KV Organics

seeking restoration of sustainable life... personally, professionally, & spiritually

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Hormonal Make-up

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It may seem “hormonal” and paranoid to even suggest it, but did you know that the chemicals in your makeup and other personal care products could very well be affecting your hormones and consequently, your health?  Or the health of your daughters?

No, I’m not crazy, overly concerned, or making a mountain out of a molehill.  It’s true.  Puberty is starting earlier for girls than it did just a few decades ago.  Female cancers are on the rise.  All cancers are on the rise.  Did I recently hear that 1 in 3 adults today, statistically speaking, will get cancer in some form or another?  1 in 3?!  How can we not stop and look for the environmental causes behind these serious health issues?

There are many factors, perhaps the biggest one being the use of hormones in our meat and dairy supply; however, one cannot overlook the impact that personal care product chemicals play in this puzzle.  Many of the chemicals used in these everyday products are endocrine disruptors, and are having an impact on today’s teenagers, among other age groups (check out this ‘oldy but goody’ article).

The evidence is there – what can we do about it?  In our household, we have chosen to use certified organic personal care options that have been entirely untouched by synthetic chemicals.  (And drink raw milk sans the hormones and other nasties!)






Good Guide

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Taking a little break from my e-fast reflections…

Have been meaning to do a post on Good Guide for some time now.  What a helpful resource!  It’s also part of the reason I fell in love with Miessence.  Check out this article on Good Guide.  It begins:

“One sunny morning in 2004, Dara O’Rourke was putting sunscreen on his 2-year-old daughter’s face when he had a disturbing thought. As a professor of environmental policy at the University of California, Berkeley, he’d spent years studying the global supply chains for products like electronics and shoes. But he had no idea exactly what he was smearing on his daughter.

The thought spurred O’Rourke—who’d made headlines in 1997 for exposing problems with Nike’s labor practices—to action. Back in his lab at Berkeley, he found that the sunscreen—a top-selling brand—included a hormone-disrupting chemical, a suspected carcinogen activated by sunlight, and several skin irritants. “I’m a total nerd—I not only read ingredient lists but study factories in China, Vietnam, El Salvador,” he says. “Yet I still didn’t know what I was bringing into my house every day.”

Continue reading here.

Have you used Good Guide yet?  What have you found most helpful about it?
















Only Human

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OK, so my poor blog has now seen April pass as well.  But I think we’re getting into our new groove, and this is a quick post mostly to remind myself that I’m only human.  I hope it can be a blessed reminder to all you other type-A personalities out there as well.  🙂

I loved my February e-fast.  It was truly a detox.  When I logged back on to email for the first time, I think I felt my brain melt.  Besides clearing out and responding to my emails, I spent most of March trying to get acclimated to some new time limits online, and now, at the very end of April, I’m finally getting back to blogging – at least once a week, Lord willing!

The e-fast was helpful in many ways.  It was a wonderful time of drawing closer to the Lord, just resting at His feet while serving my family only.  I began my e-fast with a desire to get His direction, and in some ways, I came out of February with more “service options” placed on my heart than I started.  At first I thought, “God, that’s not very helpful, I was hoping for some clearer direction!”  Then I came to realize His wisdom here – it forces me to stay closer to Him each day going forward.

One of the biggest reminders that I came away with, having all these interests and passions stirring inside me, is that I am only human.  OK, duh.  But, I need frequent reminding of that, and I know I’m not the only one.  🙂

It’s one of those weird paradoxes in life, I guess.  The more I find God expanding my heart for needs in the world, the more I realize how severely limited I am to do anything about them.  Rather than run myself ragged trying to “do, do, do,” over-commit, and live a stress-filled life on so many levels, I need to rest in the little peace-filled niche He has carved out for me within His greater plan and let Him do the work through my tiny action steps of faith.

Going into May, He continues to remind me daily to stop my striving and just give my best to the tasks for which He’s called me.  Right now, that is first and foremost my family and home (which includes our own creation care/downwardly mobile/green journey).  My work beyond the home – whether with my business or volunteer work – is in His hands to guide and grow through this severely limited human as He wishes.

“His strength is made perfect in our weakness.”  Such good news!  🙂

Goodbye March

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OK, yikes!  Where did March go?!  Wow…

I did, in fact, get back online March 1st; however, it took me a while to clear through the 500+ emails in my inbox, and it’s obviously taking me a while longer to get back to my blog.

This is just a quick “Blog News” post to thank you all for your patience.  I have so many thoughts that I’d love to share with you, but I am really trying to limit my computer time.  Lots of posts sketched in my mind, a few in the draft folder, and hopefully some going up online very soon, Lord willing, but I do much prefer snuggling with my kids to staring at the glow of a computer screen.  🙂

Thanks again for your patience and support as I try to sort through and focus my swirling thoughts while adjusting to life with four kids!  Hugs to all!

February E-Fast

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I have been really enjoying my babymoon this past month, but my type-a self has a very hard time slowing down.  No surprise to those who know me, I know; but the truth is that I really do want (well, sort of want) to slow down – and need to slow down.  So, I’ll be taking a total ‘e-fast’ for the month of February.  No email, no online research, no social media…

This decision isn’t so much about having a newborn in the house, actually.  In many ways, the transition to life with four kids has been very easy.  But there is certainly no coincidence in the timing between baby #4 coming into our family and all that’s been going on in my heart and mind over the past year leading up to this point.

Here’s the deal…  Even though I sometimes try to grab the wheel and take control, what ultimately drives me in all that I do is the Lord.  What is He up to?  What does He want me to do at any given moment?  What’s my role and purpose in His bigger plan?  How can I best serve Him and the people He has put in my life?

Right now, I feel like He’s asking me to just sit down and be still for a while so I can draw closer to Him and get some direction.  There are too many open doors in front of me, and I cannot possibly walk through them all at once if I’m also going to be the wife and mom He wants me to be, so I really need His guidance.  But every time I get online or on email, my desire to research a huge variety of green and healthy living topics gets me stuck online for hours.  Although this desire to learn is God-given at its core and closely connected to what He’s doing in my life, everything has its time and season.  Right now, I’m strongly sensing the need to stop being Martha and spend some serious Mary time just sitting at God’s feet; I need to quiet my mind by staying offline for a while.

So, this post is to let folks know that you won’t be able to reach me by any online means until March 1.  You can still email or Facebook message me, but I won’t get it until March.

If you need or want to get in touch for any reason in February, please do feel free to call or text me.  For those of you who are clients, I am still committed to serving your needs during the month of February, but will do so by phone rather than by email this month.  And if there is any way that I can be praying for anyone during my e-fast, feel free to call or send prayer requests via text.

See you online in March!  🙂

Oh, and by the way…  Almost as if God really wanted to drive this ‘e-fast’ idea home to me…  My email experienced some sort of mysterious technical glitch last Thursday.  All my archived emails (which were numerous) and backlogged emails in my inbox from before January 2o-something just suddenly went POOF!  Totally disappeared and cannot be recovered.  If you had emailed me prior to January 27th and never heard back from me – I’m sorry but your email probably got zapped.  If it was important, please either call or text me, or email me again and I’ll respond in March.  🙂

Healthy Homes

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So sad to be missing the “Healthy Homes in Toxic Times” event tonight at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philly…  Had registered hoping to go, but knew fully well that it would be a last minute decision to really go or not…  As the day progressed, it became apparent that it would just be too much to try and schlep myself and a ravenous four-week-old nursling into Philly on a cold winter night.  However, I have instead spent a little time surfing the websites of the groups presenting at the forum.

Here is a summary of the event from the ANS website:  “In a large city like Philadelphia, pests, air pollution, and other sources of detrimental environmental exposures impact the quality of our daily lives. The methods we choose to control pests, the cleaning and personal care products we purchase and use, and how we care for our immediate home environment can have consequences on our health. As we navigate our weekly routines, we can all find ways to reduce harmful exposures and enhance the health of our home environments.”

If anyone doubts the toxic effects of everyday products and pollutants on our health, here are more voices calling out and asking you to consider the issue again – for the sake of your own health, the health of the planet on which we’re all dependent, and the health of future generations.  Your everyday choices really do make a difference.

Women’s Health & Environmental Network (WHEN)
Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management
National Center for Healthy Housing

And an article on personal care products, quoting WHEN founder and Temple University professor, Julie Becker.




Baby Here

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Just a quick post to say that baby #4 arrived safe and sound on Monday afternoon, 12/20.  Andrew Peter, 8-3 and 20 3/4″ long.  We’re all settling in and laying low.  Hope to get back to blogging in mid-January.  In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  🙂

Mompreneurs

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The article below brings up so many great points, and not just for moms.  Are we in a recession?  Are millions of people jobless and hurting financially right now?  Are there all sorts of depressing statistics today to get us down in the dumps?  Yes, yes, and yes.  And I do not wish at all to trivialize or downplay the very real hardships people are facing.

But there is so much good going on too, if you know where to look for it.  As I see it, we are in a major time of transition.  And although transitions are rarely comfortable, they have the potential to be major turning points for the better.  We can either kick and scream in opposition to the painful change, deciding to remain negative, or we can have faith and look for all sorts of positive opportunities in the change.

I believe the recession is helping the US to begin turning away from our rampant consumerism and unhealthy, unsustainable lifestyle.  The lifestyle that constantly tells us we’d be happier if only we had x, y, z.  The lifestyle that keeps people trapped in jobs they don’t enjoy because they have to pay the bills, and in many cases pay down their consumer debt.  The lifestyle built around instant gratification, quick fixes, and a throw away culture.  The lifestyle obsessed with cheaper, better, bigger, faster at any cost.  The lifestyle that is contributing to rising rates of disease.  The lifestyle that uses more of the planet’s resources than is sustainable for the long term.  And I could go on…

Along with this cultural shift comes not only great challenges, but also great opportunities.  The article below highlights some of the entrepreneurial opportunities that, in this case moms have tapped into, in industries that are currently growing despite the recession.  People are still spending, but they doing so more mindfully and more in line with their basic needs and core values.  Whether you’re a mom, dad, or not a parent at all, if you’re looking for work, or more fulfilling work, consider the entrepreneurial options in front of you based on the growing need- and value-based trends out there.  Not everyone will hit a big ‘home run’ like the companies highlighted in this article, but there are plenty of other options out there for those willing to try something new.  If you have never done anything entrepreneurial in your life before, find a solid business coach to help you through your ideas, or get started with an entrepreneurial option that will help you to gain independent business skills through solid, professional, skill-based training within the supportive framework of an already established and healthily growing company.

For insights into entrepreneurial work-from-home options, including important points to consider to help you avoid disappointment, hype, and scams, check out my work from home page with a free report.

For the article on Mompreneurs that inspired this post, click here.






















Energy Choice

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We first ran into this topic in August 2009 when a door-to-door salesman for an alternate gas supplier came by.  We decided to give it a shot, signed up, and then forgot about it.

In August of this year, we started getting various offers from alternate electricity suppliers also.  This prompted us to go back and check our bills from the previous year of alternate gas supply, which left us quite skeptical because it turned out to have cost us an extra $129 over the year.  However, since we had also been learning more about energy conservation and green energy, that skepticism drove us to research the topic more thoroughly instead of just tossing our hands up and staying with the utility out of fear of the unknown.

One of the questions a friend (who owns a very successful energy consulting firm in Philly) told us to ask was whether a company was a licensed supplier or a broker.  As I understand it, broker companies are not necessarily bad, but they generally drive the price up because they’re an extra link in the chain getting a cut of the profits.  Turns out the alternate gas company we had said yes to was a broker company…  Ah-ha!  Check – look for a licensed supplier (and verify it with a third-party resource, such as a list of alternate suppliers found on your local utility’s website).

In early November, while still researching energy choice options, we came across Viridian and were really impressed.  Although I have seen some hype and accidental misinformation out there from their independent sales force (which is a risk of using the otherwise solid direct sales model), the company itself is straightforward in its message and mission, and they resonated with us as potential customers because of their green energy focus at a savings.

We decided to become Viridian customers ourselves, and since 1- energy conservation and renewable energy is something we’re also passionate about, 2- it ties in on some level to the work I already do in organics, and 3- I had researched it a great deal and felt I could help answer people’s questions about energy choice in general and the company specifically, I decided to do a little consulting work for them on the side.  My purpose in this is to add a realistic, no-hype voice into some of the confusion & misinformation out there in the popular buzz about both Viridian and energy choice companies in general, and to help people figure out if Viridian specifically would be a good fit for them or not.

So, if you’re looking into alternative energy suppliers, here are a few other things I’ve learned to ask in general, in addition to the licensed supplier vs broker question…

1- Is it a fixed or variable rate plan?  You might be surprised to learn that variable is often better than fixed, though it can depend on your preferences.

2- Are there sign-up fees, lengthy contracts, early termination fees, hidden fees? Can you cancel at any time?  We loved that Viridian was “cancel at any time with no penalties.”

3- If you also care about long-term sustainability and air quality issues (which tie closely into stewardship, pollution, and health issues), ask about a company’s “energy content,” or percentage mix, of “dirty/brown” energy vs “clean/green” energy sources.  For example, our local utility currently uses only about 7-8% renewable sources.  And many of the 3rd party suppliers who are not necessarily “green-focused” in their company vision statements offer about the same.

4- If you want to buy/support greener energy, find out the percentage vs cost. For example, we found that Viridian offers the highest percentages of greener energy at lower prices compared to other green options we’ve seen so far.  Their basic option is 20% renewable energy generally below your cost from the utility (who almost certainly has a much lower percentage of renewable content).  So, their “everyday green” option supports a higher percentage of green power while saving you money at the same time.  And their 100% renewable energy option costs only slightly more than the utility rate, instead of a higher ‘premium price’ for 100% renewable content that other green suppliers are offering.  For example, one company we looked at would have cost us, on average, $24 more per month for 100% renewable energy, whereas with Viridian, we could do their 100% “pure green” option for an average of just $5 more per month.

5- If anyone is showing you an example bill, or when you begin looking at your own bill to compare prices, please make sure you know what you’re comparing.  Supply portion only.  I have seen a handful of reps for Viridian accidentally comparing the wrong two parts of the bill, which made the savings look bigger than it is.  They were very nice people, not being intentionally deceptive at all – they just misunderstood.  The savings is still there, just not as amazing as it may look if you’re not comparing the right things… and it will also depend on whether you’re a low or high usage household.  If you’d like someone to go over your bill with you to help you understand what to compare, get a realistic idea of your potential savings, and figure out if an alternate supplier would actually make sense for your situation or not, I can help you with that since I’ve gone through it myself.

If you want more details on any of the above, feel free to contact me.  There is also a good list of FAQs under the “Energy Service” section of their website.  While obviously Viridian-specific in the answers, these FAQs are good to ask any company you may be considering.

If you decide to you’d like to become a Viridian customer, as we did in our home, would you please consider calling them at 866-663-2508 to sign up (instead of signing up online) and giving them my referring ID#11636?  Disclosure statement – I am not actively growing a business with Viridian, but yes, I will get a small commission for referring you.  Thanks!  🙂

 

 

Going Hermit

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Wow, it’s December already.  Baby’s due in a few short weeks.  I’m ‘going hermit’ soon, so please don’t be surprised if my online presence diminishes a bit for a couple months.  Emails, blogging, facebook, etc will all be touch and go for a while, especially once baby actually comes.  But I’ll be back.  Feel free to still email, call, or message me – just please give me some extra time to get back to you.  😉

As much as I love interacting with people on a regular basis, I have to say I’m really looking forward to my hermit time in the newborn fog.  Mostly looking forward to a time to slow down on all the research and work I feel compelled to do in the many areas of greener living and creation care, so that I can spend some time reflecting on all that God has taught me this past year.  Locking eyes with a precious, amazing little newborn while nursing is a great way to force me to sit still and get super reflective.  I look forward to drawing nearer to Him (especially during those quiet middle-of-the-night feedings) and discovering His vision for my life in 2011 after emerging from ‘the newborn fog’ (time of total family focus) around February.

What a ride!  So crazy sometimes, but so thankful.  So blessed.  And hey, there are still a few weeks until the 22nd (due date)!  Will try to do a couple more posts here in December before baby actually arrives, but just in case… I wish you all a blessed holiday!