Gift-giving lists are not my usual thing, but you’ll love the unique gems on this one. These are incredible treasures I’ve found over the years for my boys as they’ve grown up. I’ve always tried to prioritize imagination, playfulness, fun, and quality materials for longevity and aesthetics. Many of these companies are smaller scaler, family-owned, or are proud of being ‘Made in the USA;’ plan accordingly because they may need human time to arrive (as opposed to Prime time).

At our house, the squash seeds are even more popular than the pretty orange vegetables; the kids wolf them down while waiting for dinner. Roasted squash seeds are super easy to make, so when squash and pumpkins begin to debut in your Autumn market, let the fun begin! The fresher and the smaller the seeds, the tastier they are to eat…..

As a midwife, I’ve spent considerable amount of time with young parents to-be in their springtime season. In this hopeful chapter, they often expect to birth their baby and mostly get back to their busy lives with a baby in tow. “But babies,” I tell them, “are not on iPhone time.” I teach them that we need to slow down for our babies, and take the time to be with these fresh little humans. Pretty consistently, the mothers who take the time to spend the first few weeks a little more quietly with their babies on their chests, especially with some “skin-to-skin” time, seem to ‘luck out’ more often with calm, bright-eyed babies who pretty comfortably settle into life along side their families....

Elderberries have been used for millennia as both a food and a medicine, and its a wonderful immune booster of the best kind.  It’s particularly useful to enhance winter immunity in cases of fever and respiratory constriction, and has been found to kill the influenza virus and shorten bouts of illness. Here's a simple recipe to make yourself, which is safe for the whole family!

The problem with being a ‘holistic mom’ is that we want to send our grown-up kids out into the world with everything they could possibly need! The best college first aid kit addresses the most common small stuff in a general way and contains familiar, easy-to-use items.

Natural remedies such as therapeutic essential oils, homeopathy, and herbs can offer a gentle correction or rebalancing for the body/mind system before things reach a crisis. Homeopathy is a safe, gentle, and natural therapeutic method that uses highly diluted natural substances to relieve symptoms. The active ingredients in homeopathic medicines are highly dilute properties from plants, animals and minerals that relieve the same symptoms they would cause at full strength (i.e., a micro-dose of coffee bean helps nervousness). Instead of masking symptoms, the medicine sends the body a signal to help it rebalance and heal.

Homeopathy is wonderfully effective remedy approach to those who dread the fireworks’ season, and it’s safe for everyone including infants, elderly, pregnant, those with PTSD, those on anxiety medications, and even pets. Look for the best symptom match, and it’s fine to use more than one. It’s not unusual to have family members, including 4-legged ones, who find fireworks distressing. The noise may be overwhelming to fearful small children or anxious adults, or trigger former military members with PTSD memories. And as a midwife, I’ve often counseled pregnant women to ‘let their babies know’ what to expect if they are attending a fireworks event, so they will be less alarmed by the explosive noises.

“The imitative nature of the baby and young child is so obvious and so all-pervasive that we tend to be blind to it, unaware of its implications for parenting,” opens a 1987 Mothering Magazine article by author Rahima Baldwin. “Your child learns everything through imitation - walking, talking, toilet training, tying shoes, endless tasks. And imitation manifest in expressions and gestures, as when we see and hear ourselves in our children’s play. “ I’d add that while parenting is now extremely child-centered, none of these actions are learned better from a screen or app. “The most effective way to correctly behavior in the young child is to provide an example in movement rather than to reason it out….”

My watch stopped. At just the right time.

Sometimes we ask, “What would you do if you knew time was limited?” I’m asking, “HOW would we do time?” With even an extra deep breath or two, our brainwaves start to slow down or become synchronized. Moving towards this relaxed state of mind (the opposite of fight/flight/freeze), means being fully in the present moment becomes more possible. And we can experience the same busy day with a greater sense of calm and clarity. Even when getting the kids ready for school.