I‘ve got lots of fun things to share with you today!
First of all, I’m excited to announce that next week, April 19-25, is “Make Week” here at Simple Organic. To coincide with National TV Turn-Off Week, as well as Earth Day celebrations on April 22, Simple Organic will be hosting a week of giveaways, some guest posts, and lots of ideas for alternate activities to TV – getting outside, getting creative, and getting involved with your communities, families, and friends. In other words, we’re going to turn off the TV and make life happen.
I know that TV Turn-Off week can be daunting to many people, so I wanted to give you all plenty of warning so that you can psyche yourself (and your family) up for participation. Talk to your friends and neighbors about it; make a commitment to do it together. There’s strength in numbers. I hope you’ll make plans to join me!
We had some great discussions this week, especially in the comments on Katie Kimball’s post on Natural Family Planning. Thanks to all of you for being so respectful and sharing your stories. This community is wonderful, and I am so grateful to each of you for being part of it.
I thought I might also give you a peek at two of our household activities last week: dyeing eggs and planting our garden.
Here is a picture of our dyes, swirling away:
And the finished eggs:
The red eggs turned out beautifully, thanks to grated beets. The green dye didn’t work; I think my freezer-burned spinach may have had something to do with it! But we had to laugh at the yellow-ish brown eggs – the onion skins worked so well, the eggs ended up looking exactly like naturally brown eggs! Oh, well. Our daughter thought it was magical, nonetheless. Next year we’ll add blue, too.
And here is part of our backyard garden, where we’re growing 4 varieties of tomatoes, 3 of peppers, 2 of cucumbers, plus zucchini, eggplant, chard, and cantaloupe. Oh, and some herbs and marigolds. We use soaker hoses on a timer to do our watering for us. We’ll mulch soon, once the plants are a little more established.
So, there is a little peek into our attempts to live this simple organic life. I hope you’ve had a great weekend so far and are starting to enjoy a beautiful springtime, wherever you may be. Here are a few links for your Sunday reading pleasure…enjoy!
• From House on Hill Road: Gardener’s Hand Scrub
• From Simple Bites: Spring Clean Your Body With Real Foods
• From Fake Plastic Fish: Buying Less Plastic = Spending Less Money
• From Treehugger: GE Unveils New LED Bulb
• From This Vintage Chica: Spring Nature Table
• From Passionate Homemaking: Stainless Steel Scrubber: A New Favorite Tool
About Katie
I didn’t know that there was a National TV turn-off week. Is that why Nick Jr. has premieres?
I am eager to participate. It is amazing to me who time seems to slow a bit and connections become a bit sweeter (although sometimes through a lot of whining) when the TV is turned off. For us next week, I think it will be a bit of spring cleaning, lots of playground time, cooking “foodie style” in the kitchen and creating kid-art, yummy baked-goods, and photo-book care packages for far-away relatives.
I love your garden starts! good luck!
We’ve been gradually watching less TV lately, so I think I might manage it. But I don’t know if I could cut off the video games, too.
Your garden looks familiar. My husband has his soaker hoses/timer hooked up to his rain barrels. Do you collect rain water? We got some nice rebates from the water company when we put our in place.
.-= nopinkhere’s last blog: Spring Cleaning, Sort of =-.
We do collect rainwater! But we use it to water everything in pots (the herbs and a a couple veggies). Our rain barrels aren’t elevated, so there’s not enough pressure to use it for our soaker hoses. That’s a “someday” goal for us, though!
I enjoyed the peek into your gardening and egg dying adventures. Also, I’ll admit that I haven’t participated in the no TV week since grade school. I think it will be pretty easy for me to do it though since I only watch 2 TV shows each week (if they’re new). I’m enjoying the links too. Thanks!
WOO HOO, Katie! I am SO STOKED about Make Week. Awesome! You know I tried to do Turn Off Week last year and pretty much bombed. We are in a different place altogether this year. I really want to give it our best. YAY! I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us.
.-= Megan@SortaCrunchy’s last blog: Spring Cleaning My Bookmarks, Part Two =-.
The No-TV week would be absolutely no problem for me except … and this is a big except … LOST. Could I really sit out an episode at this stage in the game?
But I have no reservations about Make Week. Sounds like fun!
.-= Hannah’s last blog: An Island; A Book =-.
No worries! You can catch up on Lost at ABC.com they have all the episodes online you won’t miss anything.
I think we are going to try this. We’ve been outside everyday during the day this will be fun.
.-= Rana’s last blog: Outdoor Hour Challenge – At the Beach! =-.
I’m really looking forward to your “Make Week” ideas. I need to discuss No-TV Week with my hubby. I’d love to try it. I think we watch way too much TV in our home. Yet, hubby things I’m on the computer way too much. So, I’m sure a compromise will have to occur.
Ooo… we’re in! No t.v. nest week and we’ll peruse some projects to do for fun. Thanks for the inspiration!
.-= minneosta:madre | Sarah Jane’s last blog: swimmers! =-.
We don’t get any T.V. programming on our non-digitized television, so, in a sense, every week is no T.V. week for us. However, we could step into the spirit of the occasion by fasting from DVDs, which are mostly aimed at the kiddos. One day without turning on the DVD player is already a challenge. Can we do at least 5? I’ll have to consult my outdoor idea list!
Hi ladies! So glad to see so many of you excited about Make Week! Remember, we will have some ideas for alternatives to TV here on Simple Organic, so stay tuned!
I find it so funny that your green didn’t work!! Mine did not either! The culprit, freezer burned spinach!! I just had to laugh when I saw that! Next year I will definitely try fresh!!
From the the Kaiser Family Foundation:
…the amount of time young people spend with entertainment media has risen dramatically, especially among minority youth. Today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). And because they spend so much of that time ‘media multitasking’ (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7½ hours.
How the freak can one pack 10.45 into 7.5? By texting, with the TV on, with one iPod earbud in in front of your laptop? If EMF doesn’t get you, the next blackout will. How will you survive?
Six days until we go Amish at my house. We’re going to kill the TV, at the very least, for the week. Unplugged. This will hibernate the TV’s symbiote, the Wii as well. I believe we’ll power down the computer too. And the stereo. Why not? We have a piano, a flute and a guitar. We can make our own music. We can pull out the handpuppets and create a Punch n’ Judy show.
I’m sure some other stuff will come up, once the initial shock wears off and some silence settles in.
I am so happy that there’s a turn off the t.v. week. Thanks for letting us know about it! I was amazed to read that the average adult watches 5 hours of t.v. a day. I was absorbed in t.v. at one point too. It’s almost like the t.v. characters become your friends instead of real life friends!
I haven’t watched t.v. for three years now and don’t miss it at all. My husband and I usually go for a walk in the evenings as one alternative. Meditation is another alternative for me.
.-= Sandra Lee’s last blog: Acupuncture for chronic pain and chemical sensitivity =-.
If you’re looking for reasons you might want to consider ditching your TV (at least for a week), I reviewed Barbara Brock’s Living Outside the Box before TV Turnoff Week last year:
http://newurbanhabitat.com/2009/04/27/powering-down-living-and-loving-the-screen-free-life/
She says the average child spends 1500 hours a year watching TV, as compared to 900 hours in school, and sees:
* 8,000 murders by the end of elementary school.
* 200,000 acts of violence by the age of 18.
* 20,000 thirty-second commercials a year.
I took a break from all the screens last year and it was wonderfully relaxing. (I wrote about it here: http://newurbanhabitat.com/2009/04/17/is-turning-off-the-tv-the-secret-to-happiness/) I’m not sure if I can get away with an entire week of being disconnected right now. But if you can, I found it incredibly recharging (except we’ll all need to take some quick peaks at all these enticing guest posts and giveaways on Simple Organic, of course. (= )
.-= Abby @ New Urban Habitat’s last blog: In Search of Purple =-.
Oops, I reversed those two links. The top one is my review of Barbara Brock’s book. The bottom one is about my week without the screens.
.-= Abby @ New Urban Habitat’s last blog: In Search of Purple =-.
I am super excited about “Make Week”. I wrote about it on my blog today
I can’t wait to read about your ideas. Z and I were brainstorming our plans for the week yesterday! Here is my post:
http://raisingz.blogspot.com/2010/04/turn-off-your-tv-week.html
=-.
.-= RaisingZ’s last blog: Turn Off Your TV Week
Thank you for the kick in the pants. I have a feeling that I am going to get a lot more accomplished this week! But, I will need to stay away from the computer, too…
I’m signing up for the no TV week! I’m going to blog about it…that will keep me motivated!
We did natural dyed eggs this year, too, and had some good success, I think. Here’s the post I did on it, if you want ideas for next year: http://edenwild.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/natural-dyed-eggs/
I’ve tried spinach twice for green, and it hasn’t worked for us, either.
.-= Lisa C’s last blog: The Outdoor Challenge Continues =-.
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