Comments on Hobo Mama: March Carnival of Natural Parenting: Vintage green...

Now microwave popcorn is ruined for me! lol I wan...

2010-03-11T21:12:34.065-08:00

Now microwave popcorn is ruined for me! lol

I want a hand mixer too. I used to love it at my grandma's house. I don't ever use an electric one and whisking gets tiring after a while.

Shana: We used to do a lot of painting with...

2010-03-11T01:15:07.759-08:00

Shana: We used to do a lot of painting with food coloring growing up, too. I'm going to have to break that out again, assuming I can find some safe sources.

Maman A Droit: Your comment just made me laugh, because a friend the other day here was just complaining at how stinky homemade playdough is and how much they hated the smell. I admit it's distinctive. :) Maybe it's the cream of tartar?

Michelle: All I can say is, thank you so very much!

Geeks in Rome: That's so interesting how resourceful you had to be at getting rid of waste. I too struggle with how to balance it all. I don't want to be a pack rat (and I am, and I want to be better), but I don't want to be cavalier about throwing stuff away. I don't like to obsess over every cent, but it is nice to get new things, and new cheap things are so very easy to buy. Sorry, I know your comment didn't reference all of that; it just made me think.

BluebirdMama: You're so right. My parents have changed along with everyone else. My dad now prefers the stinkiest, greasiest brand of microwave popcorn you could imagine.

Thomasin: For safety, we would unplug the fans and take off the front covers and just spin them by hand. We masking taped numbers to each blade and bet on which one would stop at the top. It's good to teach gambling young!

Thanks, everyone, for participating in either reading or writing for the carnival! It's been such a blast hearing everyone's ideas. I've gotten so many good ones and been inspired to carry on!

This is a really great theme this month. Reading y...

2010-03-10T08:39:02.275-08:00

This is a really great theme this month. Reading your list reminds me of some of the things we used to do growing up. I didn't think of them as being green.

Awesome list! Now you get to carry on with your family.

Your list makes me happy! And reminds me of all th...

2010-03-10T05:43:37.695-08:00

Your list makes me happy! And reminds me of all the cold frosty days on which I was told to put on a sweater rather than being allowed to touch the thermostat. ;-) I don't quite "get" the fan roulette (I've always been afraid of getting my hair caught or my fingers lopped off) but all the rest, yep, I was nodding my head (oh, except for the drain cleaning, which made me shudder a bit. I guess I'm also afraid of drain monsters). Perhaps green living makes you brave!

You've totally reminded me of my mother making...

2010-03-09T20:16:52.550-08:00

You've totally reminded me of my mother making popcorn on the stove. There were very specific smells and sounds, that rattle of popcorn kernels on the pot and the popping sound when they got going.

I haven't had much luck doing this myself. I like to us a hot-air popper, but unfortunately my toddler made off with part of the top so it's out of service. Maybe it's time to try the stovetop method again.

Reading everyone's carnival posts I'm more...

2010-03-09T20:04:11.381-08:00

Reading everyone's carnival posts I'm more convinced than ever that back in the day, everyone really did live differently. My family wasn't more special than the next - we all did stuff that way before things got so convenient.

I guess one thing that seems a shame to me is that here we are all harkening back to the old days, going back to the way our parents did things and unfortunately, my parents don't do that stuff any more.

Love your list. Thanks for reminding me about some things I'd missed.

I love how you found so many different ways your p...

2010-03-09T18:43:29.690-08:00

I love how you found so many different ways your parents were green. It is just fun and exciting to know that we can find more ways to honor and admire our parents.

I just have to say I can't wait until my son is old enough to enjoy and appreciate making his own play-doh and crayons

OMG, didn't know about the microwave popcorn t...

2010-03-09T17:17:20.053-08:00

OMG, didn't know about the microwave popcorn thing! So glad you posted that!

I like that you point out that our teaching green to our children will be more explicit. My mom may have darned socks but she didn't do it for green purposes. I want Aellyn to know the larger picture!

Your new blog design is beautiful!

love the new look! Reading this made me think, We...

2010-03-09T14:56:42.358-08:00

love the new look!

Reading this made me think, We grew up in the same house!!! The exact same stuff (cut up t-shirts for rags... etc).

Of all my chores the most tedious and greenest was being in charge of washing and crushing all the tin cans and glass containers.

We lived in the country and there was no waste removal so you had to burn what you could, compost organics or feed it to the goats, and recycle by taking it to the scrap heaps by the river where you dumped glass, metal, paper in giant dumpsters. We'd build up only a small bucket of waste that had to be dumped out behind the barn "in the pit" every 6 months (old brillo pads, a battery).

Nothing was plastic back then and if it was it never broke. Stuff wasn't overly packaged and if it was it was recyclable paper.

I want my kids to be resourceful and never think they have to buy things. But that means being pack rats because as soon as you throw something out (egg cartons!), you realize you need it :)

Fifteen marvelous vignettes and insights. This is...

2010-03-09T13:57:37.303-08:00

Fifteen marvelous vignettes and insights. This is such a great post. You've brought up memories, provoked me to consider a few things I hadn't before, and provided recipes to boot. Your voice is so distinct and witty and always educational. I am never disappointed by your content. The new blog look is incredible. I just want to follow you and Mikko down those tracks. I know you are heading someplace wonderful.

I definitely remember homemade playdough. Ours was...

2010-03-09T11:53:54.863-08:00

I definitely remember homemade playdough. Ours was usually off-white 'cause Mom didn't want to have the pink vs. blue fight between my brothers and me and just left it the color it naturally was (which is sort of inadvertenly green of her!) This might be weird of me, but I always thought it smelled delicious even though it was for playing not eating.

It's amazing how many things are your list wer...

2010-03-09T11:18:36.782-08:00

It's amazing how many things are your list were things we did growing up, too, and stuff I never really thought about. Like popcorn, "free-range"-ing, pouring grey water on the garden. Seems like a lot of our modern conveniences are not so...um...convenient in the long haul!

I think we'll have to make play-doh this weekend. :)

Yay for home-made play-doh! My mom used to make it...

2010-03-09T11:09:33.708-08:00

Yay for home-made play-doh! My mom used to make it just plain flour-salt-water. Then after we finished our creations, she would cook them until hard and we would paint them with food coloring. Great memories.

juggleandbalance: Wow! I remember helping s...

2010-03-09T11:06:38.910-08:00

juggleandbalance: Wow! I remember helping shuck corn on my relatives' Indiana farm, but we never did the freezing. If I ever have enough room, I would LOVE to grow my own sweet corn. Yum!

the grumbles: I know it! I think about it a lot as I anticipate how I'll act with my own kid(s). Because part of it is we are more aware of the real dangers, but part of it is that other people would judge us and possibly do more than that (call CPS, etc.) if we let our kids range too freely.

Jessica: Yes, and thanks!

Melodie: Thank you! I'll pass the compliment on to Sam, who was my faithful designer. :) Isn't it funny how many things were technically green that were done for other reasons?

Dionna: Just a day! So you haven't missed much. And I changed it back to word verification with name/url JUST FOR YOU! :) (No, but seriously, you're the one who mentioned it, so I figured that maybe was the best option for all.) I will have to try the dishwater thing. Very interesting! I hate when I have to do anything too chemical-y to bugs. I wonder if dishwater deters slugs, because that's our big pest here.

navelgazingbajan: Let me know if it works. I still haven't tried it but am hopeful! :) It seems like you could adjust the amount of oil down, too, if it's too greasy. Maybe!

I'm so glad you posted the link to that popcor...

2010-03-09T10:34:56.955-08:00

I'm so glad you posted the link to that popcorn recipe. I love popcorn but have been loathe to buy the microwaveable kind or shell out the bucks for an air popper that might or might not work well. My family used to sometimes make stovetop popcorn too but I always remember it as being a tad too greasy. Hopefully this will be just what I need. Thanks!

omg! How long have you had this pretty new site?! ...

2010-03-09T10:10:10.904-08:00

omg! How long have you had this pretty new site?! I usually read through RSS, so I'm not sure how long it's been debuted. (Can I use debut in the past tense? Hmm, I'm not getting redlined - I will say, yes!)

Anyway - Did you know that if you put your dishwater out on your garden, it kills certain bugs? Not sure whether it kills any plants too, but I remember reading that in my gardening research :)

p.s. omg! You added name/url option!! Thank you :)

First, I LOVE your new site. It's just gorgeou...

2010-03-09T08:54:24.522-08:00

First, I LOVE your new site. It's just gorgeous! That being said, I feel like I now have about ten other things I cold add to my own list of things my parents did that I never considered to be green. My dad also, to this day, pops popcorn in a pot. He always burnt his though, which probably what made me a fan of air-popped. I have never gotten used to the microwave stuff though.

I think I can list just about everything you did! ...

2010-03-09T06:38:25.686-08:00

I think I can list just about everything you did! It makes for a colorful childhood, doesn't it? I often wish I was half as crafty with a needle and thread as my mom is/was.

By the way, LOVE your new look!

I love the point about being more "free range...

2010-03-09T05:44:59.047-08:00

I love the point about being more "free range". My parents let me run all over our (huge) neighborhood and play in the woods without a care in the world from dawn to dusk. I think it helped shape me into a more independent person. I've never thought before about how different that is from what kids do today.

My whole family had a huge garden. We canned tomat...

2010-03-09T04:47:13.829-08:00

My whole family had a huge garden. We canned tomatoes (probably about 150 quarts). We froze sweet corn an elaborate ritual (imagine boiling water, steam in a kitchen on a 100 degree day with no air conditioning. But the corn tasted so good. We made jelly and pickles...lots of work but lots of fun