Genetically Modified Salmon

Sounds tasty, doesn't it.

Take a look at THIS ARTICLE, and look at not only the obvious health effects, but the long term effects of the environment.... It could destroy and mutate river life as we know it! Only a matter of time!

Disgusting...

Be Smart, Not Scared!

It's so easy when you start watching documentaries on how your "food" is made, and processed to just throw your hands up and say, "well, I'm gonna die some day anyways...". Or in seeing the way that commercially produced meat is raised and treated, it's easy to become a vegetarian!

And when you hear about how they have now come up with a genetically raised salmon, that is close to being approved for the masses..... Why, it just makes me mad!

So, what can we do? Our food is killing us!

There are LOTS of things you can do, whether you live on 20 acres or zero... You just have to be smart, not scared!

• If you don't have land, raise what you can, WHERE you can! Be it on a balcony, in a window or rooftop, plant some herbs and veggies in planters!
• If you DO have land, grow what you can. Start out with some, and as you find that you enjoy it or have more time, plant more! Don't let your flower gardens be big and beautiful, but you don't have time for veggies! It's all in priorities!
  

• Make sure you look at the "Dirty Dozen" and the "Clean 15" to make sure you are able to put your money into food that NEEDS to be organic. Some foods just aren't as effected by pesticides, like bananas because of their removable thick, skin. Make sure you buy those potatoes organic!
• You don't NEED to become Vegetarian! Shop at meat markets that DON'T ship their meat from a far... I was once in a chain grocery store and looked at the hamburger which had a sticker on it telling that it was a product of Mexico, Canada & the US! That seems SO wrong!
• If you have land, make the investment of animals! PRODUCING ONES! Chickens, goats, sheep, cows, etc... We started out getting some for ourselves, but now are going to grow, because we have had people who want to buy from us! In doing this, PART of your investment can come back to you. Animals are SO enjoyable! You don't realize it until you have them. Don't believe me? Go visit a friend's farm, and ask them to take you along as they do their "chores". Then watch those happy animals! I wouldn't give this up!
  
• Shop from the FARMER! This is the best bet yet for those without land or time to raise animals. If you can actually GO to the farm, even better. Make sure those cattle are pasture raised, make sure those chickens are free-ranged... Make sure you don't see round-up dead grass around their "natural/ organic" garden... You may not be able to grow much, but it doesn't mean you have run out of choices!
• Cook and Bake! Don't be afraid! Something is better than nothing. Find a homemade bread or dish that you like to make... Ask a friend to show you EXACTLY how she makes those healthy casseroles! Find a few things that YOU CAN DO and DO IT! Why??? Well, you know EXACTLY what is in them... Better than store bought!

I'm sure there are MANY more great ideas I didn't mention, but the point is wherever you are, whatever your situation in life, knowing what is in beef and chicken for the super market doesn't mean you have to be scared. You DO still have choices!

Buying Organic

A while back, I saw a post on Homestead Revival about which fruits and veggies are MOST important to purchase organic, and which aren't a big deal if you don't. The list is published by the Environmental Working Group.

This really gives you a great idea of the items which you should buy organic. And I like that there is a list of things, called the Clean 15, that can be non-organic. I have been using my list VERY often, and will never (as long as I can help it) purchase one of the Dirty Dozen, unless it is organic. The Dirty Dozen contains the highest amounts of pestisides in ANY fruits and veggies tested. YIKES!

Here are the Clean 15 ( the ones that you DON'T need to buy organic) and the Dirty Dozen (the items which you SHOULD buy organic) from the Environmental Working Group:

EWG's 2010 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides

Dirty Dozen (Buy these Organic)
1. Celery
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell Peppers
8. Spinach
9. Kale
10. Cherries
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes

Clean 15 (Lowest in Pesticides)
1. Onions
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mangos
6. Sweet Peas
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Cantalouope
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potato
15. Honeydew Melon

Here is a You Tube video of Dr. Weil explaining why we need to minimize our exposure to pesticides, and foods containing them! Check it out:




Ready to lower the amount of pesticide residue in the tissue in your body? EW! I know I AM!

Time, Priorities and Farming...

I am a stay-at-home mommy. I have 4 young sons, and life here is not what I would have imagined 10 years ago, as a newlywed. Hubby and I did live in the country, on a small piece of land, with a nice sized garden. We traveled a little, camping most the time. Not an "uppity" lifestyle, but we were comfortable. We both had jobs, mine was in a RV factory, as is/was prevalent in our area. My high school education job, payed just as well, if not better than my hubby's college education job.


Not that I even imagined 15 years ago that I would be working in a factory. 15 years ago, I was preparing for the" rest of my life"... I was going to college! I was an art major. I had big dreams of becoming an animator for Disney! I actually had connections! So I took off to fulfill my dreams.

Fast forward through the struggles of college: being away from mom and dad for the first time in your LIFE, parties, friends all the time, HARD classes that have NO relevancy to your major, horrible diet, BOYFRIEND.... Ah. Let's put the breaks on here. I met the perfect man after my first year in college, while I was working at home during the summer. FAST FORWARD... that man is my husband.

Marriage happens. Pure happiness.

God in my life, for real this time. Not just KNOWING there was a god, but knowing He was GOD.

Baby boy number 1, now I'm a mother and a stay-at-home mom! Baby boy number 2, I can't believe I have 2 boys. My mom had 4 girls and 1 boy. My mother-in-law had 2 girls and 1 boy. I have 2!!! Sell the first home of our new little family, find out I am pregnant with baby number 3. First broken bone (boy #2). Move. Baby boy number 3. ANOTHER BOY! Broken bone #2 (again on boy #2). Move again. Broken bone #3 (AGAIN on boy #2).

OK. Stop the fast forward... We had now moved into a home that needed LOTS of work and even more love. This time, we had 10 acres, and a barn. We had just looked at the space for the boys to run! We did in fact have 3 boys! Soon after that, you guessed it. Baby. BOY baby. 4 boys. What ARE the chances?! God must really want us to have boys!

Back to being a farmer... It started with a dog. Then some chickens and guineas. Loved this. During the second winter, several chickens died. Problem? Open Barn, wind swept straight through and froze them. We worked on repairing the old barn. And decided to get more chickens. Then since we had a nicer barn, how about something COOL. Like a heritage breed! That's when we got our Jacob sheep...

Wait.

Now look at me. This morning I was in the barn at 7am, the sun is shining... Last night I DREAMED of planting the rest of my garden. LITERALLY. I smell like the barn as I type. I probably will for a little longer because I am going back out to the garden. I'm not even a FAN of the smell. I have POOP on my boots!!!

Wait. I can't believe I go from dreams of Disney, to a small farm in the Midwest. I dreamed of a beautiful home in Florida, and now I have a nice farm house and a baby goat that thinks he's a dog....

Some days, I just MARVEL at where God takes us. People talk about their lives and where they have been, and sometimes where He ends up taking us is NOT where we thought we would ever be!

I HATE dirt under my finger nails! THERE! I said it! I am a girly-girl. I love to be clean. I like to have cute clothes. I don't like poop, or dirt, or snot, or WORK! I am, by nature, very lazy. I would LOVE to sleep until 9 or 10 am! AH!

So HOW is it that I LOVE being a farmer?

I have gardening gloves. :)

I want more than a life of laziness. Laziness produces nothing. Laziness doesn't feed my family. Some people "don't have time" to have a garden or to raise a few chickens. For MOST people, time has nothing to do with it. It has EVERYTHING to do with priorities. If my priority is to sleep, I WILL get 10-12 hours of sleep! (Imagine!) If my priority is to watch TV, and then feed my family from the drive thru.... that's probably EXACTLY what I will do!

But I want my husband to be blessed. I want my children to be healthy. I want to pass along a good example. I want the Lord to tell me when I enter His gates, "well done...".

So I work beyond my laziness, and I make priorities.



I love putting on those muddy, poopy boots because I love going to the barn and seeing all of those animals that produce food for us. I love gathering the warm eggs. I love pulling warm loaves of bread from the oven. I love when my boys say that my food is good! I love when my husband doesn't have to work so hard, because I worked a little harder.

I love being a farmer. Well, a small scale farmer. And I have set even more priorities. My garden I have BIG plans for... I have plans for the animals too.

Having a small farm is a choice for us. It is not the obvious path of some uneducated Midwesterners. You actually DO need to be educated to decide you aren't going to feed your children the JUNK that supermarkets sell. You aren't going to be happy with the statistics of 1 out of 3 children born after the year 2000 having Diabetes (from Food, Inc. the movie). I am not satisfied with genetically altered seeds, Roundup sprayed on my Roundup ready FOOD. I am NOT satisfied with my hamburger being washed in Ammonia. I will not be a lab rat. I will not allow my children to be lab rats either!

THAT is my priority. THAT is why I have a small farm. That is why I will continue to make priorities, and WORK. I will take one thing at a time, one CHANGE at a time to make my family's lives better. I have a LONG way to go, but my priority is change... Changing back to how God intended.

What are YOU making time for? What are YOUR priorities??? How are you changing your lives for the better?

I would LOVE to hear how you are changing things! Please share what priorities you are making!

Flax- A Health Benefit

I am usually reading lot of information on healthy eating and recipes. I love the challenge of keeping my family healthy and doing what I can in order to insure my family is feeling their best.

One thing that I have added to our diets, in a pretty seamless way, is Flax. I have mentioned before that in adding any new healthy ingredient into our diets, namely whole wheat, sometimes can be hard. Which is OK. There are ways to slowly get into things, and we don't have to jump all at once. In fact, with somethings, slowly easing into the "new" can be easier on your body too.

Like Flax. Adding flax seed to your diet, you need to make sure your body can adjust. You can insure this by having adequate amounts of water in your diet.

A while back, I picked up some flax seed in our local bulk foods store. I started adding it into baked items. And no one even knew the difference. The only thing different I noticed was a new more golden color with my bread. It was beautiful!

Flax is a wonderful source of Omega-3Fatty Acids (good for brain, eyes, heart and nerves), and for fiber. About 4 tablespoons of ground flax seed meal has about 6 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber.

I have been adding ground flax seed to just about everything I bake, and it hasn't changed anything much. I haven't had to change other ingredients to try to balance out the flax seed. I actually have been just dumping it in. For my grandmother bread recipe, I add approximately 1/2 C. to the regular recipe.

How can you add this to your diet? Well, a bag of flax seed isn't very expensive. You can usually get them at a bulk food or health store. You can buy ground flax, but you can lose vitamins and minerals the longer it has been ground. It can also go bad quicker. If you buy whole flax seed, you can grind the seeds in a coffee grinder. ( I am going to be reviewing a coffee grinder from CSN Stores, an online retailer that sells everything from baby cribs to cookware. It has different levels of coarseness for grinding which will be nice.) This is going to be the best way to have flax, and add the most health benefits to your diet.

**Make sure you also have a good amount of water in your diet also. Watch that children who are eating food with extra flax in it or extra fiber in general, are getting adequate amounts of water.

I am not a doctor, and I can only tell you what I have done for my family. Please don't do anything because someone else has done it! DO the research YOURSELF! There is a LOT of info on Flax and flax seed in your diet. Please check it out. HERE is a good resource for info.

Step by step, you CAN make changes that are habit. And make a greater effort to be healthier. Flax is a great (secret!) way you can move in that directions with your family!

Benefits of Honey

As you may have seen on here, we are going to try our hands at raising bees for honey. It's actually quite an amazing process. And bees are nothing short of amazing themselves....

I just came across an article put out by Mother Earth News about the Benefits of Honey. It can help with sore throats, wounds, allergies, indigestion, and more. (Also note, it is NOT recommended to give honey to a child under 12 months.)

I have read before that honey is one of the three safest and healthiest sweeteners to use (along with Stevia and Raw Organic Pure Cane Sugar) .

If you don't already support LOCAL honey producers, you may want to look into it! Besides, REAL RAW LOCAL honey is the absolute best. There is nothing else that compares... Honey even contains low levels of vitamins and nutrients! Sugar does NOT do ANY of these things for you! Check out HERE how nutritious honey is!

Also, look at this site, "Eat Wild.com". It might be able to direct you to local raw honey producers in your state. This site can also help you find producers of pasture/ free-ranged meats, eggs and more...

And for more honey updates, keep posted here to see how we are doing! :)

GM Foods and Children...

GM foods, are Genetically Modified Foods. Basically this means at the beginning there is a seed and the seeds can be 'genetically modified' with chemicals or whatever, to get the desired result of the manufacturer. A good example of this is round-up ready seed. GM animals are animals that have been bred to FIT a certain "make-up". They are pumped with whatever chemicals to make them grow in this area, not in another. They are fed with genetically modified food.

The end result? A great looking plant or animal! RIGHT?!

Well, if you go beyond the plant or the animal, you will see what I mean. In an on-line article put out recently by Dr. Mercola, you will see how much these GM Foods effect our children under 2! Their little bodies are growing at an incredible rate. We give them milk (from a GM cow, fed GM grain). We give them formula (comprised of GM corn or soy). They eat baby food, made from GM fruit, veggies, and grains! It's bad enough that we consume this ourselves, but when we feed them to our kids who are developing at a high rate... well... You can read about it for yourself HERE.

I am personally wanting to make the change from GM foods to organic (to homegrown) foods. But, for us, we aren't made of money! You know what I mean? So the change is going to be gradual. Right now, I buy organic carrots (when they go on sale $1!) and organic potatoes. These are 2 veggies that actually grow IN THE GROUND an soak up TONS of things from the soil, not just nutrients but chemicals! Those are 2 things I will never go back on.

Fruits and veggies that grow above ground are probably SPRAYED with chemicals to keep bugs away, etc. So, if you don't have organic or homegrown fruits or veggies, soak them for 10-15 minutes in water and white vinegar. Then gently wash them. This should help a lot of the chemicals to come off, but not all.

My long term goal on this is to grow my own fruits, veggies, milk and meats. Growing these and then canning, freezing, or dehydrating these items will help us save LOTS of money on groceries. In turn then, I am going to spend a little more on organic items I cannot yet produce, like flour or other fruits and veggies I cannot produce. Still keeping my budget low, but getting good foods into the bodies of my growing children.

A LONG while back, when I started trying to do this, my husband asked what they big deal was (before he started actually doing some research on his own!). I told him, if I had to watch my CHILD suffer with Juvenile diabetes or cancer, it would KILL me. I want my children to live happy, carefree lives. I don't want our days filled with hospital visits and pills.

It all comes down to what is important for you. If convenience is important, some may go to the store and trust everything on those shelves... But, health and life and happiness is important to me. LIVING an external life, not an internal one. Not worrying what is happening with MY body because I am too sick, but being able to focus on others (external). I know we cannot control everything that happens to our bodies (environment, etc), but, we can do our best to take care of what the Good Lord gave us!

I'm gonna give it a shot! How about you?

Trying Something New- Sprouts!

My mother-in-law will REALLY think I've gone off the deep end now, but I am trying to grow sprouts! (I say that in love! She knows I love her!)

I have read MANY places on the healthy benefits of sprouts and how there is a huge concentration of vitamins and nutrients, packed in the tiny little sprout. These sprouts you can throw in a salad or on a sandwich.

Sprouts are the only plants that after harvested, actually INCREASES in vitamins and nutrients! Because it continues to grow! Even after you stick some sprouts in your salad and put some salad on your plate, they are growing right there in front of you! Well, maybe not so you can see, but it IS growing!

I ordered some sprouting lids with my seed order, but you can also MAKE your own lids with a screen cut to fit the top of a jar.

Basically with sprouts, this is all you do:

Soak them for several hours (depending on the type of seeds you have).
When they have soaked, drain off the water (why you need the screened lid!). Then rinse with water.
You then leave the jar tipped upside-down, so it can drain.
You rinse the seeds/ sprouts 2 times a day for a few days.
Then, depending on the type of seeds, harvest (after about 3-5 day) by taking out of the jar and refrigerate and eat!

You can also save the "extras".

***Depending on the type of seeds you have, you need to follow specific instructions on soak time, grow time, etc. These will usually come with the seeds when you purchase them or any screens that you purchase for your jars. Info can also be found via the Internet!

I have chosen alfalfa sprouts. They are said to have a VERY high amount of several types of minerals, protein, Vitamins A, B-complex, C, D, E, & K.

I will keep you posted on how these turn out!!! This is something new to me! But, I like the fact that I am growing something that there are no chemicals & hardly any work needed! Plus, they are PACKED FULL of the vitamins and minerals we need, naturally!

Less Sugar, Less Processed...

Food. Especially 'convenience' food can be cheap and free many times with coupons. But have you ever looked at the nutritional value of these convenience items? Straight out of a horror movie, I tell you! Well, maybe not THAT bad, but still... pretty bad.

Sodium levels are always terrible! Most the time I get canned veggies, I make sure they are 'no salt'. They don't taste bad at all, especially if you are making them in a casserole you'd never be able to tell.

Sugar levels are also crazy! I cannot believe some of the food items, that have High fructose corn syrup or other sugars in them. (Some Baby Formula has as much sugar as soda does!)

HERE is an article by Doctor Mercola, he always has wonderful, informational articles on health and wellness. This is an article about the crazy amounts of sugar in food... and at the end, what YOU can do to reduce the levels of sugar in your diet. Do you know how much soda an average American consumers per year? 60 GALLONS... (gag) 41 percent of that is sugar... The average American also consumes 141 pounds of sugar per year... :( Yuck.

There is a LOT of info on this subject at Dr. Mercola's site.

Some substitutes for sugar? He says to use these in moderation:

• organic cane sugar in moderation
• organic raw honey in moderation
• raw stevia (I was reading about this the other day, and leaves from a Stevia plant are 200-300 times sweeter than sugar!)

I know my family has been trying to reduce the amount of sugar in our diets for many years now, even more in these last 2-3 years. We RARELY buy soda, usually only if we have company. That doesn't seem very nice does it? I can try to make our company sick from feeding them more sugar! This many have to change! I have been trying to stay away from "processed" foods. I have been trying to find ways to make my own things from scratch. When you actually LOOK at what all is in those packets of gravy, taco seasoning, baking mix, pizza mix, muffin mixes, pancake mixes, ETC... there is a lot of stuff like TONS of sodium, sugar and many thing I have NO idea what it even is!

One of my goals, even more this year is to make sure I am growing and making more, that will bring health to my family. I would be very upset if someday one of my children developed Juvenile Diabetes or cancer, and I could have actually prevented it my limiting the sugar more in their diets.

How about you? Have any of you resolved to reduce sugar in your diets recently???

Are You Looking to Start Making More From Scratch?

Baking.

I LOVE it. I find HUGE satisfaction in pulling a bunch of ingredients from the cupboard, mixing them together, baking them, and seeing my family DROOL over them. Well, not OVER them.

I also love trying to keep healthy ingredients on hand to make up these recipes.

The key with healthy, I think, is to start small. Start with one ingredient here, one there. I am not all "healthi-fied" (?), but I am slowly also making MY way there. Here are a few GREAT recipes for you to try out. These are family FAVORITES. Some are new, some I have posted before. And most are on the "SUPER EASY" list!

So, get your recipe cards and get to work! :)

• Baked Oatmeal - This is SO good. I don't like homemade oatmeal- AT ALL. But this is definitely one of my favorites. Can be make with blueberries or other fruits that you have picked and frozen during the summer! Yum!
• Grandmother Bread - I have tried MANY recipes for bread in the last year, because, well, I am in love with bread! So I was trying to find the perfect bread to make sandwiches with, and to serve as a side to a meal (hungry boys can get a little more filled up with bread!). This bread, in my opinion, is perfect! It can be cut thin for sandwiches, and can be cut thicker for a yummy side to a great home-cooked meal. Check out the varieties of this bread! Another favorite of ours (and it LOOKS pretty too...) is the Cornmeal Bread. YUM!
• Granola/ Granola Bars. (pictured above) I could eat these all day long! They are both the same recipe, with the addition of an egg for the bars. These are healthy, but they taste great! I have also tried many "healthy" granola recipes, and this one blows all of the others out of the water!!! My boys BEG for them as soon as I pull them from the oven.
• Homemade Potato Chips. This recipe was a trial and error that I came up with on my own. We LOVE potato chips but we don't like all of the extra junk that comes in those foil bags. This is SUPER easy, and another favorite. I am actually going to be trying this recipe with Sweet Potatoes! Should be yummy!
• Homemade Tortilla Shells. 5 ingredients. Super Easy. YUMMY & filling! Filling is a good thing around here. Feeding 4 hungry boys, it is hard to find anything that FILLS their bellies, in a good way! This is a recipe that I tweaked from a few other recipes, and it worked wonderfully!
• The Best Chocolate Cake EVER! Yes, it's true. I am a chocolate lover, and THIS is a wonderful cake. it is a sheet cake that is so tasty, you want to slowly savor each bite. My boy #3 asked for this cake for the last 2 year's birthday cakes. I could EASY make a food group out of this... :)
• Homemade Play-Dough- Not all recipes have to be food recipes! This is a recipe we do often, and the boys can help! They also LOVE playing with Play-dough, taking the cookie cutters and having at it! This smells great, lasts a long time and is pretty cheap to make. I recently found the cream of tartar (the most expensive ingredient) at Aldi's for $1 for a pretty nice sized bottle! We should be good for a while!

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we have! These are just a few of our favorite things! :)

Also shared on www.LifeAsMom.com, Where readers are sharing their healthier recipes!

BPA's: How Bad can they ACTUALLY be for You?

So, I have gotten the e-mail spreading the word about NOT drinking water out of water bottles because when you heat the plastic (in your hand or in your car) it releases BPA's into the water. BPA's are bad chemicals that can cause cancer in your body (in very simple terms!). Not good.

I don't really buy bottled water anyways. So, am I free and clear? I'm afraid not. How many of the following things do YOU have and use for you and your family:

• Sunscreen
• Plastic cups
• Plastic plates
• Soda cans
• Plastic (throwaway) cutlery
• Plastic food storage containers
• Plastic toys
• Dental Sealants
• Water pipes (PVC)
• Eyeglass Lenses
• Mobile Phone parts
• Electronic parts
• Newspaper
• Printer ink
• Paper towels
• Air Freshener
• Insect repellent
• body wash
• laundry detergent
• pool liners
• And More!

I know I use MOST of these things everyday! Bad news is, you guessed it, these contain BPA's.

OK, so HOW BAD ARE BPA'S???

Well, BPA is an Endocrine Disruptor. Here is what Endocrine Disruptors do, according to and article in Mother Earth News:

Many of these chemicals cause problems because they can mimic the action of natural estrogen. These foreign estrogens (also known as xenoestrogens) can upset normal hormonal balance, stimulate the growth and development of reproductive tumors (breast, uterine, prostate), impair fertility, and disrupt pregnancy. Worse, many can cross the placenta to affect the fetus and get into breast milk. Chemicals such as phthalates have an antiandrogenic effect, meaning they interfere with testosterone and other hormones responsible for male sex characteristics. Exposure to these agents during fetal life and early childhood can derail normal sexual development and heighten the risk for diseases that don’t become apparent until adulthood, such as cancer.

Heating up any of these items above quickens the release of BPA's into your food or beverage, thus more is consumed by you and your children...

OK... so what are we going to be able to do about all of this? There are SO many sources where BPA's come from! I mean, I can't throw everything out and start new...

Start small. I mean, start SOMEWHERE! BPA's no matter if you can rid all of them from your life or not, the more you CAN get rid of, the better! are some suggestions laid out by Mother Earth News. They also say to look for these:

Avoiding phthalates is challenging because manufacturers aren’t required to list them as product ingredients.

• Look for “phthalate-free” on the label of personal care products (especially nail polish). For information on product ingredients, check the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics website.
• Use fragrance-free detergents, cleansers and personal care products. Artificial fragrances commonly use diethyl phthalate (DEP).
• Avoid products made of vinyl plastic usually labelled as No. 3 (raincoats, shower curtains) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC pipe, other building materials, some lawn furniture, and some children’s and pets’ toys).

TO read the full article go HERE. I suggest you ALL go and read it, PLEASE!

I have started putting aside my plastic spoons that I use when I cook, plastic plates, plastic bowls and cups. And I use them only if I have no replacement for them at this time. I have set them aside so I don't completely loose all of what I am used to using, but I also put it aside so I can TRY to use something else! We have heavy ceramic plates and bowls that we use for breakfast and dinner, for lunch, I have dug out our metal camp plates! That means no breakage when little guys drop 'em! I recently made homemade applesauce and I was SO tempted to put them in plastic containers to freeze them, but instead took an extra step to putting them in jars and canning them. I have also been trying to purchase more things that come in GLASS containers instead of plastic.

I have a long way to go, but I will keep working on this. I don't want to have my children tell me someday that they have cancer and then look back and wonder if I could have prevented it.

If you want to find out more on BPA's and how they are linked to causing cancer and other issues or if you want to find out if products you are using are BPA free, either do a search in your Swagbucks tool bar or Google it. There is SO MUCH info out there. Be informed!

Thank you to my Aunt Deb, who posted the link to the Mother Earth News article on her Facebook page!