Mercedes Brian

I never got the hang of the ring slings, but I'm a slight, short, person. The baby always ended up head-down, and one memorable time, almost flipped out of the ring sling and into the outhouse toilet before I caught him. I've used an Ergo carrier since then and highly recommend it. The stretchy wraps that parents use look really good. A stroller with big wheels is really great for naps on the garden.
We didn't use baby food, high chairs, or bibs. A cloth napkin with a cloths pin is always easy to find, baby sits on our lap, and a little adult food mushed up with a fork is great for first food. Nourishing Traditions author Sally Fallon has great suggestions for first food. Our babies started eating when they could handle food and were reaching for it from our plates.
I used cloth squares for diapers. Later I had 12 fitted diapers and used the squares as back-up and washed every day. That's the minimum number with a dryer just in case. Double without a dryer.
A sheepskin is lovely and if washable, will be used a long time.
Janet Lansbury Elevating Child Care on Facebook is great to monitor to learn respectful, effective, communication. Kids don't need much. They are built to find just about everything interesting.

Except an approved car seat. They need one of those!

I have a small fermenting and kombucha business so I have plenty of left-over fermented, probiotic-rich, brine. Sauerkraut brine or brine from pickles extend my leftovers.

I pour a splash of fermented brine over, well, everything. I had cooked garbanzo beans in the fridge that seemed about to turn, so I put some brine and then shook it around in the mason jar. (Oh yeah, I use mason jars for everything.) Six weeks later, I made hummus. Delicious.

Most extreme was my six month experiment with left-over sliced lamb, immersed in fermented pickle brine. Smelled great the whole time and I took tiny nibbles the whole time..

I stir yogurt whey (the liquid on top) into left-over potatoes and rice.

The life of non-refrigerated leftovers will be shorter, or as the brine ferments the food, it might work better at warmer temps...

I used to use old flannelette cloth diapers, torn into squares of various sizes and folded into pads, and one panty liner. My flow could soak the cloth and never made it to the liner. One liner per month. Now I am sewing lanolized wool diaper soakers from my soft, felted, sweater stash for my new grandchild. I never understood "soakers" instead of plastic diaper covers and now I know why. "Soakers" don't soak up baby pee, they repel wetness so that the cotton diapers soak and the outside stays dry. Had I known this, I would have made a soaker for me. Instructions for lanolizing the wool so that moisture beads on it are on the internet. I started with searching "wool soaker pattern".
I wanted to return the nutrients my body shed to the earth when I menstruated. In winter, the house plants got a boost, in summer, the garlic. I'd pour the water I'd soaked the pads in prior to washing wherever I wanted. The cloth that I used is now composting.

I chair a planning committee in Nova Scotia, Canada. I've mentioned that it would be better if landscaping plans for developments included edible plants. No take-up so far, but I'll keep requesting it. What plants would you recommend as suitable for landscaping? Instead of scotch pine, or rhododendron, for example.

Thanks for offering to help out.

Mercedes