Organic Week October 15-22

Did you know Canada.. today is the start of Organic Week, taking place from October 15-22.

At the heart of Organic Week it is the national celebration that came as a response to the changes in the Canadian organic standards. When you see products displaying the Canada Organic Logo, you know they are, in fact, organic. Canada’s Organic Standards are maintained by organic stakeholders including farmers, processors, organic experts and consumer advocates, under the auspices of the Canadian General Standards Board.

Visit Organic Week's Facebook page to take the Breakfast Challenge. Upload a picture of your organic breakfast, share a recipe, story, quick grab and go idea, it all goes! Participants stand to win organic goodies from well known names such as: Organic Meadow, Nature's Path, Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods and Oils, Wholesome Sweeteners, FD Organics, Taste of Nature, Earthbound Farm, & Kicking Horse Coffee.

Organic week will also be supporting Foodstock, another amazing Canadian Event!!

Canada’s National Organic Week is the largest annual celebration of organic food, farming and products across the country. Hundreds of individual events showcase the benefits of organic agriculture and its positive impact on the environment. Organic represents a vibrant alternative food system and an alternative option for clothing, personal care and cleaning products.

How will you be celebrating??

Giveaway! Natural Healing Products

Did you know Canada.. I've recently been trying out some new natural healing products.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile you know I suffer from terrible motion sickness and have tried many products to help combat. On a recent train trip to Toronto, to which my travel buddy can attest (thanks Gingermommy!!), I had the new Gravol Natural Source Ginger Lozenges on me at all times. Not only do they taste great but with the Soft Chewable Lozenges they offer the best in convenience and portability eliminating the need to take with water. Each lozenge contains the equivalent to 500mg of ginger dried root - as you may know, ginger is a clinically proven antinauseant with no drowsiness.

Gravol also has another new natural source product - a multi-symptom product that's an antinauseant, pain reliever and fever reducer! This will (unfortunately) come in so handy this winter the kids bring home so many new germs each day, it won't be long before I'm sick and to know I have natural medicine to help combat the symptoms is just awesome. Using ginger and willow bark and their unique FilmKote covering which is a smooth coating to make the tablets easy to swallow and eliminates any after taste - I'm sold!

Another new natural source product we've discovered is the new RUB A535 Arnica Gel-Cream. It is fragrance free and is ideal for people who suffer from muscle or joint pain (my husband after taking the boys skating) or those who experience bruising from falls or blows – a staple for any family medicine cabinet. This Fast penetrating gel-cream is non greasy, which I LOVE and fragrance free!! I actually couldn't believe it and didn't even believe the box until I tried it for myself, it's true! Fragrance free! I remember many, many years ago when I was little my Dad used to use RUB A535 all the time and it stank! This is just awesome and again using a natural ingredient, the Arnica flower, which makes you feel better about using it on your family.


Giveaway


One lucky reader will win a Natural Healing Prize Pack consisting of:
* Gravol Multi-Symptom
* Gravol Ginger
* RUB A535 Ultra Strength
* RUB A535 Arnica

Mandatory Entry - one mandatory entry per person
Let us know in the comments how you get rid of aches and pains.

Optional Entries - 1 comment per each optional entry
- Follow Did you know Canada on GFC
- Follow @diduknowcanada on Twitter
- Like Did you know Canada on Facebook
- Subscribe to our newsletter
- Tweet this giveaway (link to your tweet in comment, can be done 2x a day during giveaway)
Example Tweet..

Enter to #win a Natural Healing Prize Pack of Gravol and RUBA535 products! Ends 10/28 @diduknowcanada http://bit.ly/n5UPXO #CanWin

Giveaway open to Canadian readers, closing October 28st at 9:00pm EST. You must leave an email address so I have a way to contact you in the event that you win. Winners must respond within 72 hours or another winner will be chosen in their place.

Disclosure: We were sent a sample of Gravol and RUB A535 products - my opinions are my own.

Balanced Day Bags Support Breast Cancer

Did you know Canada.. Canadian company Balanced Day Bags makes fantastic lunch bags for children and adults. At many schools across the nation children's school day now consists of the balanced day, where they have 2 separate nutritional breaks instead of one lunch.

Balanced Day Bags is also supporting Breast Cancer with their Pink Ribbon bag for adults. $5.00 from every Pink Ribbon Pattern is donated to Breast Cancer Research! These bags are perfect for any lunch but especially the right size for those on 12 hour shifts and need a larger container. You can Organize foods into 2 separate compartments: Lunch / Supper, Hot / Cold, or Snack / Meal. Their Pink Ribbon Package deal comes with great savings!

Made with safe, non-toxic materials, easy to clean vinyl shell, elastic straps to hold drinks in place, and a zippered compartment on the inside of each flap for ice packs and cutlery - they've thought of everything. This would make a fantastic gift for the upcoming holiday season and a great way to show your support for Breast Cancer month.

I received a bag and was very pleased with the quality, size and style of the bag. This is perfect for any lunch, great for bring snacks in the car and more. They also have a great line of accessories - I LOVE those ice packs, too cool!

A fantastic Canadian company to support while they support Breast Cancer Research!!

Giveaway! Be The Game

Update:  This giveaway is closed, thank you everyone for commenting!!

Did you know Canada.. Be The Game is a national, community driven organization whose missions is to encourage children and individuals to give back to their community.

As a Mom to 2 boys that started soccer this summer and then just started hockey a few weeks ago I know the cost to join the game can be more than families can afford. The amount of required equipment at such young ages is, while I understand necessary for their safety, overwhelming. Let alone the cost just for signing up.

In fact, 1 in 3 families cannot afford to put their children in minor leagues sports, this is something Be The Game Sportswear is working to change. Be The Game donates 10% of all merchandise proceeds to Be The Game Sports Fund to support children in minor league sports. Check out their clothing line and custom sportswear sections to see what they have available.  I love the ball caps too, something perfect anyone can wear to show they are supporting kids in local sports.

You can also support Be The Game by talking with your local leagues about their fundraising efforts. I love that with Be The Game your team will become an active part in helping another young athlete join a minor league team - something to be proud of!

This is a fantastic organization that Canadians should support and stand behind to help make sports available to all of our kids.

Giveaway

One lucky reader will win a BE THE GAME Prize Pack consisting of a T-Shirt, hat and bumper decal!!

Mandatory Entry - one mandatory entry per person
Visit the Be The Game website and let us know in the comments section here something you learned.

Optional Entries - 1 comment per each optional entry
- Follow Did you know Canada on GFC
- Follow @diduknowcanada on Twitter
- Like Did you know Canada on Facebook
- Subscribe to our newsletter
- Tweet this giveaway (link to your tweet in comment, can be done 2x a day during giveaway)
Example Tweet..

#Canada Learn about how Be The Game Sportwear is getting kids into sports & win a prize pack!Ends 10/26 @diduknowcanada http://bit.ly/nhcfmW

Giveaway open to our Canadian readers, closing October 26th at 9:00pm EST. You must leave an email address so I have a way to contact you in the event that you win. Winners must respond within 72 hours or another winner will be chosen in their place.

Disclosure: My opinions are my own.

Get Your Socks ON

Did you know Canada.. Canadian company, ONS GEAR, has a fantastic promotion going on - the Get Your Socks ON Event!!

For each pair of socks purchased at The InnoShop during this event, ONS GEAR will donate one pair of baby Stay On Socks to St. Mary's Home in Ottawa, keeping one more baby warm this Winter!

Not only are you buying their fantastic socks for your little ones and supporting babies in need, but ONS GEAR has all their socks on sale!! 15% to 75% off all of the innovative socks - it's a win for everyone!!

Head on over to ONS GEAR and support their great initiative. Last winter, through their Warm Babies Project, ONS GEAR donated 238 Onesie Stretch-ONS to Mothercraft Ottawa. Such a fantastic Canadian Company to support.

Tweet-up!

Did you know Canada.. November is CPR awareness month, and the Canadian Red Cross is hosting a free 4-hour CPR certification course for its Twitter friends. This course will follow new guidelines released in 2010.

I'll be attending a tweet-up event in London Ontario and you're invited too! Join us in London on November 16th or join us on Twitter using hashtag #redcrossCPR. Click here to see the invite.

With 70 per cent of cardiac arrests happening at home, taking a CPR course is a simple action that could help save a loved one’s life.

Apples

Did you know Canada.. apples are Canada's largest fruit crop in terms of weight of food produced!!  It's wild blueberries that are our most valuable crop.

I've had apples on the brain today as we stopped for some apple picking at a local orchard today. A great family activity before heading to a Thanksgiving family dinner. We also made a quick stop to the bakery, Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without a pumpkin pie or two!

I was happy to see all varieties are now ready at the orchard, my boys enjoy the small galas the best, while I go for the sour mutsus.

Did you know it's the McIntosh, which is the only variety grown in all apple-growing regions of Canada, makes up half of all Canadian apple production.

It's about two thirds of Canada’s apples that are shipped fresh. Ninety percent of the processing apples are used to make juice. Other uses include applesauce, slices and pie fillings. McIntosh apples are most often used for juice and Northern Spys for pie filling.

Ontario is Canada's largest apple producer.  I was surprised to read that the most nutritious apple grown in Ontario is the Red Delicious. With Empire coming in last as the least nutritious variety.

What's your favourite apple to go picking for?

Giveaway! Loove and Sweet

Did you know Canada.. Marian is a Mom out of British Columbia and owner of Loove and Sweet - an accessories shop for little girls, big girls, boys and Moms.

Every order through her shop is handmade once you order it - how sweet is that - knowing your perfect headband, clip, bow, crochet hat and more were made exactly for your little one. She also accepts custom orders to get you exactly what you want.

We had an opportunity to check out Marian's beautiful headbands and clips - they are well made, lovely colours, great sizes and easy to use. She has a new Halloween line that would be perfect for this month. Get your orders in soon!!  We checked out these as part of Loove and Sweet's Halloween designs, I absolutely love the shade of orange used, perfect for going out, for pictures and will be so cute on a little trick or treater.

You can also visit Loove and Sweet on Facebook where Marian hosts monthly giveaways!

Not only are we thinking about Halloween but start thinking about Christmas as well, how adorable would this be in Christmas pictures? It's killing me. :-)

Loove and Sweet is exactly the type of Canadian Small Business that we are proud to stand behind - everything is handmade, from a Mom that knows what other Moms are looking for, great service, we love it!

Giveaway

One lucky reader will win one product of their choice from the Loove and Sweet store - how awesome is that!

Mandatory Entry - one mandatory entry per person
Like Loove and Sweet on Facebook and comment here with your first name.

Optional Entries - 1 comment per each optional entry
- Follow Did you know Canada on GFC
- Follow @diduknowcanada on Twitter
- Like Did you know Canada on Facebook
- Subscribe to our newsletter
- Tweet this giveaway (link to your tweet in comment, can be done 2x a day during giveaway)
Example Tweet..

#Canada Enter to #win any one product from Loove and Sweet's store! Ends 10/21 @diduknowcanada http://bit.ly/naGHB2 #CanWin

Giveaway open to our Canadian readers, closing October 21th at 9:00pm EST. You must leave an email address so I have a way to contact you in the event that you win. Winners must respond within 72 hours or another winner will be chosen in their place.

Disclosure: We were sent samples of Loove and Sweets products - my opinions are my own.

Tic Tac Canada Supporting Breast Cancer

Did you know Canada.. In support of Breast Cancer Awareness month in October, Tic Tac Canada is donating $25,000 to the Breast Cancer Society of Canada and has launched a limited edition Pink Grapefruit flavour!


This is so fantastic and we're so excited. I've tried the new flavour and it is so fun! A great quick treat to keep in your purse and another way to show your support of Breast Cancer Awareness.

We are very pleased to support and promote Tic Tac Canada as they supprt Breast Cancer Awareness. All month long, the Tic Tac Canada Facebook Page will be posting up pink-related promotions, giveaways and prizes. They've even designed a new Tic Tac character to represent their support for the cure! Love it!!

How are you showing your support for Breast Cancer this month?

Giveaway! FemMED

Update: Giveaway is now closed, thank you everyone for commenting!! Winner is being contacts soon

Did you know Canada.. Shawna Page, along with a dedicated team of medical doctors, natural healthcare professionals, pharmacists and master herbalist developed femMED: the solution to women’s most common health concerns, and a brand we can call our own! Love it!!

They have solutions for real women's concerns - Breast Health, Energy, Menopause Relief, Weight Management and more.

I love that all femMED products are manufactured at 3 pharmaceutically licensed facility in Canada. All production facilities maintain a Health Canada Pharmaceutical Establishment License, and are therefore certified as following Good Manufacturing Practices - it's great to know where your products are coming from and that they meet Canadian standards.

I've been looking to their Breast Health product - it's for protecting the breasts from abnormal cell growth, promoting a healthy estrogen balance, and reducing cycle breast pain and tenderness. This is the first time I've seen a product like this and think it's fantastic! As women we must protect ourselves in every way that we can.

femMED Breast Health has recently undergone a Health Canada approved clinical trial involving pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women. Researchers say they have uncovered a possible way for women to favorably influence whether estrogen in their body takes a “beneficial” or a “disease-potential” path.

These are fantastic products, produced in Canada and there is something for every women.

Giveaway

One lucky reader will win 2 femMed products of their choice!!!

Mandatory Entry - one mandatory entry per person
Visit femMed and let us know which 2 products you would pick (you can change your mind if you win).

Optional Entries - 1 comment per each optional entry
- Follow Did you know Canada on GFC
- Follow @diduknowcanada on Twitter
- Like Did you know Canada on Facebook
- Subscribe to our newsletter
- Tweet this giveaway (link to your tweet in comment, can be done 2x a day during giveaway)
Example Tweet..

Ladies, enter to #win 2 products of your choice from femMed! Ends 10/19 @diduknowcanada http://bit.ly/r1yK8M #CanWin #Canada

Giveaway open to our Canadian readers, closing October 19th at 9:00pm EST. You must leave an email address so I have a way to contact you in the event that you win. Winners must respond within 72 hours or another winner will be chosen in their place.

Disclosure: We were sent a bottle of Breast Health - my opinions are my own.