For many years most of us have had it drummed into us that we need to be sunsmart and wear sunblock outdoors, even on cloudy days.
We've been told it'll decrease our risk of skin cancers.

So it was a little surprising when I read about the dangers of using commercial sunscreen. Most of them contain dangerous ingredients that can disrupt your endocrine system, among other things. Sorry I'm not listing links to the research, but if you want to find that information, it's available online.

I guess the fact that parents are advised to used specific baby/toddler sunscreen for young children is a good indicator that there's something toxic in commercial sunscreens. Much like how small children are advised not to use adult toothpaste, which is also damaging...

It's also then surprising that so many Australians are deficient in vitamin D, since we supposedly get too much sun! A lack of vitamin D has actually been linked to several types of cancer, including breast cancer. Of course there would be more to it than just a lack of sun exposure, but you get the idea. We need sun, but we don't want to get burnt by the sun.

Getting pure light, such as the dawn/early morning light each day is also great for balancing your melatonin levels and helping you sleep. We certainly weren't created to be indoors all the time.

But back to the point-sunscreen. We live in a country with rather high UV levels and though the sun is an essential part of our diet to maintain optimum health, there are still times when we're out in it for longer than our skin can tolerate. Especially during this hoiday season. Pictured above is my husband, who has been setting up shade netting for our market garden and therefore spending long hours in the summer sun each day. Even with all his sun protective clothing, he still has to wear sunscreen to avoid burning.

We started using hoemade sunscreen almost 2 years ago, so we've had enough experience with it now to assure you that it works, and is much gentler on your skin (nourishing even!) than commercial sunscreen. Zinc oxide powder is the active ingredient.

Our first trial was 3 hours at the local pool with my 6 children (one of whom was an infant at the time) wearing this sunblock. One application, and no one came home sunburnt.

Then Rick has been wearing it this summer out in the paddock and has been very impressed with how effective it is. This is big news coming from a man who was a bit skeptical and still using commercial sunblock for a while after the rest of the family had switched to homemade!

Another year has almost passed!
Merry Christmas!
Hopefully we'll see many of you in 2017 at Simple Living.
Christmas came a bit early here with the birth of this little man! He was mid-bleat when the shutter clicked!
Three more ewes are expecting Christmas babies, so we'll be in for a lovely week to come with all this new life on the farm.
God bless you...and ewe :-)