i wanna be green

little by little green is coloring my life.
i think i have always been careful not to waste, perhaps more because i am thrifty. i jumped on the recycling bandwagon. i have never thrown toxic waste down the drain. i am drawn to the outdoors. i love fresh air. perfumes bother my eyes, scented lotions irritate my skin and air fresheners usually make my throat itchy. generally, i like eating healthy, but i can usually talk myself into liking something if it is good for me! (i remember during the fat free 90's, actually convincing myself that the spongy muffin i was eating was really tasty)
my brother has called me a tree hugger. while i don't regularly hug trees, i do like them.
i love gardening, but hate using pesticides or herbicides. working in the horticulture industry made me realize i can't just ignore the chemicals, those plant eating varmints need would destroy our growing things if we let them. a non-chemical approach means more time and energy, or getting rid of the plant altogether. since i like to garden without gloves it made sense that i would cut out the toxins from the garden - that way i can plant edibles everywhere! compost is genius! why would i use miracle grow when i could make a compost tea out of our kitchen waste??!!
learning more about botany also made me realize the importance of eating food without toxins. i started moving towards organic root foods, like carrots, potatoes, onions (we actually eat the part of the plant that has stored the nutrients/chemicals we have sprayed on the plant), and over the past few years we have working our way towards more and more organics. i still have a hard time paying for organic cheese and ice cream, but we have to be aware of our budget. bit by bit, right?
i used to clean houses, and certainly spent a few years thinking a toilet didn't seem clean unless i used soft scrub or bleach. its funny how i would really hesitate to use chemicals in the yard, but would spray them in my house???! my hubby loves the smell of bleach or pine sol, and i certainly want it to smell like i did scrub that tub! but now that i have a kidlet i am really aware of how tragic it would be if he managed to get the cupboard under the sink opened. since i get to be home with the little nugget i am more aware of the quality of air that we both breathe all day long. slowly i have been trying to get rid of the toxic stuff, but things still need to get clean!
when we were in seattle over christmas i was talking to my good friends who have a booming housecleaning business using earth friendly ingredients. they recommended this book and WOW!! i am super fired up to make all new cleaning supplies that are not only non-toxic, but ones my little guy can actually HELP me use! that is, after all, one of my parenting goals, to get zoom to take on some of the house work!
i think our friend, kermit says it well:

It's not that easy being green;
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold...
or something much more colorful like that.

It's not easy being green.
It seems you blend in with so many other ord'nary things.
And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're
not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
or stars in the sky.

But green's the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain,
or tall like a tree.

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful!
And I think it's what I want to be.