CSA

Warm weather is on it’s way! Not that it’s been a terribly cold winter, but something about those first sunny days with the windows open and that springtime “smell” in the air seems to energize just about everyone. It’s also the time garden catalogs start arriving and Matthew starts buying trees and plants like crazy. Sunday drives seem to always end up at his favorite nursery (yes, my husband has a favorite nursery) and we end up coming home with a new plant of some sort. I’m blessed that my husband has a green thumb, because I have a special gift of killing off every plant I touch. Every year that I can remember, I have plotted and planned a garden. I have big dreams of summer days with the kids playing in the yard and me canning tomatoes and making jams and jellies. I spend a fortune on seedlings and stakes and other supplies, and after all, I am saving money by growing it myself!
To the best of my knowledge, I have harvested: 8-10 cherry tomatoes from a container on our porch in an apartment, 3-4 small tomatoes from my garden last year, and a pepper. I think if I did the math on the cost of my produce, it would be a very scary number!
Fortunately, there is another way. While I refuse to give up my garden dreams, I now blend it with a little reality by joining a CSA.
CSA stand for Community Shared Agriculture, which is a big way of saying supporting local farmers. By signing up now, I agree to purchase from the same farmer every week for exactly half of this year (26 weeks). They plant the produce, harvest it and put it all in a big box that I pick up from their farm every Wednesday. Each week I get an assortment of certified organic seasonal produce at a really great price. It is a commitment, though. There is no quitting halfway through (that’s not fair to the farmers) and you don’t pick what you get.. you get what’s ripe that week. The trade off is: I get to expose the kids to real farms, expand my culinary repertoire and bring home fresh, locally grown organic goodies every week, while my plants wither in the yard.
In the Nashville area, we have plenty to choose from: Avalon Acres, Delvin Farms, and Rocky Glade are some of the bigger ones. To find one near you, check out Local Harvest. Each farmer offers different choices, some are organic, others not. Some add in natural eggs, meat and even dairy products. Others give biweekly and even monthly options. Most have more than one size to choose from, but they all offer a great way to eat fresh, local and healthy all season long.

Mission: Organic

Did you know that currently, 3% of all produce sold is organic? By 2010, that number is expected to be 5%. While that’s certainly great progress, it is still a pretty small number. The Organic Center would like to see twice that by 2010. That’s why they began Mission: Organic. Organic produce offers benefits conventional produce does not. For example: on average, organic produce boasts 30% more antioxidants than conventional. These cancer preventing nutrients help to eliminate free radicals from our bodies. Organic is also great for pregnant and nursing mamas, offering their babies a healthier start with a smaller chance of autism spectrum disorders, including ADHD.
Overall, organic produce is more nutritious than conventional, and the science is there to prove it. Notonly that, it helps small farmers and reduces pollutants in our air and drinking water. By taking the Mission: Organic pledge, you are committing to buying at least 1 in 10 produce items organic and eating 1 in 10 meals organic.When you join (it’s free) you also get a free organic starter pack to download that offers tips and recipes as well as some stats on eating organic. For more details and to join the efforts, head over there, and let me know what you think.

BIG boy!!!

If you have not yet met my little Micah, know this: he is a TANK! He was born at home on November 30th (almost December.. 2 hours away!) at a whopping 8pounds 6 ounces. For some of you that’s a small baby, I know, but for me.. that’s huge! My other 2 were 6#10oz and 7#2oz. This is a big change. But, he didn’t stop there. He’s still going! Today, he is 11.5 weeks, and I just weighed him. Ready for this? 14 pounds and 14 ounces!!! Ok, some of you big baby’s mamas are laughing at me, but this is BIG for our genes! At a year, my other 2 were 17 and 18 pounds.. at a year! Looks like I need to be looking for a new car seat. This baby bucket isn’t going to last much longer!

Pregnant In America

How many times do we find ourselves saying, “This is America, this is THE best medical care in the world” translate that: The safest place to have a baby in the world. Did you know America is the second worst of Industrialized countries for a baby to be born? Only one other country has a higher mortality rate than we do? Our rankings continually fall, and last I checked we were #41 in all the world for birth safety? Since ACOG began in the 50’s, we have not been back in the top ten countries to give birth? There IS better way.
That is why I am so excited about this new movie, “Pregnant In America”. I consider it the “Super Size Me” of birth. Go here now and watch the trailer. Sign up for the email list and go see it when it comes out. This brilliantly made movie exposes the truth about birthing in America and why we lose as many babies and mamas as we do. Not only loss, but lifelong health problems that are simply unacceptable.
From what I can tell of the trailer, this movie is very balanced. Not every birth goes 100% smoothly. Not every birth can be done without a csection, and they freely admit it. Doctors and midwives are interviewed for a practicle, truthful exibition of what birth really is and what it can be. This is going to be a must see movie.. I’m sure you will hear more from me when it comes out.

For Jenny

For almost 2 years now, one of my closest friends, Jenny, has been battling ovarian cancer. It has been a roller coaster of a ride, from a pregnancy to beautiful baby boy and remission then growth. The cancer has shrunk only to grow back stronger than ever, and now my sweet friend is teetering between life on earth and life with Christ.
Jen is a homeschooling mama to 4 little ones. She loves scrapbooking and ministering at her church to other mamas. Her oldest will be 8 soon, and her littlest just celebrated his first birthday.
To bless her family during this time, we, her friends have put together a benefit in her honor. Check out this website to see what is in store tomorrow night. We have a massive silent auction with online bidding available. Items range from House of Blues art to vacation packages to signed Cd’s and on and on….

On Becoming a Hippie….

So my good friend Micky has gotten me hooked on a blog by the Lactivist whose Sunday post has gotten me thinking. Before I had my kids, I was a very “normal” person. When I saw a child in a superman costume, my nose turned up as I swore MY kids will never appear in public like that. I would have a “safe” hospital birth, “just in case”, and I would nurse “until she gets teeth”. When my MIL wanted to buy me a baby bjorn, I told her, “I’ve carried this baby 9 months.. it’s someone else’s turn now!” We would enter preschool at 2, have a dog and a white picket fence.
Now, 10 weeks into baby #3, I have had 2 homebirths, nursed a total of 33 months.. and counting, homeschool.. classically!, attended LLL meetings, slept with a child in my room since Sept 2000 (still counting here, too), and haven’t had a “baby sitter” since 2001. We eat mostly organic, and I even became a doula and (gasp!) herbalist! Not only do I use cloth diapers, I am attempting natural infant hygiene, which means no diapers. I have ditched the Bjorn (which, thankfully she bought anyway) for multiple slings that I use daily. My kids dress themselves most of the time, and I pride myself for allowing them to use their creativity.
I, too have been spit up on, thrown up on, and clothed in baby’s leaks from every possible source. I have endured labor pains (and yes they are pains), engorgement, sleepless nights (though some would argue nowhere near my share) and checked sleeping babies to be sure they’re still breathing (you know you’ve done it too:)
As my husband readily admits, his once hip wife has turned into a full blown hippie. Looking back, I don’t know how or when it happened, but I have to admit… it happened. In my defense, I am not really a “hippie” I drive a Honda Pilot, live in a subdivision and dress like a 20 year old.
Am I sorry? Not at all. I am proud of what I have become, and am grateful I learned what I did to become a better mama. I may not have as wide a range of tv shows I can watch now, but that’s a small price to pay for children that can “rise up and call you blessed” These three perfect little people will one day be grown and gone, and I will never have this chance again.
I guess my ideals were wrong: We did get the dog, but as for the white picket fence… I’ve heard the paint chips and they have to be repainted all the time.. I’ve got much better things to do with my days. Besides.. we’re going for a more Mediterranean look in our house