I have been in desperate need of some better time management and organization. I have had a planner in the past but didn’t really seem to click, also have used several online and phone planners and none seem to do what I need. I end up with things all over the place and I really wanted everything in one place. I have been thinking about making a home management binder for a long time and finally decided to start one a few weeks ago. I love that I decide what goes in it and can easily change it if something doesn’t work.

Home management binders have been gaining popularity and there are a lot of great free printables out there. There were a few I couldn’t find so I made a few of my own that I will share in this post. I’m going to also go over what’s in my binder and link to most of the things I have in it. I did try to use things I already had on hand and only bought two things for the binder. This made my whole binder/planner about $10. Not bad!

The first thing you need is clearly a binder. I already had one on hand. It’s a very basic 2 inch binder, very much like the ones from ReBinder. I wanted it to be pretty so I used some recycled scrapbook paper I already had on hand. I just cut the paper to fit and glued it on.

Inside of the binder I reused a little plastic pouch from my old planner. In the pouch I keep my highlighter pencils, a pen, a pencil, a dry erase marker, a calculator, address labels, stamps, labels for my calendar, stickers for my calendar, extra tabs, and Post-It Notes. After that I used sheet protecters for all my pages to make them last, plus I had them already. For the dividers I just used a sheet protecter and used more of the recycled scrapbook paper in the sheet protecters, I used a Post-It tabs on them as well. Now I will go through what I have in each of the sections.

The first section is “home.” Below is a list of what’s in this section.

• Year At a Glance Calendar- I color code this with my husband’s work schedule.
• Perpetual Calendar- Here is where I keep birthdays and anniversaries to add to my month at a glance calendar.
• Month At a Glance- I keep appointments, birthdays, events, etc… on here.
• To-Do List- On this one I don’t write on the sheet but instead use a dry erase marker on the sheet protecter to save paper.
• Detailed Cleaning Schedule- This has my morning, afternoon, and evening schedules. It also has weekly and monthly schedules.
• Freezer, Pantry, and Fridge Inventories- I hope these will help me reduce food waste and also help with meal planning.
• Monthly Meal Plan- This is where I keep my meal plan for the month. I don’t like to plan which day each meal will be so I made a printable where I can just list the meals and pick for each day as I go.
• Cleaning Schedule- This is my overview of all the things I need to do daily, weekly, every two weeks, monthly, quarterly, and semi-annually. I have one for inside tasks and one for outside tasks.
• Cleaner Recipes- I keep all of my recipes for my DIY cleaners here.
• Project To-Do List- This is where I keep a running list of all the bigger projects I want to get done around the house. It also has a place for notes and contacts that are for the projects.

The next section is “blogs.” This is the section for general freelance work as well as my blogs.

• Blog Income- This is where I track any money I make from blogging, freelance writing, etc…
• Blog Expenses- I keep track of my business expenses here.

Next is “Retro Housewife Goes Green.” This is clearly for this blog.

• Weekly Blog Planner- This has a place to write blog topics, categories, social media info, to-dos, etc… for the week.
• Monthly Blog Post Planner- This is a month at a glance where I keep track of blog posts, linkups, Twitter parties, etc…
• Blog Sponsors/Advertisers- I keep a list of my advertisers on here and the info that goes along with them.
• Blog Stat Tracker- As the title says this is just to track stats for my blog.
• Review & Giveaway Tracker- This is where I keep track of any reviews or giveaways I do.
• Blog To-Do- This is a running list of the things I need to get done for the blog.
• Blog Ideas- I write down post ideas on here.

Next is “Green Oklahoma.” This is for my website Green Oklahoma. This contains all of the same things as the above section. The last section is my Holiday section. This is one that I will go over closer to the holiday season as I’m still working on it.

In the back of the binder I have a folder for things I need to file or put in the binder. I also have a notepad for extra notes. I love this binder! I know it can grow and change with my needs.

Free Printables

Cleaner Recipes

Blank Cleaning Schedule

Blank Meal Plan

I’d love to hear about your binder if you have one and what you like to keep in yours. Just post in the comments below or on my Facebook page.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclaimer for more.

I thought I had already posted this but clearly not. Last week my mom and I did our monthly grocery shopping trip in Norman. We always combine this with lunch at our favorite restaurant, normally with my best friend that lives there. We also drop off our glass recycling and run any other errands we need to in the area. This month we also went up to Oklahoma City to go to Whole Foods, with so much fresh produce available now we thought it would be worth the trip. It was a good trip and we got a lot of great food, I’m the most excited to have found organic grapes again! I bought one bag on this trip but my husband had already gotten me two earlier in the month, what can I say, I have missed grapes!

So if you are curious about what I got, here it is. I already got some eggs from a friend and I will be getting my coop order later this week.

Homeland
(local chain)

• 2 gallons of vinegar
• 2 bottles of hydrogen peroxide
• rock salt

Dodson’s
(locally owned store)

• 4 organic raw milk cheddar
• organic mozzarella
• mangosteen green tea
• organic parmesan
• organic fruit snacks
• organic dark brown sugar
• organic fruit and veggie juice
• organic ranch dressing
• organic flour
• organic toaster pastries
• probiotics
• organic, raw, grain-free dog treats
• mints
• uncured chicken & sage sausage
• organic uncured hot dogs

Whole Foods

• 2 organic, local tortillas
• 2 organic potato chips
• 2 organic bbq chips
• 3 organic cream cheese
• local chocolate milk
• organic animal cookies
• malted milk ball
• 2 organic salsa
• orange & mangosteen water (for my husband, I’m not fond of this stuff ha)
• organic ketchup
• organic grass-fed, non-hormoginzed, whole milk with cream on top
• yeast
• watermelon water (again, husband’s)
• mango grapefruit water (see above)
• local queso
• organic grape jelly
• marshmallow oat cereal
• 5 baking soda
• 3 organic mac & cheese
• organic orzo
• fudge stripe cookies
• 2 organic vanilla wafers
• organic wheat waffle cereal
• organic lime juice
• 2 organic sugar
• organic tomato paste
• 2 organic chicken lunch meat
• organic salami
• organic bacon
• uncured pancetta
• uncured pepperoni
• grass-fed sirloin
• 2 organic sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 organic monterey  jack cheese
• 3 fancy cheeses, I don’t feel like going to the fridge to find the names, ha.
• 3 cheese blend
• parmesan
• organic whole milk ricotta
• salted milk chocolate caramels
• 3 organic bread
• organic hamburger buns (I normally make my own but thought until I get some made to freeze it would be nice to have some in the freezer)
• fresh corn tortillas
• organic kiwi
• organic cucumber
• bag of organic limes
• organic romaine hearts
• organic strawberries
• organic peaches
• organic yukon gold potatoes
• organic nectarines
• organic pluots
• organic bananas
• organic apples
• organic red onions
• organic green grapes
• organic caesar dressing
• organic pineapple

You can see my mom’s haul on her blog Tea With Dee. I’d love to see what you buy when you go grocery shopping, if you do hauls on your blog or YouTube, post below. Or just share in the comments.

Summer will be here soon and that means trips to the beach, lake, and pool. If it’s about time to get a new swimsuit, why not look for one that is eco-friendly? There are some really great options out there and I’ve gathered a list of a few of my favorites.

Kaleidoscope Solid Top and Bottoms from Aventura

Shirred Tankiki Top and Ruffle Hipster Bottom from Eco Swim by AquaGreen

Bow Halter Swimdress from EcoSwim by AquaGreen

Boucau Halter Top and Sunamee Bottoms from Patagonia

I own the Eco Swim by AquaGreen tankiki and hipster set and a swimsuit from Aventura that is similar to the one I posted but it has a tankiki top they no longer have. I love both. They have both held up very well in a chlorine treated pool. I highly recommend them. Since swimsuits are made of plastic it’s a good idea to find one you love and plan to use for a long time, also choose high quality ones like the ones above. Making our stuff last is the greenest thing we can do.

Do you have an eco-friendly swimsuit? Share in the comments below or join the conversation on Facebook.

The photos are property of the stores.

I have to say this month my favorite thing is not getting hit by tornadoes! Tornadoes are quite normal for Oklahoma but the month they have been bigger and hitting more populated areas than normal. Friday night we watched in horror as tornadoes were headed into Oklahoma City, I had friends and family fleeing the city as the intestates were packed. Even some storm spotters got caught in the tornadoes because they were so big and rain wrapped.  Sadly two storm spotters and one of their sons were killed in the storm. Showing just how dangerous this storm was.

Mammatus clouds on May 30th

(this part was written on Saturday, the day after the storms) I am going on about three hours of sleep right now because I couldn’t fall asleep until after 3 a.m. after being so worked up with the storms. I woke up at 5:40ish to 40 mph winds and heavy rain. Went to check the radar for myself and a friend that was texting about the storm and I didn’t have internet. Tried to turn on the light and figured out the power had gone out. I grabbed a flash light and a jacket to go out in the heavy wind and pouring rain to make sure our transformer wasn’t blown and our lines were all safe, they were fine. Called the power company to report the outage and got out more flashlights and started a timer for fridge safety. I tried to sleep for a couple of hours but that didn’t happen.

We finally got power back at about 1 p.m. At about 12:15-12:30 gotten everything out of the fridge that could go in the freezer to be saved out and in our deep freezer and put the ice packs I keep in there on top. Got everyone in the house to eat cereal, drink milk, or whatever to use up some of the milk that would go bad. I put some ice in what was left to save it a bit longer. The power came on not much after that so we were able to even save the milk. Let’s just say I’m feeling SUPER lucky right now. All of the major storms have passed us! We had some pretty good size hail Tuesday and my father in-law has some hail damage on his car but we are all safe and our home is in one piece so I’d say I’m pretty darn happy.

Hail on May 21st

So let’s get to the happier stuff about the month! I have to say my biggest favorite for the month was not a thing but an event. Every year for the past six years, my parents have hosted (because my parents are the best parents in the world!) a music festival in their backyard (their backyard is 40 acres). My brother and some of his friends got this crazy idea to do this and my parents agreed and it’s become a huge deal. We have had people fly in from Washington, lots of people come from Texas, NOLA, etc… This year was extra special because with the tornadoes we all wanted a major group hug since we were all safe. We also took donations for the tornado victims and collected a pretty good amount for a small music festival in a backyard.

I’m not sure how to describe the festival. Around 100 or so people attend, it’s invite only to prevent it getting too crazy. On Friday my parents largely plan the music and it’s some folk rock, more acoustic kinds of music, and this year it also included a local band called Our Mother’s Martyr, I missed it but everyone said it was AMAZING. You can listen to some of their stuff on my mom’s blog The Well-Groomed Hippie. On Saturday my brother and his friends plan the music. I don’t think I can describe the music, it’s a pretty wide range, but there is a lot of dancing that goes on that night.

The night ends with some DJ sets, my brother does one and is amazing! Everyone dances and has a blast, there is some responsible drinking going on so we likely thought we were dancing much better than we were. The rule is if you drink you stay the night or have a sober driver, most people camp out in the backyard. It’s great to be able to have fun and not to worry about people doing anything stupid. I’m family so I sleep in my old bedroom because I’m not a big fan of camping. My cousin came up from Texas so we had a little slumber party, like old times. My feet and legs hurt so badly, from dancing, the next day, one of my friends that was dancing with me said she literally danced her shoes into oblivion. I think we all did a lot of napping and resting on Sunday after some clean up and going to lunch.

I also went to Frisco, Texas with my husband for our anniversary, you can read more about the hotel we stayed in on my post Green Travel: Home2 Suites. That was a really nice trip. We have been married for eight years now, which is hard to believe! My husband also had his birthday this month and he graduated with an Ed Specialist in, well I don’t know the name of it but it’s pretty much technology in schools. Pretty darn proud of him!

Pool in Frisco, Texas

Well this post is already really long and I haven’t gotten to the normal stuff! So let’s get to it. These are my other favorites for the month.

Reading- Books & Blogs

I started reading a book I have been borrowing from my mom for I don’t know how many years, sorry mom I’ll get it back soon! It’s called Home Life on the Prairie. It’s by Susan Hochstetler and it’s about their life in a small Amish town that’s not too far from me. I’m very interested in the Amish lifestyle so it’s pretty interesting.

Otherwise I haven’t done a ton of reading. I don’t have any new blogs to share this month. I haven’t done the best job with keeping up with blogs this month. It’s been a super busy month! If you have a blog or know of one you think I would like, share in the comments below.

Watching- TV and Movies

I’m of course still watching Mad Men. I can’t even tell you how much I love that show! I’ve also been starting to watch the new season of Arrested Development, totally excited about that. I also have been watching my guilty pleasures 19 Kids and Counting and Breaking Amish. I already said I have an interest in the Amish. I was homeschooled and many families in my group believed like the Duggars. Some even went to the conferences the Duggars talk to so it’s like reliving my youth. Though to be clear, my family wasn’t like that. Not that, that isn’t fine for them to be different, we were just most more liberal with our schooling and such. But that’s a totally different topic.

I haven’t really watched many movies. I hate to say this but I watched Hunger Games. It was okay, I enjoyed it once but it’s highly unlikely I will watch again and I won’t be reading the books. It’s not really my thing.

Music

Still on a jazz kick. Nothing really new there. I haven’t bought any new music lately. Mostly been listening to Pandora stations or music I already own.

Favorite Food

This month I had a bit of a gelato kick. I love the Talenti brand of gelato. I had some mint chocolate chip and black raspberry with chocolate chips. Both are amazing!

I also tried a new recipe that was a hit. It’s Herb Crusted Chicken in a Basil Cream Sauce. It was so good! My husband has requested we have more than once in June. I did change it a bit to fit our diet. I made my own bread crumbs, used organic red pepper flakes instead of the seasoning mix, didn’t use chives or tomatoes, used heavy whipping cream in place of milk and of course used all organic ingredients. Oh and when breading the chicken I dipped it in flour before the milk, you should always do this when breading meats, it helps it stick.

DIY and Crafting

I made my own eye shadow primer, I will hopefully be posting about this soon. I shared my recipe for fabric refresher spray earlier this month if you haven’t checked that out. Otherwise very little crafting and DIY has been happening. HOPEFULLY this month will be better.

Miscellaneous

I got some new makeup this month that I’m loving. I got two brushes, both from Everyday Minerals, I got the Tapered Sculpting Face Brush and Oval Concealer Brush. I also finally got an eye shadow I have been wanting for months, it’s the Blooms of Dusty Lilac shade and it’s beautiful! I finally decided to try out bronzer and highlighter so I got their Soft Bronzer and lucent powder in Wet Sand. I’m excited to start playing with those. I also got some more of my foundation and other not so exciting stuff.

I’ve also been loving all the flowers blooming. I’ve been cutting them and putting them in a vase in my living room. I love fresh cut flowers so it’s been nice to have so many lately.

I think that’s about it for this month. I’d love to hear what your favorites have been lately, if you do a post like this share below or just share what you have been loving in the comments below. I’m also linking up with What I’m Into at HopefulLeigh. Check out what the other bloggers have been enjoying and if you want to share your own favorites, link up as well.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclaimer for more.
Photo credits- The photos from the music festival are property of Jessica Rollin and Leslie DeLoof. 

This past week my husband and I went to Frisco Texas, a suburb of Dallas, to celebrate our anniversary. We decided to try a new hotel called Home2 Suites, owned by Hilton. I was pretty excited to try this hotel because they have many green features. Here are some of the green features you will find at Home2 Suites.

(c) Home2 Suites by Hilton® Dallas/Frisco, Texas

• Saline-based swimming pools
• Recycling stations
• Recycling containers in the rooms
• Energy Star rated appliances
• Carpets made from at least 60% recycled materials and featuring Green Label certification
• CFL lighting in all lighting fixtures
• Tamper-proof bulk shampoos and soaps in bathrooms
• Dual flush toilets
• Real dishes and utensils
• And many other great green features

We have stayed at many different Hilton and non-Hilton hotels and this is a new favorite. Here are my pros and cons.

Pros

• All the eco-friendly features, I especially loved the saline pool.
• Rooms aren’t fancy but are very comfortable.
• The staff was very friendly.
• The lobby featured many great seating areas and computers.
• Free wifi.

Cons

• The cleaners they were using were very strong smelling and didn’t seem to be terribly eco-friendly.
• I could never figure out where to put the recycling in the room, this wasn’t a huge deal as there was a bin down the hall but it didn’t state what they recycled.
• Check out time is at 11 a.m. instead of noon. However the staff didn’t complain when we were late because we didn’t know this.

Overall the pros very much outweigh the cons. We will definitely stay at Home2 Suites again in the future. So far there are 23 Home2 Suites in the US, so check to see if their is one near you or at your next vacation site.

*I was not paid to review this hotel, I just figured it would be nice to do so since I was already staying there. Please excuse the poor photo quality of my photos, couldn’t find my camera for the trip so they were taken on my phone. They were also taken on the second day of the trip so the room is messy.

Popular fabric refresher sprays you can buy are full of some very toxic ingredients but you can make your own and avoid those ingredients. Making your own will also save you money and allow you to choose your own scent.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Vodka
• 2 Tablespoons Baking soda
• Essential Oils (start with around 20 drops and add more if needed)
• 2 cup Water
• Spray bottle

1. Mix water, vodka, baking soda, and essential oils.
2. Shake.
3. Spray and see if the scent is the strength you want, add more if needed.
4. That’s all! Be sure to shake before each use.

Couldn’t get a lot easier. The latest scent I made is a mix of lime, orange, and bergamot. It’s a lovely spring scent. I love to make peppermint for Christmas time and cinnamon and orange for fall. Coming up with your own scents can be a lot of fun if you have several essential oils to play around with. I watch for good sales and stock up on essential oils so I don’t have to spend too much at once.

If you make this I would love to hear what scent you use. Share in the comments below or on my Facebook page.

*This post is linked up to Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, be sure to check it out.

Yesterday I picked up my order from the local co-op. This co-op is only local food and not a lot of veggies and no fruit so far, so this is an all meat haul. If you have been reading for awhile you know I avoid factory farmed meat and try to only buy meat if I know how it was raised, this is easiest to do with local meat. Thankfully the local co-op has a lot to offer in this area! So this is what I got this time.

• 4 lbs of pastured chicken tenders
• 2 grass-fed filets
• 3 lbs of grass-fed beef
• 1 lb of grass-fed bison

If any of you are members of co-ops and post hauls or just want to tell me what kinds of things you get in the comments, I love to hear what people are buying and eating.

Yesterday my mom and I went on our monthly grocery shopping trip in Norman (a town about an hour away from us). The weather was great, it even got a bit hot in the afternoon. I’m sure I will be wishing for cold weather soon but so far we haven’t had much spring weather. We have had record cold weather and it was great to finally have a warm day.

When we first got to Norman, we dropped off our glass recycling. And then we had a nice lunch with one of my best friends since childhood, at our favorite restaurant, Tres Cantina (formerly Pink Elephant). It was yummy as always. And we of course enjoyed chatting. After lunch we went to our first stop, the new Sprouts. We prefer locally owned stores so we just buy things at chains if they are cheaper or we can’t find them at one of the locally owned stores. We did get some good deals on produce this time. Though the parking lot was a bit crazy and we had a lot of trouble finding several things. Their selection of organic cheese was really lacking! When leaving we did find we were parked next to a Tesla. If you read my post about our new car you know that I really want a Tesla. This is only the second one I have seen in person, my mom and I had to take pictures.

After being the weird people taking pictures of someone else’s car, we headed to a regional chain, Homeland. They have a great selection of sustainable seafood and had some good sales on organic produce. We always have to laugh at our cart at Homeland because it’s always an odd selection of items, you will see in my haul at the end of the post, how weird it was this time.

After Homeland, we went to the locally owned natural food store we love, Dodson’s. After that was Natural Grocers, then a locally owned liquor store called Cellar, then a great little store called Forward Foods, they have the most amazing selection of cheese and some other hard to find items, and our last stop was International Pantry. Like their name suggests they have some International foods, we did try some malt balls from the U.K. They also have pretty much every kitchen gadget you can think of. We enjoyed just looking around without our husband’s looking totally bored. I found a nut chopper I really wanted, you can see it below. My mom however pointed out that I’m allergic to nuts so this is not something I need. But it’s so cute!!

When we got out of International Pantry we decided we needed to hurry and leave. There was a risk of severe weather and there were some storm clouds rolling in. It was great timing and we missed all of the storms.

For those that are interested in what I bought, below is my haul. I still have my coop order which comes in next week and we of course still had a lot of food on hand. I found, when looking through my freezer that, we have a lot of frozen fruit! Thankfully it’s smoothie weather so I’m sure I will make a dent in that this month.

Sprouts

• 2 Organic cream cheese
• Organic raw milk cheddar cheese
• Organic french fries
• Organic frozen pizza
• 2 Organic green beans
• Chocolate butter cookies
• 2 Organic mac & cheese
• Organic pineapple juice
• Potato chips
• 2 Uncured beef jerky sticks
• Organic mini watermelon
• 5 lbs organic russet potatoes
• Organic romaine hearts
• Organic strawberries
• 3 lbs organic fuji apples
• 8 organic lemons

Homeland

• 3 gallons of white vinegar
• 2 hydrogen peroxide
• aluminum free baking powder

Dodson’s

• Organic hot dogs
• Organic mayo
• 5 Organic Mozzarella
• Organic provolone
• 4 Organic raw milk cheddar
• Organic all purpose flour
• Biokleen Bac-out
• Organic bread and butter pickles
• Local ground bison
• Organic tortilla chips
• 2 Organic salsa
• 2 Organic cheddar crackers
• Organic cane sugar
• Organic chocolate milk (it was in glass, full-fat, grass-fed, and creamline so I couldn’t resist)
• Dr. Bronner’s castile soap
• Organic lime juice
• Organic lemon juice
• 2 Organic fruit and veggie blend juice
• Organic orange juice
• Uncured pepperoni
• 2 Organic dark brown sugar
• Organic vanilla extract
• Organic spelt tortilla
• 2 Organic chocolate chips
• Organic white bread
• Natural chocolate candies
• Organic dark chocolate bar
• Organic angel hair pasta
• Natural mints

Natural Grocers

• Organic unrefined coconut oil
• Organic refined coconut oil
• Uncured bacon
• Organic turkey lunch meat
• Uncured salami
• 2 organic honey wheat bread
• Marshmallow cereal
• Organic sunflower butter
• 4 baking soda
• Organic chicken broth
• Organic sliced muenster cheese
• 2 Organic string cheese
• Organic ricotta
• 3 Organic parmesan
• Organic pasture butter
• Chocolate coconut water
• Uncured apple and gouda sausage
• Organic beef jerky
• 2 Organic tomato paste
• Queso
• 2 Breaded mozzarella sticks
• Coconut milk caramels
• Natural bath bomb
• 2 Suncups

Forward Food’s

• Natural grenadine 

If you post hauls, either blogs or videos, post below or on my Facebook page, I would love to see them.

The other day we got a new car. I’m sure most of you won’t be surprised to hear it’s a Prius. However, if you know my husband you may find this surprising. When we were dating he drove a 2002 Trans Am (sorry for the terrible photo below, my husband isn’t home and he has the good ones). He loves fast cars but he commutes around 30 miles (both ways) to work. He was tired of paying for gas on his Camry SE, which was sporty but had good gas mileage for that kind of car. He got around 30 MPG but with gas prices and a wife telling him all the time that they will only get worse, he decided it was time for a hybrid. Of course I’m quite happy.

We looked at a Ford Focus electric car but the range just wasn’t long enough with the number of charging stations in Oklahoma. We really want a Tesla but we can’t afford one. (Hey Tesla, if you read this, why not give me one to review or something? That would be really nice!)
So we choose to get a Prius. We looked at other hybrids but Prius is well reviewed, reliable, comfortable and most say one of the, or the, best hybrid. My parents have had a Prius for a long time now and love it. Their next car will be another Prius.

My husband misses the power but likes a lot of the gadgets and such. And really loves that he got 58.8 mpg on the way back from the town where we bought the Prius!

So any of you have a Prius or other hybrid or electric car? Do what do you think of it?

This is a post I have wanted to write for a long time but kept putting it off because I knew it could cause some controversy. I happened to cause some controversy on my latest post on BlogHer so why not cause some more over here? I haven’t been one to shy away from controversy in the past, why start now?

If you have been a reader for very long you likely know my diet is almost all organic, either certified or from local farms that use organic or better standards. I LOVE organic, real food. I joined the local food coop a few months ago and love finding new local food to try. The other day I made some local purple asparagus, which is awesome by the way. So I love farmers and their farms. But there is one kind of farm I’m not a fan of and this is where we get controversial. I don’t like factory farms.

But what is a factory farm anyway? They are sometimes known as CAFO or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. In these farms, according to the EPA, animals are kept confined for more than 45 days during a growing season in an area that does not produce vegetation, and meets certain size thresholds.

According to the ASPCA, “over 99% of farm animals in the U.S. are raised in factory farms, which focus on profit and efficiency at the expense of the animals’ welfare.” They go on to talk about common conditions in a factory farm, with animals packed in spaces so tight they can hardly move and many don’t have access to the outdoors.

The ASPCA also talks about some other things that happen in many factory farms. Air is often unclean because of all of the animals being so close together, often indoors, animals often get medications for non-therapeutic reasons, female animals are often pregnant for most of their lives, some undergo painful mutilations like removing beaks, toes, horns, etc… without painkillers to make the animals more “manageable.”

Now meat eaters, I still eat meat, this isn’t a “go vegan” blog, though more power to the vegan readers. You can eat meat without supporting these kinds of things, it does take some work but it’s totally doable. There is one certification to look for that can help and that’s the Animal Welfare Approved certification. This certification is third-party verified  and the standards include,

• requires animals to be raised on pasture or range
• prohibits dual production
• awards approval only to family farmers
• charges no fees to participating farmers
• incorporates the most comprehensive standards for high welfare farming

You can also talk to local farmers and ask to go to see their farm. Many small farms are happy to have you come out and show you around. And ask questions, I have yet to find a family farmer that didn’t want to talk about their farm. If you want to find out about factory farming in your state, check out Factory Farm Map, there is a ton of info. I learned there are a lot of factory hog farms in my area, I had no idea!

So if you eat meat, know where your meat is coming from and how it was raised. If we all start asking questions and shopping more ethically we can make a big difference.

I know this is a hot topic so please everyone be nice and respect each other in the comments.

Photo Credits- EPA website