Fresh farm milk, bpa sippy cups, and my green blog agenda (with a contest)!

Happy Monday everyone! Good news to report, my family has made the switch to buying local milk (within a 100 mile radius) that is not certified organic but is only miss a sheet of paper. There are no antibiotics, no growth hormones used, no pesticides used and the farm is family owed. We can drive to visit the cows that make our milk and I cannot wait to do this! I researched this before I made the leap and wanted to know how the glass containers are cleaned ,why the farm was not organic, if they sold raw milk and other specific questions. I was actually excited and proud to take home my glass milk container and my husband thought the entire situation was weird. I don’t even like milk but decided to pour myself a glass so I could taste the difference. I have to tell you, it was remarkable. I had some organic milk from Horizon left over (which I like) but the fresh from the farm milk was so creamy and perfect. I might become a milk fan!!!

Ahhh, except I poured this healthy hormone free milk right into a BPA sippy cup. Yes, I know slap on the wrist a thousand times over (it was a gift). I’m recycling all of the "bad" sippy cups as soon as my samplers pack of BPA FREE cups arrive from The Soft Landing ( not all of my cups are unsafe, mind you). I have some things on my green and clean mom agenda that I am personally researching and changing over so that my family is safer and more" green".

In the very near future…

*I will blog about the new BPA water bottles I’ve begun using and why BPA is so bad, along with a giveaway!!! Yeah! This will be any day so check back real soon!
*I’ll be trying out some safe BPA free sippy cups for my two children and hope to have a ruling on which I like best, no my children like best! I’ve contacted several companies about their cups for samples or giveaways for my wonderful readers and hope to hear back from them!!!
*Crocs, everyone seems to be wearing them (including my kids) but they’re made in China and can you recycle them? Are they non-toxic and what’s the best way to really clean them (I have a secret). What is the company doing to be Earth Friendly???
*All about my C.S.A. and what I learned last year from my experience and some helpful tips.
*I will be personally, purchasing a wide array of healthy, organic snacks from http://www.yumyumsnacks.com/ to sample for my family and hope to blog about this experience. I don’t have many options in my small town. We have three grocery stores attempting to carry more organic food options, Wal-Mart that is completely sporadic with what they carry but cheaper and Kmart that has nothing. Cosco is four hours away!
My home is about 50/50 right now but Tiffany over at Nature Moms Blog, has inspired me to do better with her personal story and tips.

I have lots more in the works but I wanted to give you a heads up so you’re sure to keep checking back. I think it is very important to point out, I’m a mom just like most of you, trying to do her best to live some shade of green, each day. I’m not perfect and my family did not eat healthy or organic growing up so I am learning and sharing. I am trying new and safer products to share them with you and give you my feedback. I research, research, research and read, read, read and then hope to tell you my honest opinion, thoughts and findings.

Green Gardening and Cow Manure

Have you heard of CowPots? I had no idea what a CowPot was but when I thought of the two words put together, I took a guess…where a cow takes a poop? Funny enough, that’s exactly it…a biodegradable, environmentally friendly way to garden with cow manure!. Farmers have cow manure and need to do something with it, plants need nutrients and a pot, and the ground doesn’t need pollution to help grow the plants. It makes sense really. When I read the story, about the farmers who thought up this idea, I had to laugh and think of what I would do if my husband used my toaster for his cow manure experiment. I might be “green” and earth friendly but I would not be so crazy about cow manure in my kitchen. Didn’t I just post about E.coli???

Anyhow, these little pots sound great because they are made in the U.S.A., they’re a highly renewable resource, odor free and non-toxic, plants love the pots and grow like crazy because of the nutrients, and the pots decompose. It doesn’t really matter if you like cows, meat or milk, a cow is going to take a dump somewhere and a farmer will have to do something with it. Why not make money off the stuff and help the environment?

In addition to CowPots, you can buy stories about using the CowPots from Chrissy the CowPot! If you want to do something fun this coming Earth Day or spring, you can get a CowPot kit that includes a story, a CowPot, finger puppets and seeds. A great gift for a spring birthday! My son loves planting stuff and when he was really little he was obsessed with cows (notice the picture)! What a fun, earth friendly weekend project!