Alex Mordas - Green Building Consultant

Finding good, affordable childcare for your children is often a HUGE challenge... Here in Tallahassee, most of us parents are well aware that our options are fairly limited. The majority of places that you would want to send your child to, are either really expensive, have unbelievably long waiting lists (for example, my 3 month old son is approximately number 140 on a waiting list, as of today. In August, 2007, when my wife was 6 months pregnant with Liam, he entered this list at number 190.. We don't expect he will make it until he is about 3 or 4 years old!!!), or both.

Alternative choices do exist: Small daycare centers, home-care situations, part-time babysitters, and a few groups of parents who trade-off looking after each other's children are available. However, If you are like me, you will probably be pretty skeptical of the quality of some of these options until you really know the individual caregivers and have spent time observing them with your kids... not an easy task for the busy working parents.

One of the best local resources for parents in Tallahassee, that I have found, is the Tally Moms Website... (not just for moms!). Check them out and network with other parents for your options in finding quality childcare. I hope this helps you find the childcare or resources you are looking for... If you know of any GREAT childcare resources in the area, please comment below.

Click on the banner to go to Tally Moms site.

Looking for someone to paddle with, or suggestions for great places to paddle? Look no further, Tallahassee's local paddler association is a web forum that provides links, advice, and information for all things related to paddling in the Tallahassee and Big Bend area.

Each year millions of pounds of atmospheric pollutants are spewed into our air, saturating our crops, being soaked up into our lungs, and slowly (or not so slowly as the case may be these days) warming up our atmosphere.

Surprisingly, a large proportion (some estimates are around 15%) of this pollution may be directly linked to your green yard! What looks like a healthy, clean, outdoor recreational area, is in fact a guilty culprit in the theft of our children's futures.

The use of gas powered lawnmowers, leaf blowers, edgers, trimmers and weed-whackers, has increased dramatically in the last few years. These days, many folks are just too busy to maintain their own yard, and yet, still want that manicured green dream. To accommodate them, lawncare services have sprung up everywhere. These services are usually quite affordable, and yet highly profitable. Most folks do not even consider the environmental impact of this type of lawncare.

Luckily (for my kids and yours), a truly innovative company is picking up the eco-slack here, and stepping in where they are most needed. Clean Air LawnCare, founded in 2006 by Kelly Giard, is in the early stages of becoming a nationwide lawncare franchise. Using a combination of biodiesel, windpower, and carbon trading, this company works with the goal of remaining 100% carbon neutral.

Here in Tallahassee, we don't yet have any carbon neutral lawn-care, but we do have a natural lawn and yard maintenance company. For more info call Natural Matters (850) 671-7270

Saturday, April 26th from 8am - 3pm, Leon County will, once again, be selling compost bins!

For more information, go here.

For those of you already composting, or thinking about beginning this year, here's a simple recipe for success:

Please note: the following recipe is blatantly stolen from the Talgov.com website. Follow this link for more information right from the source.