Author Archives: alyssabdh

About alyssabdh

Natural Health

Curious Produce: Little Potato Cucumbers

Posted on July 10, 2014 by alyssabdh

Jessup has a locally-grown (organic, of course) oddity on the shelf right now: the Little Potato Cucumber! The texture is similar to a regular cucumber and the flavor is mild, mellow and cool, much like traditional cucumbers. If you … Continue reading →

Posted in Fruits, Local, Organic Food, Vegetables | Tagged Jessup MD, little potato cucumber, local prouce, locally-grown, organic food, salad ingredients, summer vegetables | Leave a comment

Day On The Bay

Posted on May 3, 2014 by alyssabdh

A great deal of my childhood was spent on the Chesapeake Bay, netting crabs (or trying to), collecting oyster shells, and waving at passing sailboats. My great grandmother would steam blue crabs and we’d sit in the sunshine and talk … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, Local, Water | Tagged blue crabs, CBF.org, Chesapeake Bay, Conservation, East Coast, Maryland, MD Park Service, owls, Oxford-Bellevue Ferry, recycling, repurposing, reusing, sail boats, shoreline, waste disposal, wetlands conservations | Leave a comment

Eyes On Your Kids

Posted on April 4, 2014 by alyssabdh

You’re the parent. You’re the boss. You make the decisions for your family. Right? Well, food marketers have noticed that there’s a very influential lobbyist, of sorts, in your midst: Your child. Children have an impressive repertoire of tactics to … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Family, News | Tagged brand loyalty, brand trust, branded characters, calorie needs, cartoon characters, cartoon eyes, cereal, commercial free childhood, Cornell University, eating habits, eye contact, Food Psychology Department, healthy food, marketing tactics, marketing to kids, MOMs policy, nutrition needs | 3 Comments

Eat Your Weed

Posted on March 17, 2014 by alyssabdh

MOMs is in full-obsession mode this week over dandelions – and we have every reason to be. We, Americans in particular, are choking our ground water with fertilizers and drying out our clean water resources to try to give grass … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Lawns, Native plants, Vegetables | Tagged bee balm, chicory, Christopher Hobbs, clover, common plantain, cow slip, dandelions, edible weeds, elder, fertilizer, ground ivy, lambs quarter, lawn care, lawn chemicals, major plantain, medicine cabinet, nutrition, plantago major, psyllium fiber, redbud, safe disposal, soil amendment, soil improvement, weed weasel | 2 Comments

Change Your Scenery

Posted on November 30, 2013 by alyssabdh

If you had told me, when I started in the natural health field at 19 years old, that one day I would be traveling to faraway lands for my job, I would’ve laughed. Then I would’ve finished pricing my products … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, Fruits, Gardening, Natural Health | Tagged annatto, biodynamic farming, coffee farms, Costa Rica, eco-resort, ginger, glass frog, guanabana, hanging bridges, howler monkeys, La Fortuna, livestock, medicinal plants, New Chapter, rambutan, Sacred Seeds, sloth, sustainable hospitality, turmeric, weather channel | 10 Comments

Brushing Your Teeth Should Feel Good

Posted on November 12, 2013 by alyssabdh

On a recent early Fall day, in the wee hours of morning, about 20 MOMs employees showed up at the parking lot in College Park and piled our sleepy selves onto a mini-bus for a trip to adorable Kutztown, PA … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Energy Resources, Local, Recycling | Tagged bristling machine, cranberry floss, ergonomic, Kidz, Kutztown PA, left-handed, oral health, Original, Radius, recycled rubber, right-handed, Scuba, solar panels, Source, toothbrush, Totz | Leave a comment

A New Pledge

Posted on October 20, 2013 by alyssabdh

This post is the conclusion to a previous post. Check it out here. In Olympia WA, Alaffia is a small company that receives raw ingredients from their Togo women’s cooperative, then packages, labels and ships finished products for sale to … Continue reading →

Posted in Green Careers, Natural Health | Tagged Afican Black Soap, Alaffia, Alaffia pledge, artisan women, Beautiful Curls, body lotion, body wash, botanical ingredients, community empowerment, conditioner, cooperatives, employment, Everyday Coconut, Everyday Shea, gender equality, hair oil, hand soap, Olowo-n'djo, Olympia, shampoo, Togo | Leave a comment

Alaffia Pledge – Gender Equality and Community Empowerment

Posted on October 14, 2013 by alyssabdh

Often when a passionate and enthusiastic person, concerned about human rights and environment, decides to focus their energy on making a difference they look to support charitable organizations that may offer funds, education and outreach to communities that either need … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Ecology, Family, Native plants | Tagged Alaffia Skincare, artisan, basket weaving, Bicycle program, coconut, cooperatives, employment, empowerment, Everyday Coconut, Everyday Shea, fair trade, female excision, gender equality, lemongrass, lotion, maternal health, neem, Olowo-n'djo Tchala, Olympia WA, poverty, reforestation, Rose Hyde, shampoo, shea butter, Togo, traditional, West Africa | 4 Comments

MOMs on the Bay

Posted on July 26, 2013 by alyssabdh

Employees from the Alexandria store had a great bay adventure recently with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Read on for Alex’s rundown on the awesome day. “It was a balmy summer morning, with the promise of Washington’s finest heat and humidity … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, Local, Water | Tagged bald eagles, boat, catfish, CBF, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Chesapeake watershed, Conservation, CSNY, District of Columbia, Eastern Shore, ecology, Maryland, Mount Vernon, oxygen levels, oysters, perch, pesticides, Potomac River, run-off, salinity, SE Harbor Waterfront, sewer system, trawling, watershed | Leave a comment

A Visit to BioSphere: Montreal

Posted on July 19, 2013 by alyssabdh

My husband and I took a trip to Montreal this Spring and had a great time. There are many great things about the city, which is known among many other things, to be rather forward-thinking when it comes to environmental … Continue reading →