I started reviewing Conscious Boxes last month and fell in love with them if you recall. This month I got their holiday box and I got it at a discounted rate through a group buy place called Organic Soul. It is no longer available there but I will be keeping an eye there for more great deals. You can go to the company site if you want your own holiday box or if you want to order one as a gift.
On to the goodies! Here is a quick view of this jam packed box:
Berryplus – Is it strange that the thing that excited me the most when I opened the box was the circular container of laundry soap. I just couldn’t get over the cute packaging (contained 2 tubes for 2 loads of laundry) and the wonderful smell!It is 95% berry-based and 100% plant-based. The formula sounds awesome but the little microdoses will mean you have to recycle lots of little plastic tubes.
Chimes Orange Ginger Chews – I am not a fan of ginger candy usually (too hot for me) but wow, I really liked these orange/ginger chews. My husband thought he would luck into the whole bag since ginger candy is a fave of his but not this time pal.
Yummy Earth Organic Lollipop – My 5 year old lollipop expert got to test run this one. The verdict? Most delicious. Mom thinks they might be a much better alternative than candy canes this season.
22 Days Daily Mocha Mantra bar - This is a gluten free, soy free (thank you!) vegan protein bar made with raw and organic superfoods. The concept is that it takes 22 days of eating these to break your dependence on some other, inferior, food product. I love soy free protein bars so it was a hit with me for that reason alone but it also tastes really good, although it has a very strong coffee taste that initially put me off. Took a few bites to get used to. ;) Since there is no soy, it is based upon hemp and rice protein.
Sparklehearts Sparkly Body Lotion - We haven’t used this yet but we will! My daughter adores lotions, potions, and sparkly stuff but mom often nixes this stuff due to its toxic ingredients. Yeah, I am a big meanie. Anyway this lotion is petroleum free, paraben free, and phthalate free, and 99.6% natural. It uses natural mica for the sparkles and while I “may” nix that ingredient in a powdered product I feel comfortable allowing it in lotion form for my girlie. We will test out our little sample soon and this may end up in her Christmas stocking if she likes it.
ORAC Green Superfood from Amazing Grass – I already have a long term love affair with Amazing Grass. Anything they make is going to get a thumbs from me. The whole family actually… we heart them. Remember this video?
Mineral Fusion Mineral Body Lotion – We got the waterstone aroma and I am totally feeling as though I have entered some bizarre parallel universe. Between this Conscious Box and the last one I have slathered myself with more lotion than I had in 1 or 2 years combined I think. I kinda like it. And of course I love that it is natural and safe stuff.
drTungs Snap-On Toothbrush Sanitizer - This is a really interesting device. It supposedly releases all natural, anti bacterial vapors to kill germs and safely sanitize your toothbrush between brushings. You are supposed to replace after 60 days and it is also supposed to be 100% biodegradable though the packaging did not share what type of bioplastic it is made of. I will likely save this to use while traveling because we have a Violight to sanitize our toothbrushes and the whole family can use it.
Ostara Organics – Woot! This package had a small artist/mom biz feel to it. I also like the use of Ostara (Easter) in the name… has a pagan, earthy, goddess vibe and my oh my the included soy wax fragrance chunk smells good! The scent is “Colorado Holiday Wassail” I really wish I had a tart warmer so I could use it. May er.. have to buy one and keep this is stock.
Also loved the Lavender Mint Goatmilk Soap in this package.
Eat Cleaner Fruit + Vegetable Wipe - At first I thought these were handy wipes for kids but they are actually wipes for cleaning fruit and veggies before eating. I cannot see us using these but I will drop this one in my farmer’s market bag for when we can’t wait to to get home to sample the goodies.
Sacred Mountain Herbals Champa Vegan Soap – Infused with herbs and herbal tea and it smells delicious! Soaping up with this was a religious experience AND the paper that wraps it is seeded with wildflowers so we can save it and plant it in our garden. How fun is that?!! For pure magic and cleverness this may be my fave product in the box.
Uni-Fresh Cinnamon Air Freshener – This is made by Earth Friendly Products and it contains real cinnamon oils. The smell is yummy of course and it reminds me of the holidays. The timing for this was perfect because I was very sad this week to discover that my Aura Cacia Candy Cane spray was all gone and apparently discontinued.
Resveratrol from Reserveage Organics – Nice size bottle! I have heard some raves about this product but it not something I would have likely sprung for, even if I am “just” starting to get concerned about aging. It uses organic French red-wine grapes and wild crafted natural Polygonum cuspidatum root extract. This potent, rejuvenating blend with increased resveratrol levels, is supposed to maximize health benefits and reserve your youth naturally. Vegetarian and no soy (woot). I’ll give it try. Why not?
Yogi Tea – Got Bedtime and Green tea Kombucha blends. I am not a tea person but I am sure my hubby will drink these.
Justin’s Maple Almond Butter – oooh baby.. this is good. It splashes up a sliced apple for a great pre-workout meal. I cannot eat too much before I swim or run or I will get cramps but I still need fuel. Usually I just eat a small apple with some peanut butter but this product provides a nice change of pace.
Dropwise Aromatherapy Mister in Inspiration - 100% pure essential oil aromatherapy blend. Safe and gentle enough to use on your face. Spray it on your hair, your clothes, your linens, or just around you to cleanse the air and create an ambience. Smells very good!
Can you believe all of that was in this little box? Still lovin this concept…
The following is an interview with small business owner and mom Megan Visser of Baby Swank on Etsy. I love supporting mom based businesses, especially Etsy and/or craft businesses (since I used to own one), and this is a shout out to one of those talented moms. Enjoy and enter the giveaway to!
Tiffany: Tell us a bit about your business & how you got started.
Megan: My name is Meagan Visser & I’m the owner of Baby Swank on Etsy. There I provide fashionable & eco-friendly products for babies & toddlers including OOAK, handmade bibs, cloth baby wipes, & natural skin care products. My shop is a little over 1 year old and it continues to grow daily.
I started my shop after making my OOAK Washcloth Bibs for my own kiddos & loving them…not to mention the fact that I received a lot of complements on them! So I decided to sell & create a small business around them which has worked out great for me since I’m a SAHM!
Tiffany: What all do you offer in your shop?
Megan: Basically I offer my Washcloth Bibs {designs vary by season}, flannel baby wipes, crocheted loofah’s & scrubbies, & an all natural line of skin care products for babies. Like I said, I started with my bibs only & from there I continued to add new product lines. My newest is the skin care line called Baby Swank Naturals & it’s doing really well. Since it’s the holiday’s I also offer gift baskets which combine most of my products as well as gift wrap & direct shipping on gifts.
Tiffany: Tell us a bit more about Baby Swank Naturals.
Megan: I’ve always been careful about what I put on my babies skin & I’ve always been into making things myself, so this just came naturally. The hard part was narrowing down my options & figuring out packaging, descriptions, & photos.
Anyway, most of Baby Swank Naturals revolves around bath-time & diapering. I offer Baby Wash & Shampoo & Herbal Baby Oil that comes in 4 different scents – Lavender Chamomile, Rosemary Mint, Orange Vanilla, & Lemon Peel. I also have Herbal Baby Powder, Herbal Bum Salve & Cream, Herbal Bath Bombs & Herbal Bath Tea…all for babies…all natural…all gentle…all tried & tested. All of my products are infused with actual herbs, not just scented with the essential oils so you’re really getting the benefits of the herbs in the product.
Tiffany: With the holidays right around the corner, do you have any specials going on?
Megan: I offer Facebook fans & my newsletter subscribers a one time discount in my shop that they can use whenever they’d like. Also, all customers get a coupon code good on future orders with every purchase so there are lots of ways to save money on my products!
Tiffany: What’s next for Baby Swank?
Megan: I’m in the process of wanting to branch out a bit more & offer my herbal products for more than babies only. Hopefully at the beginning of 2012, I’ll have things ready to go & there will be some big changes will follow. It’s exciting & I can’t wait to see where it leads.
Giveaway!! Megan is is offering a set of mini bath bombs to one lucky reader. Bath bombs are 100% all natural right down to the coloring used …herbs! No synthetic pigments or mica powders here! Just run your bath water, drop your bath bomb in & watch the fizzing begin. Little one will love seeing these fizzy bath bombs color their bath water.
To win just comment about something that has caught your eye at the Baby Swank Shop . For a second entry “Like” Baby Swank on Facebook and leave a second comment. Good luck!
Neem is a tree in the Mahogany family and all parts of this tree, oil, bark, leaves and fruit, have long been used for medicinal purposes in India. The health benefit claims of Neem range from helping dry skin to treatment of diabetes and certain kinds of cancers. Unfortunately, there have been few scientific studies done on the various components of this tree so there is little scientific evidence to support the health benefit claims of Neem.
However, when you look at the fact that Neem is anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-septic and anti-fungal common sense will tell you that Neem would have certain health benefits as an anti-septic spray helping to fight and prevent infection. The anti-viral and anti-fungus properties make it a good choice to clear up nail fungus. And when used as a skin cream/oil it can ease itchiness, redness and dryness. A good product for itchiness is the Neem based Anti-itch Formula from Daniel’s Promise. We got to use some at the tail end of summer and it seemed to work well for my oldest boy, who is like a bug beacon. I have also been using it with success on dry and itchy winter skin with success.
But, perhaps one of the best health benefits of Neem is it’s use as an insecticide. Unlike most insecticides on the market today that use harmful chemicals Neem uses no harmful chemicals and is perfectly safe to ingest yet it has been proven to be an effective insecticide which means that eating produce treated with neem can be made safer and healthier than ever before. In addition, because Neem is not harmful to animals or to the environment using it as an insecticide protects our ground water and the rest of our environment as well as reducing the chemicals in the soil and the water. The result is not only healthier food to eat, but, healthier water to drink as well.
While it has not yet been proven it is also believed that Neem can modify imbalances that cause diabetes, digest ailments, and some nervous disorders as well as it may be a natural contraceptive. It also works as a natural insect repellent for both adults and children and may help prevent a number of skin disorders. Neem may also prevent plaque.
While most of the evidence supporting the health benefits of Neem is based on centuries of anecdotal evidence it should be understood that this is often the case with any kind of herbal medicine. The fact is, most of the medicinal qualities of Neem were discovered long before modern medicine and for many years modern medicine focused it’s studies on developing synthetic medications that mimicked the characteristics of healing plants rather than study the plants themselves. It has only been in recent year with so many synthetic prescription medications coming under fire for their dangerous side effects that scientists have begun studying the healing plant themselves to determine their benefits.
While Neem may not have all the health benefits that anecdotal evidence proclaims but, there is little doubt that this plant and all it’s parts have many health benefits both for us and for the environment.
A couple weeks ago I wrote about The Winter Blues or more specifically Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and what to do if you suffer during the winter months. One of the things I mentioned that I was doing to combat SAD on my part was to fill the air with negative ions. Quite simply negative ions create positive vibes. Columbia University has done extensive research on these invisible molecules that you typically find near waterfalls, mountains, and beaches. Just think about how the image of those three things effect you. I just think about breathing in the air around a waterfall and I get happy. These places tend to make us euphoric. But why? The studies have lead researchers to believe that negative ions produce biochemical reactions in our blood stream that increases levels of serotonin. A boost in serotonin helps alleviate depression, stress, and it gives us a boost of energy during the day.
So it goes to follow that if you use a negative-ion generator in your home you can benefit from the negative ions and the biochemical reaction they will create inside your body. Negative-ion generators also usually (from what I have seen) tend to be coupled with air purifiers. The air is cleaned of pollutants and allergens and it gets dosed with the happy molecules. I have been using air purifiers to do just that in my own home for well over a month now and have been VERY happy with the results.
I have two of the Permatech Ionizing Air Cleaners by Bionaire. With those we use Aer1 Ready Air Purifiers that get rid of germs and allergens. We have cleaner indoor air, it smells nice and clean in the house, allergens and germs are being filtered out, and optionally you can use the negative ion generator to fill the air with mood boosting negative ions. Typically I let the machine downstairs run for most of the day with the ion generator running for 3 to 4 hours in the morning. In the late evening I turn on the unit upstairs and we all breathe in fresh air while we sleep. They are slim units so we don’t worry about space. They have a washable pre-filter, which helps maximize filtration by the HEPA-Type filter, a filter service reminder, speed options, and a remote control. I can remember that I forgot to turn it on or off while I am sitting at my desk and just click the remote control to take care of that. Time to turn off the ionizer? Done in one click.
I think I have already seen a big improvement in my mood since using them but how to do verify something like that? Especially when you are also doing a variety of other things to combat moodiness as well. I can only say that I think they help. I KNOW they help with making the air cleaner and fresher though. We recently took a fake Christmas tree off the hands of some family members and it had been stored in their really musty basement. When we set it up at our house it stank to high heaven and made the whole house smell like rank basement. My first instinct was to break out the “birthday cake” soy candle and that worked only as long as it was lit, to mask the smell. Then I remembered (DUH!) that I could turn on the air purifier. Within 24 hours the smell was gone and I haven’t noticed it since. It was silly of me to forget because when we first moved to Ohio we were living in a 150 year old house and it smelled really old. My parents brought a similar but bigger air purifier into the house and within a few days all we smelled was clean air (no scent at all).
All in all, we are pleased as punch to have these purifiers. I had high expectations, hoping it would be a mood booster AND clean the air but it works on all counts, I am pleased to say. When we finally get a dog (my daughter is allergic) we will see just how well they filter out allergens too.
Disclosure: I received a free air purifier from Bionaire and Aer1 Filters (click for a filter coupon), plus several free filters to review, all words and opinions are mine of course. Many thanks to them for their generosity!
I don’t usually post about all the various pitches and requests I get (via this blog) that are seeking donations to further a cause or a charity. If the cause sounds good I might tweet about it or post on Facebook but I get so many of these requests and I don’t want to inundate everyone with them. But this week one caught and held my attention. It wasn’t about clean water for third world children or feeding the homeless but it is still something that pulled on my heartstrings and made me open my own wallet. I guess maybe that is because the email sent to me had the secret words in it… Appalachian Trail.
I am thinking that perhaps the email was sent to me specifically because I am an Ohio blogger and Emma Gatewood was from Ohio. I don’t know if the sender had any insight into my love affair with the Appalachian Trail or not, either way they had me hook, line, and sinker with any mention of the AT. It has been my dream since my late twenties to thru hike the AT, which is a 2,181 mile long trail that extends from Georgia to Maine. It takes about 6+ months to hike it start to finish and I want to do it so very badly. Every year I dream of the day when my family and I can pack up and hit the mountains together for that once in a lifetime experience. And sometimes I acknowledge that it may have to wait until my kids are grown but either way I don’t think I will ever consider my life complete until I have done it. It’s at the top of my bucket list.
Anyway, Emma Gatewood was the first woman to ever thru hike the trail solo. That is an amazing and courageous accomplishment. I would never consider hiking it alone (to chicken) and I admire any lady that has the stones to do that. BUT there are several other wow factors to share as well. She made this hike in 1955 at the age of 67 and after raising 11 children!! She also ended up becoming a pioneer for ultralight backpacking because she made this trek with only a pair of Keds sneakers, an army blanket, a raincoat, and a plastic shower curtain which she carried in a homemade bag slung over one shoulder. If you are familiar with what long distance hikers are toting around nowadays you will understand how amazing this woman was. But that is not all. She ended up hiking the AT two more times after that initial foray, she hiked The Oregon Trail (2000 miles), and she helped start The Buckeye Trail (1,444 miles) in Ohio.
Eden Valley Enterprises is a not-for-profit corporation that specializes in living history programs and storytelling through theater, usually about historical figures that accomplished amazing things. They recently premiered a storytelling program about Emma to a sold-out house at a community center in Ohio and that spurred them to try and bring Emma’s story to life as a film documentary. It will be produced by Peter Huston of FilmAffects and WGTE (PBS Toledo) has agreed to be a broadcast sponsor and production partner for it.
If this sounds like a worthwhile cause to you, donate via Kickstarter or directly via PayPal or check to Eden Valley.
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Never heard of the Appalachian Trail? Let me suggest some of my fave books!
Welcome! Here you will find the random thoughts and experiences of a mom trying to live a more natural and green family life since 2004. Enjoy! Feel free to e-mail me.
Welcome! Here you will find the random thoughts and experiences of a mom trying to live a more natural and green family life since 2004. Enjoy! Feel free to 
