It’s gotten to the point where my son will ask, “What is it?” if I don’t turn his meal into a face or a construction vehicle. It only takes an extra few seconds to whip up something creative, and it’s a nice break from my rushing around. He sure does chow down more when the…
Rally for Food and Farm Freedom brings a cow to the Capitol!
What a great day to celebrate food choice — and to protest the government’s efforts to curtail those choices. The sun shone brightly today at Upper Senate Park for the rally to protest the arrest of an Amish farmer selling raw milk. It was inspiring to see so many Real Food and raw milk supporters…
Talking Real Food with Robyn O’Brien
When Robyn O’Brien’s youngest child had her first allergic reaction to eggs, I had already — over two years earlier — given up vegetarianism and soy in a quest to regain my fertility and, a few months later, given up gluten and dairy in a quest to heal my gut and my body overall from…
When life gives you chocolate, make coconuts: Fun Food Friday
We went to an Easter egg hunt that had candy prizes. We don’t eat candy. My son knows to save it for the Switch Witch, who will “magic” it into fun toys or craft supplies. But this time, we did some magic of our own. The chocolates looked so much like coconuts, we made our…
Farm Rally coming up: Leave our milk alone!
I’m so excited about Real Food right now! I’m about to head to an event at Restaurant Nora (“America’s first certified organic restaurant”) with Robyn O’Brien, author of Unhealthy Choice: How Our Food is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It. And on Monday, I’m going to attend a rally to protest…
Liver pate and grain-free almond “bread”
Although I have been doing most components of the GAPS diet for almost 4 months, I had not been eating organ meats until recently. When Dr. Celena Hadlock asked about my organ meat consumption in a phone conversation as one of her first questions and when I saw that Monica Corrado has begun teaching classes…
Unfolding into nature: May Carnival of Natural Parenting
Welcome to the May Carnival of Natural Parenting: Growing in the Outdoors This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared how they encourage their children to connect with nature and dig in the dirt. Please read…
Who wins the title: “Most Conflicted?”
Before I had even cracked the spine of the book Good Enough is the New Perfect: Finding Happiness and Success in Modern Motherhood, it got soaked. For at least the fourteenth time, I’d failed to screw the top on my new glass water bottle on correctly, and it spilled all over the purse I took…
Fun Food Friday: Breakfast
Last week I posted a photo of a lunch plate character in my piece on the new governmental recommendations about marketing food directly to kids. I’ve decided to start a series of Fun Food photos on Fridays. Some may be characters; others might just be a shot of something I made that I never took…
Wordful Wednesday: Today I looked at my daughter
You know that newborn hearing test you’re supposed to get when your baby is born? Mine got hers today. She’s nine months old. Sometimes it takes me a while to get around to things. For example, sitting in the waiting room with her there and at the chiropractor’s office was about the first time I’ve…
Photo Fundraiser: This Mother’s Day, support a mom with breast cancer
Back in January, I wrote about my friend Liz, who was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has now completed her first round of chemo and is on to her second. She’s keeping folks posted on her blog, http://helptohealmama.blogspot.com/ It’s been so amazing to see how many people are coming out to support her, whether through…
Just take those sugary characters off the shelf
Long before I’d even come close to letting my son watch a Clifford video, his eyes lit up at the big red dog on the Cascadian Farms cereal box. Come to think of it, that was probably even before I ever let him eat any cereal. (Any cereal always been gluten-free and character-free, and I’ve…
The 12 days of spring break
On all twelve days of Spring Break, Mother Nature gave to me: lots of pollen falling from trees. There were only supposed to be ten days. And they were going to be full of activities we don’t have the time or energy to do when school is in session. But then there was pollen. So…
Baby’s first dress
Well, she’s been out about as long as she was in, and it’s gotten pretty warm here in the D.C. area. So I went ahead and put my almost-nine-month-old girl in a dress. For the first time. When my son had taken it out of the box sent by my mom a few weeks back,…
Putting a public face on “holistic”
Welcome to the April Carnival of Natural Parenting: Compassionate Advocacy This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared how they advocate for healthy, gentle parenting choices compassionately. Please read to the end to find a list…
Busy in the birth world
While the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) was having its big conference in St. Louis this weekend, Birth Matters Virginia was putting on the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Birth Summit on Saturday, and Ina May Gaskin was leading a rally on the Capitol Sunday with her Safe Motherhood Quilt project. Both D.C.-area events aimed to shed…
Birth activists to hold conference and rally
“Midwifery and Homeopathy” was the subject of a weekend workshop I attended last year at a conference sponsored by the National Center for Homeopathy. The information I gleaned from presenter MJ Hanafin, and later from an interview with Miranda Castro, author of Homeopathy for Pregnancy, Birth and Your Baby’s First Years, put me on the…
Food dyes: FDA misses the opportunity to help children
I was so excited to hear that the FDA was taking on the issue of food dyes and considering banning them or requiring a warning label. People deserve to be protected from foods that cause such havoc in young brains. Unfortunately, the FDA voted 8 to 6 last week not to ban artificial food dyes…
Taking care of myself: GAPS diet update
Spring hasn’t fully registered here in chilly but blossom-filled Northern Virginia, but I think my stomach is finally on the mend. I started the GAPS diet on February 6, and I am still in a modified introductory stage. I’m only just now even considering trying to eat any raw foods (besides juice, and avocado). It…
Advocate for local food at Farm Food Voices 2011!
On Wednesday, March 16, local food advocates will convene on Capitol Hill for a grassroots lobby day. If you care about where your food comes from, join them! Farm Food Voices says: “Join a coalition of organizations, local food advocates, and small family farmers from across the country to lobby federal legislators on local food…