Be Resourceful!

Share your story. Find local resources. Learn from others. Be Resourceful.

One of Nurture's four values is sharing. Portland is a fabulous city with so much community support for families to share resources. The City of Portland's program, Be Resourceful has a wealth of creative tips, resources, and opportunities for sharing.

Be Resourceful is about sharing stories, ideas and resources and connecting with others through closely held values. It’s about thinking differently around our relationship with our stuff.

Be Resourceful highlights the new opportunities and experiences you can create when you choose local resources to borrow, share and repair the things you need, and choose to buy for value, durability and utility. By shifting priorities and focusing on more experiences over stuff, we can enjoy healthier lifestyles and more time with friends and family.

Share your story. Find local resources. Learn from others. Be Resourceful.

Less is More

Cross-posted at: http://cascadiabirth.com/2010/08/30/less-is-more/

This is a lesson I continue to learn, in various ways. Sometimes it might mean going through my closet or bookshelf and letting go of things I no longer use. Sometimes it means looking at my various commitments and deciding to cut back a bit, creating more time for myself and my family. I think it's a common goal for many, especially parents who are already overwhelmed with so many expectations.

Over the next few blog posts I'd like to explore this idea of less being more, and how it might help your family regain a little balance. My first offering is actually a blog post by a fellow Montessori teacher, Marcy Hogan, down in California, who wrote a wonderful post about cutting back on the number of toys she has available for her young son. Marcy writes:

I know I've noticed a difference in the quality of play in my toddler when I keep the number of available toys low versus the days when I try to buy myself "extra time" by bringing out more toys. If he only has a few toys out, he'll choose one or two and play with them for much longer periods of time. When I bring out a boxful of toys, he'll get excited about all those toys to play with… but then quickly tires of them and looks for something else to do.

photo by Marcy Hogan

I notice the same thing for myself. My husband sighs knowingly when I come home from the library with a stack of twenty books. Although I'm a voracious reader, it's inevitable that I will start reading three at a time…and maybe, if I'm lucky, finish one. Paring down on the options makes decision-making much easier, allowing for a deeper level of engagement. It's a process for sure (as anyone who comes over right now to see my night stand will tell you), but definitely something to work towards.

Check out Marcy's article, then come back and tell me what you think. Share your ideas for simple toys, or strategies for cutting back when the toy box starts overflowing. If you're in Portland, you might consider participating in this toy and clothing swap at the Green Sprouts Family Fest on September 26th.

Lena Wood, labor & postpartum doula

Cascadia Birth Services, LLC
lena@cascadiabirth.com

www.cascadiabirth.com

503.307.8614

Do-It-Yourself (but with others) - body care workshops!

Create Plenty has body care product workshops for the next two weeks on Sat, Sun & Mon: Spots still available, but sign up soon for best results! Limit 8 people/session. Bring small to medium-sized containers that will fit 1-2 cups of your products! This is a fun activity for parents with children who like to cook! Aside from beeswax for a few products, these workshops are vegan! These can make nice gift sets!

Location: 1912 NE Killingsworth St, Portland, OR 97211

RSVP: dii@createplenty.org • Website: www.createplenty.org/kitchen.html • Cost: Unless otherwise listed is $10 for materials + 5-10 sliding scale donation.

Sat, Dec 5 - 11-1 p.m. BATH & LOTIONS Make lotions and bath products to suite any mood.

Come learn how for holiday gifting and as a treat for you! Cost $15 for materials + sliding scale donation

Sat, Dec 6 - 3-5 p.m. & Mon, Dec 7 - 6-8 p.m. MAKE YOUR OWN 'POO Shampoo that is. You'll be surprised how much you like these simple hair care recipes! Go home with what you've made, including two kinds of shampoos and conditioners.

Sat, Dec 12 - 11-1 p.m. OPEN PRODUCTION DAY We'll be cooking up a little bit of everything from previous classes including shampoos and conditioners, face care products and luxury bath items. Drop in and see what we're making and put together a lovely gift set for someone lucky. $3 per item, $2 if you help to make it!

Sun, Dec 13 - 3-5 p.m. & Mon, Dec 14 6-8 p.m. FACE CARE Mix and apply, this workshop is a facial and a workshop put together. Walk away with tips and several different products to use or gift! 12/13 (Sun) 3 p.m. - 5 p.m. 12/14 (Mon) 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Thur, Dec 17 - 6-7:30 p.m. LIP BALM Joy Leising from 100th Monkey Studios will help you make the best lip salve you've ever had. Another thoughtful gift idea for friends and family!

*Create Plenty is a nonprofit organization working to demonstrate replicable ways that incorporate more local people in the production and consumption of more local goods.

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Think ahead, leave no plastic behind! http://www.lnpb.org/

Help launch Create Plenty, "a real food store/restaurant that will redefine convenience"...
http://www.createplenty.org/, http://www.thechangexchange.org/

The Million Baby Crawl

Millions of babies are crawling to Washington D.C. Why? To demand reform of the Toxic Chemical Substances Act (TCSA). Current law does not require that companies list all ingredients on the labels of common cleaning and baby products. And only 250 of the 80,000 chemicals on the market have been tested by the EPA.

Seventh Generation and Safer Chemicals Healthy Families are teaming up to educate parents about the dangers of using these products and to introduce stronger regulations on the chemical industry. The TCSA has not been updated in over 30 years! Just think of all the things we've learned about plastics in the last three years!

This is an important cause since the use of these chemicals affect the health of our families and our environment. You can help protect your family and future generations by supporting this campaign.

Please go to http://www.millionbabycrawl.com to create your own virtual crawler to crawl to Washington and say no to toxins. You can share your crawler with friends and family who can cheer you on or create their own virtual baby. The crawler with the most supporters will win a trip for four to Washington D.C.

Portland is one of six cities nationwide participating in this campaign. Let's show Congress that Portland wants stronger regulations on toxic chemicals! We will have a Million Baby Crawl event at Washington Square Mall on November 18th from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm. There will be family friendly entertainment, activities and free Seventh Generation product.

Read more about the cause at http://www.seventhgeneration.com and http://www.saferchemicals.org

If you have questions or would like to learn how to obtain information and free Seventh Generation samples for your business or group, please email Angi Gunther at confidentbirth@gmail.com

Diaper Changing Station at Green Sprouts Organic Baby and Family Fest

We have been hosting a diaper changing/nursing area (and more) booth at the King Farmers Market on Sundays. This Saturday (9/26 from 10-5) we will be bringing our booth to the Green Sprouts Organic Baby and Family Fest.

If you have not been to the Green Sprouts Festival, I would like to personally say that it is a fun family event. Last year, I had a great time sneaking away from our booth (that's me with my daughter strapped to my chest in that picture!) to enjoy some activities and educational workshops.

This year we will be over by the picnic tables and restrooms, stop by and say hello, learn about all of the wonderful services Nurture has to offer, change a diaper, or hang out and nurse your child in a comfortable chair. We will have a changing table, wipes generously donated by the Alberta Cooperative Grocery, a few extra plastic bags for soiled cloth diapers in case you forget your wet bag, hand sanitizer, a comfortable chair for nursing, a play space for siblings, and more.

Welcome with Love and Another Book Recommendation

Here is a follow-up on the previous post about book recommendations: My friends Kimberly and Jessi noted, on Facebook, that Welcome With Love is out of print and can be pricey on Amazon, but can be found in other countries with a different title: "Hello Baby". I have also found it with the Welcome With Love title used on Amazon, and new at Childrensneeds.com and Bestwebbuys.com.


Jennifer Fuentes from Milagros also recommended another lovely homebirth, co-sleeping, cloth diaper book called My Brother Jimi Jazz. Read her post about this book on the Milagros blog.

Children's Book: Welcome, Brown Bird

Marking the change in seasons with a fondness for the thrush, two boys are unknowingly connected by a Wood Thrush, on opposite sides of its migration path. In the spring, a boy in North America waits for the thrush by a hemlock forest. In the fall, a boy waits for the thrush by a rain forest in Central America. In a paralleling story of reverence and protection, both boys convince their fathers not to cut down the trees where the thrush lives during their respective seasons.

Author, Mary Lyn Ray, was inspired by declining yearly visits by Wood Thrushes to her farm in New England. She has created a story that teaches and inspires while touching the heart. The words, together with Peter Sylvada's rich golden, earthy toned paintings, has captured the birds' subtle beauty and the heartfelt awe of the wonder of nature.

A preview of the book can be found here.

Although the Wood Thrush is not common in the Willamette Valley, Swainson Thrushes and Hermit Thrushes can be found in the region. Each species of thrush has a different song. For fun, you can listen to the songs of four species of thrushes and take a quiz to see if you remember which is which.

Nurturing the Earth: May/June

On Earth Day this year, I made a pledge for my family to make changes towards more earth-friendly living. I pledged to use the computer three hours or less per day, have at least one car-free day per week, plant native plants on our parking strip, and find one new green change that we can make in our family, each month. How has it been going? The computer commitment has been difficult, but I have been close. I have been reading a lot more, which I am enjoying immensely! Having one car-free day each week was too easy, since we already do that; I may have to increase that to two days per week. The native plants are on hold, but I am going to replace that promise with another until I can look into a mini-grant through Portland Bureau of Environmental Services for our street.

As for the promise to find one new change each month: In May, I remembered that I had been given It's Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living, and I pulled it out for help in finding ideas. This book is a terrific resource for examining areas in your day-to-day habits and finding areas that can be changed or improved. The book has a ton of resources, tips, and a whole section of ideas for improvements with boxes to check off as "want to target", "currently working on", and rate your success. The ideas, or "tips", are broken down into categories such as work, bathroom, kitchen, energy, etc. The great part about reading this book, for me, was seeing how much my family is already doing, as well as finding concrete ideas for doing more. Having the ideas broken down, as they are in the book, helps me find one specific change that we can implement each month. I chose to create a box in our house to store batteries that need to be recycled. That way, when an opportunity for recycling batteries comes up, such as Swap-n-Play's Trash to Treasure, I will have them ready to go.

I couldn't pass up posting this video clip, which I found when searching for a link to It's Easy Being Green-the same title as this clip...


Courtney Jarecki and her partner have started a Facebook pledge to get rid of one thing in their house each day for 50 days. For my June commitment, I have joined that and have been doing a modified version by getting rid of seven things each week and making sure that I bring those items to a place where they can be repurposed or reused. I am also implementing a "buy nothing" days during which I will not buy anything for 3 day blocks. I plan to do this each month, if not more often. Courtney shared this video to inspire downsizing, and I would like to share it with you.