How our nest does it...

So I've talked about WHY our nest does 100% organic, but HOW do we do it exactly?

Well, first of all, let's talk about our budget. For 2 adults and 1 breastfeeding/solid eating toddler, we spend an average of $100 a week on 100% organic groceries. Probably about $50 of that is spent on fresh vegetables and fruit. Lately, Lovebug has been eating alot more vegetables, so sometimes it's $125, but most of the time it's right at or around $100.

This amount does not include supplements or personal care products, as we get those from other sources. It also does not include any cleaning or laundry products since we make all of them with supplies mostly from Mountain Rose Herbs. Since we cloth diaper/wipe, this amount also does not include those, which saves us quite a bit of money. Further, that amount does not include any cooking/baking oils, herbs, spices, salt, pepper, and so forth, because we also get them all from Mountain Rose Herbs in bulk.

We do our weekly shopping at Central Market but make a monthly trip or so to Whole Foods as well. From April - November, we go to the local farmer's market every Saturday morning where we stand in the long line at the ONE organic stand. At any of these places, if they don't have it organic, we don't buy it. It's really that simple. Even if that means changing things up that we had intended on doing, we go in another direction or find an organic substitute that will work.

Things that help us buy 100% organic 100% of the time:

-My Love keeps great track of what we are spending. As he is the "top chef" around our nest, he also does our grocery shopping. Sometimes Lovebug and I tag along especially when it's farmer's market season, but alot of times, it's just my Love heading to the store early Saturday morning with the list we carefully made together. He has his ipod and listens to music while he tallys up things as they go into the basket. Somtimes he put things back if we're going to go over what we had intended and sometimes he calls me to say "do we want this or that this week?"...And we make that decision based upon what we really need. We never ever take anything away that is for Lovebug though as her health is our top priority!

-Simply, we don't overbuy. Probably most anyone that would come over to our nest and look in our refrigerator or pantry would probably think both are pretty bare, but to us, they're completely full. We just don't overbuy and keep to our list, which helps tremendously. Actually, come Saturday our refrigerator does look pretty empty! :)

-We buy in bulk. As mentioned above, about every month we load up on organic agave, maple syrup, and other things from Whole Foods. Also every month, I generally take a trip to another grocery store, Market Street, to load up on organic nuts and chocolate chips because they have the best prices on those. Then, every couple of months, we load up on LOTS of beans, lentils and such from Whole Foods. Buying in bulk truly helps! Plus, you're using less packaging (especially if you re-use your own bags).

-We keep our paper products to an absolute minimum at our nest and this helps our budget a great deal. So that means no TP (except for guests), no paper towels, no napkins, no paper plates, no diapers, and so forth. These things can quickly add up...

-As mentioned above, from April to November we go to the local farmer's market every Saturday morning to load up on organic vegetables. This helps our budget a TON because we can go and spend $35 on veggies with the same amount normally costing us $50 at Central Market! Find your local farmer's market here.

-Since we eat by far mostly vegan (with the very rare local eggs and fish we catch), our organic protein sources are much cheaper than meat-eaters. Organic beans cost a great deal less per pound than organic chicken or beef, so that's something to consider. Even if you can't go vegan, vegetarian, or pescetarian, then consider at least making more of your meals meat/chicken free per week than not. You'll end up saving money for sure!

-We drink a ton of water and don't buy bottled beverages hardly ever. We don't buy soda and I know this is kind of crazy to most people, but we just don't drink the stuff. We also don't buy bottled water, but instead have our reusable bottles that we re-fill. This saves us quite a bit! We do buy a carton of orange juice every week that we partake of a little bit every day, but a treat is when we can get an organic beer for my Love and a GT's Kombucha for me! :)

-We don't buy packaged foods - no cookies, crackers, cake mixes, boxed dinners, and so forth. That stuff can easily add up in more ways than one, so we just don't buy them. Plus, fresh is just best...

-This may seem minute, but we compost and recycle like crazy. Thus we don't buy trash bags but once a year. We only put out trash maybe once a month if that, so this is something little but a small money saver.

-We are still breastfeeding and practice baby-led eating/weaning. This also might seem minute, but it has saved us money for sure. However, financial savings is by far NOT the reason we have done either of these things, but rather, an added benefit. We have never done baby food, cereal, formula, bottle-feeding, and so forth, but instead have only breastfed and started to offer cut up fresh vegetables to Lovebug around 10 months once she started to show interest. She has always fed herself and decides how much/little she wants to eat. Her vegetable intake continues to increase although her breastfeeding really hasn't decreased much :), but we have definitely noticed a small difference ($15-25) here and there certain weeks in our grocery bill due to this and know it will only increase from here.

SO these are some things that came to mind in how we save and are able to keep to the 100% organic diet. However, we also have to do away with other things (like cable, etc.) to maintain it. There are certainly ways that we can improve though:

-We would love to get where we always make all of our breads. I make them here and there and always make our pizza dough and baked goods, but would love to make all of our tortillas, and sandwich and pita bread as well. Currently for these things, we buy Ezekial 4:9 which is sprouted and very delicious.

-Currently we buy a big thing of purified water every week, but really hope in the near future to install a whole house water filtration system so we don't have to do this. We had Eco Water Texas come out not long ago and test our water - eewwwww! Disgusting what's in it!! Really. I highly recommend getting your water tested and not drinking tap water!

So, maybe some of this will help a few of you. It IS really hard, especially with today's economy to stay within budget and make things work...but I truly believe if it's a priority, everyone's diet can be 100% or at least mainly organic.

The above is what currently works for our nest, but I would love to hear any tips of how you make it work for you and your families as well, so please share!

Oh and the photo is a little box I've been working on by making use of all of the organic produce stickers we go through :)...

Tagged Twice

I was tagged twice last week, so let's have some fun, shall we?

This is the 4th shot from the 4th picture folder on my computer, and I didn't crop or edit it in any way. It's a reject from the shots I took for this spring post last year. Looks pretty, doesn't it? I cannot wait to start seeing this again...


The next tag is called "Honestly Honest" and I'm supposed to share "10 honest things about me you possibly do not know"...Ok, here it goes...

1.) I'm one of 7 children and have 4 brothers and 2 sisters and all of our names start with a "J". We're all uniquely different but somehow fit together. We're pretty crazy and would make one entertaining reality series if you ask me!

2.) Speaking of names, my Love and I have had ALL of our baby names picked out since we were in college...so for about 7 years now. One night we were sitting around talking about our future together and we picked our names out! We sometimes still go back and forth on middle names but the first names we have, unless God blesses us with all of one gender! :)

3.) Our nest is "vegan" but we do eat fish a couple of times a year that we catch and plan on doing so more this coming year. I KNOW, that's not even vegetarian!!! But we love fish very much (and fishing) and are not supporting factory farming or environmental degradation by eating them occasionally in our home. It's something I have struggled with and thought alot about, but we don't buy fish from a supermarket or eat the types of fish that are unhealthy or disappearing. ALSO, we are going to start getting organic free-range eggs from a local source here soon and eat them once a week on Sundays, as well as add fish oil back to our diet. Also something I've struggled with, but with alot of thought and research I feel it's what my body needs at this child-bearing/breastfeeding time in my life. Apparently, the name is "pescetarian" for someone who eats fish but doesn't eat any other meat, but whatever, as we still eat out, bake, and cook 99.5% of the time "vegan". Labels really aren't important though! In the end, our goal is to constantly become healthier and if that means eating some fish we catch or organic free-range eggs, then so be it.

4.) I'm famous...OH YES people...by the early age of 10 I had already walked the runway for Espirit (anyone remember them - they were cool!) and been in a YMCA commercial (oh YES)!!! AND it gets even awesome-er...in college, I was interviewed for the local news. ALSO in college, I performed on a gorgeous Renaissance stage in Italy for one night/one show! Are you impressed? :)

5.) Speaking of college, my blood is not red, it's maroon. YES my friends, I am an Aggie...one of THOSE. We're very proud Aggies around here! Not the annoying kind in any way, but still very proud that we attended and worked hard at Texas A&M. My Aggie blood line is a long one, which I am immensely proud of!

6.) Ever since I was super little I wanted to be an attorney, but not just any attorney - the BEST (like my Dad). Everything I did in high school and halfway through college was to prepare me for law school...Teen Court, Teen Council, Mock Trial, and so forth. BUT about midway through college, I realized God had a different plan for my life. Thank goodness He always has a plan, right? I realized my creative talents would have no outlet if I continued down that path and I wouldn't be happy. SO event design it became and I am so very glad...

7.) Although I love sleep, I can function pretty darn well on very little of it (even uncaffeinated). In high school my extracurricular activities list was LONG and I was up late many nights and up early many mornings. This continued tenfold in college because I was a huge nerd and was always studying. Yes, I love studying and test taking and find it quite fun. I'm a dork. Anyway, this functioning on little sleep certainly comes in handy as my 24/7 job as a Mommy now, so I'm glad I haven't lost it! I think I just have really high adrenaline and that's what keeps me going, especially during high exciting times like major events and happenings (new babies, tests, big parties/events, etc.).

8.) In the 4th grade, I wore these massive super cool red glasses...NOT because I needed them as my eyesight was great back then, BUT because they were amazingly cool. I wore them as a fashion statement and rocked the heck out of them! :)

9.) I'm a workout fanatic...seriously. It's a big passion of mine! I'm not addicted, but it's something I HAVE to do to make my day complete. Otherwise, I'm not happy and don't feel good about myself. Wait, hold the phone...maybe that is an addiction. Really, I'm just a health nut. OH and I have to do yoga every morning as it helps center and get me ready for the day.

10.) One time we belonged to this massive gym and I was talking to my Love as we were getting on treadmills. Well, I didn't realize that someone had left the treadmill ON and I completely tripped and fell on top of it...it was hilarious! Good times. Thank goodness I didn't break or hurt anything. Actually, another small tidbit is that I've never had a broken bone!

I had these other two scribbled down so I might as well share them as well...

11.) I used to be a movie buff...I was heavily involved in theater in high school and college and WAY into movies. I saw probably any "good" movie (thanks Dad and my Love!) that came out and took pride in the dissecting and critiquing of the acting, directing, writing, and so forth. Again, a big nerd. Along with that, I was a major fan of the Oscars. My Mom always made it a fun ordeal when I was younger to watch them together. Anyway, I started to write this "Predictions" email every year with who I thought would win and why, and who/what REALLY should win and why...with lots of stupid commentary thrown in there. Funny, I know...Stupid, I know...but I think some people enjoyed it. Well I stopped somewhere in there during college and now I couldn't tell you who was nominated and haven't seen or maybe even heard of most of the movies. :) Funny how your priorites change, isn't it?

12.) My middle, ring, and baby fingers are pretty weird. They look "normal" but I have really poor control of them. Like ask me to do the "I love you" sign and it's hard for me to get those three fingers to cooperate. Isn't that strange? OH I have others...like I HAVE to brush my teeth twice at night and floss in between! I'm pretty weird.

Alright, that is some pretty honest and revealing stuff (and I did 12!!). NOW you all know many things about me that the vast majority of you did not know before! Hope you enjoyed that Jashley and Emily. :) Now my friends, I tag any and all of you with these...do one...do both...do neither. Up to you, but it WAS pretty fun to do. :)

Let's all have a wonderful week!!!