A Green Mother’s Day to You

Happy almost Mother’s Day to all my fellow moms out there. Here’s to a happy, fun day with your family.

Our tradition has always been a fairly simple gift for Mother’s Day. It’s not like I have a ton of material needs that aren’t being met, after all. I love the look of jewelry certainly, but I don’t particularly need or want more of it. I spent 6 years working in a jewelry store, after all. My husband figures he’s pretty lucky to be off the hook in that area.

So far, he’s just picked up some plants for the garden. That’s good enough for me.

The real trick to the day is keeping it from being too hectic. We each have our own mother to deal with, after all.

On his side of the family is the traditional get together at the bay for a picnic. Frankly I’ve always found that to be a lot more work than other ideas, but such is life. The kids love it since that means they get to play with cousins they rarely see otherwise. This is an extended family gathering, meaning any degree of relation is likely to show up, and that my side is welcome too if they’re in the mood to come over.

Then we go see my side of the family. Fortunately, going to the bay brings us close to my mother’s house anyhow, assuming she didn’t show up at the picnic herself.

It’s so nice that both sides of our family is into simple gifts these days. The main gift is considered to be simply getting together.

It’s a wonderful gift. Fairly green when family is local, and very meaningful.

Google’s Mowing with Goats

I just had to smile at this post on Google’s blog about their decision to mow some of their property with goats. How utterly practical!

They used a company called California Grazing for the job. The California Grazing site does a great job of explaining exactly why it is that goats are a green choice. Too bad the folks who take care of the fields near us and just spent days getting it mowed haven’t heard of them. I think the goats would have been a better choice. Certainly the school kids walking by would have gotten quite the kick out of seeing the goats at work.

Perhaps the best part is that this apparently cost Google about the same as having the area mowed. Not bad, not bad at all.

Where to Find Local Food Resources

I’ve talked a bit lately about my garden. I love being able to grow my own food. In fact, my husband came home the other day with an early Mother’s Day gift for me – more plants for the garden. I liked it.

I know, of course, that gardening isn’t for everyone. So today I wanted to get into local food sources. If you can’t garden, if you don’t want to, if your garden fails, whatever the reason, buying local is a great option.

Farmer’s markets are often an easy choice. There may be several in your area. The USDA has a page all about farmer’s markets, and it may be a place for you to start searching if you haven’t spotted them already on your own. But it definitely doesn’t have all of them listed. I searched for a farmer’s market I know of in my area, one that has been going on for years, and it wasn’t listed.

Local Harvest is another great resource. Once again, they didn’t have my local farmer’s market listed, but it did show another that I know of nearby.

Local Harvest can also help you to find a CSA to join in your area. Community Supported Agriculture groups are a great option if you don’t mind prepaying and not knowing what exactly you’re going to get. I haven’t tried one yet myself, but every time I read about someone who has, the selection impresses me.

The Eat Well Guide offers similar resources.

If you want to learn more about sustainable eating, I suggest checking out the Sustainable Table website. It has some great tips that will help you understand why you want to avoid conventionally farmed foods when you can.

Swine Flu Overrated? What a (Non)Surprise!

Somehow I am just not surprised to be reading that swine flu doesn’t look to be any more dangerous than regular flu. Looks like this was more of a panic than a pandemic.

More and more it’s looking like this was only ever a minor issue. Tragic for those who died, but remember that the early reports were only about those who went to the hospital. You don’t go to the hospital for normal cases of flu, meaning that only the worst were being reported. That’s what made this look so bad early on.

Could it get worse? Sure! But it’s not the big issue right now that so many people were fearing.

I live near San Diego, so I’ve paid pretty good attention to the story. For that matter, I, my husband and my son are all getting over some bug or other. My one and only concern with it was that I didn’t want the baby to get it, because my poor son was so miserable coughing, and a 102.5 degree temperature is a problem for an infant. My oldest daughter has only had the lightest of symptoms.

Even in Mexico things are winding down. I truly hope this trend continues. Flu season itself is winding down too.

I know there’s talk that it may be worse next flu season, and if so, that’s the time to deal with it. Right now it’s a maybe. No need to panic about anything right now.

So what should you be doing?

Normal health precautions are perfectly reasonable. You know, wash your hands regularly, cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, stay home when possible while sick. No masks, no disposable gloves, no magical cures. Don’t go running to the ER because you coughed, ate pork or  just want more information. Eat healthy, take supplements if you like.

If it’s going to be a problem next flu season, there’s nothing you can do about it right now unless you’re in that industry.

Consider this a lesson in hype as well as a lesson in being prepared for a disaster. It doesn’t hurt to know what you would do if there really were a hideously deadly pandemic going on. At the same time, don’t fall for the media hype and panic when something’s yet a small issue.

Consumer Reports Blows It?

There’s a recent post on the Consumer Reports blog that has a lot of people pretty upset, and I don’t blame them. Their recommendations for what parents should NOT buy for their babies include two very popular products for attachment parenting – cosleepers and baby sling carriers.

Not specific brands of these products, cosleepers and slings in general.

The problem I have with this is that if they held other products to the same standards, they’d never recommend any products at all. Children get injured or even die in all kinds of products. Accidents tragically happen.

Babies get hurt or even die in car seats. In strollers. In cribs and cradles.

But no one attacks these as a category. They’re what we’re used to.

Cosleeping and using a sling can have risks, but if the parents learn the proper precautions they’re very safe. Both are practiced regularly in other cultures. Cosleeping in particular is dangerous mostly when done wrong, such as with excessive bedding or an intoxicated parent. Otherwise it helps the parents to be very aware of the baby’s breathing and sleep patterns. It even helps mothers to get more rest at night.

The fact that they’re quoting 4 deaths in 5 years for baby slings only serves to accent how poorly thought out the post is.

Tell us the brands that are unsafe and why; don’t just condemn the product as a class. That’s where Consumer Reports normally shines.