What an amazing month! I hate to use up two great posts in one, but good things come in bunches! On July 10th we were pleased to find a healthy male cria standing in the barn behind his mother, China Doll! He was 14.2 lbs and a light fawn color. He has been named 'Tonka Gold's Frisco", in honor of his sire, who tragically passed away after his first season of breeding. We are pleased to be able to carry on his amazing genetics! Frisco has been zooming around the pasture and making our family and the many visitors at our farm smile ever since! Stop by and see if you can get a glimpse of him running by!

The very next day, July 11th, we opened the Mercantile! A dream come true and a very big day after so much planning and hard work. We have already met so many incredible people who have come into the store and the response from the community has been amazing! We enjoy each day and the opportunity it brings to share our philosophies, ideas and knowledge about a simpler and more fulfilling way of life with others. Thank you to everyone that has made our store such a great success!

The Scoop on Plastics - From Water Bottles to Baggies

Everyone is talking about plastics these days. We are all shocked to learn in recent news reports that most Nalgene water bottles (which we have been using because we thought they were healthier and better for the environment!) are made of #7 plastic and contain Bisphenol-A (BPA), known to cause cancer and infertility! I started thinking about plastics in my home after hearing and reading about this news and realized just how many plastic items we use in our daily lives! We are addicted to plastic! I decided to do some research on the Internet to try to figure out just what is safe and what isn't, so I could make better choices for my family. This is what I learned:

#3, #6 and #7 should be avoided. Most of them contain Bisphenol-A (BPA) that will leach into your food or drink. These are usually very hard, transparent plastic containers, like nalgene water bottles , baby bottles and 5 gallon water cooler jugs. Many tin cans are lined with BPA containing plastics, with soup and pasta being among the highest levels tested. Some food wraps are made from number #3 (Reynolds Wrap & Saran Wrap Classic)

#1 plastic should only be used ONE TIME. This a a very thin plastic that is meant for one use, then it starts to decompose once exposed to cleaners and bacteria from human contact. This plastic is commonly used for store bought water and soda bottles and should be recycled and never reused.

#2, #4 and #5 are the safest plastics. They are usually soft (like gladware) and often opaque in color (like tupperware, yogurt and cottage cheese containers). Most baggies and many plastic wraps are made from #4 - but not all, so you need to check. (see link below) Although these plastics are safer, they should still never be heated.

Plastic Safety Tips:

- Replace your plastic reusable water bottle with a stainless steel or aluminum bottle. (Sigg seems to be the preferred choice, Klean Kanteen is another to check out.) Be sure your metal bottle is not lined with a dangerous plastic!

- NEVER heat food in plastic. Heating plastic releases the toxins many times faster then your food absorbs it like a sponge. Opt for glass or ceramic dishware for microwave use and for storage whenever possible (i.e. Pyrex). If you use plastic wrap to cover a dish when microwaving, be sure the plastic wrap does not touch your food!

- When possible, and especially if you are pregnant and when feeding a young child, limit the amount of canned food in your diet.

- If you're formula feeding you infant, consider using powdered formula packaged in a non-steel can. Also choose baby bottles made of glass (best) or the safer plastics listed above. If you choose plastic, NEVER heat the bottle. Instead, heat the formula or milk in a glass measuring cup then pour it in the bottle.

- If you choose to continue to use polycarbonate bottles (Nalgene type), avoid using old, scratched ones. The damage and age increase the speed in which the BPA leaches into your food.

- Use this Plastic Products at a Glance chart at to shop smarter when buying plastic. Try to avoid buying food packaged in cling wrap plastics, since you don't know what it's made of. If you do purchase it, unpackage it when you get home, scrape of the outer layer if possible (i.e. if it's cheese cut a thin layer off where the plastic touched the cheese), and repackage it in a safer container.

I hope this helps some of you to make better choices when it comes to plastics and their use. I know I feel much more empowered after all my research!

Why You Should Consider Changing Your Cleaning Products

This time of year we all start to feel a little
'cooped up'. Although there are many outdoor activities we can participate in during the winter, more hours than not, we spend our days inside where it's warm and dry. I often find myself with Spring fever about now, as the seed catalogs start to flood in and the urge to open the windows and let in some fresh air becomes strong. In most homes, letting in some fresh air is more than just a luxury, it's necessary for the health of the people living there. Studies show in the majority of American homes the air is more polluted than outside. What is it polluted with? Invisible gases from toxic chemicals in the materials used to build our homes (carpeting, paints, treated woods, insulation) and in the products we use in them (cleaners, cosmetics, air fresheners and laundry). Many experts believe these chemicals to be a catalyst, and in some cases the cause, of many illnesses prevelant today including allergies, asthma and many cancers. I even heard this startling statistic: Women who work in their home full time are 54% more likely to develope cancer than women who work outside of their home! That is frightening! Our homes are supposed to be a safe haven, not a place that makes us sick! I would think this information alone would be enough to persuade a person to want to make a change, but in case it's not, here are some other reasons why you should give it some consideration.

Choose any of the household cleaners in your home and read the label. Yes, I know, you've probably never done that before. Until a few years ago, I hadn't either! They wouldn't sell them, and people wouldn't use them, if they were REALLY harmful, right? Wrong! There are warnings all over the labels telling you all the bad things that can happen to you while using this product and what you should do to try to protect yourself. None of which most of us do. Do you open the windows to ventalate the room everytime you spray something? Hold your breath while you clean? Wear gloves everytime you use a product? No. We all just breath in the vapors and get the products all over our hands, on the counters and dishes we put our food on, and in the clothes we wrap our bodies in. Every time we do that, we are injesting and absorbing dangerous chemicals known to be harmful to man - such as amonia, chlorine, phenol, and formaldehyde - right into our bloodstreams. I shutter to think where in our bodies they go from there....

Besides the obvious health risks associated with being constantly exposed to toxic chemicals, there are other very practical reasons why green household products are a good idea. One being economics. Many think they can't afford to use natural or organic products. At first glance they may seem more expensive. But in most cases they are not. Most environmentally conscious companies believe in producting products in concentrated forms. In other words, they leave out all the water found in conventional cleaners. Water is after all, a precious resource - and it's supposed to be free! These companies let you add the water. This makes for less packaging, less energy used in manufacturing, less fuel used to ship less products and more affordability to the consumer. Oh yes, and lets not forget, less waste to dispose of. A great example is an amazing all purpose cleaner put out by Shaklee, called H2 (said "H squared"). You may have heard Oprah mention it on her show, because she loves it! A 16 oz bottle of H2, which retails for less than $12, makes 48 gallons of cleaner!! Imagine in your mind 48 gallons of milk sitting on your kitchen counter and you'll realize just how much that is! Now that is a lot of bang for your buck! You may be thinking,"how well can it work if it's that watered down?". Well I'm here to tell you that I've used it, and it works awesome! I was especially surprised when it cleaned my mirrors better than Windex, which is something I've had a hard time replacing in my home with satisfactory results. I am happy to say that I now have a safe replacement for all of my household products that work as good, if not better, than what I was using before (see some of them pictured here). I even convinced my husband not to use a toxic drain cleaner on a tough clog the other day, until I had tried every natural trick in the book first. The clog is gone and I'm happy to report, no chemicals were put in the ground next to our home!

So you can see, the reasons are many for making a change and the change doesn't mean sacrifice. It means better health for you and your family, a better planet for our children's future and affordability for your budget. Why not give it a try? Then, the next time you take a deep breath in your home, you will feel good about the "fresh air" you and your loved ones are breathing, even if the windows aren't open!

Kitchen Progress

I have to apologize for not posting in such a long time! Things got hectic, then my camera broke! I'm back on track and ready to catch you up on our progress. Our biggest accomplishments on the homestead in the past few months have been in the kitchen. It's FINALLY looking less like a jobsite and more like a kitchen! The before and after pictures here show how much progress we've made. You can see that we now have a dishwasher, and it is heaven! Washing dishes is my least favorite chore. We also have a new sink and faucet for those few items that still have to be handwashed. This chore is much more pleasant now that we are able to gaze out the new windows at the mountain view. There are still two very important items that haven't been delivered yet - a new refrigerator and a range! We are still cooking on a hot plate (which we affectionately call a 'warm' plate) and the old fashioned wood cook stove shown here. It's actually been really fun to learn the old fashioned methods of cooking with wood. Besides, there is nothing like the cozy warmth of a wood cookstove in the kitchen during a cold Maine winter. Especially in an old drafty farmhouse! We truly have enjoyed this experience and will continue to cook with this stove even after our new range arrives. You may have noticed our bright, and slightly unconventional, color choices. We are ready for a change from our previous classic, colonial color palette. We've decided to go with brighter, bolder colors in this house. We want to give our home a more playful and relaxed feel, much like the many cottages that dot the Maine coast. Our new lifestyle is all about living with less stress and more laughter and we want our home to reflect that. We think our new kitchen is a cheerful and welcoming place to spend our days providing for our family and entertaining our new friends!