Lots of things to be thankful for!

What an amazing group of women we are! Our speakers shared inspirational stories of education and healing. Katherine, Nina and Josie have made their holistic passions their careers, and we all came away with such a motivated sense of commitment. It was great to just sit and talk and share ... and give away generous prizes! And we collected donations for our host church's food pantry. What an amazing community this is!

Thanks to all the speakers for their time and donations, to Vicky for an additional donation/door prize, to new member Marybeth for sharing, and to everyone who came to the meeting. Thanks to Mary for working on a list of favorite websites of our members (she went through old emails to start a list! Send her others if you have them.)

We also talked about plans for the January 21 anniversary party. There is lots of room to help out for our celebration. Also, here are some photos of a great business meeting we had on Sunday morning before the Thursday meeting. The next business meeting will be December 5 at 3:00 p.m., location TBA.

Check out the flyers on our Yahoo member group site or the schedule to the right on this blog to see the great schedule of meetings we came up with for the first half of 2010. Thanks to all who attended the business meeting and helped flesh out this great program. Anyone with any expertise or interest in any of the topics, let us know and we'll see if there's any way you can help us prep for the meeting.

Little River Yoga is hosting us for a yoga/massage/relaxation Moms Night Out on Monday, December 14. The required minimum number of participants is 8 people. The time is 7-9 p.m., and the cost is $35. Let Jessica know if you plan to attend; RSVP by this Wednesday, December 2.

November 19 Meeting - Sharing our Holistic Journeys!

Click here to see photos from this meeting and read more about the event.

Join us on Thursday, November 19 (7-9 p.m.) for a wonderful meeting of learning, sharing, and building community. Two chapter members will talk to us about their personal journeys toward holistic health and how they brought the personal into the professional.

Katherine Sumner, AADP, is a Board Certified Health Counselor who trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City. Nina Elliot is a Certified Personal Trainer who, with her husband, owns Health and Wholeness, a wellness studio focused on improving diet, exercise, and lifestyle choices. The company's tagline is "Health by Choice, Not by Chance."

We'll hear the inspirational stories of both members and have a chance to ask questions and share with one another about our own journeys.

Members have been asked to share their personal favorite webstites for holistic health (which we'll put into a handout). Below are some questions to think about prior to our discussion.

Please join us and find out just how many varieties there are of "holistic moms!"

Thought questions:
What got you started down a holistic path?
What was your a-ha moment?
Were there any times you had second thoughts?
What brought you back?
What haven't you addressed yet but want to?
What is next for you?

Pumpkin Patch!

Our group had a second pumpkin patch outing, this time at Ticonderoga farms, a great, low-key place that doesn't spray its pumpkins (or tomatoes or peppers, which are also available U-pick in the summer). We had a great time with the animals, on a hayride, on slides and on the playground.

Learning about Consumerism

We had a great turnout for the screening of Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood. Cathy Myers of the Family and Home Network and our own Michelle R. did a great job moderating the post-film discussion. We might try for an evening screening in the new year. Thanks to the Family and Home Network for organizing the screening along with Arlington Unitarian Cooperative Preschool and Michelle R.

For more on the film, see the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

Thanking our hosts!

Since June, our chapter has been meeting at Arlington United Methodist Church. The church is able to offset the cost for housing us in large part by its Pumpkin Patch fundraiser. The pumpkins are purchased from an Indian Reservation that harvests them sustainably. The Patch is open until October 31, after which time pumpkins are free to farmers or anyone else who wants them.

We appreciate the generosity of AUMC. HMN members contribute to the church's food pantry, which serves the homeless population of Arlington. We donated items to the bake sale for the church's Fall Festival, where we had the chance to share information with the community. Thanks to all the members who contributed delicious, healthy treats and to HMN member Michelle D. for organizing the bake sale donation. And thanks to AUMC for this wonderful opportunity!

Holistic Halloween?

We had a great evening discussion on how to have a more holistic Halloween. Thanks to member Michelle R. for going through all the emails on the national HMN listserv and putting together this great, succinct list of ideas. And thanks to everyone who came out and shared your thoughts, concerns, and ideas!

Be sure to check out GreenHalloween.org.

Here's Michelle's wonderful list!

10 TIPS FOR A HOLISTIC HALLOWEEN

1. CREATE YOUR OWN COSTUME

Search the internet for ideas ● Shop at thrift stores for supplies ● Rent instead of buying ● Swap with friends ● Freecycle ● Donate old costumes

2. CHOOSE GREEN ACCESSORIES

Chose latex masks over vinyl (unless your child has a latex allergy) ● Vinyl contains PVC and phthalates ● Latex smells like a balloon and vinyl like a shower curtain ● Create your own makeup using recipes found on the internet ● Use non-toxic makeup (Aveda, Real Purity, Logona, Lyra, Sante Kosmetics) ● Collect candy in reusable bags rather than plastic ● Decorate your own organic cotton tote ● Avoid glowsticks that cannot be recycled ● Use rechargeable flashlights ● Try beeswax candles instead of petroleum-based

3. HAND OUT HEALTHY TREATS

Purchase organic/fair trade sweets ● Alternatives to candy include popcorn bags, snack bars, fruit leather, beverage boxes, raisins, honey sticks ● You can make your own treats, wrap creatively and include your address label to ensure safety

4. HAND OUT NON-EDIBLE TREATS

Distribute non-edible items like bubbles, playdoh, stickers, spider rings ● Shop at stores that promote fair trade practices ● Or save trinkets collected throughout the year, such as from party goody bags, and give those away ● Non-perishables can be saved for next year

5. DON’T EAT ALL THAT CANDY!

Good old-fashioned rationing ● “You can have as many pieces as you are old” ● Donate the candy to troops overseas, nursing homes, etc. ● Invite the Switch Witch or Sugar Sprite to your house who exchanges gifts for candy while children are sleeping ● Glue the candy to cardboard and make a “gingerbread” house for Christmas ● Children can set up a candy store and use money earned from selling treats to buy other items on their wish lists

6. HAVE A PARTY INSTEAD

Have a harvest party instead of trick-or-treating ● Kids can trick-or-treat to each family for non-sugary treats ● Serve pumpkin pancakes or muffins, popcorn, veggie trays arranged like skeletons, hot apple cider in a crock pot ● Use Halloween cookie cutters on pita bread and bake in the oven to make little chips, or use cutters for cheese to place on whole grain crackers ● Organize fun games so parties are not just about food ● Make skeletons using Q-tips, pin the nose on the pumpkin/witch, “touch boxes” where children feel and guess what’s inside, painted pumpkins, pumpkin carving contests, bob for apples ● Organize a magical Halloween walk through the woods where children meet different characters in the forest

7. INCORPORATE SERVICE INTO THE HOLIDAY

Trick-or-treat for UNICEF and raise money for children around the world ● Participate in Reverse Trick-or-Treating and distribute out fair trade chocolate with a handout on child slavery in the cocoa industry

8. HALLOWEEN AS A “TEACHABLE MOMENT”

Talk with your children about your family’s choices and empower them to make good decisions ● “We just don’t do that in our family” ● Tells kids that every mommy and daddy can decide for their own kids what to do

9. CELEBRATE THE SEASON

Participate in Fall activities prior to Halloween, such as visiting a pumpkin patch, going on hay rides, taking a hike and observing seasonal changes ● Make Halloween just a small part of the season and not the main point

10. SPREAD THE WORD

Talk to friends and neighbors about your plans for a holistic Halloween ● Organize holistic trick-or-treating routes with other like-minded neighbors ● Learn more and join the Green Halloween movement at www.greenhalloween.org ● Put a “Green Halloween” logo on your door for visitors to see

Sensational Skin Care Meeting

What a lot of information our October speakers shared on holistic approaches to skin care! It was clear to everyone who attended that skin is not just a surface issue!

Honi Borden of Holeco ® Wellness Medi Spa encouraged us to see out "toxic-free" skin care products and not assume that an "organic" label means a product is free of toxins and chemicals that should not go into our bodies. She provided a wonderful handout and encouraged us to look at the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep database at http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/and to read Stacy Malkan's book, Not Just a Pretty Face.

Dr. Marie Rodriguez, ND, explained that skin conditions are manifestations of internal issues. If the body is not able to excrete toxins effectively through more typical elimination routes, it has to use the skin. She provided great handouts on some typical conditions and what kinds of nutritional deficiencies or other issues they often point to. She also addressed body pH and discussed how acid/alkaline imbalance or an overgrowth of yeast can cause skin symptoms. The emphasis was on the fact that skin issues are symptoms that can give us clues about what is going on in our bodies. Skin problems are not issues we treat by themselves, lest we pump more toxins into our bodies.

Both speakers were kind enough to address in detail the questions members had submitted prior to the meeting. They also stayed long after the meeting to talk with attendees. Thanks to Honi and Dr. Marie for the wonderful presentations and for the great giveaways!

Handouts are available to members on our chapter email group.