There are lots of ways to be an organic mom and it can mean a lot of different things. I want to offer you 10 easy steps you can take to kick-start your journey:
- Look into subscribing to your local CSA share. You will eat local, organic food and have lots of opportunities to teach your kids about eating with the seasons and how vegetables and fruits grow.
- Invest in a juicer and juice any leftover vegetables or the ones that seem daunting to cook. Anything tastes good with lots of berries and oranges thrown in there. It will give you an organic juice for your kids. My daughter drinks any juice I make even if it contains kale or collard greens. I get to call it juice, and she thinks it’s yummy!
- Plant a vegetable garden: In the beginning, make sure you plant vegetables that are easy to grow and that you know you will eat: tomatoes, zucchini squash, peppers, lettuce, beets, carrots, chards and radishes are just a few you can start with.
- You can compost any leftover veggies and fruits and many other items you may not even realize: paper bags, coffee filters, egg shells… Reuse the compost soil in your brand new vegetable garden. You can buy a compost or make your own.
Now you are well on your way to provide organic, locally grown food to your family, so let’s dig further, shall we?
- You can teach your kids to control their water consumption. That’s an easy way to teach them about the Earth’s most important resource. Make sure they turn the faucet off when brushing their teeth, or washing their hands. Lead by example, do the same. Ask dad to turn off the faucet when shaving and only run it when the razor needs to be rinsed.
- Also to keep with the gardening topic, you can install a rainwater barrel for your yard and vegetable garden.
- Teach your kids to turn off lights when they leave a room. It will save energy and money. Again, this is very easy to teach them and once it becomes a habit, you’ve won!
- Recycle and Reuse: My 3-year-old daughter is very proud when she finishes her yogurt and throws it in the recycling bin after rinsing it. The “blue poubelle” (we are raising our daughter to be bilingual in French and English) is in the pantry, easily accessible to her. She also knows to use both sides of paper to color and then throws it in the blue bin when she is all done.
- If you are a new mom, cloth diapers are awesome for the earth and your baby. They can be a little pricey at the beginning but in the long run you will save money. You can also try to find a cloth diapering swap group in your community, check out Facebook groups and peruse Craigslist for used cloth diapers. You can even have the grandmas buy you your brand new stash.Cloth diapers can be reused with subsequent kids and you can even resell them once you are done having kids! Prefolds make great burp cloths as well as awesome dishtowels or versatile cleaning cloths.
- Coconut oil: use and abuse it!
It can be used on baby as an organic diaper rash ointment (and it won’t ruin your cloth diapers, by the way). It’s also an excellent moisturizer for your baby. Spend 15 minutes every night massaging your baby with coconut oil. It is a great bonding experience and will prepare him/her to go to sleep.Coconut oil is awesome for moms, too! I use it as a hair mask (to be done overnight and sleep with a shower cap) and as a moisturizer. You can also add coconut oil to your juices or make deodorant, toothpaste and other beauty products with it. Your options are endless!
I hope this gives you a good start on how to be an organic mom. Again, there are so many different ways, and these tips are easy and won’t break the bank!
Aurore
Wife, Daughter, Sister and Mom of 1 little girl and another one on the way.
Owner of I’m An Organic Mom and I’m An Organic Baby.
Birth Doula and Natural Childbirth Educator.
Passionate about women, babies, birth, the environment, organic products, lifestyle and food.
