Join the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution

This morning I responded to the call to join the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution.  I went and signed the petition to help change school lunches.  I knew it was something I couldn't ignore when my husband (who thinks my green/health changes are crazy) couldn't believe I hadn't signed up because even he believes in it.  Avin is only 10 months old so school lunch isn't exactly on our menu yet but change happens one step at a time.  I have realized that I need to start being active now if I want things to be better once he gets to be scool age.  I want Avin to grow up healthier than I did and that means not drinking a soda and eating a candy bar or bag of chips for lunch.  I encourage you click the link on the right and join Jamie and I (plus thousands of others) in the food revolution! Let's teach our kids to enjoy food in a healthy way!

Green Giant Giveaway! {CLOSED}

Congratulations to Heidi Comment #29!We just finished a very yummy supper of loaded chicken and Green Giant Simply Steam® Garden Vegetable Medley. I love Green Giant vegetables because they come pre-seasoned in a microwave package that you just toss in and cook in 5 minutes. They have been the perfect size for Derek and I to have a serving each with no leftovers. Now that Avin is moving on to table foods we'll probably switch to eating the Family Sized Bagged Vegetables. I wanted to share some really interesting things I recently learned about Green Giant.

For Green Giant, it´s all about trying to live up to the name by working every day to care for the land, the people who grow our vegetables and the families who share our vegetables at their tables. Throughout its century-long history, Green Giant has worked to reduce its environmental footprint through many measures including:

Reducing the amount of land and water needed to grow vegetables

Packing vegetables in smaller, lighter cans, so it takes less fuel to deliver them to supermarket shelves

Utilizing traditional seed breeding methods over the last 35 years to double the amount of sweet corn grown on an acre of land

Teaming up with growers to install a more efficient irrigation system that can reduce water use by more than a million gallons a year;

Switching to more earth-friendly paperboard to package frozen vegetables, saving approximately 54,000 trees annually in the process.

Green Giant is now celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day by giving $200,000 to The Nature Conservancy to help fund an innovative project that will encourage greener farming practices to repair and protect a natural treasure - the Root River, one of Minnesota´s (home to Green Giant) best trout streams.

To learn more about Green Giant´s sustainability program or make a donation to The Nature Conservancy, visit http://www.greengiant.com/sustainabilityduring the month of April.

I received a "Seeds of Change" prize pack that includes one VIP coupon valid for a free package of Green Giant frozen vegetables, in addition to a mini herb garden, an eco-friendly bamboo utensil set, and a 100% recyclable grocery tote. It was provided by Green Giant through MyBlogSpark. My mini herb garden (Chives, Basil, and Parsley) is living in my kitchen window and is starting to sprout! My husband has to take care of it though because I've got such a black thumb that I've been known to kill plants by looking at them.

Green Giant and MyBlogSpark are also providing a "Seeds of Change" prize pack to one of my readers! This contest is open to US Residents, 18 and over, void where prohibited. Contest will close on Earth Day, April 22, 2010 at 11:00 PM CST. Please leave one comment per entry (5 entries = five comments). Please leave your email in your comment so I can contact you if you win. One winner will be selected using Random.org.

Mandatory Entry: Go to http://www.GreenGiant.com/sustainability and come back and leave me a comment telling me something you learned about the sustainability program.

Additional Entires:
Follow my blog via google friend connect

Subscribe to my feed on the left hand side of my blog (5 extra entries)

Tweet any unique tweet about this giveaway using @diapermom (Up to 3 tweets per day)

Part 3: Kiwi Magazine Review & Giveaway {CLOSED}

Congratulations comment #9- Diana! I love Kiwi Magazine! Kiwi is kind of a quirky magazine because it has a lot of focus on organic foods and nutrition with parenting, family, and health information mixed in. After Avin was born and I realized that literally everything I put into my mouth effected him (I breastfeed) I began trying to find information about organic foods. My search led me to Kiwi and I've been in love ever since. Kiwi is a realistic magazine- not too extreme in any one direction which makes it great for an "average" family.

Kiwi gives great tips for busy moms. They know we are all crazily busy and so they give information on quick meals that use natural and organic products. Kiwi also recognizes that organic products can be costly so they always offer money saving hints. Kiwi supports different parent and family related groups including Mom Ambassadors and Parents Advisory board. The Kiwi website offers coupons, freebies, recipes, eco-crafts, a Kiwi Kids section, and much more. There is truly something for everyone in your family.

Kiwi supports being "green" and offers great tips for being eco-conscious. As part of their effort to be eco-conscious they are donating to World Vision when you subscribe. They also have Kiwi Magazine online and in print. I love their explanation for why they chose "Kiwi" for the name of the magazine:

• It symbolizes what we're doing; looking for powerful ways to help you raise healthy families.
• It's a unique shade of green. And, we are that, too. Our goal is to give you the tools to be as environmentally conscious as possible with realistic advice that fits into your hectic lifestyle. We know it's not easy to be totally green; we want to show you how even the smallest steps can make a difference.
• Kiwis are like our children: invigorating, juicy and sweet all at the same time.

Kiwi has been fun and informative for me and will definately be a magazine I subscribe to for years to come. My mom is clueless about being "green" and actually thought "organic" foods were something to avoid! Needless to say I gave her a subscription to Kiwi a couple of months ago. Now she calls me to talk about things she has learned!

If you act now you can purchase yourself a subscription and give a subscription to someone you love for free! For $11.95 you can get a 1 year subscription for yourself and someone else. Isn't that a great deal?

Kiwi is so terrific that they said I could also give one of my readers a year long subscription (or renewal) for free!!! To enter to win the free 1 year subscription all you have to do is become a blog follower via google friend connect (on the right side of my blog) and visit the Kiwi Magazine website then come back and leave me a comment letting me know why you want to win a Kiwi Magazine subscription.

Contest will close Friday, March 12, 2010 at 11:00 PM CST. Winner will be chosen using Random.org. Please make sure you leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win. Contest open to US addresses only, must be 18 to enter.

Don't forget to connect with Kiwi on facebook, myspace, and twitter for great information!

Part 2: Mothering Magazine Review and Giveaway {CLOSED}

Congratulations to entry # 21! Mothering magazine is unique because they don't just publish a magazine, they support a community. That may sound crazy but it is true. Mothering magazine was created to help the natural family community and they still do today through both the magazine and their online community. Friends in my Mindful Mothers group led me to Mothering Magazine because they had found it to be a non-judgemental source for quality information about natural family choices such as homeschooling and homebirthing. I've found that the magazine covers a wide variety of topics such as circumcision, vaccinations, organic foods, childhood illnesses, home birth, and midwifery.

I've found tons of information, not just opinions, on the things I am curious about. The magazine does have quite a few ads in it but they are all geared towards shops offering items that support natural parenting such as cloth diapers or slings. Normally ads in magazines just tick me off but I actually enjoy these because in Mid-Missouri our sources for those types of things are very limited. I love that they have both a print and online option for subscription. I use the online option to save a few trees and I love it. It comes straight to my email inbox and I can open it and read it as I have time. It looks identical to the print copy, you can adjust the zoom and style of page view.

I also love their website and online community. They offer tons of resources and information on a variety of topics. It is also great place to connect with like minded moms! It is so nice not to constantly worry that someone is going to flip out about my natural parenting choices.

Mothering Magazine has an awesome special going if you want to subscribe right now! Subscribe today and get:

• FREE 1-year Digital Subscription
• FREE coupons worth more than $100 in savings
• FREE membership in MotheringDotCommunity

Subscribe for just $19.95!

As if that deal wasn't awesome enough they are also offering one of my lucky readers the chance to win a one year subscription FREE!

To enter to win you must first sign up to follow my blog via google friend connect (on the right side of my blog) Then go to the Mothering Magazine website and then come back and leave me a comment telling me something you learned about the magazine or a topic related to natural families. Please make sure you leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win. Giveaway ends Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 11:00 PM CST. Winner will be chosen using random.org. Open to US residents only.

Follow Mothering Magazine on facebook and twitter.

3 Part "Natural", "Green", "Organic" Living Magazine Series

I am putting together a series of posts on magazines that have helped me to educate myself about being more natural, organic, and eco-friendly. The magazines that I will feature have helped me to learn more about different non-mainstream view points and helped me to educate myself on the choices available to me. I want to share these resources with you. The viewpoints represented in the magazines are not necessarily my viewpoints. Each of the three magazines has generously agreed to giveaway a subscription to their magazine. If after reading my review you feel like you'd like a subscription (or a renewal!) to that magazine please feel free to enter the giveaway. Please refer your friends who might be interested too! I am always looking for great magazines that share my common interests so if you read another magazine that you think fits with being green, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, or babywearing please comment and let me know what it is!

Best Dressed Wool Dryer Ball Review & Giveaway {CLOSED}

Congratulations to Mary Beth for winning the gift certificate!

I've been seeing ads for Wool Dryer Balls all over the place lately. They seem to be the newest laundry related item in the "green" movement. They are designed to help cut your drying time by up to 40%. I cloth diaper and always have to run my fitted diapers at least twice in the dryer for them to be good and dry. I was very interested when Terra & Cam from TerraMade Products got in touch with me about doing a review. I really like it that TerraMade uses lightly used or recycled fibers and new materials to produce one-of-a-kind wool products, arm and leg warmers, cloth diapers and other great products. Terra sent me out two sets (4 balls total) of their "Tweed Jacket" Dryer balls. According to their website; "Wool covers or "jackets" keep your dryer balls looking good and ready to roll. Recommended for use with aplix."


As luck would have it my mom (aka the Laundry Queen) was visiting for the weekend when the dryer balls arrived. We immediately opened the package and got them into the dryer. I will warn you, they are noisy! It sounded like the socks were playing tennis in the dryer but luckily my dryer is off in my basement so the noise level wasn't a problem for me. Diapers and clothing included, the dryer balls saw about 10 loads of laundry over the weekend. About 5 loads in my mom said, "Is there supposed to be 4 balls?" Umm...yeah! One ball completely disappeared during the laundry process! I strongly suspect that it joined the secret colony of socks that escape from the dryer but more likely my mom dropped it and the cats whisked it off like a tiny soccer ball.

According to the TerraMade website:
Wool dryer balls tumble with your clothes creating air pockets allowing for better air and heat movement cutting drying time as much as 40%. Wool Dryer balls will also retain heat for faster drying when used back to back in consecutive cycles. All dryer balls are sold in pairs. Multiple sets will continue to increase the dryers' efficiency with up to 40% decrease in drying time.

Even with only 3 dryer balls I did still notice a difference in my drying time. The difference isn't quite 40%, more like 25%, but still it cuts down on drying time! My lighter clothing did dry much faster but those thick, heavy diapers still take about a cycle and a half. The dryer balls also seemed to eliminate wet spots from clothing getting bunched up together in a wad and the outside drying while the center stays wet and wrinkled. I have a down filled throw blanket and comforter that call for you to put clean tennis balls in the dryer with them and now I don't have to worry about that I can just toss them in with my wool dryer balls.

TerraMade Products also have a variety of other great products including natural cleaning products, custom wool longies, and cloth diapers. Go check out all the great eco-friendly products that TerraMade has to offer at their online store. They have excellent customer service and the shipping time was unbelievable!

TerraMade Products is also offering one of my readers a gift certificate to their store for $14.95! This amount could purchase a pair of naked or jacketed dryer balls, a bag of powdered Charlie’s laundry detergent, a pair of custom wool longies, a pair of Coo-zies Arm and leg warmers or any other of the great items in their store!

Contest open to US Residents 18 and older. Ends Thursday, March 4, 2010 at Midnight CST. Winner will be chosen at random using Random.org. Please make sure you leave your email address in your comment. Please post one comment per entry. Winners will have 48 hours to respond to email or a new winner will be chosen.

Mandatory Entry: To enter you must go to the TerraMade Products website and then come back here and comment letting me know which item you'd love to have. For additional entries:

1) Follow me on Facebook (1 additional entry)

2) Follow me on Twitter and tweet "RT @diapermom I can't wait to win a gift certificate from TerraMade Products!!! http://bit.ly/aTNjug" (One entry per tweet up to twice per day!)

3) Follow TerraMade Products on Facebook (1 additional entry)

4) Follow TerraMade Products on Twitter (1 additional entry)

5) Follow my blog publicly with Google Friend Connect (5 entries)

6) Subscribe to my feed on the left side of my blog (3 entries)

7) Grab my button and post it on your blog or blog about this giveaway with a link back to me and leave me the link where I can find it (1 entry)

8) Comment on one of my other posts and then let me know which one (1 entry)