Rally For Change

this saturday i joined an amazing group of birth advocates: midwives, doulas, childbirth educators, nurses and mommas with a million different birth stories to rally for a change in our culture, both mainstream and medical in the way we educate about and treat birth.  we want to change the culture of fear in our country when it comes to pregnancy and childbirth. to stop sharing the horror stories and start sharing the empowering ones. to recreate the powerful support of sisterhood before, during and after pregnancy as many other countries do around the world.  to stop believing the myths about pregnancy and childbirth and start doing our own in-depth research, to understand the science of our own amazing bodies and listening to our intuition. to start believing that birth is NOT an illness, that our bodies were made to have babies and to understand that if you eliminate (unnecessary) medical interventions and allow birth to proceed naturally, on its own timeline in a healthy mother with a healthy baby, the majority of women are able to give birth on their own with minimal risks.

we want women to understand that every single intervention, no matter how insignificant it may seem (or how routine it is, in most cases), introduces a whole new host of risks to the birth process. to know that agreeing to or asking for induction increases your risk of c-section by 50-60%.  we want women to know that a cesarean section is not a simple, routine procedure as it is often advertised.  while they are performed every day all over our country (we have one of the higher c-section rates in the world), they still involve opening the abdomen and exposing all of your major organs to all kinds of scary things. often the risks of c-section rise up after the surgery is over and you are all closed up.  yet, one in three mommas are having surgical birth.

is it hard for you to believe that one female body in three no longer performs the physiological functions of childbirth? it is for me. this does not suggest good things for our survival!  perhaps the one in three surgical deliveries has to do with other factors, other introduced factors during the labor process. other support factors during the labor. i'm not suggesting that some women do not need c-sections. i am thankful for the technology and skills of the surgeons to jump in when its necessary. i am, however, suggesting that there is a lot of tinkering happening along the way that seems to be leading to a higher need for c-sections than if labor was allowed to proceed on its own. 

yet, i realize it is the choice of the mother giving birth and her chosen physician during labor. this is why we feel it is so important for women to empower themselves with the information that is out there. do your research. ask questions. a lot of them.  many women (myself included before i stumbled upon a wealth of information at a yoga class that started my shift in thinking) do not realize there is any other option other than having a hospital birth with an OB "catching" their baby for them while they are hooked up to pain medication.  for the record, a mother can catch her own baby thank you very much. i was the first pair of hands to touch both of our children and i'm looking forward with a hopeful heart to having the same opportunity with our third!

the rally was both to encourage women to do more research than the standard blurb their OB gives them or the "how to prepare for your hospital birth" line they get at their hospital's childbirth class...to really understand the science of what happens within your body and WHY it works so beautifully on its own, despite the fact that it may not necessarily always fit into a hospital's timeline.  we want mothers to be empowered and to believe in the process. to believe in their bodies and their babies.

 it did feel odd...stepping out and standing up for a cause. i've never really been an "activist" for anything but this particular subject has become such a passion of mine. so much so that i'm pursuing becoming a bradley childbirth instructor this year - something i can do with little babies, creating my own teaching schedule after my certification is complete. and i can do it anywhere, no matter where we live. i think i'd like to become a midwife someday when my children are older and my schedule of caring for babies permits me to whip away and attend a birth when the time comes.  so much exciting future ahead.  i was interviewed, being one of the only obviously pregnant women there. i talked to the reporter for 20 minutes. he used one sentence in his article, which unfortunately told mostly the hospital's response to our rally. the media coverage was there, but was disappointing in its lack of conveying our message.  however, i've decided that's how it goes when you are standing up for something that isn't popular or common in our culture.  we are hoping the articles and news story at least prompted a lot of dialogue throughout san diego. and there are plans for more rallies, a new website with education involved for mommas AND caregivers (whose training or experiences generally have not allowed them to see/participate in a natural, unmedicated birth unfolding on its own timeline) and a national rally for change on labor day.

doula kayti being interviewed. she is my best friend stephanie's doula - and also encapsulated my placenta.

adrienne and her boys - we attended our bradley childbirth class together in 2008. small world!

32 weeks pregnant with baby tres. can't wait to meet him SO SOON!

my new friend rachel - a bradley method instructor with a tiny baby bump of her own :)

 

"let food be thy medicine..." - hippocrates

a post otherwise titled: "forks over knives".... how i accidentally became vegan

see roger eberts passionate review of this film here.  

my head is still whirling from an information-induced high that has completely transformed the way i approach food after attending the san diego premier and panel discussion of the life-changing documentary "forks over knives" one week ago.  tonight i saw it a second time on the arm of my  supportive husband.  the film promotes through long-term, international, scientific and case-study based data a whole foods plant based diet (commonly referred to as 'vegan').  i went to the premier thinking it would be a fun nutrition/foodie documentary to enjoy by myself, nerd out about nutrition, and skip out the door feeling so good about all the things i was doing right nutritionally speaking.  in reality, i sat there like a sponge absorbing and processing every minute detail, argument and speck of data they presented from the two doctor's independent yet completely corresponding research, in awe of how little i knew about nutrition, how little i had ever really paid attention to nutrition and completely convinced of the direct relationship by what we put into our bodies every day and the long-term health of those bodies.

find the film synopsis here.  the data from the studies shows a direct correlation between the consumption of animal protein and the development of degenerative diseases. but more importantly it demonstrates the illnesses can actually be prevented, halted in their tracks and in many cases reversed completely by adopting a whole foods, plant based diet. diabetes. ED. high cholesterol. heart disease. cancer. auto-immune disease.  case after case of patients looking for a way to actually treat (and in many cases reverse) their diseases instead of masking the symptoms and suffering of their diseases with countless medications (which bring symptoms and suffering of their own) were highlighted. the result? people got off the meds. PEOPLE. FELT. GREAT.  and i really love that one of the researchers refers to heart disease as a paper, toothless tiger because he is consistently seeing restored health and reversal of what could be fatal conditions all because of a shift in diet.

the night of the premier, a group of panel members were present for Q&A after the documentary. One in attendance, Rip Esselstyn, is also featured in the movie.  Previously a competitive triathlete, Rip took on a second career in his 30's as a fire fighter.  He tells his story and highlights his own case study in "Forks Over Knives" as well as in his book (The Engine 2 Diet) based on the same data and science as the documentary (his father is one of the researchers presenting his data in the movie) of a fellow fire fighter discovering he had decidedly fatal cholesterol levels after they made a bet one slow night at the station about who had the lowest cholesterol. Curiosity got the best of me and i decided that before fully transitioning to this new lifestyle I would  have a full panel of "wellness" bloodwork tests done just to see where i stand.  and compare the numbers to those in a month.

**UPDATE 5/23/11: I received my lab results and every single number they tested from my blood work fell right in the middle of the allowable range for normal/healthy except my LDL (bad cholesterol) was high. if a gal under 30 who eats healthy relative to the average American diet, recently ran a marathon and is at her optimal weight can have high cholesterol, it seems that one tiny thing if nothing else can get to anyone; i admit i was surprised about this. am interested to see how that number changes in a month (and if any of my other numbers change). ***

please see the movie.  even if you aren't interested in making the change to a whole foods plant based diet or if making that change just isn't realistic in your life, you may realize like i did how little attention we've paid to the nutrition aspect of eating.  i've always felt i've been a pretty healthy eater, but i've honestly learned so much in one week about nutrition and the sources of nutrients and minerals and protein and on and on.  a week ago if you asked me where we get calcium i would have said milk without batting an eye. now i've learned that green leafy vegetables are an excellent source of calcium that is actually more bioavailable to your body in that form than the calcium in cow's milk.

i want to shout the information i've learned this week from the rooftops. much like my experience with unmedicated, natural childbirth (another "alternative" choice i've made that i couldn't be more grateful for).  i guess i just want people to know....there is another way. there is another option. you have the choice. you can regain your health.  you can feel empowered to take your health and your life into your own control by simply choosing to follow a lifestyle of eating for nutrition, of eating a whole foods plant based diet.  that doesn't mean salad for every meal. i've actually been enjoying more options because i'm seeking out alternatives and recipes i previously never would have considered out of habit more than anything else.

i'm as shocked as the next guy that i was so touched by this information that i 'accidentally' on the spot became vegan (at least for a trial period until i work out for myself what is right for me for the long term, for now i am going for it gung ho).  confession: i've always considered vegetarians and vegans to be a little misguided, a little crazy and was sure they were somehow living nutritionally deficient lives. reality: while the terms vegetarian and vegan carry some heavy socio-political bang for their buck due to stereotypes in our society, i am pretty sure they have it right-on when it comes to health and nutrition.  ive had trouble telling people about my change because it does seem such a socially-charged announcement to decree you are vegan. people want to know - what does that mean?...and i'm still trying to work it out for myself.  for now, i am sticking to the definition of adhering to a whole foods plant based diet (eating as close to the source as possible, all plants, no animal anything). sure its easier to do this when i'm cooking in my own home with my own recipes. sure it'll make eating when traveling and in military living more challenging and interesting, but it'll also be an opportunity to share some delicious new recipes (and information) with friends and family.  i promise not to be an annoying vegan who is always blasting information about my choices, although i feel like i am tip-toeing around with this exciting information in my pocket like a shiny new treasure i want to share with everyone i love and care about.  i realize, just like with unmedicated natural childbirth, not everyone is ready, open to or interested in hearing about it.  some people are really upset by a lifestyle shift like this. others are just baffled by it (like i was one week ago).  but for me, and for my family (thank you for being so supportive and positive and onboard with this experiment, darling husband!), for now, this is the path we are choosing to walk down.  i'm excited to share in this little space, my little space where it is safe to talk about this stuff without fear of being obnoxious or overbearing (if you are sick of hearing about it, come back when i'm back to talking about the cute things my kids are doing) how this journey down the road of eating a whole foods plant based diet goes for us.

oil cleansing method

i need to gush a bit about a new miraculous discovery. if you regularly read my ramblings here you know i've been trying to get back to basics, get rid of chemicals and toxins, practice the art of homemade and look for healthier, safer alternatives to the "norm".  i guess after discovering the magic of childbirth sans hospitals i've gone down the road even farther searching for more truths that are tucked away and hidden behind tall tales and scary stereotypes.

so last night i washed my face with oil.
let me say it again.
i. washed. my. face. with. oil.

and let me tell you, my skin has never ever EVER in 28 years looked or felt so magnificent after a face wash as it did last night.  if you are even remotely intrigued or interested, please read this article in its entirety, be inspired and when your face soap (which is probably causing some of the skin problems its claims to eliminate) runs out, try this out. just try it. i dare you to try it once and i think you will be sold.  i am swooning over how great my skin looks and feels.

i know it sounds scary and disgusting and totally counter to logical thinking. but....if you need motivation in addition to me rambling on and on about how amazing it feels, think about this: think about how much money you spend monthly or annually on face soap, moisturizer, astringent....it adds up. think about how much money you would SAVE monthly or annually if you could buy a big bottle of sunflower seed oil and an big bottle of caster oil and make your own all-in-one magical face soap solution that would eliminate the need for all of those store bought chemically based, abrasive facial "cleansers".

here's the 4-11:  you create a mix of sunflower seed oil and castor oil.  the sunflower seed is moisturizing and the castor oil is cleansing.  you need to get the mix right based on your skin type (which the article discusses). i used 3/4 cup sunflower seed oil and 1/4 cup castor oil, blended them to emulsify the two oils and poured them into an old (very well cleaned) face soap bottle with a flip top. pour a quarter sized amount of the oil mixture into your hand and rub together to warm it up and then you rub it all over your face. (the article claims it will remove even water proof mascara so no worries about removing makeup first-i didn't have makeup on yesterday so i can't confirm or deny but i believe it) you rub it in for a good 3-5 minutes until you feel like every centimeter of your face has had the oil mixture rubbed into it. then you use a washcloth soaked in hot (but not hot enough to scald your face, you are going for one step up from warm) water and hold it over your face until it feels cool. you are basically creating your own steam machine. once the washcloth feels cool, gently wipe your face and repeat this process 5-6 more times.  the steam opens your pores, the oil does its magic to cleans out all the things have plugged up your pores.  the whole process takes about 10 minutes but wow. i mean, wow, my face felt magical afterwards. the sensation of cleanliness, open pores and lightness coupled by how smooth and soft it felt to the touch far exceeded my expectations of this homemade remedy of a trick.  you only need to do it once a day. if your face feels a little dry after you rub a teeny tiny amount of the mixture into your face as a moisturizer (or you need to change your ratios of oils in your mixture). i can't wait to do it again tonight! they warn that in the first 2-3 days now that your pores are opened and really unclogged that you may experience a little oiliness while your face gets used to regulating its normal oil production again now that you aren't using harsh abrasive chemicals to "clean" your face and strip away all those healthy oils that actually keep your skin healthy and radiant.  so far i haven't experienced that.

anyway, i LOVE this process. this is probably my favorite change i've made.  yep, i'm gaga over this. i dare you to try it. just once. instead of your normal face regimen, give it a go. your life may be changed forever!  let me know if you try it, i want to hear about your experience. who knew rubbing oil all over your face could be so amazing.


***disclaimer, i'm not trying to justify these changes. some of the changes i've made (all natural deoderant did not do the trick, i haven't tried homemade yet) have not been up to par and i've gone on to find a different product. but this one, this one is just....wowza. you need to try it right now.  i wish i had known about this back in 5th grade when my skin was really out of whack. imagine how great it'd look if i had been using it since then!***

making a change *the next step*

all the changes we've implemented this month are coming along nicely (posted about them here and here).  there are some changes we're waiting to make until products  we currently use run out to not create a bunch of waste out of this transition to healthier, safer, greener, more frugal consumption.  the next trends are mostly personal care transitions we'd like to make:

-cloth diapering: they are ordered! there will surely be many an update on our transition for petey and his sister....now that i've decided on a product i am much less scared and overwhelmed and feel confident i can do it.

-putting up a clothes line: this is particularly important for our shift to cloth diapering. we already hang a lot of clothes to dry but they sit for a day on hangers in doorways and over shower bars, etc. we need a better, outdoor option once we add diapers to the mix.

-make your own toothpaste: we are going to give this a whirl, especially with petey learning to brush his teeth and essentially sucking the toothpaste off the toothbrush twice a day. i'll feel better knowing what he's actually ingesting - and this looks really really easy. thanks rebecca at lusaorganics for the info about your non-plastic storage bottles.

-make your own cloth wipes solution: another easy option - already have some cloth wipes coming that were part of a cloth diapering package i bought, but i know that i can easily make more wipes. this solution is a vital part of the 'get baby clean' process and again, i'll feel better knowing that what i'm using to wipe them clean is safe for their skin.

-go shampoo free: my friend shannon arrives may 14th. we are going to embark on this experiment together. am so excited to have a partner in crime for some of my personal care experiments. i may see if i can convince her to try diy deoderant with me too (who am i kidding, she is always up for anything!).  i have never to this day found a deoderant i loved or was happy with - and knowing there is a lot of bad stuff in there that i am rubbing on my body sometimes multiple times a day, especially in the vacinity of some VERY important body parts, i am excited to try a safer more natural option. woo!

wanesta garden project: phase 2

with my dad here visiting, i've been blessed to have a master-of-all-things around and i've been keeping him busy.  we've particularly been busy getting that garden going and i've been SO grateful for his help, manual labor and sharing of knowledge on success with my compost bin and my garden growing.

we got some excellent treated wood for free from friends who just bought a house and found this in their side yard and it worked out perfectly for our raised bed needs.

so, like the super-hero-guy-who-knows-everything-about-most-everything that my dad is, he whipped this bunch of boards into a rad raised garden bed for me. viola! he's awesome.

we've got a huge space for a garden to go but we decided to start small-ish and see how things grow there with the soil and the partial shade half of the day before putting in more. i'm pleased as punch with the way it all turned out.  so here comes the soil....a good mix of garden soil and top soil and dad added some blood meal to get some good nitrogen into the mix.  we also added that to the compost bin to get some good activity going in there. ah, the priceless tidbits i've learned this week. love it and my dad so much!

the next blustery somewhat rainy morning we headed to the nursery to pick up some wonderful plants.  we got two each of two different tomato plants to try out, two each of two different pepper plants, some green beans seeds and some yellow summer squash seed. we also grabbed some cilantro, basil and italian parsley because why not?  and to jazz the place up i'll probably add some pretty ground cover in the back and along the fence and perhaps a few other low-water consuming varieties that grow beautifully with little to no attention at all. :)

next step is planting. seems like it would generally be an easy concept. make a hole, put the plant in, fill in the gaps and done. well i also learned how to correctly separate out the two separate plans in the containers, fan out their roots a bit, learned how to study the planting depth and distance of separation required, how to account for the height of the full-grown plants in relation to the sun to be sure the taller plants didn't shade out the shorter ones, how to water as you plant and even the different ways of seed planting. its not that any of its tricky, its just a bit more delicate of a situation than i would have known and i certainly appreciate receiving the gift of years of study and trial-and-error-gained knowledge my dad shared. it feels good to be a little less clueless in this new gardening world i'm dabbling in.

(i may have to bring the laptop out and skype with my dad when i put in my fall garden...having his watchful eye there to help me out made me feel good about the fact that i was doing the right thing with these little babies...kind of felt like he was my wise gardening doula and this little garden is my nature baby)

putting in my bean seeds. i thought it was interesting to see what the seeds looked like - guess i had never given it any thought as to what the seeds would look like. i seriously feel like a more complete person knowing this information. i know that sounds dramatic but its true! can't wait to teach petey all about this stuff, perhaps he'll better understand the words 'delicate' and 'gentle' by the time the fall garden planting happens and he can join me at the task.

this is what my little nature-baby looked like on earth day, april 22, 2010.  we'll see what transformations happen from here. i'm excited about all that this little baby is going to teach me! and a big thank you to my hero, my daddy, for helping me make this happen! love you!!!!

making a change * update *

here's an update on this post: making a change discussing my goals for making my house less disposable, more green and safe from toxins and chemicals for the people and pup who live here.  its sort of a way for me to look at what we've been able to accomplish and hopefully fuel my energy for the possibility of making changes.....and to remind myself at how easy most of the transitions have been.  but perhaps it'll encourage a few of you to make even one of these changes down the baby steps road to saving money, helping mother earth and protecting yourself and family from the things we don't even realize are in our daily use products.  until i started paying more attention to this stuff, i took it for granted that some government run health fairy agency was sending its employees out there to ensure that nothing harmful was being put into the products we all use and love. surprise.....

going paper towel-less: this is a huge change that is so much easier than expected. i think we've used 2 paper towels in 14 days - for cleanup involving some serious wood working glue. we used to go through at least 2 per meal and additional paper towels for cooking cleanup.  the system of having 3 on-duty kitchen wash rags of different color is working great. there is one for dish washing, one for mess/countertop cleanup and one for wiping up petey after meals. (EASY!-we still have paper towels around if we ever declare a state of emergency in the house and NEED them....but don't plan on buying them in mass quantities ever again.)

de-plasticizing: i inspected the sad condition of my rubbermade storage containers and was amazed just how destroyed they were due to microwaving, cutting and general use. they're now all in the garage waiting to be taken to a local recycling spot that accepts number 5 plastics.  they've been replaced with a wide variety of glass storage containers of varying sizes (large and small mason jars and a plethora of pyrex), a wonderful early mother's day gift from my boys. i love being able to see the contents of those containers in the fridge instead of wondering what is inside that murky-non-see-through plastic we used to use.  reid's using them for toting his lunches too, they are a bit bulkier and heavier than the rubbermade so i am looking for a new lunch satchel to send his goodies in, for now its reusing a kohl's shopping bag for him.  we also purchased some klean kanteen's for toting beverages around and i am IN LOVE with this product and their fun colorful line of stainless steel bottles.  ***i was totally pleased to see that all of their packaging is fully recyclable paper and non-plastic in nature - and the bags the bottles came in are now in my compost. i appreciate these great details***  as for ziplock, we're making great strides. now our on-the-go snacks for petey go in jelly jar sized mason jars (pretzels, grapes, etc) and we've been washing and reusing the remaining snack size and sandwich size bags.  when those run out, we've got another product being shipped as we type from ecolunchgear.com, cloth sandwich and snack bags made by an awesome momma who carefully selects everything that goes into her product, work environment and shipping packaging for sustainability, recycling ability and toxin-free status. hip hip! can't wait to get them and then i'll really be in business for lunch making and snack taking! and for the month of april she's doing lots of great giveaways with each purchase to celebrate earth day. (EASY, a process to procure the plastic substitutes and find a place that accepts #5 plastics that your rubbermade/tupperware is likely made of - or repurposing those old storage containers for things like nails in the garage, puzzle pieces, etc).

doggie dumping: this one gives me huge amounts of satsifaction and grosses me out a little but is worth it.  because i dump all of baxter's doo in the toilet and flush it away each time our outside trash can doesn't knock you over with the stench of feces when you open it. that is a BIG plus. that and knowing that there isn't going to be my pet's petrified poo in landfills inside plastic bags for eons = awesome.  once we run out of the current plastic bags we're using to pick up his business i've got a new stash of a great product from flushdoggy.com - water soluble, flushable doggy bags.  i bought them in bulk to save on price. its the best solution i have for now since the current sans-poo bags are being put in the trash once the doo is flushed.  (easy, a little gross at first but WAY less gross in the long run)

grow your own/buy local: the garden is in the works. by the weekend i'm hoping to have some plants in the soil and thus begins my biggest experiment yet.  in the meantime, i've been buying 90% of my produce from the poway farmers' market and have been blown away by the absolute difference in taste that these organically grown, probably picked the day before produce i get there.  hands down, i've never had carrots that taste so good!  its totally worth it.  i've also found hilliker's eggs that are laid in lakeside (14 miles from our house) and fed a carefully calculated vegetarian (and non-corn) diet. they are caged for a special technique they use to control their waste but after watching food, inc. and seeing how the so-called 'free range' chickens live that the bigger companies tout (thousands of them smashed together in a big, dark coop with "access" to an outdoor garden that they choose not to visit because the food is inside), i'm ok with that.  they've been in business since 1942 and are true to their animal husbandry ways.  still working on local meat sources, i'm considering joining a chicken csa but 'local' takes on  a different meaning when getting meat where i live - its call coming from pretty far away (although still relatively close sources when you consider how far our meat current comes from).  (EASY living in southern san diego where we have a year round growing season and lots of local farmers, it'll require more effort where you live - check here to see if there is a CSA in your area that can provide you locally grown, in-season produceif you aren't lucky enough to live in a place where there are farmers markets year round, every day of the week, somewhere nearby).

make your own/buy products with real ingredients you can identify: i've been going to buy as little processed (or as lightly processed) food as possible. i'm opting to make my own whenever possible (like my homemade spaghetti sauce) and buying products with identifiable ingredients when i do buy pre-made stuff at the store (the fewer ingredients the better and i want to be able to identify all the ingredients on the list....if it looks like a recipe, its ok with me!).  its sad that buying real food comes at a cost but its worth it - and i think that the other areas we're saving money makes up for the often small extra expense of buying a jar of smashed peanuts for a pbj instead of a car of hydrogenized oils and chemicals and sugars.  and so far, all the new products we've tried have been great - vegenaise and laura scudder's peanut butter, for example, are great.  

composting: after my awesome hubby made my compost bin i've been collecting all of our fruit and veggie/compostable kitchen waste and have been quite amazed by just how much of that stuff we used to throw in the trash.  the only challenge i've faced with this is finding a source of yard waste to offset the kitchen waste in the compost recipe. we've got a steady but small supply of leaves and some other yard waste from some work we did cutting out some dead bushes but nothing steady (since we have fake grass in the back and rock in the front due to bigtime watering restrictions and heavy heat in our community) but a few of our neighbors still mow their yards on a regular basis and i've gotten permission to steal their clippings on fridays when they put them out for the yard waste removal guys (i figured they wouldn't care but didn't want them wondering what the crazy pregnant lady was doing stealing their grass clippings at 10 pm at night).  so far no smell or bug problem which was hubby's main concern.....looking forward to seeing the fruits of our labors months from now with some rich humus for my winter garden, perhaps!

cable-free:  again, this has been such an effortless transition which was quite unexpected.  we shut our cable down almost 3 months ago, beginning february 1.  and honestly, we didn't watch much daytime tv anyway. it was usually evenings and weekends when reid and i had time to share together and petey was asleep.  and this is sort of a hoax because while we've been saving $100 a month, we still have internet and still watch all the shows we actually care about for  FREE at hulu.com or at the networks websites with less commercials, would you believe, than what you see on cable tv.  and we don't spend time watching other shows that we don't care about, the mindless watching of tv just because its there.  i'm thrilled about this change in our lives and our monthly budget!  hubby has even been able to watch live baseball games on espn.com or espn2.com....actually more coverage of games he wanted to see than what we could see on tv when we did have cable!

cloth diapering: still determined to go this route but not quite ready to purchase yet. i found a website with 45 day money back guarantee on the product i want to use so i want to want and buy them when the baby arrives so i have those full 45 days to decide if i love the product.  and i'm still using up the disposable diapers we have for petey.  so this is a coming attraction. admitably this is the most terrifying change of all to me for some reason, but i am committed to doing it and will be sure to report how it goes after i've gotten into the swing of things.

and the list will continue to develop.....lots more to come as i run out of personal care products and create my own (looking forward to trying the oil cleansing method when my facial cleanser runs out and trying the shampoo free method of hair washing hen my shampoo is gone).  what is in your favorite personal care product?  check it out - you can search by product name here -  i've been amazed at the contents of some of my favorites - is it really possible that its legal to sell us this stuff to rub all over our bodies?

free recycling for your empty cosmetic cases/tubes

origins is a great store with lots of good products, you'll find them in most malls these days -  i just found out they offer to take your empty cosmetic cases, regardless of brand, and recycle them for you!!!!  here are some interesting faq's they list on their webpage about how much cosmetic container waste is likely going into landfills thanks to our love of beauty products and the sad fact that most are not-recyclable. check out the link to learn all about it!
AND they will give you a free sample of your choice of skincare product. how awesome! i love finding out about programs that are actually doing something to try and help solve the overly-disposable-packaging crisis.

my compost bin

my husband is wonderful, that's just a fact. but this weekend in particular he is my hero!  he spent most of his weekend building me a beautiful compost bin.  if you're not into that sort of thing you are probably confused about how much JOY this has brought to my world.....but my oh my, this is the best gift he could have given me!  and the fact that he made it himself makes it even more special to me.  i am so blessed by this man.  thank you babe for this amazing gift! (and a special thank you to ochs for the tools and truck and assistance in procuring all the materials!!!)

if only this were a video - petey is doing his latest trick, a full-blown dance party inside the compost.  thought this would give you a better idea of its size.

the finished product with hinged lid and claps to keep the cats and raccoons out.  reid took a plan he found on lowes.com for one of these that was basically double this: two of these boxes side by side but connected as one large compost system. we decided this was ample for our beginner needs so he re-engineered the plan to make it just one bin. i am totally impressed and definitely LOVE  my new compost.  i'll keep posting to update you on my composting experiment.  we've already got a bucket of green materials going from kitchen waste. yippee!!

shampoo free, ziploc recycling and preserve: gimme 5 and styrofoam

interesting post on going shampoo/conditioner free and using natural products to wash your hair and restore its natural health......who ever knew that the stuff in shampoo damages our hair which makes us need conditioner. i am going to try this out this summer once i am out of shampoo and conditioner -
http://babyslime.livejournal.com/174054.html

also, here is the response from ziploc regarding the possibility of recycling their bag products:
Thanks for asking about our Ziploc® Brand Bags, Sarah. 
The following bags are recyclable under the plastic recycling number four: 
Ziploc® Brand Freezer and Storage Bags
Ziploc® Brand Snack and Sandwich Bags
Ziploc® Brand evolve™ Bags
Ziploc® Brand Fresh Produce Bags

The following bags are recyclable under the plastic recycling number seven: 
Ziploc® Brand Easy Zipper Bags
Ziploc® Brand Zip 'n Steam™ Bags
Ziploc® Brand Vacuum Freezer Bags

I hope this information will be helpful. And as I'm sure you know, we recommend checking with your local recycling center to make sure they can recycle these types of plastics.

Have a nice day, Amy

so, essentially they are able to be recycled if your local recycling company will accept number 4 or number 7 plastics. mine does not - like most, they only accept number 1 and 2 plastics which is a bummer.  i have found a way to recycle number 5 plastics (did you know most yogurt containers are number 5?!?!?) at this link for Preserve: Gimme 5 - they turn them into toothbrushes. however, unless you are lucky enough to live in one of the drop-off site areas, your only option is to mail the number 5 plastics in at your own cost. bummer. however, when you buy the products made from your recycled number 5 plastics (toothbrushes, razor handles, tongue cleaners) you can mail them back to Preserve: Gimme 5 with a postage paid label you download from their website and then they recycle those products into plastic lumber used in park benches, decks, etc.  so you gotta feel good about that.

can't someone pass a law to either force recycling companies to get with the program and accept all plastics OR force manufacturers to reduce the amount of plastics in their packaging AND use number 1 or 2 plastics ONLY?  I may have to make a trip to washington. eesh. it seems like such an easy thing to fix!

oh, and what's with olive garden still using styrofoam doggie bags? so lame. BUT-i found a recycling company in san diego (Cactus Recycling) that does recycle styrofoam. i just sent them an e-mail asking about dropping it off.  Here's what the website says about styrofoam:

Styrofoam

Expanded polystyrene, more commonly known as "Styrofoam," is widely used for product packaging. Packing "peanuts" are the most common form of expanded polystyrene; providing soft cushioning for fragile items. While packing peanuts may be great for our packaging needs, they are not good for the environment. When disposed in landfills, polystyrene will not degrade.You can help, though. When packing items for shipping, use shredded paper or crumpled newspaper instead of packing peanuts or bubble wrap. If you receive a package that contains packing peanuts, many shipping stores will take them for reuse. All other forms of Styrofoam can be recycled at Cactus Recycling. Bring in clean Styrofoam food boxes and any other Styrofoam packing material, excluding packing "peanuts." For more information contact Cactus Recycling at 619-661-1283.

it should NOT be this difficult to recycle every-day use products.  everyone wants to talk about being green and saving the planet and complain about global warming but there are definitely not enough systems in place to make this easy enough for the average american to play nice and recycle.  there are way too many products floating around there with no where to go OR that require you to go well out of your way to recycle. 

its scary - the more i find out about this stuff the more questions i have and the deeper i dig and dig and dig. i hope i am not scaring my husband but this stuff is both fascinating to me and giving me a challenge to figure out new ways to do my part - but who is trying to FIX the system?

making a change

i've always been interested in "being green" and being a "good steward of earth's resources" and the reduce, reuse, recycle philosophy....but lately i decided that using cloth grocery bags wasn't enough (although it IS awesome and i am so excited about all the ladies i gave cloth grocery bags to for Christmas telling me how they are trying their best to use them-thanks!!!).  i figured there was probably a LOT more i could do.  i've been reading some fabulous blogs like kitchen stewardship and new nostalgia and progressive pioneer (a lot of them on my blog's sidebar have good info) with great information each week.  these ladies are amazing. they make their own household cleaners to eliminate expensive chemical cleaners that cost an arm and a leg to purchase over and over and put dangerous chemicals in your home and in the air when used, not to mention into the waste system when they go down the drain and eventually into the water supply.  these ladies garden and compost.  they make homemade toothpaste and deodorant and cloth diaper and use homemade cloth diaper wipes.  all these things and so much more in the name of protecting their family from the overdose of untested chemicals in so many food and cleaning products, providing healthy safe options for their family...reducing their contribution to the earth's landfills....protecting earth's resources.......and saving tons of money.....and getting back to the basics, back to a 'simpler' way of living (i realize that simple does not mean easy....not at all).

i have to say i've been trying to educate myself more and more and am taking baby steps, as many as i can at a time, but tiny steps in the direction of making some changes.  so far, many of the changes have been more of a shift in thinking than requiring a ton of actual effort.  things i'm doing so far:

1) reducing disposable paper waste in the kitchen:  i was the queen of paper towels. i love my paper towels. they are so handy, especially with kids and dogs and cooking messes. they are right there on the countertop, smiling at you and offering their "just wipe it up and toss me out" mantra to make everything messy and gross go away.  but it doesn't really go away. it goes into the trash and into the landfill. and it costs approximately a-bazillion dollars (my accountant is still working the final figures) to replace them over and over and over.  my solution based on much inspiration from this post at simple mom - purchased some additional kitchen cloths and towels.  now, we have a cloth that we use to clean up petey's post-meal messes from him and his tray at the end of meals, a cloth to hand wash dishes with (see below) and a cloth to clean the countertops with which also might become the mess-on-the-floor-cleanup cloth if necessary. and then they just get washed after a day or two, depending on the amount of cleaning duty they've seen.  the first few days i was still habitually reaching for paper towels. but not really needing them.  and now i'm getting used to it.  i keep a roll of paper towels under the sink for an emergency situation (not sure what i deem an emergency yet).  i think we've only used 2 paper towels in the last week which is a HUGE shift - we used to go through probably 20 at a minimum each day. success!!!
*we also quit buying paper napkins and have purchased some plain white fabric napkins to use at meals. frugal AND feels fancy. can't beat it.

2) reducing water waste in the kitchen: i love my dishwasher and i will continue to use it. but i am now daily hand-washing the bigger items that take up half the space of the dishwasher after cooking a bunch of meals.  i know for a fact that saves energy from running the dishwasher and definitely saves water.  and once i run out of dishwasher detergent i am going to try Biokleen's products and possible attempt to make my own (although i've read a lot of negative reviews of a lot of diy dishwasher detergent recipes) based on New Nostalgia's recipe.    
as long as its made from good stuff and gets my dishes clean, i'll be happy. just tired of paying lots of money to clean our daily use products in toxic chemicals - why expose my family to it if there are great companies making safe products that have the same or better results?

3)  reducing plastic waste/use in the kitchen:  have been reading about alternatives to plastic food storage because of the plastic contents, disposable/non-recycleable aspect, and chemical leeching dangers (check out kitchen stewardship's monday mission: get in that plastics cupboard)......so i'm going through all my rubbermaid and getting rid of all the damaged plastic. and once the others get to that point, i'll get rid of them too. i just wrote rubbermaid an e-mail asking them how i can responsibly recycle their number 5 plastic containers which my recycling company does not accept.  interested to hear their response. i'm guessing you can't. so sad.  trying to shift to using glass storage containers and/or stainless steel.  pyrex is awesome. mason jars are awesome.  i even read about one lady who resuses glass food containers like spaghetti sauce containers once they are  empty to store leftovers in the fridge.  no more plastic disposable water bottles for me - i just invested in some stainless steel kleen kanteens for us to have around and take our water with us.  our two plastic water bottles, although bpa free, are starting to get damage from wear  and tear so even though we have been using reusable plastic water bottles, we still purchase the disposable bottles of gatorade or other things from time to time. so that's coming to an end.  ziplocs are going to be my hardest change i think. i adore ziploc. the sandwich baggie. the snack size baggie. the gallon size bag for large objects or for freezing soups or whatever. oh man. this one is going to take a lot of imagination and research on how to change that habit.  since reid packs his lunch every day, there need to be some small-ish solutions that are easily transportable without being totally breakable. i know wax paper is good for sandwiches (but you can't recycle that either). i've also seen some sandwich bag-like wrap-it-up things that are cloth on the outside and oilcloth on the inside for easy wipe-down cleaning and reuse. what about chips? what about taking a salad or apple sauce?  like i said.....lots of figuring out on this one.  i'll figure it out though, i promise. do you have any good solutions for this one?  i'm guessing i'll be looking for smallish glass mason jars to solve these lunch packing issues.

4) changing the way we eat: we've always eaten pretty healthy and i definitely try to cook most of our meals at home, from scratch. but now i am paying a lot more attention to the ingredients i'm using to cook our food.  not just for health reasons but the origins and contents of those ingredients. are they organic? are they from a local farm? do they contain pesticides and growth hormones? do they contain ingredients i can't even pronounce?  after reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan (truth be told i'm only halfway through and its already caused my mental process relating to food to shift directions) and watching "Food, Inc." i've learned some interesting things about where our food comes from, what is added to it or its animal or soil origin, how it is grown and picked and cleaned and processed and packaged into the item i am purchasing on the grocery store shelf.  so - i'm trying to look for organic, sustainably grown, local sources of the things we use most: eggs, chicken, fresh produce and milk.  this ensures there are no chemical additives like growth hormones, pesticides or preservatives, indicates that fewer fossil fuels were burned in the process of getting the items to my house and helps me support the local farmers.  i'm experimenting with baking more breads here in my home, trying out new recipes for these breads that use whole wheat flour, apple sauce or healthy oils instead of butter and honey or other natural sweeteners instead of refined sugar.   buying whole chickens that are vegetable fed, that aren't given growth hormones, etc - and cooking them in the slower cooker and actually using the carcass to make my own chicken stock (which is WAY easy thanks to New Nostalgia's recipe) and using the chicken to cook meals throughout the week since we use a TON of chicken anyway. there is a LOT of learning to do yet.....each time i look at an ingredients label on what i'm buying at the store i'm surprised what i find.

5) getting it from the earth: the newest experiment i'm embarking on is gardening and composting.  we've cleared some space. i'm hoping this weekend to build some raised beds and a compost so i can get started. i can't tell you how excited i am about all of this.

6) babies make a lot of waste: i am not going to stop having babies so i wanted to find a way to stop the pileup of diapers and wipes we go through every day. not that they are piling up in my backyard, but i am curious to know how big that pile would be if i could see it stacked up back there against the fence. how many diapers (and how much money) have we gone through in the past 15 months of peter's life? and how many more will we blow through before he is toilet trained? and we are starting over with baby #2......so i've decided to give cloth diapering a whirl and use cloth wipes while i'm at it.  i'm also going to try to pay very close attention to peter and attempt to send him in the direction of toilet training as soon as he's remotely ready for that.  i know its challenging and i don't want to do it too soon and have it become a source of anxiety for him but i've been reading some articles about how the US toilet trains their children MUCH later than the rest of the world.....that tells me it is possible and even maybe normal to do it sooner than most people are doing it here in our country....i mean, there can't be a huge fundamental difference between the capacity for toilet training between peter and a chinese toddler....its a cultural difference.  so we'll see how that goes.

7) dogs make waste too! (you can stop reading if you want - if you are a dog owner, stick with me)

this one seems a little weird but is surprisingly satisfying at the amount of waste i've been able to minimize already.  my sweet dog makes a lot of poo, yes my sweet 18 lb pug goes 2-3 times daily. that has meant 2-3 plastic doggie bags filled with poo each day going into the trash and then onto the landfill.  after reading about cloth diapering and how putting the baby poo in the toilet is best because that system is designed to deal with it as opposed to the poo sitting in the landfill and becoming petrified poo to be dissected thousands of years from now.  so, this got me thinking about alternatives for dealing with dog poo.  you don't want to leave it where it lies to spread disease and attract flies, not to mention stepping in poo is the worst thing EVER.  so what to do?  for now, until my bag supply runs out, my solution is this: i have 1 baggie in the backyard to pick up messes and when they happen i use the bag as a glove of sorts and carry the poo straight to the toilet to be flushed, turn the bag inside out so the icky side is on the inside and put it back out on the patio out of reach of my sweet little boy.  i've used the same bag for a week and its no problem.  it won't last forever and shouldn't be used forever but imagine how many bags i've already saved.  there is a similar routine for messes that happen on walks, they get picked up in the bag and tied loosely and then flushed when i get home. however the bag still goes in the trash but it goes in minus the poo to become petrified. we are heading in the right direction -AND my outside trash can no longer smells terribly of dog poo.  coming up on the hot hot summer months, that is a GREAT thing!  once i am out of those plastic doggie bags i will need new solutions.  probably a trowel/small shovel/metal pooper scooper of sorts for backyard messes.  perhaps even utilizing that somehow on walks.  OR there is this option-flushable, water-soluble biodegradable doggie bags.  i just bought some from flushdoggy.com on sale.  the bags apparently break down in the water of the sewer system in less than a minute and the waste system deals with the poo.  awesome.

there is so much to learn and i'm trying to train myself to ask questions about my consumer habits and lifestyle habits in general.  i do a lot of things because i've always done them. its interesting to see how many things i've been able to easily change just be questioning my current practices, reading about reasons to change and finding easy ways to implement those changes. i'm staying realistic. there are going to be times when i drive through mcdonald's for a meal.  there are only so many hours in a day.  not everyone does this so i'm not offended when i'm in someone else's home and they use paper towels.  i'm not opposed to my child eating a chicken nugget every now and then.  last night i brought home olive garden leftovers in styrofoam to-go boxes.  but now i'm trying to figure out how i can recycle them.  i just wrote ziploc to ask them if their baggies can be recycled anyway.  i found out that number 5 plastics CAN be recycled, even if my local recyler doesn't take them. i wrote rubbermaid and asked them how i can responsibly dispose of (ie: recycle) my microwave damaged rubbermaid storage containers that are also number 5 plastic.  it takes extra effort and it takes awareness and it takes a little thought......but i think once i get these things incorporated into my every day life it'll just be part of my normal and all that extra effort won't seem like extra. it'll just be my every day life. and hopefully my children will learn from my example and will grow up to think this way about conscious consumerism, about avoiding the disposable-everything lifestyle and about appreciating the basics of sustainable living.  i'm just on the tip of my journey and i'm really excited about the possibility for change ahead!