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Crunchy-Chewy Mama

Living naturally, most of the time.

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seasons

Burrowing & Surfacing

June 1, 2021 by Jessica Leave a Comment

In the DC area this spring, the electric buzz of cicadas seems nearly deafening each time someone opens the door. Within a few seconds, we acclimate to the sound, but each time we go outside, we shake our heads at the cacophony created by thousands of small wings and the fat bodies that sit underneath…

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Filed Under: D.C. Metro, Featured, The Arts Tagged With: cicadas, cycles, seasons

Lukewarm on/in spring

April 22, 2015 by Jessica 2 Comments

Dear Spring, This is difficult to say, but I’m no longer sure that I love you. We’ve had some amazing times together, I know. And I have always loved your greeny-gold and that feeling of newness you bring with you. But lately things have just been too up and down. The temperature, for one. The…

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Filed Under: Featured, Holistic Health, The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: commitments, death, family, priorites, seasons, wellness

Glimpses of fall

November 17, 2013 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Today I was too busy noticing fall and being with my kids to write, and tonight I was too busy prepping for Tuesday’s blog carnival on humor in parenting. So here are a few images of a still November day in Northern Virginia.  

Filed Under: D.C. Metro, The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: autumn, beauty, fall, photography, seasons

Why didn’t I think of that? Grandma saves 1/72 of the day!

November 10, 2013 by Jessica Leave a Comment

It might be said that I had a perfectly fine day, parenting the children alone from 9 to 5 on a Sunday. Except that I appear to have gained 5 pounds from stress-eating and might have let my children’s eyeballs get singed by TV and computer screens. At least it was from gorging on Mr….

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Filed Under: Featured, Healthy Eating, The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: art, family, lessons, parenting, priorities, relationships, seasons

A change in the forecast

November 24, 2012 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Closing in on December Even though you can’t see the fifteen degrees that tromped out of the woods yesterday with as many miles of winds each hour, their departure left today hunched over, knocked into a new category where shoulders that once opened to warmth and the smell of dry leaves baking turn heavy, and…

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Filed Under: The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: cold, fall, NaBloPoMo, nature, poetry, seasons, wind, winter

More on leaves

November 15, 2012 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Background When a November sky is kind, a maple tree is brilliant, spreading its red royally, like a regal bird preening. But when that side smile of blue sky turns cold, a resentful shade of grey, the leaves mimic an angry stop light and remind you of old blood on a dishrag that you didn’t…

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Filed Under: The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: beauty, fall, leaves, NaBloPoMo, poetry, seasons

Where we sit

November 14, 2012 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Point of View A beautiful day doesn’t care if you spend it outside where you can smell the leaves or behind glass, driving past so many more than the ones in your yard as long as your heart is open It’s been a long day. A good one. But I’m tired. That’s all I got….

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Filed Under: The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: fall, leaves, NaBloPoMo, outdoors, poetry, priorities, seasons

Playing in the leaves

November 13, 2012 by Jessica Leave a Comment

When we found out the neighbor we were going to meet at the park had to go back home for bad behavior, the leaf pile called us. I don’t know how we managed to have so much fun without anyone getting an eye poked out or losing a Croc. But it was a day when…

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Filed Under: The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: autumn, beauty, fall, family, home, leaves, NaBloPoMo, poetry, priorities, seasons, siblings

How we see what we see

November 11, 2012 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Tonight we held a Waldorf-inspired Lantern Walk for the coop group I’ve been involved in. It was our first social event at the new house. The magic of starting the walk at dusk and ending in darkness, with a circle of friends holding light in their hands, is something I’m grateful my children have a…

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Filed Under: The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: beauty, Lantern Walk, light, NaBloPoMo, poetry, priorities, seasons, technology, Waldorf education

It’s the most ___ time of the year

November 10, 2012 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Routine Whenever I worry that my middle name is inconsistency, that erratic behavior disrupts my chances at bliss and my children’s balance, stepping outside reminds me that the leaves turn only once each year. And not for 30 minutes every morning. Then they fall and a new generation, long waiting in promise before gingerly pushing…

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Filed Under: Holistic Health, The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: beauty, consistency, contradiction, NaBloPoMo, nature, poetry, priorities, rhythm, routine, seasons

The first day. A first poem

November 2, 2012 by Jessica Leave a Comment

When was the last time I wrote a poem? Months? Years? Poetry was how I was first published, but after my son was born, it felt too exact for the kind of time and brainpower I had available to me. A few poems came out of mothering and writing workshops, including one published in Hip…

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Halloween, NaBloPoMo, poetry, seasons

Life in a new light

November 28, 2011 by Jessica 6 Comments

Fall’s draperies have fallen and are mulching on the ground. The woods behind our house are quieter, the tall trees naked of leaves even as deer nibble the green undergrowth. I am astounded by the light. It pours in now, like sleepy eyes that have just awakened. It comes at funny times and at new…

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Filed Under: The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: beauty, green, green building, home, moving, priorities, seasons

Baby’s first dress

April 28, 2011 by Jessica 1 Comment

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,…

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Filed Under: Activism & Politics, D.C. Metro, The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: body, body image, fashion, feminism, gender, seasons

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

On the bunny slope of tradition-making – Carnival of Natural Parenting

December 14, 2010 by Jessica 17 Comments

At age 37, I still haven’t learned to ski, and almost five years and two children into parenthood, I can’t quite believe in myself as a real mom of a real family with real traditions of its own. Although a few years of experience in Waldorf education tells me that children thrive on daily rhythms…

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Filed Under: The Arts, Uncategorized Tagged With: candles, celebrations, Christmas tree, family, food, holidays, home, priorities, ritual, seasons, traditions

I sewed! It’s a miracle!

February 11, 2010 by Jessica 3 Comments

While cleaning out a closet in the midst of the current series of snowstorms, I came across some felted wool that I cut out to make a little person as my last project in last year’s Waldorf school Parent-Child class. Now, I might have made my son a Halloween costume, but I’m not one of…

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: mindfulness, priorities, seasons, technology, vegetables, Waldorf education

Halloween costume-making

November 9, 2009 by Jessica 1 Comment

Just a quick post to show that even someone without a lot of sewing skill can make a frog costume!And check out these other Green Halloween tips from my Holistic Moms Chapter.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: celebrations, seasons

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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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