Head over to the Blessed Nest Perch to check out my monthly post on breastfeeding. This month: Breastfeeding The Colicky Baby.
Category Archives: Websites
Thinking About Cloth Diapers?
Green as I may be (my husband calls it light green) it took me a while to get up the nerve to try using cloth diapers. I briefly used a cloth hybrid when my son was a newborn, but when he turned 1, I was ready to go all out- mainly because I was ready for him to be potty trained and I heard babies in cloth make the transition sooner. I knew nothing about this, so I turned to Sara Ingmire at Diaper Daisy. Her site is so great- you can do a two week cloth diaper trial for free to decide if this is right for your family before buying tons of pricey dipes! You also try different brands and styles- I had no idea there were so many to choose from, and this new world could be quite daunting without expert advice! Sara is always available to answer any questions or challenges you might face, and responds quickly by email. At the end of your trial, you simply return the ones you don’t want, and are charged for the ones you keep. (As an added bonus if you keep them all you get a $20 store credit!) This is what came in my first package:
I had lots of questions and concerns and Sara was there to support me. I highly recommend her site for a diaper trial and cloth diapers!
CSA Time!
Spring is here, which means it’s time to sign-up for a CSA! CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and when you sign-up to become a member of one you are paying your local farmer for a share of the farm. It is the best of all worlds. Your money goes straight to the people growing your food, you eat locally grown and in-season foods, and you’ll eat tons more vegetables than you ever thought possible! It usually works something like this: You pay upfront for the whole season so the farmer has the money he needs to grow your food. Then once a week you’ll either go out to the farm to pick up your “share,” or you’ll pick it up at a designated drop-off location in your city. Week after week we are amazed at the bountiful veggies in our share, and we look forward to using new recipes and getting creative with some things we’ve never even heard of! It really adds variety to your meals, and takes the guesswork out of grocery shopping. Ever had one of those moments when you’re standing in the produce section of the supermarket thinking, “I know we need to eat more vegetables, but what should I buy?” Never again. Visiting the farm is a great field trip for city dwellers, and I believe it’s really important to teach our children where their food comes from. In fact, studies show that when children are involved in the process of growing vegetables, they eat more!
Feeding a baby Goat on our recent visit to Green Gate Farms
There’s something special about being able to thank the people who plant, care for, and harvest the food you put in your body. This is in stark contrast to conventionally grown supermarket food that has been flown in from thousands of miles away and been touched by countless hands and machinery. Also, when you break down the cost of everything you receive in your box each week, you’ll discover that belonging to a CSA is less expensive than shopping at the store.
Ready to find one in your area? Here is a database of CSA’s around the country. Visit www.localharvest.org for more information.
Andrew Weil’s Call to Action
Andrew Weil has written “A Health Care Call to Action” and it’s a good read. We can hope that one day this is how our health care will look.
“Learn how to take care of yourself!You can’t afford to get sick, and you can’t depend on the present health care system to keep you well. It’s up to you to protect and maintain your body’s innate capacity for health and healing by making the right choices in how you live.”
-Andrew Weil
Sign the Petition to Make Chemicals Kid-Safe
“EWG tested the umbilical cord blood of 10 newborn babies and found nearly 300 chemicals, including BPA, fire retardants, lead, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticides that were banned more than 30 years ago.”
The Environmental Working Group is asking for signatures for a petition to make chemicals for consumer products kid-safe. Click here to sign it! “The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act would require that all chemicals be proven safe for children before they can be sold. But lawmakers in Washington need to know that you want them to reform our broken toxics law.” They are delivering it to congress on March 15 and hope to have 75,000 signatures.