This post is sponsored by Greenworks Tools.
Happy earth day
Today is all about growing things, getting your fingers in the dirt, adding new plantings to your yard and making this planet a better place for the next generation.
I’m all about the next generation.
I have four of them.
About five years ago we made a commitment to make small changes to help our planet in our own little way. We started taking our own shopping bags to the store and planting trees and recycling and finding cars with better gas mileage and dozens of other tiny changes.
And an amazing thing happened.
Our children watched.
And learned.
And today they are making many of those same small changes, too.
(total aside: isn’t it funny how the doing makes more of an impact than the talking?)
Here are 21 ways to celebrate Earth Day where you live.
(total aside number 2: I could have just shared 20–but 21 sounds so much fancier.)
1. Unplug your devices
2. Go for a walk with your family.
3. Look around you. Seriously. Just open your eyes and see all the spring that showed up right outside your door.
4. Visit a local nursery and choose a new type of flower for your yard.
(total aside: if you choose a perennial, you can celebrate Earth Day next year, too.)
5. Take your own shopping bags on your next shopping trip.
6. Ride a bike somewhere you might have driven a car.
7. Volunteer for a local organization that takes time to make your community better.
8. Change your bills to pay online instead of getting paper bills in the mail.
9. Visit a local Earth Day event.
10. Visit a local park and take a picnic.
11. Hang a birdfeeder in your yard.
12. Avoid plastic water bottles. Find an amazing refillable water bottle instead.
13. Plan a farm-to-table meal for your family.
14. Buy some produce from a local Farmer’s Market.
15. If you have a bird bath, clean it out and fill it up.
16. Find a local clean-up and join in.
17. Research planting your own garden.
18. Use earth-friendly cleaning products.
19. Sit by an open window and listen to the birds.
20. Use dishtowels to clean your countertops instead of paper towels.
21. And my favorite way to celebrate Earth Day?
Bring a little freshness to your window with an herb garden. Planting an herb garden is one of the easiest ways to celebrate Earth Day and you can create your own with these easy tips and ideas.
You can grow your herbs from seeds, but I have had better luck with established herbs from the garden center. Most garden centers offer a variety of well-established plants in different varieties. One of my favorites is a compact herb known as Onion Chive. Onion chives like a lot of sun and need well-drained soil and grow to about a foot. They are perfect for adding a little bit of onion flavor to most dishes. Another of my favorite herbs is rosemary. The smell is wonderful and the plant is so pretty with its delicate spiked leaves. Rosemary grows to more than 24” tall and needs extremely well-drained soil. After its roots are established, it becomes more drought tolerant. Make sure to trim Rosemary regularly to ensure new growth and prevent a woody appearance to the plant.
Here are a few tips for planting herbs in your home:
- Make sure you have the correct light. Most herbs come with a tag that tells the proper sunlight for the plant. Both of these herbs like plenty of sunlight. Set pots in a window or on a porch to make sure they receive proper light.
- Ensure proper drainage. These inexpensive terra cotta containers come with a hole in the bottom of the pot to allow excess water to drain. Avoid having herbs sit in water for any length of time.
- Make sure to water regularly. Herbs in pots will dry out quickly. Make sure that you have enough water so the plant doesn’t dry out.
- Planting separate herbs in separate pots allows you to treat each plant and its needs accordingly. Some herbs like more water, some prefer less. With individual pots it allows you to address each plant separately.
In exciting news, Greenworks tools is hosting another fun giveaway to celebrate going green.
Greenworks Tools is all about Earth Day. They are friendly to the environment and battery powered and they are all about cutting down on greenhouse gases. Greenworks is also asking you to take the Green Pledge and commit to a better future and to help you stay informed and to provide a place for ideas they’ve created a community Facebook page.
Today we are sharing Earth Day ideas with some of my favorite friends. Be sure to check out how they celebrated Earth Day, too!
Greenworks tools are truly built for the family. Lightweight and easy to operate, they allow everyone to get involved. All of their designs are corded or battery operated. That means there is no issue for people mixing gas correctly, spillages, or any of the other hassles that come with potentially overwhelming gas-powered tools.
• To enter, simply take the pledge. Jump over to the Greenworks tools facebook page, and join the community to be entered to win. You can also take the Green Generation pledge.
• Want more chances to win? Simply @ a friend in the Greenworks Facebook post. Every friend you tag gains you another entry. For example, if you like the photo and tag 1o friends, you get 11 entries. Tag 15 friends and you get 16 chances to win.
The contest winners will be picked on Friday, April 26 at 3 pm EST. Tag as many as you want until then.
Be sure to check out the Greenworks tools section at your local Lowes.
disclosure: This post was written in collaboration with Greenworks Tools.
All opinions are my own.
Please see my disclosure page for more information.
I think #19 might be my favorite.😍 Happy Earth 🌍 Day
Earth Day! My does this day bring back memories!! Growing up in Baltimore, I remember sitting at the piano, probably a 5th grader, making up a song to go with the words I had " created " in honor of Earth Day. Mind you, I'm now 61, so Earth Day was in it's infancy. I was quite surprised to learn that my elementary school was going to distribute it so the classes could sing it on Earth Day!! What a thrill!!! I'm an avid recycler and go to my local thrift shop and Rehabitat store to "recycle" items I may need ( was that the correct term? I get lost in the terminology... 😊). I pick up trash around my apt. grounds and have a long branch I use to fish out cups, etc. that kids... and adults.. throw into the reservoir in our complex ( what a shame ). I know that what I do is only a tidbit to what many others do,but I tell myself that it's better than not doing anything at all. Thanks for this post, Karianne!!
Oops, I'm going to add that I do items 1,3, 5,8,11,12,15,19 and 20 all the time. I love my birds and was learning bird calls while living at my Mom's before moving last summer. I set up four Brohm bird feeders for her and a bath and it was lovely to watch the birdies. Unfortunately, I don't see the birds I did at Mom's, but I hear a few of their calls..
Beautiful earth day here in North Carolina and to celebrate I have been working in the garden all morning. Just came in to make lunch which will be eaten outside while listening to the birds and watching them at the feeder and bird bath. The use of no pesticides has make our wildlife population explode including a minimum of 40 nesting species and butterflies and native pollinators abound in the garden. I celebrated the first earth day as a teenager at a Woodstock like festival and now at 70 still realize just how important it is to be good to mother earth and all do our part. Happy Earth Day.
Great tips! Just discussing with my children this morning, why we do the things we do. So fun and sometimes challenging to pass on our beliefs and values to our children. Making sure we all understand the whys behind what we do! Happy Earth Day!
Ooh, a farm-to-table meal sounds fabulous! Thanks for the idea!! Happy Earth Day KariAnne!!! xoxo
Go Earth Day!!! Plant a tree 🌳 All of your ideas are awesome!
Love celebrating Earth Day every year. I'm retired now, but when I taught we had the kids spending the whole day on Earth Day activities. This year I created a perinnal garden for my sister. She just finished her last radiation treatment for breast cancer and I last year for colon cancer. We were celebrating our survival by giving back to the Earth. It was so memorial for the both of us.
I just bought terra cotta pots , mixed 1 cup lime to one cup water white wash them amazingly fast n simple tomorrow I sand it off and spray varnish and I will have aged looking terra cotta you gotta try it.
LOVE all of your ideas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just bought galvanized horse troughs-filled with soil/manure/compost and layer of hay and planted veggies! Way to celebrate EARTH DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I planted my herb garden just the other day! (I plant one every year I put in new in a huge urn by backdoor but use the old ones near out huge compost pile in the back acre, and they grow there too but I like fresh ones near my door.) Wonderful post - if we all do our part it DOES make a difference!!!!! I know I need to improve on things, though, for sure. Thanks for the reminder! Have a lovely remainder of your week! : - )