Kids’ Books Can Relay Great Messages About the Natural World—Provided They Don’t Lose Sight of the StoryBooks are my favorite gifts to give, especially to children. Books rarely end up in the trash, as myriad toys will. They are interactive—a story shared between reader and reader-to-be; a young person immersing themselves in fictitious and real-life […]
Jessica Patton Pellegrino Helping Out Can Be Encouraged Early–with the Right Tools“If they can walk, they can work.” This is one of best bits of child-rearing advice I’ve acquired—and put to good use—thus far. I’m pretty sure this pearl came from Vicki Hoefle, creator and director of Parenting on Track. If she didn’t say it […]
Bikram Choudhury hails from Calcutta, India, and replicated its tropical climate when he moved to the U.S. in “Bikram’s torture chamber,” the heated studio.
patagonia Last fall, I received a Lidia Parka from Patagonia for review. Free stuff is awesome. Things that I’d never pay for (Cajun-spiced goji berries, washable maxipads with smiley faces) are 100% more appealing when gratis. For every dozen or so strange eco-freebie that a magazine or blog is sent in hopes of a favorable […]
To the casual observer, artificial or synthetic turf is barely distinguishable, by look or touch, from grass. Turf even sometimes sprouts weeds, much to the consternation of folks seeking a dandelion-free zone from their $100,000 backyard rug.Once solely used for athletic fields, 20% of artificial grass installations are now residential. In drought-prone areas of the […]
Mother’s Day, Backyard Flocks and a Greener Cup of JoeFor Mother’s Day two years ago, the father of my children built me a chicken coop. It was a gift of time and labor, as well as a concrete (or fine-mesh wire) commitment to the health of our family and its food sources. Laying hens arguably […]
Simone Ramella A Case Against Remote Car StartersI curb my emissions every morning by starting my automobile the old-fashioned way: with a key, while sitting in the driver’s seat. My first car was a 1977 orange VW Beetle. I bought it with my own money and parked it in the yard for six months until […]
A collection of rain boots to take you stylishly through spring—from rubber to recycled to do-it-yourself boots made from former plastic bags…
Some off-the-box uses for sodium bicarbonate (as long as it’s not Arm & Hammer)Is there anything baking soda can’t do? Seriously, it seems like every time I search the Internet with a home-related problem, sodium bicarbonate is part of the solution. We ran out of dishwasher detergent last night—Method Smarty Dish, the hardest-working dish stuff […]
Great green gifts: soft shirts for layering; toeless boots; folk art; lip shimmers; snowboard holders and a one-of-a-kind calendar…
