until well after your great grandchildren are celebrating their springs. And three, there’s no need to have them. Many canned drink products now come in boxes instead of with rings. If you’re buying canned drinks, get those instead.

31. Get some eco-friendly rain gear for the whole family so you can go splash in spring puddles.

32. Get your spring garden seeds organized using recycled milk cartons.

33. Rent a greener car on your spring break vacation.

34. Don’t defrost the Easter Ham in the microwave. Microwave defrosting wastes more energy than planning ahead and defrosting in the fridge.

35. Go searching for the end of a rainbow.

36. You still have time for a spring garden clean up.

37. This year combine your spring cleaning with some green audits: Try green auditing your trash, bathroom, or your pantry.

38. Get in the habit of nighttime watering now. Watering your lawn and garden is much more efficient at night than in the daytime. In the cool of evening plants lose almost 50% less water than in the heat. That adds up to a ton of water saved each year. Of course you can double your water saving efforts by using your saved rainwater.

39. On each of your spring outings pick up one piece of trash. If everyone did this that would be over 300 million fewer pieces of litter on our streets, in our parks, and so on, daily.

40. Relax… think about simplifying your life and time.

41. As summer gets closer consider organizing a summer toy lending program with other families – this cuts down on consumption, teaches kids about sharing, and uses fewer resources and energy. Get ideas for your lending program here.

42. Now that it’s warming up, turn your heating down by 5 more degrees. Each 5 degree decrease saves up to 11% energy consumption a year.

43. If you go camping, leave nothing behind in nature. Pack up all your belongings and carry them out of the forest with you.

44. Get up close and personal with some fresh grass – ponder a single blade. Think about all the good reasons why you shouldn’t add chemical poisonous fertilizer to your grass this year

45. Get that recycling under control.

46. Learn to love slow mail – the quicker you send your mail or ask for packages to be delivered to you, the worse it is for the planet. Transportation is hugely connected to pollution and global warming. The more transport we require the worse it is. Quit with the two day mail services. You don’t need stuff right away, and if you know you will, plan accordingly.

47. Try out one of 10 great organic gardening projects for kids this spring.

48. See how many toads you can count at the local river or lake. Can you find tadpoles too?

49. If you take out an off-road vehicle this spring, stick to where you should be. Running over habitats is not cool – you could destroy an animal’s home, kill rare plants, and harm tree roots. Stick to wide trails that are deemed ok for off-road travel.

50. Get away from it all. Imagine what life would be like away from all the hustle and bustle most of the time.

51. Blow bubbles! Make some homemade bubble mix out of a tablespoon of glycerin, a cup of natural liquid soap, and a gallon of water (give or take). Make your own bubble wands out of recycled items like…

• Butter or yogurt tub tops with holes punched in them.
• Green plastic strawberry containers.
• Bent wire hangers.
• That fly swatter you never use.
• Pipe cleaners bent into fun shapes.

52. Hang out with a family of ducks.

53. Dare your family to take at least 5 small steps for the environment by summer.

54. Go on a wildflower hike.

55. Clean out your closets – give good clothing away to the thrift store, make cleaning rags out of the worst, and save the cherished pieces for a memory quilt.

56. Make sure your family participates in eco-friendly boating (if you boat).

57. Slap a fresh coat of paint on the house – non-toxic, VOC-free paint of course.

58. When spring cleaning, don’t forget the car. However, use a bucket of water and an old rag to scrub away dirt, not the power spray on the hose. Every minute you run the hose you’re wasting 10 (or more) gallons of water. There are people in other countries who can’t even find one decent glass of water to drink, and animals and fish who have lost whole water habitats due to water waste. There’s no excuse for excessive water waste.

59. Go bicycling as a family – double your efforts by actually having an errand destination; the grocery store, library, the park for lunch. Every time you don’t take your car, you’re doing the earth some good.

60. Plant a tree – it’s almost always a good time to plant a tree, but spring is really nice because a new tree’s roots won’t be shocked by the cold anytime soon.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Right now, there’s not one single place, but Encyclopedia of Life is trying to change that.

Encyclopedia of Life is now available online as a work in progress. BBC’s article, First look at vast ‘book of life’, gives more details about this cooperative undertaking.

If all goes according to plan, the site will feature 1.8 million species of plants and wildlife by 2017.

The site is designed to be used by everyone, including scientists or students. And they are looking for help.

You can take a survey, volunteer to become a curator for a species page, provide content or become a donor. Right now, the site has around 25 exemplar species pages which have been authenticated by scientists and thousands of other pages that are also authenticated, but lack the broad array of facts found on the exemplar pages.

So, go on and read about the Death Cap Mushroom. You know you want to. Then, check out the Black-and-Yellow Argiope (Warning to Jennifer, this is a spider!).

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Journey North allows kids to participate in a huge “Global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change.” It’s set up so that K-12 students can share their personal field observations with other students across North America.

However, anyone can participate; you don’t have to be a kid in school.

How it works is kids track spring coming by observing the migration patterns of animals, watching for plants starting to sprout, looking for sunlight changes, and more.

Some of the wildlife that kids can learn to observe through this program include; monarch butterflies, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes, gray whales, bald eagles, and many more. The program highlights include, “Migration maps, pictures, standards-based lesson plans, activities and information to help students make local observations and fit them into a global context.”

It’s a really exceptional idea, and now, with spring on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to join in. Little kids can have their parents help them so reading skills are a moot point.

How to get involved:

First you register and then you can submit your own sightings. You’ll also receive weekly news reports about what’s happening each week.

Next kids can take a look at the orientation process, and then get involved in one of the numerous projects happening on the site. All of the different projects show how season changes are all interconnected. Following, from the Journey North site, are the programs, or projects, that kids are working on:

• “Sunlight and the Seasons: Children study seasonal change in sunlight in a global game of hide and seek called Mystery Class.

• Plants and the Seasons: Children explore tulip growth in their own gardens, running an experiment that tracks the arrival of spring.

• Seasonal Migrations: Children follow animal migrations. They observe, research, and report findings and watch journeys progress on live maps.”
  

The site is full of videos and photos made just for kids. There’s also a great (and simple) Year-at-a-Glance Timeline to follow. Plus there is also a teacher’s resource center, offering lesson help related to seasonal topics, and helpful handouts and much more. While it says, “Teacher’s Resources” this section could easily be used by a parent as well.

This is a really wonderful programs that encourages kids to fully immerse themselves in the planet, and allows them to learn how small actions affect everything. Cedar and I are joining this year, hopefully we’ll see some of you there, submitting sightings.

Let me know if your family joins Journey North.

UPDATE: Journey North notes, “Your links about the different projects kids can work on go to the wrong place. You’ll find links to all of the current season’s projects here.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Coffee grounds can be even more useful to you after you drink your coffee:
Coffee grounds release nitrogen. Plants crazy love nitrogen.

You don’t even have to compost the grounds first. Just evenly spread used grounds directly over your plants just before watering. You can also till the grounds into the soil if you haven’t planted yet. If you do compost, coffee is an excellent composting agent.

Reusing coffee grounds just might help you end up with the prettiest daisies or most glam tomatoes on the block.

An added bonus of using coffee grounds in your garden is that many cats don’t like anything about coffee, so strays may choose to dig elsewhere. (It’s true: My cat will dip his paws into almost any unattended beverage except for coffee.)

If you aren’t a coffee drinker, but you want to use coffee grounds in your soil, check back soon for a post on how to get some free used coffee grounds. Plus, you’ll find more links with more tips on using coffee grounds in your garden.

Peas and coffee image from flickr.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

The Sugar Maple is considered the best source for maple sugar — read more about specific Sugar Maple characteristics. Grow Native also has some great info for Sugar Maple huggers.

NPR recently offered an alarming, but great article on the future of the Sugar Maple as global warming continues to advance. Sugar Maple trees are delicate; or I should say sensitive and while global warming is not healthy for anyone or anything on the planet it could be very bad for this beautiful tree and the generations of growers and maple sugar harvesters as well.

It’s a sad situation when trees need to adjust to our poor actions and all the more reason to try and think and act in an eco-sensible manner.

Who wants to see this tree vanish?

How kids can hug the Sugar Maple:

On the topic of tree preservation one great website for kids to visit is the Smokey the Bear kids zone. Games, stories, activities, and more make this an invaluable site that parents and kids can visit together. Kids can even join the Smokey club and receive email updates on forest and fire safety news.

Another good related website is the Maples page at Environmental Education for Kids (EEK!). There is a kid-friendly story about how maple sugar is made, legends behind the tree, and links to recipes.

One small step you can take today:

Read the NPR article and stop for a minute to consider which actions you are participating in that might be detrimental to the success of trees on the planet. That’s the best tree hug you can give.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

This is a bit of a cheat because the pumpkin tree is hardly a tree and more of a smallish plant. Solanum is simply the botanical name for a group of specific plants — many sub categories of Solanum exist. This sub category is known as; Pumpkin Tree, Pumpkin on a Stick, Hmong Eggplant, and many others.

In this case the adorable tiny pumpkin looking fruits make this tiny tree-like plant hug worthy.

Florists use this for fall arrangements and they’re also used in some Asian dishes.

While carving is out of the question this is a great family plant. Kids love them! You and your family can learn how to grow your own little pumpkin trees from this place or that place.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family