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Crunchy-Chewy Mama

Living naturally, most of the time.

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How the Indigo Girls broke Facebook but soothed 60,000 hearts

March 21, 2020 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Less than a week into mass social distancing in response to the novel coronavirus, the Indigo Girls spent 90 minutes the evening of March 19 singing and telling stories to viewers in a generous online concert that brought together many of the people who would no longer be able to see the duo in person…

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Filed Under: The Arts Tagged With: community, connection, Indigo Girls, joy, legacy, music, social distancing

Bright spots in spring

June 29, 2019 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Yoga on the Mall 2019 polaroid Jessica Claire Haney

Before the long days of summer parenting melt my brain, I want to capture some of the good that happened this spring. I wrote in late April about what life looked like in the first two months of my separation from my husband. Daily journaling for myself has become very important, but time capsules captured…

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Filed Under: D.C. Metro, Featured, Holistic Health, The Arts Tagged With: art, community, mindfulness, music, spring, writing, yoga

Recap: Inspiring BlogHer18 Health conference!

February 6, 2018 by Jessica 1 Comment

BlogHer18 Health, the first health-focused conference produced by BlogHer and SheKnows Media, was a terrific two days full of inspiring speakers, education and connection. To say that I’m glad I went is a profound understatement! It was terrific to be in a space with a shared language of health and wellness being spoken everywhere! I loved it! More…

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Filed Under: Activism & Politics, Featured, Holistic Health, The Arts Tagged With: BlogHer, BlogHer18, community, connection, entrepreneurship, healing, health, inspiration, mental health, wellness

Join me at Listen to Your Mother DC!

February 28, 2017 by Jessica Leave a Comment

I’m thrilled to share that I’ll be part of this year’s Listen to Your Mother DC cast! If you haven’t ever attended a LTYM performance, make this your year! It is, in fact, the final year of the program as it’s been done around the country with original stories in each city. It’s going to instead become a…

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Filed Under: D.C. Metro, Featured, The Arts Tagged With: community, connection, Listen to Your Mother, motherhood, narrative, sharing, stories, telling stories, voice, writing, writing mama, writing mother

Return to BlogU

July 3, 2016 by Jessica Leave a Comment

BlogU is a small and intimate conference that is both super practical and a lot of fun.  It’s local to the greater DC area, which is big for me since traveling is such an ordeal with my food and fatigue issues. And it’s economical, with the conference – including all sessions, keynotes and parties –…

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Filed Under: Activism & Politics, D.C. Metro, The Arts Tagged With: #BeYouWithBlogU, #BlogU16, award, BlogU, community, conference, education, learning, publishing, sharing, writing

End of summer, with grief and relief

August 27, 2015 by Jessica Leave a Comment

As summer 2015 draws to a close, I am filled alternately with grief and with relief. Now, it’s pretty typical for me to flip-flop from one extreme to another in my emotions in the space of about two minutes. I remember one fall day I took my children to Ticonderoga Farms by myself and thought…

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Filed Under: D.C. Metro, Featured, Holistic Health, Uncategorized Tagged With: broken leg, community, family, grandparents, health, parents, priorities, regrets, summer, support, travel, vacation

Grounding in fall

November 21, 2014 by Jessica Leave a Comment

This fall I have noticed the leaves without trying so hard and have immersed myself in a lot of interesting activities that seemed to land in my lap. I have been so many great talks and events, and I’ve wanted to write thoughtful and helpful recaps of all of them for my website, Mindful Healthy…

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Filed Under: Activism & Politics, D.C. Metro, Holistic Health, The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: community, Freedom for Family Wellness summit, health, Holistic Moms Network, inspiration, mind-body connection, mindfulness, positive thinking, priorities, volunteerism, wellness, working mom, working mother, writing, writing mama, writing mother

How to talk to depressed people

November 17, 2014 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Memory assistance is one of the best things about blogging. I was looking everywhere for a piece I knew I’d started on what to say and not say to someone who is depressed. When I logged in to update the blog after a nearly season-long hiatus, there was the draft, from July 20, 2014. I’m…

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Filed Under: Featured, Holistic Health, Uncategorized Tagged With: advice, community, depression, disappointment, help, hope, mental health, mental wellness, priorities, sadness

Teaching diversity: tales from public school

July 9, 2013 by Jessica 12 Comments

Welcome to the July 2013 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Learning About Diversity This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared how they teach their children to embrace and respect the variety of people and cultures that…

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Filed Under: Activism & Politics, Featured Tagged With: community, diversity, Expeditionary Learning, language, languages, public school, schooling

There goes the neighborhood

November 29, 2012 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Missing from my To-Do list today was the item “Watch elderly neighbor get carted away by police.” And yet, unlike many of the things on my To-Do list, this actually happened. And I can’t shake it. It really was just a matter of time. Mimi had seemed to be suffering from dementia since we moved…

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Filed Under: The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: aging, community, NaBloPoMo, neighborhood, nostalgia, poetry

Dishing on diapers on TV

September 7, 2012 by Jessica Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago, Robin Shirley, organizer of the amazing Take Back Your Health Conference, pointed out to me that Liz Crenshaw of NBC4’s Consumer Watch needed a group of local moms for a piece. I wrote the producer who told me Liz was doing a story on the cost of diapers. I hoped to…

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Filed Under: Activism & Politics, D.C. Metro, Uncategorized Tagged With: cloth diapering, community, Consumer Watch, cost, diapers, economics, home, Liz Crenshaw, NBC4, tv

10-day Yoga Challenge: Day Four: “Surrender”

May 31, 2011 by Jessica 3 Comments

“Rest your shoulder blades on the back of your heart,” the teacher said. But what if the heart is tender? “Surrender,” she said later, in what felt at once like a welcoming to take a breather and at the same time, almost a dare. Am I capable of surrendering? Can I ever not try so…

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Filed Under: D.C. Metro, Holistic Health, Uncategorized Tagged With: 10-day yoga challenge, Centered Yoga, community, exercise, health, mental health, priorities, relationships, wellness, yoga

Writing while mothering, and writing without Mothering (the magazine)

March 1, 2011 by Jessica 1 Comment

By now, most readers have probably heard the sad news that Mothering magazine is going to cease publication. If not, read Peggy O’Mara’s explanation here. I found out in an email from the web editor regarding a piece I was writing for Mothering.com, which is still going strong, she said. I was happy to have…

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Filed Under: The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: childcare, community, working mother, writing, writing mother

Hirshhorn nurse-in a huge success!

February 14, 2011 by Jessica Leave a Comment

At least I got in some lactivism this weekend! It has been a long string of days with a dramatic, exuberant, clingy, whiny and non-stop-talking almost-five-year-old and a not-much-sleeping, perennially-teething (but happy!) six-month old. So I will save the full report on yesterday’s nurse-in at the Hirshhorn Museum for another time (will link if it…

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Filed Under: Activism & Politics, D.C. Metro, Holistic Health, The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: activism, breastfeeding, community, feminism

Feelin’ the Holistic Moms love

January 20, 2011 by Jessica Leave a Comment

What a surprise I got tonight when my Holistic Moms co-leaders and members presented me with flowers and a (gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, refined-sugar-free) cake at our monthly meeting! We decided not to do a huge anniversary party again this year after last year’s blow out, and I wasn’t really missing all the stress! But they…

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Filed Under: Activism & Politics, D.C. Metro, Healthy Eating, Holistic Health, Uncategorized Tagged With: childcare, community, family, food, Holistic Moms, marriage, priorities, relationships, working mother

Solstice celebration — we did it!

December 27, 2010 by Jessica 1 Comment

I’m so excited that I managed to pull together a solstice celebration this year. At noon on the day of, I talked to my friend and let her know another mom from our Holistic Moms chapter was maybe going to make it. Usually I can’t stand last-minute things, but this time is was great to…

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Filed Under: The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: candles, celebrations, community, food, ritual, seasons, solstice, traditions

(Parental) craziness at the zoo

October 12, 2010 by Jessica 7 Comments

I witnessed some unfamiliar and disturbing behavior yesterday at the zoo. I’m not talking about the animals. So much whining, taunting, complaining, aggression, and general crankiness. I’m not talking about children. Some of the most pissy parents were out in force at the National Zoo yesterday, the most gorgeous Columbus Day ever (when arriving after…

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: attachment parenting, community, priorities, Waldorf education

Baby’s first photo shoot

October 1, 2010 by Jessica 1 Comment

Professional photos are not something I’ve pursued for my family. It took me over a year to redeem a free shoot I won from Holistic Moms Northern Virginia chapter‘s one-year anniversary party for pregnant belly shots. When I connected online just a week later with DC-area newcomer Lisa Hager of Red Thread Photography, I was…

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Filed Under: D.C. Metro, The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: beauty, body, body image, breastfeeding, community, family, priorities

Wellness events in October

September 29, 2010 by Jessica Leave a Comment

October is a crazy-busy month for natural-minded health and wellness junkies in and around Washington, DC. Pathways, the free magazine you see at massage therapy centers, health food stores, and the offices of alternative medicine practitioners is having its Natural Living Expo on Sunday, October 3 in Adelphi, Maryland. Folks who like to teach their…

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Filed Under: Activism & Politics, D.C. Metro, Healthy Eating, Holistic Health, The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: community, health

Performance workshop for cesarean and VBAC mamas

September 20, 2010 by Jessica Leave a Comment

A year ago, at the Kennedy Center’s Page to Stage weekend, I saw a staged reading of Karen Brody’s play Michelle Obama: Taskmaster.  Now the author of Birth: The Play is holding what sounds like an amazing workshop for moms who have had cesarean sections and VBACs. If I didn’t have a newborn and live…

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Filed Under: Activism & Politics, D.C. Metro, Holistic Health, The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: birth, body, body image, community, feminism

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Welcome to Crunchy-Chewy Mama, where the wilderness meets the sidewalk. Around here, I do my best to live as healthfully as possible. But compromises abound.

I also publish the resource blog Mindful Healthy Life of Metro DC. To learn about my writing and appearances and for details about the writing, editing and consulting services I offer, visit JessicaClaireHaney.com.

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