It's Easy Being Green

You are what you eat. We’ve all heard the phrase before but have you ever wondered if there is actually any truth to it? Believe it or not, your diet is the key to your overall health and well-being. Good, healthy foods can promote the growth of healthy cells throughout your body, repairing damage. Bad foods, mainly those that are processed and far from what you’d pluck out of your garden, can actually injure your body’s cells, causing damage and disease.

As you pull out of that fast food drive through or pull the frozen dinner from your oven, have you ever stopped to wonder how your grandparents ate? Over the course of the past 100 years our diet has rapidly changed to include processed food, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and a host of additives and preservatives not known until recently. Eating has become less about keeping us happy and healthy and more about the pleasure of quick and tasty foods. Take a look at this scary comparison:

Here is what the average person ate over the course of the year in 1900:
- 131 pounds of homegrown vegetables
- 5 pounds of sugar
- Consumed small amounts of oil
- Didn’t drink soda

Now compare that to the average diet of a person in the year 2000:
- 11 pounds of homegrown vegetables
- 200 pounds of sugar
- 30 pounds of refined oils
- 53 gallons of soda

Evansville was recently named the "Fattest City in America" and its no wonder why. This town loves its fried food and even hosts a week-long festival based on two city blocks of fried food booths.

If that comparison doesn’t just make your stomach reel I don’t think there is much hope for you or your future health. The Western diet is out of control. We see it on our once a month trips to Sam’s Club where the fattest of the fat are lined up at each sample cart, stuffing their faces. Then they waddle down the aisle and throw in the most processed box of junk they can lay their pudgy little fingers on. With each bite, Americans are killing their families more and more.

Evansville, the city closest to our Half-Acre Homestead, just received the most glamorous title of the “Fattest City in America” in 2011. That’s right, we have more overweight citizens per capita than any other city in the United States. No wonder its so hard to find good, wholesome food in this town. With a McDonald’s on every corner (and literally I’ve never seen so many fast food joints in my life), the food conglomerates just keep raking in the dough while they make people fatter and sicker.

If you haven’t watched the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, you should. During our recent trip to visit family in Arizona, we sat down to watch this with my in-laws. It was shocking but inspiring all at the same time. If you’re worried it might be dry, don’t worry. The creators made sure to punctuate their points with entertaining snippets of animation. It proves that you can make changes to your diet and see almost immediate improvements in your health and well-being.

We need to make some serious changes in this country. Food needs to be more than just a passing thought better left to big agribusiness and corporate conglomerates that devise ways to generate the most amount of “food” for the least amount of money. We don’t have a lot of land on which to grow real food here at the Half-Acre Homestead. The little bit that we do have is productive and this year the goal is to make it even more so. Homestead Hottie and I are at a loss with our winter diet right now.

We introduced Everly to fresh fruits and vegetables from the moment she started on solid foods. She has grown to appreciate fresh, homegrown foods even more, often acting revolted with processed foods.

We can’t wait for the bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables that will soon be bursting at the seams out back and spilling onto the dinner table in our kitchen. Our life and our health depends on it and yours should too.

Will you be growing some of your own food this year? What do you plan to grow?

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I just wanted to take a moment to give some mad props to some sweet bubble bath we picked up for Everly this week. Heading back from this month’s prenatal appointment at The Farm, we made our usual pilgrimage to the Whole Foods in Franklin, Tennessee. One special that caught our eye this week was the Alaffia Every Day Shea, Shea Butter Bubble Bath.

Everly ran out of the “cheap” econo-sized bottle of bubbles we bought at Walmart a few months back. Finding the Alaffia bubbles was perfect timing. She loves these bubbles more than any other brand we’ve purchased. The comforting Eucalyptus Mint fragrance calms our Darling Daughter right down when it’s time to hit the tub. The sudsing action is amazing and even better, Alaffia’s bubbles don’t contain sodium laurel sulfate. These bubbles smell great and lather my daughter in a rich, shea butter based cocoon of bathtime goodness. What more could a parent ask for?

After reading the bottle, I now know that Alaffia is Social and Fair Trade Certified by the IMO. Since shea butter is primarily produced in West African nations, this is important in ensuring the farmers and workers there are receiving a fair price for their product and labor. Even better, 10% of my purchase with Alaffia goes to support community empowerment projects in West Africa. Some of the funds help ship used children’s bicycles from the U.S. to impoverished villages so young girls can get themselves to school. Funds also go to support the purchase of school supplies and repairs. Money is also used to help fund pre and post natal care at a maternity clinic in Togo, an area gripped by high infant mortality rates and sub-standard healthcare.

Some of the proceeds from every Alaffia purchase helps transport used bikes to West Africa so girls can have an opportunity to get to school.

I’m so proud of this socially conscious purchase. I know it may sound silly but when you take the time to find products that really do improve the world, you’ll know your dollars are helping to make a difference. Can you say that about the bubbles your kids use at bath time? Sure these bubbles might cost a little more than petroleum based bubbles bought at your local big box store, but I think the end result is worth it.

If you’re looking for some sustainably produced, Fair Trade Certified, extra gentle and non-toxic bubbles for your baby that rock, check out Alafffia! You can also read up on them at their blog.

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Have you ever considered making your own toothpaste?  Try out this simple recipe.  It’s free of all the chemicals and fluoride you find in the store bought brands.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup baking soda

1/4 hydrogen peroxide (you can add more or less depending on the consistency you like)

1 to 3 drops essential oil of peppermint

1 to 2 drops tea tree oil

Mix all of the ingredients together and store in an air-tight container.  If you want a smoother feel, you can add vegetable glycerin.  To sweeten the toothpaste just add some powdered stevia.  It’s going to be a much different experience brushing with homemade toothpaste as opposed to the store bought kind but it’s so cheap and easy!

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Picking up where I left off on my last post:

Pamela checked in about every hour to see how things were going and to give support about what was going on at that time.  Around 6:15 my wife said she was feeling like she should start pushing.

With that announcement, Pamela began to assemble her birth kit in the living room and kitchen of the cabin and called two other midwives to witness and help out with the birthing process.  I helped T labor in the shower on about 5 separate occasions throughout the night.  The hot water helped relax her muscles and a change of position kept her limber and active.  She seemed to be handling the contractions flawlessly and gave no indication of pain.  The hours seemed to drag on and even though I knew how long birth can last, it didn’t seem like we were ever going to get to the end.

Around 10:15pm, the contractions had picked up in length and intensity and T was beginning to feel like she couldn’t hold back from pushing at that point.  Two other midwives had gathered to join Pamela in our cabin.  Stacey, Pamela’s daughter in-law, was a new midwife and was enjoying getting her feet wet with us.  Jenn, a doula and midwife in training was also present and was learning the ropes from one of the best, most seasoned teachers.  The three worked in partnership with each other, never stepping on another’s toes.  They constantly lent encouragement and suggestions to my wife while constantly monitoring the position, activity and heartbeat of our baby.

Around 11pm, the midwives suggested that I sit behind T and let her lean back on my chest while I gave her a bit of a break by pulling her knees up while she pushed.  This gave her an opportunity to relax her muscles a bit and conserve some energy for later.  Just before midnight we took a break from laboring in the bed and I helped her labor a bit in the shower.  That was when things noticeably started moving along much quicker.  Just around that time, our hot and sticky summer night turned into a cool refreshing one as a thunderstorm rolled into the area.

The lightning, rumbles of thunder and rain pattering the canopy of forest around us was undeniably the perfect background for our natural birth.  At 12:15am, the push was really on.  My wife was pushing every two to three minutes and the midwives led her through several different birthing positions during this time.  She tried a birthing stool, squatting while hanging her arms from a doorknob, bent over the end of the bed and finally crouched on all fours on the floor, grabbing the foot of a bed.  This was the position that seemed to work the most amazingly!

Around 12:45am, T got hungry.  She had a light snack of yogurt, a handful of protein-rich cashews and soy nuts and a glass of apple juice.  This nourishment gave her the little added boost she needed to complete pushing our daughter down the birth canal.  She experienced about three insanely intense contractions and made a lot of headway pushing the baby out.  In fact, it only took three minutes from the moment her head crowned until her head was completely out.  That was a record time according to the midwives!

Seeing my daughter’s head appear from my wife’s vagina was the most amazing and awe-inspiring thing ever.  I didn’t think it would be worth seeing and would probably do more to horrify me than anything else but once again, I was so wrong.  Seeing that little smooshed face, for the very first time after 9 long months of waiting and anticipation was just the moment I hoped it would be and yes, it was love at first sight.  One more push and she was completely out and on my wife’s chest at 1:16am!  We were parents!

It was about 45 minutes before the placenta appeared and everyone could be cleaned up, measured and weighed.  Because our little girl crowned so quickly, my wife experienced a fourth-degree tear which the midwives insisted be repaired at the local hospital.  They didn’t want her to be scarred or damaged.  At 4am, very tired and exhausted, we packed up Mom, baby and Pamela and headed off to the labor and delivery ward at the local hospital.  Three hours later, my wife was stitched back together and we headed back to the cabin for some much needed rest just about 24 hours after the whole process began.

The care we received from Pamela, Stacey and Jenn was incredible.  There’s no doubt we made the right choice about birthing at The Farm and would encourage anyone interested in natural childbirth to look to The Farm as a possibility.  You’ll be glad you did!

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After several weeks I’m trying to climb back in the saddle when it comes to the blog bandwagon.  I’ve been out of commission for the last several weeks because my wife and I were getting ready to welcome our first child into the world.  She arrived on June 23rd at The Farm Midwifery Center in Summertown, Tennessee.

My wife really wanted a natural child birth for her first birthing experience.  When we figured out we were expecting she did a lot of reserach on local hospital birthing options and that’s when we realized that she wasn’t going to get the natural experience she wanted in a hospital.  Intervention rates in our area are high and both hospitals we considered wouldn’t allow us to avoid fetal monitoring, alternative birthing positions, etc.  That’s when we started looked for a midwife in southwestern Indiana.

We didn’t have much luck there either.  We found a midwife in the area but she has a history of lawsuits and told us that 90% of her first time Moms end up being transported to the hospital.  She didn’t have any emergency backup options and since Midwifery is unfortunatley illegal in the state of Indiana, we weren’t real comfortable with local options.  That’s when my wife discovered The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee.

The Farm started off in the early 70’s as a spiritual community leading the way in communal living.  One of the most successful components of The Farm community was their Midwifery Center, led by world-reknowned midwife Ina May Gaskin.  Gaskin has written several books on the subject of Midwifery and natural childbirth and her writing helped to direct my wife to go in that direction as opposed to a medicated, un-natural child birth in a local hospital with high intervention rates.

The beauty of The Farm is that just about everyone who lives there also maintains a cabin that is available for rent on their property.  A few of these cabins are primarily used as birthing cabins, where women can give birth in a quiet and relaxing home-like experience.  To be quite honest, in the beginning I still wasn’t convinced that a birth experience at The Farm was the way to.  I was urging my wife to just go “the easy way” by having a birth at the local hospital, using insurance so we didn’t have to lay out a bunch of money to have a birth.  I’m sorry that’s the attitude I carried.  We scheduled our first visit to The Farm to see if this was what we really wanted to do.

Driving onto The Farm the first time was like stepping into a time capsule.  This experiment in communal living certainly felt and looked like a hippie paradise.  Stepping into the Midwifery Center was like walking into a clinic located in some small, third world country at the far reaches of our globe.  As soon as our midwife greeted us at the front door though, it was all over for me.

The first thing I noticed about our midwife, Pamela Hunt, was her calm and warm demeanor.  As soon as we were in her presence, I felt every worry about a natural birth experience melt away and knew this was the place where we were going to introduce our little one into the world.  In addition to our monthly, insurance covered visits to a local OB/GYN in Indiana, we made a visit to see Pamela at The Farm during at least every trimester and kept in touch with her via email and telephone after every prenatal checkup back home.

Since we live more than 200 miles from Summertown, Tennessee, we knew we weren’t going to be able to hop in the car when my wife’s water broke and head to The Farm.  A rushed, frantic three and a half hour car ride while my wife is in labor just wasn’t going to be option.  That’s where the rental cabins at The Farm came into play.  Just about everyone who lives there also has a cabin available for rental.  Several of the cabins are designated as birthing cabins, giving women and their families a place to relax and enjoy a natural homebirth experience.  We opted to rent Pamela’s cabin which was right next door to her house.  It doesn’t get much more comforting than that!

We headed to The Farm two weeks before my wife’s due date and got her all setup in the cabin.  I stayed weekends and drove back to Evansville during the week to go to work, since I wasn’t going to be allowed to take very much time off.  I had just returned home very late after the second weekend at The Farm when I awoke to the home phone ringing at 7:30 in the morning.  I knew right away what the call was about.  My wife had awoken to her water breaking and was getting ready to sit and have breakfast with her Mom who was staying at the cabin in my absence.  I immediately got our zoo of animals resituated at the house and made my excited trek back down to Tennessee to help welcome my first child into the world.  In the meantime she took a morning stroll to The Farm Store down the road from the cabin and visited with Pamela about the day ahead.

When I arrived at 2pm my wife was obviously excited to see me.  We hung out for a bit and then she laid down to take a nap and rest up for the birth.  It was hot and extremely humid that afternoon but the stickiness seemed to have a certain energy about it.   Early in the evening, she woke up and was beginning to get some strong contractions about every 2 to 3 minutes.  Knowing that the birth process was starting was both daunting and exciting.

To read the rest of our birth story, check in tomorrow!

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Our latest prenatal visit to our midwife showed that my wife’s pregnancy is going great and that our little girl growing inside seems to be right where she needs to be.  It’s hard to believe that in just about 90 days, that little life inside of my wife’s belly will be plopped right into our arms.  I’m excited and know it will be such a tremendous experience.

In the meantime, I have run across some more homemade items that you can use for your baby and that I will use for mine once she’s here.  Blog reader Misty responded to my homemade baby lotion recipe post and said:

“I also know there are good “recipes” out there for make your own baby wipes, both using traditional paper towels (goodish), and using rag squares (much better).”

Misty’s comment got me looking and sure enough, there are recipes out there for homemade baby wipes.  I imagine they can get expensive after awhile so if you’re resourceful and are looking to cut down on your baby costs, you might want to give this a go!

Homemade Baby Wipes:

- 5 large plastic containers with high sides

- 1 roll of Bounty paper towels

- 2 cups of cold tap water (I would probably use distilled because I don’t like the added chemicals in our local tap water supplies)

- 6 Tbsp. of baby oil

- 2 Tbsp. of baby bath liquid

Slice the roll of paper towels in half and remove the center cardboard tube.  Place the ingredients into a medium bowl and mix.  Don’t mix too much because the mixture will foam up and you’ll have to start over again.  Place the paper towels in the container and pour the solution over the top.  It will take about 1 hour for all the liquid to be absorbed into the paper towels.  Place the baby wipes in a well-sealed plastic container and use as needed.

This post reminds me of an adult friend I have who has always sworn by using baby wipes for his own bum.  The thought has always cracked me up but maybe he’s got a point.  At least now I have a great homespun present to whip up for him that I know he’d truly appreciate!

I’m still on the lookout for a recipe that uses rags instead of paper towels.  That would be more sustainable considering you could probably just wash those and resue them instead of buying paper towels all the time.  If you have any homemade recipe or remedies, please share them with us and I’ll post them on the blog.  Thanks Misty for your great idea!

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Since my wife and I are expecting our first child, due in early Summer, I’ve been poking through my books taking a look at some homemade items we can make instead of buying at the local store.  I ran across this recipe for Creamy Baby Lotion in Dr. Myles H. Bader’s book 1,001 Secret Household Formulas and Money Saving Tips.  The book has hundreds of ideas and homemade products you can put together yourself.

Because you’re making this lotion yourself, it’s not loaded with dozens of chemical preservatives to make it have a longer shelf life.  So, don’t expect this lotion to last a long time if it goes unused.

Ingredients for Creamy Baby Lotion:

- 1 cup of pure distilled water

- 2 Tbsp. beeswax (grated)

- 1/2 cup of vigin olive oil

- 20 drops of essential lavender oil

- 4 drops of essential rose oil

Place the water in the top of a double boilers and add the wax.  Heat until all the wax has melted, then transfer the mixture to a blender.  Slowly add the olive oil while blending on a low speed.  As soon as all the olive oil has been blended, add the essential oils and blend for a few seconds.  Allow the mixture to cool in a heat-safe dish until it is creamy.  Store in a well-sealed container and use just like any other lotion.

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