It’s Spring!  It didn’t feel like it when we got over a foot of snow this past week, there was a state of emergency, and some roads were closed because the plows couldn’t keep up with the snowing and blowing.  But there are signs of Spring inside our home – sunflowers sprouting in a tray and organic mixed sprouts growing in my sprouting jar.

So.. I’m thinking Spring in a lot of my inspirational links this week:

1. I want to grow grapes this summer.
2. And maybe kidney beans.
3. Definitely chamomile is going in the garden.
4. I want to try making these raw truffles.
5. The Urban Homestead (I’ve been a fan for a long time but I’m still craving a homestead here).

{Photo Credit}

I am sure many of you caught my 11 things to let go of in 2011, but I also want to make a list of things I do want in my life in 2011.  I generally don’t like the idea of resolutions at New Years, but I can’t help but love the urge of big ideas to make me a better person.

My Resolutions for 2011:

1.  Food – more diligent about menus, healthy choices, and including more fresh fruits and veggies

2.  Exercise – make time to stay fit and make monthly goals to keep motivated

3.  Planet – take Sustainable Baby Steps to help our family and our Earth – specifically recycling

4.  Technology – turn it off one night a week.

5.  Minimize – Downsize my stuff and streamline my schedule

Be on the look out for more posts about how I will put these into action, my progress, and how you can do it with me.

What are your resolutions?  How will you stay accountable?

Within the last 6 months or so, my family has switched from eating locally raised beef, to organic beef, to grassfed beef.  So, what’s the difference?

The local beef we were purchasing was from my brother or from his friends who also farm.  We knew that they were raised and killed ethically and were in the pasture at least part of the time.  They did eat grain and the grain was not organic.  This was just our case – your local farmers may do something different.  Ask them!

Organic beef means that the fields they graze from are not treated with pesticides, they aren’t given antibiotics, and the grain they eat is organic too.

Grassfed beef means the cattle is raised like it was meant to be.  Not on grain, but on grass.  Roaming in a pasture.

So why would a family choose to pay a little more to have grassfed beef?  What are the benefits?  From our research we have learned grassfed meat is better because:

1. CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) which fights cancer and prevents clogged arteries among other things
2. It has a better ratio of Omega 3′s and Omega 6′s.  An imbalance, found in grain-fed beef, leads to diseases such as cancer, heart disease, depression…
3. I just learned today is has a high level of vitamin B12, which can help prevent Alzheimer’s Disease.
4. It tastes better!
5. The cows are eating the way they were meant to so that we can have healthier food too.

Tonight’s dinner was organic grassfed beef burgers from Rocky Mountain Organic Meats with diced and roasted sweet potatoes, and it was all so yummy.  It was even better because the burgers were FREE!  I had won them – a whole 8 pounds of burgers.

These burgers are BIG!  I can polish one off, but I am a nursing mom and I’m always hungry.  I think one burger with all the fixin’s and a side of fries would satisfy any appetite.  They take awhile to cook because of their thickness, but it so worth the wait in taste.  A little grease but not too much (remember it’s the good fat)!

Check out Rocky Mountain Organic Meats on the web, on YouTube, or on Twitter.  Let them know I sent you.

The Organic Sister has launched her new website

Sustainable Baby Steps!

To celebrate she is having a

HUGE

green giveaway on her blog.

Give her some love

and learn something

new and green too!

In this post, I talked about which cloth I preferred to use.  Now I’d like to share how I wash them and strip them.

When dd dirties a diaper, I use these hanging bags to put them in and when we are out and about I use these bags.  When she was little and strictly breastfed, I didn’t even have to clean off the poop from a diaper because breastfed baby poop is water soluble and just washes away in the washer.  Now, I either dunk them in the toilet or shake the poop off into the toilet before putting them into the bag.

On the third morning, I wash them.  There are certain detergents you can and can’t use with diapers because you don’t want build up of suds, fragrance, but you want them clean.  Having build up with cause stinky diapers, rashes, and leakage problems.

You can find a list of detergents to use here.  I highly recommend Rockin’ Green because it’s made specifically for cloth diapers.

To wash in an HE washer (specificially my washer), I do a cold short wash to rinse them off.  Then I do a hot wash with detergent on the heavy cycle with an extra rinse followed by a short hot wash with no detergent.  Sometimes I put vinegar in to help with breaking up any build up.  But I only use a little bit because goes a long way.

If your baby is getting rashes, the diapers are leaking, or the diapers are getting stinky you can strip them.  I wash them normally, then I do a hot long cycle with a drop or two of Dawn original dish soap.  Followed by  cold rinses until I can no longer see suds in the water.

They can be air dried, line dried (sun is a natural bleach if you have stains), or dried in the dryer.

If you use cloth diapers, what have you found works best as your “washing routine?”

Cloth diapering is something that I love to do, and it is easy to me now.  However, when I first started researching it was SO overwhelming to me.  I have been asked quite a few times to share about how I cloth diaper, what to buy, how to wash them so I thought I would share that information here.

First, we’ll start with what cloth diapers to buy.  (This is what I have used and liked.  I make no money from these referrals.)

When Val was a newborn, we used prefolds like these.  They are flat pieces of cloth that you fold by yourself.  I talked a little about how to fold them here.  Once they are folded, they need to be secured.  Luckily, there is a new invention called the snappi so you no longer need to use pins on your little one.

Now you need to put something over the cloth so that it doesn’t leak onto their clothes.  There are covers for that (and they are so much better than the old school rubber pants).  The covers can be used through a few diaper changes, so you don’t need a new one each time you have to change the cloth.

For a newborn, I had 30+ prefolds and 6 small covers and that would get me through 2 days.  Washing on the third morning.  We will cover how to wash in another post.

As Val got older and could roll over to making diapering a little more challenging, we started using the BG 3.0′s.  I love these diapers.  We still use them without any problems.  Now there is a BG 4.0 which I haven’t tried yet, but I am in love with the Flips.

Now, I have 12 BG 3.0′s and 2 Flips to get me through 2 days with washing on the third morning.  I have a few other random diapers and covers that I have as backups in case laundry takes me a little longer.  Who can pass up cute diapers once in awhile?

I hope that is a good starting place for you.  Remember, this is just what as worked for us.  Experiment and find what works for you and please share below.

Be sure to check back to see how to store them when clean/dirty, how to wash, and how to strip them if they get icky.

Since our house still isn’t sold, we have decided to move further with our goals as we stay here.  We would like to have a BIG garden when we have our land, so this year we have decided to get a few staple plants that we would definitely plant and “practice” here.  We have planted 3 different types of potatoes, tomatoes and one in a topsy turvy, green peppers, and herbs (parsley, oregano, lavendar, and rosemary).

We have a cute little garden now and a great spot for it in the back yard that gets lots of sunlight.  I get to watch it out the window, and it seems the past few days that I could watch it grow overnight (thank you, rain).

Speaking of gardens, our Farmer’s Market has opened in town.  I went with my mom last week and got local grown and organic kale and chives that I made veggie hummus wraps with and local chocolate mint that I made my own tea with.  Oh yummy!  I can’t wait for Saturday to get more.

What are you growing this year?  Have you visited your Farmer’s Market yet?  What have you cooked/made with your finds?

Happy Wednesday!

Foody update ~ It has been quite awhile since I have done Meal Plan Monday on a regular basis, but to be honest I have not done well planning meals and sticking to the plan lately.  At.All.  At least I’m honest, right?  We find ourselves before dinner throwing things together or making a quick trip to the grocery store to put together something.

We are in the process of eating more raw foods, more fruits and veggies, and more organic.  We are trying to start each day with a smoothie that has omega 3 supplement and wheatgrass powder added.  It’s quite the process, and difficult to handle when eating out or eating with family and friends that don’t eat the same.  But…we’re trying.

Speaking of food, Baby V will start solids tomorrow to celebrate her 6 month birthday.  She has been exclusively breastfed until this point, and I wouldn’t start feeding her foods until I read some books on the issue.  My favorite so far is Evie’s Kitchen by Shazzie.  It talks about how to raise a raw baby eating only vegan so she talks a lot about supplements and it has TONS of recipes.  Recipes for us parents too.   V will not be raised completely raw or vegan, but it has too much information on eating healthy that I couldn’t pass it up!!

Chicken update ~  Remember these babies?  Now they are red and big, but not big enough to lay yet.  They even have a new coop that James built by himself.  How cool is that?!

Job update ~ I’m officially a stay at home mom since my coaching resignation will be approved tonight at the school board meeting.

What’s new with all of you?

 Quite awhile ago, I created a treasure map.  Treasure mapping is an artistic way to manifest the things you want in your life.  One thing on my treasure map, was a basket filled with fresh vegetables.  My idea was gardening, and I think it has been a process ever since I have put that on my map.

The first thing that happened was I signed up for a CSA to support my local gardeners.  This was a great way for me to get my produce and feel good about the choices I was making in getting my produce.  Not only that, but our gardener educated us along the way.  Giving us tips about gardening and even passing along recipes so our produce wouldn’t go to waste.

My mom did a garden this past summer as well.  I wasn’t as involved as I wanted to be because the fatigue of the first trimester was really hitting me.  But, I did help plant some and she shared a lot of her harvest with us as well.  We even started canning and learning a little bit as we went along.

Just recently, I received an email from a friend who lives on 10 acres of land.  She loves gardening, but she over gardens and things can’t be used by her family.  She has asked DH and I to take part in her communal garden this coming summer!!!  She is going to be handle all the finances, and our share will be covered by the work we put into the garden.  How beautiful is that?!  She will be such a wonderful asset to my learning the Earth and using it to create my food sources!  DH and I are beyond excited about this upcoming venture.

We’ll be taking the time to be together with each other, with our friends, and taking back the power to make our own food.  The great part is we will be doing all of this with organic seeds and no harmful toxins for the Earth.

Picture courtesy of ~ http://www.happynews.com/living/gardening/cover.jpg

Before we left on vacation, the heating element in my dryer stopped working.  I guess all of my talk about hanging a clothesline in the basement and wanting to air dry clothes was taken a little too serious by the Universe and it showed me.  Haha!

And I have to admit, I have learned quite a bit by not having access to a heating machine!

1. I enjoy laundry more when I hang it to dry.  I am more active in the process and it’s more relaxing then just throwing it into the next machine and waiting for the buzzer to go off.
2. I have learned patience because now my clothes aren’t dry in 1 hour.. they aren’t even dry in one day at times since they are in the basement.  Planning outfits and being prepared ahead of time has definitely become a priority when it’s laundry time.
3. Since I understand the process (the longer process of drying), I try not to throw clothes or blankets or towels into the wash until they really need it.  The less I have to wash and hang up, the easier it will be on me and the laundry won’t get too backed up.

We do plan on getting another dryer because with Sprout on the way, we will soon have a lot of clothes to wash/dry.  I have to admit though, I have really enjoyed my time of doing laundry without a dryer and I plan on hang drying once I do get that dryer too!

 For other Talk about Tuesdays, visit The Lazy Organizer.