Calling all kids: Do you like to read? Maylee does, and she’s looking for some fun new books! Share with her the name of your favorite book, plus why you like it so much. Don’t forget to leave your first name, age, and parents’ e-mail, too!

Here’s the latest and greatest of what’s going on in the mom blogosphere. Interested in having your blog featured? Let us know in the comments!

• Too many tomatoes? The Green Baby Guide has ideas on how to use them!
• Nature Moms Blog says kids in the city need adventures, too–and she’s got some great suggestions!
• PrairieMama copes with her little one’s first day of kindergarten.
• Learn how to stop procrastinating and get more done with tips from The Tranquil Parent.
• What are you grateful for? Waldorf Mama gives thanks on Gratitude Friday.

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer

It’s not just the younger set that need healthier school lunches–many college students are also victim to unhealthy offerings at university dining halls. Fortunately, administrators have heard the cry for healthy, sustainable food options, and some schools are responding.

Recognizing that the typical fare of pizza and burgers in most college cafeterias isn’t cutting it anymore, big-name schools are bringing new options to the table. The Sustainable Food Project at Yale University manages an organic garden that provides food for the school’s dining program, while Duke University encourages students to compost or choose recyclable or biodegradable food packaging. Even more impressive, the University of California-Berkeley is home to the nation’s first certified-organic salad bar.

These three schools aren’t the only ones making changes, though. With others like the College of the Atlantic, Evergreen State College, and Berea College promoting healthy, sustainable food, it won’t be long before eating for the planet becomes the norm at schools for kids of all ages. To learn about other ways colleges and universities across the country are doing their part to help the planet, check out KIWI’s Green College Report.

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer

Publix has just made shopping for healthy products a little easier. The grocery chain recently created a shelf tag system for many store-brand and national items that denotes whether or not a product is organic, made with organic ingredients, or natural/earth-friendly.

Seeking to simplify your shopping experience, the program was designed to allow consumers to determine whether or not a product fits their needs simply by glancing at the tag, rather than having to decipher labels, ingredients, or marketing claims. Organic products must contain at least 95% organic ingredients, while products made with organic ingredients must be 70%-94% organic. Natural or earth-friendly products are those that have been minimally-processed and manufactured in an environmentally-friendly way, and contain no natural ingredients.

To learn more about the system, plus see what the tags look like, check out Publix.com.

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer

Whole Foods Market has teamed up with renegade lunch lady Ann Cooper to create The Lunch Box, an online resource that seeks to help schools serve healthier food to students.

Knowing that schools need more than healthy menus to overhaul a bad lunch program, The Lunch Box covers all the bases (though it’s got plenty of recipes that come complete with nutritional information, too!). Featuring technical tools, financial modeling, educational manuals, and marketing materials, the website has everything schools need to lay the foundation for healthier student meals. Additionally, The Lunch Box will house a blog and discussion forum to encourage teachers, administrators, and school communities to support each other and and exchange ideas. “We hope this website is the go-to place [when it comes to improving school food,” says Chef Ann.

While there’s already plenty of information available on the website, Chef Ann says plenty more is on the way. “We have some other partners that we’re beginning to work with. We’ve really just begun on this site–we’ll be building extensively over the next 18 months,” she says.

Want to learn more about ways to make your school healthier and greener? Check out MyHealthySchool.com.

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer

You’d never want to miss your daughter’s role in the school play or your son’s winning touchdown on Friday night football, right? Why not re-live these special moments while helping out the environment at the same time by greening your photography. Some tips to please your family photo album and the planet:

• Use rechargeable batteries. Digital cameras go through batteries quicker than you might expect. Fortunately, many models are switching to  rechargeable batteries. Not quite in the market for a new camera? Try Sanyo eneloop Rechargeable Batteries, which come pre-charged and can be used up to a 1,000 times.

• Be picky with your prints. Kids do grow up too fast–but do we really need a photo with closed eyes or with a blurry blob of a dog? Instead of printing the less-than-stellar prints, share all your photos on websites like Flickr or Picasa Web Albums and upload all the photos you want. Both websites allow you to email friends and family your photo albums, where they can pick out their favorite pics to print.

• Recycle old equipment. Want to upgrade to a better camera? Sell your old one on Ebay or donate old printers, cameras or scanners to a local school or church. Many recycle centers also have drop boxes for electronics for proper disposal.

• Use recycled photo paper. One of the biggest problems is that most of the photo paper available is non-recyclable. Post-consumer recycled paper is becoming more widely available. Try GreenPix by Red River paper in photo matte finish.

-Liz, KIWI Intern

I was lucky that where I grew up in Texas, that I could just walk down the road to school. But for those who have to travel long distances to school or work, using the car can be an unfortunate necessity. With greenhouse gases and pollution  on the rise, carpooling is also a need. Web users now have access to save fuel and also make friends by being partnered to local carpools in their areas with eRideShare. Recommended by Yahoo, eRideShare allows users to search and place listings for carpools both for work and school. With more than 15,000 available, there are more than enough rides to share.

-Liz, KIWI Intern

Here’s the latest and greatest of what’s going on in the mom blogosphere. Interested in having your blog featured? Let us know in the comments!

• Funny stories of the last week of summer from Green Kiddos.
• On our never-ending quest to live more earth-friendly, Green & Clean Mom reminds us that we’re only human.
• Chicky Chicky Baby realizes her kids won’t be kids forever.
• Crafty projects like felt toys and cute skirts, from Nested.
• According to The Green Mom Review, SIGG’s reusable bottles for kids do contain BPA.

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer

Is your kid in the market for a new backpack this year? Here’s some of our favorite eco options.

• The ecogear Kids Panda Eco-Pack is simple but stylish. Made from organic cotton, it’s available in pink, blue, or green. $24.99, ebags.com.
• Tires get a second life with recycled rubber backpacks from Green Earth Office Supply. $60, greenearthofficesupply.yahoo.net.
• For older kids, the Eco-Friendly Backpack from Lands’ End is made from 100% recycled fabric, and can hold a laptop case and MP3 player. $39.50, landsend.com.
• Crocodile Creek has cute packs for the younger set in a variety of nature-themed designs. Even better, they’re PVC- and phthalate free. $23.95-$29.45, amazon.com.
• Fleurville’s Kid’s Messenger is perfect for style-conscious students, and is PVC-, Teflon-, and lead-free. There’s even a removable insulated lunch bag! $50, fleurville.com.

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer

With earlier bedtimes and wake-ups, homework assignments, and busy schedules, going from lazy summer to regimented autumn can sometimes be tough on kids. Instead of making an abrupt switch, use the next few weeks (or days, depending on when school starts in your area!) to create a gradual transition to the new school year with these ideas:

• Start the conversation. Begin talking about the upcoming school year as a family. What are your kids most excited about? What are some of their goals?
• Complete summer reading assignments. Since middle and high school students usually have to read novels, they’ve probably long since created a long-term plan. Younger kids can get away with reading their shorter assignments the night before–but why wait? Tackle summer reading now, and discuss the material together.
• Reinstate routine. Part of summer’s charm is that routine often flies out the window. However, now is the time to get your little one used to the idea of the school year schedule, so gradually reinstate earlier bedtimes and wake-ups.
• Give them something to be excited about. It can be something as simple as a new lunchbox or colored pencil set, but kids will be excited about new school gear if they get to pick it out.

For more back-to-school resources, including greening your school and healthy school lunches, check out kiwimagonline.com/backtoschool.

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffter

Last August, the day before our last ever first day of school as college seniors, my roommates and I threw a Live It Up Day. Inspired by a tradition created by the mom of one of my best friends, Live It Up Day existed to celebrate the last day of summer by–you guessed it–living it up, whatever that might mean to each individual. For us, it meant ditching those assignments our professors had e-mailed out before classes even began and spontaneously driving to The Bent Spoon, a delicious ice cream shop and bakery in downtown Princeton, New Jersy that specializes in unique flavors and local ingredients. It was a beautiful afternoon, and we might have ruined our appetites for dinner (as well as been a little less prepared for class the next day!), but the time spent sitting outside and chatting was well worth it. My only regret? I can’t do it again this year!

Whether it’s getting ice cream, building a campfire, or just visiting a favorite playground, take a small adventure with your family the day before school starts for your own Live It Up Day. It’ll put a special end to the summer, and could even end up as a tradition your kids take all the way to their last year in college.

(The photo above is one I took from our Live It Up Day, with two of my roommates in the ice cream shop!)

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer

Here’s the latest and greatest of what’s going on in the mom blogosphere. Interested in having your blog featured? Let us know in the comments!

• PrairieMama’s friend, Joe Heywood, guest blogs about the importance of attunement, and how it can improve parent-child relationships.
• Read one mom’s thoughts about the benefits of breastmilk over cow’s milk, then check out how others weigh in with the Breastfeeding Carnival at Pure Mothers.
• So simple (and fun!), why didn’t we think of this? This Mama Makes Stuff does homemade bread with cookie cutters.
• You’ve tried cloth diapers, but what about cloth wipes? Learn how to make them work for you at the Cloth Diaper Blog.
• Living green definitely goes hand in hand with saving money. A lot of us are pinching pennies now, but the Green Baby Guide wants to know: were you frugal before the recession?

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer

Between all the water and detergent, plus the electricity used to power the washer and dryer, doing laundry eats up a lot of resources. Most of us can’t just stop washing our clothes the way we might stop drinking bottled water or stop driving to places that are less than a mile away, but we can make the process a little gentler on the planet. Consider the options:

• Wash in cold water. Unless your laundry is super, super dirty, cold water works just as well as hot–but doesn’t need to use electricity to be heated.
• Use a natural detergent. This is a no-brainer, especially when you consider the fact that eco-friendly detergent isn’t much more expensive than regular. I’m a fan of Whole Foods’ store brand.
• Find fabric softener in your pantry. 1/2 cup of baking soda per laundry load is my softener of choice, but 1/2 cup of vinegar works just as well–both are cheap and free of harsh chemicals.
• Wash a full load. This might seem obvious, but everyone has had instances where they’ve put only a few items in the wash at a time (laundromat uses are probably the exception here–we let it pile up!).
• Do it in the morning or evening. If you’ve got the AC running to keep your home cool all day, turning on the warm clothes dryer will only be counter-productive. Try drying clothes in the morning or at night when the temperature outdoors is lower.
• Clean the lint trap. Yes, every time! It’s a little gross, but a dirty lint screen can cause a dryer to use up to 30% more energy.
• Line dry. You don’t need a big backyard and a line full of clothespins–though that would be nice to have. Invest in an indoor drying rack, or drape garments on hooks, doorknobs, or over the shower door.

Got any tips of your own?

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer

Yesterday afternoon, my husband (who found out when he went to take a shower and was unable to do so) called to tell me the water had temporarily been shut off in our apartment building. I told him it wasn’t that big a deal, and that he could just take a shower later that night after the water came back. A short while later, I arrived home and, without thinking, went to make myself a cup of tea. No water! I forgot again and a few minutes later, tried to wash my hands. Still–nothing coming out of the sink! My husband, meanwhile, was still sitting on the couch with a towel wrapped around his waist, waiting to take his shower.

The point of this story? Fresh water is a very precious resource, and most of us in this part of the world take it for granted.

Created by the Water Footprint Network, Waterfootprint.org was designed to help people determine the amount of water they use on a daily basis. (Sound familiar? It’s very similar to the carbon footprint concept, whereby people figure out how much CO2 they’re emitting into the atmosphere.)

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We’ve finally made it to August, the best time of year for fresh fruit in many parts of the country. At home, I’ve been swirling blueberries and chopped apricots into my morning oatmeal, and enjoying juicy peaches or nectarines with my afternoon meals. This bounty won’t last, though, and unless you plan to eat the mealy, sub-par offerings shipped from California (or the other side of the world!) during the rest of the year, it’s time to do some at-home preserving!

First time preserver? Ball Corporation has an excellent step-by-step guide that will help you make a jam, jelly, or preserve safely. Below the cut, we’ve also got some great tips and recipes of our own.

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Today we’re talking with Micaela Preston, a stay-at-home mom of two living in Minneapolis, MN. Her blog, Mindful Momma, focuses on sharing advice for “living green without going broke”.

First, tell us a little bit about yourself: Where do you live? How old are your kids? What sorts of things does your family enjoy doing together?

I live in Minneapolis, MN, which is the GREATEST CITY EVER in the spring, summer and fall.  Winter?  Not so much.

My husband John and I have two boys - Drew is 9 years old and going into 4th grade and Liam is 4 1/2 but everyone thinks he is 6 because he is so tall.

Minneapolis is full of bike trails and one of our favorite activities is to go on family bike rides.  We started our kids on bike rides at an early age - using a hand-me-down Burley bike trailer and then later graduated to a trail-a-bike attachment (found one cheap at a garage sale!) and then of course to biking on their own.   I highly recommend biking as a great outdoor activity for any family!

What motivated you to create Mindful Momma?

I started my blog about 3 years ago and there’s an interesting story behind it.  We used to belong to Costco and I got in the (bad) habit of buying bottled water by the case…because it was cheap!  When I finally realized just how wasteful that was, I went to REI and bought fancy, plastic reusable water bottles for the whole family…and vowed to stop buying bottled water.  Only weeks later, I read an article about BPA in polycarbonate plastic bottles and realized that was the type we were using.  I was SO frustrated!!  I had only recently discovered the blog medium and was instantly hooked on the conversational style used in blog posts….so I decided to start my own blog about my adventures in living a green & healthy life with my family.  I had absolutely no idea where it would lead me…

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Here’s the latest and greatest of what’s going on in the mom blogosphere. Interested in having your blog featured? Let us know in the comments!

• Crunchy Domestic Goddess warns moms to be wary of greenwashing when it comes to packing school lunches–ditch the organic Oreos in favor of homemade granola bars!
• Check out The Artful Parent’s creative take on watercolors, which sounds like a great rainy-day activity.
• Learn all about the health benefits of wheatgrass, plus how to grow it at home from Earth Mama.
• Slugs on the Refrigerator takes some time to step out of her family’s pattern of busy-ness.
• PhD in Parenting calls for more flexible parenting and maternity leave.

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer

The next time you’re thinking of sending someone a bouquet of flowers, support a non-profit at the same time by choosing Flowers for Good. The line comes from Organic Bouquet, an earth-friendly flower company that offers sustainbly-grown, mail-order bouqets and arrangements.

As a part of Organic Bouquet’s larger mission to promote environmental and social responsibility, the Flowers for Good program was established to help non-profits by donating 5% of each purchase to the organizations. What’s more, there’s a wide range of non-profits from which you can choose to support, including The Nature Conservancy, The Humane Society, and The American Lung Association. They’ve got everything from roses to calla lilies, so check it out!

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer

Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the maker of Kleenex, Scott, and Cottenelle brand tissues and toilet paper, has revised it’s production standards in an effort to be more environmentally responsible. The manufacturer says that by the end of 2011, 40% of their North American tissue fiber will either be recycled or Forest Stewardship Council certified. This step is part of Kimberly-Clark’s larger goal of obtaining 100% of their tissue fiber products from sustainable sources.

The move came about through a relationship with Greenpeace, whereby the two will work together to promote forest conservation, responsible forest management, and the use of recycled fiber. Through this, old-growth forests and the wildlife habitat within them will be better protected.

That’s nothing to sneeze at!

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer

Recycling may not be super exciting, but it is super important. Getting your little ones enthusiastic about recycling their bottles, cans, and paper goods will not only reduce your family’s landfill load–it will also help them build good eco-conscious habits for life. Encourage the practice by keeping it easy and fun with some of these ideas:

• Make recycling rules clear. Keep a list of what is and isn’t recyclable in a prominent spot, such as the refrigerator or a bulletin board. You can also use different colored bins for different items, like blue for paper items and yellow for glass, to help little ones remember what goes where.
• Try some friendly competition. Encourage each family member to see how many items he or she can recycle in a week, or how few items end up in the trash. Take it a step further by creating a neighborhood recycling competition!
• Do some research. As a family, learn about the new things that are made out of recycled material, and try to identify them on your daily outings. For instance, you can point out a playground made of plastic lumber that may have come from old water bottles.
• Find incentives. Find out if RecycleBank or another similar program that rewards recyclers exists in your area. Coupons for free ice cream just from sorting your trash? Sounds like fun!
• Be a good role model. OK, it won’t make recycling more fun, but make sure to practice what you preach!

-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer

>>Click for More  Eco/Green Birthday Party Ideas…

We’ve shared our tips, now you share yours! What are some of the ways your family has made their birthday parties healthier for the planet?

>>Share your Green Party Ideas…Comment below!

-Marygrace, KIWI staffer

It’s that time of year again: Everywhere you go it’s blueberry this or raspberry that. Trust me, I am not complaining–next to fresh peaches, I would take a fresh berry any day. And I have to say, one of the best gifts my parents ever gave me as a child was a love for picking berries. And such, it continues to be one of my favorite outings with my own kids.

When a parent tells me that their child does not “like” raspberries or blueberries, the first question I ask, is “have you ever gone and picked your own?” I have never met a child that, when tempted with big, beautiful berries in front of them, fresh from a vine or bush, can’t help but shove one (and then many more) in their mouth and become an instant fan. And the glory of coming home with ten or more pounds of berries? The possibilities are endless.

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Here’s the latest and greatest of what’s going on in the mom blogosphere. Interested in having your blog featured? Let us know in the comments!

• Packing lunch is easy when you’ve got your own garden! Crunchy Domestic Goddess muses over her homegrown cucumbers.
• Muthering Heights is looking for natural colic remedies. Share your advice!
• Ever have a hard time remembering whether or not you turned off the oven upon leaving the house? Locked the front door? Boost your memory power with a simple tip from The Tranquil Parent.
• Tree Hugging Family discusses the benefits of green curriculum in schools. Teach ‘em while they’re young!
• The new school year is just around the corner! Get ready with Non-Toxic Kids’ eco-friendly back to school guide.

-Marygrace, KIWI staffer