quicky on organic cotton, safe bath products and preconception detox

ok, so the results of my poll were a three-way tie, so I'll do a quicky on all three... more to come when I have time (when will that be???).

Organic Cotton: good for you, good for the environment, good for the workers in the cotton fields... it's softer... what more do you need to know???? Baby clothes, blankets, towels, wash cloths, bedding, stuffed animals, furniture, tampons, you name it, you can find an organic cotton version of it... for example, I just searched for organic cotton on Amazon and found everything from organic cotton broccoli (seriously, I've attached a picture in case you don't believe me), to organic cotton gloves.

Regarding safe bath products for baby... the safest product is water, and most babies don't need anything else for the first year... even then they really don't need much. If you absolutely must use a shampoo or bubble bath, then I recommend miessence desert flower shampoo and sunflower body wash (doubles as a bubble bath). Yes, I sell them, and I hate recommending things I sell, lest you think I am being biased, but I really, honestly, cannot think of anything else to recommend, that I would be willing to use on my son (besides just plain water).

Finally, and I am running out of steam here... pre-conception detox is a vital way to ensure that your health (and your partner's health) is in optimal condition to conceive, and that you give your baby the best start in life. It involves changing your diet (cutting out sugar, caffeine, alcohol, dairy, wheat etc) cleaning out your home environment (cleaning products, personal care products etc) and removing sources of stress and anxiety in your life. A fantastic book on this is called Natural Way to Better Babies it's also published as "Healthy Parents, Better Babies". A great starting point. More on this later, I promise!

tell me what to blog about!

check out my poll... at the moment it's a three-way tie, so please, please, please vote for something, as I'm far too busy to write about all three topics (they're all pretty massive to begin with...)

cute site for cloth diapers

I don't have time for a proper post on this subject, but I just came across a great website for people looking at cloth diapers. It's called Green Way Baby Wear, and the owner makes really gorgeous looking cloth diapers and diaper covers from wool and bamboo... if I weren't about to start toilet training with my toddler I would get some.

I promise another time, when I have more time, I will explain about what diapers/nappies I use, which ones I have tried, and why I mainly use (shock, horror) "disposable" diapers.... before you become too outraged, please note that I live in Australia, where there is a severe, ongoing drought, and the water used to wash cloth diapers is very precious... but more on that soon, I promise :-)

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!

how things have changed (for the better)

When I was pregnant with my son almost three years ago I had to search far and wide to find natural and organic products for him to wear, be bundled in, play with, eat and drink out of etc... now I get an email from Amazon today sending me a link to pages and pages of Organic Baby Products...

It's a great time to be having an organic baby! Lately I have been feeling a bit guilty about using my first child (and only child for the moment) as a bit of a guinea pig... as much research as I did the first time around, doing a full detox before conceiving, eating mostly organic food, using hypnobirthing techniques in a midwife-run birthing centre, breastfeeding him for two years, dressing him in organic cotton, etc etc etc... there are so many more things that I would do differently if I could...

I would...
- have less (or possible zero) ultrasounds (sonograms). I had three the first time... one at 10 weeks, 12 weeks and 20 weeks.
- delay immunizations longer (and maybe not get all of them?).
- not eat nuts while pregnant or breastfeeding (I ate a lot of hazelnuts and now my son is allergic to them, even though he's never eaten them!).
- use safer bottles/sippy cups.
- have a better bed for co-sleeping.
- have my soil testing before baby starts eating it!
- travel less (especially less radiation-filled airplane flights).

You get the picture... I will blog more on all of these topic later (hopefully sooner), but in the meantime if you have any comments, suggestions, questions, etc on any of the issues I've mentioned (or anything else) please feel free to leave a comment!

I don't shower every day, and I wash my hair even less!

I can't remember the last time I had a shower... maybe it was Monday (today is Thursday). I am definitely due for one, and I'm going to have one shortly, but I doubt if I'll wash my hair... since I have discovered the best thing for my hair is something that has been sitting in my shower for years... Dr Bronner's Baby Mild certified organic liquid soap. I never would have thought to wash my hair with it, and have been busy washing my hair with the organic shampoo that I sell on my site (which is great, but costs $20/bottle), until my mom recently mentioned that she had started using dr bronners on her hair when she ran out of shampoo, and found that it worked better than shampoo, and she didn't need conditioner. Since hearing that I've tried it myself, and I've found that not only does it work better than shampoo, but I can wash my hair even less frequently, which is great, because I have lots of better ways to spend my time than washing my hair!

While I do love having a nice long, hot shower, there are a number of environmental reasons why this is not good, especially since I live in Australia, where we are in the middle of a drought, so I don't like wasting water. I find that the longer I have been using natural, organic personal care products, the less I have to shower. I think that the build-up of petrochemicals and other nasties in the lotions and potions I was using was part of what made me feel "dirty" every day. Now that I use minimal products (all organic) I feel cleaner longer. That being said, it really is time to take a shower!

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...

reading and playing with children is soooo important!

Thanks for the beautiful Viraja for forwarding this link to a National Public Radio story about the importance of old-fashioned playtime with our kids, including imaginative play, active play, and reading aloud together. This is something I've been reading lots about lately, so will post more soon.

I want to give birth again!

We had friends over for dinner on the weekend, one of whom is pregnant, and I am jealous! I was very excited to hear that she is going to be learning the calmbirth techniques (also known as Hypnobirthing). We did this when our son was born and it was the best thing I've ever done! I'm so thankful that my wonderful osteopath harassed me until I called the amazing Sue (our hypnobirthing instructor) and booked into private classes with her. I will write more on my experience with hypnobirthing soon... just wanted to say that if anyone in Melbourne is interested let me know and I can send you Sue's details.

riding the crimson wave...

Wow... after posting yesterday I got my daily email from Ideal Bite, and it was about alternative menstruation products, including The Keeper!

I have never come across a topic that inspired so many comments in such a short time... 98 and counting in less than 24 hours.

It's so wonderful to feel part of a community of women who care so much about their own health and the environment. I had no idea so many women and girls were using the menstrual cups ... obviously it's something we don't like talking about... but that should change. It's really not nearly as disgusting as changing a poo-ey diaper... and I talk about that all the time!

I've also found some great online forums and blogs talking about which cups to choose and how to use them.

Some of the women on Ideal Bite talked about having shorter periods and less cramping since using cups... now there is something to get excited about!

No more organic tampons?

While I love my organic feminine products from natracare, I still feel bad about the environmental impact (and cost) of buying and using tampons and other sanitary products every month (except for the blissful months of pregnancy and breastfeeding when I didn't get my period!!!).

A couple of years ago I read a great book by Linda Cockburn called Living the Good Life. I will write more on this fantastic book later, but one thing (among many) that I was inspired to do after reading the book was to look for a product called The Keeper. It's a natural rubber (or silicone for women with latex allergies) cup that is used instead of a tampon. it is similar to a diaphragm in its use, and lasts about 10 years. it's not cheap to buy, but is very cost effective (pays for itself in less than a year if you are buying organic tampons).

So I was very excited to come across a woman from Moon Pads in Tasmania selling The Keeper at the Sustainable Living Festival in Melbourne last weekend!

I'm trying it out now (got my period the next day!), so I'll let you know how I go...

I also bought an organic cotton reusable pad from a lovely Melbourne-based woman who owns Rad-Pads. More on that later!

To find out more about why you should switch to organic tampons/pads, etc, check out this info from natracare.

For more info on why you might want to switch to reusable menstrual products read this from Moon Pads.

My organic baby is no longer a baby... that's what happens when you don't post for over a year!

Wow, I thought it had only been a few months since I last posted, but it has been over a year... how time flies! My beautiful organic baby is now a beautiful organic boy. As much as I still call him my baby (and probably always will), the signs are mounting daily that he is growing up. He did a poo in the potty yesterday and today (with the help of a little bribery... still not sure how I feel about that, will keep you posted). And, when I was at the Sustainable Living Festival in Melbourne this morning, there was a distinct lack of organic "baby" clothes that would fit him...

This is something I was discussing with the owner of a company called Sahara Bloom that makes beautiful bamboo clothes, including baby clothes... so soft and gorgeous it made me want to have another baby, but instead I settled for a tank top and some socks for me. Anyway, I was saying that the market is being flooded with eco-friendly, organic/hemp/bamboo etc clothes and accessories for babies, but the supply really dries up as soon as you hit size 2 or 3. It's funny how we think babies need the purest, most non-toxic products available, but when it comes to ourselves, or older children, somehow the ordinary, synthetic chemical-laden options become ok again? I don't think so! As I become ever-more aware/concerned about synthetic chemicals in our everyday lives, I find it harder to buy "normal" products for myself or my family. Sometimes this is liberating, because a lack of choice can make life much easier... I think having too many options to choose from can be paralyzing/exhausting... but trying to find safe, natural, durable, affordable alternatives can also be paralyzing and exhausting, especially when the products you are looking for don't exist, or are hard to find, or require doing breathtaking amounts of research to ensure that you are doing the right thing for your family and the planet!

That's why I'm hoping to share some of my thoughts/research on conscious consumption (and avoiding consumption), especially when it comes to babies and children!

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 :)

while my organic baby sleeps...

my beautiful organic baby boy is asleep :) he has a cold at the moment, so he is waking up a lot, and I am loath to let him cry for very long since he sounds so pathetic with his raspy cough. I am feeling a bit frustruated about he and I having been sick so much lately... isn't one of the benefits of being organic and breastfeeding so much that we shouldn't get sick? Under normal circumstances, probably, but we have been doing so much travelling the last few months that our sleep and eating habits have been rather disrupted, and it's a bit of a vicious cycle to break through since I am so run down now... I had an acupuncture treatment today and I think that helped... I was able to sleep while bob (beautiful organic baby/boy) had his afternoon nap... part of my problem had been that I couldn't sleep during the day, when I usually catch up on sleep... I had too much going on in my head and it took too long to wind down... (more on that later). I'm starting to feel tired now, so I'm going to get ready for bed!!!