In Pursuit of Health

Green Holiday: Easter

2010-04-04T23:11:00.006-04:00

I really like Green Holidays - it's a great opportunity for me to stretch my planning and culinary preferences and see how sustainable, organic, local and ethical I can make it. This year was particularly special, since our local family farm was able to offer us a whole lamb that was bottle-fed goat's milk and humanely slaughtered.

We also made our plans to enjoy our Easter feast in the park instead of inside our homes, using up electicity and breathing recycled air. The day was beautiful, with a little breeze and mid-70s, all of us got a wonderful dose of Vitamin Daylight! We conserved energy enjoying all that beautiful sunlight and we used cloth napkins and plastic beach plates so we didn't have any waste!

Though I played with family favorites last year, this year our menu was Mediterranean:

Stuffed Grapeleaves:

organic California Basmati rice
all-natural brined grapeleaves
locally raised, all-natural lamb
organic tomato paste
organic lemons

Tabouli

organic tabouli mix (I have to admit this is cheating: I usually make it fresh with cracked wheat bulgur)
organic American cucumbers
organic tomatoes
local, organic parsley
organic lemons

Falafels

falafel mix (this is my favorite: we bought fresh pressed garbanzo mix from our favorite Mediterranean cafe - Baladi's)
peanut oil

Hummus

organic garbanzo beans
organic tahini paste
organic olive oil
organic lemons
organic garlic
white pepper

Pita Bread

local fresh whole wheat pita (these we purchased fresh from Baladi's - who makes them in his store each morning)

I Voted

2010-04-01T21:59:00.004-04:00

I love voting.

I used to work with a woman who was obsessed with anything in the democratic process: voting, jury duty, traffic court, you name it. However, this post has nothing to do with politics.

I went to the library yesterday and they didn't have the books I wanted. (No biggie, you think.) But it is a big deal. I went to find the books on my Shelfari list for my thesis and most of them I couldn't find. I changed my topic from natural childbirth to the importance of the local food movement, eating organics and supporting small family farms. Of course this means I get to read fantastic books that I will find gloriously interesting, but I can't get my hands on them.

Tonight I got on the website for my local library and put holds on all the books I couldn't find and requested the purchase of books that weren't in the library system catalog. Gratefully, the resources I wanted were mostly there, but putting a hold on my text sends a message: people want to read this book. Sure, I could just keep visiting the library and keep searching and waiting, but I also know that librarians are crazy-interested in what people are reading. So, I wanted to tell them.

I also wanted to tell them that these topics are important to me and request the expansion of their collection by suggesting the purchase of other books that will appeal to other residents. I can imagine being a librarian and looking at lists of possible new-reads and just picking at random. Wouldn't it be great for a local resident to tell the librarian what books people want to read? The last time I went into the library there was an advertisement for a new class to learn anime (drawing, mind you, not reading) and a huge section of new Japanese comic books. I was really upset when I saw it, but I realized that's what people are reading. The people who are drawn to those books are sending their vote loud and clear to the library system: we want more.

The idea of voting is fantastic and it happens everywhere. My personal favorite is the grocery store because it's a great place to send corporate messages without having to dig out my letterhead. I shop almost exclusively at a natural food co-op. I love bulk bins and fresh local produce, but sometimes I get stuck somewhere and stop at a mainstream supermarket. This is when it counts.

I know that every item that passes to be scanned is being inventoried and it sends a signal of what is important to me. It is such a temptation being in a large supermarket, seeing items "I never get to buy" and having the notion that no one will notice my little mainstream purchase. But they do. In fact, it's the non-mainstream they notice more. Marketing and advertising groups desperately want to know how I shop and how well new products are selling. I went to a market the other day and saw unbleached, recycled parchment paper. I didn't need it, but I was delighted it was something the market was including in their offerings, so I bought it (Impulsive, I know. Some people buy designer handbags, I buy recycled parchment paper).

I know that my purchases at the grocery store are intentional, but so is political voting. Strategic groups watch demographic profiles very carefully and poll frequently to see what issues are important to them, anticipate their responses and (hopefully) ultimately meet their needs.

When I reach the check-out lane and they enter their inventory code for 5 cents off for each bag I bring in, I illustrate that consumers can be responsible enough to bring in reuseable containers and that the market doesn't have to invest as much money in plastic bags and processing of fossil fuels.

I love giving my opinion and sometimes just sliding certain items across the check-out scanner is my fastest and easiest way to do that. I love voting - it's my American duty and right and I've never been so delighted to do it!

Photo credit: Flickr - Denise Cross

Planting Season Begins

2010-03-29T15:56:00.004-04:00

Last year was an interesting experiment. I placed starter plants and seeds in the ground in May and by the end of the summer had quite an overrun little deck. My cement garden worked well though I was really concerned that my plants wouldn't get enough sun. I arranged the plants by their need for sunlight and in the end the biggest issue was not having enough soil or big enough containers for the crops I tried planting.

I ambitiously attempted a couple of deep-root requirement plants like zucchini and cucumbers, as well as some serious sun-lovers like Brussels sprouts and peppers and I think I'll need to rethink those for this year. Of course, this year, instead of purchasing our produce weekly from our farmer's market, we will be driving out to our local family farm to pick up our bushel of fresh picked organic vegetables, herbs and flowers for our CSA portion. This alone will drastically reduce what I'll want to plant on my deck, since I know I'll be getting great quality deep-root vegetables, I can have fun planting I-can't-get-enough-of [fill in the blank].

I have so far been at a loss of where I was going to purchase seeds. I already know that I will be purchasing locally produced organic soil from New Earth Farms. In previous years, I purchased starter plants from local gardening shops (like McDonald's Garden Center) or family farms in the area (like Stoney's Produce - they sell really great "standard-items" but also fantastic varietals like lemon balm and eggplant. I love browsing around to get great ideas for the garden!). This year though, I'd love to use up all the unbleached egg cartons I've been saving up and teach Aoife about growing our own plants.

I bought some seeds last year from one of our farmer's markets but really wanted this year to use heirloom seeds only. Fortunately this morning while I was on Etsy, I found a great store that sells heirloom seeds - and I am so excited about it! I love Etsy - it's a great entrepreneurial start-up for home mamas and it's completely homemade, which means my items aren't made in a factory in China (which I love).

On my "for-sure" list to be planted this year are:

tomatoes: cherry or pear
summer herbs: basil, dill, Italian parsley, rosemary
greens: lettuce, Swiss chard, spinach
herbal flowers: chamomile, echinachea, and Virginia mountain mint

Just browsing around to find seeds makes me excited to get my hands in the dirt - it is always therapeutic! On a closing note, I found this super great remedy from an heirloom seed seller on Etsy, The Bear Foot Shaman:

"Recipe to alleviate almost anything that ails: First get some sunlight - and not behind sunglasses, next drink a big glass of water, and if you are all cooped up reading this, get out and get some fresh air, if when you do go outside the air is not fresh - find a way to get to some fresh air! Last, while you are out getting your fresh air, find a rock that likes you and carry it around for awhile."

Green Holiday: Anniversary

2010-03-26T14:17:00.003-04:00

Joshua and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this last weekend. We talked about a lot of options on where we wanted to go, but the consensus was ultimately that we wanted to try a "Stay-cation"... a Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown idea (Google it, it's huge). Heading out to the oceanfront during tourist season is something we haven't done in the five years we've lived here, but heading down in the beginning of spring seemed like a fair idea.

Joshua and I usually see our anniversary weekend as a great way to put our feet up, relax, eat great food, soak in a spa, get a massage, enjoy a celebratory drink and take it slow. Of course, with a toddler, all these things are not usually possible, but since Aoife is so much a part of our family and a part of our love we thought it would be great to make it a family getaway. Our prayers were answered as we woke up Friday afternoon to a weekend forecast of mid-70s and all sun.

The Accommodations:

We really love the attentiveness and individual personalities of small business bed and breakfasts. We decided on the Beach Spa Bed and Breakfast, an eco-friendly B+B just three blocks from the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. It won awards from B+B.com as the #1 spa in America. We can totally see why after we experienced such fantastic customer service, delicious breakfasts, lovely room and amazing spa shower (not to mention extreme graciousness with us for travelling with our toddler)!

The Food:

We wanted to eat at local small businesses that were tasty and close to our B+B so we could leave our car parked all weekend. Here's what we came up with: We ate Friday night at Pi-Zzeria, where we shared a great huge salad and a small pizza (sans pepperoni and mushrooms, of course). They brought out a little lump of pizza dough for Aoife to play with while we waited for food since it was so busy, but the wait went quickly and the company was fantastic (as always).
Saturday afternoon we picked up curried chicken sandwiches from Taste Unlimited for a picnic on the beach (that was the plan anyway... we were too hungry to walk any further so we gobbled it up on site!).
Saturday night, Joshua and I enjoyed a really amazing intimate dinner at Zoe's. A girlfriend came by to watch Aoife so we could enjoy our anniversary dinner alone. Steaks, Scotch, edamame hummus and chocolate souffle were the orders of the night and we had a wonderful time in their really funky and comfortable dining room.
Sunday afternoon we stole our first taste of frozen custard for the season at Kohr's at the beach. Unfortunately, Aoife missed the taste since she was already napping, but we were too happy to be driving in the car with the windows down eating custard to notice!

The Entertainment:

Friday evening, we went to the Virginia Beach Convention Center to check out the sports expo for the annual Shamrock Marathon. The marathon took place on Sunday, but on Saturday they ran some shortie fun races, including an 8k. Our B+B was only two blocks from the race route, so runners and family members and friends were jogging up our street both Saturday and Sunday morning, making it exciting to sit back on our deck and enjoy our coffee.
Saturday morning, Aoife got to dig her little shovel in the sand and make sandcastles at the oceanfront with her favorite friend, Amanda, while Joshua and I enjoyed a couples' massage in our suite. The married couple that performed our massages made us melt into the spa tables and completely soothe away all our stress and knots. It was completely delightful.
Saturday afternoon, after we got Aoife all cleaned up from her beach excursion and we nibbled a bite to eat, we headed out for a round of putt-putt at Jungle Golf, just three blocks from our B+B. We loved showing Aoife the elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, giraffe and gorilla! Of course the sunny weather drew out huge crowds of people, but it was fun playing around with the family!
After loading up Sunday, we enjoyed a little picnic in a local park and decided we weren't quite ready to head back home, so we called up our local family farmers at Pungo Naturals to see the newborn baby sheep and baby goats. There's nothing quite so sweet as newborn animals!

Our Local Family Farm

2010-03-25T21:43:00.006-04:00

Last year I frequented several farmer's markets. I learned a lot about the need for local family farms after reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and after seeing them week after week, I became rather familiar and friendly with them. It was a really beautiful routine: every Saturday, we would throw Aoife on our back, grab a couple of bags and walk through the farmer's market. Sometimes we would buy a fresh pastry from a local baker or a locally roasted cup of organic coffee, but it almost always included buying our eggs, dairy, (sometimes) beef or chicken, fresh herbs and browsing the farm tables for that week's produce that was picked fresh that morning.

One little stand I particularly liked was that for a goat's milk soap offering. Tasha's Own was the name of the sign in front and week after week I would walk up and smell the really amazing essential oils that came from the neat stacks of bars. One week there was a stack of newspaper articles and following the encouragement of the lady standing at the table, I put one in my bag to read later.

Having located my farmer's market late in the season, I was too late to invest in their CSA, but the article detailed about the goat's milk soap, their goat share, the beginnings of their organic farm and investing the time to teach our children about food and raise a community of people who want to do likewise. I was hooked.

The next week, I put my name on their CSA waiting list. I thought that was the end of it.

The summer ended and fall came, winter came and then my phone rang. Did I still want in? Yes: to the organic CSA, the goat share, and a large stack of really fantastic smelling soap. They had just opened up their CSA list for the season and as Joshua and I had just found out we were expecting, we were only too delighted to know we were going to be getting organic local produce all summer long!

Since we signed our CSA and goat share contracts, we've fallen in love with our local family farm. Joshua went up to hold milk bottles for the newborn sheep and goats, help mend horse fences, and learn about modern homesteading. Aoife loves the animals, especially the dalmatian Great Danes, the guinea hens, the barn kitty and lots of running room! I love the long drive into the country to pick up the creamiest milk imaginable, the warm hospitality and the incredible sense of community.

The hardest part of being connected to our local family farm is driving away. Aoife can't bear the thought of leaving the "puppies" behind, Joshua loves getting his hands dirty and doing work he can actually see the results of and I am still wanting to sit, drink tea and learn all the incredible knowledge that can be gleaned from a mama with eight children who makes her own cheese, homesteads her own farm, homeschools her sweeties and still looks lovely doing it all. (I would move into the barn if they'd let me!)

Don't know where to start finding your local family farm? Check out Local Harvest to jump start your search for farmer's markets, farms, locally-sourced restaurants and co-ops.

Live in Tidewater? Check out Pungo Naturals, Mattawoman Creek Farm, New Earth Farm, and Weeping Radish Eco-Farm for organic favorites!

On the Library List

2010-02-27T11:18:00.009-05:00

I've been completely consumed with the topic of food lately. I get the question all the time: what do you eat? "Food" is my standard reply.

The concept that is hardest to define at this point in American cultural history is what is food? I have thoroughly enjoyed the ideas presented in Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, that helped me over a year ago really formulate proper ideas on how to feed my family. Ideas that weren't entirely foreign: I knew to shop the perimeter of the grocery store and skip the aisles, I knew it was important to eat food seasonally (it's cheaper and fresher) but what surprised me was the politics. Yes, the Nixon conspiracy that drove prices down but gave us less real food to eat. I didn't know about the corporate group lobbyists that created the US Food Pyramid or the sugar lobbyists that helped persuade for a higher RDA of sugar in our diets to increase their economic benefit.

As an American consumer, I was prompted to ask, "why don't I know this?" Simply put, I didn't care. I had other worries, the food was there, I didn't care how it arrived there, who had picked it, how long it's been there, what had been done to it to preserve it in near-ripe state... I didn't ask and most people in the market were just like me. I'm learning more about sustainable agriculture, family farms, fair-trade and equal-trade organizations that support farmers and workers. I'm learning about the effects of conventional farming, both on the land, on the air, the watershed, the farmer, the consumer and on the product itself. Most of what I've found has been alarming, but looking at such an overwhelmingly large system of consumerism and apathy, I can't change the system, but I can change what my household eats and how we consume.

I know that every time I purchase something (or choose to not purchase something else) it's a vote. I make a selection with my cash that informs the corporations, my government and my fellow citizens which things are important to me. It's been a year since I started attending pick-your-own farms for local seasonal produce, seeking out farmer's markets, foraging in my local woods, supporting family farms and began reviving the ideas of canning and preserving that I grew up with, into my own home.

This summer, we are share holders into a local organic farm that offers us a weekly CSA of vegetables, fruits, berries, herbs and flowers and cares for our goat, through which we get fresh unpasteurized milk and cheese weekly. We will be increasing the amount of pick-your-own farms we attend this year and I will be more closely monitoring the local growing calendar to choose which weekends I will be canning, dehydrating, freezing or eating the selected seasonal crop. My daughter needs to know where food comes from, and she will learn it by first understanding the food shed that is around her: what grows seasonally, locally and most of all, sustainably.

As I keep pursuing knowledge about food, how we grow it, how we eat it, how to keep it, etc. I started looking to a couple of books to add to my library bag the next time I'm out in town. I've added them to my side bar, so you can quickly click to their Shelfari page and read about them, but I'm including a couple of highlighted texts that I'm particularly interested in.

Sharon Astyk wrote several books that are on my "must read" list, but this one is my "must-read before things start growing this summer" list. Astyk contributes this book as a practical guide to eating locally and seasonally, not just as a fringe movement, but on a community scale. "Independence Days tackles both the nuts and bolts of food preservation, as well as the host of broader issues tied to local diets. It includes: how to buy in bulk and store food on the cheap, techniques: from canning to dehydrating, tools: what you need and what you don't. In addition, it focuses on how to live on a pantry diet year-round...and how to reduce reliance on industrial agriculture by creating vibrant local economies."

Robyn O'Brien is a mama whose daughter suffered a violent allergic reaction and spurned her on to investigate the "toxicity of America's food supply, and trace the relationship between Big Food and Big Money that has ensured that the United States is one of the only developed countries in the world to allow hidden toxins in our food--toxins that can be blamed for the alarming recent increases in allergies, ADHD, cancer, and asthma among our children". This looks like a really great book for information for anybody who eats food in America. It is important for us to be informed instead of surprised when the ails of the system make us ill.

Recently, I took a history class just for the joy of it. The course reminded me of such incredible changes in our landscape in recent past and this book excites me because I forget at times that Americans didn't always eat the way they do now and that for the greater part of our history, all peoples ate locally and seasonally; it wasn't just a hip new concept driven out of California. The tag for this book says it all: "A portrait of American food - Before the National Highway System, before chain restaurants, and before frozen foods, when the nation's food was seasonal". What perhaps interests me most would be any conclusion that Kurlansky would make about the continued effects of globalization and out-sourcing our food. This book would be incredible research in studies supporting regional agriculture.

Kingsolver wrote this book as a nonfiction narrative regarding her year of going counter-mainstream and moving north to start a locavore lifestyle. She chronicles her studies of "you are what you eat" and her journey "away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it". Her focus of putting the kitchen back in the center of family life and non-monoculturing farms back in the center of the American diet makes this a book I can't wait to read!

*Note: Quotes in italics are taken from the book descriptions given on Shelfari.

Green Holiday: Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T10:32:00.000-05:00

Trying to continue to make the most of our resources, minimize waste, eat a SOLE food diet and encourage others to have Green Holidays, I've included a little sneak peak into our November festivities. This was my first year hosting Thanksgiving and cooking a turkey without my mom, but we tried our best and made sure we were making tribute to seasonal, local food as well as traditional family favorites!

Grandma Balaban's Holiday Spinach Balls (photo above)

organic frozen cut spinach
organic seasoned stuffing mix
local free-pastured eggs (from Peace and Plenty Farm in NC)
hormone-free parmesan cheese (from Trader Joe's)
organic sea-salted butter (from Maine)

Mom's Olive Tapenade

green olives & black olives
toasted pecans
organic omega-3 mayonnaise with flax seed oil
water crackers

Betty Magill's Cranberry Salad

fresh organic cranberries (photo above)
organic grapes, celery, orange and tart apple
crushed pineapple
all-natural vegan gelatin
organic fair-trade white sugar
organic walnuts
organic cream cheese

Old-school Mashed Potatoes

organic local potatoes (from Weeping Radish Eco-Farm in NC)
organic sea-salted butter
organic milk

Mom's Sausage Stuffing

organic celery, onion, apple, fresh sage
organic seasoned stuffing mix
fresh nitrate-free venison sausage (gifted to us from our Texan rancher family)
homemade vegetable stock (photo above)
organic dried cranberries

Brined Turkey with Cider Gravy

organic, free-range, heritage turkey
organic, sea-salted butter
fresh organic sage & rosemary
salt brine mix from Williams-Sonoma (photo above)
unpasteurized, fresh, domestic apple cider
organic, unbleached, unbromated flour

Drinks

fresh homemade chai (served both chilled and hot)
organic, fair-trade, shade-grown coffee
unpasteurized fresh domestic apple cider

Green Holiday: Birthday

2009-10-05T22:37:00.000-04:00

This year for my birthday I wanted an autumn birthday... something with pumpkins, a hay maze and something involving a wheelbarrow. I found a great autumn festival at Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville but it was a bit of a drive for the five of us, so my girlfriend found a wonderful little pumpkin farm in Richmond which allowed us to spend the night in a hotel, swim with Aoife and enjoy my favorite grocery store in Richmond: Whole Foods!

I made up a batch of my grandmother's 14-karat cake in little cupcake form with all organic goodness and lots of love. We carpooled up to the city and enjoyed supporting the local farms by choosing a pick-your-own field (which I'm a huge fan of!) After picking at least 10 pounds of pumpkin, enjoying the great picks at Whole Foods and driving home, I was surprised with a birthday party with friends the weekend I returned home!

Joshua had ordered a cake that resembled my gift from him: a new digital SLR camera, with telescope and macro lenses and Photoshop package. I love supporting local businesses and my friend Beth made a really great cake with a mini-fondant representation of me on top.

I felt as though my reputation as being a greenie has finally permeated all areas of my life, because for my birthday I received fair-trade pottery and fair-labor jewelery and a live autumn plant!

Recipe: Pumpkin Apple Buttermilk Muffins

2009-09-20T16:55:00.004-04:00

Ingredients:
Cooking spray
1 cup organic all-purpose (unbleached and unbromated) flour
1 cup organic whole-wheat (stone-ground) flour
1 teaspoon (aluminum-free) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup packed organic dark brown (fair-trade certified) sugar
3 tablespoons unsulphured blackstrap organic (fair-trade certified) molasses
1/4 cup expeller-pressed safflower oil
2 large local free-pastured eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin

2 medium peeled organic MacIntosh apples (one diced, one shredded)
1 teaspoon organic pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup local cultured buttermilk

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.
In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined.
Add the other egg and whisk well.
Whisk in the pumpkin, apples and vanilla.
Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds.
Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles.
Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.
Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.
Eat the yummy muffins!!

Pick Your Own: Blueberries

2009-07-15T21:25:00.003-04:00

It almost seems natural now, this is the fifth pick-your-own weekend I've shared with my family and it just seems to be a very normal way to bring in our relaxing Saturday morning. We wake up, brew a little organic direct-trade (or free trade if we run low of the good stuff) coffee, serve up a little fruit, pack up the sweetheart, grab our reused plastic containers and drive out to the farm. This last weekend was open season for blueberries so we went to Pungo Blueberries who we found on PickYourOwn.org and happened to have beautiful bushes ripe for the picking. When we drove up there were already about a dozen people in the front fields and there was an attendant directing traffic (to me, never a good sign... I like quiet farms and empty parking lots. Makes me feel like I found it on my own and I'm the only person who knows about it. But I do acknowledge that empty parking lots don't keep farms open, so I'm glad I wasn't alone). I was nervous that the berry bushes would already be picked over but when we got all saddled up and over to the grove, we were really surprised how easy the picking was.The berry farm is only open four days a week and since the farm is open on both Fridays and Saturdays, the attendant was rather surprised we still made out with five pounds. We actually left earlier than expected (after only about forty minutes), Aoife had been woken from her nap to go out to help us pick and well, she wasn't happy about it.

The grass between the lanes was freshly mowed and the dew was still on the leaves when we went out to pick. I was initially a little concerned about the bushes, because I was finding absolutely no fauna. Read here: no bugs. None. Not even little, tiny, I-missed-the-pesticide-plane bugs. We eventually started to see dragonflies and beetles, which allayed my fears about the amount of herbicides and such that were being used, but I still washed our produce very thoroughly.
The plants had perfectly ripe blue-black toned blueberries, red, pink and green as well, indicative of future growth into the picking season. I appreciate coming early in the season and having first pick. The bugs and birds haven't discovered the ripe and rotted fruit on the ground and the bushes aren't beaten and fields aren't trodden bare from crowds. There's something terribly amazing about a pick your own produce experience. For Joshua and I, as urban homesteaders, connecting even on this basic level with our food helps me to feel like we are doing a small step in the right direction.

Instead of my food being picked (usually unripe, so it arrives ripe--or worse yet, picked ripe and then sprayed with a preservative to help it to maintain its ripe state), boxed, sent to a processing location, unboxed, sorted, packaged, labelled, reboxed, put on a truck, put on a plane, put on a semi, dropped at a distribution location, put on a truck, dropped at a warehouse, put on a produce truck, brought to a store, placed on a display in a stale grocery store under fluorescent lights, waiting until it starts to get bad so they put it on "manager special" status and then thrown in a plastic bag and brought home in a car and shoved to the back of the fridge...

Instead of all that, I can take my family to a farm, pick it myself, laugh with my husband as we listen to ornery old female sisters relate stories of their youth in Sandbridge, teach my daughter about fresh fruit and eating in season and I can place my fresh picked, ripe fruit in reused containers, paying below market cost and enjoying that day the fruits of my labor (no pun intended).

Cement Gardening

2009-07-12T17:58:00.012-04:00

Joshua and I have a little apartment attached to our collegiate institute. We really like the idea of having a garden and being able to grow our own food. Of course, having a cement deck does not really help our plight. When my mom came to visit in May, she helped me get the ball rolling with getting plants and seeds in the pots and helped me get a system going.
It's been almost two months now and I thought it was definitely high time to show the progress that has been made. Here's our little cement-deck shot. We live facing a youth sized soccer field that is encircled by Virginia's favorite tree: the Crape-myrtle.Already planted at this time (early June) were our tomatoes, herbs: (Italian basil, oregano, chive, sage, mint), lettuce, cucumbers and seeds were in the ground for our spinach, dill, peas and radishes.I don't think I've ever gotten anything to grow successfully from seeds and these little beans were giving me some serious hope for my future as a green thumb. I bought these seeds from the farmer's market from a local farm and I was so tickled when they started sprouting early! Two weeks later, my beans were looking for somewhere to grow:
Somewhere in those two weeks, I was feeling pretty good about seeds, so I also planted Italian flat-leaf parsley. Such sweet little green blooms of life:My mom planted my cherry tomato plant when she visited in May and it has done nothing but flourish. I put it at the end of my walkway and it gets excellent amounts of sun in the morning and throughout the day. I have neighbors who planted inverted tomato pots (I'm still not keen on the idea) and had a rocky start with it, but have finally started forming fruit. I've already been harvesting mine for a couple of weeks. Check out the growth on these tomatoes:After two weeks, it had already grown over the top of the tomato stake and was looking for more room to grow.Then one morning after my walk I noticed it was full of blossoms and one tiny little green tomato! I was so tickled, I had to take a photo for posterity.No sooner have I uploaded the photos from my camera when I find that my tomato plant is really growing and I have a beautiful cluster of fruit beginning to ripen!One week at the farmer's market I noticed they were selling plants, of which I had already planted most of the basics, but I saw they were offering lettuce. I had sown seed for spinach and a spring mix, but I thought perhaps this "deer-tongue" variety might be fun to try. The six-pack of lettuce plants was being sold for $1.50, so I figured if it bombed, I didn't lose much. They were looking a little tender and I was rather apprehensive whether I thought they would actually take root, but about a week later, I was already harvesting leaves for sandwiches and to accompany salads.Shortly thereafter... they really started to take off. I went on a trip for two weeks and a couple of my plants died from the heartbreak of my absence, but the lettuce plants that did survive did really well. Also, the spring mix of micro greens I planted by seed in the center of the pot were progressing way beyond my meager expectation of my cement garden.Below is the photo I took this evening of my crazy lettuce plants. Yes, they have gone to seed because I can't harvest their sweet leaves fast enough. I'm hoping to dry out the seeds after it goes wild so I can try my hand at deer-tongue lettuce again. It was such a wonderfully mild lettuce and for our climate and sun, grew extremely well.

The cucumber starter plants I bought I thought would never reach maturity...
...but those words were barely out of my mouth, when my cukes were already reaching out of the box. I quickly learned that cucumbers have really extensive root systems that bury themselves at least 18" and I needed to transplant even though they had already begun to flower.The transplant was a success and my plants were quickly covered in pretty yellow blossoms and fantastic looking cukes!As far as herbs are concerned, my oregano, chives and rosemary came back from the years' prior, and we purchased starter plants for the Italian basil, purple sage and grew parsley from seed. Now isn't that a fantastic looking herb pot?
I have this special love for Kentucky Colonel spearmint. Just after I got married, my dad had a layover in Norfolk before he flew to Iraq and as my own husband was deployed elsewhere, I had this really special daughter-daddy time where I made him lots of fresh mint iced tea. Somehow I always associate bright, fresh, huge Kentucky Colonel mint leaves with that memory and I love having it on hand in case he should happen to drop in, I have plenty on reserve for him!

This is my purple-leaved sage as of tonight. Joshua and I really enjoy frying sage leaves as a fantastic amuse-bouche styled appetizer. It's so remarkably fresh and clean on the palate and it's rather unexpected... I can't wait to preserve it for the winter and have on hand for our Thanksgiving turkey. For as long as I can remember, my mom has put sage leaves under the skin of the turkey with stems of chives, to look like growing plants under the skin... it makes a wonderful presentation after the bird is browned.

This is my sweetie rosemary plant. I've had the same plant now for three years and though it never seems to get amazingly large, it has been very resilient to the changes (4 different pots, 3 different locations, droughts, floods...). Rosemary is most certainly Joshua's favorite plant in our garden (just ask our friends), so I make sure to take extra care with this plant!

We planted zucchini and Brussels sprouts as well this year. I think they got a late start and were not potted in enough soil (part of the drawback of having to put everything on a cement deck), they both are rather floundering this year and though the zucchini continues to produce gorgeous orange blossoms, I have yet to see fruit.

We also planted bell peppers and jalapenos. The jalapenos blossomed and produced fruit first and are almost ready for an initial harvest, which tickles me because I have a great recipe for preserved peppers that I'm dying to try out!

Speaking of preserving, after my cucumbers were done, I transplanted my Italian basil to the cuke pot and they have really dug deep and grown large enough to start me thinking about caprese salad and pesto!

Of course no garden is complete without it's wildlife and Aoife and I have been able to see many stunning butterflies, moths and dragonflies frequent our garden space. But this one takes the cake. I only saw it once climbing on my tomato pot and then I didn't see it again (I'm sure metamorphosis is to take credit for that), but I still have no idea what it is. Any clues?

The dipledenia I killed from last year was replaced with this gorgeous beauty which I can see from my kitchen and I absolutely love. My mom and I have this kindred relationship for dipledenia and I don't remember ever not having one... the climbing aspect of this flowering shrub just captivates me.

I have so many blossoms on it now it has been such a refreshing scent on my porch and a wonderful spray of pink for the Davis ladies who desperately need something girly!
Thanks for sitting with us on our porch... if you stay awhile, I'll be sure to mix up a tall frosty glass of rosemary lemonade or minty iced tea!

Farmer's Markets

2009-06-22T22:49:00.006-04:00

I love my farmer's market.

Yes, that photo up above are my goodies from a recent trip to the farmer's market, including free-pastured Americana chicken eggs (whose eggs are green, blue or brown), free-pastured duck eggs, raw and unfiltered honey, farmstead cheese (made from the milk produced on that farm), buttermilk and cream, grass-fed Dexter beef, and all sorts of organic lettuces and fresh produce.

Looking for a farmer's market near you? Check out these resources to get connected to your locavore community:

Local Harvest: A great springboard of information for restaurants that source locally, farmer's markets as well as CSAs offered by your local farm.
Organic Consumer's Association: Looking for only organic? Check out the OCA's GreenPeople Directory link to find co-ops as well as local farms producing organic grain, meat, dairy and selling and utilizing non-GMO seeds.
Eat Well Guide: Another great resource for people trying to find local sustainable and organic restaurants, farmer's markets and grocers in their area. This is also great if you are going to be on the road travelling and you want to know where to find SOLE food around you quickly.
Edible Communities: This has become one of my favorite "insider" resources. Edible Communities highlights regions' local seasonal harvest. I live in the Chesapeake watershed, so my Edible Chesapeake magazine gives me great advertisements on professional restaurants, regionally sourced products as well as articles and recipes. You can buy a subscription or find this publication at your local farmer's market.

Live in the Tidewater area? Check out these markets:

Five Points Farm Market: Located in Norfolk, this farmer's market is open 5 days a week and is housed in an old warehouse building. Many local farms drop off their produce or products at regular intervals during the week and 5 Points sells them. Saturday morning is when I go purchase my dairy, produce as well as dried legumes and meat.
Old Beach Farmer's Market: Located in Virginia Beach, OBFM is an open air market only open 8-noon on Saturdays. Beyond the standard fare of veggies, there are vendors who sell fresh granola, bread, croissants, dressings and seafood.

Found: Mulberries

2009-06-22T19:49:00.005-04:00

I found wild mulberries while walking with Aoife. It made me do a double take… are those really the mulberries of famed nursery lore?

Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush,
Here we go round the mulberry bush.
On a cold and frosty morning.

This is the way we wash our hands,
Wash our hands, wash our hands,
This is the way we wash our hands,
On a cold and frosty morning.

This is the way we wash our clothes.
Wash our clothes, wash our clothes,
This is the way we wash our clothes,
On a cold and frosty morning.

This is the way we go to school,
Go to school, go to school,
This is the way we go to school,
On a cold and frosty morning.

This is the way we come out of school,
Come out of school, come out of school,
This is the way we come out of school,
On a cold and frosty morning.

At any rate, I tipped my hat to Michael Pollan, kept watching the tree to wait until they were ripe, then brought Joshua out with a bucket one evening and we went crazy! Mulberries are white when they are first forming, then they turn pink, red and finally a deep blackberry-purple. Of course, I had to do a little digging online to make sure the leaves and fruit matched up with an edible fruit, since Aoife is still nursing I wanted to make sure I didn't consume something poisonous.
A quick Wikipedia search confirmed the leaves, bark and fruit development to be mulberries and safe for eating. Joshua and I picked almost two quarts of mulberries and after much rinsing, we drizzled on a little honey (from Peace and Plenty farm in North Carolina) and amazing half and half cream (from South Mountain Creamery from Maryland - it's rBgh free and they do not regularly treat with antibiotics. We're buying into a cow share soon, but for now our farmer's market offers SMC's buttermilk, whipping cream and milk and we really love the flavor!). We couldn't believe how fantastic our berries were and can't wait for the wild black raspberries we found to ripen (more on that later).

Pick Your Own: Strawberries

2009-05-05T17:55:00.004-04:00

The first weekend in May I went strawberry picking with the family. My gardening meet-up group sends out great reminders at the beginning of the peak season for picking produce utilizing local farms she finds on PickYourOwn.org, which is how we found Flanagan Farm in Pungo. Flanagan's chief crop is strawberries and after picking in their fields it is easy to see why they are third generation strawberry farmers. Flanagan's farm is off the main drive in Pungo, which afforded us a really quality interview with the farm, away from crowds, traffic and businesses. The rows were dry and well maintained and the staff were friendly and personable.

Pungo is renown for their Strawberry Festival that they host every year which draws an amazingly large crowd. Of course, the main event happens during the peak of strawberry maturation, when the fields have already had a majority of their fruit developed. We didn't attend the festival since we were already swimming in berry goodness by the time of the main event.

When Joshua and I went picking up the rows of strawberries there were still blossoms on the plants, there were no bugs and it was still cool outside, offering us a really wonderful first-time experience. In what seemed like no time at all, we had already picked 17.5 pounds of strawberries. Joshua kept finding "the perfect strawberry" and, well, he had 9 pounds of berry in his box to prove it.

What did we do with it all? Well, I hadn't prepared our house to receive all of our very ripe produce, so we froze some of it, we made some of it into buttermilk and mint smoothies and ate a lot of it with cream, but we also tried to get our friends interested in the local farm offerings by dropping off bowls full of berries to our neighbors.

As much as we loved the PYO scene, our main reason for driving into the country to pick something that was available at my local market was for the sake of my daughter. We have decided together one of the best things we can teach Aoife at her young age is where food grows. It doesn't grow in a package on a shelf in the grocery store. She needs to see how food is grown, harvested and how superior the taste and quality is when you are close to the source. Aoife has been reared exclusively on breast milk and strawberries are her first taste of "mommy" food.

Turns out, she loved it as much as we did!

Green Holiday: Easter

2009-04-13T18:38:00.004-04:00

In my efforts to start eating more locally, I built a holiday menu that was seasonal, local, organic and almost entirely homemade. In efforts to reduce waste and reduce our carbon footprint, I purchased almost everything at the farmer's market with my reusable grocery bags and produce bags and utilized cloth napkins at the table. Here's a listing of our SOLE food Easter menu:

Eggs Benedict:

Local chicken eggs (purchased from Peace & Plenty farm in NC)
organic whole wheat English muffins (from the Organic Food Depot)
oven roasted turkey slices (I don't eat pork... so this were a substitute from the Fresh Market)
hollandaise made with cream from a local dairy and organic butter from a company that advertises its sustainable business practices

Crepes Suzette:

Local duck eggs (also from Peace & Plenty farm in NC)
Locally produced cream (from Homestead Creamery in Roanoke)
organic butter
domestic flour (from King Arthur in VT)

Blanched Asparagus:

locally grown and harvested asparagus (purchased at the Eastern Market in Capitol Hill)

Chocolate Truffles

locally made chocolate truffles that are made without additives or preservatives using only seasonal ingredients (bought at 5 Points Community Market from Cocoa Noveau: she recently set up an Etsy store so when she bakes for the farmer's market you can purchase her fantastic European chocolates online!)

My only regret was that I didn't take a photo of us enjoying all this fantastic food!!

Patio Garden

2009-04-09T21:32:00.004-04:00

It's almost time to start planting. This weekend I'll start turning my dilapidated deck space into my garden. This year will be a little different since we moved during the winter and our new apartment is completely westward-facing. (Read here: only afternoon/evening sun... almost entirely useless for growing vegetables). I have not yet begun researching plants that will be more accommodating to part-sun and shade since I really just wanted to plant cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, beans; all of which are sun-lovers. I have half a mind to plant them in my studio on top of my architect's desk, which would ensure that no pests reach my plants but would also inhibit pollination of the fruit later which would likely pose a problem, at least for my tomatoes.

My rosemary, chives and oregano are already back from last year and are excited about this new season. Our new apartment is on the base floor and is completely sheltered from the rain which also poses an issue for growing. Rosemary is from the arid mountainous terrain of Italy and does well in dry soil but chives and oregano do not. I've started running outside when it rains and pushing my little window boxes into the rainfall so they may get some of the free nutrients but my dipledenia and hibiscus from last year aren't even budging.

This year, Joshua and I have talked about planting lettuce and scallions, both of which would go really well in the large pots that are currently hosting my dead (am I already pronouncing that?) dipledenia and hibiscus plants. My mom may be journeying this way next week and perhaps dirt digging will be a quality mother-daughter activity. Last year my mother planted my garden alone. I was nine-months' expecting and we were biding our time until Aoife came, so I kept her company while she planted all my flowers and herbs.

I won't lie: I cannot successfully grow anything from seed. I buy seedlings and small plants because my green thumb was amputated at a young age: I believe in kindergarten I grew marigolds and that may have been my last successful venture.

I am undecided from where I will purchase my plants this year. Traditionally, I buy them from the McDonald Garden Center, but this year I was thinking about purchasing from something a little more "grassroots". Our local community college has a horticulture club that is sponsoring a plant sale, including a nice list of herbs and vegetables, all of which seem to be well researched for hardiness and resistance to disease. The other location is my local farmer's market: Five Points Community Farm Market which is sponsoring the sale of starter plants. Last weekend while in Washington D.C I went to one of my favorite farmer's markets: The Eastern Market at Capitol Hill. The purple Thai basil and lamb's ear sage they were offering made me wish I lived closer!

I'll post before and after pictures of my deck so you can see how I'm transforming the space into something edible, enjoyable and sustainable. In the meanwhile, I'll start resarching a type of tomato that grows in the dark in dry soil...

Slow Food

2009-04-01T12:44:00.005-04:00

Sometimes I forget I don't have a microwave.

Like last week, for instance. While I was at the Organic Food Depot, I bought a mixed rice/barley blend and a couple of organic burritos. Did I forget I don't have the essential small appliance with which to make them? So here I am, hungry and looking in my pantry for something to go with my roasted sweet potato from last night's dinner and I see the package for microwaveable food.

I think I'm getting ahead of myself. I've started reading increasing research about "slow food"... the fabulous counter-movement to the microwaving-drive-through culture we now find ourselves in. Slow Food USA defines it this way: "Slow Food is an idea, a way of living and a way of eating. It is a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members around the world that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment."

I'm starting to find it everywhere, even on Etsy. Previewing through some hand crafted toys for Aoife tonight, I found a gift guide for slow food. I was remarkably impressed. I wouldn't call the selections on that gift guide anything close to the quality craftsmanship I've come to expect from Etsy, but I thought it was fantastic that they were thinking about it.

So, I found instructions on how to cook my rice on the stove... a little more oil, a little more time, a little more dishes but I blended it in with my sweet potato and it tasted better than I remember microwaving tasting. I grew up in a household where dinner was eaten as a family. All four of us, every night at the table, talking about our day, laughing and enjoying community. I want to instill in Aoife a need for quality food and that slowing down to enjoy it is worth the wait.

All good things are.

SOLE Food

2009-03-30T21:42:00.006-04:00

No, I didn't spell that wrong. I meant SOLE food: Sustainable-Organic-Local-Ethical.

I have started really jumping into the green food movement. Joshua and I routinely shopped at the local food market and though we have been making a pull away from processed foods for awhile and try primarily to eat whole food sources, I was not making a large distinction as the origin of my food.

Across the street from our previous residence was an organic foods market that offered a really great selection of items both produce and packaged, but I did not capitalize on it since I was buying cheaper items at my local grocer. However, I picked up a book recently I bought for my pregnancy and was instantly compelled by the statistics it offered on the differences between conventional and organic foods. First, let me say that some conventional farmers utilize organic practices but have not invested for the organic conversion and as such these statistics are not hard and fast.

The buzz about eating food locally has even hit the White House, as this week the First Lady begun planting a 1,100 sq ft garden, to help her daughters learn about the importance of eating healthy, fresh and emphasizing locally grown produce.

Saturday, Joshua and I found a great new farmer's market that spring-boarded my research and understanding of SOLE food. I landed a copy of edible Chesapeake, a quarterly magazine that focuses on local food in its season. This concept in itself has been hitting me hard lately. I went to the grocery store last week and in my cart as I was checking out I noticed a couple of things: grapes, pineapple, watermelon, bananas and avocados. I suppose this would not be an issue if it were July and I lived in Central America, but as it stands, these items travelled a long way to end up in my cart Saturday afternoon. The imported grapes are definitely on the worst conventional foods list, aptly named the "Dirty Dozen" as they are the twelve most pesticide-harboring fruits and vegetables. When I visit my parents in Waikiki this October, I'll make sure to load up on tons of fresh pineapple and bananas, as they will be there in abundance and I know I can wait a couple of more months for fresh watermelon at my farmer's market. Avocados will definitely be put on my cereal when I get to Florida next month as my mother in law has recently sparked a new affinity for them. I need to start eating produce in its season.

A girlfriend of mine recently also started me on the ethics of eating meat. I used to think PETA was just a little off-kilter ranting about (what I thought to be) isolated events of harm to animals. Research is pouring in about the wide scale effects of slaughterhouses and factory farms--its detriment to the environment, economy, our health and the welfare of the animals who are living there. An article was recently written on the Muslim butchering method called halal:

In order for meat (except pork, which Muslims don’t eat) to be halal, which
means lawful, a Muslim has to say a blessing, position the animal facing
toward Mecca, and slaughter it with a swift cut across the throat with a
very sharp steel knife. This centuries-old method of slaughter, similar in
many ways to kosher slaughter, is meant to incur the least pain possible
while allowing the carcass to be completely drained of blood... halal rules
include several provisions for minimizing the animal’s stress prior to
slaughter, including ensuring it has been normally fed and watered, and that
it is in good health, and prohibiting any animal from seeing another animal
being slaughtered. And if they have traveled, they are required to be well
rested—at least overnight—before slaughter, according to Egyptian-born Omar
Wali, owner of American Halal Meat in Springfield, Virginia.

Reading these articles really makes me reconsider some of my food choices and
makes me want to take a more conscious approach toward how I consume.

Trash Talk

2009-01-20T22:32:00.002-05:00

With all the trips I've recently taken from our apartment to our car to reuse our boxes for our move, I've been acutely aware of how much trash I create. I also used to live near a landfill that was created into a park, and now, I live near a landfill that is about to become a park. It seems I just can't get away from it.

With everything I put into the trash, I've started wondering: was that something I could have prevented? Here's a recent sampling of the refuse I put into a landfill and how I plan to curb that activity next time around:

Plastic produce bags
Herbal tea bag
Paper napkin
Kleenex (a lot of them)
Cough drop wrappers
Ziploc bag container
Organic cream bottle
Chinese bistro take-out container

Plan of action to curb my landfill contributions:

Plastic produce bags: I will start bringing my own reusable bags to the grocery store. I will bring bags for produce items, for bulk dry goods and for carrying my items from the store.
Herbal tea bag: Roomie and I have already started buying loose leaf black tea so that we aren't putting bags into the garbage and we can utilize the used leaves for composting, but I should start buying my herbal teas loose leaf as well since I cannot consume black tea because of Baby.
Paper napkin: Yes, I really could go to cloth napkins. :D
Kleenex (a lot of them): Oh, how delightfully old-school is this? I could use handkerchiefs… apparently, they aren't just for your hair anymore!
Cough drop wrappers: I will find a brand that sells the cough drops in a single container, preferably in something highly recyclable, like tin and are not individually wrapped.
Ziploc bag container: I have already cut out the useage of plastic baggies, but I will start encouraging Roomie to take his lunch Bento-style and not utilize plastic bags.
Organic cream bottle: Our grocery store used to sell our cream in glass bottles (how cool is that?!) and then you could bring them back and get a credit on your next purchase of dairy. I know we have a dairy in town, perhaps I could follow-up on that. Of course, this brings up another valid point about participating in a cow-share. I could just use my own containers.
Chinese bistro take-out container: Well, I probably should stop eating P.F. Chang's…

Wow. Everything in my trash bin was totally recyclable or preventable.

Photo credit: flickr - alex_lee2001

Green Wrapping Paper: Furoshiki

2008-12-14T00:04:00.003-05:00

I am turning over a new leaf. That green leaf is called furoshiki. The Ministry of the Environment from the Government of Japan has made available instructions for multiple forms of furoshiki, which is the wrapping of gifts in cloth. This eco-friendly presentation of presents not only staves off the waste incurred from traditional wrapping paper but also gifts the recipient beautiful fabric which they can reuse to furoshiki a gift to someone else. How fantastic!

The Tree Without a Footprint

2008-12-13T23:59:00.003-05:00

In my efforts to start being more conscious about reducing my carbon footprint and saving the earth for both myself and my daughter, I have been increasingly aware of the waste that happens at Christmas.

The trees that get chopped down after years of growth for a one-month-stay in a living room seem like such an incredible loss after all the massive amounts of deforestation in the world.

For this reason (and the fact that we will be in Europe for the holidays), we slimmed down our tree and made sure it was a little more "green" friendly than in years past.

Mommy Eats Colors

2008-11-14T20:29:00.004-05:00

There is an age old question: "does life imitate art or does art imitate life?" There are scholars who debate in both directions, but at any rate, children imitate their parents.

Aoife is quickly coming up on five months and naturally the question arises, "are you introducing solids soon?" (FYI: The answer is no, Joshua and I intend to feed Aoife only breastmilk for the for her entire first year. There is too much evidence that introducing solids too soon can be harmful for an infant, not to mention it is infinitely more easy to breastfeed than it is to prepare meals for a baby!). The second popular question we receive makes me laugh, "is she showing interest in food?" My answer is almost always, "of course!"

I love looking at the world through Aoife's eyes and this one is the one that tops the charts. It must be so odd for her to watch me eat. There are colorful objects on my plate: orange carrots, green broccoli, red peppers, brown rice, and pink salmon that I scoop up and put in my mouth and then, it doesn't come back! How bizarre. Aoife is at that stage where absolutely everything ends up in her mouth. She must look at me like I just inhaled one of my toys. She probably wonders how it is that I can consume my colorful toys but she cannot. She watches the process very carefully and I can tell that her little mind is trying so hard to compute where those 'toys' are ultimately ending up and if I can play with them again tomorrow.

I can understand parents thinking their children are showing interest in "food", however, if they have never had an introduction of their own to adult foods, then it will not occur to them that they are missing out on an opportunity. I also know that the flavors of the food I am consuming is passed to my daughter through my breastmilk, so she begins to discern different tastes and preferences of her own. The wonderful part of this process is that I am already giving Aoife a head-start on healthy eating. When I consume healthfully, she develops a desire for those wholesome foods as well and when we do begin solids those foods will be her preference. Unfortunately, the converse is also true, so I better stop eating sweets after church on Sundays or she will become permanently addicted to all things chocolate (of course, as a female, I think she may already be doomed).

As far as the question goes, life does imitate art and for Aoife, I want to make sure what she emulates from me are healthy eating patterns since there will come a day when that she will be eating mommy's "toys" too.

Pregnancy & Delivery Books: An Overview

2008-10-27T21:41:00.005-04:00

With the ridiculously old-fashioned nature of our pregnancy and delivery, we naturally received a lot of questions about what we read, why we chose what we did, how we came to certain conclusions, etc. Below is a springboard of books we read, starting in order of recommendation:

The Pregnancy Book by Dr. William Sears:: Get this: M.D. marries R.N. and have eight children (with one adopted) and have horrible hospital birthing experiences... until they have a home birth. With their incredible exposure, they begin a whole library of texts which are focused on natural, normal, healthy, non-interventive pregnancies and labors. This particular text is an excellent replacement for "What to Expect When You're Expecting"

Lord of the Birth by Jennifer Vanderlaan:: Short book, but great devotional to approach the topic of natural childbirth from a Christian perspective. This text really reminded us of God's greater design and our calling as Christians to "remember who we are", even in labor.

Husband-Coached Childbirth by Dr. Robert Bradley:: Dr. Bradley returns back to a more natural field study approach, showing how other mammals birth and approach a fear-less laboring experience. He places major emphasis on the need for the husband to coach the laboring mother through delivery. Bradley practiced in the OB during the early 1940's when the only member able to be in the delivery room was the laboring woman. He implemented change at the hospital administration level to promote the benefits toward the labor experience by having her mate accompany and encourage her. Bradley also focused on the need for food while laboring, quiet atmosphere, focusing on positive mental imagery and home birth for healthy moms. ["As a doctor and advocate of natural childbirth I can have no arguments with Ashley Montagu and other experts on human relations who contend that from a bacteriological, sociological, psychological, moral and spiritual standpoint, human babies should be born at home...Hospitals also introduce new complications that home births don't have... In my practice, about three percent of our patients need cesarean sections. Of the remainder who have had their babies through the vaginal route, 96.4 percent achieved spontaneous, uncomplicated, unanesthetized births that could have been managed at home" (Bradley, 1981). ]

The Secret Life of the Unborn Child by Dr. Thomas Verny:: Phenomenal. Dr. Verny is by title a neo-natal psychologist who researched out the learning abilities of babies in utero. Through empirical evidence he decisively proves the intelligence of "pre-born" babies who enjoy interaction, touch, sound, learning language and intrauterine bonding. Verny also focused on how a person can be influenced by the birthing experience. This was a major eye-opener for us in our pregnancy and one that changed our approach to the birthing experience. ["For his mother, for his father, his birth may represent an unperishable memory, the fulfillment of a life-long dream, but for the child himself, it is something much more momentous--an event that imprints itself on his personality. How he is born--whether it is painful or easy, smooth or violent--largely determines who he becomes and how he will view the world around him" (Verny, 1981).]

Natural Childbirth: the Bradley Way:: This was the first book we read and it was an excellent book to detail out reasons against typical American labor interventions: episitomies, induced labors, cesarean deliveries, epidurals, etc. This book really focuses on the nitty-gritty science of why certain procedures are not adviseable. If you are already leaning toward a natural pregnancy, this book is not needed. I needed to read the science to support my position and so this text was excellent.

Childbirth without Fear by Dr. Grantley Dick-Read:: This book actually predates any other on this list. Dick-Read in an Englishman who wrote academically on the effect that fear has on the laboring woman, with especial regard to pain. Dick-Read's writings influenced the further study of Dr. Robert Bradley who pioneered the idea of fear-less childbirth in the United States.

Supernatural Childbirth:: This book takes a different approach to childbirth: painless, fearless, pleasant childbirth. It is a radical and transformational view of the Christian process of laboring. My husband and I have spoken to people who have had this experience and then have spoken to others who believe this falls under the "name it and claim it" movement. Either way, it is an excellent text to be read with a grain of salt; if for nothing else, the prayers in the back are worth the purchase.

The Birth Book (Dr. Sears):: In this book, Sears focuses on everything delivery, labor, post-partum. This is an amazing resource. He and his wife detail out their birthing experiences and provide well-balanced, quality advice from a medical profession perspective on natural birthing techniques, coping strategies, preparation and overview.

Hypno-birthing (The Mongan Method):: She claims to have started some of these concepts indepentantly of Dr. Robert Bradley but it seems to be a complete reiteration of his research. This book is good for emphasis on positivity, but was slightly too granoly for our tastes.

Catching Up: A Natural Pregnancy

2008-10-27T21:40:00.009-04:00

It has been entirely too long since I have approached this blog: one year.

In summary of the last year, my husband and I had a completely natural pregnancy, resulting in a completely natural delivery of a healthy 10 lb. baby girl in June. Aoife Nadeen was nearly 23 inches long and was born at home: vaginally, spontaneously and without intervention. My daughter opened her eyes as soon as she was birthed and she recognized her father's voice immediately. Aoife was breastfeeding within the first hour and has yet to be separated from us.

Aoife is now four months old and completely off the growth charts. She is nearly 2.5 feet tall and 24 pounds. She is intelligent, healthy, and girly as can be.

What was once scary, daunting and unknown is now common-place and familiar. We are looking forward with expectation toward our future pregnancies, knowing full well we would not have it any other way.

Apologies with Excuse

2007-10-30T13:35:00.001-04:00

For awhile I have been silent on this blog, for reasons that kept me from sitting upright at the end of the workday. I have longed to be blogging away my happy moments of glowing "morning sickness" bliss, but the word wasn't officially out.

So here goes: JOSHUA AND I ARE HAVING A BABY!!

Organic Shampoo Review

2007-09-30T21:19:00.001-04:00

I regularly rotate out which shampoo I use. After one bottle is empty, I switch so that my hair does not become accustom to a particular formula. As Joshua and I have recently switched to all organic, that has had an effect on which body care solutions we use as well. Here are a couple of my favorite shampoos.

Nature's Gate: Herbal Daily Shampoo - - this one has become my favorite. It handles my weekly swimming routine well without letting my hair feel chalky in the shower and it removes the grease that Joshua is familiar with while working on the ship. This herbal blend draws on properties from chamomile, lavender and sage which offers a pleasant clean aroma and the lavender also doubles in aromatherapy for stress relief, which is a nice reprieve in the morning before work.
Nature's Gate Organics: Asian Pear and Red Tea Shampoo - - this one is my favorite if I'm not swimming. I happen to get a little more tangle out of the shower with this one, but the smell is fabulous. This shampoo is more appropriately formulated for color-treated hair, which though I haven't had my hair colored in over a year, preserves the shine well and offers an extra brightness to my blond highlights.
Alba Botanica: Hawaiian - - this is the only type available at my grocery store by this company, though they do have other varieties. This particular blend is thicker than the other botanical organic blends I have used previously. It lathers particularly well and the smell instantly transports to the bottom of a waterfall in the tropics. Macadamia oil, pineapple, kelp, awapuhi, and kukui nut attribute their natural properties to this mix and I am growing increasingly fond of this blend while the weather is changing to be drier. With the cooler weather coming, my finer hair tend to get really prone to splint ends, but I do not foresee this being a problem with this blend. [Blogger's Note: Alba Botanica also offers an organic Kukui Nut Body Creme that is rich, silky and a great nut-smelling alternative to a former favorite of mine The Body Shop's Brazil Nut Body Butter, which is too mainstream and completely non-organic, though the nuts themselves are community traded.

Cailin Coincidence

2007-09-30T20:59:00.001-04:00

Just on a random aside, let it be known that my birthday, October 1st is also World Vegetarian Day. How wonderfully serendipitous is that? So not only is my favorite food (pumpkin) widely commemorated beginning October 1st, which is the beginning of it's harvest season, but also it is Vegetarian Awareness Month? Oh, I love it.

[Yes, that's me sitting in a pumpkin patch. That was taken last October on my annual "Autumn Day" where the first apple pie is made, the pumpkins are selected and the first batch of freshly pressed cider is brewed on the stove after a great day tromping through pumpkin patches and bumping around on hay rides. Think of all that amazing fresh air I get, while searching out the amazing pumpkin!]

Looking for Green

2007-09-21T12:23:00.002-04:00

It is my Friday lunch hour and as it is so dreary and rainy outside and I already tried braving the weather for my morning one miler, I decided to set up shop inside today and surf the web for something green. Here's where I spent my time:

ideal bite: a sassier shade of green offering tips and tricks to live a more "green" lifestyle
Honeybee Gardens: all body natural products for men and women
Terrapass: balancing CO2 emissions
Green Festival: showcasing and teaching on eco-friendly living
VegNews Magazine: for vegetarian lifestyles
Planeterra: an adventure company for off the beaten path
Green-e: a renewable energy certification company
Organic Spa Magazine (online): connecting spa with sustainability
Natural Home Magazine: making green homes chic

Surf's up!

Swimming in Bleach

2007-09-19T22:55:00.001-04:00

In my pursuit of health, I'm finding a terrible inconsistency in what I say and what I do.

With some recent joint pain and weight gain, I have turned over to swimming as a great way to do my cardio workouts and still relieve the muscle soreness associated with such heavy pounding on the joints. However, I have to swim through chlorine. It is completely inadvertent, but I am finding with so many laps (at least 1500 meters), I am taking in quite a bit of water through my mouth, nose and on my skin. I swam last night and I still smell like that horrid chemical. I am noting my hair becoming more brittle, my skin drying out more rapidly, my throat hurting substantially in the morning and I am dry as a camel throughout the day. I am loving the exercise, but I need to pull away from the pool, else I fall victim to perhaps some serious damage.

For my throat, after my swims I am immediately drinking Throat Coat tea as well as half a liter of water to help flush the harmful fluids from my body. For my hair, I have started placing a thick organic conditioner on my hair prior to placing on my swim cap to help save my hair from the damage of the pool and then only rinsing my hair once I am back in the locker room after my laps. For my skin, I am also attempting to rinse off more thoroughly after I swim, but somehow I can not shake the smell. It's rather unprofessional to be sitting in the office at my desk and smell like a can of bleach and tooting the "all-natural" horn.

Any suggestions to help my skin while I pursue this short-term interest?

Waste Not, Want Not?

2007-09-17T13:59:00.001-04:00

In my deliberate transition from heavily advertised "normal" items (cosmetics, toxic cleaners, processed foods, etc.) to a more healthful approach, I am cringing against my frugal thrifty nature and Dutch heritage, which doesn't let you throw ANYTHING away, to completely rid my home of chemicals and toxic items. I cleaned my bathrooms for the first time yester-evening with my new biodegradable products and ... [there are no words].

I have always had a reaction to chemicals. When cleaning the house growing up, I used to complain I wasn't feeling well and I think perhaps my mother thought I was faking in order to get out of housework, but in fact it has only gotten worse as I've gotten older. I now have to wear a handkerchief over my mouth and nose when cleaning the bathrooms with the poor ventilation and aerosol cans, abrasive bleach cleaners and sprays that made me nauseated. I have learned to stall in cleaning the bathrooms, as my skin gets sensitive and red and my lungs burn and my nose and mouth begin to react to all the sensory over-drive that occurs with the inundation of chemical smells in such a small space. I began to accept this reaction as normal.

As I cleaned my house last night, I sprayed the mirrors, counters, and cabinets and the smell was so faint, I began to wonder if it was working. As I began to see the soap scum come clean and the windows be streak free, I wondered why I was left in the dark about the availability of these products for so long. I opened the new scrub for the shower stall and tub and began to doubt if the amount in the container could handle the task I was about to give it: my brother's shower. As I gingerly tapped into the resources, I noticed I had completed a whole half of the shower without reaching for more. Usually this was the part I hated the most as the powder abrasive cleaner would become airborne as I was dispensing it and I would have to breathe in the bleach as I was leaning over the tub to scour the walls. Again, this was completely not the case. The all-natural cleaner was made from ground cherry pits and the smell was faint, but pleasant and I was able to clean the space completely with only minimal cleaning agent. I noticed after I rinsed the walls my drain wasn't clogged with all of the product filling the basin of my tub like it was previously. I was amazed at what a small environmental footprint I was leaving from the cleaning of my bathroom.

I ran water to create an all purpose solution to wash the floors and walls, doors and shelves and after I finished and my water was brown from all the filth I had lifted from my bathrooms, I walked out my door and down my steps to the lawn and freely dropped my brown water into the soil, as my product manual encouraged me to do. I could never have done this before as my all purpose cleaner was filled with contaminants and phosphates that would likely have killed the poor crape myrtle tree I watered. I decided I was having too much fun to stop, so I threw my shower curtains in the laundry and used the new cleaner, of which I only needed a half a tablespoon and as my curtain was only mildly soiled, I placed it on the gentle setting and pulled out bright, clean fabrics after the cycle was completed.

I am positive that the only downside from these new products is the amount of time I now spend cleaning my house, which might have an effect on how much time I am spending with Joshua or at the office. Speaking of which, I have a very sensitive nose and with office cubicles being in such close proximity, if a coworker slathers on a particularly strong scented lotion or decides to clean their desk with a spray all purpose cleaner, I have to leave my office. I am instantaneously sick to my stomach and I get light headed, followed usually by a migraine. I brought in my new counter cleaner, which is 99.9% water and cleaned off picture frames, lamps, counters, computer hardware without so much as a sneeze from all the dust that had been happily accumulating in my workspace. A coworker walked over and noted that she wasn't aware that I was cleaning because she didn't smell anything. Welcome to the new era.

Waste not want not? Absolutely not. I threw all my old stuff in a box by my front door. Harsh abrasive cleaners, bleach, syrupy fabric softener, phosphate filled cleaners and laundry detergent, dish soap, dishwasher powder, oven cleaner, sticky surface cleaner and carpet stain removal all got nicely put in a large recyclable box. I called my brother who just moved into a new apartment and asked if he was in the market for some products. His response? "No thanks, I'm switching to whatever you're using". There you have it.

Introduction: JMLD

2007-09-16T20:03:00.000-04:00

Born in southeast Texas and raised on a ranch influenced greatly the dietary norms of this southern boy. Red meat was not just something to eat; it was what we ate. A friend of mine once told me "Vegetables are what 'food' eats", and, as a culture, my family lived that mindset everyday. At age seventeen I was a 6'2", 285 lbs. offensive lineman for my high school's football team. Large and in charge left me fat and depressed.

After graduation, I looked about me searching for a way to get a start in life. Few things in the Texas Golden Triangle appealed to me, and I knew that I lived in the type of town that people never leave. I finally decided to join the US Navy in search of adventure and purpose. Unfortunately I was nowhere close to the weight requirements. I had to get serious about more than my weight, more than my exercise habits; I had to get serious about my life, about my lifestyle. I was an athlete, per se. I knew how to work hard, play hard, and how to commit, but I lacked the tools and information that I needed to be successful in my plight to escape the Golden Triangle doldrums and get into a lifestyle of deeper and clearer, cleaner waters.

That is the purpose of this blog: to not only have a place for cataloging the information discovered, but also to provide a source of information for others who may read what Cailin and I have found for the enrichment of our lives. My wife and I have committed to a lifestyle of healthy living, starting with our diet and simple steps like recycling, but allowing that mindset to move beyond the everyday, beyond the ordinary. Many people, when they find out that my wife is a vegan, have asked her, "What do you eat?" Likewise when I say that I am an O+ carnivore, people assume that I am the same unhealthy and unhappy man that I was. Through this blog Cai and I want to shed light on the union of veganism and meat eaters to give hope to those who think that a healthy diet is unrealistic and unattainable.

Introduction: CLTD

2007-09-15T20:06:00.002-04:00

I am a returning vegan after a three year sabbatical during which I married my Texan husband who turned me from my devout vegetarian ways and tempted me with antelope and strawberry glaze during our engagement dinner. I am an A+ blood type relying heavily on raw vegetables for my protein and much dedicated to the freshest possible produce to sustain my dietary needs.

Running track and playing basketball while maintaining a lacto-ovo free and meatless diet kept me in shape and fit in high school. Early college years were not as rigid in exercise routine and my veganism fell by the wayside after returning to the United States after living in Japan for three years. Fast forward five years and a recent doctor's visit found me over my body mass index (BMI). Aghast and horrified to be classified as "overweight", yet knowing it to be the truth, drove me to reclaim my health and longevity in better dietary standards and a routine exercise regimen. Now swimming twice a week and getting back into running and yoga, I am opening my mind to ideas that have evolved while I was out of the all-natural scene, including the thrive diet, the raw foods detox diet, blood type diet, as well as newer developments in vegetarianism that will help me adapt to a healthier me.

I am about as new as they come for the "green" ideals, but quickly gaining ground for lost time and bad decisions. Our home has recently has switched to all natural, biodegradable cleaners whilst trading out the toxicity that once reigned in our home. Fluoride-free toothpaste and aluminum-free deodorant are the new indicators of our strong dedication to our health as well as talking pieces when we are confronted by our friends. Searching out local co-ops and organic farmers have given us new understanding on sustainability and reducing carbon waste. Each day gives us new resources and new ideas that we are just bursting to share. Stop by our blog often and comment freely... we look forward to hearing from you!

Nubius Organics Affiliate Confirmation

2007-03-30T17:39:00.000-04:00

Confirmation Code: GHDFSCD13421562