This weekend Portland had wonderful weather, and at our house, we spent most of the weekend outside prepping and planting our garden.
Mama Gone Green is a blog dedicated to raising happy children and reducing our impact on the Earth. My name is Taryn and I am the mother of 2 young kids and an environmental studies instructor at a community college in Portland, Oregon. Please join me as I journey through life as a mama, teacher, knitter, photographer, gardener, and environmentalist!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Weekend of Gardening
This weekend Portland had wonderful weather, and at our house, we spent most of the weekend outside prepping and planting our garden.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Some Recent Creations...
I have not been in much of a crafty mood in recent weeks, but in the past few days my creativity has rekindled and I have motivated to do a bit of crafting. I made a knitted gnome baby hat and a couple of freezer paper stenciled onsies for a baby who is due to arrive any day now. I also managed to whip out a freezer paper stencil for Finn who gets very excited about craft days. Unfortunately, as I was just about to start painting these, I left the room for one quick moment, and, by the time I had returned, Finn had unscrewed the top of one of the bottle of fabric paint and had dumped it all over himself and the floor. I now know that fabric paint does wash out of hair and off bamboo floors; it does not, however, wash out of fabric. A sad day for Finn's pants, and a good lesson learned by mom.. never trust a 2 year old alone with fabric paint. I suppose I could have figured that out without experiencing it, but I know that I will never chance it again! Pin It Now!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Food Matters: A Review
Over the weekend I watched the film Food Matters. It was OK and held my attention, but I feel like the information could have been better organized and presented in a more exciting way. Many of the topics were brushed over and ideas weren't as fully explained as I had hoped. It made me wonder if everything they were saying had scientific information to back it up, or if some information was not yet fact. I guess with the release of Food Inc., the bar was set in terms of organized information presented in a meaningful way.... and Food Matters fell below that bar. However, there was some good information in there, including some topics that I hope to delve into further with my own research.
The film starts out talking about the importance of including raw food in your diet (which I already knew), saying that if every time you eat your meal contains less than 51% raw food, your body with have an immune reaction and basically attacks itself (which I had never heard of). I suppose it can't hurt to eat more raw, and this is one of those topics I want to look into more. The film also talked about the politicization of the pharmaceutical industry and how a healthy diet has been shown to cure even terminal cases of cancer. It also discusses (briefly) how amalgam fillings act as a poison on our bodies (this I have already done my own research into, as I have several amalgam fillings in my mouth and have already removed quite a few). Another interesting point the film brings up is how vitamins are truly important to our diet. Many doctors will tell you not to bother and I have talked to wastewater treatment plant workers that say you can see piles of vitamin pills in the sewage that appear not to have been broken don whatsoever. I do take vitamins, but have always been a bit skeptical about how much of them we actually absorb. This film swears by their use however, and even stresses the idea that taking extremely high doses of certain vitamins can cure serious illnesses, including depression.
So, some interesting stuff in this film, but again, I felt like it could have used an overhaul. Still worth the watch though if you are concerned with your health and what you eat! You can watch the trailer here. Pin It Now!
The film starts out talking about the importance of including raw food in your diet (which I already knew), saying that if every time you eat your meal contains less than 51% raw food, your body with have an immune reaction and basically attacks itself (which I had never heard of). I suppose it can't hurt to eat more raw, and this is one of those topics I want to look into more. The film also talked about the politicization of the pharmaceutical industry and how a healthy diet has been shown to cure even terminal cases of cancer. It also discusses (briefly) how amalgam fillings act as a poison on our bodies (this I have already done my own research into, as I have several amalgam fillings in my mouth and have already removed quite a few). Another interesting point the film brings up is how vitamins are truly important to our diet. Many doctors will tell you not to bother and I have talked to wastewater treatment plant workers that say you can see piles of vitamin pills in the sewage that appear not to have been broken don whatsoever. I do take vitamins, but have always been a bit skeptical about how much of them we actually absorb. This film swears by their use however, and even stresses the idea that taking extremely high doses of certain vitamins can cure serious illnesses, including depression.
So, some interesting stuff in this film, but again, I felt like it could have used an overhaul. Still worth the watch though if you are concerned with your health and what you eat! You can watch the trailer here. Pin It Now!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
We're Goin' On a Slug Hunt!
One of the best benefits of our ducks is that they actually love to eat slugs. Ewww. But, I find it both intriguing and magical that they can take a food source that almost nothing else would eat (certainly not me!) and turn it into a food source for me- eggs! (well, eventually at least... our ducks have another couple months before they start laying eggs, and we are starting to believe that 2 of our 3 females are actually males. humph.) But, the slug eating is still really cool... a completely non-toxic way to manage our garden pests (we have already had offers from the neighbors to bring slugs from their yard over.. and the answer is yes! ). Plus, slug-hunting is a great way to bond with a toddler. Anything that is gross and slimy and that gets eaten alive by ducks just has to be cool, right? Pin It Now!
Monday, May 10, 2010
A Mother's Day Adventure
Yesterday, my family treated me to a wonderful Mother's Day Adventure. I thought I would share some of it here.
I woke up to my son giving me a hand-painted pencil holder
Then we finished off the day with a trip to Cirque de Soleil.
What a wonderful day to be a mama!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Happy Mother's Day!

Today I am feeling blessed to have such a wonderful family and such a curious little boy to explore the world with!
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