Don't Trash the Junk Mail: Reuse and Repurpose it!

Remember the post we wrote last spring about reusing and repurposing junk mail? (You can find it here if you missed it.) Well we've had our creative thinking hats on since then and have actually come up with 25 ways to reuse and repurpose junk mail!

Ol Billz Stuff Antler Earrings Review and Green Gift Giveaway Hop

Just in time for the holiday gift giving season is the Green Christmas Giveaway Hop! This fun event is hosted by Happy Mothering, Going Green with the Grizls and The Reynolds Mom. Over 50 members of the Green Moms Network have joined in this hop to offer you the chance to win a ton of amazing green gifts this holiday season! At the bottom of this post you'll see a list of all the giveaways to enter as well as a link to enter an amazing green themed grand prize.

Gratitude Sunday

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

Today we are joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots for

G r a t i t u d e  *  S u n d a y 

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.} 

A few of my gratitudes for the last week: 

-A delicious home cooked meal all from scratch for Thanksgiving, including homemade bread chopped up for the stuffing and our pumpkin pie from a pumpkin I steamed and pureed. All the love and energy that went  into our meal made it that much tastier!

-A very sweet moment when I realized our little nugget had fallen asleep in the pack on my back while I was busy cooking our Thanksgiving meal in  the kitchen.

Gratitude Sunday

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

Today we are joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots for

G r a t i t u d e  *  S u n d a y 

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.} 

Women in Hunting Series Part 10: Interview with Corinne

It is hard to believe but this is already the 10th post in our Women in Hunting Series! We've shared about why we hunt, tips on how to get started and shared some other women hunter's stories with you. Remember Kristin's story? Well she comes from quite the family of hunters because her sister Corinne shared her story with us too! Read on to find out more about this amazing mother and huntress:

Tell us a little about yourself.

I am 36 years old, I have 2 daughters and 2 step children. Been married for 10 years. I enjoy reading, watching TV and walking in the woods. I just recently went back to school and became a Licienced Practial Nurse (RNA) and I work 4-5 days a week.  

10 Tips for Healthy Eating During the Holidays

 
Welcome to the November 2012 Natural Living Blog Carnival: Healthy Holiday Meals. This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Natural Living Blog Carnival hosted by Happy Mothering and The Pistachio Project through the Green Moms Network. This month our members have written posts about how they are making healthy choices during their holiday celebrations.

Outdoor Gifts Giveaway Event Grand Prize

The Holiday Season is an exciting time to be a Gift Guru. Happy Mothering, Silent Springs and Montana Solar Creations have teamed up to bring you The Outdoor Gifts Giveaway Event! We have TWO amazing Outdoor gear prize packages to help you be the best gift giver of the season! Each prize package is loaded with gear to help you (or your gift recipient) enjoy spending time outdoors and valued around $500! Below the Grand Prize Entry Form you'll see numerous other outdoor themed giveaways to enter!

Sponsor Spotlight: Liberty Bottleworks Water Bottle Review

I drink a lot of water and always pack a water bottle everywhere I go: errands in town, on a walk, outdoor adventuring and working at my part time social work job in town each week. Because I drink so much water, having a safe and environmentally friendly water bottle is important to me. We have quite the reusable water bottle collection, you could even say I'm a picky connoisseur of water bottles!

I had a chance to review a Liberty Bottleworks Roots water bottle and it is by far my favorite water bottle in my collection. For starters, look at this awesome graphic on the front! 

 

Sponsor Spotlight: Ollie and Stella Ducksday Fleece Jumpsuit Review

Being an avid outdoor adventuring family with a 14 month old toddler means we need high quality kid's gear to keep our little nugget warm and dry when we're outdoors. I was thrilled when I first saw the Ollie and Stella Children's Outfitters website and Ducksday gear specifically for outdoor adventuring kids. They sell the cutest kid's fleece jumpsuits, one piece rain suits, jackets and pants in a variety of funky colors and polka dot prints. I love that Ducksday gear is functional AND fun!

Women in Hunting Series Part 9: Kifaru Handwarmer Review

Throughout the Women in Hunting Series I've shared about my love of hunting here in Montana. Since the weather turns cool early in September, I'm often struggling with cold hands during archery and rifle hunting seasons. I've tried a variety of gloves and mittens but dislike the precious time it requires to take them off  so I can properly handle my gun or bow. When I saw the Kifaru handwarmer, I knew I had to try it out. I was thrilled when Kifaru International generously sent me a handwarmer pouch with neck strap to review!

Plan Toys Tori Rocking Horse Giveaway

Are you looking for a fun, natural toy for a toddler? Plan Toys has an awesome selection of natural, eco-friendly wooden toys and is one of our favorite toy companies. We're featuring one of their amazing toys, Tori the wooden rocking horse, that your toddler will love! Tori isn't like other rocking horses, it is compact and folds up easily to store so you don't have large toys taking over your house!

Gratitude Sunday

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

Today we are joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots for

G r a t i t u d e  *  S u n d a y 

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.} 

Highlights of my gratitudes for the week:

-Going to an evening meeting with some other folks from the community garden to plan for our local market next year. This last year was the first season for the little market but I had so much fun being a vender and visiting with others in our community. We're excited to plan throughout the winter to make it even bigger and more successful next year.

-The elections being over! No more stacks of political junk mail arriving everyday, no more ads everywhere I look, no more people knocking on our door trying to convince us who to vote for and no more being inundated with phone calls about the elections!

Sponsor Spotlight and Review: One Lane Road

When I first saw the Etsy shop One Lane Road, I fell in love. This shop fits our family perfectly with a wide variety of outdoor and homesteading themed screen prints for the whole family including our little nugget. From fish t-shirts to elk tea towels, veggie garden hoodies and backyard chicken "chicken butt" pants they have such fun screen prints!

One Lane Road is a home based business in Oregon. Becky is the creative mind behind One Land Road. She hand draws all the designs and hand prints each item. Becky also makes amazing hand tooled leather creations like leather mason jar keychains!

I was so excited to get a chance to review one of their screen prints. It was really tough to chose but we decided that the Vintage Camper Onesie was our favorite. Isn't this the cutest baby camping shirt?

Hotslings Baby Carrier Giveaway: Out and About Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Out and About Giveaway Hop! Since we're avid adventurers and getting out and about with our little nugget has always been a priority for us, we thought this would be a fun giveaway hop to join in and share with you. This hop is hosted by Crunchy Farm Baby and Crafting in My Closet. They are hosting two grand prize packages on their blogs: Crafting in My Closet is hosting a grand prize pack full of items for babies and Crunchy Farm Baby is hosting a grand prize pack full of toddler items! There are also a number of other blogs hosting individual giveaways so be sure to visit the list at the bottom of this post to hop around and enter them all!

For us a baby carrier is the most useful piece of baby gear to get out and about with our baby so we thought it was a perfect fit to have a giveaway for a baby carrier for this hop! We're giving away one Hotslings Pouch Style Baby Carrier in a size 2 (click here for the Hotslings size chart)

Foodie Friday: Three Bean Venison Chili

Three Bean Venison Chili is one of our favorite meals to eat on a cold winter day. I've been writing about our love of hunting for the last month in our Women in Hunting Series so by now you've figured out that we eat a lot of wild game throughout the year. This recipe has become a staple meal in our household; it is so tasty and the fact that it is healthy and easy to make is a bonus!

Women in Hunting Series Part 8: Omniio Huntress and Hunter Soap Review

We recently had the opportunity to review the Omniio O My Huntress and Hunter goats milk soaps and just in time for our rifle hunting season! When I first saw these soaps for sale online, I knew they were the perfect soaps for us. Why? Not only are they made with all natural goat's milk, they are camouflage and made to use before going out for a hunt!

Gratitude Sunday

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

Today we are joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots for

G r a t i t u d e  *  S u n d a y 

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.} 

My gratitudes for the last week:

-Drinking hot tea everyday with herbs we either grew or wild harvested over the summer. It seems to nourish my body more than teas I buy at the store!

A Little Sunday Potluck 11~4~2012

 I LOVE potlucks! It probably has something to do with my love of good food, but I don't think it gets any better than friends coming together to share their best recipes and ideas. Who doesn't love a table overflowing with a little of this and a little of that? This love of potlucks inspired Carrie from Frugal Foodie Mama to create A Little Sunday Potluck to share the top five blog finds from the last week. So just like a potluck, you'll find a little of everything from tasty recipes to DIY projects, inspiring words or natural parenting tips.

This is my inaugural day co-hosting A Little Sunday Potluck and I'm thrilled to be joining in! Carrie has been hosting this fun weekly round up for a while now but since all of us work from home mamas need a little break every now and then, we decided to team up and co-host so the fun can continue but she gets a little break every other week. So what does this mean for you all? Basically every other week I will host A Little Sunday Potluck and share my top five favorite blog posts from the last week. On the weeks I'm not hosting, Carrie will host on her blog. We'll always share a link to the other blog on the week we're not the main host so we can all share in the potluck fun together! 

So now on to the best part, my top five favorite picks of the week!

Tropical Traditions Organic Coconut Oil Review and Giveaway

 

Welcome to the You Are What you Eat Giveaway Hop hosted by Happy Mothering, Marlie and Me and the Green Mom's Network! This giveaway hop was organized to promote eating healthy, organic food free from genetically engineered ingredients. There are quite a few green mama bloggers giving away healthy food related prizes so make sure to hop around and enter them all!

Over the summer I read a lot of blog posts raving about coconut oil. Everywhere I looked there were coconut oil recipes, reviews, and encouragement to make the switch to coconut oil. We had been using olive oil for years but I was curious about coconut oil. I was thrilled to get the opportunity to review some of Tropical Traditions Gold Label 100% organic Virgin Coconut Oil.