About Katie Kimball

An at-home mom who is passionate about food, her two kids, the good green Earth and her faith, Katie Kimball blogs about all that and more at Kitchen Stewardship.

5 quick hacks to conserve energy at home

by on August 15, 2012
in home & garden · 12 Comments

Written by contributor Katie Kimball of Kitchen Stewardship.

Don’t you get tired of making changes?

In order to be healthy or eco-friendly or frugal or what-have-you, there’s always something new to try, a routine you need to alter, or an ingredient you have to cut from your diet, isn’t there?

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just read about those changes and not actually have to implement them?

Sometimes, knowledge is power.

Today I offer you five strategies that you can implement with virtually zero effort beyond reading this post and keeping your brain engaged. (Okay, I know that’s not always easy, but I can’t exactly come to your house and “go green” for you!)

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Five items that don’t have to hit the trash when you travel this summer

by on June 27, 2012
in living mindfully · 5 Comments

Summer is a time of whimsy, fun, and often lots of traveling. Being on the go and trying to not work so hard can mean that your green sensibilities go right out the window the way some people toss their fast food bags as they cruise down the highway.

Certainly you won’t become a summertime litterbug, but it can’t be denied that theme parks, stadiums, fairs and concerts generate some massive piles of garbage in the name of recreation. If that’s where you’re headed, here are some quick tips to make sure you can have fun and take good care of the earth while you play.

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Engage Your Children in Shopping for Vegetables (Farmer’s Market Bingo Printable)

by on May 14, 2012
in natural parenting · 12 Comments

Written by contributor Katie Kimball of Kitchen Stewardship.

As a former teacher and current mom, I’ve read all the great advice about keeping children engaged in shopping trips and the myriad ways one can make a simple grocery store excursion into a learning experience.

Most of the time, I’m just too tired or harried or hurried to do anything formal beyond some conversation about food and allowing the kids to help fill produce bags and “beep” our purchases at the self-checkout.

This summer, I’m determined to give my 7-year-old son practice with mental math and making change at the Farmer’s Market, and his almost-4-year-old sister is the perfect age to work on her letters and sounds, as well as vegetable identification.

Luckily I have an amazing friend, my son’s godmother, who created this Farmer’s Market Bingo sheet when he and I visited her a few summers ago. I’ll make another one with letters for my daughter, and as long as I, you know, remember to actually bring them and have a few brain cells to rub together to keep the kids on track, each Farmer’s Market trip can be a total learning experience.

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Is it “green” to turn off the TV?

by on April 13, 2012
in living mindfully, natural parenting · 75 Comments

Written by contributor Katie Kimball of Kitchen Stewardship.

As the progeny of a counter-cultural mama who always hated pink as a child, my daughter Leah is remarkably similar to the average 3-year-old girl in our culture: she owns and loves about a zillion Disney princess items (courtesy of doting grandparents), from her comforter to T-shirts to the cup in the bathroom.

The major difference? She’s never seen their movies.

The closest she’s come to princesses outside a storybook is Disney on Ice, and even her 200-page princess stories book is sitting on our master closet shelf after one too many tales that were not age appropriate and just doggone uncomfortable to read to a 3-year-old who doesn’t understand what’s going on anyway.

Grandma got her some new princess gear for Easter and asked, “What’s this princess’s name?”

Leah answered honestly and casually, “I don’t know…I only know Cindah-wewa.” (We’re still working on “L” and “R” sounds.)

Do I care that she can’t peg Aurora, the name of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty?

Do you care that I had to Google that to figure it out?

I actually take great pride that she doesn’t. Besides the fact that none of these movies are made for a 3-year-old mentality and she’d barely know what was going on, there are so many things I’d rather my daughter fill her expanding mind with: from how to identify beginning sounds to using “please” consistently, from drawing squares with actual corners to saying her “R” sound correctly. If she can remember the names of all her friends in real life and how to play fair with them, Sleeping Beauty can never wake up for all I care.

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How to Naturally (Try to) Get Grease Stains out of Laundry

by on March 16, 2012
in repurposing · 68 Comments

Written by contributor Katie Kimball of Kitchen Stewardship.

Ranch dressing. Straining greasy homemade chicken stock. Frying asparagus in bacon grease. Random unknown alien lifeforms.

All culprits in the “Where did that grease stain on my shirt come from?” game in my real food kitchen.

As I mentioned last month in 15 Natural Solutions to Kid Messes, I can handle getting blood, strawberries, and most poop out of my kids’ clothing.

But grease stains? My nemesis.

They show up unannounced, usually only noticed after they’ve been through the dryer, making them 5,729 times harder to get out.

I had some bad ones this month, which is good for you, because I got to test lots of ideas. Here’s what works and doesn’t work to get grease stains out of clothing:

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