Raising Happy Healthy Children…Naturally!
YEAH! Its strawberry season! One of my favorite times of year. We get a quart of freshly picked strawberries in our CSA (Consumer Supported Agriculture) box each week. My son looks forward to it, as do I.Â
Here is some fabulous information about how wonderfully healthy strawberries are (but please buy organic, they are one of the most heavily sprayed crops);
Here’s a site to help keep you updated (and help you easily get involved) on eliminating PVC;
It seems we’re having a banner week with wildlife here. Frogs and lizards abound lately but that’s not even what I’m talking about.
Last night my neighbors take a walk and almost step on a copperhead right in the middle of the street ON MY BLOCK. Nice.
Then we take the kids to dinner and get home to find a turtle the size of a dinner plate doing a hula dance in my flower bed. She was out there all night digging and wiggling so we’re pretty sure she laid her eggs right where I was going to plant flowers (to replace the dead flowers that the drop to freezing killed off a few weeks 
ago). 
Not to be confused with the turtle that Connor found last week on a walk. And btw, thanks to dh for getting grass growing above. Seems the only place we can establish a lawn is IN my flower bed.
Did I mention we just got fish?
And I’m now addicted to bird watching. Check out the start of my new pole system and the cool bright birds that are visiting. The royal blue guy on the ground is a blue bunting, then a cardinal and a goldfinch on the bird feeder. Pay no attention to the squirrel behind the chair.
This Jersey girl is still having trouble wrapping my brain around the DEAD WILD BOAR on the side of the road 2 miles from my house. Sorry…no photo on that one but the smell should be reaching you any minute.
We stopped using the seasoning Spike many years ago because the ingredients were not “perfect”. But now that our diets have fallen a bit and they’ve updated the ingredients we’re eating it again. Its perfect when you are trying to eliminate the not so healthy things we put on veggies (like butter).Â
 Anyhow, I found a 5lb container of spike on Amazon for $25 and free shipping. Unfortunately, as I’m typing this I checked it and its no longer available. They do have a 5lber but its from Shop Natural (means hefty shipping) and its $30. Not sure if they will be offering it again but keep an eye out. They do have 2 - 6packs of the spike shakers at $25 and free shipping. An OKAY deal but nothing like the 5lb tub.Â
Thanks to Kimb’ for sharing this very important link on Bisphenol A;
Stumbled upon this really cool blog;
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/
Tons of gluten free recipes, she tests mixes and gives you the BEST way to doctor it to taste better. Plus there’s a list of other gluten free blogs.Â
Who knew it could be so fun?
As part of our “settling into” our new house (which btw isn’t so new anymore, dare I say we’re coming up on our one year anniversary here this summer) we purchased a bird feeder while back. The squirrels have been reeking havoc on the poor feeder and I really wanted a bird bath so we decided to visit a Wild Birds Unlimited store nearby.
OH MY GOSH, I was so enthralled. We purchased a pole system that you can expand upon AND a “squirrel baffler” that keeps the squirrels out/off. I wanted everything in the store from butterfly houses to bird houses and more.
We ended up with the pole system, a hummingbird feeder, some “good” bird seed (though not marked is organic) AND a cool bird bath. Can I tell you that we’ve had a bird feeder out for months and we were seeing only some chicadees and an occasional cardinal. The day I changed the seed to the Wild Birds Unlimited seed…THE DAY, we saw the most amazing assortment of birds. The cardinal couples keep coming, some goldfinch couples, blue buntings, wood peckers, bluebirds and last weekend I saw a bird I had to look up because it wasn’t in my “common birds you see in NC” book; it is a blue grosbeak and its mate and they’ve been here daily since. There’s another couple we’re trying to identify.
Unfortunately, I saw a black snake hanging out under the feeder too. We’re going back for Mother’s day to expand our pole set and talk with the owner about our choices and learn about avoiding snakes. It was such an educational visit and he was so friendly that I can’t wait to go back and learn more. 
The kids are loving it and we’re all fighting over the binoculars.