The Dirty Dozen

See below link for David Suzuki's list on what chemicals that are important to avoid:

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/10/19/suzuki-dirty-dozen.html#ixzz12okaUn4i

Contentment is a pearl of great price, and whoever procures it at the expense of ten thousand desires makes a wise and happy purchase

John Balguy

Natural Body Product Workshop

Amy and I (Andrea) held a workshop on making body products this past Saturday. Did you know we use about 10 body products a day (if you're me you use about 25!)? From brushing our teeth, washing the dishes, using shampoo, lotions, etc, we absorb everything we put onto our skin...the problem? Many of the products we buy are filled with nasty chemicals. As our body absorbs these it doesn't get a chance to be filtered by our livers, thus scientists have found preservatives (found in lotions, shampoos) in breast cancer tumours!

Our purpose was to create this awareness as well as to show others how easy & fun it can be to make your own products.

Lip balm ingredients: beeswax, cocoa butter, vitamen E, and essential oils.

Liz adding some essential oil to her almond face oil.

Three happy ladies making body spray.

Darlene giving her green foamy soap a shake.

Karin scenting her face oil.

The prices include the full price of product and container. The price in brackets is the container cost. Not bad considering you can use the containers over and over. Amy used to pay around $30 for her Clinique moisterizer and now she pays $3.70.

The finished products: Lip balm, foaming hand/body soap, dish soap, room/face/body spray, and face/body/bath oil

The following is a sheet that you can fold and put in your wallet as a guide of which ingredients to avoid when you are shopping for things such as baby wipes, cosmetics, of whathaveyou...

http://www.ewg.org/files/EWG_cosmeticsguide.pdf

Guest Speaker Con't

What an inspiring night! It was so encouraging to meet with others who are struggling to go against the flow of our culture. I feel as though I'm always looking for someone to tell me "buying 10 sweaters is too much but buying 5 is ok!" I want rigid solid rules! This night with the Hogues reminded me that such rigidity can steal joy and can become a religion. Mrs Hogue encouraged us by saying that as long as we are "asking the question" we will be on a better path than if we are not.

Mr. Hogue ended the night by reminding us that we have only been consumers for a short time (2-300 yrs?) compared to being producers-- which we have been for the majority of our existance. Being total consumers doesn't seem to be working well for people or our universe -- enough is never enough AND the earth is being totally stripped bare & polluted beyond repair. He reminded us to shift back to something that has worked & respected humanity and the earth. So perhaps a small challenge for some of us is to think of something we can make on our own rather than depending on someone else to do it.

Andrea

Guest Speaker Night

Hearing from the Hogues

We recently enjoyed spending an evening with the Hogues and their daughter Julia. It was inspiring to hear their story, and then to share how our stories intersect and relate to theirs. Thanks to Amy and Mark for hosting in their oh - so - cute and cozy abode.

Their honesty and their transparency allowed us to learn about the nuts and bolts of how they have lived out their values. I enjoyed hearing their relaxed and non-rigid approach to life. Here are a few tidbits that I will take away from the evening:

• anything can become your religion if you lose focus
• flexibility trumps rigidity
• delaying your gratification is good for you and your children - it provides that "wow" factor
• sometimes it's OK to "blow the wad" on things or experiences that you value
• some tools are very useful to have

Please, add your own tidbits....from the evening, or as my daughter Kaija would say, from your own coconut.

Connie

Food, Glorious Food.

A website for a local food initiative in Winnipeg... Is something like this possible in A-town? Let's talk pros and cons...

http://www.freshoption.ca/

And to my mentor: angrychicken.typepad.com

Recipes, crafts, body product goodness.

More to come.

Amy

Baby Steps

Hi there

This website has everything from A-Z on how to care for the earth & people holistically. Her main mantra is about taking baby steps. I've found it very helpful as a reference for things such as using vinegar in my dishwasher rather than the chemical-induced ones in our grocery stores.

http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/

Compostable Foodware

Donovan's customer passed this website on to us. It's a Canadian compostable foodware company that is looking out for the environment. Compostable coffee cups, food containers, & cutlery that look like plastic but aren't...perhaps this place is good to keep in mind for your places of employment?

http://www.wastereductionstore.com/products.html

This customer also passed on a YouTube video relaying the message that "it's about choices - not climate change"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5cFU5Vo9TQ

-Andrea

Simple Christmas??

Hey Friends... Here's a short recap on our meeting last week Wednesday.

We talked about what a simple Christmas looks like in the context of time and energy. For some of us, the thought of Christmas brings up thoughts of endless gatherings, obligations, etc. Barb asked the question of what the point of these get togethers are. Not in a resigned tone (as in what's the point???) but rather in terms of, what makes gatherings/get togethers important...

When we identify what makes these events important, we can then also determine healthy boundaries. One, for example, does not need to necessarily spend 7 hours at a given event in order to hold up values of connectedness and relationship.

Aware of the busy weeks ahead, we decided as a group (and Connie take note so you'll be all caught up!) to challenge each other to a Christmas Gift Day; A Christmas Stay-cation. A sabbath as it were. We explored the idea that maybe the busy schedule wouldn't feel so overwhelming if we planned ahead blocking off a period of time designated specifically to rest. So here's our goal:

During the Christmas holidays, we want to set aside one day (minimum) to be spent however we'd like... A day to do what we want, in the context of our immediate family. We had visions of reading books with our spouses, sleeping in late etc... While there are no rules really we thought one guideline might prove to be beneficial; and that is, to disconnect ourselves for this one day from media in the form of TV, movies, internet, phone. We'll take some time to share about our "day" at our January meeting.

As is becoming the norm during our meetings, there was plenty of digression; as we found ourselves planning train trips to the Oregon coast and sharing childbirth experiences (both of which I look forward to someday experiencing myself). Along the way, there were a few other not so related, yet good thoughts and points raised. And while I won't discuss them here, I'll put them down for your own personal thinking and pondering:

- How is simplicity connected with nature? Does the path of simplicity inherently lead to a greater respect, desire to care for creation?

- And for all you parents out there: how do you process/deal with consumerism in the context of having kids?

- And for us to think about for our next meeting: Why is simplicity important to each one of us? What brought to the place where this topic, these lifestyle choices are of high priority to us?

That's all for now I think. It was a pleasure to be together again last week.

Cheers to the exploration.

And Merry Christmas...

Amy

Website

I caught wind of an interesting website: http://www.soscuisine.com/?sos_l=en

It formulates menus for you based on your income, people in your family, and even calculates meal plans based on local foods according to Manitoba! I haven't tried it yet, but it looks interesting.

On another note, thanks to Barb who has distributed the tightwad gazette...I am already enjoying it. I found the complete works on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375752250/tightwadcomconsu

-Andrea

Next Meeting: Sunday November 1

Hi there Ladies,

Our next meeting will be on Sunday November 1, 2009...it will be an afternoon/coffee type deal.

Please submit via this blog agenda ideas.

So far we have consumerism & environmental responsibility -- this is a big one!

Also, I was thinking of Simplicity in the context of being more, but having less...I would be interested in reading a short chapter that I found on this.

-Andrea

Simply Sustainable

Stumbled across this in one Mennonite periodical. A new book to be put out by Herald Press called: Simply Sustainable. They are looking for ideas/contributions for the book, which is set to be released in 2010. One of the authors also co-wrote Simply in Season, which has been the book of the summer in our home...

Check out the site and blog at simply-sustainable.org

Could be a good book to base some group discussions and experiments out of in the future!

Disconnected.

Andy, your post got me thinking about connectedness...

We are being drawn into these ideas of simplicity and sustainability for all sorts of reasons: wanting to live and believe a different message that the world is sending, wanting to need less "stuff", wanting to live full lives, wanting to respect the earth, wanting to maintain smaller budgets etc.

I wonder though if in reality, we are being led down this road of exploration by that part in us that feels the pain of disconnectedness; with the earth, with our true identities, with our food...

Maybe we didn't start this exploration with the awareness of our pain, but maybe we have been brought here divinely, unconsciously because of our internal longings to be more whole.

Doris Janzen Longacre writes, "Don't begin gardening and preserving out of duty to your budget and the world's hungry, although it helps. Begin it for joy, for healing." She writes in More With Less in the context of food, though I think her point is applicable in more contexts than that.

This is more than a pursuit to make ourselves feel better about ourselves and our lives (and sometimes in the process noting how others are not doing these great things we are).

Does it not begin with our awareness and acceptance of our own brokenness?

And listening, perhaps to that part inside that is leading us down this road of healing.

Amy

Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who is the Fairest of them All?

Apparently the mirror came into existance in the year of 1500. After this new invention there was an increase in the 'splitting of the self'. People started to live outside of themselves, not from the foundation found within. We started to live through others' eyes asking, "Am I attractive?" "Am I in style?"

We often live through the eyes of others in that we care if they think we are attractive or not. It's so easy to allow the media to define our success. Therefore, the self is always outside of itself & we find ourselves discontent.

Author Richard Rohr states that we suffer from a lack of contact with reality. Until we break the material world's hold on us and reestablish contact with reality, we will never be happy. We will live our lives through these beautiful models that we can't live up to..what a terrible tragedy that people should be seduced into imitating and desiring what we are not and can never be.

What does this have to do with simple living? If we are able to live rooted in Christ, rooted in His Abundant Simplicity (sounds like an oxymoron but ISN'T!!), we do not have to pine after some clothing or product outside of ourselves; we will instead be able to draw from the well within us which is all the more satisfying. It's a well filled with Truths that tell us a new sweater won't fulfill us anymore than the ones we have in our closets. It will tell us that sweaters, in fact, don't have the power to fufill us! The funny thing is I don't quite believe this to be true because a new sweater does make me feel good for at least a little while.

As you can see I'm struggling with living outside of myself versus inside of myself. Is it possible to live rooted and grounded with commercials, ebay, stylish friends, malls, etc.?? It would sure save us money!

-Andrea & excerpts from Rohr's book 'Everything Belongs'

A Rough Outline

We shall meet to...

1. ...provide each other with practical advice and help for simple living.
2. ...provide encouragement for this lifestyle that goes against the flow.
3. ...explore this lifestyle in light of our faith.

Discussion topics to tackle:

1. buying new vs. used
2. research on how to make homemade products
3. research into local food sources, and into the agricultural and ethical practices that went into the production of that food
4. time - what is simplicity when it comes to our time
5. What is our responsibility as a consumer?
6. We need to find experts that are smarter than we are about what to do about complicated issues such as boycotting/vs consuming.
7. How much stuff is it appropriate to own? (based on budget or on what?)
8. Where do we find our life? What gives us life?
9. What does the season call for in terms of extravagance vs. simplicity? When is the time right for what?
10. Internship of world travel to find balance.