Whilst I wouldn't identify as a crunchy mum (especially when it comes to delaying or abstaining from vaccinations...an utterly irresponsible act, which requires a rant entry of it's own), there are definitely elements of my parenting that are at the very least...chewy. According to this cute quiz, I scored a 37, which means I am "sprinkled with granola" (on a scale of "jello" to "grape nuts"). I use cloth nappies (though I am fast losing patience with my stash of leaky Tots Bots and am not willing to fork out to try different brands), I occasionally wear Mini Milk around the house or on dog walks in a woven wrap, I had a drug and intervention free birth (you could go as far to say that I didn't have a hospital birth, although that last part was not entirely by choice!) and very much support the importance of that approach. I don't co-sleep with Mini Milk unless he's really unsettled, but I did with Half Pint and the Mini Milk has never slept a night in a room without me. And beyond parenting I do try to recycle most of our waste, I'm looking at reducing our meat intake, I'm not allergic to second hand items, I really want to switch to more natural cleaning products and in general live a bit of a cleaner life. But there are a lot of un-crunchy things about how I live and parent as well - I formula feed and use dummies, we have a lot of electronic toys, I believe in discipline and routine, I drive, I like a good burger, I very much believe in medical science and I enjoy a lot of mainstream culture, commercialism and attitude.But one thing I am trying to be crunchy about is baby food. The only pre-made stuff Mini Milk has had was some sachets of pure fruit purée I bought when we were away in Mull last week. I couldn't transport the frozen purées I had at home, and it would have been impractical to try to make some whilst we were away. But anything else has been either mashed or poached single fruits (banana, mango, pears and apples), puréed single vegetables (sweet potato, carrot, spinach, broccoli, peas) or mixed vegetable purées. These last ones are from recipes I've been using from Annabel Karmel's Top 100 Baby Purees, which I picked up in an Oxfam bookshop in Oban last week. When I worked in Waterstones, the parenting section was one of my areas. In general I used to turn my nose up at the parenting "gurus" whose books I shelved, and I don't think I ever snuck one up to the staff room to read on my lunch break (I was more into the Stitch'n'Bitch books back then...not that I can knit a single row). Karmel was one of these gurus, and I really did have the attitude that she was making a ton of money off the back of simply telling people to get food, stick it in a blender and then give it to their baby. And actually, I nearly didn't buy this book the other week for precisely that reason. But I'm so glad I did. Whilst I cook most meals from scratch, and enjoy doing so, I don't really have a chef's mind of how to combine flavours and textures myself. Everything I cook is from a recipe, or at least based on something I've done before. So I was fine introducing first flavours of single foods to Mini Milk, but I actually don't mind admitting that I needed direction in stepping up the variety...and Karmel appears to be the woman to offer that guidance. I suppose I should add here that I don't have anything to compare her too...there is nothing to say that the recipes in the free Cow & Gate booklet I got through the post are any better or worse than hers. But what I've tried so far has been a success, so I'm not going to knock this particular guru. Especially when her recipes incorporate things I possibly wouldn't have thought to try until he was much older, such as onions and leeks.
I would be curious to know how crunchy other people are though, so if you take that quiz let me know your results!
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