Superbug or Just Really Annoying Virus?

By our very own guest blogger Sarah!

Natural Cleaning Products are a must in my life. A few months ago, my husband, baby and I were diagnosed with MRSA, an antibiotic resistant strain of staph that can be fatal. “Where the heck did you get that”, you ask? Well, I don’t know exactly where we picked it up, but it’s a common virus that is found on shopping carts, public bathrooms and gyms. We were instructed by our Doctor to clean our home and our bodies, top to bottom with bleach. Yes, bleach was supposed to be added to our 9 month old’s bathwater. After a few days of chemical induced highs, I sought the help of an herbalist who helped us fight MRSA in our home the green way.

Fighting the Good Fight

Like all superbugs, MRSA is a bear to eradicate in the body and at home. Thank goodness for local natural food stores and their knowledgeable staff who turned us on to lemongrass and tea tree oil. MRSA infected or not, it couldn’t be more simple and economical to make your own earth-friendly and cruelty-free cleaning products that disinfect too. Here is how I went from Chemical Ali to Essential Oils Sarah in one day.

Make Your Own Cleaning Wipes

1. Heavy Duty Paper Towels

2. Tea Tree or Lemongrass Oil

3. Airtight Container

Cut a few paper towels at a time, in half with scissors and place cut side down in airtight container. Pour water starting with 1/2C and keep adding until saturated. Add 8-10 drops of essential oil over paper towels. If towels begin to dry out over time add more water, and oils if desired.

Make Your Own Germ Fighting Organic Bath Soak

Treat minor cuts and scrapes, or a nasty virus with this home remedy. Fill Bathtub with warm water and add 2 green tea bags, which helps fight inflammation, 2 drops of germ fighting tea tree oil, and 4 drops of relaxing lavender oil. Wonderful smelling essential oil turns any bath into a relaxing and healthy spa treatment in your own home.

So, What did I Learn?

A glass of cheap wine and a cabinet of essential oils later, I’ve learned more from this experience than I am probably willing to admit. I believe in conventional medicine and taking advantage of the wealth of information available to inform you about ways to use more earth friendly, animal friendly and people friendly products. Most important, is that my family and I are doing well and our house smells like a lemon grove. In a world of instant gratification, truly important changes take time. Fighting viruses and going green may be a slow process, but the payoff is priceless.

~Sarah

THANK YOU Guest Blogger Sarah!  Fantastic post!

We Keep Chickens

Are the chicks OK???

My husband is tired of me asking. Our first experience as chicken farmers has brought with it an education and much anxiety (on my part.)

Why Chickens?
Craig was eager to build a coop last year, I was pregnant at the time and thought it too much to take on (in hindsight it WAS a good choice to put it off.) He boasted, "...fresh eggs, cheep eggs, free eggs!" While I grumbled, "...something else to worry about, more poop to clean up, more work for me..."

Craig also thought it would be a good experience for the kids-- caring for others...responsibility...circle of life...

I personally like the idea of fewer people touching my food, so eggs from home grown chickens to my hands is very appealing. Also, no transport costs or weird chemicals to contend with when harvesting eggs from my backyard.

Well, this Winter I became excited about the prospect of keeping chickens. New challenges are always easier when smart friends are along side. Gretchen and I collaborated--breeds...brooder...coop construction? Sooo many questions (neither of us had any chicken raisin' experience) we found some answers which fueled our determination to become chicken farmers. I expect we will learn much more, just watching these creatures...well...do what they do. The social aspect intrigues me, how and what will they learn from each other?, how will they interact with the kids?

As for the "circle of life" thing, we don't plan to eat the chickens (apparently it is not cost effective unless you have a large operation.) But if one is old or sick, what to do?

The conversation went something like this...
Me: I can't even think about doing it.
Craig: I'll do it... no, I don't want to do it. Who else would do it?
Me: Igor (Gretchen's DH) might do it.
Gretchen: Yes, Igor will do it.

Problem solved for now anyway.

Growing Up!
Our girls are almost 4 weeks old now, and resemble gawky 9 year olds rather than fuzzy chicks. The first week was the most stressful, fragile tiny chickies huddling to stay warm, stressed from their journey from McMurray Hatchery. I checked them frequently and shushed everyone like a mom with a newborn (familiar territory.) They made it through their first few weeks in the basement with blaring red heat lamp (DH reminded me of Seinfeld's Kenny Rodger's chicken episode, after I mentioned the light was making me crazy.)













Sprouting their big girl feathers, our 5 Red Stars and 2 Black Stars are beginning to appear less fragile and more like the layers I've been dreaming of. Their attempts at flying are more comical than productive, but their wings are magnificent already. Perfectly formed instruments of flight, already they stretch them, groom them and do a bit of parading as they drape them over the bunches of pine dust. Gigantic feet perching on the well used roost, they balance quit nicely.

I studied lists of breeds and selected a few that would suit our needs and conditions.

Wyandottes (Emily's favorite)
Rhode Island Red
Barred Rock (My fav)
Red Stars
Orphingtons

All are good layers, and hearty for our snowy Winters. These are also Dual purpose birds, but we will not be eating them--only eggs please. The McMurray Hatchery's minimum order is 25 chicks. Luckily, a friend shared her order with me. Next time I will plan ahead with some others and get a few of our favorites. The Red Stars from trusted farmer friend Gayle are quite a bit bigger than the two Black stars donated by Craig's dad (bought at a local farm store.) The Blacks are only 3 days younger, I wonder if the Blacks tend to be smaller or if the differing hatcheries are at play. I know mixing chicks is sticky business with the possibility of disease wiping out the flock, but we took our chances in order to achieve a good number.

*7*
hopefully will produce enough eggs for our family, at ~4 a week per bird, we should be scrambling to our stomach's content. They should start laying at 20 weeks old if not before, sunshine and warmth can speed the process. Come on Summer!!! Can't wait til our tomatoes are red,the kids are picking carrots, and the chickens are squawking and laying!

Jennifer

Dinner Di$as$ter

My husband is a total meat & potatoes kinda guy.  I’m a chips and dip kinda gal.  And we raise our kids eating tons of fresh veggies and fruit.  When we made our switch to organic eating, farming & living we realized how costly all of this was – pretty overwhelming.   And although I’m sure we were meant to win the lottery, so far we haven’t and eating healthy isn’t always the least expensive (in the short term). 

Some Major Changes

1. We slowly learned how to shop differently.  And sometimes accepted the costs of things by NOT even looking at the other products anymore.  (I can’t tell you the last time I was down the regular cereal isle.)
   
2. We started eating a lot less meat.  We have limited our meat intake to 2-3 nights a week not including gifts such as Elk sausage (thanks Jason) or lunch meat.
   
3. We returned to menu planning.  We fell out of this practice a while ago … can’t remember why.  This means that shopping is tightened up: we don’t spend $ on things that we “might” need in general but are clearer on what we do need.

So all of this said, when we have a big roast or something, it’s kind of a big deal!

Yesterday I crock-potted a big Pork Butt (Insert foreshadowing). I’d never cooked a Pork Butt and really didn’t know what to do with it anyway.  But this was one of the two things my Love picked out for this weeks menu. So I threw it in with a bunch of great ingredients – all of it organic – all of it pricey.  It simmered there for a few hours till the sliced yams, carrots, celery etc etc were cooked perfectly.  I called my family in from yard- work to share in this perfectly cooked hunk of butt only to find out it literally smelled like dung. It was awful!  I had my Love check our son’s diaper!  But alas it was dinner.
Can you imagine!?!

Problem Solved

Little Caesar's.

Seriously!?  After all of the work, the planning, the preparation and consciousness, it boils down to crappy pizza!?

Lesson Learned

Eating differently also means that one absolutely has to have quick backup plans in case the roast goes to the outhouse.  Next time I shop I’ll definitely be picking up something easy, even if it isn’t necessarily the best.  I realize I’m going backwards in these cases but not as far back as Rome’s pepperoni.  I can choose some Pacific soups (often on sale for 4 for $5 – beat that Campbell’s!) or Amy’s burritos (yummy),  or some other quick meal but either way they have to be handy & easy.  If we don’t plan for the unplanned we end up feeding our children pizza that I wouldn’t serve my dog… literally…
 
The kind of Pizza I DO like - a la me ;)

Cheers! ✿Gretchen

Pretty Poison Plastic.

Here we go!

 

 

I HATE PLASTIC!

Plastic is all over my house, and I can't stand it. I've made attempts to reduce my use of plastic, but it keeps coming back. My fear is that in 10 years we will realize that ALL plastic is toxic and cancer causing, even the "BPA free" and "good" numbered plastics freak me out. I don't want me or my children playing with it, eating off of it or sitting on it. I also battle with my husband over this issue, HE LOVES PLASTIC!

Let's get REAL

I know, plastic is everywhere so what is a mom to do? So far I have reduced my plastic food containers and replaced them with glass Pyrex (which still have plastic lids.) I never heat up food in the microwave on plastic. I buy glassware to drink from knowing that the kids or I will probably break them and I'll have to buy more (often from garage sales.) And my husband has agreed to buy numbers 2,4,5. We also use Kleen Kanteens, and other stainless water containers.

After reviewing information on plastics, I have gathered that even the good numbered plastics leach after time or heat exposure. So the "better" plastic containers are labeled 2,4, and 5. The ones to avoid are 3,6, and especially 7.

The best choice is to avoid when possible and use glass and stainless steel.

I have barely touched the surface on this issue. I have a lot more questions. Which plastics can be recycled and where? Did the ingestion of BPA contribute to my mother's breast cancer. Are these products in places I have yet to consider?

 

 

Today

The most important question remains....what did I do today in my home that made me feel better about reducing plastic in our lives?

Well, I finally threw out those cute, colorful little melamine snacky bowls that the kids love. They are stamped "made in China dishwasher and microwave safe" with a "12" on the bottom---go figure. What did I not change?? Lots....my plastic high chair, my BPA free Nuby sippy cups, my black plastic spatulas to name a few.

Tomorrow, I will investigate glass or metal feed containers for the chicks. Also,

I need a replacement for my plastic cover for the picnic table.

✿Jennifer