Goodbye / Hello

I am so excited to finally reveal Pocket Pause, with "Tails" of my family's adventures: our follies while learning to farm, and the joys i get from food, cooking and practicing fiber arts. Yay! If you are a long - time reader of An Austin Homestead, you will love Pocket Pause, even if we left you back in Texas. While Pocket Pause will have an Oregonian angle, my focus will always be on sustainability, which transcends all borders. Watch for the occasional post from Pocket, our blog's namesake and the best little corgi in the world. PS, Pocket is a girl.

Head on over and browse around the new site, and feel free to comment with feedback on what you'd like to see more or less of. You can expect to read lots of posts about local hikes and travel destinations in Oregon, delicious and easy recipes, local and national resources for sustainably grown meat and veggies, tutorials and DIY tips, helpful links and more! Pocket Pause will be a week day blog, with 3-5 posts a week. Looking for more tips on DIY beauty products or herbal medicine? Check out Bathtime, our sister blog for weekly posts about natural bathing, healing and fun using herbs and essential oils.

Please join me in wishing An Austin Homestead a big "good-bye" and i hope you will check out, and hopefully stick around, Pocket Pause for many more of the posts you have enjoyed here and will continue to enjoy there. I'm so proud to have built up such a loyal following. I'm sure I will lose many of you in this transition, but i hope many of you will follow me, Pocket and the husband to our new blogging destination. Hint: i'm working on some "giveaways" as added incentive ;)

Who's with me? Will you follow me to Pocket Pause?

Homemade Toothpowder - DIY Tutorial

Are you looking for my great, easy and cheap tooth powder recipe? It moved! Check out the new location at Pocket Pause!

Here's an excerpt:

As my long-term readers know, i like to save money and packaging by making all natural alternatives to common and oft-used around the house products. I make all our soap, i try to can or freeze most of our preserved foods, i buy bulk and use reusable handmade bags, and i especially like to keep my family healthy by keeping almost all commercially made body products out of our house. Products like tooth paste. Did you know that sodium laureth sulfate, the same stuff used to make commercial shampoos rather, is in most toothpaste? Have you read the ingredients on most toothpastes in the store... if you have you'll see lots of chemicals, flavors, colors and other artificial nastiness. And flouride. I have mixed feelings on flouride, but despite my dentist's opinion on the stuff, he checked out my teeth as 'problem free' in my last visit.... after i'd switched to making my own tooth powder. I've been using my tooth powder for about 1.5 years. My last dentist appointment was also about 1.5 years ago, before the tooth powder. I had 2 supposed cavities and gingivitis. Commercial toothpaste: cavities and gingivitis. Homemade tooth powder: no cavities or gingivitis and a clean bill of mouth health. Want to make some for yourself? I thought so: Homemade Tooth Powder

Greetings from Corvallis

In a rare appearance together, may i introduce Miranda and Andy Rommel:

Yup, that's me and the husband! We had a fun time at the Indoor Winter Market last weekend, peddling our wares and chatting with the locals. It was sure cold, though! Keen to hear more about Nude Soap's public appearances? (ha). "Like" Nude Soap on Facebook for all the most current news and announcements.

I'm crazy busy working on the new blog, so forgive me for my brevity!