some crunchy thoughts to munch on...

It's been forever since I posted...hope you haven't given up on me! I do intend to keep this blog, but I probably will only post on it when I have something I really want to say. As you may already know, we're expecting another baby in October, so our lives will be fuller and free time harder to come by!

I decided to pick just a very few "new years resolutions" for 2010, so that achieving them would be more reachable. I have to admit that though I strive to be "green", I have not been recycling during the past three years. The place we currently live does not collect recycling, so I have to drop it myself. It's taken me til now, but I finally purchased a recycling bin (actually, it's just a big trashcan). I found out where the local recycle center is, and plan to drop it off every saturday on my way to the farmers market. I haven't made my first trip yet...but I hope to this weekend. yay!

In light of recent changes (pregnancy and getting rid of some bookshelves that took up a lot of space in our home), I've been motivated to have less things. I've always been one to weed through things I don't appreciate and send them to new homes where they will find use and give joy. But now I am desperately craving a simpler life. I'm really striving to part with everything that we really don't need. There is probably someone out there who DOES need it, so if it doesn't go to friends, it's destined for craigslist or goodwill. The hardest part is Sams abundance of toys! We buy very few ourselves, but somehow still have tons. We have got to make space for his new brother/sister, and frankly, he doesn't even play with most of his toys anyway. So I've started talking to him about getting rid of things so that we can have room for new things. I want him to learn early on about reusing/recycling. I'm trying to come up with a policy for keeping toys to a minimum, but haven't gotten there yet. (Any ideas?) For now, I'll probably tell him that if we can get rid of a certain number of toys, we will get him another Thomas train. (Hooray for small, durable, collectible toys that your child loves!)

I've been encouraged to meet more earth conscious Christians lately! When I started cloth diapering, I felt like a freak...but now I know many others. I'm so glad to see these ideas are slowly infiltrating even the Christian culture.

As a hairstylist, I'm also very excited to see professional haircare lines all coming out with sulfate free products! Now granted, they may still have some potentially harmful chemicals, but this is a big step in the right direction. I'm a big fan of Aquage's sulfate free shampoos. On that note, I've been wanting to mention to you a useful website that I recently discovered: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ They rate tons of different cosmetic products on a safety scale of 1-10. I recently ran out of my beloved foundation, and decided to replace it with something a little safer. I searched through this site and found the best rated foundation made by a professional line (Stila) and read reviews of it online. I've been happy with my purchase, and glad to know it's a little less harmful to the environment and me!

I've been thinking (re-thinking--for the millionth time) my ideas on parenting...I'll try to post some of those thoughts soon.

I hope you are enjoying the glorious springtime!

my little tree-hugger

He makes his mama proud. =) Seriously though... Sam seems like quite the outdoorsy type. He adores feeding YaYa's goats, exploring fields with a stick, and feeling bugs. Now we just need to work on being able to cope with different temperatures/landscapes. Both the snow and the ocean totally freaked him out.

"FOOD, Inc."

I finally saw this film, and am so glad I did! It is free for internet download on netflix if you have access and interest.

Several months ago, I read part of Pollan's book,"The Omnivores Dilemma." I didn't have time to invest in reading it, but was disappointed to put it down because the information was fascinating. I was delighted to find that he was interviewed for this film! Joe pointed out to me recently that I'm an Italian at heart, and he's right. I firmly believe that the process of creating food ought to be enjoyed from start to finish! Pollan seems to agree. In the past 50 yrs, we have become so disconnected from our food. This film exposes how this has happened and what we can do about it. I'm so happy to see people flooding farmers markets where they buy LOCAL and in SEASON. I'm also thrilled to see more people interested in the art of cooking, thanks to the Food network.

I was challenged by this film to once again rethink my approach to food. The film ends by saying how much power we have as consumers. We can gradually change things by the choices we make in the grocery aisle. In our home, the first step is to incorporate even more vegetarian dishes. We will buy chicken only once weekly, so we can afford to buy organic. In the next few months, I want to learn more about cooking real meat (with bones and skin!) so that I can order from polyface farms. (They are interviewed in the film and happen to be local to us!) I'm also making an effort to buy organic milk and yogurt, even if we have less of it. (I've learned that rice milk is a good replacement in certain things.)I'm making granola bars and cookies from scratch. Now the only major thing I have to figure out is what to do about lunchmeat! We all really like it, and it's hard to find convenient replacements. I'll keep working on that...