Welcome

What is Growing a Green Family all about?

Going green takes work. Sometimes it takes small steps, and sometime large, but trying to incorporate green living when you’ve got a family and limited resources is tough. Growing a Green Family focuses on how families can live green (or live greener) with all the other ups and downs of family life.

Being a mama I wanted a blog that parents and kids could look at together – a blog that offers tips not only for adults but kids as well. Having raised my son green pretty much from the start I know first hand that kids who are raised around green issues adapt to green living easily and do care about the planet. You’re never too young (or old) to go green.

Having been a single mama on a budget I also wanted to create a space that offers easy and low-cost tips for going green. While some green living solutions do cost more, it’s not true across the board. ANY family can go green.

Why bother with a family specific green blog?

After I first got interested in green living years ago, I searched for helpful books, blogs, and websites and found few that catered to families as a whole. Most of the green sites I found focused on general green living, green design, or super expensive green goods. I liked the sites I found, but they seemed more helpful for individuals not families, and especially not for families with kids.

This problem inspired me to help launch Tree Hugging Family, a blog I wrote at for years.  I loved THF, but wanted my own green family space, which is where Growing a Green Family comes in.

Balancing green living and family life…

Being part of a family is already a lot of work. Trying to to go green while also trying managing all the other tasks that come along with parenting is hard. Not to mention all those other dynamics you may experience such as being a single parent, your spouse or partner not being on board with green living, siblings, schooling choices, extended family, friends, and so on.

Green successes and failures…

One thing you’ll see here is that I’m far from perfect when it comes to green living. One issue I have with many green books and blogs is that they make it seem like if you can’t manage green living you must be an idiot because it’s so darn easy. It’s not always easy. My family has experienced a lot of green trial and error and we still do. However, that doesn’t mean that green living is unreachable. Your family can become a lean green living machine; so long as you focus on the positive and take small steps.

Who is Jennifer? Aka your friendly blogger.

Professionally I’m a problogger and freelance writer; mainly in the eco-genre. I write for a multitude of blog and website clients and in the past have worked on other writing projects such as copy for non-profits, national magazine articles, and business proposals.

I live in the gray and drizzling Pacific Northwest, with my nine-year old son Cedar, partner Dave, and his two daughters. I’m seriously addicted to green issues, books, and coffee, although I also like hiking, road trips (I know NOT eco-friendly), music, and skateboarding as well.

The other characters here at Growing a Green Family…

Cedar: My nine-year-old is a pretty green kid. He’s great at recycling, grabbing reusable bags for the store, turning off lights, and he’s fairly knowledgeable about organics and other green issues. He’s also very good at encouraging others to keep it green as well. While obviously he’s not perfect, he’s very interested in green living considering his age, which says to me says that encouraging kids to go green early on does make a huge impact. Cedar was unschooled at home for years but is currently attending a free school.

Dave & his girls: Dave, my boyfriend is a computer tech by day but his first love is writing music and playing with his band. He’s also an avid skateboarder, zombie fan, and all around awesome guy. Dave’s two daughters (11 & 13) live with us part-time and are fun, creative, and all around great kids.

Dave and his girls are much newer to green living than Cedar and me. Like any merged family issues, this has created some challenges. On the positive side, Dave is extremely open to most green living ideas. Plus merging our two households has created some excellent opportunities for learning how to tackle green living in new ways. I’m super gung-ho about most green issues and Dave and his girls often provide alternative viewpoints. I don’t always agree with said viewpoints but it does keep me thinking about the issues in a way that’s probably more typical to the average newbie or family trying to go green.

That’s Growing a Green Family in a nutshell – hopefully you’ll stick around, check out the blog, and learn some new ideas for keeping your family green.