Have you had your sunshine today?

I feel like I’ve been talking sun for months, but it’s only been two weeks. If you’ve been away, welcome back! You can find all the sun protection information and reviews below:

• Sun, Sunscreen, Skin Cancer and Safety: How Much do you Need?
• Natural Sunscreen Review: Do Mineral Based Sunblocks Work?
• Sun Protective Clothing Review: Cover Up and Get Out of the Sun
• Sun Protective Clothing Review: Thoughts on Two U.S. Companies
• Sun Protective Clothing Review: Alex & Me, Solartex and Sungrubbies

What Would I REALLY Use?

A few people asked in comments and on Facebook for the genuine recommendation: Which one will you buy for your family?

Besides the fact that I won’t have to buy sunscreen forever, I offered quite a few choices from the Natural Sunscreen Review, most of the list from “Kitchen Stewardship recommends,” based on ease of application and price, mostly. I forgot to really get into the ingredients, but now…I have.

When I was asked for a sunblock for my cousin’s 3-month-old baby, it all fell into perspective. I wanted only the best real ingredients, and only zinc oxide (not titanium dioxide, an ingredient of many on my list) is rated for skin under 6 months. It’s also the active ingredient in diaper cream.

I now can say I honestly recommend two, because they’re the only two sunblocks made only with zinc oxide, all the other ingredients are recognizable, and they’re not too expensive. They also have adequate antioxidants included (more than adequate in the case of Melansol) to combat potential free radicals in your skin.

• Kabana
• Melansol from Sungrubbies Although I’m still a fan, Melansol no longer gets a “top 2″ recommendation because of the nano-particles of zinc oxide used. Studies conflict, but it’s possible that these extra-small particles of the minerals may absorb too deeply into the skin and also harm the environment.

A close third, if money wasn’t an object, would be Miessence. You can purchase that one from Michelle of Traditional Simplicity, one of KS’s July sponsors and an independent Miessence seller. Thanks to all the KS sponsors for keeping this site free for the rest of you!

UPDATE: The sunscreen review post has been updated as of the June 14, 2011, with at least 5 more sunblock options and new thoughts on the long-term use that we’ve been able to fiddle with since July of 2010, PLUS some revamping of the recommendations.

Going Camping?

Now is the perfect time of year to go camping with your family. If you’ve never done it with kids, or if you can’t figure out how to get more “real food” than marshmallows and hot dogs, you might be interested in the Family Camping Handbook from Kitchen Stewardship, only $4.95 and delivered to your inbox immediately!

I learned something interesting last time I was in a tent. My homemade deodorant, you know, melts over 76 degrees F because it’s based with coconut oil, which is a pain when traveling. I looked at the ingredients on my MadeOn hard lotion: coconut oil, beeswax, and shea butter, and I thought, “Could it work?” I used the hard lotion on my ‘pits and dusted a little baking soda on top, and I kid you not – total success! I couldn’t wait to share that functionality with Renee, the boss lady over at MadeOn.

She shares some KS reader successes:

“I have some dry skin on my elbows and heels, and my cuticles bleed in winter. I used the lotion bar on my feet and there was an immediate difference on my heels! Dry skin went away!!”  Lucy in NC  (Kitchen Stewardship reader)

“The Beesilk is effectively treating my husbands ‘alligator elbows’ and without that chemical smell that lotions have.” Joy in MI (Kitchen Stewardship reader)

UPDATE: Check the comments from Renee for a fun testing opportunity!

It’s that time of year! If you have zucchini growing wild, you’ll LOVE Amy’s roundup of zucchini recipes over at Amy’s Finer Things. Amazing!

Time for a Vacation

I’m “up north” for a few days at my grandparents’ (I menu planned the weekend for my entire extended family!) and then on for my annual week at my folks’ during the week of our small town festival. I grew up in the kind of place where everybody really does know everybody, and most of the “kids” come home for the festival to hobnob with old high school friends. The first time my husband-to-be visited my hometown, we walked through the boat marina on Lake Huron and he gasped in wonder, “You actually grew UP here?” It’s something off a nature-lover’s postcard, to be sure, and I can’t wait to get there.

Dear readers, you get a vacation, too…my mom only has (gasp) dial-up!

I’ve got a few guest posts lined up from other bloggers that I’m excited to introduce to you, like Primal Toad, the Healthy Home Economist, Natural Health Ezine and The Kennedy Adventures.

The following week we’ll have a little birthday celebration as I (ahem) enter a new decade of life. I’ve got some fun posts in the works, including a little bit about the girl behind the blog, a little bit about the work behind a blog, some other stuff you probably don’t need to know but might have fun reading, recipes for the birthday cakes I made for my kids this year, and a Happy Birthday sale on the ol’ eBooks.

For the rest of August, I’m capitalizing on the fact that I have hardly posted any recipes all summer long. I’ll pretend I’m a genuine food blog for a few weeks and do a little series on cooking with seasonal produce so I can share my favorite recipes for this time of year with you. In Michigan, everything kind of hits all at once: the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers…and probably some other things, too, but I can’t think beyond those favorites right now.

Also, a question for you: Let’s say I’ve been invited to have a little podcast Blog Talk Radio show. It would take the place of one of my posts once per week for 30 minutes. Would you listen? Would you prefer it to reading a post? Thanks for any input!

Have you seen 7 Reasons to Subscribe to Kitchen Stewardship?

Did you see Amazon is releasing a new Kindle Wireless with more features and faster books? If you’re buying one anyway, it helps me if you start with that link right there. Thanks! You can even get KS for Kindle!

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Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money.  If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.

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