Mrs. Edna Earth
By Millie Diaz
Contributing Writer
Alexandria Craft will be competing for a Texas title as Mrs. Edna Earth at the Cullen Theater in Houston, at the beginning of March. Though the 24-year old mom doesn’t consider herself a glamorous pageant person, it’s the environmental project giving the competition an edge that she’s most excited about.
Craft’s platform is teaching kids sustainability, in her own words: teaching young minds about giving back to the Earth, reusing, recycling, and educating them to grow their own food and raise their own meat.
For her, the green-living lifestyle goes back to her roots, due to her mother, Bernadette Olivier, being a homeopathic doctor.
“My mother, though she believes in medicine, always asks, ‘what can we do before we have to do medicine?’ So I grew up around essential oils and home remedies, it’s always been a part of my life,” she said.
This stayed with her as she married and began a family. Craft and her husband Kameron have four children: Kaden, Karsyn, Kove, and Khaleesi. As the young ones began to get sick here and there, the couple learned one of their kids was diagnosed with ADHD. The first question Craft asked herself was what could she do so she wouldn’t have to put him on medicine? “So I began researching and came across whole eating, fresh fruits and vegetables and nutrient-dense things. Then I realized, it’s really expensive to go to the store to buy all that...can I do it myself? And I enjoy doing things myself, so I decided I was going to learn how.”
Craft attributes her beginnings from one of her best friends, Hannah Cunningham. The pair met through their husbands and learned about their passions.
“Alex and I went to dinner one night and we clicked, talking about essential oils and whole foods,” Cunningham said. “Now she’s teaching me about indoor and outdoor gardening and how to start sprouts, and I’m teaching her about chickens, quail and incubating them. I have some of her chicken eggs in my incubator right now.”
Craft has 25 chickens that produce eggs, and she considers them her pets, her babies. Every single night she and her children go out and feed the chickens, change their water and love on them. Her next step is purchasing a different breed of chickens for meat, in order for the family to be able to butcher and freeze their own meat.
“Everyone said chickens are the easiest thing to get started with, and once you start, you’re not turning back, and it’s true,” she said. “We built a little coop out of some scrap wood, laid down some bedding and gave them a little space to roam and that’s it.”
It’s clear to see the circle of life Craft is part of, and she explains it the best.
“I reuse a lot of things in my house; if I have leftovers of food it goes to the chickens, then they eat it, and when they do their business on the bedding, I use the bedding to therefore put in a composting pile. And then my composting pile goes to my garden, and then the garden grows us fruits and vegetables, over and over again,” she proudly said.
So with her environmental project for the pageant checked off, Craft has to practice the other categories of competition, like interviewing, walking in heels, and being prepared to be on television. She said she’s most nervous about talking to other people, so she’s trying her best to break out of her shell. Not only that, she’s choosing gowns and athletic wear as well.
“Walking in front of hundreds of people, answering questions in front of hundreds of people, that is probably what I”m most nervous about. And probably also worried about falling on stage,” she added. “I was told to walk in heels every day, and I’m the type of person who didn’t even have a pair of heels in her closet.” She sighed. “But I know my strength is my environmental project.” Craft will be competing against four other women for Mrs. Texas Earth, and then if she wins, she levels up and competes on the national stage. Craft hopes for her platform to grow regardless of winning, she has dreams of teaching the community about gardening and raising their own meat.
“I would love to bring it into the schools and be able to put a class about teaching sustainability, reusing and recycling. Get- ting the word out there, maybe other surrounding towns will hear about it and want to do the same,” she said.
Craft said none of this would be possible without the support of her husband, her kids, her mom, and her friends within the pageant. Without them, she wouldn’t have the belief that she could get through the pageant process.
“I’m a person who thrives off of support, if I didn’t have that I don’t think I would be where I am now, into this,” Craft said.
“I think she’s going to do great,” Cunningham said. “I think her honesty and her love for animals and family will push her far. When you step into a room with her you get to learn what new projects she’s starting, so she’s someone I look up to.”
The Texas pageant will be televised on the ROKU Channel.