It's the most wonderful time of the year.....

No, I don't mean Christmas, it's seed catalogue season. Any homesteading family worth it's weight in Zucchini knows that gardening takes planning! All my kids love to dig in the dirt, but my second son, Max, is going to be a farmer when he grows up. If you saw him reading the seed catalog you would think he was reading the latest Toys’R’Us flyer! Ooh’s and Ah’s can be heard throughout the house!We start out by earmarking the pages of the new seeds we want to try like, dragon carrots ( they are purple inside) and Easter Egg Radishes ( grow in a pretty mix of colors). We dream and talk of the growing season. We set a budget and then scale back to stay in it. We start out our seeds in clear egg cartons in a window sill and let nature do it's bidding. We eagerly wait for the weather to get warm so we can plant our seeds. We then plant, water, weed and trim all while waiting for our bounty! It is wonderful to get to cook fresh items but best of all it is something wonderful to share with the whole family. When our bounty gets too big we share with the neighbors. This year we hope to add strawberries to our home grown produce. Watch for updates on our garden!

Santa's Little Helper or The Etsy Elf

This year I made a pledge to myself to buy handmade gifts and to work towards an all homemade Christmas. No easy task with 3 boys who love their electronics and being plugged in! Well my first thought was to make things but mothering and homeschooling leaves me little free time without the kids. So I turned to one of my favorite places, www.etsy.com .Not only am I a shop owner but I love to shop here as well. Here are a few things under our tree this year.

A wooden dagger and handmade sheath by two young brother. You can find them at http://www.dragonsandmermaids.etsy.com/

A pokemon tent and sleeping bag set. Just the thing every little 4 year old trainer needs. See http://www.munzies.etsy.com/ for all your toy tent needs.

Marble toy set, unfinished pine Mini marble run without marbles and Marble archboard in unfinished hard maple. By www.krtwood.etsy.com

Doll carrier blanket and pillow fits 17 inch doll. By www.Mimas.etsy.com

What the CPSIA means for me

I completely believe in attachment parenting and so that leaves very little of my life for me with 4 kids. My art/craft is my outlet. I have always painted but making toys has given me great joy. I am often giggling in my art room over the little faces and what new thing I created by gluing two wood pieces together. I don't get that much sleep these days with our little one teething, so I find that a little joy in my day is a BIG DEAL. The day I found out about the law felt like the walls were coming in on me. I didn't even realize how sad I was until I started feeling better because of the good news that has been coming lately in the news. I was joyful again, I even wanted to redo Christmas! As a parent this scares me. I want to be able to get creative things for my kids from other crafters. This year in our house 50 percent of the items under the tree were from etsy sellers. Santa even felt my kids were good enough that they got toys made by the ETSY Elves this year. Last week I shopped for my daughter's first birthday, everything was homemade from Etsy shops. It was exhilarating, no crazy packaging, no plastic, and toys she will treasure forever. I think there are some simple steps they can take. Like in the NEVER ENDING STORY, the princess only needed a name for the nothing to go away. If they give us a specific, descriptive name instead of calling us MANUFACTURES they could easily fix this for us. In recent reports, they have been referring to each of us as an "independent craftsperson". Also, American-made products that already are tested and certified non-toxic should be exempt. There is a great many things that do not contain lead, and I am working on compiling a list. I want to make sure I list things I use and plan to use in the future. Simple steps can be made to change this law, they just need to "walk" that way to change them.