]]> http://www.litegreenliving.com/the-sunflower-house/feed 2 http://www.litegreenliving.com/play-outdoors http://www.litegreenliving.com/play-outdoors#comments Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:08:12 +0000 CarrieRusso http://www.litegreenliving.com/?p=376 Getting outside and experiencing nature is a super fun activity and we can always see something new. The best part is that it doesn’t have to cost much, if anything, so it makes for the perfect family outing.

With little ones it can be difficult to spend time in the great outdoors but with a little bit of planning your outdoor trip with your baby or toddler can be fun and memorable. Here are some tips for hiking camping or other outdoor trips with an infant or toddler:

Choose a place that offers short day hikes.
If you have a toddler and just a short amount of time find a place you can park and walk. Maybe it’s a park you haven’t been to or the river’s edge. Whatever it is, just being outside makes you feel better.
Have plenty of easy snacks on hand. I like to cut up apples into cubes or slices for my toddlers. I also peel a carrot and leave it whole for the babies to hold on to and chew.
Bring a soft structured baby carrier with you for day hikes. We recommend an ergo baby carrier.
For longer hikes you may want to check out a framed child carrier.
Bring an extra set of clothes for baby (you never know when they might need them)
Only bring one toy and/or book. Allow your curious baby to explore nature.
Some state parks offer rustic cabins or yurts. Stay in one of these if you aren’t ready for the tent yet.
Sleep on an aero bed if you opt for the tent.
Bring a washcloth and a towel. Even if you don’t plan on showering, your toddler may get messy and need more cleaning than what a wipe can offer.
Even if you are an extreme backpacker, you may want to ease into the outdoors if it’s been awhile or if you’ve never been with children. Because kids can be unpredictable, it’s good to get a sense of how they handle different environments.

What has made your outdoor adventure trips with children work well for you? Share them with other parents by writing them in the comment area of this post.

We have had one casualty and a couple of injuries though. One of the sunflowers just didn’t make it. He got sort of floppy one day so I watered him some more but he just didn’t make it. This has sort of created a wide open “window” I guess. The morning glory will climb up in that area so I will train it to climb onto the next available sunflower stalk.

Earlier today a neighbor friend came over with her children and one of the toddlers walked right through two sunflower and held them in his hands as he continued to walk! (holds heart in hand) His little foot crushed the morning glory and thankfully the sunflowers bounced right back up. In no time at all the sunflowers will have created the walls that will make it the magical sunflower house we have been waiting for and I know all children will be drawn to the door so they can walk inside…..I’m sure we won’t have to worry about them trying to walk through any walls.

If you would like to build your own sunflower house start here with our instructions for natural outdoor play spaces.

It’s been a couple of weeks since we planted the veggies in our garden and sowed the seeds for the sunflower house. We fertilized everything midweek and with the sunny 80 degree weather everything is growing superbly. We check on the sunflower house every day and it has been a fun project for all of the neighbor girls who are sharing in the fun. At some point during the day our front yard becomes a busy little station of pint size gardeners who have hope for what grows before their eyes. Want to grow your own sunflower house?

We’ve already enjoyed the bounty from our garden and the calendar month is still in May. So far we’ve enjoyed a variety of lettuce and cilantro. A small harvest, but only the beginning. We have decided to continue making the land that we live on even more sustainable. This year we will definitley have to supplement our produce with vegetables from the Farmer’s Market but next year we plan to have more garden space. We will begin prepping the ground this summer for some fall plantings of blueberries and then raspberries. We’ll keep you up-to-date on our easy turn-your-lawn-into-food methods.

Ready? Here’s how to get started.

Building a Sunflower House

First you will need a couple of packages of Mammoth Sunflower Seeds or another variety that grows tall (8-10 feet minimum with large 10 inch flowers)

- 1 pack of Morning Glory seeds

- Other low growing, trailing flowers (optional)

- A shovel

- Some compost or planting mix and potting soil

- Children for planting seeds

- Water

To begin making your sunflower house first you need to clear an area in your lawn. You can make it as large as you like but 2 packs of sunflower seeds will cover a 6-7 foot diameter circle while having 2 seeds for every 12-16 inches to allow for thinning. Don’t clear the inside of the circle, just the perimeter.

Once you have dug up the grass, loosen the soil and then pour your compost and potting soil on top of the cleared area so you can give the seeds a good start (we had to do this because our ground is so packed with clay and rocks). Now get the kids to plant the seeds alternating sunflower seeds with morning glory’s. Once our team of kids were done with our seed pattern we also gave them Nasturtium seeds to place where ever they liked. These flowers mound at the base of the house and are edible.

Keep the seeds moist. The Morning Glory vines will grow up the sunflowers. Once the sunflowers have reached a 6 ft. height tie strings between them to create a ‘roof’ support for the vines to climb on. This little playhouse will give your children many days of imaginative fun for around $15 and it provides for a very fun project.

If you want you can add a bale of straw to the inside of the house to make a table or seat. Now that we’ve built this one, maybe next year we will go for a 2-room sunflower house.

See week 2 of the Sunflower House

Feeding a baby is really simple. I think the best thing to do is give them as little food as possible until they are about 8-12 months old. I see so many parents feed babies food they shouldn’t be eating, digestion is a hard thing when a little tummy is used to only one or two different things like breastmilk and rice cereal. I always go to Wholesome Baby Food for answers to my questions about what my baby can eat. Check it out, it’s my favorite baby food related site.

If you want to avoid getting common colds don’t use anti-bacterial hand soaps. Anti-bacterial hand soaps only cause bacteria and viruses to mutate into stronger strains which then creates another cold because the immune system has to learn to defend against this new strain. Anti-bacterial soaps also make it more difficult for the medical community to keep up with creating antibiotics that will kill bacteria.

In the end, we can end up using antibiotics that really aren’t working and doing our bodies a disservice.

Zoobooks – The #1 Kids Magazine about Animals!

Our family went to Sequoia National Park for a day trip trip and it was wonderful. We saw a brown bear in a meadow in its natural state (how exciting….and scary!) we were so surprised to see the bear. My daughter loved to stop at the small cricks and water holes around the meadows. We saw fish and young ferns sprouting from the ground. There were huge fallen trees and little birds and chipmunks. We packed a lunch and had a picnic in the wild. What made it possible…we were organized the night before with a packed lunch so we could leave early in the morning. We were willing to be in the car for a few hours with a baby and a toddler. We have a backpack to carry the toddler in and a sling for the baby.

We really wanted to enjoy the day with our kids so we knew the best thing was to be outside. Except for the time the baby was crying while we were on a windy road with no shoulder, forever (really, it was probably 20 minutes)….the trip was great and definitely worth the drive.

Although breastfeeding doesn’t require a special place and mothers everywhere should never have to feel as though breastfeeding in public is inappropriate, it is nice to have a quiet place to sit down and that place shouldn’t be signified with a bottle or rattle like the rooms at Sea World and other places. The media already puts enough emphasis on bottle-feeding….But you can help!

Join Mothering
You can join Mothering in the effort to advocate for comfortable, dignified breastfeeding in public by informing your local stores and people you know about this symbol. It is public domain and can be used by anyone. Read the article at Mothering.com and get downloadable images of the Breastfeeding icon. Stickers are available too… Get some to give to stores in your area and keep one for yourself.

The new breastfeeding symbol was sent to Mothering Magazine by Matt Daigle, stay at home dad (one of his important titles) during the In Search of an Icon: Breastfeeding Symbol Contest and was chosen out of over 500 entries.

According to iMcKesson Clinical Reference Products, 10% of children who have colds will develop an ear infection and only 1% will develop an ear infection. Taking antibiotics when unnecassary can cause the bacteria to become a more resistant strain and there are also side effects to taking antibiotics, although minor.

Bacterial Resistance

When bacteria is more resistant, it is harder to treat the problem in the future. By limiting the use of antibiotics we can help keep the cost of healthcare down because the bacteria won’t outgrow the antibiotic.

Side Effects

If your child is still in diapers, antibiotics can cause a horrible rash, even on older children and adults. If your baby is in diapers and you are using antibiotics, use a good barrier cream on their bottom for the duration of treatment. Other side effects are diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.

Antibiotics Kill Your Healthy Flora

Antibiotics also kill the good bacteria in your gut (intestinal tract.) A healthy gut is important to a healthy body. If you or your child has to take antibiotics you should use probiotics during and after the use of antibiotics.