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Crystle lent me the book Diet For a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe. What an eye-opening book for sure! It discusses how many of our food resources are wasted in feed for our animals - especially beef.

After reading it, I’ve decided to challenge myself to make meat dishes only twice per week for the summer. This is a HUGE switch for us, as we currently eat a vegetarian meal maybe once or twice per week.

Really though, when it takes 2500 gallons of water to make just one pound of beef, and 7 pounds of grain (Lappe), does it make sense to comsume beef many times per week? Chicken is slightly less of an energy consumer, but still, compared to grain and vegetable sources of protein, it just doesn’t make sense (from the perspective of the planet anyways) to rely on animal sources of protein when plant sources are much more readily available and abundant.

Wish me luck on my new adventure!

Wow. It’s been a while since I took the plunge, and I have yet to update you!

So here we are. I think it’s been three weeks. (Seriously? Where does the time go?) My hair looks GREAT after I wash it - bouncy, shiny, healthy, and it’s actually got some volume. I’m currently doing 1 tbsp baking soda in some water, pouring it over my hair, scrubbing, and rinsing and then doing a 1 tbsp: 1 cup water apple cider vinegar rinse, just a little bit at a time, since my hair isn’t too long. My hair feels so clean!

I’m trying to be a big girl and not wash every day. I’ve been washing every day for years and years and years because I’ve got fine, thin hair … and let’s get serious - it gets greasy the day I don’t wash it. I’m hoping, though, that if I stick with washing every other day, eventually my scalp will figure out how much oil it needs to make. It’s actually looking better the day after the wash than it ever did when I was using shampoo, so I think we’re getting somewhere … it’s just not as quick as I’d like! If I have to go somewhere and it’s looking particularly bad, I rub some cornstarch into the roots and massage it into the roots and comb it through.

One thing I never thought about - a great way to conserve water is to not shower every day!

So, in the same vein as when I decided to make my own deodorant, I’ve decided to do a little something crazy. Just like with the deo, I revisted Christine at welcome to my brain and re-read her posts on going no-poo - basically, not using shampoo anymore.

I know, I know. It sounds crazy. But every source I’ve read says it works!

I read this, this, and my favourite site on the subject, babyslime.

Apparently, ‘real’ shampoo strips EVERYTHING out of your hair, so your scalp over-produces oils to compensate … so when you go no-poo, your hair kinda … rebels (?) … and might get a bit greasy. To counteract this, you can use a baking soda wash and apple cider vinegar rinse - basically your shampoo and conditioner. Most people who go no-poo do their baking soda/vinegar routine a couple of times a week and just rinse their hair with water the other days. I don’t know how this will work out for my hair, but some of the comments I’ve read from people with lifeless, fine, thin hair say their hair is healthy and shiny and has more volume!

I’ll let you know how it works

There’s a few things that I’m excited about for this new plunge: shampoos contain GROSS chemicals (basically laundry/dish detergent with pretty smelling stuff …), shampoos - especially if you’re trying to buy organic - are expensive, and shampoos come in bottles that, although we recycle them, are still more manufacturing, shipping, and waste. If I can cut shampoo out of my budget, I’ll be saving a little money and a lot of environment!

Wish me luck!

(p.s. Today is my 25th birthday! What a weird thing to be excited about on my birthday …)

Unless, of course, you can come up with some way to reuse or recycle nuclear waste AND make reactors completely safe.

Did you know that 2.5 million people live within the ‘danger zone’ - 30 km - of Pickering’s nuclear plant? Did you know that it is the only nuclear plant in the world built that close to a population of that size? Can you imagine the impact of an accident or a deliberate attack on the Pickering reactor??

Take action. Call George Smitherman, Ontario’s Energy Minister at (416) 972-7683. Instead of spending money fixing up the Pickering reactor, ask him to spend money investing in renewables. We can make a difference!

I don’t have a topic that I specifically want to blog on, so I thought I’d throw a random smattering of stuff out there.

• On the right, you’ll see a new widget - the ‘Ideal Bite’ widget, and to be more precise, the ‘Mama Bite’ edition. I had signed up for these daily tips for green living a while ago and was loving getting them! Lately, though, I’ve realized that I already am aware of most of the tips/advice, so I unsubscribed, but thought I could continue to support them by helping my readers get some tips.
• I’ve finally mastered the art of wearing Gwen on the front in my woven wrap. I’m currently using the front wrap cross and LOVE IT. Since Gwen’s about 15 lbs now, she’s getting too heavy for my sling, but it’s quite comfy to wrap her on! Now I’m trying to work on back carries …
• I’m an aunt for the second time! Brad’s sister had a baby on February 4th - they are both (to our knowledge) doing well.
• I’ve finally joined Ravelry! So far, I’ve input most of my stash and needles and have picked out my next pattern for some new socks. I’m almost done the sock I’m working on now.
• I’m thinking of selling off my wool covers. Although they fit Gwen quite well as a newborn, this next size is just not working for us. Right now, we’re using two little g pants, a Kushies cover, and a Bummis cover. I’ve got an order in for a few more little g’s.
• I’ve been working on my wedding scrapbook lately - digitally - and it’s been lots of fun to go through our pictures and re-live that day! I can’t decide whether to make just a picture book or to do some journalling … any suggestions?
• Gwen has been sleeping GREAT lately!! She’s been taking two good naps - around 1 - 2 hours apiece AND she’s only waking twice during the night - once around 10 or 11pm and then again around 2 or 3am. The only downside to this good sleep is that she’s waking for the day between 6:15 and 6:30am. That’s just cruel (she used to wake up around 8:30am!).
• On of my very good friends is very close to having a new baby … I’m so excited to meet him! I made her a dinner last night and need to take it over to her house this weekend for her freezer.
• Facebook is irritating. Why doesn’t it ever work correctly?
• I have been totally slacking in the picture department lately! I’ve got tonnes of pics of Gwen and lots of videos, but I haven’t taken them off my camera yet.
• The cord on my laptop is dying. It needs some serious electrical tape and Brad and I are thinking seriously of doing a full back-up of all my files in preparation for the day that my laptop will be on it’s way to computer heaven. You can’t buy a new power cord for Macs, so once it’s done, it’s done. Not quite sure what we’re going to do when the lappy dies. I’m hoping I can get a new one, but yeah. That’s money.
• My mommy just called and she’s coming to visit today! YAY!
• I totally fell off the push-up and sit-up wagon. I did the first week and was loving it. And then yeah. I’m thinking I’m going to re-start week one this coming week since Brad wants to do the challenge too. This way, we can suffer together

Oh that’s right. I joined Greenpeace.

I was discussing this on Facebook earlier, but it ate my huge post. So I decided to blog it instead!! If you’re going to use cloth diapers, you need a few things.

• AIOs (all-in-ones), or diapers and covers
• Wool wash and lanolin (if using wool)
• Laundry detergent
• Diaper pail and liners
• Wetbags
• Wipes

Get ready for a link explosion! Here’s what we use!

Diapers and Covers

We have a few options for this section. We don’t use AIOs, although sometimes I’m jealous of people who have beautiful BumGenious ones. We have two dozen DSQ (diaper service quality) 100% Indian cotton prefolds as well as 18 flannel contours that Brad’s grandma made us. For covers we either use Bummis Super Whisper Wraps, Stacinator Stretch Wool covers, or gDiaper little g pants.

Wool Wash and Lanolin

Caring for wool is a LOT easier than I thought it would be, although I definitely have my days where I feel like if Gwen gets poo on one more cover I’ll go crazy!! I’ve been spot-cleaning with Ivory bar soap, but I just read that you can use Eucalan Woolwash full strength on dirty spots, so I’ll be doing that now! I love that Eucalan is a no-rinse formula, which means it’s water saving! And, the original Eucalyptus scent is nice. I also occasionally lanolize my wool covers (although Eucalan has some lanolin in it, wool covers should still occasionally have some added for extra water-proofing!) with Lansinoh Brand Lanolin. Maybe I’ll write up a wool washing tutorial later!

Laundry Detergent

After lots of researching, we chose Claudia’s Choices for our laundry detergent. It’s completely eco-friendly and is on the Bummis list of recommended detergents (scroll down), plus, it’s Canadian!!

Diaper Pail and Liners

We use the basic cloth diaper pail with Bummis liners. I love the liners, but if I had to do it again, I would definitely get a regular trash can with a foot pedal that fits the liners in it. These pails are the perfect size, but are hard to get open with the liner in them when closed tight.

Wetbags

I ordered some wetbags from Happy Tushies and am very happy with the quality! They have yet to leak, contain smell well, and are so much nicer than toting around stupid plastic bags!

Wipes

I made my own flannel wipes while I was pregnant. They’ve stood up to Gwen’s messes quite well and I’m glad I did it, if only to prove to myself that I’m craftier than I thought! However, I probably wouldn’t do it over again - I’d probably just go with baby wash cloths, or buy some cheap flannel wipes. Because Canada is cold in the winter, we splurged on a Prince Lionheart Wipe Warmer (or as Brad calls it, Butt Warmer, LOL). We just fill the inside thing with water and it keeps it nice and warm for Gwen’s little bum!

Wow! Talk about an exhaustive list! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about our system - I’m off to check out some church bazaars!

Brandy asked what toy Gwen was playing with in the video, so I thought I’d do a post on Gwen’s favourite things!

The toy in the video is a Kushies Peeko. Of all her toys, this is the one that keeps Gwen’s attention for the longest! It’s a ‘multi-sensory box’ (contrast coloured sides, each of which velcros shut like a book with things inside, ie. a mirror, a crinkly thing, ribbons, etc.) and inside the box is the Ozlo toy, which is a contrasty, multi-coloured “dog”.

I’ve posted about this one before, but the Schaff coloringo is an amazing rattle and teether! It’s not too loud (perfect for mom and dad!) and a great size for her little fist. The colours keep her attention, as do the different shapes for mouth exploration!

Gwen enoys grabbing and shaking her Manhattan Toy Winkel. It’s got a nice gentle rattle sound and is easy to hold and comfy on her sore gums!

I was hoping Gwen would enjoy her Ringley teething toy as much as the coloringo, but it doesn’t get much play time, sadly.

The Beginning Bites by Sassy are a favourite of Gwen’s, and they were great fun to watch her learn how to hold! She squeals when she sees the blue one. We borrowed these from my sister We also borrowed an earlier version of Sassy’s Wooden Trio. The textures and shapes are great fun for Gwen to explore.

One of Gwen favourite thngs to play with on the change table (I reserve it for there!) is Manhattan Toy’s Snuggle Pods Peanut. It’s soft and squishy and she always grins whenever she sees it and grabs it from me!

The toy we have for fun in the bathroom (keeps her busy while we shower!) is Ikea’s Leka playbook. It’s got tonnes of fun textures, a mirror, toys that pop out, and squeaky stuff. Does it get any better than that? We also have an Ikea Barnslig - a soft elephant with teething ears.

Those are the toys Gwen plays with the most for the time being. And most of them are 6 months and up, so she’ll continue to explore them at a different level as she gets a bit older! We have a serious lack of cloth and board books, though!! It’s getting hard to read her regular books as she’s grabbing the pages and wanting to eat them …

We’re trying to be intentional about buying cloth and wooden toys. Crystle and Dave (community members) brought Gwen a cloth animal playset (complete with watering hole and tree!) back from their trip to Africa. I can’t wait for Gwen to play with it and get some pictures!

Crunchy is a term used to denote something that is environmentally friendly, healthy for the body, or just plain hippy-ish. Wikipedia defines ‘granola‘ (same concept) as “a slang term describing a person who is hippie-like, a modern bohemian, environmentalist, or leftist in outlook.” Take this quiz to find out how crunchy you are!

I scored 139 - Super Nutty, Ultra-Crunchy, Granola Earth Mama! How did you do?

My local health food store (Goodness Me) was selling gDiapers for 25% off. I decided to pick some up since Brad and I are going to be going to the Dominican Republic for my sister Becky’s wedding in April and we obviously won’t be able to bring along the cloth diapers!

I love them.

gDiapers is a true disposable diaper. They consist of an outer cotton pant, a snap-in nylon liner, and a flushable insert. The insert is chlorine- and plastic-free (yay!) and is flushable, compostable (wet ones, anyways), and tossable. Check out their video to watch an insert fully biodegrade (50 - 150 days instead of oh, 500 years for a regulaer landfill disposable diaper).

The little ‘g’ pants come in a variety of awesome colours (sized small, medium, and large) and are ridiculously cute on little bums. We’ve also found that our indian cotton prefolds fold up well and fit in the liners just fine - so I can use the cute pants with cloth, too! I love the fit so much that I’ve been reaching for them more and more … and I’m contemplating selling some of my other covers to buy a few more of these (girly colour, anyone?)!