They Call Me Oystergirl is on hiatus. I have been neglecting Oystergirl for some time now, and have decided to give her a proper rest, rather than stringing her along half-heartedly. The hiatus is indefinite, while I pursue other projects. If you’d like to see what else I’ve got going on, or just say hi, […]
Chai Tea Spice Mix Recipe
Experimenting with a small batch chai tea spice mix recipe for my morning black tea. No special ingredients—a simple mix with things already in my kitchen. To make the mix: 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon 2 Tbsp ground ginger 1 Tbsp ground turmeric a few dashes of ground black pepper (I think it’s 8:1 turmeric to black […]
The Origin of Modern Personal Hygiene Standards
Have you ever wondered how our modern personal hygiene standards were formed? A little over a hundred years ago, several factors came together to make it possible for our truly dominant beliefs about cleanliness to emerge. These factors were: the increased availability of indoor plumbing and hot water the increased availability of soap germ theory advertising Prior to […]
Radically Natural Personal Hygiene
Did you know that many parts of our bodies are self-cleaning? I’m sure you know a few of our self-cleaning systems: our digestive tract and kidneys are famous, as is our liver. The lymph nodes and lungs are also part of the team that rids our bodies of toxins, but fewer people know that our […]
My Natural Menstrual Care Routine
Welcome, readers of The Montague Reporter! This post is especially for you, an addendum to my May 12 column, “The Surprising History of Menstrual Care, Part 2.” Thank you for joining me. 🙂 (I am a ciswoman—I identify as a woman and was assigned female at birth—and write from that perspective.) I learned about menstrual […]
Enjoyful Foods’ Paleo Vegan Hot Cereal Review
Enjoyful Foods‘ paleo vegan hot cereal is the new venture of Sandra Giraldo, Holistic Health and Nutrition Coach of Clean Food Healthy Living. Sandra’s work is to help people “feel and look better by eating healthy food that tastes delicious.” She is incredibly knowledgeable about alternative dietary preferences and restrictions, with a solid foundation in the paleo, […]
Oil Free Salad Dressing with Avocado
I’ve never been a fan of oil and vinegar dressings (read: every dressing ever made). I’ve been known to use hummus or salsa as dressings. It never really occurred to me that there might be oil free salad dressings. Angelo Coppola—best known for his awesome Latest in Paleo podcast—posted an oil free Caesar salad dressing […]
How to revive hard bread
My son, showing you his technique for reviving hard bread (a traditionally-fermented sourdough baguette from Olga’s Cup & Saucer in Providence that had been frozen): by dipping it into warm lentil broth (homemade bone broth and vegetable broth I’d cooked lentils in). He wanted to add that it would be helpful to eat the bread […]
One nice thing about working from home
One nice thing about working from home is that even when I’m under the weather, I can still work, and take care of myself at the same time. Not that I am averse to taking time off. But I’m not so unwell for that—just feeling kind of blech. There’s no arbitrary workplace decorum I need […]
You Know You’re Paleo When… #1
You’re in a meeting with the teachers of your child’s preschool, and you are commended for the bone broth you donate for the stone soup every week. One teacher says, “I just read something about bone broth.” And you say, “Yeah it’s really trendy now huh?” And another teacher says, “I bet you were making […]
Oystergirl on Periscope #2: a tour of my dynamic work station
Check out my dynamic work station! Credit for much of this goes to Nutritious Movement and especially Don’t Just Sit There. Follow me on Periscope: @oystergirl.
Oystergirl on Periscope #1: Introduction
Follow me on Periscope: @oystergirl.
Easy Homemade Egg Nog Recipe – raw, real food, paleo, primal – with chai spice variation
I’ve been posting on social media lately, raving about my homemade egg nog.
Add egg nog to everything!
I made homemade egg nog. I put it in my tea, instead of milk. I put it on my Indian pudding (see my posts on Facebook and Instagram about Indian pudding), along with the heavy cream. Best. Ideas. Ever. I’ve been making egg nog for years, but never thought to do so much with it. I […]
A few thoughts on hygiene
1.) The concept of good hygiene is cultural, not biological. 2.). Our bodies have several self-cleaning mechanisms, one of which is the skin (with assistance from hair and hair follicles). 3.) The combination of frequent washing and synthetic products can disrupt the skin’s self-cleaning process. 4.) You might never guess that the people around you—the […]
Movement Manna: Horizontal Rock Climbing
A photo posted by Vanessa aka Oystergirl (@theycallmeoystergirl) on Nov 9, 2015 at 8:26am PST One of my all-time favorite ways to move, for as long as I can remember. And it’s something I’ve always been good at. Despite the chronic pain and fatigue, easily-pulled muscles, unstable joints and trick knees that have plagued me […]
What 18% Means
Your risk does not rise 18%, as in from 5% to 23%, but 18% of your existing relative risk. Your existing relative risk as an American (not as an individual) is 5% (compared to non-Americans). 18% of 5% is .9, hence your risk rising (relatively) from 5% to 6%. By eating processed, factory-farmed meat (there […]
Link: How to live without air conditioning
The a/c in my car has always been broken and I’m too cheap to fix it, and also ornery about spending too much time in the car to warrant making it more “comfortable.” We put window units in our bedrooms, though this year I opted out, because now we have ceiling fans. However, on a […]
Day in the life, #2
I went for a walk this morning. I ran into my neighbor, Maria, which was good because I wanted to get her egg order for my farm run later today. She asked me, “What are you doing?” (Short pause.) “Are you going for a walk barefoot?” “Yes.” She laughed at me and got into her […]
Day in the life, #1
I am sitting in my backyard on the ground (well on a flat cushion, to help keep my legs down from my hips a bit), with my laptop on a crate in front of me, catching up on some work before my son wakes up and we walk barefoot to the farmers market.