On Breastfeeding and Weaning...

Today's wonderful article was brought to us by Rachel Ford Blanchard, a new member of the NaturalKids team. She lives and works in the UK. Her lovely Etsyshop is called Oast.

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Before I had a baby one of the biggest parts of motherhood I craved was breastfeeding. The look on a contented mother’s face while feeding was always so inspiring to me and I couldn’t wait to experience it on my own. When I gave birth, my daughter was put on my belly and she made her way up to my chest where we had our first experience of breastfeeding minutes after she was born. With blood still in her hair and her body covered in vernix that I slowly massaged into her skin, we started our external relationship as mother and daughter.

I am really glad I had such affection for breastfeeding because my daughter was a trooper. She fed all the time. Really. Many of my photos of her in the first year of her life are of me feeding her or are audio clips of the sounds she made while sucking. I loved it so much and had made the decision early on that I wouldn’t stop breastfeeding until she was ready. As she got older we decided we would do “baby-led weaning” (as it is called in the UK, child led weaning in the USA). For us this meant that her first means of nutrition would be from breast milk and she would be allowed to eat any food she wanted. No purees, no jars. She would shift into eating solids when she was ready and subsequently she would shift where she would get her main source of nutrition from as well.

Shortly after she was 6 months old she picked up a slice of apple and sucked on it. Slowly she ate more and more solids, exploring textures and flavors with vigour. Something we have found is that she still goes through phases that children who are puree weaned go through. For example, right now she doesn’t eat any vegetables but carrots. I am not worried, though, because we trust that she will crave what she needs. That concept, trusting, is what made her weaning such a graceful transition for us all. Once she was able to walk and talk, breastfeeding became a new adventure of independence. The first sign of weaning was that she stopped asking for milk. She still wanted it whenever offered, but she didn’t ask. I would say “milk time” and she would pick up the breastfeeding pillow and run over to me with it. I would put it on my lap and she would giggle with delight as I got her into the appropriate position. Then something shifted. I would say “milk time” and she would bring her pillow then run away. A game, I thought. Dan would pick her up and put her on the pillow and she would giggle and eat happily. Then I would say “milk time” with the pillow on my lap already. Dan would bring her over and she would be very unhappy about it. Finally she said “no”. And that was it. She had one more feed after that. Because the feeds and the transition was so gradual, I have had no aches or pains due to weaning. My daughter wants to stay a bit closer to me in the middle of the night but otherwise you would have never guessed such a huge transition has taken place for us all.

For more information and great support on breastfeeding:

http://www.laleche.org.uk/

For information on baby-led weaning:

http://www.babyledweaning.com/

What's New, and, Well, Natural from the Natural Kids Team on Etsy

Welcome! I continue my trek backwards through the alphabet to bring to you the most wonderful and imaginative treasures. They are all handmade with natural materials from...yes! the NaturalKids Team on Etsy! This week, we feature wonderful variety of artist from who have one thing in common - they all work with natural materials!

Chimera   is the home of wool felt toys, roving and handspun yarn, accessories for knitters and spinners. Great gifts for your fiber loving friends!  Hailing from New Jersey, Kersin says, "I've been playing with fiber and crafting my entire life. Wool is my favorite material because it is so versatile. With wool I can make a silky scarf, spin colorful yarn, sculpt a landscape or felt a durable rug. Adding to the fun is the ability to dye wool any colors I choose, and to add in other fibers to create something truly unique." Here is her latest...The Secret Cave Needle Felted Playmat.
 
 BostonBeanies specializes in practical and whimsical baby hats from, well, beantown. Rebecca is of course from Boston, and in her words, "I started knitting in grad school to keep my fingers busy so I could concentrate on the lectures. My friends got sick of me giving them scarves as gifts all the time, and then they started getting married and having babies, so I started making gifts for the next generation. I love the creative outlet of designing my own hats, and as a children's librarian, I love the connection of wearable art and picture book art. So take a look, and enjoy a bit of whimsy!" Here is her Boston Beanies Knit Lavender Blossom Hat.

Wendy, of Birchleaf Designs in Michigan, offers you whimisical, natural wood and fabric playthings and some housewares as well. Everything from silks to swords...her shop is a real treasure trove of natural goodies from a business run by a family that literally lives off the grid! Here is her newest offering...the Reusable, Replayable, Rewrappable Trio of Playsilks for Spring!  
  
Those are the featured new items for this week, from one of a kind needle felted treasures, to lovely baby hat to play silks, all from natural materials and from the hands of folks who love nature, children and open ended toys. This is just a small sample of the quality and variety our customers enjoy from the fine crafters and artists of the NaturalKids team.

Thanks for joining us this week and please do return again next Monday as we continue to feature all the wonderful members of the Naturakids team on Etsy! Til then, I invite you to browse all our wonderful shops.

Warmly,
Rebecca aka Nushkie
Nushkie on Facebook

Sunday Treasury: Simplicity

'Simplicity' by thiscosylife

Come visit the Natural kids Team at http://natural-kids.blogspot.com/ !

Counting with Beans - L... prettydreamer $14.00	Needle Felted Rooster- ... darialvovsky $65.00	Snake Oil Salve (1.5 oz... MuddyFeet $6.00
FIRE of 4 - traditional... Rjabinnik $16.00	The Kaleidoscope Twirl ... BeneathTheRowa... $52.00	Hand Carved Wooden Baby... TheWoodGarden $12.25
SENSORY CHILD awareness... littlealouette $15.00	Three Personalized Bran... ElementalHandc... $6.50	12 Inch Sweethearts Jum... germandolls $15.50
Hemlock Embroidered Bra... povertyjane $60.00	Boston Beanies Knit App... bostonbeanies $22.00	The Girl and the Geese ... driaa $85.00
16 Point Gold Waldorf S... harvestmoonbyh... $19.00	Hearts on a Vine Sailbo... willowbaus $20.00	Cotton Play Food-- Vegg... fairtradefamil... $9.00
Wooden Book - Garden Ve... justhatched $22.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Bees in the Yard

BEES! They hum from flower to flower once spring arrives... and honeybees also make the honey we eat. There is a resurgence in beekeeping and many families are now keeping bees again, or thinking about it. Here is a little overview with photos by Ulla of German Dolls (except the pic above by me):

One look at honeycomb and the desire to start beekeeping goes up exponentially! Honey, honeycomb, wax, and propolis are the wonderful benefits of keeping honeybees. There are other ways to tend bees, but I will just stick to the classic honeybee for now.

To keep honeybees shortlist: 1. A place to keep bees, like your yard (unless someone close by has an allergy to bee stings!). 2. A hive and frames. 3. Safety equipment (gloves & mask good idea, especially for beginners). 4. Bees (you can order in the mail, find online) 5. Other equipment for checking bees (smoker), cleaning frames, maintenance; like removing honey! 6. Time; you will need to have time to learn about your bees as well as spending 1-on-1 with them.
This is just a shortlist!


After learning about bees and if they are a good fit for you, you will need to have a hive clean and ready for your bees arrival. Above is a homemade hive; you can make or buy hives in shapes and sizes. The most common is a box frame with frames that can be easily removed on the inside, as they can also be stacked like you often see if farmer's fields. Beekeeping season is essentially spring to autumn.


The worker bees fly off from the platform to go find nectar. They return and show other bees where to find it.

The bees are moving into their new home. The box you see in the picture, is the cage that the bee folk arrive in. You simply pour the bees into the hive. The queen comes in a separate little cage.

The queen and her workers will spend a few days chewing through a piece of marshmallow trying to unite! The presence of the queen will make the new bee hive stick around and start building.


The queen is usually marked with a dot so you know if she is still around. Get to know your bees, especially the Queen. Hives need a Queen to survive.

And, check them again... but not too often, they don't like being disturbed constantly.

The fruits of keeping honeybees!

FAQ: Is it safe to keep bees around kids, like in your back yard? Absolutely! If someone has an allergy in your family or in the neighbourhood then possibly not (do check in with the neighbours!). When I learned beekeeping living in Holland my mentor had a teensy backyard with a bunch of hives, and 6 kids running around, and felt totally safe with that.

Speaking of running around... if you're worried about being stung then MOVE SLOW! Bees are are agitated by fast, flapping arms, and the like.

Thank you Ulla for sharing your photos!!

This article was brought to you by Natalie of Woolhalla

Find "BEE" treasures on Etsy from the NaturalKids Team (top left to bottom right): Boston Beanies, Driaa, Fairyfolk, GermanDolls, Harvest Moon By Hand, Prettydreamer, The Enchanted Cupboard.

Mini Wednesday - This Cosy Life

Etsy thiscosylife

Meet Julie of This Cosy Life  :

I am 30 years old and mama to three spirited little girls. My passions are creating (anything!), natural childbirth and natural parenting. I am happily building a cosy life with my little family here on our micro-farm in the foothills of North Carolina, one stitch at a time.
 
My previous shop was Knitsational. You can see my past work here: http://knitsational.etsy.com Handmade is a way of life for me and I love to share it with others. I hope you find something here that will bring a little bit of cosy into your life.

You can visit  My Cosy Life here : http://thiscosylife.com and on facebook too:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/This-Cosy-Life/115121489780

article by prettydreamer  

Warm Welcome to New NK Members

A warm welcome to all new Members of the NaturalKids team! Please, enjoy this lovely poem written by Josh from Dad'sWoodenToys. No one could have said it better than the NK team bard!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NobbyOrganics

http://www.etsy.com/shop/earthgrowncrayons

http://www.etsy.com/shop/longmountainart

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Oast

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TwigStudioKids

http://www.etsy.com/shop/heartfeltpassion

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArmadilloDreams

http://www.etsy.com/shop/adolina

http://www.etsy.com/shop/thiscosylife


To every new member, may we speak to you?
We wish to thank you for all that you do.

To sincerely applaud you straight from the heart
Your presence on Etsy is an important part.

Even if you sell things that look much like mine
I want you to know that I think it is fine.

For I understand your presence helps me
The more shops there are, the more shoppers there'll be

If I sell something that no one else does
I won't draw many shoppers and that is because

People who want the thing that I sell
Will be hard to inform on my own very well.

The more shops on Etsy that look something like mine
The more shoppers we draw when we combine.

When you decide what you want is a car,
Do you drive to a lonely dealer that's far?

Or do you drive to a special street that you know
Where there's lots of dealers with a variety to show?

When a restaurant wants to open its doors
Do they look for a spot that no one explores?

Or go to a spot that is right up the street
From several restaurants they know are neat?

Businessmen know what customers like
A large variety is what will spike

Sales for your store whatever you sell
Being near others helps us to do well.

I do not dismay or think I should stop
When I see another similar shop

That is the beauty of Etsy online
Shoppers like choice that here they can find.

To sum it all up we just want to say
We're glad you are here and hope you stay

We already count you as a friend made
Feel free to call on us if you need aid.

--by Joshua of Dad's Wooden Toys

What's New, and, Well Natural from the Natural Kids Team on Etsy

Welcome! I continue my trek backwards through the alphabet to bring to you the most wonderful and imaginative treasures. They are all handmade with natural materials from...yes! the NaturalKids Team on Etsy! This week, we feature wonderful variety of artist from who have one thing in common - they all work with natural materials!

Darial Lvovski hails all the way from Israel. She is a wonderful needle felter using eco wool and is the mother to three girls. In her shop you will see "only a tiny part of an amazing world populated by the little beings I create. My works have become the ultimate toys for my own children and the children of my friends. " Here is her One of a kind needle felted wool collectible, Pig Soft Sculpture.

Dad's Wooden Toys from Grand Rapids, Michigan is not only a wonderful craftsman of eco-friendly wooden toys, but a wonderful poet as well. Here is how he describes how he got going on behalf of his children..."I want the best for them all/and that's how I started rolling this ball/The toys everywhere made noise and light/but I think the kids not the toys should be bright/So my wife and I were searching to find/toys that were natural and good for their mind." Here is his Great Dane Wooden toy.

Cute Little Thing, is from Farmingdale, Long Island. She took her genetic predisposition for “cute,” a bachelors of fine arts degree in interior design, an absolute love for natural materials and designing with them, to create the tools, and kits and more for “cute little thing.” Cute Little Barn Owl Needle Felting Kit DIY

Those are the featured new items for this week, from one of a kind needle felted treasures, to natural wooden toys to do-it-yourself kits, all from natural materials and from the hands of folks who love nature, children and open ended toys. This is just a small sample of the quality and variety our customers enjoy from the fine crafters and artists of the NaturalKids team.

Thanks for joining us this week and please do return again next Monday as we continue to feature all the wonderful members of the Naturakids team on Etsy! Til then, I invite you to browse all our wonderful shops.

Warmly,
Rebecca aka Nushkie
Nushkie on Facebook

Sunday Treasury: Sunshine Come My Way

'Sunshine come my way!' by longmountainart

Collection of items to bring some sunshine...even when we havent seen it for weeks

Smiling Sun Baby Rattle... driaa $16.00	Gnome Rainbow Cradle Pl... ArmadilloDream... $13.00	Butterfly SOY crayons -... earthgrowncray... $8.00
Set of 3 postcards Yell... harvestmoonbyh... $5.00	EntWorks $	The Carousel Skirt with... BeneathTheRowa... $48.00
Green Platypus Handmade... sunshadow $32.00	Golden Honey Bees and S... prettydreamer $6.25	Needle felted fox- made... darialvovsky $78.00
Cotton Play Food-- Slic... fairtradefamil... $5.00	Cedar Tree Branch Butto... thesittingtree $4.95	Needle felted Wool Ethe... Nushkie $49.00
Flutterby, Butterfly an... willowbaus $48.00	Butterfly Life Cycle Pl... MuddyFeet $55.00	Bitty Bu Hand Dyed Bamb... TicketyBu $15.00
Wooden Animal Set - Chi... justhatched $32.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.