When my daughter was born 3 years ago, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. I had a cesarean section and we weren’t able to bond or have skin to skin contact for 4 hours. It was a less than pleasant experience that greatly affected my nursing relationship with her. Luckily I had gone to a local LLL meeting before giving birth and I had met the LLL leaders. They were readily available for phone calls, giving me support and advice.
LLL meetings aren’t just about breastfeeding as well. Topics of discussion have been:
Toddler nutrition
Tandem nursing
Positive discipline
Child-led weaning
I highly recommend pregnant women and new mom’s visit their local LLL meetings. The meetings are free and there’s nothing better than surrounding yourself with knowledgable, like-minded women.
Daryl Hannah is an accomplished actress who is probably best known for her role in Splash, where she played a mermaid opposite Tom Hanks. I had the opportunity to interview Ms. Hannah last year via email. Read on to learn how she first became interested in nature and what inspired her to start her own vlog that’s dedicated to the Earth-friendly living.
I read that you first became interested in the environment during an experience at summer camp as a child. Will you tell us more about that?
Growing up in the heart of downtown Chicago in the 42nd story of a building, it was as though I was afflicted with a mild form of nature deficit disorder. My father sent us to camp in the Rockies, where we lived in covered wagons with no electricity, backpacked, horsepacked, cared for horses, built fires, pitched tents, etc…
I was transformed. Things began to make sense to me, and I found that I adapted well.It was hard but the challenges were truly character building. I found a deep love for wilderness and wildness.
When did you become a vegetarian? How do you think vegetarianism benefits the environment?
I became a vegetarian at age 11 because I could no longer disassociate the food I was eating from the creature it had been, and I just couldn’t gnaw on the flesh of creatures anymore. It grossed me out. The health and environmental benefits turned out to be a bonus! Often I find that when I do something from pure compassionate place, aspects I never considered seem to benefit as well – illustrating how we are truly interconnected to all life. The meat industry not only suffers from inhumane practices but is also complicit as the 3rd largest contributor to our global warming crisis.
I hear you have an amazing “green” home in the Rocky Mountains. And even a moss stone couch that actually needs to be watered! Will you tell our readers a little about your house?
It’s a small but beautiful house made with salvaged materials. It’s both passive and active solar, meaning it faces southwest. It is bermed into the landscape and uses the natural movement of the sun and the insulation of the earth to heat/cool the structure. The power is amended by solar panels. I have most of the modern conveniences, but I choose not to have a TV. I have a friend who is an amazing mosaic artist, and as I have radiant floors, I had him make a mosaic with sea glass and shells I’d collected over the years. All of the materials that were removed from the ground when we burmed the structure were incorporated into the house – thus the living couch. Moss can go dormant for several months so it doesn’t need to be watered very often.
You’ve got an amazing Eco-Site, complete with the latest environmental news and inspiring videos. You’ve probably received a lot of positive feedback! How did this site come to be?
I decided to make a TV show because there was no information accessible to the general public on these subjects, and I was growing tired of fielding questions all the time, but I didn’t like the contract and then I discovered vloging! I love making my vlogs! I learn so much and meet the most interesting people.
Eco-friendly living can be overwhelming for someone who is just getting started. What would you recommend to someone who is trying to gradually reduce their impact on the environment and live more naturally?
I would say – go for it! Jump in the deep end! It’s great in here, and there are so many fantastic options available to consumers now that really work. Get the toxic cleaners out from under your sink and the toxic chemical detergents out of the laundry room. Buy organic food from your local farmers market. Change your light bulbs to compact fluorescents. Start a garden. Start composting.
There are so many things you can do! These things are not only better for you and your loved ones. They’ll also save you money in the end, and they are better for the future of all life.
Thanks to Ms. Hannah for taking the time to “chat” with us. Her site, The DHLovelife Show, is a wonderful resource that’s definitely worth a visit!
Having lived in Lake County now for the past three years, I can say one thing for sure: Livin’ the natural life here ain’t always easy. But it is possible…if you know where to look.
The very first resource I would recommend to those looking for green options in Lake County is most definitely Velocity Magazine.
Velocity Magazine
Velocity, formerly known as The Messenger, is filled to the brim with articles about spiritual consciousness, holistic and herbal medicine, healthy (mainly vegetarian) eats, natural family living, and much more. There is a calendar events section so you can find out what’s going on in your area, and an astrology column written by local Central Florida astrologer, Raven Moondance. Dotted throughout the magazine’s amazing content are beautiful ads promoting Central Florida’s green businesses.
This nautral living journal is locally produced in Mount Dora, but contains valuable information covering most of Central Florida. It is beautiful to look at, enchanting to read, and best of all, it’s free!
Dr. Kalidas at the Center of Natural and Integrative Medicine is hosting a seminar on holistic weight loss and encourages many to come and join. He has many areas of expertise, including anti-aging, depression, hypertension. His center has grown considerably, and much of that is due to the seminars that he conducts on a regular basis. Once you visit his site you will be able to see and join his newsletter to learn about future events.
This one in particular will be focusing on successful strategies for a wholesome lifestyle with diet, hormones, and all that good stuff. You can call and reserve your spot at 407-355-9246 and refreshements will be served.
All the information can be found and located at the Center of Natural and Integrative Medicine.
Our family is different. We eat a mostly organic, whole foods diet. We use cloth diapers, nontoxic cleansers, and try to minimize our impact on the environment. While I’m comfortable with being different from the typical modern family, I must admit it is exhausting. Always being the “oddballs” in our family as well as in our neighborhood sometimes leaves me feeling frustrated. While we’ve been lucky enough to find like-minded families in our area, it sure would be wonderful to actually live in a neighborhood filled with others who are interested in eco-friendly living. While preparing for our upcoming move, I read about intentional communities like the EcoVillage at Ithaca and was very impressed. I hope one day my family will have the opportunity to live in such a community or maybe even help start one.
Intentional communities have been around for thousands of years, and the idea is still very much alive today. In fact, more and more people are becoming interested in reviving a sense of connectedness that seems to be lacking in modern neighborhoods. Residents of intentional communities have common goals and principles. According to the Global Ecovillage Network, one type of intentional community, an ecovillage, is a “group of people who strive to live sustainably.”
As I explored the website for the EcoVillage at Ithaca, I was envious! Here was a community of like-minded families living in “green” homes on almost 200 acres. An organic vegetable farm can be found on the land with future plans to develop village scale wind-power, a charter school, and more. Photos on the website show families working happily together for the common goal of natural, eco-friendly living. Meals are shared in the “common house” three days a week and chores are done in a cooperative fashion with everyone pulling their own weight.
The EcoVillage at Ithaca was designed to be a working model and has been associated with Cornell University’s Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy since its inception in 1991. The community plays a large role in educating young people on sustainable living through its connections to local universities as well as elementary schools. Several master’s theses have been written about the community and more are in the works.
People who are interested in living at the EcoVillage of Ithaca should thoroughly familiarize themselves by reading the website and are then encouraged to plan an overnight visit. There are two bed-n-breakfasts on site as well as other accommodations are available such as the common house guest room or a private room with a host family.
I find the idea of living together with other families who feel the way we do about life extremely appealing. I enjoyed reading about the activities these families do together such as craft nights, dance parties, and swimming together in the neighborhood pond. I can imagine that the children really benefit from such a strong sense of community, and I’m sure they learn a great deal about living in harmony with nature because they’re actually doing it rather than just reading about it.
If you’re considering this for your family, check out the links in this article as well as the related links below for more information. I highly recommend the photos at the EcoVillage at Ithaca’s website. I was truly inspired and hope to visit this community one day.
Halloween is a time of year that can be a bit difficult for the natural-minded parent. I avoid giving my children food with additives such as artificial food dyes and high fructose corn syrup all year long. While I don’t have a problem with sweets in general, I certainly don’t want my children to consume candy that contains unnatural ingredients and refined sugar.
Trick-or-treating is discussed each year on the natural parenting boards. Some parents let their children trick-or-treat as usual, pulling out the “bad” stuff and replacing it with more natural alternatives like organic chocolate and raisins. Others actually make a trade with the child for the candy and offer a new toy instead. A few parents take their children on an extra special family outing and skip it altogether. My husband and I have fond memories of trick-or-treating, so we allow it but trade as necessary when we get home. I explain to my son that certain candies have additives in them that aren’t good for him, and I replace those with similar items that are made with natural ingredients.
In our case, it is particularly important to make the exchange since we follow the Feingold Diet. Consuming artificial food dyes or high fructose corn syrup can affect my son’s behavior for days, so that’s a chance I’m not willing to take. However, I think I’d still trade out his candy even if his behavior was unaffected by these ingredients because I just don’t believe they’re good for growing bodies. Therefore, I plan to buy natural gummy worms as well as organic milk chocolate to pass out to the children who visit our home on Halloween. They may not recognize the brands, but I know they’ll enjoy the candy!
I hope to start a new tradition for our family this year by making organic spiced apple cider as well as homemade roasted pumpkin seeds. Normally, we just toss the seeds, but visiting Earthy Family’s Halloween Page has inspired me to rinse, dry, and bake them with the kids. I think we might also try the Devil’s Food Spider Cupcakes from the Wild Oats website. They look like a lot of fun.
If you’re planning to provide your children with natural treats this year, now is the time to plan and order online. Your local health food store may also have some good alternatives to conventional sweets, but you‘d better get there soon since supplies may be limited. Please check the related links for more ways to help your children have a blast this year without exposing them to additives and refined sugar. Happy Halloween!
Do you have any special tips or websites related to Halloween that you’d like to recommend? Do you know of any local “green” Halloween events or Fall Festivals? Please share!
Our family is different. We eat a mostly organic, whole foods diet. We use cloth diapers, nontoxic cleansers, and try to minimize our impact on the environment. While I’m comfortable with being different from the typical modern family, I must admit it is exhausting. Always being the “oddballs” in our family as well as in our neighborhood sometimes leaves me feeling frustrated. While we’ve been lucky enough to find like-minded families in our area, it sure would be wonderful to actually live in a neighborhood filled with others who are interested in eco-friendly living. While preparing for our upcoming move, I read about intentional communities like the 
Melita Franzen
