Elise Lately [V]

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My garden is officially started.  Meaning it’s in soil and I’m waiting (notsopatiently) for the yield.

I planted basil and parsley plants.  More basil from seeds.  And (the above) spinach, chard, and kale seeds.  I also have a (sweet 100) tomato plant.  And our lime tree (which made the move from Santa Monica with us).  Yup, I moved with a tree.

I’m so excited to get some free produce this summer!

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Kyle and I finally made it to the Davis Farmer’s Market!  Geez.  Took us long enough! 

There are SO many things I can’t wait to try.  Our fridge was already pretty well stocked, so I didn’t get anything, but now that I know what they have I’m excited to menu and grocery plan around it.  There are some cool gluten free tortillas (made with chia and quinoa) and East West Gourmet (you know I couldn’t resist getting a pumpkin Bolani).

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But even more exciting is the vibe around the market.  There are lots of food stands and since it’s next to a park, everyone picnics with their eats on the nice days (which is basically every day). 

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Kyle and I loved it so much we went back when his parents were in town a few days later.

Lots of food vendors I plan on trying: The Hotdogger (has vegetarian dogs and chili), Naanwich (I’m a big fan already), El Mariachi (Mexican food, need I say more), and definitely the ethnic cuisines (Raja’s Tandoor, Kathmandu Kitchen, Thai Recipes).

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Left: The Hotdogger’s vegetarian corndog; right: Face Face’s egg and goat cheese sandwich.

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Our cherry tree’s yield peaked and has now been completely demolished by the birds.  At least I got a decent stash during the height of production.  Enough to make a couple of crisps and snack on plain.  I still have a tupperware full in the fridge that I’m trying to make last.  They are high in FODMAPs though, so by default I kinda have to I’m savor them slowly.  It seems wrong to use them in a smoothie, but it sounds really good. 

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Local brew.  Kyle and I have the restaurant on our short list of places to try.  If anyone has been to Sudwerk and has recs, send em my way.

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The rest of our cloth diapers finally arrived a few weeks ago so we’ve been exclusively cloth diapering for a while now and I’m happy to say it’s going really well.

We do so much freakin’ laundry already it’s not an issue, but eventually I’d like to increase our stash even more.  We have 16 bumgenius 4.0 (snap) diapers right now.  I only bought 4 in the beginning just to see how it went and if we liked them (they’re pricey so I wanted to make sure they fit and everything too).  They worked out perfectly, so I waited til there was a sale and then got 12 more (buy 5 get 1 free).  I got a super good price for them and so we are pretty much set for now.  I did a ton of research when it came to all-in-one diapers and the love for bumgenius was overwhelming and I have to say I’m a fan too.

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He’s on the small end of the snaps so there’s lots of room to grow.  The covers dry super fast.  And they’re so cute!  Love a big ‘ol diaper butt. 

Next up is transitioning to cloth wipes.  We are only waiting because we just bought a case of Costco’s wipes, but once those are done it’ll be cloth all the way. 

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Comments (46)

  1. Kimberly

    We did cloth/cloth as well, and for the most part, everyone thought we were crazy! To add to that, we were students living in residence while ALL THREE of ours were born (no, they don’t remember being the babies of poor students). In any case, we had shared laundry and I am sure our fellow students were not a big fan of our laundry days. For wipes, I just bought a ton of flannelette on sale and serged around the edges. It worked perfectly and was very student-budget-friendly as well as the obvious.

  2. Abby

    We finally got my garden tilled this past weekend and will probably plant in the next couple of weeks (when we know the frost risk is gone.) I can’t wait for fresh beans and veggies! And your market looks awesome. Ours had an expansion and just reopened last week with indoor AND outdoor vendors, so I can’t wait to check it out.

    As for diapers, I got nothing 😉

  3. Lori

    That baby gets better lookin’ every single darn time I see him !

    🙂

    Lori x

  4. Georgia @ Trying Something New

    I work at a baby store, and we sell cloth diapers and wipes. I must say, I love that you’re a supporter and are willing to tell everyone about them! I think they’re so wonderful, and absolutely fantastic for the environment, so kudos to you for using them!

  5. Sami

    I’ve always wondered about the pros/cons of using cloth diapers. Would you give a little more insight about why you love them so much? I’m not even expecting yet, but I already pinned this post so I don’t forget the name of the brand you like. It’s weird how I trust your opinion in like… everything. Haha.

    xo.

  6. Katie @ Peace Love & Oats

    Ah I’ve always wanted a garden, although I definitely have a black thumb so I’m not sure how well it would go…

  7. Alexis @ Hummusapien

    That farmers market looks fabulous! We don’t have any around here that have awesome food vendors like that one 🙁

  8. Sarah @ The Smart Kitchen

    I just bought a giant bag of sweet red cherries on sale, and then realized I’d already packed up my cherry pitter in an effort to get a jump on my move at the end of the month. I have determined that just means I’m meant to eat them slowly. 🙂

    I hope my garden thrives, too. I am SO impatient, and am pretty sure a recent rainstorm drowned my lettuce…

  9. Sarah

    Elise! I’m not a mom and not expecting (don’t even know if I ever want to), but for some reason I’m super curious about this cloth diaper situation. Imagine not having any idea how the whole process works. If you’re bored, post on that! I know other readers already know and I could just look it up, but I think you’ll explain it better and it’ll be more fun. How does it work with the poop? Where does the poo go? Doesn’t a little of it get in the washing machine? And cloth wipes!? You are blowing my mind.

  10. Elise (Post author)

    hahha. ok, ill see if i can get it together. not sure i want my blog to veer so far away from food…
    heres the quick answers:
    -i use oxiclean spray on the stains right after i change him and then put it in the laundry basket.
    -yes, poop straight into the washing machine. no issues. it all gets clean. i even do his diapers w some of our clothes.
    -right now hes not on solids so the poop isnt bad. once we get to real food it may be a whole other ball game :S
    -cloth wipes plus a spray bottle filled with water is the plan. same deal with the cleaning process.
    -bumgenius diapers are a kind of “all-in-one” meaning you dont have to fold them or do anything to wrap them. the old fashioned kind (that i had when i was a baby) are now called pre-folds.
    -the all-in-one bumgenius diapers have a insert thats made of really soft absorbant cloth. it goes in a little pocket. you can see them in the pic above. you take it out before washing. it goes in the dryer, the outside (colored portion) doesnt.

  11. Elise (Post author)

    haha. i love it.
    you should SEEEEEEE the amount of waste produced from disposable diapers and wipes. its insane. i feel so guilty for the landfill i just created a need for in just 2 months of disposables.
    basically cloth diapering is WAY more environmentally friendly. once you have kiddos youll see. i have always been really good about minimizing our waste, so our output went from little to astronomical amounts. now that we are doing cloth its back down. much better!
    its also a pain in the a$$ to always worry about how many diapers you have left. and disposables arent cheap either!
    quality cloth ones are expensive too but they last forever and grow w him. its a one time investment that you can use for all your kids. they sell used ones online too, which i used to think sounded nasty, but really its not.
    the only thing that i feel a little questionable about is the amount of water we use in doing so many loads of laundry. we have energy efficient appliances and all that, but still. hopefully once we get more diapers we can do less and less.
    hes already down from his newborn 12 diapers a day to 8 a day, so thats an improvement…eventually i think itll decrease to like 4-6 a day?

  12. Ashley @ My Food N Fitness Diaries

    Glad to hear the cloth diapering is going so well! Where did you buy your diapers from? I bought a few different styles/brands to see which ones we like best, and then I figured we’d buy more after that. I’ve heard rave reviews about the BumGenius as well, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we went with those. The 4.0 style are the ones you have to stuff, right? Like a pocket diaper?

  13. Sarah C.

    I saw a chart on the comparison between the waste of disposables vs. the extra cost of cloth+water+detergent and the cloth diapers were still WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more affordable and environmentally friendly than disposable. So don’t worry about the water.

    I know you’re probably all good on cloth diapering advice, so feel free to ignore this if you like, but here’s what I did. Next to the sink I kept a covered plastic bin (like a shoe box size) filled with an oxy-clean type stuff dissolved in water. Stained liners and cloth wipes (just squares of soft flannel) went in there to soak before being added to the laundry with the covers and pee-covered liners.

    Also, please don’t make the mistake I did with diaper cream – really, when they say don’t use it, they mean it. I don’t know what to replace it with if the bum gets rashy, but we kept ruining the absorbancy of the covers with the stuff and had to strip them (which I don’t really think ever fully worked).

  14. Erika

    So awesome that you’re doing the cloth diapers! We use the prefolds with Thirsties and Bummis diaper covers on our 3 month old and they are so great! She’s never had diaper rash and only one diaper explosion (although no diaper could have withstood that one I’m afraid). We use flannel wipes too and they’re seriously so much better than the disposables. One wipe cleans up the whole mess. It’s definitely more expensive in the beginning, but totally worth it in the end. Plus there’s no waste and no chemicals being exposed to my baby’s skin.
    What website did you order your diapers and wipes from? I’m curious to see how prices compare. We used this one:
    http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/home.php
    We ordered the diaper lotion potion too which you spray on baby’s butt before wiping with the cloth. It smells good and moisturizes her little bottom.
    That picture of the P-man laying with his diapers is precious. He’s such a little doll 🙂

  15. Elise (Post author)

    well done you! its a commitment at first only in the mental regard. kyle wasnt keen on handling poop whereas im a nurse and its not really a big deal (not that i love it, but you know what i mean). but once you get used to it, it no longer seems abnormal and is totally just as easy. and wayyyyy cheaper and better for the environment.
    i think thats what we are gonna do w the wipes too. and old rag will do!

  16. Elise (Post author)

    thank you for the advice on the diaper cream!!! his rash has gone away now but we were using the stuff every change in the beginning – now im glad those were the disposable days. good to know!
    good call on the oxiclean rinse bucket. that may be what we do once solids enter the picture. for now we have an oxiclean spray bottle thats working. i was thinking of diluting it though bc i dont wanna go through them so fast. the soaking water bucket is probably a better way…

  17. Elise (Post author)

    yeah the bumgenius 4.0 have the pocket w the insert things. they also make velcro or snap. i heard velcro is great for when theyre doing crazy wiggle legs but that the snaps last longer. i went w snaps and ive had no issues. so what if he squirms – takes an extra 4 seconds.
    i bought them online at cottonbabies.com, but you can try used sites like jilliansdrawers.com
    unfortunately bumgenius diapers are so popular and nobody has issues w them that they are hard to find used and arent available very often. you can sign up for email alerts though for the kind you want.

  18. Elise (Post author)

    thanks so much erika!
    i was gonna do a basic water bottle and flannel rag combo, but ill check out the lotion potion spray for sure.
    after waiting a long time for the bumgenius 4.0 to become available used on jilliansdrawers.com i ended up ordering mine from cottonbabies.com. w the free shipping and deal they ended up being about the same price as the used ones.

  19. Hannah @ CleanEatingVeggieGirl

    You have a lime tree?!? That is so cool! Now all you need are a few beers and some tequila! 😉

  20. Courtney

    Awww…I am super envious of your space to garden! How awesome is that?! I want a garden!

    Second of all, cherries in smoothies ARE really good. Also, you can freeze your cherries if you want to make them last! They are really good added to smoothies frozen too 🙂

    Third of all, P is adorable. As always 🙂

    Courtney

  21. BroccoliHut

    The waiting is the hardest part of gardening for me. I just want to have cucumber and tomatoes, already!
    Those cherries look amazing! Maybe we’ll have a cherry tree in our next house…

  22. Laura

    Wait! You wash POOPY diapers with your REGULAR clothes!?!?!? That seems a bit crazy to me. Do you use extra detergent?? Don’t your clothes start to smell poopy? hmm…remind me to hold of hugging you when I see you until I get these answers. ha 🙂

  23. Laura

    Oh! In other news, that pic of PAC man with all the diapers around him is adorable!

  24. Emily

    I can’t even begin to tell you how jealous I am of your garden! Not having access to a garden is definitely one of the downsides to living in an apartment in the city…

    And I’ve always kind of wondered about cloth diapers. I’ve never personally known anyone that used them but they sound like an awesome option. Props to you for putting in the extra work!

  25. Ren

    The Denio’s farmer’s market in Roseville is also fairly spiffy. The flea market part is not fantastic, but the fruits/veggies/breads are great, although nothing beats the Davis farmer’s market.

    I used to love Sudwerk and I don’t know what happened to it. I haven’t been in a few years, but I loved the hot potato salad and they have raspberry and pear ales that are also amazing. It’s a neat space to eat because of all the fun brewing things to look at. I just wish the food was as good as the first few times I was there.

    Konditorei is not too far from Sudwerk and it’s the best, best, best place for a dessert ever. It’s a little Austrian cafe and I can’t describe how delicious it is. The Carinthia pizza was my favorite lunch (not vegetarian but it could probably be adapted), if I wasn’t going for one of the incredibly decadent tortes. (I’m not affiliated with them at all, which is good because I’d be eating nothing but tortes all day.)

  26. Elise (Post author)

    baby poop (especially breastfed babies) is NBD. i thought it was weird too (reading all the stuff while preggo in prep of diapering) until i saw what we are talking about. its like barely anything and its not formed stool.
    once we start solid food though…thats a whole different story. i dont think i can throw it in the washer without rinsing it or something first.
    arent you so glad to know all this??

  27. Elise (Post author)

    i saw little kale and spinach buds today!!!!!!!! i am so freakin EXCITED!!!
    how soon do you move btw?

  28. Elise (Post author)

    good call on freezing them!

  29. Elise (Post author)

    well. limes too. we;ve yet to get anything from the dang tree… 🙁

  30. Elise (Post author)

    i totally empathize. back when i lived in NYC i missed having space so much. starting a garden was priority #1 once we moved back to ca.
    and regarding cloth diapers – its not even extra work to be honest. its just where you want to put the effort. i think buying disposables and constantly worrying abut your stash getting low and having to go to the store is super annoying. maybe other people think laundry is annoying (i used to be one of those people), but once you have a kid youre doing laundry EVERY SINGLE DAY no matter what. its crazy. thats another reason i dont understand how people can raise a kid in an apartment in the city. if we didnt have our own washer and dryer in our house i wouldnt know what to do. it would be impossible.

  31. Elise (Post author)

    thank you ren! i just looked up konditorei and some of these pastries sound amazing!
    bummer about sudwerk. ill see how the food is whenever i make it there.

  32. Laura

    yes i am 🙂

  33. josée

    can i give you one advise? keep the chard (oh, i have coloured chard, so pretty) and the spinach away from each other. the don’t grow well if too close to one other. found that out the hard way. i like gardening too, but i only have a balcony. am really happy that there are veggies that do wel in pots and tubs. and i’m officially growing cherries now. lately i bought some shiny things to keep the birds away. a collegue said he always ties aluminium foil in the tree, or old cd’s, to keep the birds away. maybe you can try that too. or wait till P is old enough to run and scream while playing in the garden.

  34. Lindsay

    http://www.amazon.com/Real-Nappies-Diaper-Liners-Sheets/dp/B003OOCT08/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1369340299&sr=8-4&keywords=cloth+diaper+liners

    I used these with our cloth diapers once we started solids. You can just pick up the liner and throw it in the toilet. The liners break down like toilet paper. And they hold up for a wash or two if there was no poopie! Check them out!

  35. Sally

    We have a good sized lime tree, with limes 🙂 . Also kale and silverbeet in pots, and in summer we love growing some basil.

    It’s great to have some greens straight from the plant.

  36. Shawnna

    Limes and cherries!!! Sounds heavenly 🙂 I love that picture of him surrounded by the new diapers. I’m glad to hear that the BGs are working well for him. Once the poop gets more solid, it usually rolls right off into the toilet. All baby poop is supposed to go in the toilet- even from disposables. The landfill isn’t designed for human waste. For anyone curious, the other huge advantage of cloth diapers is that they are absorbent in the front and back. So, newborn liquid poop stays inside the diaper instead of heading up all over baby’s back. I used sposies with my first, and cloth with my second. And they just function as a diaper better. Oh, there’s also the chemicals in the diaper gel that are toxins, so another advantage I just remembered.

  37. Elise (Post author)

    excellent points shawnna! thanks for commenting 🙂

  38. Katie

    I would skip the restaurant at Sudwerks and bring a picnic to the dock store (their outdoor tasting room connected to the restaurant). The restaurant food leaves a lot to be desired, but the beer in the dock store is really good and family friendly.

  39. Katie

    Yes, this. Solid poop diapers have made me question my undying love for cloth a number of times. We tried diaper sprayers, dunking diapers in the toilet, and scraping the poop off with toilet paper before we realized that liners are really the way to go once babies start solids. It makes nasty poop cleanup SO much easier.

    I will say that we don’t flush ours though. We were, but after a toilet clog that resulted in me standing in a shower full of poop, we bought a small covered trash can that the poop liners go in.

  40. Elise (Post author)

    you are so sweet lori. i think you need to come visit so you can meet him in real life 🙂

  41. Elise (Post author)

    thanks georgia! theyre so cute too!!

  42. Elise (Post author)

    good to know…so you can bring your own food to the tasting room?

  43. Elise (Post author)

    yikes. not a fun shower situation… 😛

  44. Katie

    We always have!

  45. Lori

    I will bring an extra suitcase for my P stash :). Gosh I would luv to give him a big kiss and smell his head ;). Upon which he would scream and you would send me away :/ hahaha

    We may be in the US end of next year for our honeymoon so you never ever know ! I know you are in Nor Cal, town starts with a D and that you can be found frequenting Wholefoods and Costco with a cute cloth diapered button!

    x Lori

  46. Elise (Post author)

    haha, P loves everyone. he wouldnt scream, i smell his head all the time 🙂
    ps you can probably find me w that info alone…hahaha

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