Eating Well: Produce

I have decided that 2012 is our year to move to organic (or at the very least IPM) fruits and vegetables. We have already made huge strides in that direction. The kids eat almost all organic produce, but I still have a weakness for cheap berries (pretty hard to resist 2 packs of strawberries for $3.99 when one pack of organic is $4.99 ... ouch). I have been pretty good about buying what's in season, but I will admit that we're not too great at buying local produce yet.

So anyway, 2012's focus is produce. 2013's focus will be seeking out good sources of meat and dairy (organic, to me, is almost meaningless when it comes to these products ... I am interested in knowing the farm well). We can't do meat til we invest in a chest freezer, and due to several expensive house projects that has to be put off til 2013.

I'm pretty serious about my goal. The first thing I did was sign up for a CSA. 25 weeks of vegetables, then 8 weeks of storage veggies in the fall, plus 22 weeks of fruit. It adds up to about $21/week on produce ... more than we were spending before, but we weren't eating as much produce as we should have been anyway. The farms are in Lancaster, PA, so that's very local! Obviously it will all be in season, too. Another nice perk is that this CSA comes with membership to a co-op that you can use to place orders for meat and dairy that can be delivered to your CSA pick-up location. I haven't gotten a chance to check pricing yet, but it might be useful for eggs at least.

Now that the kids are older, we can start going to the farmer's market (5 minutes from here), too. I am excited for that.

We are also transforming our yard from weird-previous-owner's obsession with oriental grasses and invasive vines to a yard that can produce food for us. Last year we planted a raspberry bush that has started spreading in a back corner of the yard. I would like that whole area to become raspberry bushes. I have great memories of gathering raspberries at my grandparents' house.

This year we are planting 3 different blueberry bushes, 2 dwarf apple trees, 1 dwarf cherry tree, and wild alpine strawberries. They shipped out on Friday from a very reputable organic nursery, and we will be planting them some time this week.

I found an awesome website called smartgardener.com that takes your zip code, type of garden bed, orientation of your garden, plants you want, etc. and creates a plan with weekly to do lists. I have already planted my carrots. Next week I'll add the lettuce, then the bush beans, and much later the tomato seedlings. I plan on getting my herbs going in the next few weeks as well. I even have my winter garden planned out.

This goal has been fun so far because I really enjoy gardening and am not awful at it. :)

Shampoo, Conditioner, Toner

I tended to use whatever shampoo/conditioner was on sale. Usually it was Garnier Fructis. On EWG Garnier Fructis shampoos and conditioners fall in the yellow zone with a 4, but if you look at the ingredients 7 of them are in the yellow zone and two are in the red zone.

I tried to go all-natural and make my own shampoo with castile soap, water, and a tiny bit of olive oil. I gave it a couple of weeks before my greasy, nasty, unmanageable hair declared it a total disaster. Too bad because it would have been dirt cheap! I settled on the same shampoo/body wash I was using on my eczema-prone kids: California Baby.

I really like this shampoo, but it is fairly expensive. I might see if I can water it down in the future. It is SLS-free, scores a 1 on EWG, and I do like that I can buy one bottle for the whole family to use. Because it's SLS-free it doesn't suds up as well as regular shampoo, but it's not too bad.

For conditioner I have switched to Beauty Without Cruelty. I have been using the Moisture Plus version (scores a 2 on EWG) only because I haven't located the Daily Benefits one yet (scores a 1). It costs about $6.50 for a bottle, but it lasts me a couple months and I don't need to use much. It has a really amazing honeysuckle scent, and I don't feel any difference in my hair from the conditioners I used before.

For toning (I tend to use toner in the morning before putting on my face lotion or as a make-up remover) I used to use Neutrogena Alcohol-free toner (scores a 5 on EWG). It is filled with parabens, so that's a no no. I switched to Dickinson's 100% Natural Botanicals Witch Hazel Daily Toner. It contains no parabens and scores a 1 on EWG. I can't tell a difference in quality, although the scent at first bothered me. I read a lot of reviews from other users who said the same thing. Shockingly, I adjusted to it and almost forgot to mention it here because it doesn't bother me anymore, but other girls said they just put a few drops of their favorite essential oil in to fix that issue. It is super cheap on Amazon compared to Neutrogena toner, too!

Okay, that's it for now, kids are up. I have plenty more to review, maybe one day I won't be a slacker?

Breakfast

Here's what I eat for my real food breakfast every morning:

1) Cottage cheese (Daisy brand, full fat, only contains cultured milk, cream and salt) with homemade jam (organic berries, tiny bit of sugar, even tinier bit of pectin)

2) 1/4 cup orange juice (just enough to swallow my prenatal/DHA vitamin)

3) homemade sprouted wheat cinnamon raisin bread with butter

4) 1/2 cup organic, shade grown, fair trade coffee

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For breakfast the kids eat a half cup of homemade full fat yogurt with a little bit of homemade organic jam mixed in