why I love working from home

I'm having one of those weeks that makes me really appreciate my decision to work mostly from home. Firstly, my 4 year old has been sick for the last 5 days and counting :-( Nothing too serious, but enough that he hasn't been able to go to preschool. I love that I can keep him home with me, and let him recover in his own time, without having to pump him full of antibiotics to make sure he can get back to school and I can get back to work. Instead he is doing nicely with homeopathy and home-made (organic of course) chicken broth...

Although I must admit, I'm feeling a little funny about the chicken broth since we are now the proud owners of 3 chickens... another reason I'm glad to be working from home. It's been so nice being able to wander outside throughout the day, checking to see if the hens have laid any more eggs in their nest hidden away in the corner of our veggie garden... collecting the brown and speckled eggs while they are still warm, and eating them fresh the day they were laid. I love this life! I'm also saving about $20/week that I was spending on organic eggs.

The other half of why I love working from home is the nature of what I do... I love my "job" so much it hardly seems fair to call it a "job"... it's more of a lifestyle that happens to bring me an income. I am an Independent Representative of ONE Group, the makers of miessence certified organic products. This means I have my own website where people can choose from over 100 certified organic skin, hair, body, health, household and baby products and have them shipped directly to their door almost anywhere in the world. (And I don't have to do the shipping which is great).

The best part is that I get to train and support a team of like-minded reps around the world who have their own reasons for wanting to create an ethical and sustainable income from home and to help increase the availability of certified organic alternatives to toxic everyday products. I spend most of my "working" time talking, skyping, emailing and meeting with wonderful people who are passionate about health, the environment and making the world a better place.

Just this week my team has grown to include a Pharmacist in Ireland who ordered certified organic baby powder to sell in his Pharmacy in County Cavan, a massage therapist in West Virginia, and a raw food enthusiast in Phoenix Arizona. And all this while spending time looking after my son, making sure he is getting sunshine and rest and fresh organic food while he's home sick.

If I was still a lawyer I would have been stressed about taking time off work, stressed about clients who needed me and stressed about letting down my colleagues. Instead I am grateful that I can be there for my family when they need me and still support a team of reps who have ended up becoming dear friends while we are trying to make the world a safer and better place. I really am very lucky :-)

Can you afford not to eat organic meat?

Unless you are a vegan you are probably ingesting some meat and dairy that is not certified organic or biodynamic. And maybe you'd like to eat more organic food but it's too expensive? I know that organic produce, meat and dairy can be two or three times more expensive than the pesticide, herbicide, synthetic fertilizer, hormone and antibiotic laden, factory farmed versions... but it's worth asking yourself, can you afford not to eat organic meat? The good news is that there are some tips and tricks that will help you save money without having to compromise on health, safety and the future of the planet.

1. Eat LESS meat. If organic meat is twice as expensive, then buy organic, but eat half as much. Most of us meat-eaters eat way too much per serving. Adults only need a portion of meat the size of the palm of our hand, not including our fingers. If you're eating more than that in a meal then you should be sharing it with someone else, or freezing it for later.

2. Eat meat LESS OFTEN. If you eat meat two or three times a day then substitute one or more meals with organic eggs, dairy, nuts, fish, legumes etc for protein. But beware of SOY, which needs to be fermented to be properly digested.

3. Make your meat into soups/stew with BROTH. When you eat meat that has been cooked on the bone it is more nutritious, and more easily digested, so you don't need to eat as much. Click here for more information on Why Broth is Beautiful.

4. Buy the CHEAPER cuts of meat. Lamb shanks, beef bones, chicken carcasses, etc can be bought very cheaply from most organic butchers. My favorite biodynamic butcher sells bags of organic beef bones for $2. The bags are huge, and the bones still have quite a bit of meat on them. I throw half in a stock pot (freeze the other half) and simmer for a couple of hours until the meat falls tenderly off the bone, and then I cook some diced root vegetables in the broth for 20-30 minutes, add the meat back in and I have a delicious soup that everyone in the family eats, even the toddler! The whole thing costs less than $5, including the organic vegetables! You can do the same with chicken and lamb on the bone.

5. Buy organic meat when it is on SALE and freeze it.

If you are sensitive to amines (ie prone to migraines, asthma etc) then don't cook your meat too long, trim the fat off first, and freeze what you don't eat right away. You should eat meat that is as fresh as possible, and not freeze it for more than a week. it also helps to wash the meat before you cook it as most of the amines form on the surface of the meat.

Finally, unless you want to develop diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease or cancer, do not eat processed meats or fish (even "organic" ones) that contain nitrates or nitrite preservatives. This means, bacon, ham, turkey, sausages, hotdogs, salami, pepperoni, pickled fish etc, unless it says it is nitrate and nitrite free. This is because the amines (proteins) naturally occurring in the meat combine with the nitrates and nitrates to form nitrosamines, which are known carcinogens.

Nitrosamines are also a huge problem in cosmetics and other personal care products, but that is a blog post for another day...

Why everything I thought I knew is being turned upside down...

Big apologies for not posting recenly... I know I promised a blow-by-blow of our pre-conception detox, but things got a bit de-railed, and we went off on a journey of discovery that has solved lifelong mysteries (mostly of the bumps on your skin, pains in your tummy type) and turned my world upside down and inside out.... I don't have time to go into the details now (I never do, which is why I never post, so I figured something was better than nothing)...

So, to give an idea of what I don't have time to post about (and may never, but you never know...), I have recently discovered, through the course of doing an elimination diet and subsequent research, that:

-Organic food can actually make me sicker (in the short term.... but conventional food will still kill you in the longer term) because it is naturally higher in salicylates, a naturally occuring chemical to which I, and my organic toddler are both very sensitive.

- Far from being healthy, fruit is one of the worst things I can eat, especially organic fruit, because of the aforementioned salicylates. The only fruit we can eat at the moment is peeled pears... (recipes for pear crumble, pear muffins, pear pancakes etc to come...)

- I have been diligently avoiding sun in the middle of the day for years, when actually that is the best, and safest time to get much needed sun exposure, as the beneficial UVB rays are highest and the harmful UVA rays are lowest in intensity... I had been doing the opposite, and exposing myself to more damage in the early morning and late afternoon when UVA is higher, and missing out on the important UVB rays that help make vitamin D!

- Microwave ovens are still evil, but using them to cook and defrost meat (which should still be organic, no matter what... if you can't afford it then eat less meat!) can help to control the breakdown of protein into amines, another one of those "naturally occurring" chemicals that makes me and my whole little organic family sick!

So, as if all this wasn't enough, I am now in the process of feeding my beautiful baby (who is of course no longer a baby) gluten every day for a week, so that he can have a blood test for coeliac disease, even though the gluten is clearly not reacting well with him. This is a very painful thing for a mother to do... to keep feeding something to your child that you know is not good for them, but if he doesn't have the gluten in his system then the blood test won't work...

I'll let you know how we go.

Affording organic veggies…

I have written recently about ways to save money on organic meat and on ways of convincing toddlers to eat organic fish, but I haven’t been able to think of many tips on affording organic veggies (which can be much more expensive than their conventional counterparts, although not always). Since there has been some demand for this topic, I have been wracking my brain on the subject… and this is what I have come up with…

Grow Your Own Organic Veggies!

When I was pregnant I was lucky enough to be working within walking distance of the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. I also had a bit of time on my hands (life before baby) and I’m a bit of a nerd, so I made a spreadsheet of the three different organic stalls at the market, what produce I regularly bought, and what their usual prices were (per kilo). I would often end up shopping from two or more different stalls to get everything I needed, but I got the best prices on my organic produce. It would take my whole lunch hour to do my shopping, which I then had to lug back to my office, store in the staff kitchen fridge, and then take home on the train… so it wasn’t exactly convenient, but it was good for the environment, good for my health, and more affordable than buying them all from an organic shop near my house.

Post-baby I have neither the time nor the inclination for making and using spreadsheets, and shopping in three different places at once… so I’m willing to pay a little more for one-stop-organic shopping. But what I am realizing more and more is that the cheapest, freshest, and most convenient organic produce comes from your own backyard (or front yard, porch, balcony, windowsill etc).

At the Sustainable Living Festival (thanks Mom for reminding me to go!) in February I was lucky enough to come across the kind souls at Permablitz, a Permaculture group, which teaches Intro to Permaculture Courses here in Melbourne. I am so glad that I connected with them, and was able to take their 2-day course this weekend at the Port Phillip EcoCentre in the St Kilda Botanic Gardens. It was a wonderful group of people (students and teachers) all passionate about growing their own food with whatever means they have available. This ranged from a country property to growing things mostly in pots in a small courtyard (me). I’m so excited about Permaculture (short for permanent (ie sustainable) agriculture) and growing my own organic food (maybe even chickens!!!) that I might have to start another blog just to talk about that!

In the meantime, if you are looking for a way to make organic food more affordable, don’t shy away from trying your (green) hand at growing your own… I’ll let you know how I go ☺

Fun with Fishy Finger Food!

My 2 year old son LOVES the British children's books and dvds "Charlie & Lola". They really are adorable, and I don't mind reading and watching them over and over and over and over... One of the things I like about Charlie & Lola is that they live in a modest apartment, not a McMansion, and they spend lots of time outdoors, in their local park, going to the library, etc... and, unlike my son, they never watch tv!

One of the best things about Charlie & Lola is the first episode, from Charlie and Lola, Vol. 1, where Charlie (Lola's older brother) convinces Lola to eat all of the foods that she doesn't like, such as carrots (orange twiglets from Jupiter), peas (green drops from Greenland), mashed potato (cloud fluff from the top of Mt Fuji) etc. My son will therefore now eat all of these foods happily, because Lola eats them.

Most importantly, Charlie gets Lola to eat fish fingers (ocean nibbles for mermaids). I was lucky for a while because my son would eat fresh and canned fish (the bones are a great source of calcium), but more recently he has stopped eating all fish (he still eats the bones, which are a nice crunchy treat and especially good for a kid that has a dairy-free diet). Since becoming obsessed with Charlie & Lola he has been asking for fish fingers. This is a bit of a problem, since he is also gluten-free, and I haven't, as yet, found gluten-free fish fingers, and especially not organic, sustainably harvested, mercury-free (etc...) fish fingers.... at least not in Australia... maybe in America!

So as with most things, I had to make them from scratch... my first attempt was remarkably successful... I bought some white fish from the supermarket, sliced it into "fingers", crumbed it with a mixture of organic rice flour and some rice bread crumbs, and fried it lightly in rice bran oil until golden brown. They were delicious! My son loved them, and even ate them re-heated for lunch the next day!

Flush with my initial success, I tried again a few days later, but this time I felt bad about having chosen a cheap, farmed in Thailand fish, so I picked a more expensive, wild-caught in Australia, Blue Grenadier. Sadly it didn't hold its form as well as the farmed fish, and it really was more like "ocean nibbles" than fish fingers.

I ended up with a lot of crumbly fish left, so the next night I tried making it into fish patties... first time lucky with these as well, and they passed the "lunch the next day" test too... I made them by mixing the cooked fish with some leftover organic potato and leek soup, some sea salt and organic rice flour (to bind it together). I also lightly fried them in rice bran oil until golden brown...

Again the second time was not as successful... I got cocky from my previous successes and thought I could be clever and slip some brussels sprouts into the fish patties... no such luck! He picked up on it straight away... "No like it". He ended up eating a fair amount, but painstakingly picked out all the green bits...

My next project is to make them really organic. There is some fantastic organic fish available in Australia from Soul Fish. Sadly it is not widely available, and I have to head to the Prahran Markets to get it, frozen, and then transport it quickly home before it thaws, as it comes in packs of 5 filets.

I know there is a lot more organic fish available in North America, and hopefully it will catch on here... I'll let you know how I go with the organic, gluten-free, mercury-free, sustainable fish fingers!

affording organic meat

In most cases organic food is more expensive than its conventional counterparts, but there are a few tricks you can use to maximize what you get for your organic dollar. One of the most expensive foods to buy organic is also one of the most important... meat. If you are vegetarian or vegan, then you'll have to wait for my organic veggies tip... coming soon.

I've noticed recently that the same organic producers sell their products under their own label, as well as under supermarket labels... I don't know if this happens in other countries, but it happens in Australia, where I live at the moment.

For example, the same organic chicken farm sells under its own name, as well as through Safeway, but the Safeway branded chicken is at least $2/kilo cheaper. This also happens for other organic products, not just meat. You can tell by looking at the producer number on the organic certification logo.

Another way to save on organic meat is to buy it when it is on sale and freeze it. Buy as much as you can afford to at the time, up to about 3 months supply (if you have enough room in your freezer) any more than that and it might start to go funny before you eat it.

You can also look for meat that is a couple of days before its due date and has been heavily discounted... but make sure that it still looks and smells fresh, and cook/eat/ freeze it straight away.

My final tip for getting the most out of your organic meat dollar is to buy a whole organic chicken and use every last bit of it...
I roast mine in the oven and then strip all the meat off to use in salads, casseroles, risottos, soups etc. Then I boil the carcass with a pinch of salt, and some veggies and herbs (if I can be bothered, just salt will do) and make a delicious homemade organic chicken stock, which I use to make soups, risottos, and drink plain as a broth.

I also use the stock for making really yummy rice (with stock instead of water) or mashed potatoes.

If my toddler is going through an anti-vegetable phase then he will usually eat a creamy soup made by cooking veggies in chicken stock and then blending it. A cooked potato or some rice added before blending will make the soup nice and creamy without adding dairy products.

my old mantra - buy less, spend more

Thanks to my Mom for forwarding an article in The Age (my local paper, which she reads online from the other side of the world) titled "A new mantra - buy less, spend more". This is actually my old mantra... my new mantra is don't buy; borrow, freecycle, buy second hand, buy local, buy organic, etc.

The article talks about how some people are buying less things, but spending more money on experiences and quality items (how I used to be before I quit my job) and others are buying as little as possible, basically just food, toiletries and medicines... this is the direction I'm heading in... I am only buying new clothes for me and my family if they are made from organic cotton or bamboo, and mostly buying second hand clothes and using hand-me-downs. I do spend a lot of money on organic food and organic personal care and health products, but I figure all the money I save on not buying other things helps me to afford more organic things that are actually going into and on my body and my family's bodies. This also means that we are healthier and don't have to spend money on medicine! I'm still spending money supporting and enjoying the arts, and helping charities, and on things like education, travel, and books, but I'm traveling less and using the library more!

More on all this soon...

Why I’m still buying (organic of course) bananas…

For those of you not living in Australia, I must explain that due to extensive banana crop damage from Cyclone Larry in March this year, the price of bananas in Australia has gone way up to $AU12-14/kilo (that’s approximately $US1.50/banana). Because of this bananas have become a luxury item and many people have rationed them or stopped eating them altogether. I think this is so funny, given how many other things we are willing to spend two dollars (or more on), like a chocolate bar, or a coffee, and what an amazingly yummy and nutritious, not to mention conveniently packaged, food the banana is… to me this is representative of so many choices we make about our health and our spending habits… about what is affordable, and what is a luxury, about what is convenient and what’s too much trouble. There are so many ways that we can change our habits to make us healthier, and to have more money to spend on important things (like organic food) and stop wasting our money and the environment by buying over-packaged, over-processed things that we don’t really need (like take-away coffees in throw away containers!!!!). Besides, when I did the big detox I realised that I had more energy when I stopped drinking caffeinated beverages anyway! One good thing about the price of bananas going up is that organic and conventional bananas are now the same price, so there’s no excuse not to go organic! Even better, my local organic shop sells the bananas at half price when they are looking a bit over the hill, but they still taste great :)