encouraging happiness through a love of children, a love of the earth and a love of being frugal…
Hi Readers,
Over the last week, the our Hughesnet satellite has been down. Nine days without Internet – it was almost painful, although I got a lot of gardening done and a lot of writing done in my new book. I am happy to see there are a lot of new visitors! I hope you’ll keep coming back! New articles will be posted starting tomorrow, August 1.
All best,
Michelle Kennedy Hogan
Dear OI Readers:
Thank you so much to all of you who entered the Comment to Win contest this month. I have randomly selected a winner – her name is Christene and she commented on a couple of posts, including a recent post about 10 Uses for Olive Oil.
I have contacted her by email and will be sending her a package which includes the OI Tote Bag, several of my books, and a variety of green cleaning products.
I am considering making the comment contest a monthly thing…so keep a look out!
Thanks to all who entered, I’ve appreciated your comments and good wishes!
Best,
I’m sorry. This will sound very unfeminist of me – but as I get older I realize just how unfeminist I truly am! I just read this article on Night Nannies on The New York Times and let me say that I am appalled. Now, not only are more and more children being shunted out the door to daycare at a younger and younger age, but now their parents can’t even get up with their baby in the middle of the night.
I’m not going to go into how bad this lack of interest in one’s children is – there are plenty of people who have done that already. Let me just say that I don’t understand why people who don’t want to hang out with their children even bother to have them. I’m sorry that waking up in the middle of the night to nurse or comfort your wee one is too much of a strain for you. I know your life and sleep are so much more important. Wake up people – they are only this tiny once in their life! Enjoy that time to snuggle – and catch up on your David Letterman watching. And if you don’t want to do the job of parenting…don’t become a parent. It’s not difficult. And it’s not a job that needs to be outsourced.
by Melanie Bowden
Everyone’s heard of recycling, but what about precycling?Also known as source reduction, precycling is reducing the amount of trash you generate in the first place.Not only can you lower trash going to your local landfill, but you can save money to boot.
You can save as much as $3,000 a year by being more aware of your shopping habits and always buying the largest size your household can use.According to the Save Money and the Environment Too campaign, buying in large sizes saves a family of four $175 a year on apple juice and $118 a year on cereal, while producing 50 percent less waste.On average, individual oatmeal and cereal packs cost three times as much per serving, and cookie and chip packages twice as much per serving, when compared to the large sizes.
Stay-at-home mom Lisa Horton found the statistics surprising.“I didn’t realize it was that substantial a savings,” she says.“I do buy in bulk and it helps, but I could do more–like use more reusable items.I think making the public aware of little things they can do is really important. (more…)
But those little jars aren’t that expensive, are they? Oh yes they are and they aren’t very good for our little ones either! Consider that babies should start eating solid food around 6 months of age – give or take. Also consider that most baby food companies make their most nutritious foods for babies under six months.
Only “First foods” are true purees. After that, according to Cheating Babies: Nutritional Quality and Cost of Commercial Baby Food by Daryth D. Stallone, Ph.D., M.P.H. and Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., “Gerber and Heinz replace real food with water and thickening agents in many of their products for children over six months of age. Such adulterated products are nutritionally inferior to products made with more fruits and vegetables.
Hey Michelle:I am a new subscriber to your blog, and I love it! Well most of it. The thing is ( and please don’t take offense) I think that promoting gDiapers goes totally against what your blog seems to be trying to say. I feel like you talk about frugality and sustainability and staying away from consumerism as much as possible.G-diapers are pretty rad, Iwill give you that. But they are expensive as all get out and not really that sustainable because they have to be made from natural resources that just get tossed at the end of the change. Plus you are buying refills all the time just as you would with disposables. I read your article about the ten things you don’t need when you are having a baby and frankly these seem like they would fit on that list. I feel good old pre folds (or any reusable diaper) are the most cost efficient and the best choice for sustainability.Maybe i am totally off base. I am relatively new to all of this ( diapering, parenting, living as green as I can etc.) I know you said you used to use cloth so you have experience with both and probably have great reasons for switching (please feel free to share).I really really don’t want you to think I am rude, I love your site and all your great tips for living frugally and in harmony with the earth. I too am a stay at home mom with ambitions to homeschool and am always looking for ways to stretch our one small income. I am so thankful for stumbling onto your site as you are really an inspiration.I hope my loud opinion does not irritate you too much.Thanks for your timeDana
Hi Dana,Not at all! What a great point you make! Can I post your comment on my site? First off, I must state that I love the gDiapers covers and use them often with plain old cloth diapers. However, I know many people who, for them, a gDiaper is a good first stepping stone. I like the idea of bridging the gap between disposables and cloth. For those people, to see that using a cover isn’t such a pain, is a good experience – whether with a liner or a cloth diaper.But your point is well taken that I am not exactly promoting frugality. Although, I do promote investing in cloth diapers and covers of your choice and passing them on to other children (whether your own or someone else’s). I guess I thought of gDiapers as an investment in the same way – but giving parents the option of going a more “disposable route” or “cloth route” – I guess in this case, I figure if people are going to eschew frugality for convenience – I’d rather have them at least be green about it!Does that make any sense?Thanks so much for writing!All best,Michelle
Welcome readers! Organically Inclined has just gotten some sweet products. From today (July 8, 2008) through next Friday (July 18, 2008) make a comment on any of our blog posts and you will be automatically entered to win an Organically Inclined cotton tote bag (check them out here) filled with a copy of Michelle’s book “Without a Net,” a copy of Michelle’s book “The Big Book of Happy,” a gift certificate for one gDiaper cover of your choice; an Organically Inclined bumper sticker and a variety of green cleaning supplies!
If you don’t want to comment – that’s OK too, just send me an email at michelle@organicallyinclined.org and let me know what you think of OI, you’ll be entered too. Make sure your comment has a valid email so I can let you know if you win – or keep checking and I’ll announce the winner next Saturday – July 19. Comment as many times as you like – just don’t spam me…they’ll go to the trash.
Are you a fellow blogger? Feel free to promote this on your blog – let me know if you do and I’ll send you a free signed copy of my book too!
I won’t lie, my garden is pretty weedy. Really weedy. It always is. I go out there with all intentions of having a pretty little row by row garden and then I end up with the jungle (I’ll go out and take a picture later, it’s too hot right now). I think part of it is because I am nestled into a side hill and there is a lot of wildflower growth right above the garden…the wind comes down through the mountain and plants all the seeds into the garden. Of course, the other problem is that while I always have the ambition to get out and work in the garden for three or four hours a day – it usually ends up being like every other for an hour. Inevitably, while I am out there, there is yelling and screaming and I have to come and see what’s going on; or someone needs to go somewhere and when I get back, it’s time to start dinner – or I get distracted by something else.
So, I was weeding yesterday – quite heartily and recovered both 100 foot rows of beets. However, while I was out there, I noticed that some of the weeds that were intermixed with my broccoli and cauliflower, looked remarkably like the broccoli and cauliflower plants – they didn’t have the same bluish hue, but the structure looked essentially the same. And I got to thinking…since the weeds grow faster than the cultivated plants, is there any chance that they could be beneficial, rather than a hindrance?
I did a little research – and while the final verdict is still up in the air – it would appear that although weeds do take a lot from a row of cultivated veggies (sharing water, light, etc.); they also provide food for bugs that might otherwise eat your plants, increase pollination and provide some plants with necessary shade. In addition, some weeds have roots that clear the soil, attract grubs and cutworms and replenish it with nitrogen – acting like a green manure.
I also try to mulch heavily with newspaper, hay, compost and stuff from the barn.
Why not just cave in and use herbicides a friend said to me? Well, if it’s not good for the weeds, I can’t imagine it’s too good for the plants. And I don’t really mind a weedy garden in theory – but my Martha-esque sensibility does feel the same kind frustration in my weedy garden as I do in my cluttered living room. I try and push past that feeling…while giving a satisfying yank to another weed that is past my knees in height.
Will I continue to weed? Yes, I will. But as you will see when I post photos, my huge garden will never be weed-free. I think I will continue to weed the immediate area around my plants and allow other weeds to grow up and act as a barrier. Do I wish I could have one of those pretty little gardens with the plants all perfectly tended in a row and not a weed in sight. Yes. And maybe someday I will get there. But for now, I enjoy just getting out there everyday (or every other day), watching my plants grow healthy, knowing that they will feed my family in a variety of ways.
How does your garden grow?
I had a wonderful time at the beach with my kids last week. I was sad that all of my children weren’t there – my oldest son Matt recently got a new job and had to remain home to work. I was, however, proud of him for taking it well and being so willing to work (and take care of the house and animals while we were gone). (more…)
Please click here to download the plugin required to make recent comments work!