Hey ladies,
I was bit with the green bug early. My sister, one of our friends, and I started an ecology club when we were in elementary school. At our first meeting we invited tons of kids, and we all sat down and wrote a letter to the newspaper protesting the plan to shut down the recycling center in our area. When the letter ran a couple weeks later my teacher brought it to my attention and was really impressed (our club had been completely unaffiliated with the school. That's when I knew I was kinda weird, but I liked it. What about you? When did you know that green was the way to be?

I've always been kind of "green"... it's not something I can put a date on or had a cool life altering experience like mamajama.

Making the full conversion to a chemical free/natural home (including all our food) came a couple years ago when my daughter was having health and behavior issues. I don't believe in medicating my kids so I found out how to take care of it on my own. So we removed all the icky stuff from our food and household environment... started natural supplements and have seen wonderful changes.

Now we are raising our kids to be green... I grew up recycling and making nifty craft projects from recycled paper. I think at the time my motivation wasn't necessarily because it was good for the environment... but it was fun! We are teaching our kids the WHY because that's just as important as making this FUN. That way, they will grow up and continue to conserve, reuse, reduce and consider their choices and the environment.

Being born and raised in Oregon... I think we naturally have an instinct to be "green". Maybe that's why I can't pinpoint a moment.

I wish I could say I was always green, but I'm a late bloomer. Better late than never, right? We moved six years ago to a property with 4 acres. I've always wanted to live off of our land as best as I could. We're taking baby steps and are on our way finally.

We recycle everything, but it's a little hard since the recycling center is not close to us, but we still do it. Our son loves going there and giving our stuff back to be used again. We've got an organic garden. I use organic gardening & lawn care products (I also sell them now!). In two weeks we're getting some chicks for laying, not for their meat. Next years goal is to get a goat and have a much larger garden.

I'm involved in another program, Plant A Row for the Hungry. The concept is to have gardeners donate their extra produce to local food banks. It's a great program and I'm so excited about it.

We're not totally chemical free, but we're working on it. I'm going slow & steady so I really understand everything I do, not just doing something because I'm told to.

I'm taking a class this fall through the NWF about backyard habitats and I cannot wait. As part of this class, I have to volunteer 30 hours over the next year. That means I get to help others become green in their backyards.

For more info on what I have done, visit my blog at www.jenshappygardening.blogspot.com

I have to say, I'm becoming more green all the time. (That sounds funny, doesn't it?) We save all bottles and cans and we have a neighbor who comes and picks them up. He's got a developmental handicap and this is the way he makes his living. It's a win-win situation.

A few months ago we started hot composting in the backyard and have been using it for a lot of our kitchen waste. We've also been using reusable shopping bags for our groceries.

These are all little changes, but they add up!

If anyone out there is interested in starting a backyard composter, I wrote about it in my blog. Here's the link to "Spread the Joy, Spread the Compost" http://www.storyrhyme.com/jcsblog/files/07b399554f 1192ab90f4feb9c6d2a298-30.html

I find myself growing more and more "green" the older I get. I don't know if it's becoming more aware of how my actions impact the greater community, or just a desire for my child(ren) to have a better place to live.

I started using the canvas shopping bags last year, and now make it a point to have at least one with me all the time so I can eliminate more plastic bags. I'm also working on planning a small patio garden for us when we move into an apartment later on this summer, and bringing more of the outdoors in.

Recycling is a huge issue for us, since we're in an unincorporated county area right now, and our garbage dump doesn't offer recycling. We have alternatives, and as long as we're able, we will continue to take our recyclables to the downtown drop-off point.

My current project is to eat as locally as possible, learning more about places to buy fresh fruits and veggies, and planning our meals around what's created here.