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Natural Living: 3 New Things I Have Been Trying (And 1 I’m Giving Up)

We are all works in progress. Wouldn’t you agree?

I have been pursuing a natural lifestyle for the last 15 years, and I find that I’m constantly taking steps forward and backward in my pursuit of simple, natural, seasonal living.

When I’m taking steps forward, it always makes me feel really good about the choices I’m making and the direction my life is going. On the other hand, when I’m taking steps backward, it can often make me feel like a failure and not good enough.

However, both of those things — the wins and the losses — are needed and valuable. They are a part of our journey, whatever that may be for each of us.

Not only do they help to shape who we become, but I wholeheartedly think it’s good for others to see these steps forward and backward too. None of us is perfect. We’re all figuring life out as we live it.

So with all of that said, I thought it would be fun to get a little personal and share some of my wins and losses with you by telling you about three new healthy living things I’ve been trying lately, and loving, I might add, as well as one thing I am giving up.

My hope is that this post helps inspire you to step out of your comfort zone and try some new things that will bring you closer to your natural living goals — all while knowing that if something doesn’t work out, you can simply call it a loss and try something else.

Sound good?

3 Natural Living Wins I’ve Had Lately

I’ve recently been trying to focus my forward momentum on leveling up the healthy factor of some things that impact me the most, meaning the things I do or use every day. I’ve also been opting for quality over quantity when it comes to my purchases as well. Keeping both of these things in mind has helped me to feel like I’m making the most progress toward my healthy lifestyle goals while saving money in the long run, all at the same time. Here’s hoping you can see both of these things in the natural living wins I’m sharing below.

#1 — Making the Switch to Sustainable Linen Bedding

The first thing on my list has to be making the switch to sustainable linen bedding. Yes, it’s taken me 15 years to get here, and now that I’m here, I’m not inclined to go back.

Because we spend 1/3 of our lives in our beds and linens are a long-lasting investment, the decision to finally make the switch to safe, non-toxic bedding was a no-brainer for me.

I recently swapped out all of my old Target bedding with luxurious, sustainably-sourced, beautiful French linens from Baloo Living. In fact, I gave my whole bed a little summer bedding makeover, and I couldn’t be happier.

I swapped our grey-colored sheets for white stonewashed French linen sheets. I removed our dark navy blue quilted bedcover and replaced it with Baloo’s white organic cotton weighted blanket. And lastly, I put their oatmeal linen duvet cover on our comforter along with some oatmeal- and white-colored pillowcases to give the bed a neutral mismatched look that gives our room a comfy, cozy, light, summer vibe — perfect for the season ahead.

From there, I added some light navy throw pillows and blankets I found at TJ Maxx to give the bed a pop of color and tie it into the rest of my room, and I’m super happy with how it turned out.

While linen bedding, particularly French linen, is an investment, it’s a long-term one. Because Baloo Living has a high standard for all of their products, I felt that they were a great brand to partner with when it comes to choosing the right kind of bedding to sleep on every single night.

Their weighted blankets and comforters are the only quilted weighted blankets made without synthetic liners or polyester fill, made with only 100% pure cotton construction for cool breathability year-round. Plus, they’re machine washable and dryer safe, so cleaning is easy! Dean and I have never slept with a weighted blanket before, but after reading how great they are for your sleep (and high-quality sleep is so important to overall wellness), I knew I wanted to give it a try.

Pairing the weighted blanket with the crisp flax linen bedding, which are milled in Normandy, France and manufactured using chemical-free materials, was the perfect addition to our summer bedding upgrade, and I’m so impressed with how cool the sheets stay on these hot summer nights here in East Tennessee. Not only that, but the linens are stonewashed to remove all the rough fibers from the flax, and they become softer with every wash. I had heard about linen sheets becoming softer the more you wash them, but it’s really cool to see how true it is when you’re doing it yourself.

Now, if you would like to upgrade your bedding to something more luxurious, cleaner, more sustainable, and high-quality — definitely check out Baloo Living. I’m so impressed with all of their products, so much so that I’ve reached out to them and got a discount code to share with you so you can try their weighted blankets or French linen sheets yourself while saving some money at the same time!

Just use discount code “GROWINGUPHERBAL” at checkout to get $20 off your orders over $100. There is no expiration date, so you’ll also find this code added to the Partner section of the Seasonal Living Collective secret library so you can use it again and again to save money on every order! Win-win!

Anyway, I would say that making the switch to sustainable linen bedding has been one of my biggest natural living wins so far this year.

#2 — Going Green in the Kitchen with Might Fix

A few years ago, I wrote a blog post about how I was going plastic-free in the kitchen. And while I stuck with the majority of those swaps, there were a few plastics that were harder to get rid of than others — plastic baggies and plastic wrap being two of them! Talk about taking some steps forward and then backward.

So last year sometime, I decided to give the Might Fix monthly subscription from Mighty Nest a try in an effort to make some more eco-friendly, non-toxic progress in my kitchen.

And guess what? It worked!

That subscription was the thing that helped me to find some products that would finally replace plastic bags and plastic wrap, as well as quite a few other things, left in my kitchen.

For example, I love their stasher bags as they’re the perfect replacement for plastic baggies. Again, they’re an investment, but they are reusable, hold up well, and come in all sorts of sizes and colors. These are probably my favorite products. I order them over and over!

I also love their beeswax wrap, food huggers, and fabric bowl covers. These have helped me replace plastic wrap, and they also are reuseable and hold up well.

I’ve even gone plastic-free in other areas of my home, specifically when it comes to trash can liners by using their reusable pail liners. I would never have thought that I liked these things, but I really do. They stay clean, you can wash them when they need it, and they blend into your room’s decor and don’t stick out.

So, to try all of these things without spending a ton of money, I gifted myself a 12-month Might Fix subscription, and I select the “choose my fix” option each month so I can pick the things I want to try. More than a year later and my kitchen and several other areas of my home are much greener, and I still have my Might Fix subscription going. I love it, and you probably will too!

#3 — Pursuing Bioregional Herbalism

We’ve been here at Wild Rose House for almost 3 years now, and I’m finally getting more familiar with the plants growing on our property.

Through the help of the Picture This plant ID app and some herbal identification books, I’ve been able to learn what herbs I have available to me here. This has inspired me to learn more about the plants growing on our property — getting to know how to harvest them throughout the year, stocking them in my home apothecary, learning how to use them, and actually making herbal preparations with them and putting them to use in various ways. This is termed bioregional herbalism, and it’s something that really appeals to me.

I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to harvest plants from my land — preserving them in tinctures and oils in my natural medicine cabinet or drying and storing them in my apothecary for future use. I suppose it’s the same as a homesteader seeing all sorts of produce and whatnot fully stocked in the pantry, cellar, or storehouse for the coming year.

And if there’s an herb not growing close to me that I need, I have two options. I can pull out my materia medica and look for an herb that I can use as a substitute, or I can always try growing what I don’t have in my garden.

So whether I’m identifying more of the plants around me or growing more of what I don’t already have, I’m continually learning how to be a good steward of what God has made available to me on our land, and that is most certainly a natural living win!

So there you have it — three wins in my recent efforts to live life a bit more naturally, simply, and seasonally.

And as you might imagine, winning doesn’t happen all by itself. It’s always mixed with a few losses, So just to make sure you don’t think I’ve got this natural living thing down perfectly, I’m sharing one of my setbacks with you below.

And 1 Natural Living Loss

As I said, trying anything worthwhile is going to come with a few losses, setbacks, or complete failures along the way, and intermittent fasting has been that thing for me this past year.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of intermittent fasting because it’s not only about getting to a balanced weight, but it’s so good for your overall health as well. I’m not going to share all the reasons why intermittent fasting — the 16:8 version to be exact — is good for you because you can research that on your own if you’re interested.

What I’m here to tell you is that I tried it again and again over the past year, and I just couldn’t stick with it no matter how badly I wanted to. My schedule varies so much throughout the week that it’s almost impossible, or rather, very inconvenient, to eat within a consistent 8-hour time frame.

Yes, I was very disciplined with it at one point, forcing myself and my schedule to fit into that 8-hour eating window. I think I made it a month. During that time, I definitely saw some healthy weight loss and better sleep, but it wasn’t something that I could sustain in the long run — at least not at this season of my life. Here’s hoping it will be a better fit at some point in the future when my days are a bit more routined.

As they say, “try and try again!”

Finally

Alright, friend! Like I said earlier — we’re all works in progress. I hope sharing these three natural living wins and one loss with you today has encouraged or inspired you in some way to keep taking steps toward your natural lifestyle goals, even when some of them take you backward!

Okay, now it’s your turn to share with me!

I’d love to know something new you’ve tried lately that has moved you forward toward one of your goals. Share with me in the comments below, and let’s get to know each other better!

Love and light,
Meagan

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