>The compost bin is snowed in, the garden is covered with a mantle of white, and my rosemary plant didn’t survive the move indoors for the winter. What’s an environmentally conscious mom to do?

The thyme plant is flourishing. We add thyme to almost every soup and stew and casserole. If only I could grow time as well….
The basil plant is alive, but not doing as well. If I can nurture it through the winter it might thrive on the deck in spring.
I still make bread in my breadmaker, incorporating local honey from the farm market.
The rhubarb in the freezer is good with the apples from the music department fruit sale.
Speaking of the fruit sale, the oranges are good in my daily lunches and the grapefruits on weekends. The rinds, though. What to do with the orange peels? In spring/summer, I would compost these.
I have a lot of oranges. Even eating one a day isn’t enough to finish the entire case some years. Should I buy a juicer? Is it worth the money? In my tiny kitchen, would it be worth the space?
The tomatoes – oh, the tomatoes! I still have tomato soup and tomato sauce in the freezer. The last batch picked before the killer frost ripened oh-so-slowly on the kitchen counter. Honestly, we ate “fresh” tomatoes until Christmas.
The reduce, re-use, recycle philosophy lasts year round. Thrift stores are great places to donate and to shop. This is both frugal and green.
Then there’s the BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag, what did you think I meant?!) philosophy. As the trend spreads, some of the reusable bags get cuter and stronger.
Cloth napkins are working well for the family. I wash them with the regular laundry each weekend. We still have the package of paper napkins we bought in November.
Amigo continues to get audio books from Paperbackswap.com. He loves searching the titles and choosing for himself. I love the price tag (free; I just pay postage when I send one out).
Time magazines go to La Petite when we’re done. Working Mother and any others around the house go to the drawer at school destined for cutouts.

Maybe I’m doing alright on this green philosophy. I do enjoy winter, but I’m looking forward to spring, too.