Mother’s Day is approaching once again, and I want to take this opportunity to ask for something from you.  I don’t want flowers.  I don’t need a card.  A day at the spa, a pedicure, breakfast in bed – those aren’t me.  Even at just two years old, I think you are wise enough to know that those things just aren’t your mommy.

I want something from you that’s much bigger.  Much greater.  Much more important.

But don’t worry – you’ve got time to work on it.

I want you to promise me that, as you grow up, above all else you are going to do everything you can to just be you.

When you get into middle school and high school, you’re going to have a lot of different people influencing you.  I’m not talking about your peers – I’m actually not so worried about the gangs, the drugs, the bullies.  We’ll work through those together.  You have a great head on your little shoulders.  I’m worried about the far more subtle influences – the ones that seem harmless but that can take you on a long, long journey far from yourself.  People who will tell you what you should do, even when what you should do falls far from who you are.

A lot of people are going to say you should go to college.  You should get a degree in a subject that will ensure a good job.  You should drive a sensible car.  You should look forward to working up the career ladder, to putting in long hours at the office, to earning two weeks of vacation per year, to 9-5 spent in a cubicle with 30 minutes for lunch and a good pension plan.  You should meet a nice girl and settle down.

Those are great plans, if that’s what your heart is telling you to do.  But what if your heart compels you to paint?  To sculpt?  To sing?  Those are far less certain paths than, say, software engineering.  What if you fall in love with farming?  What if you’d rather do hard work with your hands and your back?  What if you want to delay college in order to spend a season through-hiking the Appalachian Trail?  What if your twenty-fifth birthday rolls around and you still don’t have all the answers?

By the time you have to face these questions, you’ll be well on your way to being a good, good man.  You won’t need me to tell you what to do – at some point, that’s no longer included in mommy’s job description.  But I hope, I truly, truly hope, that along the way I’ll have given you the tools to be confident enough to know that, even if the world says you should be doing one thing, that your heart gets a say in the matter, too.  And I’m confident you’ll make the right decision for you.

What I’m saying is that I want you to promise me that you’ll define your own happiness so you can find your own happiness.

I love you so much.

xxooxxoo

Step one:  put the toddler to bed in his room.  Books are read, cheeks are kissed.  Boy is tucked in.  All is well.

Step two:  put on sassy outfit for the husband.  Appreciative comments are exchanged.  Kisses and snuggles are swapped.  All is well.

Step three:  venture upstairs to our room for the night.  Discover a line of trains at the foot of the bed, and a little pair of socked feet sticking out from under our quilt.

**insert sound of record skipping**

Sigh.  This is not where I tucked him in!

Step four:  put away the sassy outfit for another night.  Put on sweats and a t-shirt.  Return downstairs for a night of television and Facebook.

Step five:  have a good laugh.  Not exactly what we had planned for the night, but darn it, that’s cute.

Our pre-garden planning is in full swing at the Monkey Butt household.  Our tomato plants have been growing tall under our grow lights.  The garden beds are being readied and the seeds have been selected.  All we are waiting for is the danger of frost to pass us by (a May freeze here in Wisconsin surely wouldn’t be surprising).  Additionally, one of my favorite days of the year is coming up on Saturday:  the opening of our local farmer’s market.

With the enlarged garden this year and our renewed dedication to self-reliance and local eating, we’ve decided to challenge ourselves this summer to avoid the grocery store as much as possible.  With careful tending and a certain degree of luck, our

The chicks are growing up!

garden will take care of a lot of our needs.  While my family is far from vegetarian, I have plenty of vegetarian recipes that we all love.  The farmer’s market will provide us with meat (and eggs until the chickens are big enough to lay).  Additionally, now that Jack is a little older, I hope that we can incorporate some fishing trips into our weekends, and this is a family that loves fish.  Plus, we’ve been building up a decent store of dry goods in our home too, so we have some good staples to keep us going.

All that said, we can’t totally forego the grocery.  We do not drink cow’s milk, so alternatives like coconut milk and almond milk are necessary and can only be found at the grocery.  Certain fruits just aren’t feasible here (oranges, for example) so we’ll have to rely on the grocery store for those.  But I think we can make a big, big dent in our grocery bill and our grocery reliance by focusing on eating very locally.

I’ll post some updates on this challenge as the summer progresses, along with reports on how the garden is doing and what we’ve learned from our mistakes this year (mistakes are always the best teachers, aren’t they?).

So…any advice?  Thoughts?  Words of wisdom or encouragement?

Jack has a little public service announcement for all of his fellow babies and toddlers:

Did you know that a diaper

can also be used

to store toys?

Give it a try!  Your mom will be so impressed when she finds Thomas the Train during your next diaper change!

It is that time of year again – even the best kept lawns are sporting hundreds of sunny little spots, much to the great annoyance of the Type-A lawn perfectionists.  Fortunately, I’m not one of them:  I love dandelions.  Well, maybe “love” is a bit of a strong word.  More accurately, I’ve realized that I will never win the dandelion war in our lawn, so instead I’ve decided to enjoy them.

Ten Reasons to Love Dandelions

1.  Dandelions greens are great additions to a salad.  Pick dandelion greens when they are small and tender and add a few to your salad. Their slightly bitter taste adds a lot of depth to a standard iceberg lettuce salad, and the benefits of dandelion greens are hard to overstate: rich in vitamins, plus they are a natural diuretic.  Just be careful where you decide to harvest:  you don’t want to pick your dandelions anywhere that pesticides may have been applied.  If you don’t use any chemicals on your lawn, that’s your best bet.

2.  They will keep a toddler busy for a long, long time.  Hand him a bowl and tell him to pick dandelions.  It doesn’t get old – they love the sunny little yellow puffs, they enjoy pulling and tearing the greens, and they adore anything that involves putting stuff into containers.

3.  Dandelion honey is a nice, summery way to sweeten iced tea.  Pick a nice big bunch of dandelion flowers (12 cups is a good number) and boil for about an hour in six cups of water.  Add a whole, chopped lemon for extra flavor.  Let the mixture sit overnight, and then strain out the dandelion and lemon using cheesecloth.  Simmer the remaining liquid with enough sugar to make a simple syrup.  Allow it to bubble nicely, but take care not to burn it as it will carmelize easily.  When cooled, it takes on a honeylike consistency.  Eat some on toast, use it to sweeten some sun tea, or add it to granola for a tasty treat.

4.  Dandelion necklaces.  Another fun kid-craft:  remove the flower from a dandelion stem and you’ll notice that the stem is a hollow tube with one end narrower than the other.  Insert the narrow end into the larger end to form a link.

5.  Dandelion wine.  I’ll let you Google your own recipes for this, but it is a wine easily made in small batches without any of the usual winemaking equipment (I made mine in mason jars).  Sweet and smooth, it is one of my favorite wines.

6.  Fried dandelion greens.  I’ll admit, I haven’t tried this yet but I think it would work.  One of my family’s favorite side dishes is fried spinach, but I think dandelion greens would be a fine substitute:  cut up and fry up two or three pieces of turkey bacon.  Add a generous handful of greens and fry until tender.  Add a tiny sprinkling of sea salt and some coarse ground pepper to season.

7.  The butter test.  ”Do you like butter?”  Tell your little one that if they like butter, their chin will turn yellow if you rub a dandelion on it.  My chin always turned yellow, so I must love butter.  Silly, but sweet.

8.  Dandelion coffee/dandelion tea.  This is another one on my to-do list.  Dry, chop and then roast dandelion roots.  Grind them, and they are said to be nearly identical in appearance to coffee.  Here are some instructions that I plan on following when I try making dandelion coffee.

9.  Wish making, of course.  When the dandelion heads turn white, make a wish and try to blow all of the seeds from the dandelion.  If you blow all of them off, your wish will come true.

10.  They are nature’s way of telling you when to mow your lawn.  When your lawn has more dandelions than the house on either side of you, it is time to mow.  At least, that’s how it works in our house.

Dandelions – love them, or hate them?  Do you have any useful or fun ideas for dandelions?

How cool is this?

I woke up one morning to a treasure map drawn by my husband.

Next to it was a napkin, spoon and bag:

Aww.  And what did the treasure map lead to?  A nice helping of my husband’s homemade strawberry shortcake, all wrapped up in a to-go container so I could enjoy it at work.

Love it.  What a great way to start the day!

*******
Welcome to the Earth Day Blog Carnival
This post is part of the 2012 Earth Day Blog Carnival hosted by Child of the Nature Isle and Monkey Butt Junction. Each participant has shared their practices and insights of earth friendly, environmentally conscious, eco-living. This carnival is our way to share positive information and inspiration that can create healing for our planet. Please read to the end of this post to find a list of links to the other carnival participants. Happy Earth Day!

***

For the 2011 Earth Day Blog Carnival I wrote about the “green sheen” – corporations adopting green language not out of a love of the environment or a respect for our resources but rather as a marketing angle by using meaningless labels to make their products or services appear to be eco-conscious.

It looks like corporations aren’t alone – some studies have shown that individuals also engage in a little eco-dishonesty: people tend to make more eco-friendly decisions when they believe that they can be seen making eco-friendly decisions.

Researchers Steven Sexton and Alison Sexton have written about what they have termed “conspicuous conservationism:”  the act of engaging in ecologically conscious behavior to gain esteem or social status.   One particularly illustrative example of conspicuous conservationism is installing solar panels on the street-facing side of one’s house, even if that side is more shaded. Obviously the solar panels will better serve the home on the sunnier side of the street, but then who would know about them?

The Sextons’ study also accounts for the popularity of the Prius hybrid car.  Honda, Nissan and Ford all sell hybrids, but none of theirs reach the popularity of the Prius even though they offer comparable benefits in terms of gas mileage and carbon footprint.  So why is the Prius the big winner?  The Sextons theorize that the Prius’ distinctive design is to blame:  visually, the hybrid Civic, for example, looks like a regular Civic.  The casual onlooker probably won’t notice that the driver is driving a hybrid unless he looks very closely.  The Prius is far more obvious – the driver is making a statement by his vehicle choice. People want others to notice their eco-conscious choices.

I know I’m guilty of conspicuous conservationism myself.  Here’s my own crunchy confession:  when I forget my reusable grocery bags at Trader Joe’s, I’ll buy a new one.  It isn’t that I need yet another reusable bag.  I just feel better walking out of Trader Joe’s with a reusable bag, particularly if there are other people in line with reusable bags.  Vain?  Maybe a little. But is it such a bad thing?

I would say no:  regardless of people’s motives, conservation is conservation.  Every eco-friendly decision is a step in the right direction.  While the term “peer pressure” typically has negative connotations, positive peer pressure can go a long way towards pushing people towards good decisions.  So if part of your reason for buying local is so that you can sport that cute organic cotton T-shirt that says “I Buy Local,” go for it.  Conspicuous conservationism is an interesting concept, and one that I’m noticing more and more in my own actions.

Further reading:

Freakonomics - Conspicuous Conservation and the Prius Effect

Steven and Amanda Sexton’s Paper

Thank you for stopping by the 2012 Earth Day Blog Carnival! Please relax and take time to read these other great eco-living posts:

• You are a Child of the Earth – Using the Earth as their classroom, Patti from Canadian Unschool teaches her 4 children their spiritual connection to the Earth and she accepts that loving the Earth can get really, really messy.
• Cutting Out Paper – Jorje of Momma Jorje shares how she went from curiosity and concern to actually cutting out the use of paper towels in her household. She is proud to be “greener” as each Earth Day passes.
• The World is Brown – Debra Ann Elliot of Words are Timeless believes in keeping the Earth green, but because so many people inhabit the Earth it is turning brown because people aren’t doing their part by reducing, reusing, and recycling.
• 7 Child And Eco Friendly Activities To Honor The Earth (Plus Some Environmental Books For Kids) – Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares her favorite books that help children become more aware of the importance of respecting and caring for Mother Earth. In addition, she hosts a guest post outlining seven child and eco friendly activities to honor the earth.
• 5 Ways We Teach Our Children To Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – Valarie at Momma In Progress shares a few tips for encouraging young children to care for the earth.
• Little Changes – Big Results – Meegs at A New Day talks about how sometimes it’s the little decisions and changes that can lead us to find big results, and how she’s baby-stepping her way to a more environmentally conscious lifestyle.
• Inspiring the Next Generation – aNonyMous at at Radical Ramblings hopes to inspire her daughter to live a green and sustainable lifestyle, in the same way she was inspired by her high-school science teacher, and talks about the changes her family are making towards this vision.
• Eco-Friendly Cleansers: Safe For the Environment, Healthy For Every Body – Rebekah at Liberated Family writes about safe and natural alternatives to toxic, household cleaning products..
• Lightening My Footprint with Cloth Nappies (Diapers) – Christine at African Babies Don’t Cry shares the biggest eco-choice she has made so far, and why she is so passionate about it.
• Clutter Free for a Cause – At Living Peacefully with Children Mandy’s penchant for decluttering and simple living cuts down on consumerism, taking less of a tole on the Earth.
• Eco-Parenting: Homemade Bug Spray – Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling shares a homemade bug spray recipe that helps her family to enjoy the natural world while taking precautions against bug bites.
• Let the Scales Fall From My Eyes…Just Not Too Quickly – Kelly at Becoming Crunchy talks about the discomfort of no longer being able to live in denial over how her choices affect the world around her.
• Fostering Love of Earth – Justine at The Lone Home Ranger instills a love of nature in her daughters by embarking on their first backyard vegetable garden together.
• Being in Nature – Carrie at Love Notes Mama knows that just being in nature is more than enough.
• 5 Ways to Pass Down Environmental Values to Your Children – Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama shares how easy it can be to instill environmental values in your children.
• Viva Portlandia – Amy at Anktangle writes about the place she lives and loves in: Portland. She describes the ways this green city makes it easy for her family to take care of our earth, and also the steps she’s taking to further lessen her family’s environmental impact.
• Conspicuous Conservationism – Jenn at Monkey Butt Junction examines the phenomenon of eco-conscious behavior as a status symbol.
• Time for Radical Sustainability – Terri at Child of the Nature Isle ponders how she can model a truly sustainable lifestyle for her children and raise them in a way their environmental consciousness is as natural as breathing!

A big thank you to all of the 2012 Earth Day Blog Carnival participants!


]]> http://monkeybuttjunction.com/2012/04/22/conspicuous-conservationism/feed/ 12 http://monkeybuttjunction.com/2012/04/16/the-funny-thing-about-blogging/ http://monkeybuttjunction.com/2012/04/16/the-funny-thing-about-blogging/#comments Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:00:03 +0000 Jenn @ Monkey Butt Junction http://monkeybuttjunction.com/?p=1960 Continue reading →]]>



With a blog named “Monkey Butt Junction,” you can imagine that people come to this site via some very, um, interesting search terms and phrases.  It is always fun to see what brings people to the blog:  typically, the posts on toddler busy bags are the most popular ones, as do the babywearing and cloth diapering posts, and even my recap of the Dirty Girl Mud Run gets a lot of search love.

But those aren’t nearly as funny as some of the search terms that Google Analytics shows me.  Here are some of the fun things that brought visitors to the blog this week:

Monkey butt conditioner – to keep your monkey’s butt soft and tangle-free, no doubt.

Monkey deodorant - apparently someone out there has a need for this product?

How do enjoy nature - something about this made me smile.  We are so 2012 when we have to ask Google how to enjoy nature.

My teats – this one is particularly awesome because the search led to the page about that horrible cow book from the library.

You stink like a monkey butt - perhaps you should use some monkey deodorant.  

Hot girls doing mud run – this had to be so disappointing for the person searching.  It was an image search, and brought up my photo of my very muddy shoes after the Dirty Girl Mud Run last summer.  Sorry, dude.

And this one makes me particularly proud:  Rabbits are jerks.  I’ve seen that search phrase lead to my blog before.  I wrote a post on the topic last year, and apparently I must not be alone on that sentiment.

]]> http://monkeybuttjunction.com/2012/04/16/the-funny-thing-about-blogging/feed/ 4 http://monkeybuttjunction.com/2012/04/13/our-peeps-bringing-home-baby-chicks/ http://monkeybuttjunction.com/2012/04/13/our-peeps-bringing-home-baby-chicks/#comments Sat, 14 Apr 2012 02:45:39 +0000 Jenn @ Monkey Butt Junction http://monkeybuttjunction.com/?p=1947 Continue reading →]]>



They have arrived!

Six Buff Orpington chicks!  Jack is totally enthralled with them, and I have to say that I am too.  They are so very sweet.



I love the new chick stage.  They are really, really adorable.



And to say that Jack is in love with his new “little sisters” would be an understatement.



Now when he plays, he moves his toys near their brooder just to be close to them.   He even drew a picture for them today.



I’m so glad that Jack is going to have this valuable experience growing up.  I feared that by living in the city, he’d miss out on things like this.

 

]]> http://monkeybuttjunction.com/2012/04/13/our-peeps-bringing-home-baby-chicks/feed/ 1 http://monkeybuttjunction.com/2012/04/11/so-about-that-half-marathon/ http://monkeybuttjunction.com/2012/04/11/so-about-that-half-marathon/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2012 01:08:03 +0000 Jenn @ Monkey Butt Junction http://monkeybuttjunction.com/?p=1944 Continue reading →]]>



A few weeks ago I wrote On the Eve of my First DNF.  It was the night before the Trailbreaker Half Marathon, and my confidence was shot.  I hadn’t gotten in the long runs that I wanted, and that’s a problem.  To go the distance, you need to train the distance.

So how did my race go?

I inadvertently did pretty damn good.  I cut 16 minutes off of my time from my last half marathon.  I nearly beat my 5K PR pace in the first 5K of the race (which, incidentally, is NOT what you want to do.  I went out way, way too fast.  But it just felt so good to run!).

If the race has been a 10 mile race instead of a 13.1 mile race, I would have totally rocked it.  But at ten miles, not surprisingly, I ran out of steam.  I hadn’t been training the distance, as I mentioned.  And I went out way too fast.   My tempo runs and speedwork were definitely paying off because I could maintain a good pace for a longer period, but at ten miles I was done.  By eleven I was past done.  By twelve…you get the idea.

So, here’s me:



I really did have a good time.  More importantly, I was able to really see how my training had paid off and I was able to see what needs more work.

Next on tap:  I’m thinking about doing The Color Run 5K with Jack in the jogging stroller.  We’ve never raced together, and so I think it is about damn time that we do.  I think he’ll love being covered in colors.  I’m registered for a half marathon in the Wisconsin Dells at the start of June, so that’s my real next focus. I have no dreams of cutting another 16 minutes off my time thought – the Dells course is much hillier, for one thing – but I’m looking forward to it.

 

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