Tips for Green Living

Calling all moms and dads! Do you want to teach your kids the value of a dollar? Well here is a fun way to do just that. Grab a pop bottle and turn it into a piggy bank. It’s a great craft that you and your kids will enjoy, and it is teaching them to be frugal and green all at the same time. Sure you could have them return that pop bottle for its $0.05 deposit, but this idea makes cents too!

Step 1: Wash and clean the bottle of your choice. (Try to pick one with a wide mouth so you can easily pour out coins later.) When dry, carefully use a box cutter to make a coin slot in the top of the bottle.

 

Step 2: Pick out what you would like to use as legs. You can use old paper towel rolls, old spools, even marshmallows! Glue them to the bottom of the bottle and let dry before proceeding.

Step 3: Let your child decide how they want to decorate it. You could use tissue paper, scrap paper that is lying around the house or paint it! Use googly eyes, or just draw them on.

 

Step 4: Once your piggy is all dried, it will be ready to start collecting your child’s spare change.

Remember, the sky’s the limit with this little project. It can be any animal you want it to be, and you can substitute most any of the supplies that we’ve suggested. Best of all, when your kid wants to see how much is saved up, you don’t have to break the bank to find out—just unscrew the ‘snout’ and pour out the coins. Happy saving!

 

 

Green It Yourself (GIY) is a continuing blog series about upcycling everyday things to make the perfect gifts and more. Do you have some Green It Yourself ideas? We want to hear from you!

Looking for another way to get more from your fresh produce? We are going to show you how to grow vegetables from the leftover bits and pieces. Reduce, reuse and recycle and get the most out of your produce. This week we will be re-rooting celery to plant in your garden come spring. This method is extremely simple and does not require much hands-on attention. It is also a great project if you have children in the house.

You will need:

1 bunch of celery

Cutting board

Knife

Wide-mouth glass

Instructions:

• Take a bunch of celery and cut the bottom root off.
• Place the root in a wide-mouth glass; fill about half way up the root with water.
• Place the glass near a window that gets some natural light, new leaves and stalks will begin to sprout out the top of the cut root.
• Once the celery plant is flourishing, plant it in your garden after the last frost. Let's hope that Mother Nature is kind to us this spring.
• Plant the whole thing in the soil. The leaves should be above the soil.
• In several weeks, the celery will look like it did when you originally bought it at the store. Cut off a couple of stalks at a time or pull the whole thing out and use it. Then start the process all over again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for more GIY projects and re-rooting from kitchen scraps. Make the most of your waste!

Green It Yourself (GIY) is a continuing blog series about upcycling everyday things to make the perfect gifts and more. Do you have some Green It Yourself ideas? We want to hear from you!

Looking for another way to get more from your fresh produce? We are going to show you how to grow vegetables from the leftover bits and pieces. Reduce, reuse and recycle and get the most out of your produce. This week we will be re-rooting a potato to plant in your garden come spring. I was at the Lexington Co-Op and there was a great deal on fingerling potatoes, so naturally I had to have them. I stored them in my cold, dark pantry and forgot about the poor little potatoes. Here you will learn how to bring new life to your potatoes.

You will need:

1 potato (fingerling, russet or sweet potatoes will all work!)
Toothpicks (All I could locate was a chopstick and it is working great so far)
A glass of water