Our Purpose

Our purpose is to generate awareness, education, and support for holistic parenting and to provide a nurturing, open-minded and respectful community for parents to share these ideals. We serve to encourage moms (and dads) in their efforts to parent naturally and to raise their children holistically, to help holistic moms find others with whom they can connect and to continually educate ourselves and our families about alternative health, mindful parenting, natural healing and environmental stewardship.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Our Blog is Moving!!!




We are moving our blog to a permanent home, www.HMNSanJose.org!

Please check out our new home and let us know what you think. With our move, we will be able to customize our blog to be more user friendly, provide more information, and (best of all) - It'll look nicer.

We're really excited and hope you like it!

Thanks,
Jen & Jessica
HMN San Jose Co-leaders

Thursday, September 29, 2011

October Meeting: Open House

We're celebrating natural living and parenting all month long with special events - live and virtual - where you can find support, learn about holistic choices for your family and even win great prizes!


The San Jose Chapter will be kicking off the month by hosting an open house on October 4th at 7pm at the Cambrian Branch Library, 1780 Hillsdale Ave, San Jose, CA.

We encourage everyone to come and check out Holistic Moms Network, meet our members, win prizes, eat yummy food, and have fun. We have tons of great raffle prizes, plus a grand prize of a year's supply of Organic Valley Milk and Pamela's Products cookies!

Invite your neighbors, friends, and family to join us and meet like minded individuals. We look forward to seeing you there!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

August Meeting Change: Cool Season Vegetable Gardening

PLEASE NOTE: MEETING CHANGE!!!
 
Join Holistic Moms Network of San Jose learn tips and ideas on Cool Season Vegetable Gardening. I've scheduled a Santa Clara County Master Gardener to come present to our group (see description below). 

The meeting will be at our regular time and location, Cambrian Library, 1780 Hillsdale Ave, San Jose, Aug. 2nd, 7pm. We'd like to start as close to 7 as possible, but feel free to sneak in late if you need to!

Cool Season Vegetable Gardening

Late summer is the time to start planning and seeding for your cool season vegetable garden. Join Master Gardener Sue Zaslaw for a presentation on how to grow cool season vegetables in Santa Clara County. The Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County is part of a non profit organization of trained volunteers with the Univ of CA Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program.The talk will cover the types of vegetables that grow well during the cool season as well as tips on growing them successfully.

Monday, May 2, 2011

May Monthly Meeting: Parenting During the Tween/Teen Years Panel of Speakers

Join us on May 3rd when our panel of experts will help us understand the developmental changes, healthy self development, effective communications and boundary settings for tweens/teens. Our panel of experts will discuss both the mother and father's perspective, both from a clinical and personal viewpoint.
 
We look forward to seeing you there!
 
In health,
 
HMN San Jose Leadership Team
Jennifer Oh
Jennifer Rozenhart
Christina Byard

Monday, February 28, 2011

March Meeting -- Holistic Approach Toward Immune Health

Holistic Moms Network of San Jose Presents. . .
"Holistic Approach Towards Immune Health:
Discussion about Immune Health, Nutrition, and an Integrative View of Vaccinations."
 
Join us as we welcome our guest speaker, Dr. Yen Tran, N.D. , to present and discuss a holistic view of immune health and the role vaccines play in it.
 
Dr. Yen Tran is a Naturopathic Doctor that focuses on
transforming health simply and naturally with naturopathic medicine. After training and studying with a focus on women's health, homebirth and pediatrics, Dr. Tran graduated from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Arizona. Well regarded in her field, Dr. Tran is recommended as a vaccination counselor in Dr. Sears' "The Vaccine Book." Dr. Tran practices at the Natural Wellness Clinic in Sunnyvale (www.naturaltran.com).
We appreciate her taking the time to present on this confusing yet important topic to new parents. Your questions will be welcome following the presentation.
 
Please feel free to pass this invitation on to other parents whom you feel would be interested in learning a naturopath's perspective on issues of immunity. We would appreciate that anyone planning to come RSVP via this Pingg invitation so that we may prepare the room accordingly.
 
We look forward to seeing you there!
 
In health,
 
HMN San Jose Leadership Team
Jennifer Rozenhart
Christina Byard
Jennifer Oh

Sunday, October 24, 2010

November Meeting: Self Defense Seminar for Moms and Kids

Holistic Moms Network of San Jose Presents. . .
Self Defense Seminar for Moms and Kids
 
Learn tips and techniques to protect yourself from a 3rd Degree Black Belt and the 2006 CA State Champion in Weapons and Forms. Master Chris Black, Chief Instructor for Victory Martial Arts Willow Glen, will be teaching us self defense techniques that will empower us to protect ourselves. This is a great way to introduce yourself to the martial arts and learn more about Tae Kwon Do. This seminar is a hands on event, so casual or work out clothes and gym shoes are preferred. 

Tuesday, November 2nd, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Cambrian Branch of the San Jose Library, Community Room
1780 Hillsdale Avenue, San Jose, CA
 

Hope to see you there!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

October Meeting: Attachment Parenting the Maturing Child

Holistic Moms Network of San Jose Presents. . .

"Attachment Parenting the Maturing Child:
Featuring guest speaker, Justine Saffir, Director of Sunnymont Parent Co-Op Nursery School"
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Cambrian Branch Library Community Room
1780 Hillsdale Avenue, San Jose, CA

Attachment Parenting newborns and babies often comes naturally to many Holistic Moms.  Babywearing, breastfeeding on demand, co-sleeping and other AP techniques just seem to make sense and allign with a mother's instinct.  As the child matures and develops her own will, however, many find the new challenges of parenting with attachment in mind much more difficult to address. 

Join us as we host our guest speaker, Justine Saffir, Director of the Sunnymont Parent Co-Op in Campbell, as she speaks on Attachment Parenting the Maturing Child.  Justine will address common questions such as how to provide positive discipline, diffuse sibling rivalry and how to strengthen the parent/child bond during the school years.  Please bring your questions and a friend.

Hope to see you there!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

A review of a local sustainable farm; Early Bird Ranch

I just got back from a fantastic day visiting the Early Bird Ranch at Half Moon Bay (actually, Pescadero) with fellow HMN member, Lenore.  Lenore had heard about fresh, locally pastured chickens being available there and pre-ordered some chickens for the fall harvest.  We made a day of it by tripping out to the coast with our families to pick up her chickens and speculate on some Thanksgiving turkeys.

May I say that I am really excited about these farmers!  Kevin and ShaeLynn Watt are a young couple who "risked it all" by abandoning their graduate studies in Comparative Political Science and Animal Behavior to pursue sustainable bird farming.  Adorned in a long, blue butcher's apron, Kevin Watt welcomed us to the farm and offered us a tour of the harvesting facilities.  He and several family members had just finished up the very first harvest on their new farm.  Though their bodies were fatigued from hours of bird butchery, their eyes and voices showed signs of the rushing adrenal effects of success.  Their pride was apparent and well-deserved.  Some buckets of blood were waiting for their trip to the compost pile but, otherwise, there wasn't much indication of the day's work remaining around the slaughter tent.  We had just missed the last bird of the day by 30 minutes.  I admit that I wish I had been able to see the whole process personally. They promised me the opportunity in the future.

In five weeks, another 100 to 200 birds will meet the end of their stress-free existence in this sparkling example of an open-air slaughterhouse (portable tent, really).  The blue and white striped tent covered a raised floor of wood slats.  The slats, Kevin explained, are designed to allow for any solids or splashes from the harvesting process to fall through and return to the soil.  The stainless steel counters, sinks and scalding pots were sanitized and drying in the late summer sun.  This idyllic scene is quite a contrast to the industrial chicken slaughterhouses that can turn stomachs as well as former carnivores into strict vegetarians.

When Kevin's interests strayed from politics to farming birds, he decided to do it right. He interned and worked for a year and a half with Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms, the admirable chicken farmer featured in Food, Inc.  After learning from the best, Kevin and his girlfriend began dreaming of starting a farm of their own. Kevin and his now wife, ShaeLynn, pooled all of their savings and scrupulously budgeted how they could afford to rent a 10 acre farm in Pescadero.  The land they selected is gorgeous, located in a perfect, pastoral valley just inland of the coast.  Each bird is respectfully raised from chick to maturity on the farm, spending their days in the pasture.  Their diet is supplemented with organic feed.  The Watts are enthusiastic and bursting with ideas on how to not only take from their newly acquired land but to give back to it as well.  They are consciously rotating different animals throughout their acreage to ensure that the soil is growing in sync with their wards. 

Each bird at the Early Bird Ranch is dispatched by hand using a very humane and efficient method; the main artery and vein of the chicken or turkey are cut, causing instantaneous brain death. The windpipe, however, is kept intact so that the heart may continue beating long enough to pump the remaining blood from the bird. The carcasses are then scalded, plucked and bagged for you to take home that day.   These are the freshest birds you can get!

Early Bird Ranch is located at 4900 Cloverdale Road in Pescadero, right off of Hwy 1.  Their chickens and turkeys are available during the dry seasons of the year for about $4 a pound.  Lenore's chickens were all a very healthy 5 pounds each!  These are not scrawny chickens.  They harvest every 5 weeks or so as the new batch of birds mature.  If you would like to join their mailing list or reserve a turkey for Thanksgiving, contact them via email at kevin@earlybirdranch.com or shaelynn@earlybirdranch.com

View their website with more details at www.earlybirdranch.com

Kevin and ShaeLynn would love to have us out for a tour of the facilities with the kiddies.  They won't be able to give us a full tour when they are harvesting, but you are welcome to watch them work when you pick up your birds.  Would anyone like to tour this farm and then go and get some pumpkins down the road in October?  Post a comment if you'd like to join us.


Christina Byard
Co-Leader, Holistic Moms Network of San Jose

Thursday, September 2, 2010

September Meeting

Holistic Moms Network of San Jose Presents. . .

"An Evening of Natural Beauty"


Want to join us for an evening of beauty? Wondering what natural and holistic beauty products and treatments others love? Join us for a fun evening of hanging out, pampering, and learning what others use, make, and/or recommend. Bring your favorite beauty products and/or remedies to show and share. We'll try each other's favorites and/or learn what others recommend.

We'll be making a wonderful facial moisturizing cream from the "Doing it Gorgeously" book by Sophie Ulliamo.  (http://www.gorgeouslygreen.com/) Bring a small jar to take the cream home in and a very modest donation to offset ingredient costs.



Click on the blog post title "September Meeting" to R.S.V.P. via the evite.

Hope to see you there!