Praying Mantis Eating Fly On A Peach

These pictures need no description other then I found this praying mantis on my porch, sitting on half an old peach right as he caught this unsuspecting fly. This amazed me, thus here are a few of my favorite pics (from the 40 gazillion I actually took).

6 Most Popular Oko Box Blog Posts

Here is a re-visit to the top 6 most popular posts here at The Oko Box Blog, these articles kept you coming back for more and more and more.

1. Eco Bridal: Organic Wedding Dress - It's exciting to see that thousands of couples are planning a green wedding!

2. Scam Taking Advantage of Green Businesses - Many nerves were touched here, check out all 77 comments.

3. Plus Size Organic Clothing! - Here is something there is not enough of, but I found a few companies who make sizes up to 4X.

4. Peak Oil: My Issue With The Oil Drum - A fabulous discussion that stirs up many opinions on our future.

5. DIY: Making Natural Non Toxic Dye - this tutorial was featured here and on Crafting A Green World... please share your natural crafting stories.

6. Enamore Organic Lingerie Coming To The Oko Box - Who doesn't love Enamore? And finally she will be at our fingertips!

Design Your Organic Wedding Dress

If you are planning your green wedding and have not yet decided on a dress - you must scoot over to Olivia Luca. I just spent a while playing with their bridal design studio feature which is something like playing with very sophisticated paper dolls. You get to choose your skin tone, the dress bodice and skirt from a wide range of styles. The retro figure gets all dressed up as you make your choices and voila!!! you have created your dreamy eco wedding gown. Once you get to that part you can choose your fabric, where there are eco friendly choices like organic cotton sateen and fair trade silk- and an estimate of the $cost$ is then calculated for you. SAVE it, and make another one- keep all your organic wedding dress designs in your Olivia Luca account and share them with friends and family!

Get A Bike! Ride the Sidewalk?

Recently I sold my Ford Ranger Truck and got a used bike instead. It was the best decision I have ever made... but at first I was a little worried. Not that I would not have a car for transport but that biking in the mountains of Asheville NC would be really difficult, and I would be a spazz on my bike. Which led to my next concern: the fact that bikers are supposed to ride on the road with speeding cars instead of the sidewalk and that the spazzy drivers might hit me. It seems a little unsafe to treat bikes just like vehicles and require them to hug the sides of busy highways next to a virtually empty (safe) sidewalk. So when a guy in the Co-op grocery told me to ride the sidewalks unless I was right in downtown, you best believe I am doing it (see picture)! This gave me a chance to learn how to ride my bike- how to use the gears, brakes, etc without spilling out onto the street in front a behemoth car going 50 mph. Riding a bike is so easy, anyone living in flat cities should fear not & be on a bike- it brings fun back into traveling. And these here hills aren't so bad to get up and down if you learn how to properly use those 10 speeds sitting on the handle bar. CAUTION: riding in thrift store heals is really hard and may lead to ridiculous laughing spells.

Eco Wallpaper

I have always had a love hate relationship with wallpaper - the fear of it going out of style, the toxic glues to get it to stick to your wall for gawd knows how long, and the wasteful nature of all that paper. Wallpaper though is taking a turn for the eco, and with modern & textured flare. The museum worthy textured wallpaper tiles pictured here are made from 100% recycled paper...woo! And since my wallpaper phobia began, there have been long strides in inventing less toxic

glues. Depending on how you place these wallpaper tiles you can create your own work of art by altering the pattern. This I find much more intriguing then the usual 2-D traditional floral wallpaper patterns that look about as good as boogers wiped on the wall (no offense mom). What is totally fabulous too is you can paint your textured wall creation when your done - make sure though you use No VOC paints or make your own milk paint!

DIY: Making Pickles

This year with the severe drought, my cucumber plants haven't made a single cucumber. But I decided to go ahead and make pickles with some juicy organic cukes from the store. Making pickles is really easy and worth the time, no need to be suzy homemaker to pump out yummy pickles. Once you practice with cucumbers you'll be ready to pickle your other veggies too! Pickled carrots, broccoli and cauliflower taste awesome in pasta salads and stir fried with some tofu.
This pickling recipe is adapted from Aveline Kushi's Macrobiotic Cooking book, which is my fav recipe book of all time:::: *1/4-1/2 cup of sea salt ( I used an ume plum, Himalayan salt, and kombu) *
* 2 sprigs of fresh or dried dill *
* 1 onion (quartered) (I used a red onion)*
* 3 lbs. cucumbers*
* 10 cups spring water*:::: Boil the salt in the water for a few minutes, to dissolve the salt. Once the salt water cools off, you can pour it over your cucumber, onion, and dill in your glass jar. It is recommended to place this jar in a cool dark place for 3-4 days with a cheesecloth on top - but I put the jar's screw top back on, and stuck it in the fridge for a few days. The pickles will keep for approximately 1 month in the fridge. Yum! This is so easy to make you will be shocked and will want to pickle everything in your fridge! The cool thing is you can control how salty, tangy, or flavorful your pickles are and cater to your particular health needs. Also feel free to experiment using more herbs, garlic, & different types of onions.

Treehugger: Paper VS Plastic VS Tote

This debate has been discussed so many times it is almost annoying- but here is a realistic look at the hard numbers, impacts and process that goes into manufacturing each kind of shopping bag. Even for me, a long time health nut who has chosen paper, until DUH, I got reusable totes - this article by Treehugger was an eye opener. Check it out here.
Photo: Treehugger