Monday, May 31, 2010

Super Cool Bikes!

Chipsy is sick!  Yes, my fat burning mobile is in the shop for awhile so I've had to get back on my bike a bit more which is great actually!

In honor of the mighty bike and my mantra - burn fat not oil, here are some of my favorites!

Bike Friday - Folding Travel bikes





New meaning to the saying, "Going Dutch"! Dutch Bikes





And finally one for the whole family! Christiania Bikes



I did see more than one of these in action while living in Sweden on a trip to Amsterdam. They are totally amazing - the woman was pregnant, had two kids, a dog, a large house plant and the groceries all in the bucket!

Woo HOO!

Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

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Sunday, May 23, 2010

Sunday Reflection


That fire of clear mind is in everyone, and to remove any obscuration of its clarity is the duty of all people in this time, that each one may remember and find our way again to the source of our being.  - Dhyani Ywahoo


Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

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Saturday, May 22, 2010

Free DELISH Magazine is Yummy!

Look out world, the ladies of Delish magazine are ready to take you on....

Delish is a free-to-the-reader online publication for women. It shares a credo with the three of its creators and that’s “Live like you mean it.” 

Delish is for all women who believe that smarts go really well with devastating lipstick, a hot pair of shoes, and a set of knitting needles.

I love their first issue and best of all it's FREE! Articles range from beauty tips, fashion picks, how to become a backyard gardener, book reviews, a full DIY clutch pattern, and their favorite "Found for the Family" section with "Mamma Likey" and "Papa Likey" product picks.

Check it out at DELISH magazine  

Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

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Friday, May 21, 2010

Non-toxic garden pest solutions

Spring is in the air in the Northern Hemisphere and spring planting has begun.  Here are some tips from the website Tipnut to help you beat bugs in your garden without chemicals.

10 Organic Garden Aids For Pest & Disease Control

With a little bit of planning you can help cut down on pests and disease organically by planting natural repellents near problem plants. I have a few suggestions listed below along with a few recipes using non-harsh ingredients that can help deter pests (and some disease).

10 Organic Garden Aids

Radishes Are Not Only Tasty In Salads, They Help Repel Cucumber 
Beetles Too!
Radishes Are Not Only Tasty In Salads, They Help Repel Cucumber Beetles Too!

Epson Salt Spray: 2 ounces of salt per 2 gallons water.
Benefits: Helps with Black Spot, Mildew, Wilt and Rust

Mineral Oil Spray: 3 parts oil per 100 parts water.
Benefits: Helps with Aphids, Codling Moth, Leaf Roller, Mealybugs, Scaled Insects, White Fly

Beer: Stale or mixed with molasses
Benefits: Helps control Slugs

Tomato Leaves Spray: Crush leaves and soak in water for a couple days. Strain then spray.
Benefits: Grasshopper and White Fly control

Soap Spray: 2 TBS soap flakes dissolved in 1 quart water. *Don’t use detergents.
Benefits: Aphid control

Basil: Plant in pots and place around patio or deck
Benefits: Repels flies and mosquitoes

Rosemary, Mint, Thyme: Plant near cabbage
Benefits: Repels cabbage worms

Nasturtiums: Plant near cucumbers, melons and squashes.
Benefits: Repels squash bugs

Summer Savory: Plant near beans
Benefits: Repels bean beetles

Radishes: Plant near cucumbers
Benefits: Repels cucumber beetles

Originally Published June 5, 2007


Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

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Thursday, May 20, 2010

Eco-friendly art supplies

Very cool ideas for little coloring hands...I'm a bit distracted at the moment trying to finish off my ebook final draft so apologies for the lack of regular posts.

From Inhabitots writer Julie Knapp:



Designer Timothy Liles delivers a new twist on a toddler staple with Crayon Rings. A brilliant idea — these crayons, made locally in New Hampshire, are shaped to fit around fingers. Kids will love slipping one or five on to scribble, and they’ll literally always have their crayons on-hand for impromptu art projects.
+ Crayon Rings $50 set of 8
+ Timothy Liles



Clementine Art
Clementine Art covers all the bases with their all-natural supplies, and made history by being the first art product company to disclose every single ingredient on their packaging — you won’t find any synthetic preservatives, petroleum bases or animal byproducts in their supplies. The products are innovative beyond their eco-friendliness, too. Crayons come in two fun to hold shapes, modeling dough is fruit-scented, the washable glue is versatile enough to use on fabric, paper and wood, and both quick-drying markers and paints are colored with Mayan mineral earth pigments.
+ Clementine Art Supplies (available for purchase at Whole Foods)


Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

TED Tuesday: How we wrecked the ocean

Part of greening your family is understanding how powerful your dollar is - what kind of vote and message it gives companies selling you products and services.  One of the ways we are continually damaging nature is overfishing and inflicting damage on the oceans.  The oceans are a key to life on earth and are fragile and need to be protected.

This is an interesting talk about how we have wrecked the oceans.





This is a great video showing how we are all linked to the biosphere and the effects that occur in the oceans.

What can you do? When you are choosing your seafood in the grocery store, choose a fish or seafood species which is not currently overfished as a start. Here's a great link that lists many different sustainable seafood guides:
Sustainable Seafood Guides

Vote with your wallet today!

Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

Get your FREE ebook preview HERE

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Monday, May 17, 2010

Got the urge to craft momma?

It's Autumn (or Fall as we Canadians call it) in Australia and I've been feeling the crafting itch lately... I am knitting a wool scarf for a friend of mine with giant 12mm needles and it's been some serious fun so far! My needles are bamboo and although they cost a bit more, I know when they break, I won't feel so bad about tossing them as they will eventually biodegrade. Not sure if knitting needles ever break though....

I wanted to share this really fun and easy tutorial for making a fitted sheet for a pack and play mattress. It's a great way to use up old sheets, make a fun gift for friends with some funky fabrics (organic if possible) or make something yourself.  It's always a great feeling to craft, be creative and reuse materials.

In Australia, here's a great resource for buying organic fabrics - Organic Fabrics Online 

DIY Fitted Sheet for Pack 'n Play

by Jaime from Prudent Baby.com 


Whatever you call it (porta crib, playpen, playard, pack n play, portable baby jail) and however you use it (travel crib, baby containment unit, toy storage), you know it gets dirty.  I notice, especially when traveling, that the fabric doesn't seem that comfy for baby either.  When Scarlet was just 12 weeks old we took her cross-country to visit family and she slept in an old travel crib dug up from someone's garage.  The only thing we had to cover the dirty bottom of it was a big fluffy blanket that didn't seem safe for such a young one, so of course I didn't sleep the whole week worrying she was going to suffocate.  Never again!  Sheets for these aren't readily available, so I thought I'd show you how to make a play yard sheet.  I think it's super simple, let me know if you give it a try.

Get the full DIY Pack 'n Play Sheet tutorial after the jump...


DIY Pack 'N Play Sheet Tutorial

This sheet fits my Combi
Jazz Play Yard
 "mattress" which is pretty standard and measures 36" X 26.5" (they're all around 30"x40"), but the sheet is forgiving so if yours is within the general ballpark this sheet should work fine.


1.  Wash, dry and cut your fabric. Add 7 inches to the length and to the width of your mattress, so i cut a piece of fabric 43" X 33.5".  And a piece of 3/4" elastic 60" long.



2.  Fold it in half lengthwise and then widthwise so it looks like this:

On the outside corner, the one with no folds, cut a 3.5" square through all the layers.

Your item now looks like this:



3.  Line up the cut edges at one corner and sew them together with right sides facing:

Repeat on all four corners.

4.  Along the bottom of your sheet, fold the fabric 1/4" to the inside and iron, then 1" and iron, and pin in place.

Starting next to a corner, sew all the way around with a straight stitch, leaving a hole and backstitching and the beginning and end.



5.  Thread your piece of 3/4" elastic through the hole and all the way around. It helps to pin one side of it to an ironing board or some other surface and to use a safety pin to feed it through:

Pull it out and sew both sides together with a stretch stitch or a zig zag stitch.

Close the hole by sewing across the opening with a straight stitch.

You're done!
It looks like this from the bottom:

And like this from the top:



Place your homemade playpen sheet on the mattress.  Yay!
 
 
Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

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Sunday, May 16, 2010

Sunday Reflection

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us. 
Ralph Waldo Emerson


Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

Get your FREE ebook preview HERE

p.s. Remember you can do this, it begins with a single step and lasts a lifetime
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Monday, May 10, 2010

My Cool Car for a HOT Planet

I wanted to share with you my eco-car choice - it's not a Prius, it's not a Smart Car and it's not electric!  It's a 1979 300D Mercedes-Benz with a very tank-ish 5cyl. 2lt diesel engine with a 100L waste veggie oil tank in the back. Her name is Chipsy Queen.





I have owned her for just over six months and it's been a great learning curve so far! I don't know a lot about the mechanics of a car although this engine is very straight-forward and easy to understand so I've been able to learn quite a bit so far! I have done nothing to the engine but have had to put about $2000 in repairs to the car - items such as front brake replacement, new calipers, new ignition switch and a few new bits and bobs here and there.  The engine has 339,400km on it - I've done about 4,000k on it - 80% of which as been on fat. The car was converted when I bought it for $1800.

There is a large 100L tank in the trunk (or boot) where the waste veggie oil goes.  The car also has its original 60L diesel tank.  The system to use the waste veggie oil is quite simple - there is a dual manual valve system under the hood with knob switches.  I start the car on diesel and when the engine is warm enough, I have a set of choke cables in the interior of the car which control the valve knobs.  I then switch the car over to fat (or waste veggie oil) by pulling the choke cable knobs.  Because it's warm enough in Perth, I usually keep it switched onto fat all day, even if the car is sitting for a period of time.  Before I park the car for the evening, I switch it back to diesel, making sure the engine doesn't have any fat left in it.

Occasionally, the car smokes a little while sitting at a stoplight and I want to hang my head out the window and say - it's okay - it's just your old french fries, spring rolls and battered fish!

The car is a tank and there is no way I'd ever get whiplash in it. Amazingly though, it gets 10L/100km both on diesel and on fat. Not bad for a 2 tonne,  31yr old car! I know it's a big car and I tried my best to find an older, diesel car that was suitable.  My other option was to buy an SUV so I think the Merc is the better choice for my lifestyle.  It's a step in the right direction for the times when I'm on able to use public transit, walk or bike.



Interestingly,  I didn't know that Arnie runs his Hummer on Veggie oil as well.  Not sure what kind of mileage that sucker gets although I commend his efforts!


If you are interested in researching this option further for your own vehicle - here are some resources for you:
Veggie Cars (Australia)
Journey to Forever (Global)
Grease Car (USA)
Golden Fuel Systems (USA)
Research paper (Australia)

Powering your restaurant on WVO


Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

Get your FREE ebook preview HERE

p.s. Remember you can do this, it begins with a single step and lasts a lifetime
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Sunday, May 9, 2010

Sunday Reflection - Happy Mother's Day!

If you have love you will do all things well.   - Thomas Merton

Happy Mother's Day to all of you fabulous moms out there! Keep up the fantastic work!

I love you Mom!




Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

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Saturday, May 8, 2010

Check your kids toys for toxins - free guide

I've been doing some further research into toxins that are in our homes and am amazed at what I've found. It will be summarised in my ebook, "How to Create Your Green Family Blueprint", coming out soon!

I wanted to share this great toy database with you now though. If you are curious to know if a certain toy product has heavy metals or toxins contained in it, use this database to search:




 Don't give your kids an unwanted gift of toxins and potential health issues!

Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

TED Tuesday: Don't Eat the Marshmallow - Yet....

A great short video about the link between delayed gratification and success. What does giving a 4 year old child a marshmallow but asking them not to eat it yet tell us?  Watch and find out...



Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

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Monday, May 3, 2010

How are you reacting to the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill?

“This is potentially a watershed environmental disaster,” said Wesley P. Warren, the director of programs at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This one is a gigantic wake up call on the need to move beyond oil as an energy source.” 

These words were recently printed in a New York Times article dated April 30th, 2010 by Jad Mouawad.

People are mad at British Petroleum (Beyond Petroleum?) for the accident - why not?  They are now they are facing a massive environmental disaster: destruction of wetlands, water pollution, death of birds, fish, mammals, and the potential ruin of many businesses that depend on nature for their income. The US President Obama is visiting the area. Volunteers, scientists and residents are gearing up for the clean up as the oil begins to hit the land. And the worst thing about it, the hole in the earth's crust from where the oil is spewing forth hasn't been plugged yet!

When talking with my friend Johanna this morning - she asked me how I felt - I expressed anger towards BP, sadness for the people, fear for the helpless animals, frustration for being trapped in a system that is dependent largely on oil for it's functioning and she commented, "I think I should drive my car less".

Her comment is the other side of the argument - we, gas consumers are the ones who create the demand. It's a very complicated problem - shifting our society away from our oil dependence to renewable energy solutions.  It will take time which is why we need to start NOW!

Commonly this issue trickles down to the family level by evaluating how we use fossil fuels in our lives.  Most commonly we use fossil fuels to power our cars, our homes, transport our food, clothing, consumer goods etc.  As a family you can do some of the following things:
  • Pressure governments - have a voice about what you want to change
  • Look at your own life and ask yourself - is it possible to use less fossil fuels?
  • Is there anything you can do to shift to renewable energy in your family home - remember baby steps are okay so long as you have goal
If you want to track the location of the oil spill click here.  I'll be watching closely, sending out good vibes for the people affected, avoiding BP petrol stations and doing my best to walk, bike and reduce my amount of driving where I can. 

If you want to help or live in an area that will be affected, here are some resources for you:

To report injured or oiled wildlife, call 1-866-557-1401. To report spill-related damage, call 1-800,440-0858, and to inquire about volunteering, or to report oil on the shore, call 1-866-448-5816.

The Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board is connecting BP with fisherman looking to aid in the cleanup effort. If interested, call 281-366-5511 or e-mail, HorizonSupport@OEGLLC.com.
The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana is looking for volunteers to “fill a variety of needs.” Pre-veterinary students, veterinary technicians, and anyone with HAZWOPER training (Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Standard) are “strongly encouraged” to register.
The National Audubon Society is recruiting volunteers in the fight to save “ecologically sensitive areas.” Visit their website to fill out a volunteer registration form.

OilSpillVolunteers.com also provides the opportunity sign up and assist with the cleanup.
While their website says volunteers are not yet needed, Mobile Baykeeper is urging anyone who is interested to call their office at 251-433-4229or e-mail info@mobilebaykeeper.org.

The Sierra Club is mobilizing volunteers, and will connect you with opportunities to help. Please click here to sign up and for more information.

Save Our Seabirds is a Sarasota, Florida-based bird rescue group that is looking for volunteers and support as its response team prepares to help oiled wildlife. Please click here to fill out their online form   or call 941-388-3010.


Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

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Sunday, May 2, 2010

Sunday Reflection

Don't wait for anyone to deputize you or authorize you or empower you.  You have to just start out with yourself...and put one foot in front of the other.  

- Hazel Henderson




Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru
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