H is for Hemp

H is for what? I know, I know, you're wondering why in the heck I'd want to talk about hemp, which is precisely why I chose this topic. And if you will bear with me, you'll see! 

Hemp often gets a bad rep because people confuse it with marijuana. Hemp, however, is not psychoactive (meaning it will not get you high). Hemp is a quite useful plant that has been used for at least 8000 years! Not only can the fibers in the stalks be used similarly to cotton, but hemp seed is very nutritious. Hemp is also the most sustainable bio fuel and can be used to make plastics.

Hemp can also be used to make paper. It produces more pulp per acre than trees and is more easily sustainable. Paper products made from hemp have also been said to be more durable and can be recycled more times. 

Did you know that hemp is naturally resistant to most insects and is therefore very easy to grow organically? Hemp also suppresses weeds, all on its own, without the help of herbicides. 

Are we starting to see why hemp is kinda cool? And why environmentalists champion it's use? There are more than 25000 documented uses for hemp! 

A few hemp products that I love:

• Straw covers for carrying your glass straw in a pocket, purse, or backpack. You can buy these (and the straws) at www.GlassDharma.com.
• At www.Hempys.com, you can find a new hemp purse for yourself and some hemp board shorts for him!

Do you own any hemp products or have links to some items you love?

F is for Food

Food...BIG subject. I could write a book I feel so strongly about many issues involving food. Don't worry! Not tonight and not here! This will be brief!

About a year ago, I started making more effort to eat healthier and to know more about what I eat, not just me but my family too. I've made a ton of changes since then and learned so much. I've also lost about thirty pounds in that time without being hungry! We rarely eat corn now, we buy locally grown, organic vegetables and free-range natural meat. I have given up pasta and rice. I buy local raw milk from grass fed cows. I could go on. I won't go into all of the whys in this post - after all I promised not to write a book tonight. I'll list a few links at the bottom of this post if you want to learn more.

I think we can all agree, however, that a diet of "real food" only is healthier than a diet of highly processed foods like potato chips, crackers, frozen dinners and the like. In January, I participated in the 7 Day Real Food Challenge from Holistic Mama. I got a 7 day menu plan, complete with recipes for everything on the menu and shopping list. My family and I agreed to do the Challenge together and it was a great experience! We were able to give up some of those highly processed foods that were remaining in our diet. In fact, separating our food into what was allowed and not allowed during the challenge, we realized how many unhealthy foods were still in our kitchen.


Holistic Mama is bringing back the 7 Day Real Food Challenge at the end of April! I'm so excited! I will be posting details since this time I am a contributing blogger, but you can head over to read about the challenge now by clicking here. Hope you'll join us when sign-ups open soon!

For more info on why we've made so many changes to our diet, try some of these links:

http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2009/
http://www.localharvest.org/buylocal.jsp
http://www.fixfood.org/
http://www.mamamakingchanges.com/2012/04/new-facts-draw-your-own-conclusions.html
http://robertkennerfilms.com/food_inc_return.html
http://www.transferofhealth.com/healthy-eating/why-eat-healthy/corn-facts/
http://www.mamamakingchanges.com/2012/07/summer-blog-challenge-day-49.html
http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking-101/resources/grass-fed-beef-grain-fed-beef-00412000070712/
http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2007/05/the-difficult-lives-and-deaths-of-factory-farmed-chickens/
http://worldtruth.tv/how-monsanto-big-ag-are-killing-us-planet-earth/
http://theholisticmama.com/store-7/?ap_id=lrbroach1973




Click here for a full list of my posts and a list of participating blogs in the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

A is for Arlee

Click here for a full list of my posts and a list of participating blogs in the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

For the first day of the A to Z Challenge, I want to recognize and thank Arlee Bird, founder of this event and a wonderfully prolific blogger. He writes Tossing It Out, Wrote by Rote, A Few Words, and A Faraway View. Of course, you can also find him at www.a-to-zchallenge.com! 

Click on the name of any one of his sites above and you will be redirected to it. I wanted to make it easy for you to find him. If you like what you see (and I know you will love at least one of his blogs!), please be sure to leave him a comment! I hope he finds himself wondering where in the world all the extra traffic came from today!

I'd also like to thank all of the A to Z Challenge co-hosts:

The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers)

Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)

Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)

Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)

Life is Good (Tina Downey)

Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)

Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)

The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)

The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)

Leave it to Livia (Livia Peterson)

No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)

Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp)

Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

The Challenge also has a Facebook page, email address 2012azinfo@gmail.com, and Twitter hashtag  #AtoZChallenge. 

A to Z Challenge 2013

Thanks for checking out the A to Z Challenge! Here's how it works: 

Each day corresponds with a letter of the alphabet. My post for that day must correspond with the letter of the day. On the schedule below you will see all of the letters on their scheduled dates. I will post a clickable link beside the day on the schedule each time a post is completed, making it easy for you to find them. 

Below the schedule, at the bottom of this post, is a list of links to all of the participating blogs. Please visit some or all of them. How many things can you learn about the start with the same letter each day?

Wish me luck! This should be fun!

A to Z: 2013 Challenge Schedule and Links to Posts

Week One:

April 01, Monday - Letter "A" - A is for Arlee

April 02, Tuesday - Letter "B" - B is for Bags

April 03, Wednesday - Letter "C" - C is for Climate

April 04, Thursday - Letter "D" - D is for Do-It-Yourself

April 05, Friday - Letter "E" - E is for Earth Day

April 06, Saturday - Letter "F" - F is for Food

Week Two:

April 07, Sunday - BREAK

April 08, Monday - Letter "G" - G is for GMO

April 09, Tuesday - Letter "H" - H is for Hemp

April 10, Wednesday - Letter "I" - I is for Insect

April 11, Thursday - Letter "J" - J is for Java

April 12, Friday - Letter "K" - K is for Kansas

April 13, Saturday - Letter "L" - L is for Light

Week Three:

April 14, Sunday - BREAK

April 15, Monday - Letter "M" - M is for Music

April 16, Tuesday - Letter "N" - N is for Novel

April 17, Wednesday - Letter "O" - O is for Opera

April 18, Thursday - Letter "P" - P is for People

April 19, Friday - Letter "Q" - Q is for Quiet

April 20, Saturday - Letter "R" - R is for Roasts & Rivers

Week Four:

April 21, Sunday - BREAK

April 22, Monday - Letter "S" - S is for Sugar

April 23, Tuesday - Letter "T" - T is for TheUselessWeb

April 24, Wednesday - Letter "U" - U is for Unusual

April 25, Thursday - Letter "V" - V is for Vegetables

April 26, Friday - Letter "W" - W is for What I Wish I Knew Then

April 27, Saturday - Letter "X" - X is for Xylitol

Week Five:

April 28, Sunday - BREAK

April 29, Monday - Letter "Y" - Y is for Yellow

April 30, Tuesday - Letter "Z"

A to Z Blog Challenge

In April 2013, Mama Making Changes will be participating in the A to Z Blog Challenge. I love challenges because they hold me accountable for posting daily, which is something that I tend to plan but not always do. 

In the A to Z Challenge, participants' post titles will start with the letter of the day every day except Sunday. Participating bloggers are also asked to visit and comment on at least 5 other blogs on the linky each day, starting with the blog that is listed after your own. 

The best part of this challenge is that participating blogs should see a huge increase in activity! This has been referred to as a "blog hop on steroids" because there are so many participants! 

Sign-ups are open now so click here to find out more or to sign up. I'm excited and ready to begin!