As a fair-skinned Mama with fair-skinned children, I have to think about the sunscreen issue a lot.  I don’t want the increased risk factors from getting sunburned, but I also don’t want a bunch of toxic chemicals soaking into our skin!  What’s a Mama to do?!

The solution: the Environmental Working Group’s 2009 Sunscreen Guide!

With this handy tool you can check the ingredients in your favorite sunscreen, see how your current sunscreens toxicity is rated and find the best non-toxic sunscreen for your family.

Enjoy your summer…safely!

I grew up eating wild mushrooms called Morels.  They are some of the most delicious things you will ever put into your mouth!

They grow better in the Northern states, but we still find a few in Middle Tennessee.

This is Matthew, our son, holding a Morel mushroom we found in our yard last year.  One of two…not quite enough to eat!

I had been doing some research on edible plants and mushrooms in our area, so Matthew and I went on a search in the woods around our house to see what we could find.  We found a tree that had fallen, but the large stump was still standing. On that stump we found… Oyster Mushrooms!  There are no look alikes in the US, so we were sure that we had the real deal.

This is what we harvested…about four pounds of free, tasty, gourmet mushrooms!

The best way that we have found to eat Morel and Oyster mushrooms is to gently pan fry them in butter.

After we harvested them, I put them in salt water to get rid of any bugs.  I rinsed them off gently and carefully.  Next I put them into a zip-top bag and coated them in flour.  Then I fried them in butter and salted them to taste.  They were so good!

The next time you go to the grocery, look at the gourmet mushroom mixes.  I bet you’ll see small oyster mushrooms in there!

For more information check out these sites:

General Mushroom Info

Edible Wild Mushrooms

(Time for the disclaimer:  Do your own research. Make sure you are harvesting in a clean area, not by a road, because mushrooms absorb heavy metals and toxins.  Don’t eat any mushrooms that you aren’t ABSOLUTELY  SURE are safe.)

For more real food fun visit REAL FOOD WEDNESDAY!

I just finished reading some wonderful books…I have limited time to sit down and read, so I usually stick to topics I’m trying to learn more about.

(If you read this blog very often you’ll not be surprised at my list!)

The first book I’d like to recommend is Crunchy Cons.  As I read this book, I was so glad to know there are others like me out there!

You see, I’m usually walking this narrow road between the right and left wing politicians. For example:  As a Christian I believe we are to take care of our earth because we are to be good stewards of God’s gifts.  But, we also need to remember that all we do is for people…for their good.  If we plan carefully, the earth can be kept clean and people can be well taken care of.  (stepping off of soapbox now)

Even if you don’t see eye to eye with me (and that’s okay) then you will still learn a lot from this book.

Now for a classic…Nourishing Traditions!  This book changed the way I fed my family forever.  I have seen some amazing changes happen in our family since I started feeling them whole, real foods, made in traditional ways.

By the way this “traditional” doesn’t mean your Grandmother’s condensed soup filled, topped with fried in trans fat onion pieces, canned green bean casserole that showed up at the Thanksgiving table every year!

Tasty, yes.  Good for you, nope. Sorry.

By “traditional” I’m talking about things that healthy, “primitive” cultures have been eating for thousands of years.  Like butter from animals fed only grass, lots of fresh fruits and veggies, etc.

Now for the benefits we’ve seen by eating this way:  Since October 2008, my husband has lost over 20 pounds, I’ve lost 30, my children have had an easier time doing school work, their behavior has improved, they are growing well and we are all really healthy.

I could go on and on…go ahead, take the plunge into traditional, nourishing foods and see what good things happen in your family!

For those of you who have already seen the great things eating healthy foods can do, please share your comments!

Want more? Then head over to Fight Back Friday to see what’s new!

The first time I read Nourishing Traditions I was shocked.   I thought I was feeding my family a healthy diet…like the food USDA pyramid says.  Wrong.

One of the ways we have improved our diet tremendously is by switching to raw milk. This change has only been made after much study and prayer.

My main concern was with e-coli.  My young niece was swimming in a local river and doing what kids do…she swallowed some water while she swam.

There was only one problem…cows.  This river runs along cow pastures and the cows come down to drink…and go potty.  There in lies the problem.

These cows are your regular grass and grain feed cows and obviously carried e-coli.  My niece almost died, her kidneys were shutting down and if it hadn’t been for the healing power of the Lord, she would have died.

I couldn’t think about my children laying in a hospital bed, with their kidneys shutting down, just from drinking raw milk! It just wasn’t worth it!  So, we just kept drinking our “ultra pasteurized,homogenized, organic milk” from the grocery. Until the day we visited our local farm store…

You see, they had cow shares available, which was the only way to get raw milk in TN at the time.  I told Debbie, our farm store owner, the concerns I just shared with you.  She wasn’t upset at all, in fact she said she wanted people to be asking questions and doing research.

This was the day that my thoughts about raw milk changed forever.  Debbie told me about a piece of information that I hadn’t heard …the difference between grain fed cows and grass fed cows.

This is the summery what she said:  When you feed a cow ANYTHING but grass, their naturally alkaline stomach environment will become an acid environment.  So, if a grass fed cow does pick up e-coli, that bacteria will die in the acid environment of our stomach. No problem.

The problem starts when cows are fed ANYTHNG but their natural food…grass. (This includes grain at milking time.) This changes their stomach environment to acid, instead of alkaline.  If they do pick up e-coli, then the e-coli adapts to live in an acid environment…like our stomach!

Debbie also milks her cows in a closed system, into stainless steel and chills the milk immediately. She also tests the milk for any indications of abnormal cells.

By ONLY feeding a cow grass and milking properly,  then you virtually eliminate the danger from e-coli.

You can read about our farm store’s milk share story here and here is more info on raw milk.

Here is a WONDERFUL article about raw milk!

Visit Food Renegade for more healthy info at Fight Back Fridays.

Wool Dryer Balls From Good Mama

My Mother in law just gave me some wool dryer balls that my aunt made.  I’ve been wanting to make these for a while, but have never taken the time to do it!

I used them on the mountain of laundry that I washed yesterday and they worked really well.  My aunt said that when she uses 8-10 of them she is able to cut her drying time in half!

Saving money and having no static cling… naturally, that Works For Me!

If you want to make your own dryer balls, GoodMama has the instructions!

Be sure to check back on Friday for the latest L. Herbert Design prints that will be featured at Nesting Place!

Want to win a free print from my store?  A High And Noble Calling is hosting a giveaway!

After I read about the health benefits of sprouting, I started to sprout my grains and beans before using them.  It is SO EASY!

Here’s how to sprout dried beans:

* Sort your dried beans, removing all stones and shriveled beans

*Rinse the beans. Put the beans into a bowl and cover with water until the beans are about 3 inches under the water.  Cover and soak overnight or 8-10 hours.

*After soaking, drain the beans in a colander and rinse.  Leave the beans in the colander and rinse at least twice a day. The beans will sprout in about 1-3 days.

*When the beans have a very small sprout you can store them in the fridge for a few days or cook right away.  These cook up faster than un-soaked beans and are much more nutritious.  You can use them for your favorite recipes, our family likes them in chili.

Stephanie at Keeper of the Home has a great post about freezing all those beans you just made!

Check out Fight Back Fridays at Food Renegade to see more food tips.

Do you have any good recipes including beans?

I can’t tell you how excited I was to find a recipe for soaked banana bread!

My children really like to eat bananas for snack time, but sometimes we have a few left over.

Banana bread is great for using up really ripe bananas, so it’s very frugal.

The only problem is that banana bread usually has a lot of sugar and white flour.

It was a happy day when I found this recipe that has no refined sugar, whole grain flour and is also soaked to neutralize the phytic acid in the flour.  Whoo Hoo!

Here is the link for the recipe so you can make your very own tasty banana bread!

For more healthy living info, go to Food Renegade for Fight Back Fridays.

Our family follows the Nourishing Traditions/ Weston Price way of eating.  In a nutshell, that means that we eat real food, the way our Great Grandparents did.

(We have eaten junk for so long that it’s taking a while for me to get back to a healthy weight. We used to eat white sugar filled deserts every night!  It would be wonderful to wake up and be fit, but that’s not going to happen. So, I’ll just keep eating well and exercising.)

Funny thing… most grocery stores don’t have a lot of real food!  So, how do we find healthy, affordable things to eat?  The answer is local food.

You can go to Local Harvest to find farmer’s markets, local farmers and farm stands near you.  I have found some wonderful family farms in my town with this great tool.

When you are buying locally it’s better for you and your budget!  You are eating food that’s very fresh and keeping your food dollars in your local community…in the hands of the hardworking farmer, where they belong!

I totally agree with  Jenny, from The Nourished Kitchen, when she said, “Saving money should come from proper kitchen management, not from skimping on the quality of food you purchase.” She has a great article about budget friendly, healthy food you can read here.

Healthy, local food…Works For Me!

You’ll find lots of great info about eating real food at Real Food Wednesday!

Here are some great links for further reading:

The Nourished Kitchen

Sustainable Table

Animal Vegetable Miracle

Keeper Of The Home

If you would like to have your own farm fresh eggs head on over to Life On A Southern Farm, she’s having a nesting box giveaway!

I got this recipe for crock pot yogurt at Nourishing Days.  If you are interested in nourishing foods and wondering how they will fit into your life, this is the blog for you!  Shannon makes healthy cooking easy and has great recipes.

Here is how my yogurt turned out:

It was thinner than store bought yogurt because it’s without any extra thickeners.  I usually sweeten it with unsulfered molasses, pure maple syrup and pure vanilla extract.  I also add a little water in it and we drink it like keiffer.  I used these sweeteners because of their high iron and calcium content.

We only use cultured dairy and a little organic cheese.  I just buy organic, lightly pasteurized milk at the store and make our own yogurt.  I’d rather be using raw milk, but the culturing process adds back most of the enzymes and vitamins lost in the pasteurization process.

This is SO easy! You’ll have a lot of fun making this.  I’ve made about 4 batches and it’s turned out great every time!

This is the time schedule that works well for us:

3:30 pm- pour the milk into the crock pot and cook it on low

6:00pm- turn off the heat and let it sit covered with the lid

9:00pm- stir in the 1/2 cup of yogurt and cover with towels

9:00am (the following morning)- take out 1/2 cup of yogurt to use next time, stir and and enjoy!

I also made yogurt cheese with one batch. It was so good that the kids and I dipped our veggies in it. Yum!

I laid a piece of cheesecloth over a mesh colander, put the colander into a large bowl and poured the yogurt over it.  The whey drained out in a few hours and I was left with the yogurt cheese…so easy!

For more yogurt info be sure to stop by Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s blog. She just did a great post on yogurt and the comments people left were very informative and helpful.

If you’d like to learn more healthy recipes go to Fight Back Fridays at Food Renegade.

If you try making your own yogurt or have some tips to share, please comment below. I’d really like to hear what works for you!

Are you looking for a healthy, quick snack for your kids?  I have a great suggestion…Dino Eggs!  They are easy to make, look really cool and taste great.  These eggs use natural food coloring…purple cabbage juice!  (The juice will only add color, not flavor.)

Here’s how to make them:

1. Boil a purple cabbage in a few inches of water. Drain off the juice and cool.  Be sure to eat the cabbage, it’s very tasty!

2. Make hard boiled eggs by putting eggs into cold water. Bring the water to a rolling boil and then remove the pan from the heat.  Let the eggs sit, covered, for 10 minutes.  Drain and then add cold water and ice to cool the eggs. (This will prevent them from continuing to cook.)

3.  Crack the eggs, by tapping them on the counter.  Put the eggs into the cabbage juice and leave them overnight in the fridge.

4.   Peel your eggs and they will have a cracked surface like dino eggs!  Enjoy!

For more ideas from awesome women, visit We Are That Family for Works For Me Wednesday.

Be sure to come back tomorrow! Nester and I have new art prints coming out…you can see them here and at Nesting Place.