Perfect Flavor

Well, for those of you interested in hearing how my prodromal labor experience turned out, here is the full story: chock full of any birth story’s twists, turns, surprises and elations…

I awoke on Wednesday morning, May 5th, to the same prodromal labor contractions that I had been experiencing relentlessly for 8 weeks. Nothing was out of the ordinary. I say this for all of you women out there who not only experience prodromal labor but who have been told constantly that what you are experiencing is not “real” labor. I am proud to exclaim that yes, in fact, prodromal labor is real labor.

***As a side note, many women said to me upon hearing of my prodromal labor: “Just you wait…when you’re in REAL labor you’ll know what a contraction feels like…”. What I have to say after experiencing both prodromal labor and hard labor is this: there was no difference whatsoever between the contractions I experienced during prodromal labor and those I experienced during hard labor. The only change was that as my hard labor progressed, my contractions became closer together and more intense. Nothing about the type of contraction or the way it made my uterus and body feel was any different. With that said, I will continue with Gabe’s story…

I was due to meet a friend who had delivered her baby just two weeks before, but because babies are incredibly unpredictable, she had to cancel. Good thing! Because in a matter of hours I would be in hard labor!! I decided, instead, to spend my time that morning and afternoon lazing about on the deck, checking email, taking care of my electronic to-do’s. It had been awhile since I last sat down to actively time contractions, as with prodromal labor they may change from day to day, but the contractions are usually always there in some form, and even intense and close together activity does not necessarily mean that hard labor has begun. This day, however, I was inspired to time mine and just get a peek into what my body had decided to do today. My contractions were six minutes apart on the dot. I felt slightly crampy in the lower part of my abdomen (think menstrual cramps) and there was plenty of tightening going on on the top and middle of my uterus. I think it is important to point out, that while I had been experiencing many early labor symptoms for weeks (Zero constipation…if you know what I mean, cramping, nausea, etc.) I had not yet had any bloody show. I was waiting on the edge of my seat for that (quite literally)!

I timed the contractions for about an hour with a watch, from about 10-11 am, and then for the rest of the day was just mentally timing them. Nothing seemed to change until I went to pick up my 11 year-old stepdaughter, Kate, from school at 2:45 pm. Upon arriving at the school, I suddenly had the desire to stay in the car and hope that she would come to me today. Typically, I look forward to picking her up, chatting with her friends, my friends, and all of the wonderful teachers at her school. Today was definitely different, and I actually felt relieved at the sight of her being walked to my car by her teacher. I packed her in and began the five minute drive home. After getting her settled in the house, I left to go get her 14 year-old brother, my stepson, Nick, at his school 20 minutes away. Upon reaching the end of my driveway at approximately 3:24, I felt a big contraction. This one really got my attention. It wasn’t too intense, it just was “loud” enough for me to take note of the time and look out for the next one. Sure enough, three minutes later, I had another. And three minutes after that, yet another. And so they continued all the way to Nick’s school. As I said, they were not intense enough for me to pull over, just more noticeable than the others I had had so far today.

Upon arriving at his school, I was pleaded with to let a friend jump in the car so I could taxi him to the local skate park. Of course, I obliged, as it is a little known fact that when in labor up to a certain point, we women can be easily persuaded=) In other words, I did not have the energy to say no. On this particular day, it just so happened that my husband and I had taken our car, with the baby seat in it, to the shop to get an oil change, so by the time I reached the skate park, the thought occurred to me that, yes, I might just be entering hard labor, and that it would be an excellent idea to call my husband, Colin, to ask him if I could come get him early from work at 4 pm before I was unable to drive myself. Honestly, I felt a bit foolish because prodromal labor can give you so many false-starts, I wasn’t entirely sure by any means that this was “it.” I called him anyway, and he must have sensed the benign panic in my voice, as by the time I got to his office 5 minutes away, he was standing on the street corner, briefcase in hand, readily awaiting our arrival. At this point I kicked Nick out of the front seat, where he had been timing contractions for me, and had Colin take his place in the passenger seat. Apparently being in the state of entering into hard labor also makes me quite stubborn, because I was sure I could drive and I refused to have Colin take over. Colin began timing contractions, and noted that they were 2-3 minutes apart, lasting 1-2 minutes in duration. At this point, they all had the same high level of intensity. I do believe that for those of us who experience prodromal labor, everyday tasks while experiencing contractions become much more run-of-the-mill and much, much easier once one becomes used to what labor feels like. A woman who goes into labor 12-24 hours before having her child cannot often comprehend driving, grocery shopping, chatting with friends, enjoying a leisurely dinner, or paying bills during her labor, whereas a prodromal laborer has become used to doing everyday tasks through her contractions, and therefore often can continue doing these tasks deep into her labor. This was definitely me.

Once home, the time was about 4:30 pm, and we began walking around our backyard as a family, quietly enjoying these precious moments leading up to the birth of our newest member of the family. About 15 minutes into hanging out with everyone, I had a very intense urge to sit on the toilet, not to go to the bathroom, but to just sit. When I did, I noted that not only did I feel better, like loads of pressure was being released, but that I was finally experiencing bloody show, which I announced to the entire family whether they liked it or not! Perhaps it was the psychological sighting of the bloody show, or maybe my labor was just really kicking into high gear, but around 5 pm things really started to happen quickly. I realized it was now or never to go get the car from the dealership. Almost instantly and ironically, we received a call from the dealership stating that our car was ready for pick up, and off Colin and I went to go bring our car home for its inevitable ride to the hospital. Once at the dealership, a 10 minute drive away, I had to stay put in our other car, carefully and slowly getting up only to move to the driver’s seat. I was aware that my labor had definitely entered a more intense state. This baby was coming and coming fast. Driving home was challenge. I will admit that there were times when I knew a contraction was coming on and I was actively searching for a place to pull over. I did not pull over, however, and made it home by 5:30 pm.

Once home, Colin and I decided to embark on our walk. “The” walk which was one we had romanticized for months. The one that you read about other couples taking through woods and across streams. Sigh…what a romantic way to spend those last moments of labor with your partner. Well, we were certainly not destined for that! We made it about 100 yards down the path that leads from our house onto a neighboring farms and woods. At this point, I was either squatting during contractions or wrapping my arms around Colin’s neck and allowing my body to go limp and heavy. The contractions were so on top of one another that I could neither speak a full sentence nor really express any thought at all. I was beginning to go into myself in that deeply focused state that only a laboring woman can experience. I was also feeling a very peculiar pain, that had the look and air of a contraction, but only lasted a few seconds and actually hurt, even becoming excruciating at times. Colin and I both were unsure of what this pain was, and I began telling myself that it was just one of those really hard-working, progressive contractions, that dilates you a few centimeters at a time. At this point, I felt like all I was experiencing was a mixture of painful contractions and intense contractions. My uterus felt like it was hardened constantly with no break whatsoever. Little did I know what was really happening during those “painful contractions.” Realizing we were not going to enjoy our walk, we made our way back to the house, where I began stripping my clothes along the way and got into our hot tub to labor in the water.

At this point, I recall behaving very “Transitionally.” I was naked and didn’t care. I was beginning to wonder how much more I could take. I was frank and honest and was certainly not laughing or making conversation. Surprising even to me, I began making the deepest, most guttural sounds I had ever heard out of my mouth or anyone else’s. For every intense contraction AND every different, painful contraction, I would fight the panic in my head, that fight-or-flight mentality, by letting out deep groans which helped very much to get through the intensity of each contraction. I found that the deeper and longer my vocalizations were, the easier it was to get through a contraction. I experienced about three contractions in the hot tub, all two minutes, all on top of one another. I asked Colin to call the midwife, but since he felt we had not been in hard labor for that long, he wanted to put off our call to her for a bit longer. I was polite at first, then not so polite, when I looked him in the eyes and said, “call the midwife now.” If I could have, I would have picked up the phone myself. At this point I knew I was in Transition with a capital T. My midwife knew it, too. It was about 6:30 pm and she asked us to meet her at her office at 7:30 pm. I knew I couldn’t even wait that long, but got out of the hot tub, changed into a loose sundress, and spent my time sitting on the toilet waiting as my family dashed around the house getting everything ready to go. The suitcase (complete with laboring tools, towels, water bag, rice bags, etc.) and the cooler (ready to be filled with OJ, popsicles, cool washcloths, etc.), which had been ready for weeks, now seemed pointless. I knew I would not be needing any of these items!

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we piled into the car, the kids having been warned of the strict necessity to not talk or ask me questions in the car. The car ride was the worst, as I often hear it is for those of us who like to labor at home for a longer time than in the hospital. I began feeling the urge to push. I, in fact, asked Colin to pull over at one point so that I could have the baby on the side of the road. He did make it, however, in twenty minutes time to our midwife’s office, which is located within walking distance to the hospital.

The kids made the switch to their aunt and uncle’s car, patiently awaiting our arrival, as Colin and I said goodbye and made our way into our midwife’s office. I proclaimed that I would go sit on the toilet, and she was happy to meet us there to check the baby’s heartbeat and position, as well as my dilation. Gabe had been, just one day before at our last appointment, head down and almost fully engaged, with a very normal heartbeat. Actually, Gabe had been head down since 22 weeks! When Donna, our midwife, went to find Gabe’s heartbeat in the same spot as it had been in for the entire last half of the pregnancy, she came up with nothing. Not alarming us, yet, she continued up my belly until she got about 2 inches above my belly button. She finally heard his heartbeat there, and we were all a little confused and very stunned. She then did an internal exam and discovered what she thought was either a foot or a hand pushing through my cervix! My bag of waters was bulging and I was only two centimeters dilated. At this point everything happened very, very fast. She excused herself, made a call to her OB that she works with directly, and had him meet us at the hospital. Colin and I were told to go straight to the emergency room, where she would meet us and escort us up to L&D on the 4th floor. At this point, I was experiencing the most of the painful, “other” kind of contractions, and surprised even my natural child birthing self by thinking that I would need to get pain medication if this kept up.

I was strapped to two monitors, where the doctors and nurses, and of course, my midwife, were finally able to ascertain what was happening. My baby, after so long in the head down position, had flipped and become footling breach. He in fact had only flipped in the last hour or two of hard labor, and the painful, “other” types of contractions I was feeling weren’t contractions at all. Thanks to our monitors, everyone was able to figure out that what I was feeling was the baby moving: turning completely upside down and pushing with all of his might onto my internal organs. When a normal, intense contraction came on, the monitors picked that up, too, and I was able to get the affirmation that a) the contractions I was feeling were of Transitional strength and b)I was handling them beautifully. I had essentially gotten all the way to the Pushing Stage, but because my baby was breach, everyone made the unwaivering call to perform an emergency c-section. I was shaken up to say the least. As a huge Bradley Method proponent, I felt like by having a cesarean, even one that I couldn’t argue with, it was equal to failing as a mother, wife and woman. According to everyone providing my care, they were most concerned that if my water broke during labor, the baby’s umbilical cord would prolapse, resulting in compression of the cord and a depletion of oxygen via the cord to the baby. It was decided that instead of having to rush to the emergency OR, I could wait 45 minutes for a current cesarean procedure to finish before I would be wheeled into the L&D OR to have mine performed. Those 45 minutes were excruciating. Given a drug intravenously to stop the contractions (which didn’t work), I was still left with the painful feelings of Gabe’s strong attempts to defy the heavy, hard contractions that were arduously working to bring him down into the birth canal. We knew three things: Our baby had a strong will to live, he was extremely strong in both character and physicality, and that what was happening was happening for a reason and completely out of our hands to judge or attempt to control. I was given no pain medication at all during this time.

At 9:30 pm, I was brought into the OR and my surgery went underway. I was given a spinal anesthetic, which as I had read and researched, did cause me to feel nauseous and to shake uncontrollably, so much so that once Gabe was born I could not hold him very calmly on my own. At 9:46 pm, with Colin by my side and our midwife standing next to us taking pictures (she is truly an angel in disguise), the doctors were ready to break my strong bag of waters (all that Bradley protein) and pull baby Gabe out. As Colin stood to watch his baby being born, I watched my husband’s eyes intently, trying to take in every lucid moment. However, the process seemed to be taking much longer than it should, and I began to notice that the room had gone silent. Colin’s eyes also looked very still and troubled. The next thing I knew, my baby was crying, Colin was announcing that he was a boy, and I was able to see him as he was brought over and laid in his little bassinet to be checked. I began to hear murmurings that Gabe had had his cord wrapped around his neck and his body, and because of this, his cord had not only been compressed during contractions, hence his decision to move and turn breech, but that because of the cord being wrapped around him so many times, it would have never been long enough for Gabe to pass through the birth canal head first OR feet first. As it was, during the cesarean it took both doctors pulling and pushing with all their might to get Gabe’s head to the point where the OB could reach into my uterus, hook his thumb in Gabe’s mouth, and pull him out that way. Due to the shortening of the cord, it was necessary to clamp the cord right then and there while Gabe was being held out of my uterus by our doctor’s thumb. We requested no bath be given to our son, and Daddy was allowed to hold Gabe’s hand the whole time and even swaddle him before bringing him to me. Gabe scored an 8 on his first APGAR and a 9 on his second. He was pink, kicking, and all screams. I could not have been happier to see my little fighter there next to me. It wouldn’t be until the following day until I would discover just what a strong fighter he had been.

I was able to attempt to nurse him within 20 minutes of his birth, which was challenging given all of the shaking I was experiencing, but I still felt it was important to have skin-to-skin contact with him, so from twenty minutes after his birth on, he never left Colin’s or my side, and was cuddled, caressed, fed and kissed at every possible moment.

It wasn’t until the following morning, when our midwife stopped by for a visit, that we finally began to understand the complexity of the situation we had just experienced. Donna said that she had come to say thank you to Gabe, having canceled all of her appointments that day. We asked what she meant, and she began to tell us a truly heartbreaking story. Three days prior to Gabe’s birth, another patient of Donna’s who was due two days before me came in to see her. She was not in labor, but from her prior visit, Donna knew the baby had been almost fully engaged and head down. When Donna listened for a heartbeat, she found none. When it was determined that this woman had lost her baby, a cesarean was performed to deliver the stillborn baby, and the baby’s cord was found to have been wrapped tightly around its neck. Once this baby became fully engaged, it did not make the choice to turn breech and avoid having its cord compressed. Donna has always said, “I trust babies.” In this case, she lost her sense of trust. She could not understand why the baby did not turn to avoid cord compression. When Gabe came in presenting the same way, Donna was determined to not have the same thing happen. But Gabe turning on his own strength and free will redeemed the trust that Donna has always had in babies and hoped to have again. We are so deeply sorrowed by what the family before us experienced. Their experience so deeply influenced us in more ways than we can say. For me, one of the greatest gifts it gave me was to be able to accept the fact that I had a cesarean, and that in my case, I was not in any way a failure or less of a woman somehow. Instead, our cesarean saved Gabe’s life, as even if we had tried to deliver him breech and vaginally, he would have not made it out of the birth canal and could have potentially become too compressed to receive the proper amounts of oxygen. I now do fully understand the importance of c-sections for medical emergencies, and will never in my ignorance discount their importance again. I will say that on the operating table I discussed with Donna my desire to have a VBAC for my second birth. And because I experienced all aspects of labor but the pushing, she said that she 100% wants to ensure that we can both have a VBAC together.

For now, I am thankful for my supportive and loving husband and family, to my midwife, Donna, for her unwaivering support, the care I received at the hospital to help bring Gabe into this world, my Bradley Method teacher, Jenny, for preparing me for everything, and Gabe, for teaching me that the best laid plans never go as expected, and that most importantly, babies are to be trusted at all times for their strength (thanks, Donna, for teaching me this important lesson), wisdom, and the natural creation that makes this beautiful miracle possible.

***I think it is vital to note that I have not once classified labor contractions as painful. I can honestly say that they were not. Incredibly intense? Yes. Lots of pressure? Yes. The only time I experienced pain was when I was forced to lay back on a hospital bed or when little Gabe was turning breech. Moving around for each contraction and attempting multiple positions helped immensely. The contractions themselves were difficult, intense, all encompassing, but NOT painful. I truly think this is so important to recognize as we are taught as women to fear labor. For me personally, I cannot wait to do it again.

For the record, I was 38 weeks when I delivered Gabe. Gabriel Peter Steele is now 3 months old. He is strong, stubborn, willful, and happy…just like his Mom.

Just ask my kids…I am ALL about making up new baking recipes at home, and giving them funny names! I’m here to inspire all of you to begin your very own journeys of creating real, “family-secret” recipes for baked goods and breads that can get passed on from generation to generation. Too often, we all love a recipe our mothers made, that was said to have come from our grandmother’s grandmother’s grandmother. How deflating is it to discover, then, that this favorite recipe actually came from the back of a box or soup can? I know I, for one, love the tradition that baking foods and desserts from scratch holds in my home, and I want desperately to educate everyone out there that family recipes can in fact be created NOW for all of the generations to come.

It’s easy to start! Take a favorite recipe from any book, say a Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from the Joy of Cooking. Try it out as the recipe states, make notes about what you would like to change (ex. more salt, less salt, more brown sugar for a molasses taste, crunchier (more butter), chewier (more eggs), etc.) and with your next recipe, change your ingredients a tad, and remark on how well you liked your own changes. Over time, you WILL develop your very own family recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies that is individually yours, one that your family will ask for with mouths watering time and time again.

Incidentally, this is something we constantly do for savory recipes. We are hesitant to do this with baking because we have always been told that baking is a science and we must follow every direction exactly. This is true for candy especially, but please note that not following an ingredient list or method exactly will not result in baking ruin—JUST a different cake, cookie, mousse: whatever the product may be. For example, using room temperature butter and creaming it with sugar will result in a very different cake texture-wise than melting butter and folding it into your batter will. You might actually come to find, however, that you prefer the texture of the melted butter cake to the creamed butter variety. This is all about experimentation—and all of your results should still be incredibly edible!

Once you’ve mastered the “Recipe Doctoring Stage,” might I suggest moving on to something a little more daring? Now, what I am about to introduce can be a little daunting for baking renegade newcomers. But let’s give it a go…how about writing your own recipe entirely BASED on your preexisting knowledge of baking ingredients and the role they play in the foods we bake? Here’s a great example of something I just conjured up a few days ago out of baking excitement and pregnancy hunger pangs for crumb cake.

Every time I make a crumb cake out of a book, I’m never happy with the recipe. I know what I want: moist, cake-like, light (not dense), sweet and salty, and a realyl good streusel on top. I woke up on Saturday morning with, yet again, a strong desire for crumb cake, but had trouble with the idea of getting out of bed to make a so-so cake. SO!…I decided I would make up my own recipe. Now, when you do this, the first thing to do is to get out a pad of paper and pencil and make note of your ingredients and process. This is so that you can keep track of your recipe, no matter how bad or great it comes out! If you’re not so happy with your results, at least you have a platform from which to build off of.

So, I used my knowledge of pound cake (the idea that you use a pound of flour, pound of sugar, pound of butter, hence the name “Pound Cake”…this may not be the exact recipe, but you get the picture…) and translated that idea into a crumb cake recipe, in which I used the theme of “TWO” of everything…hence my rather creative name, “Two Cake.” My results? Unbelievable! This is a family treasure, for sure! Also, I can rest assured that no other family has this exact recipe. Except, now I’m going to share…so scratch that last part=)

TWO CAKE

preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Combine:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons leavening (1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder)

2 half teaspoons salt (1/2 for now, half for streusel)

In a separate bowl, combine:

2 eggs

2 half cups dairy (1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup whole milk)

2 half cups sugar (1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Melt butter and set aside:

2 sticks butter (1.5 sticks melted, retain half a stick and cube it, reserving for streusel)

Cake Process:

Combine dry and wet ingredients with a whisk, reserving butter and fold in gently with a rubber spatula until butter is incorporated. Set batter aside, which will help to aerate…my sneaky little tip is that melted butter, folded in to cooler ingredients, will actually fluff up your batter if you let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes.

Streusel

In a food processor, combine…

2 half cups pecans or walnuts

2 teaspoons cinnamon

your remaining 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup flour (ok…not “TWO” but no one’s perfect)

1/2 cup brown sugar (ok…not “TWO” but no one’s perfect)

remaining half stick of butter, cubed

Process until mixture is in medium-fine crumbles

POUR batter into a buttered 9×9 brownie pan or glass baking dish, top with all streusel, and bake for 30-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out moist but clean.

A great thing about this recipe is that you can eat almost right away.  Allow to cool for just 5 minutes, then cut straight out of the pan into squares and serve warm.  This cake can be stored with aluminum foil to cover at room temp for 4 days.  It just gets better with time, but should be served either room temp or warmed in a 350 degree oven.  IF you want to keep this cake around longer, either refrigerate or freeze in wrapped aluminum foil for easy reheating.

Hope you like this cake as much as I do.  What’s next?  Maybe there is a THREE CAKE in my future…

There’s bad, better, and best as far as I’m concerned when it comes to cleaning products that I keep in my home.

I think it’s safe to say that products that fit into my “bad” category are the cleaning products and brands that most of the US population uses in their homes. Things like bleach, Formula 401, Windex and especially Clorox cleaning products like bleach, wipes, and sprays. We stopped using these products long ago. In fact, when I met my husband I was still using them to clean up my apartment and it was my husband who introduced his method of natural cleaning, but we’ll get to that later.

VS

In the meantime, harsh chemical cleaners, like Clorox brand products, are toxic and are known to be hazardous both for humans AND their pets. In fact, if you’re wondering why Fluffy always seems to piddle in the same spot, annoyingly so, which requires you to constantly be on hands and knees cleaning, consider this: the smell and toxicity of the product you’re using is repulsive to her, which is why she is using the strong ammonia in her urine to blot it out and bring her habitat back to some sort of controlled normalcy when it comes to comfort. And do not be fooled by Clorox’s new “green cleaning” line of products. Unless the ingredients are words you both understand and can pronounce, they are not natural.

So if you don’t want to have to poison your pets or lock away your cleaning supplies from your toddling tots, what other option do you have? This brings me to my “better” category…

For things like dish washing detergent, clothing detergent, and dish soap, using a natural cleaner, like a product from Seventh Generation , which refers to a Native American ideal of making decisions with the philosophy in mind that whatever you decide will not only affect your generation, but will still be suitable for 7 generations to come, is the way to go. In fact, their new TV commercial hits home when it comes to the reason why folks who want a more natural approach to housecleaning turn to what Seventh Generation has to offer. They openly declare that when using their products, it is unnecessary to hold one’s breath when spritzing and spraying in order to clean. And it’s true. How often have you found yourself holding your breath when spraying some Clorox product? Seventh Generation products actually smell great. Plus, you can opt for the fragrance free varieties. BUT, you may say, “natural cleaning products are much more expensive than regular brands.” And this can be true, but here’s where the “BEST” category comes into play.

What if I told you, that for pennies, you could keep your house clean using only ONE cleaning implement? Sure, for clothes washing and dishwashing our family still uses Seventh Generation products, but for cleaning counters, dusting, cleaning mirrors and windows, and sanitizing, guess what we use as our truly multi-purpose cleaner? Vinegar!

White Distilled Vinegar that can be purchased in 1 or 2 gallon jugs is actually the answer to all of your cleaning woes. To get started it’s simple: Purchase an empty plastic spray bottle that has never before been used. (I would normally suggest reusing an old empty bottle, however mixing vinegar with bleach or ammonia can cause a chemical reaction which creates a poisonous gas, so please don’t do that. Besides, your empty bottle will last you years.) Also, buy your white distilled vinegar at the store, and fill your bottle 3/4’s of the way full with vinegar. Top it off with water from the faucet, and you’ve got a mega cleaning product that can easily wipe away grease, spaghetti sauce, dust and more without the use of harsh chemicals. Plus, one bottle usually lasts at least a few months. The tougher the stain, the easier it is to clean: simply spray on a heavy layer of your vinegar cleaner and let sit for 5 minutes, then wipe down with a clean white towel (no paper towels here!) that has been soaked in warm water.

For those of you who might be worried about the smell that vinegar imparts, simply add a few drops of your favorite essential oil, like lavender or peppermint. Even orange or eucalyptus would work nicely. We don’t mind the vinegar smell as it evaporates quickly, so for us, we like to leave our cleaner plain and simple.

Even more importantly, you may be asking yourself if vinegar really has the power to disinfect surfaces the way bleach or other harsh chemicals can. The answer is, of course, that we wouldn’t use vinegar unless it sanitized surfaces. In fact, we believe that vinegar kills enough bacteria in our kitchen with out creating a completely sterile environment, which is actually better for you and your family in the end.

In the times of hand sanitizer, bleaching kids toys, and generally being freaked out at the thought of one single germ in your house, using vinegar will not only teach you that you shouldn’t be afraid of your own kitchen, but that simpler is better. After all, can’t you see the hypocrisy in worrying about bacteria while all the while inhaling harmful chemicals?

I think the trade-off is easy to see, and swallow.

Imagine my surprise this afternoon, when folding some laundry, I decided to also turn on Oprah and see if anything caught my attention. With her topic being “FOOD 101″ and her guests including Michael Pollan, author of 4 best-selling real food books, the most famous being “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and Steve Ells, Founder and CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill, pioneer of healthy, real fast food, I knew I would be not only riveted to the screen, but could anticipate a certain rise in my blood pressure. As my husband would say: talk of real, sustainable, responsible food really lights my fire and gets me very revved up.

Perfect Flavor is interwoven into the stories of these two men and the documentary “FOOD, INC.” in a way that would be enviable to most sustainable food companies. Not only have I brushed shoulders with Pollan, who can be thanked for launching our current local & sustainable food movement into its current stratospheric position, but I have worked closely for the last year with the family and farm that is responsible for catapulting both “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “FOOD, INC.” into the public’s view: Polyface Farm and The Salatin Family

When we began the process of starting up Perfect Flavor, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” was the first book on local, real food that Colin and I read. We were stunned and so very pleased to discover that Polyface Farm and the Salatin family were located just miles away from our home and where we would eventually settle our production kitchens. Sheri Salatin, the daughter-in-law of Joel, married to Joel’s son, Daniel, was the first person I would contact in order to begin the process of sourcing all of our ingredients locally. It was Summer of 2006, and Sheri’s and my relationship has grown stronger and stronger ever since. I have much admiration and respect for what she and the rest of the Salatin family are choosing to do with their lives, that is: raise beef, pork, chickens, rabbit, eggs, and more, honorably and honestly.

How do we at Perfect Flavor fit in? Well, we started by buying eggs from Polyface for our ice cream in early 2008 at the launch of our company. We then teamed up with Polyface to begin selling our ice cream through their amazingly popular Buying Clubs, which are full of intelligent, well-educated and themselves honorable Buying Club Members, who once a month subscribe to this Club which allows them to order everything that Polyface produces. This is especially important because it gives folks in many cities in Virginia no excuse to buy grain-fed beef or antibiotic-filled chicken from a no-name source at the grocery store EVEN if they can’t make the trip down to Swoope, VA (pronounced Swope) located near Staunton, for a grocery store run. Through the Buying Club, everything Polyface has to offer gets delivered to a drop point located in central locations to where many of these members live, often in neighborhoods. These folks, when offered the chance to also purchase our handmade ice cream made with Polyface eggs and local milk, jumped at the chance, and we had a steady business from last March 2009 to December 2009 selling to Polyface’s customers everywhere from Williamsburg to Harrisonburg to Northern Virginia and beyond. It must be mentioned that Polyface only sells locally, meaning that the farthest north they will take their Buying Club is Southern Maryland. The farthest South currently is Central VA. For more info and to become a member, visit here! I was so thrilled to be a part of Polyface’s far reaching touch that I volunteered to ride on the delivery truck for one month with Polyface’s amazing delivery guy (for lack of a much more fitting term), Richard Morris, who has an inspiring story of his own pertaining to the lessons he learned in dealing with real, whole foods. Learn more about him here! My experience working with Polyface and Richard taught me absolutely invaluable lessons about the educated consumers out there who demand good food for themselves and their families. And this was what Oprah’s show was really about: the necessity for all of us to take the health of ourselves and our families back under our own control when it comes to the choices we make about the foods we eat.

As far as Chipotle goes, and our connection with it, it may be small, but I am proud of our ties to this wonder of a business. Firstly, when we started making cheese at Perfect Flavor, we were ending up with a fair amount of whey, which most industrial cheesemakers just dump down the drain. Not us! I went straight to Polyface and asked if we could donate our whey to them each time I came to drop off an ice cream order. They were happy to take our whey and feed it to their pigs. And from what I hear, the pigs loved it! Now, how does this connect with Chipotle? Well, did you know that the Charlottesville Chipotle location was the first to not only use outdoor, humanely raised pork, but that it was the first to use LOCAL pork. That’s right, and where do you suppose they get it from? Polyface, of course. So, every time I eat at our local Chipotle, I order nothing but the Carnitas pork option on the menu. With confidence, not only do I know that my meat is local, but that I am also eating a little bit of my whey from my own sustainable business as well!

I am happy to admit that I am both a member of the Charlottesville Buying Club and also currently have a half a pig in my freezer that most likely was fed our very own whey!

Now, I must note that due to my pregnancy, we are no longer supplying Polyface with ice cream or whey, and boy are our customers upset, the pigs in particular=) My hope is to do right by my family first, however, as the Salatin’s have chosen to do. In a long conversation with the always inspiring Teresa Salatin, Joel’s wife, we discussed how family should come first. Until I can reopen Perfect Flavor in terms of ice cream and cheese production, I will continue to gather my research and resources and share the good news about local and healthy food here on my blog.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank both Polyface and Michael Pollan for the chance to work along side their cause, even in the most humble of capacities. My experience has been priceless.

Think about this: Cloth diapering is all pros and no cons.

Did you know that cloth diapering is cheaper than purchasing your regular run-of-the-mill plastic diapers? According to The Stork, a local diaper delivery service in Charlottesville, VA, even a cloth diaper service such as this can guarantee diapers at a cost of 33 cents/unit, which is the same as a unit of Huggies. This fee, to top it off, includes the diaper service itself. All one needs to do is throw a dirty diaper into a bag and wait for it to be picked up by The Stork at home. And what does this person get in return? Clean diapers, of course. Imagine how much less the cost is if you own your own cloth diapers and are washing them yourself?

And just how easy is it to wash cloth diapers? For a newborn who is nursing, it’s as simple as throwing them straight into the washing machine. For an older baby, diapers need only be rinsed in the bathtub or sink, then washed in the washing machine.

And how might we decrease the costs of cloth diapering even more? Instead of purchasing from a company that sells pre-fabbed diapers, send a cloth diaper sewing pattern to a mother, mother-in-law, or friend of a friend who sews. In all cases, offer to reimburse for all fabric costs and labor, unless of course, your friend or family member wants to offer these cute little white ones to you as a shower gift proxy. You could even ask them to modify the pattern to include a fold-over feature or a small dip near the front of the diaper for baby’s healing belly button.

Check out popular patterns here!

My mom is currently working on my diapers and I can’t wait to put them to good use!

Also, for you really easy breezy hippies out there, Gerber makes really cheap cloth diaper panels sold in packages of 4-6 that are so multi-purpose that you’re going to want them in your baby repertoire no matter what. Use them for spit-up clean ups, burp cloths, blankets, and babies who need an emergency diaper change or who are in-between sizes. Do keep in mind, though, that the sewing patterns offered above are very close to a one-size-fits-all baby, at least at the beginning. One pattern can fit a baby anywhere from 6-30 pounds!

Lest we forget that the best news to cloth diapering has got to be the next-to-zero waste factor. I think both baby and parents and sleep and breath easier knowing that their diapers are not sitting in a landfill somewhere.

Also, cloth diapered babies are less likely to develop diaper rash, as the outer layer of the diaper is made of cloth, not plastic. Plastic locks in moisture while cloth allows baby’s bum to breath!

One final tidbit: did you know that cloth diapered babies are more likely to potty train earlier than plastic-diapered babies? It’s because cloth diapers do not wick away liquid as magically as the infinite layers inside plastic diapers, therefore teaching your children a very important lesson: If they don’t like to feel wet, then they will learn how to remedy their situation naturally by using the toilet instead of the diaper. The average cloth-diapered baby is potty trained by age two.

woohoo!

What’s this page about?

Greetings! For those of you who do not know me, I’d love to introduce myself.

I am Lynsie Steele, age 27, and am the wife of Colin Steele (the love of my life) and the honored stepmom of Nick Steele, age 14, and Kate Steele, age 10-almost-11. I am also (she says with a grin) expecting my first baby due in May. I am currently 4.5 months pregnant and am loving every precious minute.

Perfect Flavor was started by my husband and I long before we married, and Nick and Kate have been a part of our company from day 1. This has always been a family endeavor full of learning curves, many surprises, and even more rewards. For the past 4 years we have been building our business into a solid local food entity that greatly supports local dairy products in a way that not many business do. We make gourmet ice cream and artisanal soft cheeses, like fresh mozzarella, ricotta, mascarpone and yogurt. At least we did up until this week.

Now, since we’ve got a baby on the way, I am taking a break from the food operation side of things and focusing more on spreading the good word about local food, sustainability, making healthy foods at home and raising my kids in a way that is natural, respectful and right.

You will find in “Parenting” many of my own experiences and how I’ve dealt with anything from a kid who’s had a bad day to teaching a little someone how to make bread on their own to what’s going on in the world of natural parenting.

I am by no means an expert parent, but who is? I simply hope to share the experiences I have of being a stepmom, being pregnant, and eventually raising this bio-baby of mine in this big, huge, wonderful mix of love and family.

I invite you to enjoy the ride of this modern-day parent!