Go Green With Beanpod Candles

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There’s nothing better than a clean house with a lit candle or essential oils diffusing. Since going green and cleaning up my toxic act, one of things I’ve kicked to the curb are all the plug in air freshners and candles that burn off toxic fumes and contain nasty chemicals. When I say clean I mean candles too! Candles that are safe for the environment and safe for us too! You know the kind that  don’t contain hormone disruptor’s or nasty black soot.

You can bet that I was jumping up and down when I found Beanpod soy candles about two years ago at my local candle shop I was truly impressed. What’s so great about them, you ask?

It begins with soybeans.
A beautiful, fragrant candle that is made with a lead-free wick. Candles created with our patent-pending Tempacure™ process that provides rich fragrances and colors that last from first light to final flame.

Wholesome Soy Wax.
At Beanpod, we take pride in using real soy wax. Giving you a wholesome candle that other large candle makers strive to measure up to.

Quality.
It has to endure. And with Beanpod Candles it does. You’ll discover it the moment you see a Beanpod Candle’s bright color and experience its rich scent. More than 60 fragrances. Candles proudly poured in America’s heartland with the very best ingredients.

The burn time on these candles lasts awhile before you’ll find yourself splurging on a new one. Beanpod candles are infused with essential oils in their candles and do not test on animals. These earth friendly candles and the jars are made in the USA and to top it off- Beanpod uses recycled glass!!

For Earth Day, Beanpod has a limited fragance called Earthly Embrace. The special edition, Earth Day jar features a botantical paper hang tag that when planted yields wildflowers! The seed tag is printed on recycled paper and the ink used to print the tag is soy based.

I haven’t found a scent I don’t like yet. I usually go with Lavendar or Orange Vanilla. I also like Cranberry Clove and Cherry Almond. Cinnamon Bayberry is great around the holidays! Beanpod also has these wonderful Soy Beads that you can mix and match with other candles or melt them using a diffuser. They’re unique and versatile.

I just bought a few votives and a tea light set in the scent Solitude for the day of birth. The votives are Lavendar and Eucalyptus Lavendar for a calming mood to help with labor. I’m so glad I found Beanpod candles and more importantly that I’m burning pure, clean and non toxic scents in my home. Whether it be for the day I give birth or for everyday use…they get a green kudos in my book!

Eggscellent!

Henrietta layed a ginormous egg the other day! Ouch.

Today we finally used it in our pancake batter for breakfast.

It was a double yolker but that second yolk was huge- could’ve been a triple!

Check out my post over at Eco Child’s Play today on Raising Chicks to Hens…

Have a Happy Saturday!

Pregnancy Update: 38 Wks.

I’m still preggo! The due date of April 4th is now looking like a HUGE possibility (pun intended). Saw our midwives today and everything measured right on. We also heard the heartbeat which sounded great. My midwife did an exam to check if I was “open” – dilated in the medical world…and I’m am not!! Cervix is still closed. I’m going to begin taking Evening Primrose Oil 2 x day. It will ripen the cervix and help get things started (cuz I really don’t WANT to go over). There is no concern that I’m not open yet though. It took a load of my husband who’s been stressing about it (when I’ll give birth). Only because he works about 1hr. 1/2 away and wanted to get an idea. Otherwise, we probably would just went on with the appt. as normal.

The midwife offered and he really wanted me to do it. All this means, is that baby will probably not show up anytime soon…and when I do start to open it will take at least 48-72 hrs. His parents are leaving town and they really don’t want to miss the birth. My husband is relieved he can go to work without worrying I’m going to call him and he’ll have to hall booty to get here to make sure he doesn’t miss it either. ME? Well, I’m ready to have Clark but also okay with the fact that my body is not ready yet. I suspected today would be the day- but my instincts have proved me wrong. My mom swears it’ll happen Sunday night. In any case, I’ve looked up the dates of March 30th and on in our Birthday Book…

A few of our friends and family are saying April 1st-  just because it’s April Fool’s Day…and here’s what the book says:

April 1- The Day of Dignity! – No Fool’s here!!! LOL!

Strengths- Goal-Oriented, Sincere, Technically Skillful

Weaknesses- Isolated, One Track, Workaholic

April 4- Due Date

The Day of Initiative:

Strengths- Innovative, Lively, Ambitious

Weaknesses: Impulsive, Unstable, Rebellious!

Not bad! The Birthday Book is lots of fun- it really nails the personality traits and ways that those born on the dates are! My husband and I are at amazed at how close it nails our friends and family.

I was born on The Day of Precocity – Tyler is The Day of Continuity and Tristan is The Day of Established Presence (and he sure established his presence the day he arrived)!!

Clark is kicking a lot and jabbing me in my lower half which tends to make me feel like something might be happening! I’m still having contractions and they come and go but obviously are not regular enough to go into labor. I’ve been taking lots of pictures and am glad we still have a bit more time because we are going to do a few family shots this weekend.

I’m more than ready to receive Clark and hope he arrives soon. I’ve been envisioning the birth and have been practicing the Hypnobirthing Method. I’m also cherishing the last few days- week I have with Tristan. It’s just amazing how time has flown and we’re going to be a family of four. I’m truly looking forward to it. I know Tyler is too…and Tristan is ready to meet Clark and finally put the name with a face! I just envision him and how he’s going to react. It makes me emotional thinking about it. We’re all going to be in babymoon heaven!

My father in-law is giving my husband a week off from work. I’m totally looking forward to soaking up that first few days of family bonding time. I’m going to need Tyler. I’m grateful he’s being so generous. Between my mom, his mom, my sis and a few friends. I think I’m going to make it.

I’m planning to have my placenta dehydrated and encapsulated and take orally- I did this with Tristan and it helps with energy, keeps Postpartum Depression at bay (I was fortunate that I did not experience this), and provides you with all the vitamins and minerals that were stored inside the placenta that have a slew of other benefits. Will keep you posted on this.

Clark will come when he’s ready and my body will do it’s thing soon…. I keep telling Clark that we’re a team and when he’s ready I’ll follow his lead.

That’s all for now.

Chicken Run!

My son enjoys feeding the chickens every “mornin”! He won’t let me forget about it. “Beed Chickens”…even when he wakes up from a nap that’s the first thing he says. Even though we’ve already done it. He loves to pet them and chase them around. They love him too. We usually get two eggs a day but sometimes it’s only one- we did end up with two yesterday- the hens lay at different times of the day. We are planning to get two more chicks very soon.  They’re great pets and love food scraps. They also love lawn clippings. We haven’t had to buy eggs in soooo long. I love it. It’s a great part of our day. Plus, having fresh eggs on hand is awesome. We eat eggs almost daily. My son is our big helper!! He’s getting to the point where he enjoys doing random chores for us…like putting his own dirty laundry in the basket, feeding dogs, and chickens etc.

The EV fleet will become our future energy storage network

Editors Note: The following post was originally posted at Smart Energy Groups by Sam Sabey. Sam is a featured writer at SEG. He is also an energy aware individual trying to make a difference by helping people get together and build a more sustainable energy future. You can also find Sam on twitter: @samotage <link to twitter.com/samotage> Please welcome Sam Sabey to RYD! You’ll be seeing more of his posts here in the future

To make renewables work well, our smart energy future is going to require lots and of battery storage, and the Electric Vehicle will become the cornerstone – a massive distributed battery storage network.

Right now, I believe much of our thinking and attitudes towards EV’s is all wrong. We consider them in terms of

• how many miles per charge,
• time to charge,
• where are the charge points going to be (and who’s going to pay for ‘em)
• …and the list goes on

We also consider EV’s in terms of like for like replacements of our current gas pumping vehicles – which most of us know it’s pretty hard to compare a peach to a lemon.

There is also another thing to consider in terms of renewable energy – if the the wind’s not blowing, and the sun’s not shining, just where are all the electrons going to come from?

In the future, many will drive less, and we will use bikes more and more to get about – both the normal human powered and the electro variety. Cars, like many today, will sit about in the street and in the garages, “resting”.

Now consider a fleet of EV’s, each with it’s internal battery. That’s a lot of energy capacity just sitting about, and it’s unlikely we won’t utilise it. Our fleet of EV’s in reality will become a massive mobile battery storage network. The missing link in a sustainable energy future that will need electricity storage to work.

These EV’s will be grid connected using the millions of charging outlets about …I rekon I’ve got at least 50 of them in my small home

Owners of EV’s will be able to offer their electron storage facility to their local energy community, as a kind of electron swap and share program. Some may even be able to profit from selling their stored energy back into the grid at peak times!

This will allow our cars to power our evening activities, and provide for plenty of spare capacity for people who can plan to need a certain amount of energy to go for a trip. Think of it like asking you neighbor to borrow a few buckets of electrons so you can pop down to the shops and collect the weeks groceries.

In time, solutions applications and technology will be developed that will make this a reality, and allow for seamless management of our energy on an increasing community basis.

Things will be very different in time, and it’s going to be amazing to watch our smart energy future evolve.

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