Do you own a natural family focused business in North Texas?

Would you like to reach your target market quicker, easier, and for FREE?

Enter to WIN:

TWO months FREE Featured Natural Business status on the North Texas Natural Family site!

What YOU Get:

FREE Featured Natural Business status on the NTNF website for the months of February and March

Featured Business status includes:

Prime Real Estate Ad Campaign – Top of sponsors list with a static banner (appears on every page), listed on our Sponsors page with a static banner.

Featured Listing in our resource directory – Top of directory listing for your appropriate directory, in addition to your free complimentary directory listing alphabetized in your appropriate directory.

ONE blog post featuring your business, organization, or other promotion pertaining to natural family living.

ONE  – NTNF Blog Talk Radio interview featuring your business, organization, or other promotion pertaining to natural family living.

All of this for FREE for 2 months!

How to Enter:

1) Reply to this post below in the comments; with your name, business name, and contact email. Tell us about your natural business and what you have to offer our community as a natural business professional.

Additional Entries:

1 additional entry – For every 5 friends you email about NTNF with Admin@NorthTexasNaturalFamily.com cc’ed or bcc’ed in the email!

1 additional entry – Subscribe to our blog feed!

2 additional entries – FAN us on Facebook AND SHARE the NTNF page on your profile, and post on the NTNF page that you shared us with your network! If already a fan, just SHARE!

5 entries possible per business!

Contest entries BEGIN today, Thursday, January 28, 2010

Contest ENDS on Thursday, February 4, 2010.

The winner will be announced on Friday, February 5, 2010. All banners will be up as soon as graphics are received by the winner. Featured Business Post will be up as soon as winner submits desired posting along with desired date for post to be placed on the NTNF site. Interview will be scheduled with winner on Friday, February 5, 2010 and will air on winner’s desired dated.

EVERYONE IS A WINNER! Everyone who enters our contest will receive a complimentary directory listing along with a ONE month featured business status directory listing for the month of March, listing will be placed just below our Featured Natural Business winner if listed in the same directory!

From the Ends of the Earth is a fair trade world imports store located on West Davis in Dallas, TX. Everything this place carries is from fair trade organizations and cooperatives. They specialize in bringing quality handmade arts and crafts from around the world to our local community!

Visit them online at From the Ends of the Earth or visit their store located in Historic Oak Cliff on the corner of Davis and Tyler:

839 W. Davis, Dallas, TX 75208

Hours of Operation:

Tuesday – Friday: 11 am – 6 pm
Saturday: 11 am – 7 pm

Join their e-mail list to learn about specials and store events by going to their website.

Visit www.FromtheEndsoftheEarth.com

We can’t think of a better gift to give a new mom (like yourself!) than healthy, mouth-watering meals delivered right to your doorstep. How does this sound?

Mock “Chicken” Soup with Wild  Rice
Coconut Bhasmati Rice
Vegetable / Tofu Salad Wraps
Beet Dip with Whole Grain Crackers
Garbanzos, Artichoke Hearts / Roasted Red Pepper Salad

Chef Craig Shropshire’s Vegan Meal Delivery Service has served Richardson, North Dallas, Park Cities, Oak Lawn, Lower Greenville and Lakewood since 1992. Menus featuring five-course, gourmet vegetarian dinners are delivered to your home or office on Mondays and Wednesdays for $20. Menus change weekly. Gift certificates, catering and cooking instruction is also available.

Contact Chef Craif Shropshire at 972.437.4447 or by e-mail.

Texas shoppers get a break from state and local sales taxes on August 21, 22 and 23, the state’s annual tax holiday. Layaway plans can be used again this year to take advantage of the sales tax holiday.

As in previous years, the law exempts most clothing and footwear priced under $100 from sales and use taxes, which could save shoppers about $8 on every $100 they spend. Backpacks under $100 and used by elementary and secondary students are also exempt. A backpack is a pack with straps one wears on the back. The exemption during the sales tax holiday includes backpacks with wheels, provided they can also be worn on the back like a traditional backpack, and messenger bags. The exemption does not include items that are reasonably defined as luggage, briefcases, athletic/duffle/gym bags, computer bags, purses or framed backpacks. Ten or fewer backpacks can be purchased tax-free at one time without providing an exemption certificate to the seller.

The 81st Texas Legislature recently passed HB 1801 (2009) expanding the list of items qualifying for exemption from Texas state and local sales and use taxes during the annual sales tax holiday in August. Effective this year, in addition to clothes, footwear and some backpacks, Texas families also get a sales tax break on most school supplies priced at less than $100 purchased for use by a student in an elementary or secondary school.

Review the state’s official list of qualifying school supplies and other goods.

Here’s a must-read we think every North Texas natural family should have on the bookshelf: the Smart Mama’s Green Guide: Simple Steps to Reduce Your Child’s Toxic Chemical Exposure. Author Jennifer Taggart’s background in environmental law means she knows how to sort out environmental fact from fiction, and her experience as a blogger means she knows how to tie up those facts in a neat, easy-to-use package. What does that mean for you? A book filled with the most important, the most relevant, and the most reliable strategies for reducing your exposure to toxic chemicals in your own home.

Read more about this must-have reference for every green family at Super Eco.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, which has been riding the more sustainable food train for years now, is sponsoring free screenings of the acclaimed documentary film Food, Inc. nationwide, including North Texas. The local showing will take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 16,  at the Magnolia Theatre in Dallas.

The food industry exposé is preparing to burst through the doorway cracked by Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” “If you know the truth about what you’re eating … you might not want to eat it anymore,” investigative journalist Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) warns the movie’s audience at the film’s beginning. Says The Ethicurean (check them out—they’ll help you “chew the right thing”), the film “persuasively confirms what the real ‘real food’ movement has long held: the only beneficiaries of our current food system are giant agribusiness corporations such as Tyson, Smithfield, Monsanto, and others like them.”

Chipotle’s Food With Integrity philosophy focuses on hallmarks like unprocessed, seasonal, family-farmed, sustainable, nutritious, naturally raised, hormone-free, organic and artisanal. Its sustainable suppliers supply the chain with naturally raised meats, organically grown beans, rBGH-free dairy and locally grown produce.

Tickets for the local screening at the Magnolia will be first come, first served. For more information, visit the Magnolia on the web.

Concerned about the quality of your fruits and vegetables, or just longing to recapture the garden-fresh tastes from your childhood? You don’t have to leave the country for the finest, freshest, healthiest food in the world — locally grown food is right here at home in North Texas.

Join the Trinity River Audubon Society’s panel of local food growers and vendors to learn about local farmer’s markets, community-supported agriculture, local gourmet food producers and other resources who share the love of our regional foods. Find out how eating local reduces your carbon footprint, improves your health and supports local farmers.

Even produce grown in the United States travels an average of 1,500 miles before it gets sold, says The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). That’s a huge carbon footprint for foods that end up being a pale imitation of the fresh, tasty choices grown in your own region.

Learn more at the Trinity River Audubon Center’s FREE Third Thursday presentation at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 16 at 6500 South Loop 12 in Dallas. For more information and directions, visit the Trinity River Audubon Center or contact Ben Jones at 214.309.5810.

Oh, and be sure to arrive on time for locally grown samples, while they last!

It’s a good time to be a baby’s bottom in Dallas/Fort Worth, as Green Baby Diaper Service expands it service to cover the entire metroplex. Green Baby offers cloth diaper service, supplies and support. Visit them on the web at GreenBabyDiaperService.com.

Find other local diapering resources on our Natural Shopping page.

Designer Stella McCartney has announced plans for a new line of clothes to debut later this year at GapKids and babyGap. “For years now I’ve wanted to create a collection for kids, it’s something I’ve often been asked about,” McCartney revealed to Vogue magazine.  “I believe that this one off collaboration will be a great way for customers to be able to participate in the Stella McCartney brand.”

No news out yet on whether the new line will be as animal-friendly as McCartney’s past creations. The vegetarian designer supports PETA and does not use fur or leather in her designs, although she does design with wool, silk and other non-lethally derived animal fabrics. The forecast is favorable for affordability: “I believe that kids clothing should be more accessibly priced, which is particularly important at the moment given the current climate,” she said.

It’s June, and that means two free weeks for new clients at BlueBonnet Diaper Service. The new service is now serving Dallas, Fort Worth and the Denton triplex area, including Frisco, Plano, Little Elm, Corinth, Lake Dallas, The Colony, Flower Mound, Lewisville, Keller, Southlake, Trophy Club, Grapevine, Colleyville, Bedford, Hurst, Euless, Watauga, North Richland Hills, Sanger, Aubrey, Pilot Point and Gainesville.  (Whew! That’s a lot of dirty diapers!)

BlueBonnet also sells cloth diaper supplies, including Thirsties diaper covers, Happy Tushies Wonderbags, Snappi fasteners, 54-quart diaper pails and Citrus Circles deoderizing discs.  Diaper service plans start from economical basic monthly plans to extended service plans and gift plans that include all the supplies you’ll need to start cloth diapering.

BlueBonnet Diaper Service is still expanding, so if you don’t see your neighborhood listed in their service area, give them a call.

Read more about cloth diapering in North Texas right here on North Texas Natural Family. Visit our Natural Shopping page for more cloth diapering services and supplies.