*Guest Post* No Touch Plants + Giveaway

Please welcome Teresa of Mountain Mama: Expecting Adventure once again to the blog!  She wrote a guest post for us back in February about the joys of a post-baby body (and being proud of it!)  Today she is introducing a brand new, ingenious T-shirt for kids.  BUT, since we live in a place where poisonous plants are few and far between, I wanted her to tell all about them (since I am certainly no expert at all!)  As always, please feel free to leave her some love in the comments (and make sure you read all the way to the end for a chance to win!)

There are few things more rewarding for a mountain mama than watching their little ones take their first steps on a favorite trail. Even better are the many mountain milestones to follow. 

I beamed with pride the first time Fausto, now 4, rejected the kid-carrier backpack that was his perch on many trails over many months and insisted on walking on his own. He quickly accepted my rules: don't drink from the stream, pee away from water, sunblock is a must. One initiation I dreaded, though, was the first encounter with what we call the “no touch” plants. Where we hike, these include an abundance of stinging nettle and poison oak, though I'm sure it won't be long before we run into their cousins, sumac and ivy. 

Stinging nettle is pretty easy to spot, with it's almost fuzzy appearance and needle-like protrusions on the edges of the leaves. Poison oak is trickier. I still find myself ticking the traits off the list when I see a dead-ringer – leaves of three, oily appearance... But sometimes it's hard to be sure.

On one hike, while Fausto chanted “no touch, no touch” at every suspicious bit of flora, I thought, wouldn't it be great to have a cheat-sheet that he and I could both reference to make sure we were identifying these plants correctly. That's when inspiration struck, what could be better than having the littlest hikers be the cheat-sheet? 

Photo credit: Danielle Kaiser

I got in touch with Seth Neilson, the designer behind our My Outdoor Alphabet tees and father of four little hikers himself. What we came up with was an illustrated tee depicting the four most toxic trailside plants and a big “NO-TOUCH” slogan. I knew the campaign would be successful when Fausto stepped between his hiking buddy and some nettle and said, “Hey! No touch! See? Like my tee-shirt!” 

Want to win a T-shirt for your own child?

To win (you MUST do all 3 to be eligible!):
Congrats to commenter #5, Jen!  Check your inbox!

1. Go to the Outdoor Alphabet Facebook page (if you haven't seen this, it.is.awesome.) https://www.facebook.com/outdooralphabet

2.  "Like" the page and then comment THERE about which poisonous plants you encounter on the trails.

3.  Come back here and comment on THIS post that you did!

For an extra entry:

Tweet this (or something similar!): @mtnmamatales @MtMamaMaternity and @OutdoorAlphabet are giving away a No-Touch T! http://ow.ly/aKOxC Great for your little hikers!

Make sure to come back here and comment again saying you did!

This giveaway will end at 8 pm MST on May 16th.  The winner will be posted here and on FB - you are responsible for checking in to claim your prize within 48 hours (or making sure your email address is VERY clear in your comment so I can find you!)  Good luck!