Crunchy Steps

Over the past couple years, I have found myself becoming more "crunchy." Crunchy to me means a healthy and more natural way to do things. The "Crunchy Steps" I have taken have also meant a less expensive way to do things, which was always my number one reason to do them. For instance, I bake my own cookies instead of buy the ones in the package, we have a garden of vegetables and fruit, and this year we bought chickens so we could have fresh eggs (and fun, and a great learning experience for our girls). A few weeks ago I was sick of spending $20 a month on laundry detergent, so I found a recipe and made my own (and it actually works!). I promised my friend, Danielle, that becoming "crunchier" did not mean I was going to start making dresses out of tree bark, but I was very happy with the "crunchy steps" I had already taken, and started deciding what else I could do homemade.

Last week I visited one of my best friends, Shannon, and while we let our seven children play together, we started talking about different "crunchy" things we have been up to. She told me about freezer jam and vegetable stock, I told her about my laundry detergent and plans to make my own raisins. The next morning I had a great idea! Why don't we challenge each other to do at least one "crunchy" thing each week, and make a little extra of whatever we are making, and then swap that extra with each other? That way, we can get through testing methods and recipes more quickly, and also end up spending less money than if we did all the methods and recipes ourselves. Plus, it would be a lot of fun! She was in, and decided we should blog our way through this experience this summer. We decided to just put it on her blog, so I invite you to visit her blog for the first "Real Crunchy Steps" post (click here), then follow her blog so you don't miss any of this experience.

We hope you are inspired to take some of your own "Crunchy Steps."