Green Grab Bag 3.28.09

I want to start today by saying I had a wonderful "Unplug" day!  It was amazingly freeing not to have a nagging feeling all day that I needed to check my computer.  And I was able to be very productive.  I ran about 6 errands all over town that I had been putting off, took my boys to a playdate, donated and reorganized toys with them, totally cleaned out and reorganized our front closet, and got to chat with my girlfriends at book club into the wee hours of the...well, evening.  We aren't exactly party animals.  Did anyone else try it?  What were the results?

Ok, onto the grab bag.  

• I love this!  It is the Great Sunflower Project and it gives you free sunflower seeds to plant and draw bees to your yard so that you and your family can help count them national data!
  
• If you don't have space or inclination to start your own garden, Tiny Choices tells us how to make seed bombs to spread the plant love.
  
• Nature Moms has 8 great ideas for children's gardens.  I personally have one of these books and would highly recommend the author, Lovejoy.  Even her name makes me happy!
  
• If you are up for a do-it yourself this weekend, here is a post from Gorgeous and Green on making your own toothpaste.
  
• And Prissy Green has one on making your own flea repellent.
  
• I was fascinated by this post on making algae into biodiesel.  We really are brilliant people who can find better solutions in almost everything.  We should trust our intelligence and nature to provide more.
  
• If you are up for a kitchen adventure, here's a recipe for vegan chocolate donuts from Sweet Greens that look delicious!
  
• We are going to a birthday party tomorrow and I wish everyone could throw their children a green birthday party.

No shopping tips this week.  I didn't come across any stellar sites.  But I did come across this article from Down to Earth about taking small steps towards a simpler life, and it occurred to me that maybe that's all we need this week.

I would be remiss if I failed to tell you that Earth Hour is tonight!  It won't be a problem for us since we are usually in bed by this time.  But give it a shot if you at all can.  It's just one hour from 8:30-9:30 pm in your local time zone, wherever that may be.   Switch off your lights.  That's it.  A simple step to help make a big difference.  I hope you will join us.