Author Archives: Amber

About Amber

I am Amber Trevaskis-Bloomer and I am the owner and founder of Nine Little Months. Originally from England, I now live in Southern California with my husband and three children.

Grocery Shopping Should NOT Be Complicated …but it is when you start looking at labels.

I used to go grocery shopping and it wouldn’t take very long, even if I had quite a long list of things to get. And then I had kids. And I started looking at what was actually in ‘food’. I quickly realized that not all ‘food’ is equal. While there are obvious issues with things like food coloring (http://bit.ly/1fFonNn http://huff.to/1gPxHLl), there are also lots of food ingredients that aren’t actually food. Think of bread that contains the same ingredient as yoga mats (Subway to remove chemical from bread) or sawdust that is used to stop shredded cheese from clumping (Would you like some wood pulp with that grated cheese?). And goodness knows what half the chemicals in the ingredients lists are or what they actually do.

And don’t get me started on GMO’s and the chemicals that are put on food before it’s even processed, or the way in which livestock is bred.

So many people are unaware of what is in the food they buy at grocery stores. And with a lack of laws to ensure that ‘food’ is properly labeled, even those of us that have an interest in knowing, cannot fully know.

So when I go to the grocery store, I am thinking about what chemicals are in the food; whether the packaging is minimal and/or recyclable; whether I need to buy organic for that particular item; and whether it’s likely to be GMO. On top of that, as a lot of my grocery shopping is for my kids, two of whom are gluten free and pretty picky … I have to think about whether it has gluten in it and whether they might actually eat it.

Shouldn’t we be able to go to the store and know that the food we are buying for our family contains only food. Shouldn’t we be able to know that the food we are putting in front of our family is grown/bred in a way that is dignified and respectful of the planet and everyone/thing in it.

We shouldn’t have to be detectives to figure out whether the food we are putting in front of our family is actually food and not some random chemical.

Intimidating!

Well, this first blog post is a little more intimidating than I had imagined! When I first started the website back in 2005, it was just a website with a monthly newsletter. For some reason that seemed easier, sending out emails and updating the website. Really, this is no different but a blog just seems harder … or something? Maybe it’s because I have some friends and fellow moms following the blog, so I worry about judgement. But I have decided I just have to jump in and do it without worrying too much about what people will think – easier said than done, but I’m trying.

To get myself going I thought I’d start this post with what I am not. Get it all on the table. And then we can get on to what I am and what this blog will be. Thereby ending on a positive note – that’s what all the text books tell you to do right?

I am not an expert in climate change or eco-issues. And I don’t have any expertise in writing articles (or blogs for that matter). I am certainly not an expert in grammar – can you tell that already :). I am not a perfect person. I don’t lead a totally eco-friendly lifestyle. In fact there are many, many ways I could improve in that arena, but like moms around the world I am busy and frantically trying to find time to do what I can, where I can.

What I am first and foremost is a mom with a desire to learn more about our environment and share what I learn with others. I don’t profess to know the answers, but I will try to offer information so you can decide for yourself what makes the most sense to you. By subscribing to this blog, you’ll get information about climate change as I find it; articles from the mainstream and not-so-mainstream media about eco-issues; suggestions on how to be more eco-friendly; information about other issues that might affect the health of your family; and sometimes I expect there will be musings from me about being a mom.

I hope that you will join me. And of course I hope that you let me know what you’d like to hear about.