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Channel: The Smart Mama» Jennifer
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The Food and Drug Administration & Cosmetics

I’m speaking at The Divine Female, an event from yogitoes and The Yoga Beauty Bar for conscious beauty and breast cancer awareness, on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. about deciphering beauty ingredients.  I...

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Moving on up . . ..

With a brand new year comes a new adventure. We’ve moved. We’ve left our house on the bluffs in San Pedro and moved to a just shy of 6 acre spread. The first day was a bit trying. It was freezing...

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Adventures in moving . . .

As I previously posted, we’ve moved. Our new property features a run down house that we plan to fix up and 2 lots approximately 5.64 acres in total. I’ve got big dreams about creating a self sustaining...

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Moving & Murphy’s Law – What can go wrong, does go wrong

Okay, so the title isn’t quite Murphy’s Law. Murphy’s Law is “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” That being said, I like my saying better because I’m going to hope that nothing more goes wrong....

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Buyer Beware – Junk Escrow Fees In Home Purchase

My husband and I just sold our house and bought a new one. And boy did I learn a lot. Last time I was involved in a property purchase, I didn’t pay all that much attention to the documents. Yes, I read...

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Is “Being Green” The New Battle In The “Mommy Wars”?

I really hate the so-called “Mommy Wars.” I get it that every parent wants to think his or her way of parenting is best, and I get it that we wall make different choices (stay at home, work at home, or...

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Edible Landscaping – Miner’s Lettuce

So, if you have read any of the recent posts, you will know that we have moved to a much bigger property. You will also know that the house on the property is, well, a bit of a fixer-upper (and that is...

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Kim Kardashian As An Earth Mama?

Last night an article on Yahoo caught my eye – the title boldly asserted Kim Kardashian – Earth Mother with her new pregnancy. I snorted my drink onto my computer screen and almost fell out of my chair...

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Edible Landscaping – Scented Geraniums

I got to plant some of my scented geraniums this weekend. Whoot! I love scented geraniums. They are so deliciously fragrant! You just brush against them and breathe in the wonderful scent. Crush a leaf...

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Los Angeles with Kids – Archery Adventure

I love how much there is to do and experience in the greater Los Angeles area. You want the beach – great. You want to go skiing – it is a relatively short drive up to the mountains. You want...

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Wild Edibles – Foraging for Dinner

So the other night I didn’t have any veggies or greens to add to our dinner. I had fruit and I had potatoes, but nothing green and bright. So I did a quick foraging expedition in our backyard –...

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Land of Fruits and Nuts – Preserving the Harvest – Day 1 – Strawberry Jam

Well, we’ve finally reached the beginning of the harvest so to speak here at the aptly named Land of Fruits and Nuts. Yep, we’ve named the “farm” the Land of Fruits and Nuts . . . we actually went...

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Land of Fruits and Nuts – Preserving the Harvest – Day 2 – Orange & Whiskey...

So, having successfully made and canned strawberry jam (see my blog post on Day 1), I was ready to move on and try something to preserve the actual harvest. And boy do we have oranges. There are many...

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Land of Fruits and Nuts – Joining Team ENERGY STAR

So, in the Land of Fruits and Nuts, we have to remodel the home. “Have to” is an understatement – the home’s major systems are failing – we’ve had the sewer pipe burst underneath the house, the water...

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Land of Fruits and Nuts – Preserving the Harvest – Day 3 – Elder

So, my third day of preserving the harvest at the Land of Fruits and Nuts found me too exhausted to think of canning. For the record, for the past two days, I’d been canning after the kiddos went to...

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Land of Fruits and Nuts – Preserving the Harvest – Day 5 – Loquats & Loquat...

It is May 6, 2013, and loquat trees hang heavy with fruit in Southern California. Driving home from picking up my kids from after school care, we pass 6 or 7 trees in our relatively short drive just...

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Land of Fruits and Nuts – Day 6 – Loquat Jelly

As I explained in my prior post, I had tons of loquats and wanted to use them for something, anything really. I stumbled across a recipe for loquat jelly, and was determined to make it. The day before...

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Land of Fruits & Nuts – Day 7 – Taking a Canning Class and More

Before I get too far along in my adventure here at the Land of Fruits and Nuts, I wanted to share information about a class I took at the Institute of Domestic Technology, rediscovering the future of...

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Land of Fruits and Nuts – Day 8 – Sweet Marmalade

I’m still trying to use the oranges that are hanging on – the end of the season’s crop. I’ve got fresh blooms and new fruit starting, but we haven’t harvested all of this year’s crop. Mostly because it...

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Land of Fruits and Nuts – Day 9 – What the heck am I doing and cookbook porn

Okay, so today I woke up and wondered what the heck am I doing with 6 acres of land covered with fruit trees and vegetables and other stuff. How am I going to do something with the bounty? The avocados...

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