Off the cuff...

I was going through my stash of felted wool, trying to get inspiration for some Christmas gifts, when I discovered a yummy orange scarf from J.Crew. I found it at Goodwill last year for $0.99 because it had moth holes in it. It was still great for felting though.

For this project, I used the band on the end of the scarf. First I added some "leaves" from a green wool sweater and a sweet wooden button, then sewed it into a cuff. I think it's the perfect little accessory for fall.

To felt a (100%) wool sweater, just throw it in the wash on hot and dry on hot. You may want to repeat this 2 to 3 times to ensure the most shrinkage. CraftStylish has some great, detailed instructions for this.

Toy Society Find...almost

Are you familiar with The Toy Society? I've heard mention of it on various craft blogs over the past two years or so. It was started in Australia where members would place a small, handmade toy in a plastic bag and leave it in a public place with a note that says "I'm yours, take me home!" The person who finds it can then go to the Toy Society blog and post a picture and report the toy as found.

I've always thought this was a nice, random act of kindness. To date, there have been over 1200 toys placed in locations all over the world from Singapore to Scotland to Turks and Caicos.

You can probably imagine my excitement when, for the past few days, I've noticed a little package tied to a sign on our drive to school. This morning I finally pulled over to investigate.

It turned out to be a child's pencil case. Someone must have found it and tied it to the sign for the owner to see. Darn. But it did inspire me to make a toy for the Toy Society and leave it somewhere. I'll have to dig through fabric tonight and see what I can come up with.

Annual Hard-to-Recycle Event

It seems like there should be a better name for this, but today is the Evergreen Rotary's hard-to-recycle recycling event. We packed our trunk full of lonely old electronics, batteries and styrofoam...

...and headed into town. We arrived around 11:00 am and sat in a decent sized line, but I heard some of the rotary members commenting how much busier they had been that morning. We've been promoting the event through the Evergreen Alliance for Sustainability's Facebook page, so I was thrilled to hear they had already had a huge turnout.

And if there was any question about the success of the event, here's a look at the electronics that had been dropped off already at 11:00 am.

There were 8 of these giant boxes already filled and 2 more they were working on. That's in addition to the huge boxes of styrofoam, the document shredding station, the tire drop off, metal drop off, and clothing collection.

Of course when I got home I spotted the printer and old microwave I had forgotten. D'oh. There's always next year I suppose.

If your town doesn't throw an event like this, check Earth911.org to find out where you can unload hard-to-recycle items in your area.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Scones

Mmmmm my first attempt at pumpkin scones was a delicious success...

I put the recipe together from several I found online.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Scones

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar sugar
Heaping teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
1 egg
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract (I used a "vanilla, butter & nut" flavor)
3/4 cup homemade pumpkin puree
Splash of milk (2 - 3 tablespoon?)
1 stick of unsalted butter


Cut butter into cubes, then sit it in the refrigerator while you prepare the rest. Mix wet ingredients in one bowl and dry ingredients in another. After dry ingredients are mixed, work the butter in using your hands. Mix wet and dry ingredients together. Batter will be dry. On a floured surface, form batter into a large circle and cut (like a pizza) into 8 pieces. Place the pieces onto a pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375* for 16 to 18 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

Icing
I used a simple icing for these made from powdered sugar, milk and a little pumpkin pie spice. Mix roughly 1 cup of powdered sugar with about 2 tablespoons of milk. Add a dash of pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon. Drizzle over cooled scones.

Enjoy!

First pumpkin of the season...

I picked my first pumpkin of the season. I think you know what this means. Much pumpkin-y goodness to come. I'm thinking pumpkin scones first. Mmmmm...

National Costume Swap Day

It feels so early to be talking about Halloween (it's still June, right?) but October is rapidly approaching. While many are trying to cut costs and pick up a second hand costume, others just want to avoid making new purchases. Motivation aside, gently used costumes are the way to go for a green Halloween.

At the least, a costume has been worn once on Halloween, at the most it was passed down from brother to brother and worn twice, or maybe worn a third time in the school's Halloween parade. Chances are, your costumes are still in good enough shape to pass them along to another child.

That's where National Costume Swap Day come into play. On Saturday, October 9th, kids all around the country will be swapping last year's costumes for something new and exciting. Just visit the swap website and you can find a swap near you, or list your own event. All you need to do is provide a venue and invite everyone you know.

If you're in Colorado, visit my Yahoo group called Colorado Costume Swap. It's a freecycle-esque type swap group where you can list costumes you have, or browse through what's available. When you find something you like, contact the owner and arrange a pick up. Easy-peasy!

Autumn in Colorado ~ St. Mary's Glacier

Autumn in Colorado means warm days, golden trees, a bright blue sky and lots of hiking. Two weeks ago we drove up Mount Evans and hiked around Echo Lake. Last weekend we headed to St. Mary's Glacier.

It's not quite the "glacier" that it was even 30 years ago when Mr. Greenhab was a boy, but you can tell by the terrain that the entire mountain was once covered in ice.

Most of the hike up is like this, where water has washed the rocks down and any real soil is long gone.

Part way up, you arrive at this lake below the glacier (this is actually a view from above...obviously).

From the base of the lake though you can see what's left of the glacier above. Surprisingly, people actually still attempt to ski and snowboard down it.

And here are Macy and Felix at the base of the glacier. Run-off from this feeds Clear Creek (we live in Cleer Creek County) and supplies our water. Well, we are on well water, so ours may technically come from somewhere a little closer, but this feeds to many in our area.

Citizen Pip discount expires on Weds, Sept 15th

This is our Citizen Pip drawer. Packing lunch for 3 kids each day is not always fun, but Citizen Pip at least makes it easy. They're still offering 10% off orders of $50 or more using code "greenhab10" but the offer ends on 9/15, so order soon.

Pre-Made Breakfasts for School Days

We're three weeks into the school year and I've already been tempted to buy those boxed, frozen waffles for the kids to eat for breakfast. Having ready-to-go food in the morning makes the utter chaos a tad bit more manageable. Instead of succumbing to convenience though, I spent the day cooking and baking breakfast foods that can be frozen and heated up quickly each morning -- healthy foods, with no additives or preservatives, no plastic packaging, made with love.

Zucchini Muffins

• 2 zucchinis - I used regular sized zucchinis from the grocery store - we're not talking state fair size here. I grated them pretty finely in the food processor.
• 1 cup organic sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar 
• 1 cup applesauce - Use unsweetened, or reduce the amount of sugar you're using if you only have sweetened applesauce.
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 3 cups of flour - I use half all purpose and half whole wheat.
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 heaping teaspoon of baking powder 
• 1 heaping teaspoon of baking soda 
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet in another, then combine. Scoop into greased muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees until they're golden brown.

My kids absolutely love these and I feel good about sneaking some zucchini into their breakfast.

Their other favorite is banana pancakes~

I make a triple batch of these and freeze them. They can be popped into the microwave for a minute, or in the toaster for a quick and easy breakfast.

Banana Pancakes

• 2 bananas, mashed
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seed (optional)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix dry ingredients together first, then stir in wet ingredients. Drop by the spoonful onto a warm skillet. Makes about 20 small pancakes per batch.

Pair these muffins or pancakes with some yogurt or fruit for a quick, easy and healthy breakfast for the kids.