What's in a name?

... O be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;

- Juliet, Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet Act II Scene II

Sorry, I had to include that. The literature nerd inside of my insisted. 

Anyway, I thought my readers might be interested in my name. Maybe you think I'm sort of a "hippie." After all, I do cloth diaper and home school. I made all my own baby food. I practice extended breastfeeding, baby wearing, and (until recently) cosleeping.  I love my essential oils!
So maybe the name isn't that strange to you.

Then again, I can't bring myself to make my own laundry detergent.  I don't make every thing we put in our mouths from scratch and I can't afford for all of it to be organic.  I'm sure you've heard me mention some things from time to time that don't seem very "natural." Although I recycle and reuse my grocery bags (usually I take canvas bags but sometimes that's not a good option), I have decided to forego composting for now. We tried it and it was a failure.

I don't grow my own vegetables. Last year I planted some corn and while it was beautiful and looked amazing as decorations for my Autumn wreath, it wasn't edible. This year I'm going to try again, but I'm a long way from growing a portion of our family's sustenance in the back yard.

So if I don't fit in with the ladies in lovely organic cotton growing their own vegetables and avoiding  main stream anything like it's the plague.... 

What right have I got to call myself The Crazy Earth Mama?

At first, I didn't. The name was given to me by my sister during an argument. She didn't mean it as a compliment and I definitely don't think she expected me to run with it.  

After asking my opinion 400 hundred times (maybe I'm exaggerating) about different choices she was making as a first time mom.... she called me one day and said:

"I want your opinion on this, but I don't want your crazy earth mama answer."

I laughed. I'm sure that just made her more frustrated but it was hilarious to me! She didn't really want my opinion at all. I think she was just too afraid to listen to her own intuition and wanted me to tell her that what she wanted to do was the right choice, in my opinion.

Since then she has learned to trust herself, but I still get lots of calls with questions from the moms and expectant moms in my family. They know I research everything. They know they can trust me to tell them the truth. 

I still get called a "crazy earth mama," but now it's a good thing!