If you're up a little before dawn these days, you'll notice the constellation Orion hanging high in the eastern sky.

The winter stars are on their way -- and with them, cooler weather. In just a few short weeks, gardeners will wrap up their beds for the season.

But that doesn't mean you need to give up fresh herbs until spring. There's nothing quite as pleasant as a little green around the home during the winter months. If you start now, you'll have a vibrant and useful stock of herbs at hand through the holidays and beyond. They'll freshen your cooking -- and your indoor air -- until next planting season.

Read through to the article and find out how.

Quick! What was the active ingredient in the last bathroom cleaning product you used?

You don't really need to check the label to know it was a powerful chemical agent -- one of the many to which we are exposed on a daily basis. From cleaners to food additives, our lives are awash in substances which were unknown a generation ago.

Not only are many of these chemicals bad for you and your family, they're often tested on laboratory animals.

Want to eliminate part of the chemical burden in your weekly cleaning routine? Here's a recipe for a mild and inexpensive bathroom cleaner that will leave your tile sparking fresh. Click through to get the ingredients list.

On October 15th, many of your favorite blogs will go green.

We're talking about sites which aren't usually focused on environmental issues, including many of our faves here at Lighter Footstep: Lifehacker, Copyblogger, Web Worker Daily, ChrisG, Problogger, ZenHabits, and GigaOM.

It's all part of Blog Action Day, an event organized by a trio of power bloggers which aims to unite thousands of sites for a day of articles and fundraining on behalf of the environment.

Don't have a blog? Ever thought about starting one? Lighter Footstep would like to help. Read on for more on Blog Action Day and our Green Blog Incubator. 

Almost everyone likes egg salad. It's a classic summer dish: cool, nutritious, and something which lends itself well to a variety of presentations.

But perhaps you're watching your cholesterol. Or maybe you have ethical concerns over the way laying hens are treated at factory egg farms. 

Enter Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and her recipe for Happy Hen Eggless Egg Salad. This egg-free variation on a classic recipe is no more difficult to make than regular egg salad. It's enough to make your local laying hen smile -- if she only had lips.

Click through for a full ingredient list and Colleen's step-by-step directions.