Twin Mix II

This work is a collaborative effort between Karen and I. Our inspiration, the Gulf Fritillary Butterfly and the beautifully intricate passion flower.  We have so many of these Fritillary Butterflies in our side yard, the reason we have them, is because we have several passion vines planted. These butterfly lay their eggs on the leaves of the passion vine, they are very small yellow spheres, which eventually produce the caterpillar. These guys have a ferocious appetite and could easily strip all the leaves on the vine. The leaves grow back, and the vine continues to produce its beautiful flower, as the chrysalis transform into the Fritillary butterfly. It is spectacular to come out in the morning and have 30 or more butterflies scurrying about our yard. Plant some passion vines, if they will thrive in your area,  you will be providing much needed habitat for many varieties of Fritillary butterflies. Check out this web site for butterfly conservation www.butterflyrecovery.org

Check out www.lunaazulstudio.com for more of our artwork.

Passion flower and Fritillary in side yard

"The Painted Lady"

I have finally finished my painting “The Painted Lady”.  The focal point of this piece is of coarse, the Painted Lady Butterfly. This is one of the most familiar butterflies in North America, as well as around the world.  If you want to attract these pretty ladies to your yard, plant thistle, hollyhocks, common sunflowers, yarrow and mallows. The butterfly will lay their eggs on these plants and the larvae ie. caterpillars will feast on these when they hatch out.  The painted lady has to lay her eggs on or very near the right food plant for the eggs, otherwise the caterpillars will not survive. These babies have a ferocious appetite and begin eating as soon as they hatch. The sweet nectar plants for the painted beauties are thistles, asters, cosmos, blazing stars, iron-weed, and Joe-pye weed. Try planting a few of the host plants and nectar plants in your butterfly garden. For those plants that are invasive or less attractive, plant in containers, creating a smorgasbord for the painted ladies. Butterflies are threatened more and more everyday by loss of habitat, plant some host and nectar plants for butterfly conservation!

In the beginning

We have a small area in our side yard that we are going to turn into a garden spot. We had a couple of tomato bushes and some onions last year, but the roses around the area did not allow for much sun. So we have moved the roses and made a space around 8 x 8. We would like to grow tomatoes, oni0ns, and put a trellis for zucchini and squash. I also have some strawberry plants I would like to put in the center in a raised bed, still working on that idea. We have put a four foot fence around it with a gate to keep out the dogs, rabbits, etc. This was made out of left over cedar pieces that our contractor friend had. We now have to put in the boards to keep in the soil and then add organic soil. Come spring, we will plant our little garden. I can already visualize the paintings from the produce and the good tasting homegrown veggies on the table.  We’ll see how that works out. I’ll keep you posted.

New fence out of cedar scraps

Have you ever wondered where all of our old computers and out dated electronics go? The shocking answer is usually that they go to a landfill but one company is making treasures out of e-trash and their waste electronic recycling is a wonderful thing!

Piles of E-Waste!

I have noticed a trend of e-waste products starting to hit our local stores in the form of circuit board picture frames etc, but I wanted to find an online store / company that sold them a little cheaper than the big retailers, that’s when I found “Terracycle”. All of Terracycles products are made from recycled items and their waste electronic recycling products are the best…

Waste Electronic Recycling by Terracycle

It’s time once again for another Our Everyday Earth Green Competition and this month we are giving away a wonderful bracelet made from 90% recycled materials. Our Earthshop has our full range of recycled material bracelets and we would like to offer our readers a chance to win one;

Our Green Competition for November

Entering the competition is easy, simply leave a comment against this post telling us why you would like to win the Earthshop recycled green bracelet, leaving a comment against this post earns +1 point (comment must contain a valid email address);

You can earn bonus points in the following ways (Be sure to let us know which bonuses you use in your comment);

• LEAVE A COMMENT TO ENTER: Just leave a comment here and you will be entered to win the Earthshop recycled green bracelet
• VISIT OUR SHOP: Simply visit the Our Everyday Earth Shop and let us know which is your favorite recycled bracelet and why+1 point
• BECOME A FRIEND: Add us as a friend on Myspace or Twitter = +1 point each
  
• SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the Our Everyday Earth Newsletter = +1 point
• PRIZE: The Earthshop recycled green bracelet shown above (Approximate value $29.95)
• GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Monday, November 30th 2009 at 8pm CST
• NUMBER OF WINNERS: One – picked at random using random.org
• PRIZE SHIPS: USA or Canada
• THE USUAL: One entry per e-mail address is permitted. In the event of a tie the winner(s) will be selected using random.org and announced on Monday, November 30th 2009. Good luck!

You can read all of our competition policies here; COMPETITION POLICIES

Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love the cool crisp mornings, although we haven’t had many so far this fall, more will be here soon.  This is a great time to get out the bike and take a ride. It’s also a great time to take walks. Our neighborhood has several walking trails, these provide a great place to walk and ride.  This is also a great time to take the kids or grand-kids out for a walk

Going Green in the Fall

What a great opportunity to explore the change of season and impress upon them the need to be good stewards of the earth.  Walk will provide an opportunity to teach them lessons that will be with them for the rest of their life, its good for all involved and its fun. Here are a few fall eco friendly activities to do with your children, or grandchildren:

1/ Adopt a Tree…

While taking a walk, have your child pick out a favourite tree and ‘adopt’ it. Do bark rubbings with crayons and paper; leaf collection and pressing in the fall; and look for flowers and fruit in the summer. Each year, take pictures of you child standing beside the tree. You can even bring along a measuring tape to track the tree’s growth. Kids can also research the tree on the Internet: where the tree is commonly found, usual life span, height, etc.

2/ Keep a Wildlife Journal…

Have your child make daily notes of all the wildlife living in your neighborhood. They can even take photos, or draw pictures, and write down the times of sighting, habitats and behavioral patterns. It is amazing how many different species are living in your own backyard!

3/ Being Good Stewards….

A good way to teach our children about taking care of our planet, and get some exercise at the same time, is to take bags with you when you go for a walk. While doing so, “clean up” along the way. You can pick up stray bottles, newspapers and discarded food containers. Make it a contest to see who can get the most items. Choose different paths on different days to clean up a wide area. Use the time to talk to your children about recycling and reducing waste.  (Kids can wear rubber gloves or bring a pointed stick if they don’t want to touch any garbage.)

4/ Acorn Necklaces…

Help your child string together acorns or other seeds to create a wonderful necklace.

5/ Buffet Surprise…
Kids can help out their friends the squirrels, tell them they are making a “squirrel buffet surprise” and pile up as many acorns as they can find by a certain tree. Visit each time you walk; add more if they are gone.

6/ Fall Colors…
Encourage kids to find as many different-colored leaves as possible. See if they can make a “rainbow” of leaves by showing the graduation of color from green to yellow to orange to red to brown.
7/Spelling Leafy Names…

Another fun and secretly educational activity to do with the leaves, is to get kids to spell their names using the leaves. Bring a camera along for the leaf adventure, it’s nice to make a circle or heart of leaves and then get the kids to stand inside the shape to take their photo.

Do you have any eco friendly fall activities to share?

Sunflowers in our backyard

We live in a suburban community, but I still really enjoy nature and the beauty that surrounds us. Most of my nature loving is in our flower garden, I love working in it, watching things grow, watching all of our many flowers bloom and observing the comings and goings of the butterflies and bees flitting about, doing their thing.  I am constantly taking pictures to paint. Which is one of my other most favorite things to do.  Painting and gardening are both calming, and invigorating to me.  My paintings reflect my love of nature, I try to capture the beauty created by a undeniably talented God.  Each piece has to have that smile factor. When I look at it, it has to make me smile, glad to be alive to enjoy all the beauty around us.  My garden is also a reflection of my love of nature and our environment. We try very hard to be chemical free and as organic as possible in our garden, its just better for it and produces a more vibrant garden. Our garden also has to have that smile factor, it never fails to make me happy, whether I am working in it or just enjoying the fruits of our labor.  Gardening and painting, two very simple things, all they require is my time and effort.  However for myself, the return on my investment, is to create a greater appreciation for this planet and a persistent desire to preserve its beauty for generations to come.

Painting of sunflowers in our backyard