I had to share a little press release with the blogging world. My mom is the cafeteria manager for Triangle Elementary and worked really hard to submit her very first grant…and WON!!! She and the other staff at the elementary school will be greening their school lunch program with VEGGIES! One of the teachers at the school has a garden planted, mom has invested in some hydroponics machines, and they are kicking off the start of the Love Your Veggies grant program next week at their school. By the start of the school year this fall the entire program will be in place and the kids will have the opportunity to TRY new veggies at school. I am so proud of my momma! Getting kids to eat healthy is an important step in helping the environment! For some great recipes you can use for your own kids be sure to visit the Love Your Veggies link above.
Triangle Elementary School Awarded $10,000 Grant
Grant to provide students with increased access to fresh fruits and vegetables
Triangle Elementary School is the recipient of a Love Your Veggies™ Nationwide School Lunch Campaign grant, sponsored by the makers of Hidden Valley ® Salad Dressings in collaboration with the School Nutrition Foundation and Produce for Better Health Foundation. The $10,000 nutrition grant will help support school programs that increase access to, and consumption of, fresh fruits and vegetables.
Triangle Elementary will use the grant funds to launch its Tasty Testing initiative. Project activities include: (1) school-wide tasting of fresh produce; (2) healthy and nutritious “Salads of the Month” created by different classes; (3) “inventors” assisting in salad preparation for classmates; (4) daily sampling of salads by selected classes until every students has the opportunity to taste a free salad; (5) comment/rating survey of “tasters” conducted and tallied by “inventors”; (6) inclusion of partners and community members in the salad taste tests; (7) nutrition training for teachers and staff; and (8) nutrition education activities implemented in academic classes.
Fifty-one grants were awarded to schools from 47 different states plus Washington D.C. Triangle was the only school in Florida to receive the funding. The winning grant proposals were chosen based on need, innovation, greatest likelihood of sustainable impact on the students they are serving, and potential for community involvement.
Superintendent Cowin noted, “This is a great win for Triangle Elementary School. It will bring a focus on healthy eating, creativity and real-world math for students.”
Kathy Billar, Carol Brewer, Lisa Schutz and Linda Pillows from Triangle Elementary and Jim Hill of Lake County’s Food Service Department were assisted by the Grant Services Department of Lake County Schools in developing and composing the application.
I wanted to invite all my readers to join me over at Make Me Sustainable. It’s a social networking site for the environmentally aware. They also have a link on FaceBook too. So join my network and learn how to be more sustainable!
Well for my first product giveaway I was a little disappointed I didn’t have more entries but I’m happy that I have a few new readers out of it. The winners of the WysiWipe samples are:
Mel (Of course my product whore BFF!)
Hilary of www.modernlime.com who I just realized is in Tampa. (Hello neighbor!)
Lesha of www.fashionfling.com.
I will be sending you each emails requesting your mailing addresses so I can get your samples sent out this weekend. I hope you enjoy the product.
As for me, I have found a new use for my WysiWipes! Some of you know that I am an artist as well. I have actually pulled my paints out of the garage and picked up the paint brush again. WysiWipes are a great substitute for paper towels in the studio. I use them when drying my brush in-between color changes. The great thing is I can use them over and over again; wash them out between uses; and compost them when I’m done. Since I can rinse them out I get all the paint residue out of them before I put them into the compost bin. They WysiClothes are actually much stronger than the WysiWipes so if you want to use it many times I would recommend the Clothes over the wipes.
I hope you all enjoy your samples! AND…to any additional readers…I still have some samples left! Just leave me a comment on my blog about how you would use WysiWipes and I’ll send out samples until they are all gone!
Here are some cute projects that I saw while visiting Epcot’s Flower and Garden festival at Disney World a few weeks ago. With a little time and imagination you can create some really cute projects for your garden. I wonder which one will be my first project?
Cute bird feeders from beverage bottle or milk jugs.
Windchimes from old kitchen utensils.
Or the cup and saucer bird baths?
Today is my day to talk about global warming. Do you believe global warming exists? Or do you think it’s just a myth a normal pattern in the planets history? What do you think President Bush thinks about Global Warming? There was an interesting video I saw on Yahoo today that answers that very question. I had a friend of mine say something very similar as President Bush about the oil refineries in the U.S. I had never really thought about it from his perspective. The way my friend asked the questions was this; “Did you know that China and others have oil refineries very close off the coast of the United States? Wouldn’t you rather have the U.S. manage the oil refineries with our environmental regulations instead of letting China do it without any regulations? And if we had our own oil refineries we could reduce the cost of gasoline.” Like I said, I had never considered that side of things. I still think there are other alternatives that need to be investigated and persued; but I have to agree with having more control over our resources too.
On another blog today, I read about the 20 places that would most be impacted and threatened by global warming. I’m actually planning a family vacation right now to some place exotic. Some of these places have been made famous by Survivor (Cook Islands and Palau, Micronesia). Some I have actually dreamt about visiting (Galapagos Islands) since I started studying Darwin years ago. Surprisingly some of the locations I have already visited (NYC, New Orleans, and Virgin Islands). What cities or locations would you like to visit from the list and why?
Whether or not you believe global warming is real I think it would be a loss to our planet to loose such wonderful places. What would life be like without Japan, NYC, and London? I personally don’t want to find out.
I wanted to wish all the mothers (and motherly type people) a very Happy Mother’s Day! My day was spent away from the fancy restaurants and away from all the fancy gifts and store bought stuff. My son is only 5 so I don’t think he really ‘appreciates’ what I do for him yet…but my hubby certainly does. They let me stay in bed this morning while the two of them cooked me breakfast. My present was a breakfast cooked by the best men in my life, a handmade card (complete with coupons), and a flower picked from the garden. The coupons were for little things my son could do (or get some help doing) like 1) wash my car, 2) snuggle time, and 3) clean up his room himself. I have to say my hubby was quite creative at the last minute! The rest of the day was spent spending quality family time. What else could the EcoChic (Eco-Freak to some! LOL!!) ask for? Nothing! Today was perfect.
I wrote a great blog about this new product, WysiWipes, I found and have been using around the house. I have 12 free samples of their product still available for free. Just leave me a comment here about where you would use your WysiWipes to be entered into the drawing. Deadline has been extended until May 15th.
This weekend we had the pleasure of attending Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival for the first time. From a person who is trying to become more green in the garden it was quite nice to see what they have done. They used tire scraps as mulch throughout the park, integrated recycled art into their displays, and had very informative booths that promoted the environment. One such booth was from the National Honey Board. My son was playing on the playground at the time so I took the opportunity to see what they were talking about. To my surprise the gentleman working the booth started talking about the environment. I was absolutely amazed at the things he was talking about.
Did you know that honey has antimicrobial properties? And that adding honey to your food works as a natural food preservative? That adding it to a bread recipe will help to prevent mold growth. And that honey has great antioxident qualities as well. It’s more sweeter than sugar.
So how is it environmentally friendly? Most recipes call for sugar to be melted to make a syrup and honey is already in a liquid form; thus less heating required. He kept on telling me more but I can’t remember it all. All I can say is that I learned alot and will be using honey more often in the kitchen. But it’s not only good in the kitchen; what about for spa treatments or health treatments. Honey is a good cough suppresent and it’s antioxidant characteristics make it great for those homemade spa treatments. Did you know that honey could even be used to treat cuts and scrapes? Or to treat some bacterial infections?
Check out the National Honey Board’s Industry links for some useful recipes, tips, and tricks.
The great folks at WysiWipe just sent me some samples of their biodegradable, reusable wipes.
Theses little pellets (about the size of a Tum’s) expand into full sized wipes when you add water to them. As I read more about these wipes I learned they were all natural and have no chemicals or scents. There is more; they are reusable and compostable!
So what can you use WysiWipes for? ANYTHING! I’m using them around the house wherever I would normally use paper towels. I can’t break my paper towel habit but with these WysiWipes it might just help me reduce how much I use paper towels. The first place I’ve used them is in the kitchen sink in place of those nasty sponges and disposable clothes. I should be using wash clothes but they get so stinky and nasty; I would always be washing them. So WysiWipes are a good alternative for me! When I’m done with them I can add them to my compost pile and not feel guilty!
Other uses of WysiWipes? How about camping or traveling. Or on a boat? Want something more environmentally friendly to wash your car with? Want to replace those disposable baby wipes? Have a messy toddler? Throw one in your gym bag. Perfect for day care centers and schools. The possibilities are endless!
Want to try some WysiWipes for FREE? Win a sample of two WysiWipes from The Eco Chic by leaving a comment about where you would use your WysiWipes. Winners will be chosen at random on May 5, 2008. Also visit WysiWipes and enter their contest to win a two night stay at a spa resort in British Columbia.
