Have you ever taken a look at your house, or in my case, your car, and noticed a lot of stuff? Clutter?  Or, if you’re like me, is your calendar super packed with activities and responsibilities with little room to breath?  I know that sometimes my life feels so full and it is easy to get swept up and feel a little bit out of control.

A few weeks back, I posted about how I try to keep our house tidy by making sure everything has a home.  And then, my friend Jill shared about how she keeps her life in order with a home management binder.  An idea I still have’t put into practice, all in good time though, right?

But today, I want to share about simple living.

Living simply is something that is so counter intuitive to our society.  We’re all quite busy and we’re all focused on meeting daily needs, wants and desires.  Advertisers vie for our attention non-stop, and various health professionals or organizations compete for the “right” solution to xyz problem, ultimately leading to more confusion.  It’s difficult to navigate life when it is so complex.

However, I do think it’s possible to simplify our lives.  It’s incredibly counter-cultural though, and people may look at you funny – it’s happened to me! – but it is totally worth it.

I’m not talking about selling everything and couch surfing, but about basic choices that will encourage a more simplified way of living – a way that allows more time for relationships that are important to you, decreases wasteful habits, and brings life instead of stress.  Don’t get me wrong though, you’ll encounter resistance, and that might feel stressful at first.  Change is never easy.  But give it a shot and see how things change. You might be surprised!

Here’s a few particular suggestions to get you thinking about simplifying:

1. If you’re relocating or moving, consider living closer to where you will work.  You will gain valuable time together as a family just by reducing your commute.  For some, this is a BIG sacrifice and fairly challenging – I know I was conditioned to like the idea of the suburban dream.  However, living in a city or in a small town is quite lovely also
2. Simplify your media intake.  If you want to be drastic, cut out TV.  This may sound appalling to most people, and when I share with folks that we don’t even own a TV, they’re pretty surprised.  It will force you to be creative, spend time with people, and try new things.  For children, their imagination will be encouraged and relational skills developed in positive ways (after they get over the lack of sponge bob…)   If that’s too extreme for your taste, try reducing gradually – maybe just one show a day or week.  If you go the route of completely cutting it out, you’ll also save money!  Huzzah!
3. Don’t always buy new.  Craigslist, yard sales, and Good Will are helpful tools to find exactly what you need.  Consignment stores are also great for clothing.  Or, get crafty and make it yourself!  I’m so glad my mom taught me how to sew, and I’m convinced that if you know how to drive a car, you can learn how to sew
4. Share stuff.  I’m not sure why it’s necessary for every person to own a lawn mower or ladder.  Sure, it’s convenient, but consider all the time it is stored and unused?  You could go in together with a neighbor or two and share yard supplies and cut down on cost, and maybe open up some free space in your garage.  You could even trade off taking care of each others yard.
5. Get rid of anything you haven’t used in the last 12 months.  This is tough for me – I always see potential in things.  But the truth is, if I haven’t used that item, read that book, or done that project yet, I probably never will.  Make it a habit to go through your closet at the end of each season and pull out items that don’t fit or you no longer wear – have a yard sale or donate them to the charity of your choice.  Give old toys to new families, and sell books on Amazon (I’ve made a bunch of $$ this way in the past month!)  Getting rid of stuff that is crowding our lives can help us simplify A LOT!

That’s just a few ideas to get you started.  I’m sure there are TONS more I could think of.  Or maybe you have your own.  Please share!

On Monday, I decided it was time to revisit one of my goals for the year – to try to exercise consistently.  I’d basically fallen off the bandwagon since moving, and pretty much since March hadn’t gone running or exercised only but on a few random occasions.  *sigh*  I knew full well that I wasn’t giving it my all.

So, after whining and complaining, but not really doing much of anything, I went to the gym on Monday!

Victory!

Now, hopefully I can keep the ball rolling and make it out again today.  I figure if I write about it here, maybe I’ll actually do it.  Gotta keep the momentum going!

The heat finally broke in the midwest, and we were able to spend some time outside this weekend without suffocating because of the humidity.  It was a beautiful weekend!

We spent most of Saturday outside working in the yard.  And it needed the work!  I don’t have any recent before pictures, but this is what it looked like at our last walk through before we made an offer on the house (pic is from mid-April)

You can see a small garden in the center of the picture near the back corner of our property.

It’s easier to see from here…

Except, there’s no more playground.  And there’s leaves and you can’t actually see any of this from our windows anymore.  It’s like Swiss Family Robinson!

Anyways.  The garden had become pretty overgrown with weeds because our seller pretty much stopped doing anything with the yard once we had our offer accepted.  I don’t blame her, I woulda done the same thing.

We inherited a lot of dandelion weeds and Creeping Charlie.  I had no idea what this weed was until my mom told me about it when she was here visiting last week (she got the whole weeding process going – thanks mom!)  Let me tell you – it is the most annoying thing EVER!  Check out this wikipedia article.  It’s basically like mint, it spreads quickly and reroots itself as it spreads.  When you get down on the ground, it just looks like cute little clovers or something.  But if you look closer, there are all these tiny  little vines way down by the dirt that snake through your yard/garden, connecting each leaf.  When you pull it up, sometimes you can get strings of the weed several feet long!  You can kill it with a solution of Borax (which can be toxic to other plants/animals if it’s too strong) and some commercial herbicides.  Or you can do the dirty work and weed it by hand…only to have it grow back almost instantly.

We decided to go the cheap route and do it by hand for now and just get it out of our gardens first.  I spent all day Saturday pulling up weeds in our little 6×16 ft garden.  I have the sunburn to prove it!

Our wonderful neighbor wondered over to check out all the action, and one of them generously offered to let us use his gas powered tiller!  Sweet deal!  So DH got an arm workout and tilled the garden real good!  We took a trip to the local farm store and farmers market on Saturday and Monday and got a bunch of vegetables and herbs.  On Sunday we pulled out some of the loose roots and grasses, and finally, on Monday night we planted everything and gave it a good watering.

We’ve got basil, chives, rosemary, lettuce (leftover from the seller), tomatoes, some type of mystery squash (also leftover), red, yellow, green and thai peppers, and jalapenos, plus some cabbage!

It’s a little late in the season to plant a vegetable garden, but we didn’t care.  All of the plants were half off and we have no idea what the soil is like, so we just thought we’d go for it.  I’m going to get some more herbs this weekend to put in a pot – mint, oregano, parsley & cilantro!  It will be fun to see all of this stuff grow.

This weekend, DH and I went on a little get-away of sorts. I was gone in the Ozarks last week with students for our end of the year chapter camp (a post to come on that soon!), hence the lack of posting.  After 6+ hours in a big church van where WAY too many weird conversations were had, I finally got to see DH after a week away, and then we scurried off on our adventure.

No, this post isn’t about that kind of magic, but I do encourage married couples to get some time together after being apart.  It’s been great for us.  This weekend we went to Elk Horn, IA for a Danish festival.  Going back to the roots, baby!  Danish dancing, smoderbrod (smeared bread – they are like open-faced sandwiches), and a parade!  It was super cute.  Pictures coming soon, I promise.

Anyways, I digress.

In our house, depending on the day and how well I follow the recipes *cough cough* , the magic happens in the kitchen.  DH is a great cook.  I still remember the first time he cooked for me, way back before we were dating.  I was completely floored by the yummy penne with Italian sausage and peppers, cooked with balsamic vinegar, a bay leaf, tomatoes, and brown sugar.  *drool* It’s still one of my favorite recipes.  And at the time, I had no idea that that was really just the tip of the iceberg.  Since that blissful non-date (we were planning a worship night for our church, oh how innocent we are!), he has successfully woo’ed me with his bread-baking, Indian-cooking, grill-master, stir fry-loving, authentic Italian cooking ways.  *sigh*  There is no way I would survive living in small-town Iowa without DH’s mad crazy chef abilities. No. Way.

If you haven’t already caught on, DH is a much better cook than me.  And he’s had a lot more practice as well since he was bach’in it since  2001.  The running joke in our home is that I almost always mess up a recipe.  Either I don’t time things right, I forget an ingredient, I burn something, or the recipe just plain sucks to begin with.

But I’ve been improving.  DH can attest to this.  I can cook Indian food on my own and not burn the cumin or onions, and I have made homemade meatballs that were to-die-for!  Yum.

However, one thing I’ve never had is my own apron.  DH has this green brown black and white striped monstrosity of a an apron beautiful apron that he’s very protective of. I use it once in a while, especially when cooking anything with turmeric (it NEVER comes out.  If you have a secret, please share, because I’ve found it hopeless)

Well, in Elk Horn, I stumbled upon something that just made me SOOOOOOO excited.  It was this:

My Nana would be so proud   I didn’t buy this exact apron, the one I found is navy and has the same words, but instead of a white heart, it has a red heart with the white cross, which is the Danish flag.  SO cute. I’m so excited to finally have my own apron.

And hopefully this means there will be more *ahem* magic in the kitchen, both culinary and otherwise!  *mwa*

This is what I’ve felt like since last Friday. It feels like someone inflated a balloon inside my head, and like I will never stop blowing my nose. Plus my eyes are swollen and achy, which is just really bizarre.  I spent all day Monday in bed, most of the day yesterday, and I’m en route to spend another day in bed.  I’m kinda getting sick of being sick.

My doctor said it sounds like I have the flu (test came back negative) and that no antibiotics will really do anything.  So the typical “get rest, drink fluids, take the day off” remedy it is.  *sigh*

When you have swollen achy eyes and ‘the flu’, there’s only so much online TV you can stand.  And while sleeping all day is appealling, I’m starting to be over it.

I just want to feel better.  :-/ And I’m sure the ten other people I know with the same symptoms feel the same way.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Ok, are you ready?

At church yesterday morning, I did not avoid talking to the pastor at the church we were visiting as we were leaving because I felt some dissonance with his sermon.  And no, I did not start daydreaming about home decorating while he was preaching on Revelation.  Nope, not me!

Jerod leaves for a conference this week, and on Sunday when he returns, I will most definitely not be skipping picking him up at the airport because I’m presenting at a local church. Nope, not me!  (I actually feel bad about this one…)

After being sick for several days, no I did not scowl in my sort-of slumber this morning at 1 AM when Jerod created a pillow barricade to block my runny-nose induced snoring. Nope.  And, no I am not spending all day in my sweats reading blogs, watching TV, sleeping getting better today.  Nope, not me!

When Jerod explained that large donors to Rose-Hulman (his alma mater) receive a RHIT jacket with the school tartan as the print, no I did not refuse to stand next to him or associate with him at future RHIT events, even though we will likely never give that much to the school.  Apparently there is a lot of pride involved in wearing these jackets. I have too much pride not to! Nope, not me!

Oh how I wish I could find a picture of those lovely ugly jackets so you could understand!

And finally, no I did not eat four cookies for lunch the other day when I was home by myself.  And no my husband did not shake his head at me in disappointment over my failure to eat normal foods when I’m by myself.  Nope, not me!

And now, off to snack on a cookie…

I’ve always enjoyed Asain soups – miso being one of my favorites.  I still remember the first Vietnamese soup I tasted – so fresh and light, full of delicate flavors.  Then I tried Thai soups, and loved them even more.  I was at the grocery store a while back and happened upon Lemongrass in the fresh herb section – not something easy to find in the midwest, so I bought some on the fly, and then determined to find a tasty recipe to use it in.  This is what came of it!

This is an adaptation of two recipes found here and here, and pure imitation of my favorite salad from a little place called Fresh Side in Amherst, MA, and the peanut sauce taken from here.  Both of these recipe’s are easy to make and go well together – we happen to have most of these ingredients on hand regularly, but even so, it’s fairly cheap for all the yummy vegetables you get!

Here’s what you need for the soup and salad:

• One 2-inch piece of fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 stalk lemongrass (ours was chopped into 4-inch long pieces – I think there were 4 total)
• One large can of chicken broth/stock
• 2 cups water
• 1 t lime juice
• 2 T soy sauce
• 2-3 T fish sauce
• 5 carrots
• one bunch cilantro
• 2 heads of bok choy
• handful of shitake mushrooms or asian style canned mushrooms (we used dried shittake)
• 2 large ripe roma tomatoes
• 1 1/2 c frozen pre-cooked shrimp, rinsed, tails pulled off
• fresh basil leaves
• 1 lime
• 1 bunch green onions/scallions

For peanut sauce:

• 1/4 c creamy peanut butter
• 3 T soy sauce
• 2 1/2 T vinegar (we use rice wine vinegar since this is “the asian way” – you can use red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar and be fine)
• 2 T sugar
• 3 T water
• 1/2-3/4 T dry mustard powder (add more for a spicier version)

Here’s what you do:

First, peel the skin off the ginger with a  vegetable peeler and then slice the ginger into round disks (this is important because of how fibrous the ginger is – you have to do disks first).  Peel the skin off the garlic, and slice into disks.

Next, mince the garlic and ginger as small as you can get it.

Next you have two options with the lemongrass – it depends on how picky you are.  You can either chop it into 1-inch size peices, which makes it easier to fish out of your soup (you don’t usually eat lemongrass) or you can put it in a food processer and have it chop it into tiny little pieces.  Lemongrass is pretty hard to cut – so you won’t be able to mince it with even the best of knives.  Your choice on what you do – I just sliced mine into smaller peices because it was quicker, and less dishes to do later

Here’s where the magic starts happening.   Throw the ginger, garlic and lemongrass into a big pot.

Here’s this lovely heavy pot that was a wedding present to Jerod’s parents – it’s way old school, but the thing is AWESOME.  Just thought I’d share.  It’s perfect for this soup.

Now, pour in the huge can of chicken stock…

Pour in the 2 C water, and throw in the lime juice as well.  Turn the heat on to medium high.

Peel the carrots, and slice into disks.

Throw the carrots in the pot, and turn the heat up a little higher – eventually, it should be at a low boil.  Once it get’s there, turn the heat back down to medium low.

Next, grab the fish sauce and soy sauce.  The Thai Kitchen brand has a version of fish sauce sold in most major grocery stores.  Ours is from an international food store and was a bit more bang for the buck (we cook a lot of asian foods…)  Add 2 T of each, feel free to up the fish sauce later if it needs a little extra salt.

Grab the cilantro, and chop that stuff up too.  Throw it in the pot.  (On a side note: For some reason, the folks at the grocery store here in Grinnell have a serious herb-confusion and can’t tell cilantro and parsley apart.  Come on people, it’s not that hard.)

Next comes the fun part!  This is bok choy, the most important part of the whole meal!  Look for one that has nice big leaves – this will be for the salad, and good white parts – that’s for the soup.

Pull the leaves off, and rinse off any dirt.

Chop the white part into smaller chunks, and the leafy part into long strips (5 inches long or so).  Thow the white parts into the soup pot, and the leafy parts into a salad bowl.  Feel free to mix it up a bit – we put some leafy stuff in the soup and white stuff in the salad for variety.  Whatever floats your boat.

Next, add the mushrooms – cover the pot, and let the soup simmer while you get to work on the salad.  (Mine are in a bowl because we had to soak them first to reconstitute the dried shitake mushrooms)

Let’s get going on the salad – this is seriously scrumptious, and very easy.  Grab the scallions/green onions – wash them and peel off any wet filmy layers.  Chop on a diagonal – white parts should be smaller, green parts can be larger.

Warning – I like green onions.  So I put lots in.  DH doesn’t like them quite as much as I do – luckily, they are easy to pick around

Throw the onions in the salad bowl that contains the cabbage leaves (bok choy is a cabbage…I didn’t know that until recently!

PS – I have no idea why this photo looks fuzzy and weird…

Oh, and chop up the rest of the cilantro too, and add that to the salad.  I like lots of cilantro!

Take the remaining carrots (I think I used two), peel ‘em and matchstick them.  Or, you could use a mandoline if you’re fancy like that.  OR you could buy the ones at the grocery store that are already matchsticked into tiny slices for salads.  Your call.

Doesn’t that look so delicious?  I want to eat it again.  Wait, I already had some for lunch today…

Next, we’re going to make the peanut sauce/salad dressing.  This is super easy and simple, plus if you have some left over, you can use it for a stir fry, it’s very tasty!

First, measure a 1/4 c creamy peanut butter and put it in a regular ‘ol cereal bowl.  Just a tip – if you spray your measuring cup with cooking spray, you’ll have any easier time getting the PB out.  This also works with honey.  I give DH full credit for introducing me to this handy trick.

Next, measure out the remaining ingredients for the peanut sauce and add it all to the bowl (3 T soy sauce,2 1/2 T vinegar,2 T sugar,3 T water,1/2-3/4 T dry mustard powder)

Whisk it all together – mmm, yummy!  (Yes, that’s a mini-whisk.  I have no idea where DH got it, but we use it a ton)

Now, turn back to the soup for just a second – you’ve got three more things you need to do.  First, if you haven’t de-tailed and rinsed the shrimp, do that now.  (I was a dummy and bought un-cooked shrimp. Yeah, don’t do that.  Not worth it).

PS – If you want to go vegetarian, use firm tofu – add it at the very end.  Though personally, I think shrimp is better.   But I’m biased – I love shrimp!

Next, grab your tomato and cut out the little core at the top (sorta like when you carve a pumpkin and cut a whole around the stem).  Then, slice the tomato in half and squeeze out the juice and seeds, scoop out anything left over.  Then, slice the tomato into 1/2 inch chunks.

Now – add the shrimp and the tomato to the soup last, cover and make sure the heat is on low – cook until the shrimp is cooked through and the tomatoes are a little soft.  Make sure you don’t over-cook the shrimp.  Taste the soup – if it’s too salty, add a bit of lime juice.  If it’s too sweet, add a dash of fish sauce.

You’re ready to eat!!!  Ladle soup into large bowls, serve with fresh torn basil (don’t skip this step – it’s completely worth it!)  For extra fun, float a slice of lime in it.  For a little extra spicy kick, we put some good ‘ol Cock Sauce in the soup.  You can also put fresh chile’s into the soup to add a little pizazz.

Drizzle the peanut sauce over the salad, add some chopped peanuts if you want, and enjoy!

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Time to share an interesting new part of my life   Get ready to be at the edge of your seats!

At my alma mater, Colby College, I lived in “chem free” housing for all 4 years.  This was their form of providing solace for students who didn’t want to be accosted by vomit every time they left their dorm room on a Friday night, or inhale pot and cigarette smoke on a regular basis, so I took advantage of it.  I was a pretty good kid in high school and never raided my parents cheap boxed wine stash, so I just went for it and decided chem free was for me. (Can’t you just hear a cheesy jingle??)

Now, chem free has a whooooooooole new meaning to me.  Up until 3 1/2 years ago, I had no idea that there are people in this world who are apparently incredibly sensative to various unnatural chemicals, so much so that it makes them sick just by being in the same room.  No clue.  I went to a Bible study (the one where I met my husband!) and this girl named Alana informed me that it would be really nice if I wouldn’t wear perfume or lotions to the group in the future because it basically made her nauseated.  I had never heard that before, but figured that wouldn’t be too hard since I pretty much never wore perfume, and my lotion collection was rather limited (I’m addicted to Bath and Body Works Vanilla Bean Noel….mmm, cookies!)

Well, turns out, it was a bigger deal.  One time, a girl came and her laundry detergent sorta “wafted” (is that a word?) quite strongly, and so she had to sit in a different room during Bible study! Amusing looking back, probably rather irritating for my friend.

Fast forward a little while, and I learn that my (now) husband also is quite sensative to chemicals and fragrances.  So much so that he can TASTE them when they bother him.  I guess you can test 9V batteries by sticking them on your tongue, and it tastes TERRIBLE – that’s what he compares it to.  Yuck.  So, after much frustration and elimination of various products (deodorant, make up, shampoo, lotion…) I basically was probably one smelly person, so we took a trip to Whole Foods and stocked up.

Now, my “fragrance” collection is severely limited to his preferences, otherwise he won’t come near me, which obviously doesn’t make me very happy And when you live in a small town, it’s hard to find truly “fragrance free” or “paraben free” items.

But, if you’re in a similar situation, or if you just want to bless those around you who also struggle with this, I have some solutions!  (And I mean it when I say bless, there are SO many people that are sensative to smells)

Skin Care

Grateful Body – they use 100% natural and organic ingredients.  While expensive, their products are much more concentrated then your average face wash, so you use less, and the cost averages out.  Plus, everything smells like fresh flowers!

Suki - also 100% natural and organic.  This stuff is much more of your spa-quality skin care, but when they used it during a facial I had, it was like heaven on your skin.

Deodorant & Shampoo

JASON – This company has pretty much everything you need, and it’s affordable.  Very easy to find at whole foods, and if you’re lucky, some other stores.

Nature’s Gate – We use their Tea Tree shampoo, and it’s the only thing that does not bug Jerod and his picky nose.  Shampoo was the most difficult thing to figure out since I have such fine hair, but I think we finally may have arrived at something!  You can also find this stuff at Whole Foods.  Just a warning – some of their botanical stuff is WAY too strong for my taste.

Maybe I’ll eventually have a post about household cleaners too, since you can imagine the crazy smells that go along with your average kitchen anti-bacterial spray.  (Tip – vinegar and water can do SO much!)

For now, I leave you with a link to a list of chemicals you should try to avoid when buying skincare products. Go here and be enlightened!

I wanted a simple soup to make for lunches throughout the week, so I made this yesterday.  My mom actually passed this on to me because she gave me some vegetables from her CSA that I didn’t know anything about – and this was in the CSA newsletter (though I usually know what to do with carrots!) It’s a pretty inexpensive recipe, though I would recommend adding a few more carrots to thicken it up a bit.

Ginger-Spiced Carrot Soup (Vegan)

CARROT Soup (Vegan)

(from cooks.com)

Ingredients

5 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds

1 leek, chopped (dark green parts removed) – I used green onions because they were in my backyard and thus free.  :-)

1 small onion, minced

1 medium potato, diced

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1.5 inches ginger root, finely minced (about 2 tbsp)

1 can coconut milk

4 cups stock or water

1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)

2 T vegetable oil

1 t sweet paprika

1 t turmeric

salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Heat vegetable oil in a medium-sized pot. Add onions, sauté about 2 minutes. Add leeks and garlic; sauté in pot for about 4-5 minutes until softened, but not browned. Add carrots; stir vegetable mixture until carrots begin to carmelize a bit, about 6 more minutes (watch to prevent over-cooking).

Add potato, ginger, stock, and coconut milk ; allow mixture to come to a boil for about 5 minutes; reduce heat and add spices (turmeric, paprika, salt, pepper). Cover and simmer on low until potatoes are tender, about 20-25 minutes.

Puree soup in batches in the blender, or use a handheld blending appliance to obtain a smooth, velvety textured soup. Garnish soup with roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds).

Jerod and I have moved to Iowa and are slowly settled in.  That warrants a MUCH longer update with pictures ( I promise they will come!) but right now, I have something else on my mind.  And this is a bit of a diversion from my typical menu mondays.

Last year, at some point there was a lot of talk in our growth group (i.e. small group bible study) about “kingdom” economics – we talked about fair trade, organic, local, natural, etc etc.  All of these are very IN concepts right now, especially if you’re anywhere near a college.  I wasn’t part of all of the conversations, but it’s pretty difficult to live in the Happy Valley and not encounter a “Be a Local Hero, Buy Locally Grown” bumper sticker at least once a day.  It was definitely something I thought about, but didn’t actively pursue.  Mostly for lack of time to really do the research I wanted.  I was a bit hesitant and skeptical of some of the things I’d heard about organic foods and products.  And I didn’t understand all the fuss about High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFC).

I’m finally finally looking into things.  A few things sparked this….

One: fresh vegetables and herbs are SO much better.  Jerod had a small garden and I always loved fresh picked tomatoes and peppers, fresh mint and chives.  Mmmmm, yummy.  So, we (actually, it was Kristen) started our own garden.  Delicious.  If you don’t garden, you should.  It’s worth the time and effort to just walk into your back yard and grab a nice ripe cherry tomato for a snack.  If you don’t garden, find a farmers market and go visit the farm – find out what sort of practices they use.  Eventually I want to do this.

Second: Fair trade.  This wasn’t a huge thing for me – it seems that the hot button products for fair trade are coffee and tea, neither of which I consume.  Sometimes I’d have tea, which Jerod would supply.  So, honestly, this wasn’t a huge factor, but I’m still wanting to look into it.

Three: My roommate Jess and her quest to buy locally grown EVERYTHING.  I think this was inspired by a book called Plenty about reducing the radius your food has to travel.  The average ingredients in one meal travel something like 1000 miles to get to your dinner plate (apparently).  If you get oranges from florida, apples from chile (which I did yesterday, unbeknownst to me), beef from Colorado,  herbs from Iowa, milk from the local dairy – yup, it adds up fast.  

Four: Organic/artificial fragrances.  A girl in our small group reacted to scents, it could kick in her fibromyalgia.  Jerod reacts pretty strongly to artificial scents.  He can taste them, which is just crazy.  When we were engaged, we had this one day where we took all my lotions, perfumes and shampoos outside and he took whiffs of them – he only lasted about a minute before his nose went bezerk.  I purged a LOT of stuff, most of it expensive stuff from your typical department store.  Make up too.  Off to Whole Foods we went, and found some pleasing stuff.  

Then I had a spa day before my wedding and had my first facial, which was all natural organic stuff and was introduced to the AMAZING-ness that is natural products. All I have to say is, my skin has never felt so great.  Two wonderful companies I have found are Suki, and Grateful Body.  Seriously, you should check out their stuff.  And if you’ve researched anything through Skin Deep and EWG, check out this link on Suki about the skeptical legitimacy of their ratings.  Just a note, this stuff isn’t cheap. But it is WAY better for you, and the ingredients aren’t watered down by additives, so you use a LOT less than you would from your normal stuff from Target.

Five: HFC & Gluten Free.  Apparently HFC is bad.  I want to find out more.  Margo’s website got me thinking about it, so now I need to investigate.  And then there is Gluten Free, something I hadn’t heard of until I met a number of people in Amherst that had digestive issues related to wheat germ and gluten.  This is becoming more and more widespread.  One of my close friends found out she’s gluten intolerant, so that means any of your regular flours aren’t edible…..but there are amazing substitutes.  I’ve learned a little bit by bit from Melanie – check out her website which highlights gluten free menus and recipes very week.

One last note.  The difficult thing with organic and natural food is that the labeling and certification process is difficult, and somewhat spotty.  Organic certification is very expensive and monitored by the USDA, hence many smaller local farms aren’t going to shell out the dollars for this.  Natural food is much less regulated, and is not necessarily organic.

 I guess I’m a bit torn, because I’d prefer to support local foods and smaller farms, reduce the carbon footprint that results from food transportation (and is reduced further more if you are a vegetarian) and all of those wonderful things.  But that seems to be in competition with getting organic food.  I guess that’s why I want to visit local farms or be part of CSA.  We’ll see.  I guess this is Part 1.  When I find out more, I’ll write Part 2.