I know how overwhelming holiday shopping can be. As someone who loves finding the perfect gift, I understand how daunting it is when there are so many people you hold dear that you want to make feel special. I will admit that sometimes it feels like I am buying “just to buy" and get it crossed off my list. Pair that with being someone who cares deeply about being sustainable, ethical, and low to no waste with my shopping - it can take hours of online searching to find companies and products I trust.

So I know firsthand when the holidays come around, the call to spend money on gifts is at a fever pitch. It can be hard to navigate everyone’s wants and needs, while also keeping in line with your own values. 

That’s why I created The Green Gifting Guide. 

With over 60 gift ideas (categorized by age group and interests!), you can easily shop for everyone from toddlers to besties using the guide and give the earth a big hug while doing so. I want to save other earthy-friendly shoppers the time spent searching so you can breeze through your gifting with a clear conscious.

All of the gift ideas shared in this guide can be purchased online, they benefit great companies or artisan makers, are non-toxic, and good for the environment. ​​

If you live in an area that gets blasted with snow and cold temperatures during the winter months, then your chickens are definitely going to need the extra nutritional boost only supplements can give. 

Every winter on our farm in Wisconsin, I give a handful of high quality, natural supplements to my hens. In this post, I am going to share with you why you should consider supplementation during the winter months for your chickens, which supplements I recommend, and the benefits they provide for your flock.

There is nothing more wonderful for a gardener than sharing the love of gardening with another. In this case, we are talking about sharing that love with your chickens! Not only will chickens love to be included in your garden, but they also can take some of the gardening work off your shoulders. In this post, we will go over how you can work with your chicken’s instincts to prep and clean up your garden during the growing season, fertilize your soil, and till your cover crops under when the timing is right.

Have you tried halo-therapy? It was a completely new experience for Becca and I when we visited The Salt Room Lake Country in Waukesha, WI. It’s a holistic and natural treatment that can help with allergies, respiratory conditions, dermatitis, sinus infections, and so much more. In this episode we dive into the details of halo-therapy (salt therapy) and the benefits it has for your health.

Plus, we're going to take a short break from new podcast episodes, so we wanted to have an informal chat about what's in store for both of us. There's lots changing and happening for the Positively Green Podcast team!

As the demand for eco-friendly and sustainable items rises, more and more zero waste and bulk shops are opening to meet that need!

Our guest for this episode of the Positively Green Podcast is Jenna Meier, the owner of The Glass Pantry, a newly-opened zero waste and bulk store located in the Walkers Point neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI. Her goal is to make your sustainability journey a little bit easier by offering pantry staples, household cleaners, and personal care products in a package free way. The Glass Pantry offers organic, locally-made products in bulk; allowing you to stock up on everything you need, without producing all the trash. 

Opening a roadside farmstand is no small feat. When I opened my roadside farmstand I wish there was someone with all the answers to my questions, but like so much of the small farming world there’s a lot of trial and error to be had before you figure things out. That’s why I want to share with you everything I’ve learned along the way as I opened up my roadside farmstand for our farm, Green Willow Homestead.

In this first post in my farmstand series we will cover:

• The basic questions to ask yourself before you open a farmstand
• How to use the honesty system at a farmstand
• The legal things you need to know about opening a farmstand
• How to protect yourself from liability when opening a farmstand
• What security measures you should take when opening a roadside farmstand

If you are curious to learn how to hatch chicks using a broody hen and how to care for mama hen and her chicks through their first few weeks then you are in right the right place.

In my previous post I shared with you everything you need to know on how to care for a broody hen and get her to hatch chicks. I highly recommend starting there first to learn how to support your broody hen for the 21 day incubation period and her hatch.

In this post I am going to cover:

• What to expect the first few days after chicks hatch
• Where you should keep mama hen and her chicks
• What you should feed chicks raised by a broody hen
• How you should provide water to mama hen and her chicks
• Should you let mama hen and chicks free-range
• Where does mama hen and the chicks sleep
• What are the signs of a sick chick and what should I do if I think a chick is sick
• How long does a hen care for her chicks

Do you ever feel like you’re on an island when it comes to caring about sustainability? Do you wish you could get involved with a local group that also shares that passion? You can! Please welcome our next Positively Green Podcast guest Laura Loucks, Volunteer Coordinator with the Waukesha County Green Team, as we learn about green teams and building a community effort around sustainable living.

If you are trying to learn how to hatch chicks with a broody hen, you are in the right place! My first year of owning chickens I started with day-old chicks. Let me tell you it was a lot of work caring for those chicks (I don’t know how people do it who don’t work from home to be honest). Keeping poop out of the waterer, checking on chicks for pasty butt, adjusting the heat lamp, making sure they had enough food - it was constant work.

In this post I am going to teach you:

• How to encourage your hens to go broody
• What chicken breeds are the most prone to go broody
• The best place to let your broody hen hatch her chicks
• How to keep your broody hen on the nest
• The hatching options you have with a broody hen (how to latch day-old chicks and using fertilized eggs) 
• How to build a Brooder Box from one piece of plywood

Don’t get me wrong, I loved having the hands-on experience and I adore my hand-raised hens. The thing is, once I let my very first hen go broody and raise her own clutch of chicks, I realized I am never going to raise chicks myself again. Why? Because broody mama hen was one thousand percent better at it than me!