WINNER: Nourished Baby E-Book PLUS Coupon

If you’ve been holding your breath, waiting to find out if you are a lucky winner of last month’s giveaway of the popular e-book Nourished Baby, the wait is over! I’m pleased to be announcing two winners, and to let you know that today is the LAST DAY to use coupon code SUPERMAMA to get 20% off the regular e-book price.

Nourished Baby by Heather Dessinger: A Review

Are you a parent? Do you want what’s best for your child? I have to laugh when I ask the question. It’s kinda like asking if you enjoy sunshine. Of course, you do. Who doesn’t? Every parent wants to give their babies the best possible start in this world. Take a look at the thousands of available books, magazines, and websites on these subjects, and you’ll see what I see — a flood of information. Conflicting information.

COUPON: Save $10 On Garden Hose Filter

Here in central Texas, it hasn’t really rained in weeks. My plants are thirsty. My kids won’t go outside in the 108 degree heat to play — unless, that is, we play in the water. Our garden hose? It’s our new best friend. It waters our flowers, trees, herbs, and veggies. It makes mud puddles and rainbows. But my city water supply? It’s chock full of chloramines, VOCs, pesticides and herbicides. Do we really want to play in that? Is that really the water I want nourishing my garden?

Tulsa Woman Sues City For Destroying Her Garden

Denise Morrison of Tulsa, Oklahoma gardens. Every single plant in her yard was edible. Some were medicinal and used by her to treat her diabetes, high blood pressure, and arthritis. Others were fruit or nut trees. Some were vegetables. All of them were well-tended. Last year, the city received a complaint against her yard. Knowing that everything in her garden and yard was up to code, she took the citation to court last August. The judge ruled to postpone the case until October. Three days later she came home and found city workers digging up her garden, removing thousands of dollars worth of plants as well has her only source of food at the time. (She was unemployed.)

Things I Love

Summer is in full swing here in Texas. Berry season has passed and my freezer is stocked with gallons of strawberries and blackberries. I’ve picked up oodles of sweet, ripe tomatoes at my local farmer’s markets. The kids and I have enjoyed swimming at the local swimming holes. And, of course, the air-conditioning has been out for a few days causing us all to hope for a few moments of sweaty sleep in the buff under ceiling fans. The heat is clouding my brain, making me tired, impatient, and unable to string a coherent thought together. So, in an effort to exercise my attitude of gratitude, to flex my happy muscles, I’m sharing a post today enumerating some of the things that have made me smile.

HUGE Spring Sale on Classes, Books, & More

Spring is in the air! This Spring, Real Food Media is hosting another huge sale on e-courses, books, and meal plans. If you’ve been holding out to purchase one of these goodies because of cost, now’s your chance to take advantage of the savings. From today through May 31st, you can get 25% off anything listed here

WINNER & COUPON: Get Cultured Online Class

Learn how you can get more than $100 off this e-course, reducing the enrollment price to a mere $97! And, find out who won last week’s giveaway.

Maybe This Will Convince Them

Have you ever struggled over how to explain the difference between pasture-raised and cage-free eggs? How about sustainable and conventional agriculture? The world of real food is stuffed full of terms bent on describing how it is we’re moving beyond organic towards something far more intentional and wholesome — terms like aquaponics, food miles, and mobstocking.

Should You Go Grain-Free? An Interview With Ann Marie Michaels

In light of Ann Marie’s upcoming e-course in how to prepare Healthy, Whole Grains, I thought I’d ask her a few burning questions that I know many of you share with me. It’s no secret that I eat a mostly grain-free diet. I’ve never avoided grains for health or digestive reasons. I’ve avoided them because I value my kitchen time too much to waste it experimenting with sprouting, drying, grinding, soaking, kneading, waiting, baking, waiting, and baking. I had a season of doing all that, but I never hit upon a system to make it any less work. Ann Marie has.

Are You Too Lazy To Properly Prepare Grains?

Nothing has had me more flabbergasted in my Real Food journey than my relationship with grains. Nothing.

I’ve tried sourdough. And it flopped. Big time. I had a season of sprouting and grinding my own flour to make homemade bread, but within a few months I was over all the kneading and mixing and waiting. I called it laziness, but really it was just me having to decide just how much energy and time I could invest into feeding my family well. I had a season of being completely grain-free, then a season of re-introducing non-gluten containing grains like rice back into our meal rotation.

When it boils right down to it, I love grains. My kids love grains. But I don’t want to invest all that time, money, and energy into experimenting with creating fluffy sourdough pancakes, perfect artisanal bread, and spongy English muffins.