Wherever you first meet Tiffany Pratt – on Instagram, on TV, in the pages of this book or in person – you know a burst of magic has just entered your life. It’s as if you cracked a window and a luminescent gust of glitter blew in on a warm wind then your fairy god-BFF… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I didn’t grow up in a canning family. My mom is an awesome home cook but just didn’t get that canning ‘n preserving gene, even though her dad came from a farm family of 18 – yes, 18 –  kids in Ste. Justine, Quebec, one that no doubt survived on lots of farm-canned goods. Her sister,… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

It may no longer be patio season in these here parts but on a warm sunny Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, but I did get off my ass and finally stain and seal the sectional my man and I built back when it was still summer.  Now that it’s complete, I figured I’d share a little ‘don’t worry, summer will be back’ inspiration… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’m a big-time klutz. My lifelong lack of hand-eye coordination makes me pretty bad at things like baseball, processing physical commands from Zumba instructors and lifting a fork to my mouth without dropping food on my shirt. That last one leads to a lot of defiled clothes, hence this week’s Ecoholic column on stain removers. This is one area where you really need a product… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

My friends invited me and two dozen others to camp out at their cottage for a big 40th birthday bash. After my initial reaction (cottage party on a lake, woot!) came the fear factor (oh crap, what kind of northern Canadian bloodsuckers will be swarming and can I track down any DEET-free protection on time?). Two health stores I popped into had… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Unless you daydream of renos or watch way too much HGTV you probably don’t spend much time thinking about your floors. Turns out there’s a lot of dirt lurking underfoot, regardless of whether you’re sweeping daily or not. Check out my tips on avoiding hidden toxins, phoney promises, illegal lumber and more. ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Tossing and turning and in the market for a new mattress? I’ve gotten a lot of questions from readers lately inquiring about “least toxic” mattress options and most have them have been plain confused about what mattress is legitimately green. The world of green claims is always a bit of a wild west, but mattress companies… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

If you’re a super talented crafter then the holiday season is brimming with possibilities. But what about the rest of us? I’m about the furthest person from Martha Stewart on the face of the earth so when I craft, it’s got to be fast, easy, with minimal actual skill needed.  That means you don’t have to know how… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

The summer after 9th grade, my parents moved my little brother Mark and I from Montreal to suburban Mississauga, a gaping 35 kilometres from downtown Toronto. Back in Montreal, I was used to taking the city bus to school downtown and subwaying around to meet friends. In Mississauga, I quickly figured out you’d have to… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

There’s something about growing up in Canada that makes us want to just open up the taps and let the water flow free like the wind. I distinctly remember being 11/12 years old and taking 45 MINUTE long showers without a second thought (I probably cycled through a whole small lake in that time!). Maybe… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Back in the day (as in up until, oh, a year ago), Ecoholic used to be a straight up green advice column. Every week readers wrote in with questions and I’d answer them in Q&A format. We’ve changed things up since then (mixing in product guides, nature notes, greenwash of the week, green finds of… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Maybe it’s the defiant Montrealer in me, but I really don’t mind a -30 day as long as the sun is beaming down from its blue sky perch. Of course, it helps if you’re tucked warmly inside. Okay, maybe that doesn’t count as a true love of the cold, but I’ll take icy blue skies… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

My family stopped exchanging Christmas gifts a good 15 years ago. My sister, in med school at the time, told us she just didn’t have time to shop for us (pshaw, what an excuse!). And just like that, the whole card castle crumbled and we gave up the whole swapping tradition ever since.  Instead, we… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

It isn’t easy reviewing green cleaners – especially when it’s still not mandatory for cleaning companies to disclose their ingredients. The good news is that while too many brands aren’t listing their ingredients on the bottles, more and more are coming clean, so to speak, on their websites, at least. Even Vim ProPower Naturals, who… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Summertime and I’m totally behind on blogging! Just wanted to catch you guys up before I head out of town again for a couple days….Here’s a column I did post-Toronto floods, including my own reflections on being holed up without power and water on the 15th floor with my father (who now depends on a… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

You’ll spot the word ‘organic’ so often in garden centres you’d think you’d died and gone to Whole Foods. Alas, the word organic means something totally different in the gardening context. It basically means “organic matter” – typically anything composted/decaying like manure. Sounds benign enough – except when you stop to think ‘ugh, wait, do… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

How’d you get your eggs cooked this morning…or your shower nice and hot? Natural gas has always gotten a lot more respect on the green-front than other fossil fuels. We hear again and again that it burns cleaner, choking out less smoggy pollutants than say coal or conventional oil, so when we use it in… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Hand me a top hat and cane and I’ll sing about palm as a supercalafragalistic  plant-based petrochemical replacement. Gee willikers, you can add it to everything from lip balm to bathroom cleaner – amazing! But the song and dance come to a screeching halt when you start probing palm’s rainforest record. You know how headlines… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’m a little suspicious of my plates. The scrapes and scratches on these Kengington Market imports have me wondering whether they’re leaching something dodgy. And yet, I never bothered to buy a lead test until two readers contacted me recently wondering about their ceramics. Then I got to reading. Here’s what Health Canada has to… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸