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Woot! Finally my turn to host The Carnival of the Green. As I was reading submissions this week I was thinking about how much “green” blogging goes on that I am not even aware of. I guess I concern myself mainly with green as it relates to family but boy I am not even scratching the surface. I LOVE blog surfing to see what the latest and greatest green news and opinion is. If you missed last week’s carnival it was at Agroblogger.

So without further ado…let’s dive in.

First up EcoJoe shares with us how he used old items, perhaps bound for the trash…old wood, old and sometimes bent nails, and an old and rather ugly counter-top to make a lovely kitchen island for his townhome. He documents the whole project with complete instructions and pictures. Pretty inventive and green!

Beth Bader from Eat Drink Better shares an interview with Bryant Terry who co-wrote on of my all time favorite books called Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen. In addition to being an author he is a food activist he has made appearances on the Sundance Channel’s original series “Big Ideas for a Small Planet.” Bryant is also a host on “The Endless Feast,” a 13-episode PBS series. I have admired him for a long while so I enjoyed the interview. 

Alison at Green Me writes about What it Really Means to Eat Local. This is in response to recent media articles that claim that local eating is no better for the environment than eating globally transported foods. Alison isn’t buying it. I am not either.

Agroblogger writes a follow up post to one that appeared last week called My Life Without Water. Wow…what a challenge.

Adam from LifeGoggles reviews a book I have been wanting to read, Organic Places to Stay (in the UK) by Linda Moss. It outlines four different types of places to spend a night or week around the United Kingdom - bed and breakfast, hotels, self-catering and camping….all eco friendly. I want to take my kids on a tour of the UK next year so I am researching now.

The Tao of Change gives a shout to the Eco Moms Alliance which promotes mom making strides to protect their offspring AND the planet.

Fake Plastic Fish writes about a subject close to my own heart… environmental children’s books.

Vanessa is one of my readers and she recently shared with me a post she wrote outlining 7 Ways To Help Your Kids Be More Green. She has some good tips.

Shannon via SavingAdvice writes her local grocery stores attempt to convert patrons to reusable bags and why she thinks they should be giving the bags away for free. While I understand wanting to save money I think green takes precedence and stores can’t give away reusable bags willy nilly like they do plastic bags…that is impractical and not cost efficient. In the post she threatens to bring her own collection of mismatched canvas bags in various sizes. My advice: Do that! Reusable is reusable. You don’t have to use their $1.00 bags…use your own. I do.

Lisa at writes Sparks Fly Between White and EPA Over Recent Smog Standard Reduction. It relate show GWB interfered with smog reduction standards. Well, this isn’t surprising… Bush has never cared about that little place we live called Earth.

Well, that concludes this week’s carnival. Next week the host will be Lighter Footstep.

Enjoy!

Step right up! Enjoy the carnival! This is the fourth edition of the Carnival of Natural Family Living and just as I suspected this is turning out to be a large carnival. We have some great submissions to highlight so without further ado…..

Naturally Healthy

Carole Fogarty of The Healthy Living Lounge gives us an idea for letting go of stresses and worries in Calm your mind and “unplug” your stresses, worries and concerns in two and half minutes.

Natural Book Reviews

Our greenie from the UK, Mel at Bean Sprouts, reviewed the book Fruits of the Hedgerow. This is a book that discusses some common British fruits and seeds and inlcudes alot of yummy recipes. She also wrote a very interesting post about the ginger beer plant.

Natural Mom & Baby

Melanie at Motherverse writes about Breastfeeding in Public and Blurring of the Breast.  This great article disccusses attitudes about breastfeeding in times past and shares some great pictures of breastfeeding mothers during the depression and post war era. She also shares an amusing post about her son called Boob Man.

George at Man and His Baby (a very funny blog BTW) shares his list of places you should not breastfeed.

Awesome Mom has been knitting up a storm at Our Family Village.

Julie at Baby Development share the Benefits of Breastfeeding.

Safbaby has a poist on the unbelievable nurturing effects of baby massage.

Green Love Letters

Todd at We the Change gives us some ideas on green power in A Simple Way to Make Your Home Green.

Andy at Money Walks shared the results of his Car Gas Experiment.

Keyboard Culture Global Warming has a great article about finding the opportunity to build a brand new green home after a Florida hurricane.

Jon at The DC Traveler reminds me that I had to change my plans recently and will no longer be able to attend the DC Green Festival in a few days. Thanks Jon!

The Natural Homestead

Stephanie at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood tells why she is glad she isn’t in Little House on the Prairie. It was great getting a glimpse of a more self sufficient home.

The new edition of the Carnival of Natural Family Living has posted to Bean Sprouts! Make sure to stop by and read the contributions and leave a comment.

My favorites were Playtime at Conscious Mom and Reusable Feminine Products at Stop the Ride.

Be sure to join the next carnival on September 17th with our lovely host Clara at Face-Natural!

Okay here it is! The first Carnival of Natural Family Living is now open. I think we did pretty good for the first carnival if I do say so myself. In no particular order�I will now go ahead and share the best submissions for the first edition of this carnival. Thanks to everyone who decided to participate!

First up is Frugal Panda with 101 Ways to Entertain Yourself and Your Family. These are some great tips! I especially like #2 which addresses summer lecture series offered by public libraries.

I love to talk about how being frugal often times coincides with green family values. That is why I like Sagar’s�100 Creative Ways to Cut Wedding Costs. It has many tips that make for a green wedding with suggestions to buy a used wedding dress, borrow jewelery, grow your own flowers, and skip the wedding favors. It is a great read for anyone about to walk down the aisle.

In keeping with the same frugal theme I also enjoyed reading How to Make Money Management a Family Affair by the Millionaire Mommy Next Door. Teaching your kids about money and consumerism is a valuable life lesson.

Carrie of Natural Moms Talk Radio shares with us her take on living frugal and living naturally in Eating Organic: Tips to Save You Money. This article has alot of great advice and links. My favorite tips were to buy in bulk and to skip porcessed foods.

Mel at Bean Sprouts offered a post about her recent attempt with alternative crafts. She and her sister made a Cake Stand�with�vintage China plates and sherry glasses.�This is a great way to repurpose household items to fit new needs and it is quite stylish too I might add. Green enthusiasts can have their cake and eat it too.

Dana at Principled Discovery tackles a tough subject. She discusses how kids as young as two years old might be emotionally attached to brand symbols�such as the golden articles at McDonalds because of their wide spread advertisements on TV. These ads are in effect preparing them to be consumers even at that young age.�So how does this affect children in TV free or virtually TV free households? Dana offers her perspective in Brand Loyalty in the Absence of Television.

Kevin of 21st Century Citizen offers us A Simple Step You Can Take: Eat More Locally Grown Food. In this article he explores many of the local food resources on the Internet and how you can use them to stay true to a 100 mile diet.

For my part AND to close this edition of the Carnival of Natural Family Living I submit and article I wrote for GNMParents called The Hottest Color in Beauty. It discusses different beauty products and cosmetics that are�composed of�sustainable materials, come in sustainable packaging, or come from companies that support sustainable or ethical initiatives.

So now go make the rounds and visit all our particpants and thank them for their valuable information. The host for the next edition of this carnival is….Mel of Bean Sprouts! So get your submissions in here and join the fun. Until next time….

Technorati Tags: carnival, natural living, green living, family, frugal, money, wedding, organic, local foods

I am pleased to announce that a new blog carnival will soon be making the rounds and NatureMoms will be the first blog to host this event. It is the Carnival of Natural Family Living and here is the official description:

Families Trying to Live Naturally and Peacefully - This carnival is for all parents that try to incorporate various natural living practices into their lives. These could be many and varied including green family living, organic and local eating, TV free lifestyles, cloth diapering, natural products you like, gardening, homeopathy, attachment parenting and so on. Please submit blog posts on all subjects as they relate to living a more natural family life.

�If you have a blog that addresses any of these topics or any of the other aspects of natural family living please visit the Carnival of Natural Family Living page and submit an article or blog post. The link is toward the bottom of the page. Please submit every month if you have something you want to be considered for inclusion. And spread the word! I have run across MANY natural living theme blogs out there so I hope to showcase your expertise soon.

Also, let me know if you are interested in hosting the carnival on your own blog.

If you are not quite sure what a blog carnival is let me see if I can explain it as I particpate in many. This particular carnival will be monthly to begin with. If you have written about some aspect of natural family living on your blog…past or present…you can submit the link to us through the carnival page. The carnival host reads all the submissions and selects their preferred posts (all hosts have different criteria) and if your post is selected for inclusion, the host will post the carnival on the 1st of the month and highlight your post along with the other posts chosen. It is a great way to introduce yourself to new readers, get backlinks to your blog, increase your technorati ranking, and increase traffic to your blog. I hope to see YOU at the carnival!

Technorati Tags: blog carnival, carnival of naturalfamily living, green living, attachment parenting, cloth diaper