Amazon Fresh Review

By now I'm sure you've probably heard of Amazon Fresh. If not hold on to your butts cus I'm finna blow your mind. Amazon Fresh is grocery shopping via Amazon. You can purchase anything you would normally purchase in the grocery store - meat, veggies, cereal, dog food - and have it delivered to your home in a time frame you choose. I've just received my third order yesterday and while I'm still not completely sold I am getting there.

How it Works -

With Prime membership, Amazon Fresh is an additional $14.99/month with a free trial month. You simply go to the Amazon website and select Amazon Fresh from the drop down menu on the left. Fresh is also available via the app. You first select the window in which you want your order to arrive. For me it typically shows as 7-10am or 10am-1pm starting the next day.  Once you've selected your window you have a set amount of time to finish shopping the site.

Pros -
Bruh. I don't have to take my kids to the grocery store. What else is there? Do you know how many times we've had "Whatever Mama can find to eat" for dinner because I couldn't imagine taking them anywhere?? It comes TO MY HOUSE. I don't even have to put on pants. It's fantastic.
I live in what the USDA has determined is a Food Desert. We have two dollar stores, two liquor stores, a bunch of churches, and no place I can purchase a banana. Up the road in either direction I have a few grocery stores but to get all the things I want it typically requires a few trips to a few different stores. I need to go to MOMs for my organic stuff, Food Lion for staples, Target for household goods etc. My kids love a particular granola bar that might not be available. Amazon Prime has all the things I need in one place.
Local merchants are highlighted. There is a Local Market option from which small businesses can sell their wares. I've purchased from CakeLove and Sweet Farm in the DC area and have been very very happy with both purchases. I wouldn't have known either existed otherwise. Sweet Farm sells locally made fermented foods which are, as you know, my jammy jam.
Packaging. Everything is well packaged. Ice cream is frozen, bread is fluffy, eggs are uncrushed (so I hear).

Cons -
Ease of use. It's your typical Amazon page and you can search as you would anything else on Amazon. However, similar things don't always pop up together and your least expensive option is never going to show up first. Just like in the grocery store, your eye level things are what they want you to buy. For example, I want to purchase 1 lb of turkey lunch meat. I search "1 lb Turkey Lunch Meat" and come up with a tube of ground turkey from Amazon, not Amazon Fresh. Not what I want. To get what I want, I have to search "Turkey Lunch Meat" and scroll through the 56 results to find the 1lb size. These 56 results also include frozen TV dinners and sausage links.

PACKAGING - Your food comes in huge Amazon Fresh totes that have insulation and ice packs or dry ice. This insures that your food gets to you whole but takes up a lot of space. The totes all fold down and fit into each other, the ice packs gets pitched and the insulation gets shoved in a bag. Insulation and totes are to be picked up on your next delivery but they were not on my last delivery. I contacted customer service and was told to leave them outside, they were picked up the next day.
Produce. They have an amazing produce selection including both organic and conventional foods. By shopping only you're obviously unable to squeeze and sniff. Are you comfortable with that?
Price - Whole chickens for $21. $14.99/month. No coupons. It's definitely pricier than the grocery store but how much does convenience cost? How much are you spending on impulse buys that you won't be getting here? For me it's worth the added cost for now. When warmer months come and I'm growing my own food and my meat source reopens I'll re-evaluate.

Thoughts? Have you tried Amazon Fresh? Is there another home delivery service that works better for you? Let me know in the comments!!

Five Ways to Start Your Homestead

You have that itch. Not THAT itch, the other one. You want to be more sustainable. You want to grow your own food or reduce your carbon footprint or just stop having to buy that same stuff over and over and over again at the grocery store. Maybe the idea of dragging your kids to the Food Lion another time is enough to make you want to never ever leave the house again. Regardless of your reasons, you're interested in making a more sustainable home.

Today I'm going to go over FIVE fantastic ways to start your homestead. 

Managing your homestead, especially on a suburban scale, is really about reducing your input and your output. How can you eliminate unneeded things on both ends? I prefer to begin at the beginning. 

1. Use reusable items whenever possible.

This is paramount in controlling out input and output.The less you bring in means the less you send out and the more independent your home can be. From diapers to napkins to toilet paper - if it's reusable it comes in and doesn't go anywhere. In my home the disposable items we use are paper towels and toilet paper. Paper towels are strictly for cat puke and turkey bacon (how do you make turkey bacon without paper towels?!).

2. Food sources
Being able to produce your own food is huge towards being self reliant. The key thing is to ask yourself what you eat and if you can produce it yourself in the room that you have. Beets are fairly easy to grow but if no one in your house will eat them I wouldn't suggest putting them in. If you're an omnivore, producing your own food can involve gardening, chickens and meat production.
There is always room to grow something. My love of growing my own food started with two herb pots in my kitchen window. Putting small seeds into dirt and producing something tasty ignited a drive in me. No matter what your space is - whether it be a window or a fire escape or a corner of your yard - you can grow something.
Do you have room for chickens? I love my chickens so much I recommend everyone that can have them run out and get them right now. They're pets that make you breakfast. Reliable, low maintenance, relatively quiet and incredibly entertaining. While helpful, a rooster is not necessary for egg production and has many drawbacks in a suburban setting. They're incredibly loud and don't just crow in the morning. They crow ALL THE TIME. I just rehomed one because he was so loud. He would also walk along my fence line pestering people as they walked past my house. As keeping chickens regains popularity, it's becoming more common for them to be allowed in suburban settings. Check with your locality to see if they're allowed where you are.
Raising your own meat in your backyard is not as crazy as it sounds. The chickens we use for eggs can also be eventually processed for meat and rabbits are a solid option to also.

3. ENERGY!
According to the Residential Energy Consumption Survey done by the US Energy Information Administration, 48% of energy consumer by homes in the US in 2009 was for heating or cooling. You can make huge cuts in your home's energy consumption by taking small steps like adjusting your thermostat either higher or lower as the season allows, applying extra insulation to your windows or doors, and changing your air filters regularly. Appliances, lights, and water heating make up the rest of your energy usage. Making sure the lights get turned off and unplugging unused appliances may seem small but can add up big.
In addition to the simple steps, alternative forms of energy are becoming more available. There are now solar companies that will lease your roof. While you don't own your panels (at least initially) you may have the option to purchase them later and it still reduces your dependence on the grid. We have panels installed through Solar City and are planning to purchase our panels (at whatever their current market value is) in five years. There are also likely local companies that specialize in alternative energy or solar panels. Most states even offer tax breaks or grants to establish alterntive energy or heating/cooling systems residentially. For more information about Solar City and to find out if you qualify, click here. (this links to my referral page with Solar City. If you sign up from there I may receive a credit)

4. Find your people
You can't produce everything. You just can't. But you can produce some things and your neighbor can produce some things and yall can trade. Or you can find an awesome local farm that grows and mills wheat (because you sure can't grow that in your yard) and either buy it to support your local economy or barter some volunteer hours. Chances are there are people local to you that are also interested in living more independently and, as the saying goes, many hands make light the work.

5. Find your Mister.

I hate to use gendered pronouns but honestly, it's what I call him. He's my partner and my cheerleader. He's my, "Sure. Why not, babe?' Most importantly, he can build stuff. A partner, whether it be your significant other or just a friend that's also into this kind of crazy stuff, is so important. He's my sounding board and his skills complement mine so much. While us homesteader types tend to want to do everything ourselves (that's why we're here to begin with, right?) it's incredibly sanity saving to have someone to be in this with.

These are my five steps towards starting your homestead. These can be daunting but think of it as baby steps. This year you plant a few things in pots and cut out most paper products. Next year you look into solar panels. Start small so as not to get overwhelmed and once one thing is habit add something else on.
Where are you in your journey towards self reliance? What are your next steps? This year we got back into the chicken game with a new flock of laying hens. Next year we hope to branch into meat production with a few meat birds and maybe a rabbitry.

Weekly Garden Update 8/10/16

Update time!!

We have, as of yesterday, caught FOUR groundhogs trying to make a meal of my garden. Sorry you adorable little garden munchers. I didn't start seeds and set alarms to remember to water and build beds and haul dirt so you could eat my maters. 

Since we got the trap from a friend everything is coming in so much better!

Before we had the trap they ate all of my cucumber plants, much of my zucchini plants, and would nibble all of the tomatoes the moment they're start to maybe kinda sorta look ripe. 

I've yet to eat a single (good) tomato out of my garden. 

BUT.

BUT.

BUUUUTTTTT!!

Look at all them little flowers. All a dem little flowers are eventually going to be tomatoes and I'm going to be one of those people with tomatoes falling out of my ears. I can't wait. 

The word to describe this week's garden update is SOON. 

A few tomato plants have been pulled as they'd taken on too much damage. Remaining ones all have flowers and are setting fruit. 

Pepper plants are setting flowers and fruit.

Cucumber bed has been replanted with an early variety

Fall/Spring bed has been weeded and turned and will be seeded with cabbages, brussel sprouts, kale and a bean plants to replace the ones that were eaten.

Drying beans are rebounding well. Fresh bean plants were all destroyed by the groundhog.

ok. i ate this one but had regrets. It wasn't ripe :(

There were 6 plants here but they ate them all

I was all OOOO EXCITING IS THIS WILD CARROT??!!
nah. it's ragweed. Bye boo, bye

This bed was full of cucumbers. It's been replanted with an early variety.

July Ipsy Bag Review

I debated about posting about makeup. 

Your blog is supposed to be about gardening and hippie shit, Yvonne. Not makeup.

Then I remembered it was my blog and I do what I want.  

So here's my July Ipsy Bag. Forgive the crappy picture, I was wrestling all the shiny things away from little hands. 

July's bag comes in a shiny iridescent bag with a pattern of beach umbrellas. 

Included (from top, clockwise):

Ofra Cosmetics lip liner in Maya

Thrive Causemetics Infinity Waterproof Eyeliner in Lauren (matte black)

Luxie Beauty Luxie Rose Gold Small Angle Eye Brush

Too Faced Hangover Replenish Face Primer

Briogeo Curl Charisma Rice Amino + Quinoa Frizz Control Gel

So what did I think of all these things?? Well, honestly, Ipsy has been banging it out of the park for me the last few months. It's been all sheet masks and marine cream over here and I've been so happy. This month was just "Meh". 

Ofra Cosmetics Lip Liner - I like the color. It's a brick red that will likely go well with a few lippies I wear already. I was going to try it with my NYX Liquid Lingerie in Exotic at work the other day and got in the office and realized I'd left the lippie in the car and only had the liner in my pocket (GASP). It was hot and we were busy so I just used the liner and some gloss and it looked fantastic. However, the liner itself is a little dry and didn't go on as smoothly as I would like. I would likely not buy.

Thrive Causemetics Eyeliner -  OMG yall. I'm in love. This eyeliner goes on so smooth. So incredibly smooth. There's a bit of a learning curve involved though, because it goes on so smoothly. One light swipe and you're good. The end includes a sharpener and a smudger to give a smoky look. I will most definitely buy this when it runs out. 

Luxie Beauty Angled Brush - Well, it's a brush. It brushes. I've used it to stamp wings and it does that mildly ok. It's very soft though so it's not even super at that.

Shrugs. Just another for my arsenal.

Too Faced Hangover Replenish Face Primer - This stuff is amazing. I was not sold on the usefulness of primer at all until using this. I'm not exactly sure what magic it infuses into my skin but that beat GLOWS when I put this on first. If nothing else in this bag is useful, I'm so happy I got this. I used the last little bit from my bag today and a tube is already bought and purchased and on it's way.

  Brigio Curl Charisma - Ipsy had been doing well with the hair products. I'd gone two months without any. But here we are again. I'll give it to someone who can use it because I sure won't. My locs have tons of charisma, but thanks though. 

Final rating of this month's bag? C+

I love the eyeliner and the primer but everything else was a wash. 

What did you get? How did you feel about this month's bag?

MommyCon DC 2016

My sign!!

I'm a week out from MommyCon DC and I have to say, the feeling of community - the buzz, the fun, the energy - is lingering. I had such a great time.

I spoke about ways to be sustainable and how to start your own suburban homestead. I was one of the first speakers of the day but that was fine, gave me a smaller crowd to get my feet wet with that level of speaking and gave me the rest of the day to hear speakers and enjoy the exhibit hall (which I did, immensely!). I'm planning an upcoming blog post covering what I discussed so more about that.

After my talk, I enjoyed a talk entitled Queering the Birth Space that dealt with being purposefully inclusive in birth work. It isn't enough to being open to LGBTQIA+ and other nontraditional families. Value is in actively seeking them out and ensuring that they know that the services are there for them in both our actions and in our words and in our education. While I no longer work as a birth worker, I do hold great value in their work and in inclusivity. I really enjoyed what she had to say.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sit in on anything else! I was privileged to be able to assist in the facilitation of a conversation on raising racially conscious children that was a late addition to the schedule. When the email went out announcing that this was happening, I (and damn near everyone else that got the email) was shocked to see that both of the facilitators were white presenting women. I decided to contact MommyCon and ask if I could help. It was wholly inappropriate to have that conversation without a black voice in the lead. I found out that while they had tried to find someone, all the women of color that they'd asked had declined. The facilitators that they did have were from the University of Maryland and did this as professionals. MommyCon was thrilled to have me volunteer and agreed that it was needed. I was very happy with how the conversation went. While I'm not a professional anything by any means I really enjoyed talking and sharing my views and my only complaint was that we needed more time.

I also bought a bumper sticker with placentas on it because of course I did.

The exhibitor space was amazing. So many vendors and information tables and SWAG. Yall, I bought $25 worth of butter. There were people there with this AMAZING ghee and I had to have it. Browned ghee on bread almost tastes caramelized. It was so good.

This was my second MommyCon and I loved speaking. While I do wish there were more brown faces there I enjoy the feeling of community. Here's to next year!

Xza. The Mama behind it all.

My swag

Babywearing in my MommyCon shirt

Suburban Herbalism - Warm infusing oils

Step one to making an herbal oil is to realize that the guy is coming to cut your grass OMG RIGHT NOW.
Step two is to pick plantain behind the bushes and almost get runned over with a lawnmower.
For herbs that are to be used topically, an oil is an excellent first step. From there you can apply the oil as is or use it as a base or ingredient in a salve or lotion.
An herbal oil can be done by either a warm or cool infusion. For the majority of dried herbs a cool infusion is going to be the way to go. Roots or barks and fresh herbs typically need a warm infusion. Why warm for fresh? Because typically the water content of the fresh herb can cause the oil to go rancid in the time it takes to infuse. A warm infusion is done quickly, 8-10 hours max, and a cool will take weeks.
Today I made a warm plantain oil. Plantain is a skin soothing, anti-itch herb found in almost everyone's backyard. I blogged about here.
You'll want to use herbs as dry as possible. Knock off as much debris as you can but don't wash unless you absolutely need to. Only use unsprayed, untreated herbs and try to pick a few days out from the last rain.
Technique is simple and straightforward.
Chop or tear your herbs into small pieces to fit into your jar of choice, cover with oil of choice. Keep plant matter below the surface of the oil. Leave for 8-10 hours.
I typically use olive oil as it is readily available, stays liquid at room temp, and I can buy a whole bunch of it at Costco organic for not a whole bunch of money. Other choices include coconut, sweet almond, avocado, or jojoba. Whichever oil you prefer is typically fine.  For a heat source you can opt for the stove, a heating blanket or a crockpot. You need something that will maintain a low heat for a long time. You don't necessarily want this to get super hot as it can damage the volatile oils in the herb. Low and slow is the way to go here.

I like to use my crock pot as I can set it and go on about my life and not have to fuss with it too much and I can do more than one oil at a time. Place your prepared jar with herbs in oil in the crock pot and fill with water around the jars. Leave it for 8-10 hours. I've done it for more and I've done it for less and it hasn't seemed to affect the quality of the oil too much. Leave it for 6 hours at least. When the oil is done infusing, strain through a sieve or cheesecloth. I like to use cheesecloth so that I can pour it all in there and really squeeze to get all that good oil out of the plant material before composting. Let the oil sit and settle for a little bit, then strain again through a coffee filter to get all the plant particulates out. Leaving those in there isn't going to affect the potency of the oil but it will affect it's shelf life and quality.
So now you have a good infused oil that can either be used alone or as an ingredient in a salve or lotion! GO YOU!! We've all gotten eaten alive by mosquitoes the last few days and I rubbed this oil all over my babies when they got out the tub tonight to help with itching.

I maintain a collection of random small things that will fit inside jars.

herbs, oil, jar, water, crockpot

the top wouldn't fit!

strain it and then strain it again.

Groundhog, revisited

That damn groundhog!
Do you know how much food I'd have eaten over the last few years if it wasn't for that furry butted scoundrel? Last year I had Alden in June so the garden really took back burner. The groundhog ate every single tomato the moment it started to turn even a little bit red and every bean and cucumber plant right down to the ground. Towards the end of the season I made some AMAZING green tomato salsa with what I could get out but still the whole season was a wash.
This year we tore out all our old fencing and replaced it with new and better reinforced and moved our beds around so they'd all be in one place and in one fence.
He's still getting in.
Imagine my surprise when I read that fences are pretty much useless against groundhogs because they can dig 4 feet straight down! FOUR FEET!
As soon as we find where he's getting in and block one hole he's coming in another one.
The other day I visited my favorite tiny house homestead to borrow a havahart trap. It's baited with cantaloupe and waiting for him. It was initially placed where he's coming in but it seems he's found another entrance to come in since we set the trap and eaten even more!
Now the question is, what so we do with it once we find it? Rehome or eat?

Suburban Herbalism - Plantain

When I was young, I remember playing on the playground with these plants with a long stem and a small oval shaped round thing at the top. We would pick the stem and tie a lose knot around the bottom of the round thing. Pull it just so and the round thing would fly off. Sound familiar? That was plantain!

Plantain is your best friend when bugs bite or your skin is itchy while you're in the yard. It's almost everywhere. There are two varieties of plantain typically found in yards - narrow leaf or broad leaf. Narrow leaf is the above described plant. At the base of the stem there are narrow leaves. The broad leaf variety has a broader leaf and the stem is lined with seed pods. I typically work more so with broad because it's what I have growing.

broad leaf plantain, busted toe

Using plantain is fairly simple. You'll use what's called a spit poultice. So lets say you're hanging out in your yard and get bit by a mosquito or stung by a bee. Just grab a leaf or a few of plantain, chew it up a bit, and slap it on your bite. Rub it in a bit and leave it on there, replacing as needed. You may cover it with a bandage to keep it in place but you want to let it breathe if possible. You can also prepare an oil. I'm making an oil this week so will post about that when I'm done so I'll have pictures to share!

A spit poultice is an effective, quick way to take the itch or sting out of an insect bite while on the go and a easy to recognize and use introduction to backyard herbalism. Plantain is everywhere, look for her while you're out and about and say hello!

Herb: Plantain

Use: Skin irritations, insect bites, stings 

Preferred Vehicle: spit poultice, herb, salve

As plantain is used on broken skin, a tincture wouldn't be ideal as it would involve alcohol on a wound. A tea or infusion would also be less ideal as it's being used to treat an acute and isolated ailment. 

Fermentation Super Duper Incredibly Basic

Currently, my favorite way to preserve is by lacto-fermentation. Basically, delicious controlled rot. 

Fermentation is using the good bacteria to crowd out the bad and turn ordinary vegetables into super veggies! Gut healthy, probiotic rich, bioavailable vitamin heavy, immunity boosting SUPER VEGGIES.

The good bacteria we're aiming for here is largely lactobacillus which is an obligate aneorobe which means it thrives in an environment free of oxygen. To get this we submerge our veggies completely in a brine solution. 

So what's in this solution? How do we do it? 

Salt is a must have. We have to control the numbers of bad bacteria with salt. Depending on what vegetable we use we may need a different salt solution percentage. Find a good recipe and follow it closely. 

The controversy comes in with whey v no whey. Until recently I've always used whey, following the advice of Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions. I'm now experimenting with fermenting using a heavier brine solution without whey on the idea that whey, while introducing good bacteria, doesn't introduce the right good bacteria and can prolong the process. I'll let you come to your own conclusions on that. It makes sense but I've used whey all along successfully. They only draw back is if you're not a cheese or yogurt maker it can be a pain to come across which is why I'm trying not using it. 

So that's basics. I highly recommend Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz to learn more. 

My fermentation station - ginger bug, honey garlic, lactofermented garlic, sauerkraut, kombucha

A return

I'd stopped blogging.
I let the domain lapse.
"I'LL NEVER BE REE" I told myself.
I'm less concerned with all that now.
I've landed a few speaking engagements and figure it'll be nice to have somewhere to direct people at the end of it to learn more if they're interested.
Since 2013 we've added a new Fella to the family. He's the happiest, bounciest little 10 month old ever that is happily screaming at a purple ball at the moment. Little is bigger, 3.5. Big is biggest, 13. We've lost chickens and gained chickens and lost chickens and now, just this week, gained chickens again. We now have a 5 hen mixed flock that are around 10 weeks old.
I've gone back to work 2 days a week and while I hate being away from the kids I love my job and coworkers and the awesome doctors I work for.
So that's about it. I'll blog about my speaking engagements a bit more later.