That is a palmful of some blissfully juicy, sweet-tart wild blackberries. So tasty.

Last week, I noticed something red in a bush along my driveway while pulling out to go to the store. I didn’t stop at the time, and I mentally wrote it off as some inedible red berries like the perfectly round and frosty-exterior ones I used to squash between my fingers growing up.

Then, while I was walking up the driveway to get the mail yesterday, the spots of red caught my eye again. Except this time, I had the wherewithal to actually take a closer look. Those red berries that I wrote off? Turns out, they were not-yet-ripe blackberries. Wild blackberries.

I couldn’t be more excited. A few years ago, I discovered black raspberries at a family member’s house and made a delightful jam from them. I cannot wait to transform these blackberries into blackberry butter (food mill recommendations, anyone?).

Triumphant, I picked a few ripe ones to sample, sharing with the kids and Shawn. They’re pretty stoked too.

Honestly though, there is one thing bugging me. I have lived here for quite a few years, and this is the first I have ever seen of these bushes of blackberries. This isn’t one little bush, this is many bushes. They will produce pints and pints of berries this season. But why have I never seen them before? Was I so blind to my surroundings for all these years? Seriously?

Have you ever discovered something unexpected on your property? Maybe it’s time to go looking …

So, I am pulling together all my resources and planning at-home trips. (Psst! I just wrote about staycation ideas for families with toddlers at SheKnows, where I am a columnist. Check it out.)

Here are a few local ideas (in Connecticut) that I’ve come up with:

• The Connecticut Children’s Museum: This is a great hands-on place for kids three and up. They have all sorts of activities geared toward the younger set.
• Stepping Stones Museum for Children: This has activities both for toddlers and older kids. They can play with water, learn about rain forests, make bubbles and more.
• Walking with Dinosaurs: This is an awesome and breathtaking show that will be at the Arena at Harbor Yard later this month (it’s also going to be at Madison Square Garden in New York). Realistic looking dinosaurs take center stage . . . (In the interest of full disclosure, I learned about this one after being offered tickets to check it out . . .).
• Mystic Seaport: If you are in Connecticut, you can’t miss Mystic Seaport. There are tall ships, a museum, an aquarium and more to have a fun day . . . And rumor has it one of the ships is very haunted (but don’t tell my husband . . . he won’t want to check it out then).
• Discovery Museum: This one is more for older kids. There’s a planetarium and lots of space geared activities. Lots of fun — I went there as a kid and loved it.
• Earthplace: A coworker told me about this place in Westport. Apparently they do bonfires on Fridays and have lots of fun activities. It’s all geared toward nature education.
• Stamford Museum: With animals galore, this is a great place for kids. There’s even storytelling on Saturday’s at the museum farm.

1. Organic Style: Organic Style has a variety of eco-friendly suggestions from trees to journals to chocolates. They were nice enough to let me sample their Heavenly Chocolate Trio, which were delicious (especially those almonds). But do heed the warning on the site that although the chocolates are shipped overnight, weather conditions could cause them to arrive melted, as most of mine did. My husband was home when the shipment arrived, so the meltage happened enroute. If this is a concern, avoid the perishables.
2. Soda Club: Chances are, this one won’t arrive by Father’s Day, but they will end an email letting dad know it’s coming if you order. This is totally cool — it’s an easy, counter-top make-your-own soda kit . . . perfect for the gadget-loving dad.
3. Fair Trade Coffee: Does your dad love coffee? How about some fair trade coffee and a French press. With the French press, you just add hot water and let the coffee brew and then press it. Save energy and get a tasty cup of coffee. Check out this site for a list of where you can get fair trade coffee.

But this week, I want to get beyond the fear to the solutions.

This year, we will begin growing our own food. I’ve tried in the past without success, but after three years of experimenting, I think I am ready to really settle in and make it work. And for the first time, my husband believes that we need to as well.

We’re not alone in this quest. Urban farming is taking cities by storm. In New York, it’s caught the attention of the New York Times. It’s time that suburban farming made its comeback too. Connecticut used to be a mecca of farmland. These days, the houses still sit on two and three acres in many areas, but those acres are perfectly manicured lawns and sparkling blue pools. The potential for people in Connecticut to take back the land for sustainable home farming is tremendous. And just imagine what benefits it would have on the environment if we all farmed just a little corner of our land . . . The plan is simple:

1) Design and build raised beds for the vegetable garden. Install in the far, unused portion of our back yard. The designing portion of this is done. I am planning on 4′x8′ boxes (3-4 of them) that will be lined with that black garden fabric. We will install an inexpensive garden fencing for now to protect the garden from animals, pests, etc. I will be bringing in screened soil to fill the boxes because my home is built on a former rock quarry (I kid you not).

2) Plant tomato starters (the tomato plants that are already growing) and a variety of seeds for radishes, beets, spinach, cucumbers, peppers, basil, carrots and more. Some fruits too. Use organic fertilizing methods and ensure a chemical free planting environment.

3) Start a compost pile to create nutrient-rich soil at home to mix in with the bed soil.

4) Design and implement a rainwater collection system to sustainably keep the garden watered.

5) Regularly weed, water and care for the fruits and vegetables in the garden.

6) Can and/or freeze excess produce for winter.

This plan gives me some sense of relief. If my family could do it one hundred years ago, so can I today.

What are your thoughts on urban and suburban farming? Should people start growing some of their own food again?

As if that isn’t enough, gas prices are skyrocketing to a point I never imagined for our country. I cringe at the pump every time I have to fill my small, fuel-efficient car that barely fits two car seats for the kids. I don’t know what I will do when gas gets more expensive . . . and we all know it will.

It’s a scary world we live in. As a mother with two young children, I can’t help but wonder what kind of a life I have birthed my babies into. Move over, I am scared.

I am scared that my children won’t have fresh water when they grow up. I am scared that our advanced society has out-priced itself so it can no longer prosper. I am scared that food prices could soar suddenly the way gas prices have. I am scared that one day we will wake up with no electricity, no gas and only the food in our pantry to sustain us because the country has overused everything.

What can we do? What can I do?

Those are questions I ask myself a lot.

I don’t have the answers. I wish I could say I did, but I don’t. All I know is that in the past year, and particularly in the past few months, I have been more and more driven to leaving less of a carbon footprint. I can’t stand the thought that I might contribute to my kids having a less-than-perfect world.

In some ways, I feel like we should all watch Monsters Inc. and take notice of an important underlying message: in the movie, the monsters pursue the source of energy they know — screams. But the screams are running out and becoming harder to come by. There is an energy shortage. Pressure is on at the plant. The owner of the big Monsters Incorporated company works with one of the less savory employees to find a better way to get screams. But their way poaches little children and sucks them dry. Meanwhile, there is a far more powerful source of energy out there: laughter. And better yet, it doesn’t run in short supply.

Ultimately, I think we need to find our laughter and harness it so that we no longer have to live in a world of short supply. Can you see the parallels to the situation we face right now with skyrocketing oil prices and a post-peak oil supply?

All I know for sure, is that something has to change. For me, that means less driving, more homegrown and local food and watching the budget with a keener eye. To make change, we need to be the change.

What do you think? What kind of a world are we leaving for our kids? What can we do about it?

For the past year, I’ve been working on greenifying our lives. Safer cleansers, natural (non-antibacterial) soaps, and less waste. It’s been a tough undertaking — reusable dryer sheets just didn’t do it for us. And the ones we tried – Method – still had waste when all was said and done: the sheets themselves, the plastic container they came in, and the plastic bag I had to keep them in to keep them fresh. But don’t get me wrong, we love most of the Method stuff we use.

We also have yet to give up Fantastik. Although we use Method cleaners for almost everything, the natural cleaners just weren’t enough for getting the kitchen spotless. We tried Mrs. Meyers and others as well. But ultimately, we still keep some Fantastik handy for tough spills. We do love Mrs. Meyers for dish soap though.

Our garbage is still going into plastic bags because I haven’t found an acceptable alternative (that the garbage man will accept too) yet.

We have however tried to cut back on waste and succeeded. I purchase less and try to avoid unnecessary purchases. We don’t always succeed, but we sure try.

And just recently, I invested in some reusable bags. At about $1.40 at Stew Leonard’s, they were a good deal (and no shipping, since I bought them in-store). I’ve also picked up two bags that snap closed for easy transporting at Target – a smaller one for $1 and a larger one for about $1.50. These are handy to keep in the diaper bag for unexpected purchases. In fact, the day after I bought them, I used the large one for a purchase. I was shocked to find that it’s as large as a shopping bag from a department store. Nice. The smaller one is about the size of a standard plastic grocery bag.

It took me almost a year to get these bags. Why? I debated the merits of buying some very pretty bags I saw on Amazon and other places. I considered whether the store ones would be good enough and if I would mind advertising for them like that . . . ultimately, I decided that my own indecision was doing nothing good for the environment. Even if I purchased these four bags and bought designer ones later, I would have spent only a few dollars in the meantime and saved many plastic bags – a shopping trip pre-reusable usually netted 5-6 plastic bags. Now, everything fits into two or three canvas bags.

Am I going to buy the expensive designer ones? Probably not. My canvas ones have nice, sturdy bottoms and are easy . . . I don’t really need to spend more money on bags that are pretty . . . I managed to shop for 20-some-odd years without designer shopping bags, why start now?

Thoughts?

I spent a good part of the last few months researching in preparation for going green. In a way, it felt counter-intuitive because I put off starting until I was sure I could start and continue with success. Part of my concern is with the aspect of where we get our food. My area of Connecticut is startlingly devoid of butchers, for instance. And finding things like wheat, flour and sugar that isn’t from a giant company and shipped for thousands of miles is pretty much impossible.

Some decide to take drastic measures for their green pursuits, much like No Impact Man is doing. That’s just not me. The more gradual change I am taking will ultimately be more sustainable in my life.

Want to know more about my green transition? Check out Operation Green, a weekly column by Cate of Sweetnicks and I on Well Fed On The Town. It appears every Monday.

I recently wrote about the Kenmore PRO line of appliances for The Cook’s Kitchen over at The Well Fed Network. The relatively new product line has professional equipment styling with a more affordable price (it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles either, but looks like it should). Have you seen these appliances on Top Chef and fallen in love? Or maybe you have them at home? Perhaps you’ve been oogling them in Sears? If you are in love with Kenmore PRO, it’s time for you to put your love into words. Read all about the Kenmore PRO: How Do I Love Thee? contest sponsored by Sears and The Well Fed Network here. The deadline for entries is Monday, June 20 at 11:59 p.m.

But while I was pregnant I began learning more and more about organic produce and why pesticides are bad. I was surprised to learn about how supermarket produce can have so much pesticide on it, and that certain fruits and vegetables absorb pesticides. It’s a little scary, actually, and it’s really impacted how I look at supermarket fruits and vegetables.

If I could, I’d have a completely organic kitchen from meat to fruit to veggies…even milk and eggs. But let’s face it: that is an expensive endeavor and, while it is worth it, I just can’t afford it.

What I can afford is fruit and veggie wash to get the icky stuff — like pesticides — off of my food. I found one that I like at Trader Joe’s a month ago. It’s called Environne (www.vegiwash.com) and is about $4 for the bottle of concentrated fruit and vegetable cleaner.

For easy access, I mix up a lot of the Environee with water in a spray bottle and just keep it next to the sink. Then, when I need to clean pesticides off of our fruits and vegetables, I just spray-spray a bit and rinse the fruits and vegetables off. Easy as pie.

So, if you can’t afford to go completely organic, you don’t have to accept pesticide covered fruit and vegetables. Simply use a fruit and vegetable wash to rinse away the pesticides and keep your family eating well.