It’s been a hard year. As I begin to look back and reflect upon 2010, and anticipate celebrating Christmas this year, my heart is a bit heavy. It feels as though this year has been one of loss, struggle and discouragement. We’ve lost family and friends to cancer, and heard of more diagnoses just recently. …
Green Christmas: Natural Kids Toys and Gifts for Guys
This is the last of the 3-day Green Christmas event, and today I want to share with you some options for children and the men in your life (because goodness, aren’t they always the hardest ones to buy for?)… Oompa– Toys, Gear, Furniture When I first began learning about the toxins in plastic toys and …
Green Christmas: Organic Women’s Clothes and Reusable Glass Straws
Welcome to Day 2 of Green Christmas, where I’m featuring some great “green” companies and products for more sustainable gift giving this holiday season! You can learn more about how and why I decided to run this series and what it’s all about here. Today I want to share two more online shops with you… …
Green Christmas: Hard Lotion Bars and Fabric Gift Bags
Wouldn’t it be nice to stay away from the mall and the big-box stores this holiday season? To support some smaller companies, and be able to choose more natural, earth-friendly and unique gifts for your loved ones? Green Christmas is a 3-day focus on some of the less conventional stores and products available, to get …
How To Quickly Get Your Home Ready For Guests
Written by Emily McClements, Contributing Writer The holidays are in full swing, and along with holidays usually come guests. It is a blessing to host others in our homes, whether for a week night family dinner, weekend party, or small group Bible study, but sometimes the preparation for guests can become stressful or overwhelming. We …
Giveaway: 6-pack Happy Heiny’s Cloth Diapers
Written by Sherrie Cook, Contributing Writer As I have written to you all before, more and more people (and many of you) are making the switch to cloth diapering for so many reasons! Thanks to our ever-expanding internet technology, most of the fears associated with switching are being talked about openly and often. Due to …
How to Plant Garlic in the Fall
Garlic has stolen my heart as an organic gardener, because it is hands down one of the easiest and most reliable crops that I’ve grown so far. For some reason, I initially had this idea that garlic was only for experienced gardeners and would be a challenging crop to grow. I’ve had quite the opposite …
Whole Foods for the Holidays: Main Dishes
During the holidays, main dish entrees are the belle of the ball. This is one of the few times of the year when we really go all out with time-consuming meals, expensive ingredients and make fancier courses that will knock our family’s socks off. Of course, I’m referring to the traditional turkeys and hams, but …
Wife-Saver Breakfast Casserole
I grew up eating a “wife-saver” casserole each Christmas morning, with eggs and bacon and Corn Flakes crumbled on top. It was delicious and hearty, and best of all, my mom could make it the the day before and pop it in the oven while we opened gifts as a family. Pancakes and waffles are …
Homemade and Frugal Christmas Ideas
Written by Kate Tietje, Contributing Writer Christmas is coming…soon! It’s a huge, commercial, and expensive holiday. Many families spend well over $1000, and some far more than that, on Christmas presents and paraphernalia every year. For families who are trying to be frugal or have to stick to a budget, it can be hard to …
Herbal Honey: A Sweet Holiday Gift
Written by Meg, Contributing Writer With the holidays nearly upon us, I know many of us are already thinking of the many gifts we are preparing to share with others this season. If you’re like me, you also have the burden of wanting to share with those around us, but feeling the pinch of a …
Cream of Tomato Soup: Quick and Easy Fall Comfort Food
With fall and cooler weather comes the return of soup simmering on my stove. Too hot for summer dining, it is just the perfect, warming end to a crisp autumn day, and so soup begins to find its way back on our table once again. I have been making this simple Cream of Tomato soup …
Using Stoneware for Baking and Cooking
With all that I’ve been learning over the past few years about toxic materials in my various pots, pans and muffin tins, it has been so refreshing to find a safe alternative that I love using! I’ve discovered that high-quality stoneware easily meets all of my qualifications, being 100% safe, durable and effective. I have …
Looking Forward: An Advent Calendar
Written by Sharon Kaufman, Contributing Writer What and When is Advent? The word “advent” means arrival or coming in Latin. Specifically, it relates to the coming of the Christ at the incarnation. Advent is celebrated in the weeks leading up to the day we set aside to remember the birth of the Messiah. It begins four Sundays …
My Simple Cast Iron Care Routine
Written by Shannon, Contributing Writer For so long I avoided cast iron because I was intimidated by the seasoning and care process that I had read about. Then my husband came home and surprised me one day with a cast iron skillet. Of course I swooned – who needs flowers when you have Ma Ingalls-style …
Natural and Eco-Friendly Laundry Soap Reviews: 5 Moms Test and Compare
In light of the growing interest in more natural and environmentally friendly products over the past several years, the number of cleaning products lining the shelves of your local health food store (and even conventional stores) has grown enormously! For a mom with a limited budget and barely enough time to get through the mountains …
Giveaway Winners: In the Kitchen, Real Food Basics
Out of 239 entries, the winners of In the Kitchen: Real Food Basics are: Elizabeth ([email protected]…) MomOfFour ([email protected]…) Christine ([email protected]…) Congratulations! For those who didn’t win, Kate is offering a coupon code, KOTH25, for 25% off Real Food Basics. This coupon code has been extended and is good through Thursday, November 4th at 11:59 PM. …
Holiday Card Making with Kids Using Recycled and Re-Purposed Materials
Written by Stacy Karen, Contributing Writer It never ceases to amaze me just how much joy a simple act of kindness can bring. A thoughtful card often takes very little effort, yet provides so much encouragement. Taking the time to create something for another helps build character in our kids. It trains their mind and …
Book Sale Has Been Extended!
Due to a few technical “bumps” we had at the beginning of the sale and the fact that the response has been so absolutely tremendous, we’ve decided to extend the sale until this Friday! Some of the coupon codes for the other eBooks will be ending this week, but I know that most of them …
Home Remedies Carnival: Share Your Resources for Staying Healthy Naturally
After spending an entire month focused mainly on natural home remedies, herbs, homeopathics, real food prevention and more, I still feel like we’ve only scratched the surface. Though most of it isn’t complex (in fact, often home remedies are very quick, simple and inexpensive) it does take some reading, research and trial and error to …