Wildly, Affordable, Organic and other book reviews

This month my reading stack has been filled with new books from the library and some old favorites. 

I expectedthis book to be good but it was more than good…it was life altering. And I don’t say that lightly. Several years ago Linda Watson and her husband took a challenge to eat at “Food Stamp” level for a month. You can read about the Food Stamp challenge here. What they discovered was very interesting.They discovered that it was not only possible to eat for $1 per person per meal but that they actually became healthier.

We have heard over and over that lower income people cannot buy healthy food, it’s just too expensive. And as a society we believe that. And yet, I can get a 10 pound bag of potatoes at the store for the same price as a 12 ounce bag of potato chips. Granted, I have access to a kitchen and I know that some lower income people do not, so raw potatoes won’t do them any good. But I think most of us who have bought into this idea that healthy food is more expensive than junk food do have access to a kitchen.

This book shatters that idea. If you find that you are spending too much money on frozen convenience foods or eating out, the plan in this book will take you from cooking very little at home on day one and cooking everything at home by day 30…without spending all day in the kitchen. I already cook pretty much every meal we eat so this wasn’t an area that really impacted me. But this would have been a huge help to me years ago when almost every meal was frozen convenience or take out.

I really believe this is a message that needs to be told.People need to be empowered to move beyond what they’ve heard and realize that junk food is not cheaper than healthy food.

The Joy of Keeping Chickens is our go-to book for the chickens. It’s very easy to read and understand and that’s great for my kids. Plus there’s lots of great pictures, which is great for mom. There’s information on choosing your breeds, housing requirements, showing chickens in 4-H and having an egg business. Our hens have been doing great and so I haven’t used this book in a while. But when we got our new chicks, this book came off the bookshelf.

Mommy Diagnostics by Shonda Parker is one of my favorite books on health care for my family. Shonda is a herbalist and so there’s great information on using herbs in health care. But it’s more than an herb book. Shonda takes most childhood illnesses and lists what to do nutritionally, what herbs can be used and when to seek out pharmaceutical help. I really like this balanced approach. This approach fits our family’s medical philosophy very well.

Because of some “flu like” illnesses we had over the holidays, I’ve been revisiting this book.

Focus on the Family’s Baby and Child Care is my other favorite book on health care. I know, a book written by about 20 doctors seems to be a contradiction of Mommy Diagnostics. But it really isn’t. Because it’s written by a team of doctors instead of just one or two it is very comprehensive and balanced. The first part of this book is divided by age groups. The second sections is illnesses or conditions in alphabetical order. When we have an illness I like to look at both of these books to help get a game plan. Now, this book is not pro-herbs or pro home birth so if you practice those things (like I do – or did) just be forewarned.

I found Mod Podge Rocks!: Decoupage Your World by chance in the new section of the library. It is full of great decoupage projects. You might remember my new love of decoupage. This book uses several of the different variations of Mod Podge. There’s jewelry, home and garden items, boots and, my favorite, a backgammon game. I think I’ll be checking this book out again.

Anna Maria’s Needleworks Notebook is the book I was looking for when I went to the International Quilt Festival. So, I was so very pleased to find it on my library’s bookshelf. This book did not disappoint me and I’m so excited to order a copy for myself. I’m planning on teaching a craft class next year at our co-op and I really want to include some needlework. There’s projects that range from very simple to more elaborate. And yet, even the more elaborate projects offer step by step instructions that make them very doable even for the beginner. If you want to check out some of Anna Maria’s work just go here. Go ahead, click over, you’ll be glad you did.

Thanks for sharing with your friends!