Here are two basic vegetable juice recipes. Think of them as springboards for your own vegetable combinations. Depending on the season and what is available, you can make a healthy vegetable juice any time of year.

Tomato-based Vegetable Juice
Ingredients:
-3 cups chopped, fresh tomatoes
-1/2 cup chopped green cabbage
-1 stalk celery, chopped
-1/4 cup chopped onion
-1 clove minced garlic
-1 small cucumber
-1 teaspoon lemon juice
-1 tablespoon chopped, fresh parsley
-1/2 teaspoon sea salt
-Red pepper, cayenne, or chili sauce to taste (start with 1/4 teaspoon)
Optional: 1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a blender and turn blender to high speed (liquefy). If you need to add some liquid, add water a tablespoon at a time.

Green Vegetable Juice
This is a slightly sweeter juice that you can also freeze into popsicles.

Ingredients:
-2 large leaves of kale, chopped (middle stalk removed)
-1 cup fresh spinach leaves, chopped
-2 medium apples, chopped
-1/2 cup chopped broccoli
-unsweetened, natural apple juice

Place all ingredients in the blender except the apple juice. Add apple juice to cover the ingredients and blend on high speed until liquefied. Add stevia or raw honey if you prefer it sweeter. This juice is also good with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Look to Your Community

Part of going green is using less fossil fuel, so choosing outings close to home is a good place to start. Take a look at your local newspaper, library, or online and find out what events are happening close to home. Perhaps there is an art and craft fair, street fair, or live music. Families can often find things to do together close by. Take a bus if you need to, or include other families and car pool.

Take a Nature Walk or Hike

The whole family can get in on this. Bring a field guide and identify plants, or choose plants or rocks ahead of time to give your family something specific to look for while you are on the hike. In the spring, new flowers and plants are just emerging, so it is a good time to look for flowers that will be covered up with overgrowth later in the summer.

Visit a Nature Preserve or National/State Forest

Preserved lands are an eco-friendly place to visit and play. Depending on where you live, this may be an outing close to home.

Outdoor Adventures

Another green way to enjoy the outdoors is to participate in adventurous activities like white-water rafting or canoeing. Whole families can go rafting together, and canoeing is good for families with older children.

Picnic

The old-fashioned picnic is still a fun way for families to spend time together. Pack your own food and bring drinks in reusable containers. Take a kite along if the spring wind is right, or bring a Frisbee or ball.

Be Prepared

Bringing your own food, drinks, sunscreen, etc. to a family outing increases the eco-friendly factor. Being prepared means you are less likely to stop at a drive-through to buy food with excessive packaging, or go to a drugstore for miscellaneous items you forgot.

Family outings do not have to be wasteful. Take some time to prepare and enjoy the spring weather as a family.

While you can make your planter any size, or even make a series of small ones, if you are going to grow vegetables it will need to be at least 8 inches deep. Here is how to build a basic vegetable planter that is 6′ x 2′.

What you’ll need:

1. Four pieces of lumber, 6 feet long, 4 inches wide, and 2 inches thick (6-foot long 2×4)
2. Four pieces of lumber, 2 feet long, 4 inches wide, and 2 inches thick (3-foot long 2×4)
3. Four pieces of lumber, 8 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 4 inches thick (8-inch long 4×4)
4. Galvanized nails or screws, at least 4 inches long
5. Power drill (if using screws)
6. Hammer (if using nails)
7. Shovel or tiller
8. 8 bricks

Directions:
1. Lay two of your long pieces of lumber on the ground (you don’t have to build the box where you will be using it- you can build it on your driveway, patio, garage, etc. and then transport it). Make sure the two pieces of lumber are flush all along their lengths and sides.

2. Using the screws or nails, attach two of the 8-inch 4×4 pieces of lumber to the short ends of the long pieces of lumber, one 8-inch piece per short end.

3. Repeat step 2 with the remaining two 6-foot pieces of lumber and two 8-inch 4×4 pieces.

4. Turn these long pieces on their sides, like two walls. Position them 2 feet apart.

5. Using the nails or screws, attach one of the 2-foot pieces of lumber across the bottom ends of the long boards, nailing/screwing it into the 4×4 pieces.

6. Repeat step 5 with another 2-foot piece of lumber on the other lower end of the long boards.

7. Attach the remaining two 2-foot pieces of lumber to each end of the box, this time on the upper ends of the long boards, flush with the other 2-foot pieces.

Now you should have a long box consisting of two pieces of lumber per side.

8. Using a shovel or tiller, clear the vegetation from a sunny, 6-foot by 3-foot area (unless you don’t mind picking out a lot of weeds that will make their way up through the soil!).

9. Position your planter box over the now-bare earth.

10. Position the bricks along the four corners of the box to stabilize it.

11. Fill box with garden soil and plant your vegetables. Check with local construction companies or builders who may be willing to give you “fill dirt” or topsoil at a good price (or even free if you haul it yourself).

Compost

Perhaps the simplest and most basic thing you can do to begin the greening of your gardening efforts is to start a compost pile. You can actually make compost indoors under the right conditions – indoor compost bins are available, with or without worms. You can recycle your kitchen scraps into compost by tossing them into your outdoor pile or bin. Once it’s broken down, this compost will serve as a natural fertilizer for your garden.

Natural Pest Control

It is tempting to shoot those pesky bugs with some commercial poison from your local garden center. But before you reach for the synthetic pesticide, consider some natural alternatives.

* Natural pesticides are available commercially and are often found on the same shelves as the synthetic versions, so read labels carefully. Natural pesticides are usually soap-based or made from other natural, biodegradable substances. They usually work mechanically, not chemically.

Insecticidal soaps are usually derived from oils (saponified vegetable oil is the greenest choice). Diatomaceous earth is another example of a natural pesticide. This fine powder is made from fossilized diatoms and works by “drying up” insects, snails and slugs. Neem oil is a natural insect repellent, and is found in certain commercially available, natural pesticides.

* Home-made pesticides are inexpensive and quite effective. You can make your own insecticidal soap using a tablespoon of natural, biodegradable dish soap to one gallon of water. You can also purchase neem oil and use it in your home-made insect sprays.

* Arrange plants for natural insect repellents. For example, basil repels aphids, so plant it near tomatoes. Garlic bulbs planted around tomatoes and fruit trees can repel pests.

Go Native

Native plants have more natural disease and pest resistance, therefore requiring less chemical intervention in the form of fungicides, pesticides, or weed killers.

Eco-friendly Containers

There are pots and planters available that are made from recycled materials, such as rice hulls or scraps of glass. You can also recycle containers that your find around your home by converting them to planters. Consider unusual items such as old cooking pots, teapots, baskets, dish pans, and even milk jugs. Glass containers can be used to make terrariums.

These are just a few tips to help assure that the garden will always be greener on your side of the fence.

1. Give your children a decorative cloth bag with a set of child’s garden tools, seeds, or other gardening supplies instead of an Easter basket. A bucket of sand box toys or “nature kit” bag are other alternatives.

2. Choose eco-friendly materials for Easter baskets, such as hemp or jute. Or purchase hand-made, fair trade certified baskets that you can find other uses for after Easter (how about toy storage?).

3. Make your own Easter basket from materials around the house, such as hand-decorated bags, totes, wastebaskets, laundry baskets, etc.

4. Fill the baskets with biodegradable material that can be composted, such as natural straw, hay, moss, or simply grass from outside. You can also shred up the Sunday funnies or colorful scrap paper. Shred some of those colorful catalogues and magazines that come in the mail.

5. Make your own treats for the basket – bake special cookies, cupcakes, and candies.

6. Re-use what you have. Do you already have plastic eggs from last year, from well-intentioned friends, or from your children’s school projects? Glue them onto a round frame to make a wreath. If you already have plastic grass, use it as a base for a centerpiece or creative springtime scene.

7. Decorate using scrap paper and junk mail – cut out bunny shapes and string them onto colorful yarn, or cut out Easter shapes into a chain.

8. For your Easter feast, serve eco-friendly meats such as organic ham and free-range turkey. Serve vegetables from local farmers or from the wild – cooked dandelion greens are an early spring tradition that goes back many years.

9. Dye eggs using natural dyes -mix a tablespoon of white vinegar per cup of boiling water and add onion skins (yellow), red cabbage (light purple), shredded raw beets (deep red), spinach (light green), coffee grounds or tea (brown), etc.

10. Use free-range eggs or, better yet, obtain your eggs from a local farmer or urban chicken-keeper. If the eggs are brown, you can use eco-friendly paints on them instead of dyes.

11. Fill your children’s Easter baskets with enduring wooden toys (such as puzzles, trains, or cars), pocket-sized board games, a deck of cards, dominoes, etc. Take your child’s personality into consideration rather than just giving the “usual” stuffed bunny and plastic trinkets. Then you can build a basket theme around your child’s interests.

All of these ideas will help reduce waste this Easter season.

1. Braided Greek Easter Bread (makes 2 loaves).

Ingredients:
* 2 packages active dry yeast
* 9 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* 8 tablespoons melted, cooled butter
* 5 eggs
* 1 egg lightly beaten
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon orange zest
* 1 tablespoon lemon zest
* 2 hardboiled eggs, dyed red
* 2 tablespoons black cumin seeds or poppy seeds
* 2 cups warm milk

Stir yeast and warm milk together in a large bowl until yeast is dissolved. Add 1 cup flour and 1 1/2 cup sugar, stir, cover, and set aside for 1 hour. Then, stir in 1/2 cup water and add the butter and 5 eggs. Stir thoroughly. Combine the remaining 8 cups of flour and salt, and sift into the dough. Add the zests, working them in with a wooden spoon.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, adding flour as needed. Then let dough rise in a covered, oiled bowl until doubled in bulk (about 2 hours). Then, divide dough into 6 parts of uniform size and roll into ropes about 15 inches long.

Braid 3 strips together, turning the ends under when finished. Repeat with the other 3 strips. At the end of each braid, press one of the dyed eggs. Lay braids on a greased cookie sheet, cover, and let rise again for about an hour. Brush each loaf with beaten egg and sprinkle with cumin or poppy seeds. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.

2. Meatless Meatballs

Serve these tangy, savory vegetarian “meat”-balls in the middle of your meal as a main course.

Mix the following in a bowl:
* 3/4 cup ground walnuts
* 1 1/4 cup crushed soda crackers
* 4 eggs
* 3 1/2 cups grated cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, or Monterey Jack)
* 1 small onion, minced
* 1 1/2 teaspoons sage
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3 tablespoons fresh parsley flakes, or 1 1/2 tablespoons dried
* 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

Form into 1″ balls and place in a single layer in a baking dish.

Sauce:

In a saucepan, combine:
* 3/4 cup apricot jam
* 1/4 cup lemon juice
* 1/4 cup oil (such as safflower, canola or olive)
* 1/2 cup ketchup
* 2 tablespoons grated onion
* 2 tablespoons oregano
* 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Bring to a boil and pour over “meat”-balls. Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour.

3. Beans and Greens

Your meal has to have something green! Here is a recipe for greens that is nutritious and quick.

Ingredients:
* Olive oil
* 2 minced garlic cloves
* 2 bunches of greens such as kale, chard, and/or turnip greens
* 2 bunches of broccolini
* 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
* 1 15-ounce can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Prepare greens by removing the stems and tearing into pieces. Trim the florets from the broccolini. Heat oil in a large skillet and add the garlic. Sauté for a minute or so, then add the greens, broccolini and red pepper flakes. Add salt to taste, then remove mixture from the skillet and keep warm.

Add some more olive oil to the skillet and sauté the tomatoes about 5 minutes, or until the skins brown and split. Stir in the beans and heat through. Serve the bean mixture over the greens, topping with the cheese.

1. Use a rain barrel. These handy containers are not hard to hook up – just attach one to your downspout – and you will have gallons of free rainwater to maintain your lawn. A rain barrel will fill up astonishingly fast.

2. Invest in a reel mower. Gasoline-powered lawn mowers are not only noisy; they pollute and, of course, they use fossil fuel. Reel mowers are powered by human muscle, so you’ll get a good workout and a nice lawn. Your neighbors will appreciate the quiet, too. When you do mow, keep the grass clippings on the lawn. They act as a mulch, reducing the need for water.

3. Do more things manually. Americans are trying to get in shape by joining health clubs, but you can work off a lot of calories by raking, sweeping, and clipping by hand. And you will use much less fossil fuel and electricity that way.

4. Think beyond grass. If you have to make a lot of artificial adjustments to grow grass, maybe grass isn’t the right lawn plant for you. Clover, moss, and other interesting plants – particularly native plants – make excellent and beautiful lawn cover. If you plant the right herbage for your area, it will be much easier to maintain, too. Investing in native plants is one way to cut down on invasive species that can dominate and destroy local ecosystems.

5. Consider planting a garden, especially an informal, “English” garden that is meant to look a bit unkempt. You could also be even more eco-friendly and plant a vegetable garden where your lawn used to be.

6. Re-think the weed. Do you battle dandelions, ground ivy, clover, plantain, or other plants considered “weeds”? Take a moment and research some of these tenacious plants and you will probably be impressed with their usefulness.

Plantain, for example, makes a superior treatment for insect bites; dandelions have edible, nutritious greens and beautiful, fragrant flowers that can be used to make wine. Dandelion roots can even be roasted, ground, and drunk like coffee. Once you learn some of the uses for these plants, you may find yourself treasuring them rather than trying to eradicate them!

7. Use natural pesticides and herbicides if you feel the need to eradicate pests or certain weeds. These are generally available even in mainstream garden centers, or you can make your own.

What Is Poured Earth?

It sounds like a fancy term for mud, but it’s more than that. Like concrete, poured earth uses a combination of aggregate (hard, inert, binding material) and dry cement. Many people confuse the terms “concrete” and “cement” – they are not the same. Cement is a component of concrete, not vice versa.

When concrete is mixed, the aggregate is sand and gravel, which is mixed with dry cement and water. Poured earth uses soil as the aggregate, which is then mixed with dry cement and water. Thus, poured earth is somewhat akin to concrete (not cement).

The soil used in poured earth structures needs to meet certain specifications, which require testing to discern. If you are planning to build using poured earth and your soil does not meet the specifications – say it’s too high in clay – then soil amendments, such as lyme or magnesium oxide can be added to bring your soil up to specification.

How compatible your soil is for poured earth will determine how much cement you will need to mix in – the less clay, the less cement is needed. Mixing in a material known as flyash can reduce the amount of cement you need.

What Else Do You Need?

* You will need some way to pour the earth as you would concrete, such as a traditional cement mixer or concrete pump. Try to rent or borrow one from a local construction company.

* Frames are necessary to hold the poured earth walls as they dry. You can use concrete frames, steel, or wood.

* Plaster, cob, or other finishing material will be needed for indoor and outdoor walls.

Is It Expensive?

Initially, yes, it is a bit more expensive than conventional construction. At this point, poured earth structures are customized buildings, which makes any project more expensive. Bear in mind, however, that poured earth buildings are inexpensive to maintain (more on that below). Also, as poured earth becomes more widely known and utilized, the cost will likely go down as standard types develop.

What Are the Advantages of Poured Earth Buildings?

* Poured earth buildings are extremely durable, comparable to concrete.

* The thick walls of poured earth create a peaceful interior.

* Poured earth is free of chemically-treated wood, synthetic insulation, formaldehyde, and other toxic building materials.

* The durable nature of poured earth means that it is highly resistant to the wear and tear that occur in typical homes. It is very low-maintenance.

* Heating and cooling are aided by the radioative effects of the earthen walls, which have “inherent thermal mass.” They absorb heat and release it gradually, making the internal temperature inexpensive to maintain and far more constant.

* Fast construction is another advantage of poured earth buildings.

Once you construct a foundation, the frames are erected and filled with the poured earth mixture. For extra insulation, some builders will construct a second wall with a space between the two, which is then filled with eco-friendly insulation. After the walls dry and “cure,” you can finish them with plaster or cob (a mix of mud and straw). Then the interior and exterior walls can be painted as you like.

Image credit: www.greenhomebuilding.com

What Is a Trash Pick-up Party?

Basically, what you are doing by hosting such a party is making something fun out of a necessary (if somewhat unpleasant) task. You are pitching in to help clean up the environment in general and your community in particular. Trash pick-up parties can foster a sense of community as everyone pitches in to take care of the area. Here are some ideas and tips for hosting your trash pick-up party.

1. The first step in hosting your party is to identify a specific spot you want to see cleaned up – a roadway median, creek, playground, neighborhood, etc. Then, check with local residents and authorities to make sure your target area is not someone’s private property or private governmental property.

Take the time to obtain permission from individuals or appropriate authorities if necessary. Very few people would protest about a free labor party cleaning up their property, but it is still a good idea to ask!

2. Organize everyone’s tasks. You can do this in a fun way – you could have everyone pick his or her task out of a hat (or used plastic bag!). Decide on what tasks need to be done beforehand so that everything runs smoothly. For example, you will need someone to bring large bags or containers to hold the trash, someone to drive to the recycling plant, someone else to go to the local dump, etc. Be sure to consolidate these errands as much as possible to save gas and keep emissions at a minimum.

It would be a good idea to section off the area, too, so that everyone is responsible for a certain spot. This will make things more efficient and easier.

3. Take care of your party “guests.” You’ll want to have snacks and drinks available in reusable containers. Contact everyone ahead of time and ask them to bring something, or provide refreshments yourself. You might even want to have a special cake with an environmental theme (green frosting!).

Be sure to tell the participants what they will need to wear, such as waders or boots if it is a creek clean-up, thick-soled boots for areas with broken glass and other sharp trash, and heavy work gloves for everyone.

4. Keep your party green by organizing a car pool for your guests, or co-ordinating with the local public transit schedule.

5. Recycle what you can of the waste. Some things will just have to be thrown out, but try to recycle as much of the trash you find as possible.

And finally, have everyone meet at a restaurant, coffee shop, or someone’s home afterward for fun and camaraderie!

When garden waste is composted, it decomposes aerobically – that is, using oxygen. Unlike landfills, which decompose waste anaerobically (without oxygen), garden composting produces few greenhouse gases. And when you recycle your garden waste, you are providing yourself with useful, organic compost, thus eliminating the need for synthetic fertilizers.

Here are some ideas for how you can recycle your garden waste:

* Grass clippings can be left on your lawn after mowing. They will act as mulch, helping to hold in moisture. As the grass clippings rot, they will enrich the soil of your lawn. Rotting grass clippings contain nitrogen, which is an important fertilizer for your yard and garden.

You can also rake up your grass clippings and pile them up where they will rot. You can add bits of this rotting matter to your compost, or even sow seeds into the grass clipping pile. Squash and pumpkins are possibilities for plants that will grow this way, as long as the clipping pile receives enough sunlight.

* Prunings and trimmings from brush, trees, garden plants, etc. can be added to your compost pile. If they are large or woody pieces, you will need to chop them up a bit before adding them to the pile. If you have a flower garden, compost the pinched-off blooms and cut stems. If you have a vegetable garden, compost peelings, rinds, and leaf and stem prunings.

* Fallen leaves can be piled onto your compost, or composted alone to make something called leaf mold. This is a kind of compost that is high in nutrients. You can use it for mulch or fertilizer, depending on how you decompose it. Just chopping or shredding leaves produces mulch that you can use immediately, and it will enrich the soil as it breaks down.

To make leaf mold, you must let the leaves rot much longer, from 6 months to 1 year. If you do not chop the leaves first, making leaf mold may take 2 years. Simply compost the leaves in a pile, bin, or other container that allows for ample air circulation and turning.

* Biodegradable bags can be used for yard and garden waste if you have trimmings from weeds or other materials you do not want to recycle. Some communities will gather garden waste and return it as mulch or fertilizer.

* Creative uses for branches and twigs include home-made herb-drying racks, natural fences, or crafts. Use natural twine to lash the branches together and reinforce with nails if necessary.