WE'VE MOVED!

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We no longer use this blog. Please visit us at our Facebook page for current events and updates!
We look forward to hearing from you!
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Find Your Tribe!

Welcome to the Northern Virginia chapter of the Holistic Moms Network. Our purpose is to generate national awareness, education, and support for holistic parenting and to provide a nurturing, open-minded, and respectful community for parents to share these ideals. There is no checklist or litmus test of "holistic enough." HMN welcomes anyone who is interested in holistic health, natural parenting and/or green living. Please take a moment to browse the posts and learn a little more about us. As always, feel free to contact co-leaders, Alexa & Laurie, at HMNofNOVA@gmail.com with any questions or for more information.
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Find out more (click each link):
*Chapter Website
*National Website
Find us on Facebook too!
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Click here to join online and become a member.
*Scholarships are available to those in financial need.*
Click here for more information on the Helping Moms in Need program.
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We are a welcoming community!
We welcome all people, both parents and non-parents, of all races, national origins, colors, creeds, religions, sexes, ages, abilities/disabilities, sexual orientations, and gender identities. We are a warm and inclusive group, and welcome you to join us wherever you are on the holistic path in an environment that does not judge. Come as you are!
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Friday, December 5, 2008

Thank you, MOMs!

We want to send a HUGE thank you to My Organic Market (MOMs) for their generous donation of several prize bags and gift cards. Our members will enjoy all the great things that MOMs has to offer. Please visit them at their VA location or their many locations in Maryland.
MOM‘s Alexandria
3831 Mt. Vernon Ave.
Alexandria, VA 22305
703-535-5980

Thursday, November 13, 2008

November Meeting: EFT

Our speaker for this meeting, Jan Steele, presented a TON of great information on Emotional Freedom Technique. She created lengthy informational handouts. I have extras of her handouts, in hard copy, in the resource binder.
For more information on EFT, visit www.emofree.com.
For more information on Jan Steele,visit www.jansteele.com, email jansteele2@gmail.com or call 703-448-8472.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

November Meeting Changes

PLEASE NOTE: The November meeting will be held on the SECOND Tuesday of the month due to Election Day and we will not be meeting at our usual library location.
We will gather at:
The Infant & Toddler Connection of Fairfax-Falls Church
3750 Old Lee Highway
Fairfax, VA 22030.
Map and directions: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/csb/itc/ITC-FFCMap-English.pdf

We hope to see you there!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Sept Meeting: Labor Day 101

We had a wonderful meeting that provided great information for birth options. We are very thankful to our guest panelist who did an amazing job! Please keep them in mind for your future birth services.
It is very difficult to sum a meeting like this up in notes, but I did post some basic info from the meeting on the local Yahoo group. Check it out!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

FESTIVALS!

We are participating in/attending many festivals this fall. Please let us know if you can volunteer to staff the booths. We need your help! Thanks!

Centreville Day

  • Saturday, September 13 from 11 am – 6 pm.
  • Set up is from 7-10 am. Tear down begins at 6pm.
  • We will have a booth here and need volunteers to staff

Fall for Fairfax KidFest

  • Saturday October 4, 9am - 6:30pm
  • We will not have a booth, but will be meeting up to attend together as a group.

Green Festival DC

  • November 8-9, 2008
  • Saturday 10AM - 7PM
  • Sunday Nov. 11AM - 6PM
  • Washington D.C. Convention Center
  • 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW
  • Washington, DC 20001
  • We will be sharing a booth with Annapolis Chapter. Please help us staff the booth; this is VERY important!

Up-Coming Events

Summer Potluck Series: Last one!
Tuesday, August 19, 4-6pm
Van Dyck Park in Fairfax (3730 Old Lee Highway, Fairfax, VA 22030-1806)
*Please bring a healthy, labeled dish to share. We will provide plates and silverware.

Consignment Store Trip:
Thursday, 08/21/2008, 10:30 AM (Rainbow the Clown starts her show at 11am)
Small Change Consignments
1629 Washington Plaza
Lake Anne Village Center
Reston, Virginia 20190
Phone: (703) 437-7730
http://www.smallchangeconsignments.com/
*Please join us for some fall shopping. The owner has agreed to a special 10% discount to all HMN members! We will take turns playing with the kids outside while other moms shop. Please RSVPto HMNofNOVA@gmail.com so that we know to expect you. See you there!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

August Meeting: Eco-Fashions

This meeting was SO much fun! We talked a lot about how the way to be most "green" with your clothing is to use, re-use, and/or re-purpose it. If you must buy something, look at thrift and consignment stores first and then go for earth-friendly choices like organic cotton, hemp, or bamboo. We had an acitivity where we broke into groups and made/changed clothing to get some more use out of them. Nina was the winner with her sweater set turned purse!
There are LOTS of notes and resources on the local Yahoo loop under meeting notes. Check them out!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Weekly Events on Hold

We have been gathering for thrice-weekly events since May, but will now change to once a week events (due to popular demand). Keep your eyes on the Yahoo! group to find out more!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Organic on a Budget

Okay, so I know this was a meeting topic a few months ago, but this is a great resource article. Check it out here.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Summer Potluck Series

Everyone had such a great time at the July potluck meeting, that we are having more!
Please join us for a social potluck on Tuesday, July 22 (RESCHEDULED for Thursday, July 24 due to rain) and Tuesday, August 19 from 4-6pm at Van Dyck Park in Fairfax. Please bring a healthy, labeled dish to share. We will provide plates and silverware.
See you there!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

July Meeting: Potluck

We had a wonderful time at the Independence Day Potluck. We had many members and their families in attendance and ate some wonderful food! Everyone seemed to love it, so we are planning a "summer potluck series" in order to do it more often. Check the Yahoo group files for recipes from our members.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

May Meeting--Homeopathy at Home: Learning the basics of creating a homeopathic medicine chest with guest speaker Dr. John C. Reed MD, MD(H)

We had an amazing turn-out for this meeting! We had 43 adults and 15 kids attending. Dr. Reed (my dad!) did a great job speaking to everyone and answering people's questions. There are a LOT of notes for this meeting that will be posted on the local Yahoo! group for members to access. Join us and check it out!

New weekly events added!

We have added several weekly activities to the calendar. We hope you can join us!

Tuesdays, 9:30 am: Meet Me at the Market
Van Dyck Park
3730 Old Lee Highway, Fairfax, VA 22030-1806
Meet under the pavilion to shop at the Fairfax Farmers Market and/or play on the playground.

Thursdays, 10 am: Walking at Walney
Ellanor C. Lawrence Park
5040 Walney Road, Chantilly, VA 20151
Meet at the pavilion next to the pond and walk either on nature trails or on gravel/paved paths. Wear your baby and bring the kids! (Trails are not great for strollers unless they are "all terrain" or jogging style.)

Sundays, 2 pm: Sunday Strollers
Burke Lake Park
7315 Ox Road, Fairfax Station, Virginia
Meet up with other mommas to do some walking with your babes in slings, carriers, or strollers. Trails are great for kids on bikes and dogs too! Enter the park through the main entrance. Continue straight, following signs towards the boat marina. Park in the parking lot at the marina and look for Laurie or Alexa (we both have HMN magnets on our cars). There is also a great playground if you are not interested in walking. Please note: they may charge an $8/car fee for non-Fairfax county residents.

Monday, May 5, 2008

HMN Cookbooks Fundraiser

It is always the right time to make a commitment to your health! And what better way to get started than with HMN's own cookbook Growing Healthy Families: Cooking with Holistic Moms?
From Red Lentil Roast or Fennel-Crusted Salmon on White Beans, to Gluten-Free Fudge Brownies and Vegan Banana Oatmeal Cookies, there are many delicious offerings to choose from - all from our fellow members and HMN friends!

Growing Healthy Families: Cooking With Holistic Moms is as diverse as our membership and embraces recipes from all nutritional philosophies. With nearly 300 recipes to choose from, you can't go wrong! Divided into helpful categories and packed with some great tips for other things you can make in the kitchen - such as All Natural Baby Wipes, Non-Toxic Playdough and Natural Drain Unclogger - this is one cookbook you will use again and again!

Cookbooks are just $15 and $5 of each sale goes DIRECTLY to our NoVA chapter! Please help us fund our chapter events by purchasing a cookbook at our next meeting (cash or check). If you would like to reserve a copy for a later pick-up, please email me at HMNofNOVA@gmail.com.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Free reusable bag

I thought this would be a cool thing to pass on. It is a great way to get a free bag and also learn a little something...
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If you're savvy about conservation, try taking this quiz — get 9 out of 10 questions right, and they will send you a free reusable shopping tote! http://www.ebfarm.com/AboutUs/Environment/ConservationQuiz.aspx

Thursday, April 10, 2008

FREE Events at Whole Foods Fair Lakes

We have received information about some up-coming FREE events at Whole Foods Fair Lakes that we thought might interest you.

Saturday, April 12th: Earth Day Festival, 12:00–3:00 p.m.

Whole Foods Market means green! Fair Lakes is hosting an earth lover's festival in the store featuring a steel drummer, instructions on making your own reusable bags, great giveaways and great "green" demos! Also, we'll be giving away reusable bags from 1–2pm and our Whole Body department is hosting a (gently) used clothing drive. Bring in 5 items or more and receive a free bodycare gift!EcoStewards Alliance will be in the house raffling off an eco–tour and giving a demonstration of their worm bin, plus we'll show you how to make your garden grow in a a very green way – using brewed compost "tea" which is a great way to get the best out of your garden – pesticide free!

Thursday, April 17th: Canning Workshop, 6:30–8:30 p.m.

The season's best is upon us, and to celebrate we're bringing in a local husband and wife team, Scott and Lisa, to show us how to capture the season by canning our fruits and veggies to preserve them year round! Learn how to take your garden's freshest and turn it in to winter's supply. This class is free, so please sign up at our customer service booth.

Wednesday, April 23rd: Kid's Club Puppet Show!, 3:00 p.m.

EcoStewards Alliance is teaming up with Gleemania to bring us a show called "Listening to Global Warnings" to teach children (and adults alike!) about global warming and the easiest ways to understand it. This puppet show is interactive, so the audience members get to become part of it. It should be a great time, and we could learn a lot from it too! Each child in attendance will get a little tree to take home and plant in honor of earth day.

Whole Foods has lots of great events posted on their calendar each month. We may pass on a few from time to time, but please check it out yourself. It would be great to show up as a group to any of these events. Please email us if you are interested in going together. See you soon!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

April Meeting: Organic, All Natural, Free Range...Oh My! How to decipher food labels so you can choose what to eat.

We had 16 adults and 5 children attend the meeting on Tuesday, April 1st. It was a beautiful day (70+ degrees), so we were so glad that that many people decided to sit inside with us despite the draw of the lovely outdoor temps.
We discussed many food labelling buzz words and talked about how we all make food choices for our family. Full notes and resources will be posted on the local Yahoo email loop, but here are a few resources you many find helpful.

We hope to see you May 6th for our next meeting!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Volunteer list

Several people at the open house asked me to post the volunteer list here. Ask and you shall receive! It is now posted on the bottom of this blog site (scroll down to view). Please let us know if you can help our chapter!

Successful Open House!


WOOOHOOO! I just got home from the Open House and it was a smashing success! We had over 50 adults (moms, dads, and grandparents) and at least 20 kids in attendance. We met in a library conference room and only had 1/2 the room (big enough for 50). The library staff actually came and counted and we thought they were going to kick us out for exceeding fire code! I guess we are going to need the entire conference room from now on...

It was great to see people are so excited about the new community we are making! It was so nice to see that all the publicity work that we did actually paid off. We had people write how they heard about us on the sign in sheet. Although I have not yet compiled it, just on a quick look several came because of our articles in the paper and flyers that we posted all over the place. Hooray! It was wonderful to see the diversity in the group as well. We had parents and kids of all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, etc.
I came home to 10 emails already...I guess this is just the beginning!

A few picture on Picasa.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Fairfax Connection

Another paper, The Fairfax Connection, in the group called The Connection Newspapers ran our story this week. The article is identical to the one in The Centre View, except for they printed it with a new title. You can view the article online. Horray for great press coverage!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Centre View article

We are in the local paper, The Centre View, today. (One of the group called The Connection Newspapers). We are on the front page! You can also read the article online.
We are so thankful for all of the wonderful press we have been able to get for the new group!

Saturday, March 1, 2008

We are in a Washington Post article!

Laurie and I were interviewed for an article about non-toxic baby products. It is in the Post today! If the link doesn't work, just go to the Post online and log in. After that, search for "tots." The article is called "Non-Toxic Tots." Laurie and I are both featured in print and in photos (see below). Holistic Moms got a mention and check out the "holistic baby" t-shirt! :)

Photo By Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post

Photo By Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post

Photo By Annys Shin -- The Washington Post

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Publicity Photo

Here we are!
From Left: Alexa with Max (6 months) and Laurie with Samantha (8 months)

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Donations update

We just wanted to take a moment to thank the following businesses for providing our new chapter with donations of goods and/or services. THANK YOU!

We still have more coming in and will update as donations are received. Thank you!!

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Refreshments

We want to have refreshments for the Open House and are looking to local businesses to help out, but we would love to have our new members help as well. If you are willing to bring a healthy dish to share, please let us know. Thanks!

Toys

Do you have toys that your children no longer use? Give them to us!
We are looking for toys to create a toy bin for our monthly meetings. We would like to have quiet toys for a variety of ages. Please let us know if you or someone you know might be able to help us out!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Publicity

We are trying to get the word out about the new chapter to as many people as possible. If you would like some flyers to share and/or post or would like us to come and speak to your group, please just drop us an email and let us know. Thanks!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Donations

We are trying to get donations so that we can have door prizes at our open house and food at our first meeting. If you are interested or know someone who might want to donate, please contact us! HMN is a non-profit, so donations are tax deductible.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Meeting location secured

We were working very hard to try and get a meeting space and Laurie finally found one. Hooray!
We will hold meetings at the brand new, beautiful City of Fairfax Library. It is a great space and we hope that is will be convienent to all who want to attend. We tried to make sure it was centrally located and easy to get to from Rt 66. We hope to see you there!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Under Construction

Please come back soon to read all of our latest news!