If You Can Grow Kids, You Can Grow Anything

"So, this is where garlic bread comes from?"

I spent this morning digging up garlic bulbs with my delighted 5-year-old daughter. She shouted every time she brought one out of the earth and into the scorching July sun. We stopped at 50 bulbs; both of us hot, dirty and reeking of garlic. It was fun for both of us, but also profound. She loves garlic bread, but never would have imagined this delicious treat could come from under the dirt!

Growing vegetables is more than a hobby for me. Oh sure, I’m geeky enough to take pictures of my garden and post them on Facebook. But farming is part of my past, present and future. I’m the granddaughter of farmers on both sides of my family and have always known where food comes from – both animal and vegetable. For me, growing food is an essential life skill for my children – and if my dreams come true someday – for all children. Just as I teach my girls the alphabet, I also show them how to plant seeds, water and mulch them, and most importantly, how to harvest and prepare the food. What they get from the process is part science lesson, part cooking lesson and part spiritual awakening. Children begin to see the cycle of life in gardening, but issues of life and death are a lot less scary when they are dealing with plants. Farming also raises the consciousness of children about their food supply. At the age of four, our daughter refused to eat pork when she found out it came from pigs, her favorite animal. This lasted for an entire year with our full support.

MOM DARE: Have you ever gardened for yourself or your children? If so, did you really include them or did you ask them to step aside to protect your plants? Perhaps you could try harder to let them do hands-on work. Don’t criticize when they blast your tomato plants with a hose instead of watering around the base. Or when they gleefully dig up more carrots than you can eat in a month. Share them with friends and applaud your child’s interest. I still cringe a little when my children bring me a handful of freshly picked flowers from my gardens, but someday I will miss this simple joy. Never had a garden? Now is the time to grow one thing with your children. Even apartment dwellers have abundant choices when it comes to growing vegetables and fruit. This isn’t a gardening blog, so I’ll let you do your own research on how to do this. At the very least, don’t just take your children to the farmer’s market, take them to an actual farm. Let them walk the rows, pick some berries and ask questions. Not only will this start a process of educating your children about life, ecosystems and healthy choices; but you will create joyful memories to carry with you for the rest of your lives.

Caring for Cloth Diapers in your HE Washing Machine

The ultimate cloth diaper pail: a stainless steel trash can with XL wet bag.

Ah, the front loading high-efficiency washing machine… nothing marked me as a MOM quite like this purchase. I had spent the first 10 years of marriage with a handed down washer with two settings: regular and delicate. While the new steam washing machine has many benefits over my old one, getting cloth diapers clean proved to be a challenge. After a lot of trial and error, I’ve come up with the solution that works for us.

The modified wet pail method: Most cloth diaper manufacturers advise against a wet pail (soaking dirty diapers in water until wash day). The wet pail wears down the waterproof fabric more quickly than tossing the dirty duds in a pail or laundry basket. However, high efficiency (HE) washers use very little water and over a short amount of time you’ll notice the distinct smell of ammonia lingering in the diapers. I never had this problem in the old top-load machine that sloshed the clothes around in gallons of water. I’ve tried using a soak cycle first, then running the hot wash/cold rinse cycle with limited results. I’ve also used the steam cycle, which works wonders on removing stains, but the smells are still noticeable. The best solution I’ve found is to simply rinse and wring the diapers out in the sink or tub either when you change them or at the end of the day, then toss them in a wet bag until you’re ready to wash. It’s a faster method than running an extra soak cycle, reduces any odor coming from the diaper pail and easily eliminates the ammonia smell.

Steam cycle or sanitize setting: I’m lucky enough to have the steam washer model and use this option frequently. Like I mentioned, it eliminates stains quite well, but still uses very little water and does not thoroughly rinse out the thick cloth diapers. And the sanitize setting is amazing at cleaning soiled sheets, sanitizing plush toys and prefolds or doublers with solids (okay, poop). The problem is that the heat setting is so high that it will break down the fabric on diaper covers and all-in-one or hybrid diapers. (Like BumGenius, Rumparooz or Bumkins.) So, if you’re spending the money on premium all-in-one diapers or diaper covers, skip the sanitize setting to preserve your investment.

Using the right detergent: This is still an ongoing experiment for us. My third daughter is sensitive to Tide and I recently realized most cloth diaper makers advise against Oxi-Clean and any free and clear detergents. I was using a vegetable-based detergent from Whole Foods that worked well, but with hard water it turns white clothes a light gray over time. So, I’m back to traditional grocery store detergents formulated for an HE machine. I’ve found one that does not irritate my daughter’s skin, but am not happy that it’s not as eco-friendly. Oh, and a word about vinegar. I use vinegar for practically everything (from killing weeds to cleaning counter tops to making cucumber salad) so I have used it often in the wash. Unfortunately, it really breaks down the fibers in your clothes and you will begin to notice  that vinegar makes your washed items scratchy and worn out.

All in all, I still believe that cloth diapers are the easiest diapering solution and without a doubt the most economical. I’ve used them on three children and washing them in an HE machine goes one step further in reducing our eco footprint. What methods have you developed to make cloth diaper care work best for you? Did you find an HE machine to be better or worse (than a top-loader) for this task?

Changing your world one diaper at a time.

Sometime around the third or fourth week after having a baby, you come to the realization that once foreign tasks like changing a diaper can now be done one-handed and in the dark. Your reality has certainly shifted.

Not your grandmother's cloth diaper. Shown is the BumGenius 3.0.

So, what choices are you making in this new reality? Are you choosing only the quickest, most convenient options when it comes to food, entertainment and the ever-present diapers? Now imagine if you were to use just ONE cloth diaper a day for one baby. That’s about 1,000 diapers per child that would stay out of the trash. There are 4 million babies born in the U.S. each year. Imagine now that ONE cloth diaper a day for each baby would eliminate 4,000,000,000 disposable diapers; 4 BILLION in case you’re struggling with all those zeros. (And if cost is on your mind: In 2010, the average cost per disposable diaper in the U.S. is $0.36.) Think about it.

MOM DARE: Your challenge this week, if you haven’t tried them already, is to buy or use a cloth diaper. Your options are endless, just do a quick search online if you’re completely in the dark on this subject. An “all-in-one” (AIO) is made just like a disposable and runs between $15 and $20 a piece. These are your most expensive option, so if you’re thinking of buying a new baby gift for someone, this is what to buy. If the thought of washing diapers wrinkles your nose, I can assure you that life will present you with far greater challenges over the next few years. It’s not a hippie thing. It’s not a poor person thing. It’s just another opportunity for you to make a better choice for this world.

To subscribe to my Weekly Bit of Baby Love and see if you’re ready to take on other Mom Dares, sign up online at www.babylovecarebook.com/weeklybit.htm

p.s. If you really need some help with this one, comment with your cloth diapering questions. I’ll be more than happy to help you out with this. I have cloth-diapered three children, so I believe I’ve heard (or uttered) nearly every excuse there is on the subject.