Hey… This is me, Jennifer. Here at b5media I blog here at Tree Hugging Family, a green lifestyle blog for the whole family — kids very much included. I can also be found at Blisstree Green Living, Traveling the Green Way, Blisstree Gardening and Thrifty Mommy.
Here’s more about me, in a tidy text nutshell: I’m a full-time freelance writer, problogger, and an unschooling mama of an amazing eight year old boy. I’m addicted to blogs, green living, architecture, music, books, and more. I dwell in the Pacific Northwest but have also lived in places like Humboldt and Albuquerque. I love exploring green living topics, unusual and lovely structures, and new ways of living.
My current work is concentrated on: full time blogging but I’ve also worked on fresh copy for non-profits, businesses, and various miscellaneous clients. Other writing I’ve done includes web projects, national magazine articles, proposals and grants, health profiles and more. My writing specialty covers topics related to architecture, green living, sustainable building, household issues, saving money, blogging, pregnancy, and also health and wellness.
Where I’m coming from with this whole green living topic.
Was I always into sustainable living?
Sort of; I did typical stuff. Carried a reusable coffee mug, recycled, turned of lights when I left the room, etc. After my son was born my family and I moved to Humboldt County and that’s what changed my thinking from typical green living to “what more can I do.”
The picture you see to the side is me at a Humboldt County peninsula beach clean up and tree planting Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America celebration. Long name, good cause. The picture’s a bit fuzzy because my little shot it and she was way excited (and thus shaky) about planting her own tree.Humboldt is pretty cool. There’s a lot of untouched spaces like beaches and forests and of course the ever inspiring redwood trees.
Humboldt has many green minded and creative people in a smaller community so it becomes easy to get attached to the idea that sustainability should be the norm not the exception. We lived in a tiny town and a tiny house, with no electric heat, within walking distance to the beach and with these amazing views of the ocean. We learned to keep the house warm without wasting wood, which was good because it got me thinking about how to conserve natural resources — or if you even can if your heat is wood based.
We spent a lot of time in nature. We bought local organic foods from the co-op and farmers market because that’s what was close by. We bought old furniture and fixed it up and painted it. We generally started to live within less space on less resources. And it was nice. I met people who lived entirely off grid and decided that was a major goal of mine.
Since Humboldt I’ve tried to change the way my family does things at home and in the community. Sometimes we take bold steps and sometimes small; but I try to keep us thinking about it. Hopefully, your family is taking steps as well and if you aren’t or you’d like to take more this blog will be a good place to start gathering ideas.
Any other regular characters on this blog?
Being that this is a green living blog for families I’ll likely be mentioning my son. Since I don’t want to keep introducing him, I’ll do it now. The boy above is my son Cedar Blue. He’s into sustainable living as well. He’s cooked on solar cookers, gathered water from rain barrels, gardened organically, created art with natural resources, ‘helped out’ when we built our passive solar house, recycles, built solar powered toys, and loves garage sales. He’s an almost full vegetarian by choice and is obsessed with recycling and saving energy.
You also might hear me mention Dave, my boyfriend, who I live with and his daughters, who live with us some of the time. They came into our house with a far less green way of living, so it’s been interesting, but they’re on board with green living for sure.
What about you?
Why not introduce yourself in the comments. What steps are you and your family taking to live lighter upon the earth. Or maybe tell me what you’d like to be doing. What kind of green activities do your kids love?
I’d also love to see picture of you and your family doing green activities as well. You can send them to me at jennifer.chait (at) b5media.com and that way other readers and I can see what great things you’re doing to make a difference.
Basics & contact info…
If you really like me visit one of my other blogs:
- EcoHuddle
- Inhabitots
- Tree Hugging Family
- Best Green Home Tips
- Blisstree Green
- Pregnancy & Baby
- Thrifty Mommy
- Blisstree Gardening
- Traveling the Green Way
- Freelance Writing Jobs and Blogging For A Living with co-blogger Deb Ng
- Slices of Green
- Green Beauty & Style Slices
- Little Slices of Green – on hiatus currently
If you’ve got a super-fly idea for Tree Hugging Family, such as something you’d like to see, or if you just like to talk as much as I do; go ahead and whirl an email my way. You can reach me at: jennifer.chait (at) b5media.com
I’d love to hear from you.