This weekend I volunteered my time for the Obama campaign and went to a Obama calling party.  (Along with a fellow Green Daddy I might add!)  The last time I did anything slightly political (other than voting of course) was when I was taking a political science class in college and needed extra credit, so I stood in front of a store getting signitures on some petitions.  Oh, and a few months back I gatherd all of two signitures and sent them in for the Animal Rights Bill.  

I found out about the volunteer opportunity from an email i recieved from MoveOn.org.  Ok, actually I did not take any action on that email until Emily sent me a follow-up email suggesting that her husband and I go to the event! :)  I'm so glad she gave me the nudge, because honistly I don't think I would have actually made it to the calling party totally on my own.  

I was very nervous.  I was pretty sure that Move On would provide good training, and they did.  I was pretty sure they would provide a phone script, and they did.  But I think it was that idea of putting my beliefs out there feeling a little vulnerable.  I'm a pretty tollerant person.  I know what I believe, but I don't tell others what to think and I don't like others telling me what to think.  So making these phone calls was stepping out of my comfprt zone, big time.  

I'm so glad I did it.  We were calling progressives in Washington state, to help get people in place to help with a major campaign effort there.   Following is an excerpt from the email I received from the coordinator after the calling party.

Hi Everybody,
 
Thank you for coming yesterday.  We made over 170 calls and recruited a dozen volunteers.  That means we started with  6 active volunteers and now we have 18!  Really good work.  I hope to see you all again soon.
 
Mary
A proud MoveOn.org volunteer

Getting Obama in the White House is an important issue to me.  I have spoken with my dollars and now I can say that I have spoken with my voice too.  After a well deserved glass of wine to sooth my nerves, I said I'd gladly do it again.

This may or may not be an issue that is near and dear to you.  But I urge you, to consider becoming politically active in a way that works for you.

I just thought this was such a great image.  It sure is what I feel like sometimes!

My Sister-in-law gave us 2 booster seats to use.  Well, I looked at the date the seats were made, and they have expired. One was made in 1999 and the other in 2001.  Car seats expire after 6 years.

I was searching the internet to see if there was a place in California that does that. I found 2 websites that I thought would be of interest to you.

http://www.momgogreen.com/2008/05/recycle-car-seats.html

http://www.enviromom.com/2008/05/critical-mass-f.html

They have a recycling program in Portland, Oregon. 

As for California, right now the only thing to do is either break apart the seat yourself or take them to your local CHP.  If you do throw away the car seat, make sure you cut the straps so it can't be used.  Since the ones I have don't have straps, I find it best to take it to the CHP, since they have the proper tools to cut them up. Also, if they need to, they will use them as demostrations in their car seat safety classes. 

One of the ways we can care for the earth is by eating seasonally. The more we eat in season, the less fossil fuel it takes to get our food to us. So I thought throughout the different seasons, we could share recipes with one another to help encourage us all to eat more local/seasonal.

This one is very simple but one of my favorite fall / winter foods. Not only are sweet potatoes delicious but they also have a very high nutritional value.

ROASTED SWEET POTATOES

serves 4-6

3 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled, rinsed and cut into 3/4 inch rounds

2 T olive or vegetable oil

salt and pepper

 Toss potatoes in large bowl with oil and S & P.  Place on baking sheet and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Place in cold over in middle rack. Turn on oven to 425 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. Then remove foil and return potatoes to oven for an extra 15-20 minutes.Then flip slices over and cook for 18 more minutes.

 And there you have the perfect roasted sweet potato....

My kids LOVE them with ketchup but I think they are great plain.

The California Academy of Sciences is a new aquarium, planetarium, natural history museum and research institute all under one LIVING roof which just opened last Saturday. I haven't been there yet but imagine that it is a wonderful place for children to explore and learn about the amazing beauty and wonder of the world and reinforce the idea of taking care of it.

Every third Wednesday of the month is free. 

My family will be going on Wednesday, October 15. Feel free to join us. 

Fast Facts

Awards

• EPA's regional 2006 Environmental Award
• North American winner of the silver Holcim Award for Sustainable Construction.

Power Savings

• The new Academy will consume 30% less energy than required by San Francisco's codes
• Sixty-thousand photovoltaic cells will provide 5% to 10% of electricity from solar energy

Water Savings

• The Living Roof will absorb nearly 3.6 million gallons of rainwater per year

 “The total message of the building is a green message. It’s about life, how we got here, the marvelous diversity of life, it’s preciousness, and the choices we face in learning how to stay.”

From Ode magazine....probably my favorite mag at the time. Check it out if you are unfamiliar. I thought this article would be of interest to you all. Talk about, uhm...obsessed?!? But in a good way! But...don't expect to find this type of 'toilet' at this greenmommy's house!

Rebekah and Stephen Hren took a 75-year-old house and turned it into a model zero-carbon home. Here’s how.

Pumpkin Patch and Farm Days

Sept 26 - Oct 31

Thursdays through Sundays 10 - 6:30 pm

5360 Bodega Avenue (5 miles West of Petaluma)

• -U- Pick organic pumpkins
• -Take the Sunflower Maze Challenge
• -Make your own butter
• -Hayrides
• -Feed a calf
• -Learn to milk a cow
• -Enjoy Farmstead Ice Cream

http://www.doubledeckerlanes.com/solar.php

Last week, we stayed at Treebones in Big Sur for half of our vacation and San Francisco for the second half. Enjoying  both the peacefulness and beauty of the remote coastal area as well as the rattle and hum of the big city, I would say it was an ideal vacation.

Here's a little information on Treebones: 

Treebones is the name affectionately coined for this wonderful place back  in the '60's by Big Sur locals. This unusual triangular piece of land is surrounded by the Los Padres National Forest and the Pacific Ocean. It was then a  crude recycling wood mill. A local character by the name of Patrick Cassidy leased the land and struck a deal with US Forestry whereby he was permitted to haul dead wood from the surrounding coastal mountains onto the site. Once on the land the wood was milled into usable lumber and sold.. The old sun-baked silvery tree-bones lying around conjured the name "Treebones" in the minds of those enjoying the local scene. Today, Treebones Resort tries to employ the concept of re-use & re-cycle . We are making attempts to recycle even when it is at great personal cost. On our site, the extremely hot heat exhaust created from our clean burning, energy-producing turbines is used to heat the pool, hot tub and radiant flooring in the lodge, restrooms and shower area. And there's more to come!

We stayed in a Yurt which overlooked the Pacific ocean and it was wonderful! Big Sur is really a magical place as everyone says it is. It took me a day to get used to the remoteness of it: no cell service, no TV, no radio stations....but after I settled into the quiet, calm of Big Sur, I started to really appreciate the peacefulness of the place. Cameron and I took beautiful hikes everyday through places like  Limekiln State Park and  Julia Pfeiffer State Park and McWay Falls.
Later in the week we drove north toward Monterey and hiked through Point Lobos State Reserve and the next day hiked in the South end of Point Reyes.

I was reminded during the last week of all the absolute beauty we live in and live near and how lucky I feel to live in California. 

When we originally began planning our trip 6 months ago, we thought we had to go far away to make it a "real" vacation but because of economic and other unforeseen issues that came up, we decided to stay in California and I am SO glad we did. We had the added bonus of getting to use my mom's Prius last week, so we averaged 50 mpg (twice the gas mileage we would have gotten in our car).

With gas prices as high as they are and considering the carbon footprint issues of traveling by airplane, I think our family will start to focus most of our vacation time close to home. And this trip reminded me of just HOW MUCH California has to offer. I fell like we have just scratched the surface of all there is to see here. 

I posted about this a while ago but I wanted to remind all of you about the Weekend Along Farm Trails weekend

September 27 and 28 in Sonoma County.  

Our family and some friends have been the last 2 years and really loved it. We milked cows, pulled potatoes, climbed hay pyramids, hid in corn mazes, found pumpkins, picked apples, pet all kinds of farm animals, samples cheese and ice cream made from local dairys.......

If you make a weekend out of it, you can visit a lot of farms and your kids will love it.

Some of the activities include:

• Special farm tours
• See animals on the farm
• Visit pumpkin patches with fun activities for kids
• Learn gardening and landscaping tips
• Visit unique nurseries with a variety of plants
• Meet Sonoma County food artisans
• Taste freshly picked fruit and vegetables
• Connect with the farmer that grows your food
• Savor a restaurant meal featuring local ingredients
• Visit wineries during crush and harvest season

September 27 & 28, 2008  ~   10 a.m. – 5 p.m. , Saturday & Sunday

Cameron and I have been looking for a new set of pots and pans since we have been borrowing my sisters during the last year and now need to return them. I bought a set for $185 at Costco today and then happened to check Craigslist just out of curiosity. It just so happened someone was selling the EXACT same set, hardly used, for $60 on Craigslist. I am so excited!! Not only do I get to save lots of money (over 60% off what I was going to pay) but I also can make the eco choice of not buying new, using new resources, etc.

Just reminder - that you all know anyway - to always check out the used option. It's not only great for the wallet but great for the environment too.

I will be bellydancing at this event, and do volunteer work with Mother's support network. Should be a great event, and if greenmommy wants a table there, please contact the organization!

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Save the Date!
Mothers' Support Network board members are gearing up for our annual fund-raising event. This year, it will be "Tread Lightly: A Fall Family Resource Fair." This family friendly resource fair is for sharing information regarding the health of both family and Mother Earth. It will be held 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4 at Carmichael Park. If your interested in helping to shape this event, or want to be sure to save a spot for your family-friendly business, please contact Mya at mya@motherssupportnetwork.org.

Green Drinks International

Every month people who work in the environmental field meet up for a beer at informal sessions known as Green Drinks.

We have a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business. Come along and you'll be made welcome. Just say, "are you green?" and we will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there.It's a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there’s always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organizing network.

These events are very simple and unstructured, but many people have found employment, made friends, developed new ideas, done deals and had moments of serendipity. It's a force for the good and we'd like to help it spread to other cities. Contact your local node to get the latest info about coming along.

You can also email edwin [at] greendrinks [dot] org if you want some tips on how to set up Green Drinks in your City.

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I noticed that there is one in Sonoma and Sac has one too. I thought it might be of interest to some, as well as a potential place to market and promote Greenmommy.org

It doesn't look like there is one in Santa Rosa organized yet.

Tonight Barack Obama will give his acceptance speech as the Democratic candidate for President of the United States at the  Democratic National Convention .  The  convention has been  going on since  Monday night, some very  run of the mill speeches and some excellent. If you haven't had a chance to watch, Michelle Obama, Hillary and  Bill Clinton's speeches were particularly impressive.  I am sure you can check them all out here on Obama's website.  The  DNC is being  televised on most major news networks from 5 - 8 pm PT.  I am sure Obamas speech will be  inspiring as usual so if you can, check it out.