Marghanita

Our old paddling pool has a proud new owner…Prince our Flat Coat Retriever who just turned 2 last week.

With temperatures reaching 90 our poor dog with his thick black coat is in need of a cool down. The kids are way too old for their little paddling pool which was a pass me down from a dear neighbor almost 4 years ago. Prince is now fully grown so the pool should last him a lifetime.

We recycle the water from the pool – pouring it into the very thirsty veggie patch.

Sams potato patch is thriving – flowers are appearing- he’s very excited!

Our charming Prince even contributes to the compost bin, once brushed, his smelly coat hairs are deposited into the compost bin to scent off bears and raccoons.

Prince even features in my Little Humbugs chapter book

Can’t believe Prince was ever this size… Just like kids they grow up too quick!

Prince at 8 weeks.

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Fresh from the Little Humbugs Forest – The Little Humbugs All Natural Lotions and Potions – A gift from Mother Nature.

Being the protectors of Nature, the Little Humbugs take their job very seriously!  The Little Humbugs have discovered that Humans are using harmful chemicals in their lotions and can’t understand why. They decided it was time to share their gifts from Mother Nature with their human friends.
Butterfly Girls fly far and wide searching for Mother Natures finest plants and flowers, carefully placing them in their pod bags ready for delivery to the Lotions and Potions workshop.
As soon as the fresh ingredients arrive, they are expertly ground, pulped and mixed into a variety of bottles and pots. The girls sprinkle in their secret Humbug ingredients stirring occasionally until the potions are ready for labeling.
Celebrating all that Mother Nature lovingly provides, the Little Humbugs label each bottle ready for their Little HUMAN friends to enjoy!

All Natural Lotions & Potions for Kids
Our latest addition – the Little Humbugs All Natural Lotions and Potions grew from my own concerns of the chemicals found in so many children’s hair and body products.
Like so many mothers I am on a journey….I hope you can join me.

Health Benefits: According to Health studies children are exposed to 125 different chemicals in any one day. Providing safer all natural body care for children will help to reduce that exposure in a child’s life and reducing the associated aquatic toxicity upon disposal or spillage.

All the Little Humbugs Lotions and Potions are made in BC using all natural ingredients.

NO PARABENS, NO PHTHALATES, NO PETROLEUM, NO SULFATES, NO ANIMAL TESTING.
Made in BC, Canada.

LAUNCHING Wednesday 24nd June  Available online from the Little Humbugs SHOP.

From Baby to Mom. Watch this space for SPECIAL OFFERS

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My kids love to take photographs.

Spending time outside watching nature and capturing it on camera is very exciting for children.

With digital cameras they can see their photographs almost instantly.

Let them make a photographic journal this summer of all the bugs, birds, trees and flowers they capture on film.

My eldest son photographed these beautiful Swallowtail Butterflies at the Lake last Sunday.

Never had we seen so many butterflies fluttering majestically next to the lake – quite magical.

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Kati the Canadian Butterfly Girl has been helping to save the Monarchs.

Thanks to Kati hundreds of trees have been planted in Mexico’s Oyamel fir forests

One of the Little Humbugs has been very busy raising the awareness of the importance of butterflies to our Eco system.

Butterflies pollinate wild plants and our crops, ensuring the production of seeds and fruits required for the continued survival of plants and animals on Earth, including us humans. Butterflies help plants to survive because they are one of Nature’s pollinators; they carry pollen from plant to plant. Plants need pollen from other plants to produce seeds and fruits. The seeds and fruits grow into plants. These plants produce pollen and so the cycle continues. Plants are the lungs of the Earth. They are also the first link in the food chain. If plants don’t survive, then creatures further along the food chain certainly won’t!  That
includes us!
Butterflies are highly sensitive and can indicate changes in the environment.

Butterflies are the sign of a healthy environment. They are so sensitive that they are one of the first creatures to suffer if the environment they live in changes. If butterflies are unable to survive in their own environment, we should treat it as a warning sign!
Encourage butterflies to your garden/yard or school by planting a Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) or Milk Weed.
This year, Kati has been following the Monarch Butterflies.

The beautiful monarch butterfly is in danger of losing its winter home in Mexico’s Oyamel fir forests. Kati and her Butterfly Girl friends have partnered up with Global Releaf (American Forests) who are planting trees to offset this deforestation and restore soil and watersheds in the affected areas. For every Kati Butterfly Girl doll sold a tree is planted.

The Kati dolls come in a chrysalis just like a real butterfly. We designed the pod shaped chrysalis to double as the packaging – eliminating the need for wasteful packaging.

Get Outside and Draw a Butterfly Competition – Win a Kati Butterfly Girl Doll
At this time of year you can spot butterflies everywhere. We would like to celebrate the fact that hundreds of trees have been planted thanks to Kati the Canadian Butterfly Girl.

We are asking all children to get outside and draw a butterfly.This competition is for all ages who love nature and love to draw.
Then email your butterfly picture to The Little Humbugs along with your name, age and email address and they’ll post it on their brand new Little Humbugs Gallery. Author and Illustrator – Marghanita Hughes will pick 5 winners.
Winners will receive their very own Kati Butterfly Girl and a special photographic picture of Kati signed by the author of the Little Humbugs – Marghanita Hughes

Winners will be announced on 31st August.

Happy Butterfly Hunting!
To find out more about the Monarch Butterflies check out:

http://www.monarchwatch.org/

http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/on/pelee/natcul/natcul5_e.asp

http://www.monarchbutterfly.org/

Photo courtesy of Monarch Butterfly Org (Kitty Wilde)

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Getting kids involved is vital – they are the future. One great way to get kids actively involved is to let them plant a tree.
Tomorrow after school we are taking our kids to our small local garden center to purchase a tree of their choice to plant in celebration of World Environment Day.

Here’s last years native Maple going in

Trees are working for all of us to improve our environment and quality of life.

Here are some reasons why trees are important to us and our planet:

1. One tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen to help us breathe better every year.
2. Trees help offset greenhouse gases from our cars and homes.
3. Trees keep our water clean and safe.
4. Trees are home, shelter and nourishment for animals.
5. In just one year, 40 trees will remove 80 pounds of air pollutants, reducing air pollution.
6. Trees provide welcomed shade in the summer.
7. Trees can make a home 20 degrees cooler.
8. One young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners
operating 20 hours a day.
9. Trees make us feel happy and improve our quality of life.
10. You can climb a tree and have hours of fun playing on a tree.

Kids are spending less time outdoors than ever before-encourage your kids to get outside and climb a tree.
Next time you are near a tree give it a hug. They are awesome!!!

The theme for WED 2009 is ‘Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change’. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests.

This year’s host is Mexico which reflects the growing role of the Latin American
country in the fight against climate change, including its growing participation in the carbon markets.

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Just finished my poster for the Little Humbugs website to celebrate World Oceans Day on June 8th.
When you read facts like: 70% of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed or are currently threatened you really feel you need to do something to help. I’m using my book characters to get a simple message across to kids – spread the word on June 8th about our damaged Oceans.

Here are some amazing people doing incredibly great work to help save the Oceans:
http://www.philippecousteau.com

http://www.earthecho.org

http://www.theoceanproject.org

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Oceans/OceansDay

Please click below for a FREE World Oceans Day Colouring sheet for kids:

FREE Dragonfly Boy World Ocean Day Sheet
Here are some ways you can help:

1. Become more mindful of plastic consumption and trash production.
2. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
3. Say “no” to plastic grocery bags
4. Think durable not disposable.
5. Buy food that is produced locally
6. Watch what you put down your drain. Use green products.
7. Spread the word – Wear Blue and Tell Two on June 8th.

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Fabulous weather on Sunday. Spent the whole day outside, a bit of gardening – finally transplanted Samuel’s sunflowers (from Chloe’s Organic collection)outside. Will plant some more seeds straight into the ground to see how they fare.

RECYCLE, RECYCLE, RECYCLE!!!!!! Recycling is so much FUN!
The swing we erected almost 5 years ago finally snapped, luckily no one got hurt.

Replacing it was a job for my husband, David. He had his work cut out – you should see the height of our Ponderosa Pines – even I was nervous about David’s climb!
We found the perfect replacement, one of the old tires we had in our garage. What joy comes from recycling!

There is something so rewarding about recycling and gives the kids an understanding of the importance not to waste or throw away something that could be reused. It’s just amazing how many items in your home and garage can be made into something new.

I was just thinking, this will be great material for Flint, the head Dragonfly Boy, my latest book character from the Little Humbugs book series.
The Dragonfly Boys are all about recycling and salvage human trash and recycled it into something useful.

Sunday evening was just as good – my daughter made the dinner – she’s very talented in the kitchen, especially baking – although not so good for my stomach line! Such a treat to have dinner made for you by your off spring. Evening spent watching the sunset with a BC wine we found at the EPIC sustainable living show – White Bear. Delicious and whats really great they donate 15% of sales to the White Bear Conservation, now that’s really cool!
Oh how I love the Okanagan weather and weekends to enjoy it!

I NEED SUGGESTIONS: WHAT TO DO WITH MY LAST TIRE??

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Recycling couldn’t be more rewarding.

My son made this bird feeder using an old plastic water bottle several weeks ago and although our yard has a huge amount of birds flying in and out not one had taken interest until this morning.

What a thrill it was for Sam to see a bird enjoying the fruits of his labor. Unfortunately a lot of plastic bottles never get recycled. This plastic bottle has been saved from the landfill and been put to good use.

We think it’s a Cassin’s Finch. Not a 100% sure though!
It was thanks to Danielle Brigida from NWF and Anne Keisman at Green Hour a program of the National Wildlife Federation. You guys are doing an amazing job at the NWF.

It’s so much fun, we’re off to make the Humming Bird feeder.

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I had the pleasure of meeting Summer at the EPIC show in Vancouver last weekend. What an inspirational young woman. She captivated the audience with her incredible stories of change for sustainability. Her charm and sense of humor brought a strong message to the people of Vancouver. What I admire about Summer is that she doesn’t just talk, she is out there working incredibly hard, speaking out, taking action and making a huge difference in peoples lives. Her story of artist and environmentalist Ann Wizer who set up XSProject Design Challenge – Clean up waste and help fight poverty was both moving and uplifting.

What’s more, Summer is pushing for affordable green with a launch of her Payless Shoe line called Zoe&Zac.

Now that my daughter has turned 14 and already has her heart set on becoming a fashion designer, Summers new book Style, Naturally has been a great insight for us both.
Hope the Teens Turning Green show goes well this weekend. They deserve to know the truth about cosmetics and how harmful some of these products can be to their young growing bodies and who better to enlighten them – than Summer Rayne Oakes.

Wish we could be there.

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Just returned from an exhausting but very exciting sustainable living show – EPIC in beautiful Vancouver. It was wonderful to meet so many interesting, enthusiastic business’s making a difference.

An epic building to match the name of the show. This stunning green building has six acres of rooftop gardens. These have been planted with wildflowers, grass, and hopefully become nesting ground for birds. The gardens recreate a Gulf Island beach habitat.

The rooftop also has four beehives which I know will make my Babybee extremely happy!

Green technology can also be found with their seawater heating and cooling, on-site water treatment and even fish habitat built into the foundation.This family friendly event was designed to entertain and educate – the Little Humbugs were there delivering their special environmental message to kids and parents.

The show was a wonderful opportunity to introduce our new sustainable All Natural Little Humbugs Lotions and Potions made in BC using only Natural ingredients for healthier kids and a happier planet. Launches end of May. Will post launch dates next week.
Some of the great people we met at the show:
Salt Spring Coffee team were just bursting with energy about their amazing stories and delicious coffee, they did a fantastic job of keeping not only us fueled but the entire attendance. Great coffee – great people!

White Bear Wines What a great excuse to drink more wine – 15% of sales are donated to marine and rainforest conservation in the Great Bear Rainforest.
Jason Robinson at Sustainability Television

The show was also a wonderful opportunity to meet our very own enthusiastic customers old and new -  we love you all!!

Thanks for all your support.

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