Just because a woman becomes a mother doesn’t mean she’s done using social media, according to a recent study. Most mothers of young children are now using social Websites, and not just for posting family photos and catching up with old friends. In fact, mothers of pre-18 year olds are sharing advice online about making greener and healthier purchases for their family.

The NPD Group Study found that four out of five moms are active in social media; furthermore, 55% of daily users have made a purchase based on a recommendation from a personal review blog.  Now that mothers are getting plugged-in to the latest information on sustainability, so are children. The Motherboard has says that from the people who visit its Website:

• 93% of moms describe themselves as eco-aware
• 63% of their kids are too

Moms are finding and sharing simple ideas that go beyond turning off the lights, recycling and saving water while the kids brush their teeth. They’re doing things like reducing packaged goods purchases and buying more bulk. For example, buying loose carrots rather than pre-packaged in plastic winds up being a win-win-win.

Why three wins? Here’s how I break it down:

Win #1: Local. Bulk carrots are more likely to come from a local source. As soon as produce is picked the food value begins to degrade, which means local is tastier, better for you, costs less and uses less fuel to transport.

Win #2: Packaging. Who needs more plastic to toss into the landfill? More and more people are using reusable produce bags (I’ll bet if you click through you be looking at the customer reviews).

We started using them at my house a couple of months ago and they’re easy to use, washable and everyone wants to know where we got them.

Win #3: Cost. Times are tough and everyone is tightening their belt. Buying in bulk requires less handling and packaging for producers and that tends to be equal inexpensive, better food with a lighter environmental footprint.

More and more, Americans are going one step beyond “local” and starting home food gardens. The number of home food gardens (vegetables, fruit, berries and herbs) increased 14% last year to a record 41 million households. Following the win-win-win theme, I read on the Kitchen Gardeners blog that someone saved $2,000 after all expenses with a 1,660 ft garden (40’ x 40’ plot) over buying produce at the grocery store. That may seem like a lot of land, but we’ve got a colleague here that’s ripping out the deck at her condo to install a garden and chicken coop right now!

When I started our home garden last summer one of the biggest benefits was seeing our 2 ½ old son tending his own plants. As expected, he made some “questionable” pruning decisions resulting in setbacks for sure, but now he’s engaged in where food comes from and how it’s grown.

I think it’s fantastic that moms are sharing ideas to make our lives healthier and greener. We’re following the same path here by sharing our sustainable experiences, both positive and negative, within the wine community and beyond. It’s actually one of the most rewarding parts of my job – to help someone else to just get started making a difference.

Keep posted – we’ll begin bringing regular recommendations for healthy and greener living at home from the crew here at Kendall-Jackson. In the mean time, if you’ve got a good idea – please share it with us now!