Organic foods require a lot of work and dedication from the farmers and inviduals involved in growing or producing the organic products that many people count on to keep them healthy. The prices for organic goods are usually slightly higher than prices for foods and produce that come from conventional farming because, quite simply, it costs more for farmers to grow and produce healthy and organically.

NPR news followed the story of one Dairy Farming family who switched from converntional farming to organic farming practices with their herd of cows.

But after a couple of years with an empty barn, they decided to try again. This time, they would go organic. Kristen says she’s always felt organic farming is healthier for the cows and the environment. It means the cows must be given feed grown without pesticides, and they can’t be given antibiotics or growth hormones. And, for at least three months a year, the cows have to be out on pasture.

“We know that there is a growing movement of consumers out there that are truly concerned about where their food is coming from, and what is — and is not — in it,” says Kristen.

In the past, pesticides and fertilizers were created in order to help produce more foods at a faster pace, even though much of the food chain was then covered in toxic chemicals.  To go organic means to forgo any of those chemicals.  Foods purchased for the cows must be grown naturally, which takes time and patience.  There are other differences in organic farming that don’t involve chemicals.

The names are cute, but knowing the cows individually serves an important purpose. Because organic farmers can’t give their animals antibiotics, catching any potential sickness early is the best health care.

“Prevention is a huge part of what we do,” says Kristen. Her family does things like check the hooves of each cow nearly every day to see if they’re getting an infection.

“The hardest part was learning how to treat the cows organically,” she says. “The milking isn’t different, but labor-wise the cows need more attention. If we have a cow that isn’t feeling well, we don’t come in the house until they’re taken care of.”

Living green means supporting organic farming practices and all of the wonderful healthy benefits that come from it.

Living Green doesn’t mean you have to actually wear green, but the idea behind the thought is still the same.  The clothes that you choose go a long way towards helping define your efforts to environmental responsibility.  If you cannot find a Green Clothes retailer in your area, you can try to choose clothes made from natural fibers and produced as locally as possible. 

Green Clothing Choices

When shopping for clothes, pick out ones you can run through a cold water wash cycle.  During warmer months, air-dry your clothes on clotheslines instead of relying on the dryer.  As for the clothes you already have, consider replacing or repurposing the ones that require warm washes first, rather than the cold-wash friendly ones. Also, try to avoid or at least limit, the number of outfits that need dry cleaning.

Why such a focus on cleaning?  Because it takes a lot of resources to wash the clothes you wear.  Apart from the water itself, there’s the energy needed to power the washing machine and dryer, even more if you’re using a hot-water wash that will take up still more electricity.   These are resources generated in most cases by fossil fuels, and easing our dependence on these is an important part of living sustainably.

Beyond the physical wash, there are choices to make about the cleaning products you use. Green Laundry Detergent is the perfect choice. Finding a proven, effective green cleaning product line for your home is easy if you choose a superior brand with a proven product, and then stick with that brand for all of your household cleaning needs. For instnace, the Legacy of Clean green household cleaning products allow you to purchase a cleaning bundle. The LEGACY OF CLEAN Intro Bundle is filled with planet-positive laundry and cleaning products for every mess, every surface and every room in your home.  You won’t have to worry about finding the right green product for each mess when you have this bundle at your fingertips.

Green your wardrobe and how you use it as a part of your Green Living promises!

Every family and every budget can make changes this year to find a new dedication to health and fitness as well as an overall commitment to a greener lifestyle.  Changing simple elemental factors in your life can set the stage for more complex changes that can be made later on.

Promise yourself that you can make 2010 a more balanced year for you and your family without making financial sacrifices that simply can’t be afforded right now.  In 2010, finding a new healthier you has gone back to basics.  A healthier life without hurting your wallet is what the New Year is all about.

Keep your family safe!

Yearly smoke and CO2 alarm checks occasionally reveal that an alarm or detector is no longer working.  If that is the case, don’t take the chance of doing without!  Contact your local Fire department.  They will often offer smoke at a free or discounted price.

Find a new sport and some new friendships, too!

If there is a sport you’ve always wanted to try, get out there and do it!  Cross country skiing, snowshoeing and even paintball are all very popular winter sports.  You may even find an entirely new set of friendships when you join up and increase your satisfaction with life and fitness.

Move, Move, Move

Don’t forget that one of the main causes of unhealthier weight gain is the simple factor of lack of movement.  Moving, always, is the key to living.  Go outside and explore the world around you.  When you finally do take a moment to sit, let your mind keep active by exploring the stillness around you.  Keep moving, keep living.

If you have been trying to decide how you can make a difference in the upcoming year, consider Greening your Business.  Green living is more than a personal lifestyle choice; it can also be smart business sense.   In the past decade, Greener living has become more than the goal of the common citizen.  It is has instead become a worldwide focus with government backing and educational opportunities galore. If you are a business owner, consider shifting some of your business practices to better align with your personal choices for a better environment and future.

As more individuals are finding new balance in their lives by embracing an environmentally friendly way of living, more companies are following suit.  In concert, these changes have spurred a growth in environmental products and technology. In the past,  just a few companies  realized growth in the environmental industry, but now  new life is being found as individuals and companies find new balance by being balanced with the earth.

Greener Incentives for businesses are also serving as a source for greater grown in the green movement. Governments are offering numerous incentives for green companies to develop and sell products and services that are environmentally friendly.

Even if you and your business haven’t always been environmentally focused, it is never too late to change.   In fact, many older, existing business are actually an evolution from older processes and systems that had a negative environmentally impact until someone made a change.  As you could change, so can your business practices.

You can balance your individual passions and your commercial interests by going green in 2010.

A healthy and Green Holiday is one of the many things that people around the world are striving to achieve this season.  One of the most discussed aspects of a green holiday is what, exactly, to do with the Green?  And by green, we mean the tree.

There are some great options for recycling you Christmas tree this season.

• Mulching Programs through your town are a very popular way to recycle a Christmas tree.
• Tree Recycling programs, also often called Mulching programs, are a fast-growing trend in communities throughout the nation because they serve both the consumer and the towns. The public works department picks up your tree and then they chip and shred the trees and make the mulch available for use in town gardens. 
• For coastal areas, recycling programs often include a form of Soil Erosion Barrier program.  Christmas trees can be used to make effective sand and soil erosion barriers, especially at lake and river shoreline areas.  Recycled Christmas trees provide stabilization for the soil in erosion-prone areas, as well as base for river delta sedimentation management.
• Underwater Habitats use recycled Christmas trees to provide shelter for fish ponds.  Sunk into fish ponds, trees make excellent refuge and a safe feeding area for fish.
• Recycled trees make excellent Bird Feeders!  If you place your Christmas tree in the garden or backyard you can provide a sanctuary for birds as well as a platform for feeding.  Seeds, peanut butter and fruit can all be attached or stuck to limbs to provide food for wildlife while the branches provide shelter.

Remember to always ensure that your tree has no artificial elements left on it, such as lights, tinsel or ornaments.  Also, remember that you cannot burn your tree in a fireplace or wood stove because pines, firs and other evergreens have a high content of flammable turpentine oils in them.

For millions across the world, having a White Christmas is more about having a Green Christmas this year.  Living and giving this holiday season includes being grateful for every living thing and what we contribute to and take away from our planet.

Tips for a Green Holiday Season:

• You can choose to change your own traditions to a greener alternative.  The first way to go green for the holidays is to avoid the Christmas Card waste.  Over 2 billion holiday cards are sold in the U.S. each season.  Enough to fill a landfill the size of a football field up to 10 stories high. You can do your part to keep waste out of the cycle by sending out e-cards. 
• If e-cards aren’t right for you and your family at this time, you can choose to use recycled paper or natural organic materials for your holiday cards, which are available from numerous sources.   
• You can also help recycle other’s cards by using them as gift tags.  Simply cut off the front of the card and punch a hole through it to tie natural ribbon through.
• Online photo albums are another great alternative to sending out holiday cards.  Many family members appreciate the thoughtfulness behind a family album, especially accompanied by a note.

Go green this holiday season should always include keeping in touch with the people who matter to you and your family.  How you keep in touch with them, and the value of the resources that you use, are entirely up to you.

Green living is serious business as well as a social responsibility.  Many people are looking for new ways to improve their lives and make their efforts more environmentally friendly. Traditionally, however, moving has not been a very good time for green initiatives.  The waste of paper, boxes and generally junk has always been a sore subject for green living. That is changing and the world is getting greener because of those changes.

Tips for Green Living while moving:

• Donate unwanted but still usable items
• Use moving products made from recycled materials
• Hold a garage sale and donate the profits to a local land trust

There are many different ways to make your move green. The first and easiest way to go green is to avoid the expense and waste of packing and shipping items that are of no use to you. Donation and recycling are keys to any green initiative and moving is the perfect time to do both.

Reduce the amount of paper and cardboard used for your move by using recycled boxes. Professional grade recycled moving boxes have been properly repackaged and ensure a safe and environmentally conscious move.

Do not add to landfills. Instead, use the donation policy. One of the fastest and easiest Green Moving tips is to negate your impact on landfills. Instead of adding more things to our crowded dumps, find out where you can donate your still-usable items. Not only will you be recycling usable objects, you will also be helping someone else out. All the while, you’ll be decreasing the amount of items you need to pack and transport with your move.

The holidays are a time of stress for just about everyone.  Financial stress, emotional stress and generally being overworked and under appreciated are all aspects of the psyche during the holiday time period, and the reasons are pretty obvious.

Every moment during the holidays seems specially crafted to make a person feel that they should give more, have more and mean more and be more than any one person can really expect.  The pressure to give and give big has always been there, but in recent years there is also the pressure to have your gift mean something.  That is not always easy.

Giving Naturally this Holiday Season

One of the many ways in which many people are choosing to give this year is by giving something very personal.  Across the country, people are giving home cooked goods, sometimes baked goods, sometimes entire meals, as their gift to others during the holidays.

If you are trying to keep your holiday budget low key but make your gifts something spectacular, then try looking for your ingredients close to home.

Tap into your local farming community.

Join a local producers’ newsgroup, and shop around for deals.  If your local supermarket is selling organic zucchini at fifty cents a pound, but a friend at the farmer’s market is supplying it for thirty, you know where to go.  Network with people and keep in touch.  A few minutes spent on the news board each day can save you hundreds in the long run.

Look close to home with a natural gift in order to make a difference this holiday season and know that your gift reaches beyond the recipient.

The act of recycling is one of the most natural gifts that we can give our planet.  The earth itself survives because nothing is wasted.  The circle of life so vital in the natural world, however, has been circumvented by some of the very unnatural scientific breakthroughs humans have made.  The act of taking something natural and creating something from it that cannot biodegrade actually rips that very thing out of the circle of life, out of symmetry of the earth, and into a literal and figurative landfill.

The modern story of recycling as an environmental movement truly begins in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  For the first time, with conservation efforts and the consequences of worldwide pollution really being made public (facilitated by the explosion of television’s ability to reach a worldwide audience), people were becoming aware of the ability of major recycling campaigns to positively affect their lives.  Spurred by events like the infamous Mobro 4000 barge, which sailed up and down the eastern coast of the Americas for nearly a year hauling a full load of garbage, people were moved to take widespread, systematic action.

The wasteful consumption that many of us grew up with was not intentional but mainly cultural and borne out of ignorance of the world around us.  With education and knowledge come responsibility, and it is that responsibility that has driven the recycling technologies of today.

Some facts about recycling:

• The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that recycling tin and aluminum cans only requires five percent of the energy needed to make all new cans out of raw materials.
• Paper recycling reduces the energy cost of paper manufacture by forty percent compared to all new paper production.
• Reduced energy consumption means less pollution from the power plant, and less need to harvest the fossil fuels that are still the world’s predominant energy supply.

Find your balance with the earth and recycle.

Cold winter months usually mean high heating costs for northern homes, which keeps the concerns over heating responsibly foremost on everyone’s minds this time of year. Keeping your home warm and still living green is one of the newer trends in home heating and there are many different options.

The first method is to add caulking layers to the gaps between windows, doors, and frames. Caulk will reduce the airflow through the edges, retaining a significant amount of heat for very little effort. For the family on a strict budget, this is one of the cheapest and easiest solutions. Caulk can of course be messy and takes a bit of practice to use properly. If you are considering this solution, it’s best to consult someone who knows construction, or the friendly personnel at the local home improvement store.

While many newer homes are tightly insulated, older homes let in a lot more air, and that means a lot more is able to get out, too. Air conditioners and heat were jealously guarded by generations of frugal families.

Many homes, particularly older homes, are not insulated very effectively and require more energy to keep heated than a properly insulated house. Windows and doors are the first culprit any homeowner or tenant should consider for evaluation as heat frequently escapes from the gaps around these fixtures. A simple test to see which portals are the worst offenders is to burn incense and leave it near each window for five minutes, checking which windows draw the most smoke out from the room. These are draft areas, and can be secured against heat leakage rather easily.

Please remember that the more tightly you insulate your home and seal it, the more you are closing off your access to outside air. Always keep working Carbon Monoxide detectors on each floor of your home to protect you from the potentially deadly buildup of this gas.

Living Green and heating smart are important issues for the winter season.