How are ya? I know, I know…. long time no blog! What gives?!

With the end of Summer so near we’ve been sulking up a every last bit of the sunshine and I took a little impromptu bloggy break.  The weather has been extraordinarily HOT …today’s temp reached 110 degrees. Our clothesline was gettin’ all the action today.   Seriously, wish we had a solar oven, right about now.

It’s on our wish list and what’s funny is our town is known for having the most sun in the nation… 300 days of sunshine through out the year!

A little known fact we definitely need to take advantage of.

I’ve also been busy getting our outbuilding fit for homeschooling and so far so good… I will post separately on that subject soon. Definitely an amazing transformation going on and I’m beyond thrilled to begin our adventure.

Anyhoo… here are some tidbits  taking place at the RYD home front…

My grandma always told me… save your pickle juice and pickle hard boiled eggs!

Since we have green beans coming out of our ears so we put a few from some salvaged juice from 2 jars of Bubbies pickles!

Pickled green beans here we come.

can’t wait to fill up some reused glass jars with fresh dried herbs from our garden

:: parsley AND :: basil 2 kinds of each!

using the sunshine to dry our laundry… haven’t used our dryer much this summer!

Clean sheets and towels…ahhh!

Been busy makin’ all things homemade  (dry skin salve, deodorant, and toothpaste) including a few other things…

…deets to come!!!!

Mmm, lunch lately… easy peasy & perfect in this summer heat.

with apple slices + almond butter = Mmmm!

an Ani Phyo recipe!

a little love, a little laughter, a little a little … won’t you?

the fair is in town… a really big DEAL around here… we’ve already gone 2x!

Ah, the last of our beautiful Summer desert sunsets… feeling the autumnal shift lately at certain times of the day…

i heart autumn

<3

Change  is comin’ on for us and I feel it.

another fun highlight:  waiting on pickles that are wildly fermenting

( a NO vinegar recipe)… just a few more days!

& so you know the garden is fairing well and I hope to bring you an update on that soon too!

The last few days of August are going to be busy- busy.

I may be absent … but I’ll be back– promise! 

p.s. stomach yuck is just about gone! phew!

What have you been up to?!!

Hi there lovies!

I’m starting to feel a little better after a sudden bout of the stomach bug.

It really put a damper on our 5 year wedding anniversary (Friday) but we made the best of it.

My appetite has been completely thrown off and I really haven’t been in in the mood to eat much.

Despite the stomach yuck this weekend sure is flying, no?!

…nothing too exciting going on here…

mainly house chores, gardening and laundry

&

of course the

Saturday AM…CSA pickup!

I also went to the Farmer’s Market and picked up a 3 pack of strawberries, some kale & tomatillo’s …

& when I started uploading these pics I realized I didn’t grab a pic of our yummy goodness.

whoopsie doodle.

Lot’s of greens, fruits, and veggies!

* grapes, fennel, romaine, red leaf lettuce, cherry tomatoes,

tomatoes, avocados, figs, Anaheim chilies, melon, potatoes, squash, onions

& basil

All organic & from local farms.

Are you part of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)?!

Have you thought of joining one?!

Hope you’ve been enjoying the weekend.

How are ya?

It’s been a whirlwind of busy around here but happy Thursday to ya!!

Were still experiencing triple digit temps and have been cooling off in the kiddie pool as you may have already noticed. hee, hee!

This post may be a little late but for us Summer isn’t over JUST yet. Besides, swim lessons start in just a couple weeks!!

Back up three years ago, when Tristan started swim lessons…

…as a green mama, I’d already thought about the reprecussions of using disposable diapers such as chlorine bleach used to dye the diapers (toxin), absorbent gels (toxin) plastic and human waste (#1 & #2) being thrown into landfills etc.  SO  after learning such repercussions we  turned to cloth diapers as an eco solution to help minimize our worry…

From CleanAir.org…

Diapers: An average child will use between 8,000 -10,000 disposable diapers ($2,000 worth) before being potty trained. Each year, parents and babysitters dispose of about 18 billion of these items. In the United States alone these single-use items consume nearly 100,000 tons of plastic and 800,000 tons of tree pulp. We will pay an average of $350 million annually to deal with their disposal and, to top it off, these diapers will still be in the landfill 300 years from now. Americans throw away 570 diapers per second. That’s 49 million diapers per day.

Holy dirty diapers, eco mama’s & papa’s …

…but then swim lessons … was there a waterproof diaper??

Come to find out … there are many solutions and making a decision wasn’t easy. As a first time mom, I had no idea what to expect with cloth. I was just going with my gut and doing what I thought was best for my son Tristan (the eco tot) and for the Earth.

When I finally made a choice of the i play swim diapers …  I loved the fact that my son could wear a cloth swim diaper that was made for water play & swimming without harming the planet. No worries of disposable plastic crud up against his skin either. These could be tossed right into the laundry to be washed over & over again. Plus, i play “swim dipes” are highly fashionable and spark up a conversation in an instant. 

Clark wearing i play swim shorts & a UV shirt! Natural born swimmer

This year we went to the local chlorine water park in town (our first visit) and the personnel were impressed by our swim dipes.

Upon entering the park we were handed a note which mentioned only “plastic diapers” are allowed on infants.

Usually it’s quite the contrary. When we signed the eco tot up for swim lessons the local pools policy was fitted cloth swim diapers only.

Nothing with absorbent  gels inside that can weigh baby down after being in the pool for awhile.

So, when we read the note we were a little surprised. The note almost made it seem like babies had to be in plastic diapers only because at some point it read ” approved plastic diapers” –  I had the paper note saved somewhere but couldn’t find it for this post… lame!

Anyway, we’d ended up going into guest services just to be sure are swim diapers were allowed and low and behold our swim diapers were approved. The women working in guest services actually commented on how nice and comfy they looked on Clark and said she didn’t even know they existed.

It was a great feeling knowing it was one less PLASTIC diaper going into the trash after a day of fun….hooray!

We’ve even traveled with the i play swim dipes to Hawaii and on camping trips-  so far, we’ve have had no problems with em’… loved the way they look on … love they way they hold up just like a “sposie”…& FTR, no problems in the poopsies department YET!

*holding my breath

I highly recommend i play swim diapers for your green/eco needs.

No, I’m not being paid to make the last statement.

These are my honest feelings about the swim diapers- figured; I’d put that out there, just in case some of you were curious. 

Imse Wimse- eh!

We also have a pair of the Imse Wimse; BUT they’re much, much thinner and not worth the investment in my leettle opinion. They have two side snaps at the hip which I didn’t find easy to take off (or put on) a wiggly tot and the fit was a little funky in the private area… a little to airy fresh for me.

Wasn’t comfortable with these in case of acccidentes!  The i play swim diapers by far exceeded my expectations PLUS they’ve held up for Baby Clark our 16 month old! We have 2 pairs of the i play swim diapers and 2 pairs of shorts with matching UV shirts. Love em, love em’ love em!

Our i play dipes & shorts still look new which is an added bonus! YAY! for swim dipes an eco friendly alternative to plastic/sposies…ugh!

Of course, for regular water play the boys always run bare skivvies but for public places they’re a great solution.

Another reason I chose i play swim diapers is for all their wonderful fun prints. I’m mean seriously? Who doesn’t want their baby lookin’ somewhat stylish?!

Their stylish & NON TOXIC…that’s right… the outer shell of the i-play l is PVC & PHTHALATE FREE!

Reduce your pool footprint – GO reusable!

wOOt!

Hiya happy people!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Can’t believe how quickly summer is flying.

I can already feel autumn whipping threw the air. How about you?

Summer is not over yet though! For us here in the desert of SoCal were still experiencing triple digit weather. It’s crazy but true.

Enough about the weather already….

it’s time to get meatless!

This week I’m sharing a tried and true brekkie (breakfast) recipe.

I get a lot a questions about my soaked oats brekkie from friends and on twitter.

It wasn’t until a couple summer’s ago that I learned about soaking methods through a book by Sally Fallon known as Nourishing Traditions.

Without getting to involved on the soaking topic;

basically by soaking the oats it allows the phytic acid to break down making it easier to digest and increasing nutrition as vitamins and minerals can absorb into the body easier.

Once the oats are soaked they can be eaten as is or gently warmed as they have already been “cooked” overnight while soaking.

There’s nothing better than starting your day out with a great brekkie (see pic above).

We have soaked oats about 3-4x a week.

It’s an easy and quick meal and the boys absolutely love it!!!

It will truly change what you thought about a bowl of oatmeal. I promise!

Lot’s of fruit and nut combos to be made and eaten.

The best part of all —- > SUPER SIMPLE to do!

… simple, healthy & YUM- O’s …

So many different variations can be done from this basic but classic recipe.

Classic Soaked Oats

To prepare soaked oatmeal recipe, you’ll need:

• 1 Cup Rolled Oats
• 1-2 Tablespoons Raw Cider Vinegar or  Lemon Juice
• 1 Cup Organic Nut Milk of Choice (normally use Almond or Coconut Milk)
• 2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
• ¼ Cup Nuts and Seeds of choice
• ¼ Cup Dried Fruit of choice

Directions for Preparing Soaked Oatmeal:

1. Soak rolled oats, seeds and nuts overnight in enough water to cover – adding lemon juice or cider vinegar to the water.
2. In the morning, drain oats and rinse them well.
3. Add milk to large glass bowl and add in remaining ingredients.
4. If you want to warm it… simply place milk into a pot and gently warm and thicken to your preference.
5. Be sure to stir frequently and simmer on low.
6. Serve with natural sweetener of your choice – we always use honey & occasionally Grade B maple syrup.

We usually eat the soaked oats without warming & leave the oats covered on the kitchen counter top.

You can soaks oats overnight in the refrigerator too but we’ve always done it this way.

Our normal toppings include but are not limited to raisins, cinnamon, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, with a drizzle of honey and oh  some vanilla…maybe 1/2 tsp!

Mmmm!

We’re out of raisins and sunflower seeds, so, this AM I topped my soaked oats with blackberries, cinnamon, honey and walnut and  it was delish ;P

If it’s not soaked oats… we also have a favorite soaked pancake recipe which I’ve “veganized” & only use gluten free grains since writing this post!

I’ve been meaning to try out a fun new recipe by Angela at the Happy Raw Kitchen… so, this morning I started soaking some oat groats! wheeeeeee….

….enjoy!!!!!

Have a great week!