New Baby New Ideas

Like most parents getting ready to bring a new baby home I start to go through check lists.  There’s the normal  list like diapers, clothes, wipes, car seat, clean house and how to live on a tighter budget.

Then theirs the crazy lists that I start.  How can I keep this new baby from the toxic world that their about to become a part of.  What other Eco changes can I make to make our house safer?  How can I keep my impact on the earth as small as possible so this new little person has a chance at the best world possible. How can I save money and still live an Eco friendly, healthy lifestyle now that their is another person in our household.  I think about things like reusable cloth wipes vs. disposable wipes.  Disposable diapers vs. cloth.  One will make my life easier the other is environmentally friendly and more cost effective in the long run.  Granted I think about all these things before getting pregnant but when the reality of another baby is right there, well it gets a little more intense.

So what do we do with all these checklists and how do we make choices that are easy and convenient, but at the same time are doing the most to keep the future of the Earth as Green as possible?  This doesn’t just apply to babies either.  There are small changes that we can choose to make every day that might not seem like much but in the long run they could really add up in the Eco friendly checklist.

I’ve been thinking more and more about small things that add up when talking about the environment, and I think a lot of people feel almost helpless in the face of what needs to be vs. what they can do.  I started thinking about how saving money and trying to go green sounds almost like an oxymoron, because  green products usually cost a little more than non-green.  This puts an even bigger amount of pressure on those trying to help the environment but also trying to stay afloat financially.

So here’s what I came up with.

Everything green doesn’t have to be bought for the intent of saving the world and you don’t always have to buy green to be doing the world a favor.  Simple things can add up, like keeping items that have multiple uses out of land fills, not buying a lot of NEW paper products, trying to buy local items or items made in the USA.

Multiple use items:  I know most of us have purged our closet and given a big, or multiple big, bags of stuff to our local good will or salvation army, but what about those items that are so far gone or worn that you just throw them in the trash?   I’m sure there are many homes that do this same thing that Ty and I do.  We take all the items not suited for donation: shirts, lounge pants, towels, sweatshirts and sometimes the occasional socks and turn them into rags to be used when we clean the house.  I cut the items into different sizes so depending on our need we have plenty to use, best part is you just throw them in the wash and tada you have a clean rag.  I am always amazed when I see people using paper towels as a cleaning product, what a waste.  I could see if you were cleaning up an animal accident on the floor, but cleaning up juice from the counter top why not grab a shirt rag? Paper towels aren’t cheap and if you figure your using them on a regular basis they go fast and your helping cut down trees.

New paper products this one is tricky, most of us get at least on magazine or newspaper delivered to our house, some of us get enough for 6 families.  I understand the joy of the newspaper and really newspaper can be recycled after it’s been used and it can also be used to clean with or used in litter boxes for animals.  My issue is with books, don’t get me wrong I love books, I love the sound of a new book that has never been opened cracking at the seam, but the amount of paper that is used for books is amazing!!  There are tons of second hand books stores out there check some of those out, also amazon has second hand books available if you like to order things from on-line.

Everything we use becomes something that we will eventually throw away so the more things that we can reuse the less we are putting into the landfills.  This all comes back to babies and checklists.  If we make an effort to cut down on the waste that we produce the better off our future generations will be.  Make a mental checklist of the things that you use most often, and only use once.  Is there another use for them or is there an alternative to that item.  If we could all make one simple change it would make a big difference.  I’ve made a small list of items that are traditional one purpose items, or one use items and given an alternative use or an alternative product

1. paper towels : old shirts, towels, socks, cloth diapers

2. disposable diapers : cloth, G diapers (http://www.gdiapers.com/) if you must use disposables try Seventh Generation or another Eco friendly brand. The traditional diapers are made with dioxins and sit in landfills indefinitely.

3. Newspaper : Great to clean windows with, also can be shredded and used for chicken nesting boxes and as liners for litter boxes

4. Shirts : T-shirts once they’ve reached beyond the help of washing are great rags.  Cleaning with t-shirt material is great for all surface types and once your done you can wash it and use it again.  If the shirt is still in good condition but doesn’t fit anymore you can always donate it to a local charity.

5. Cloth diapers : once you are no longer using cloth diapers as diapers they make amazing rags!!

6. Vinegar and baking soda are the king and queen of multi use products they have so many uses that it would take way to long to list them.  Cleaning and Cooking are the two most popular!

This is a short list, but I hope you found it somewhat helpful.  I’d love to hear other ideas you might have of multi use products and items.

Update

I’ve been MIA for a bit. I had a baby on Feb 15th. She is amazing and we are all adjusting to having a new person in the house. I will try to start catching up on blog in the next few days. For the record our house is now girls 3 boys 1 poor husband, or actually lucky guy. He’s so in love with his two little girls he can hardly stand it.
So there’s a little update on what’s going on in the Green as Wee Grow household.
More posts coming soon

Charity Ideas & giveaway

Green as Wee Grow is looking for a few charities to donate too. We would like to hear from you about which charities are your favorite, or you think deserve the most attention. We have decided to use UNICEF as one of our choices, but are looking for 2-4 more options.  We would like the charities to deal with environmental issues, children’s issues or animal rights.  Of course if you have a great charity that you would like us to consider please nominate it.
Once we have made the final decision on charities we will donate 5% of every on-line sale to one of the charities, we are hoping to make it so you can pick the charity of your choice.

We will be making a decision on April 1st and will be updating this blog to keep it fresh.  Please spread the word.  For the top picked charities we will put everyone who nominated those charities in a drawing and you will receive a Green as Wee Grow shirt/onsie of your choice or you can choose to donate the value of that shirt to your picked charity.  Thank you in advance for your participation and we hope look forward to learning more about your favorite charities.

Thank you

The Green as Wee Grow Family!!!!

To vote/nominate please leave a comment with your choice and a website address or a way of contacting the orginization, thank you.

Got my Eye on you!

We found this guy in Muir Woods.  If your in the San Francisco area, you really should check out this amazing place.  Check out the site below for more information.

http://www.nps.gov/muwo/index.htm

Pesticide on the Move

Most of us have heard about the dirty dozen; the foods that are most important to buy organic because of how much pesticides are used when growing them, but what about the most pesticided crops or areas in general?  What about our spices, clothing, beverages, open land space and do they use pesticides near the farms that raise our meat and dairy animals?  This is the first post on just these topics.  In this post I’m going to be talking about pesticides and what they are and what fresh foods we should purchase organic.

Why is this important, why should we care about pesticides and pesticide use?  Well I’m going to use CA as an example of pesticide use.  According to the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) between 1991 and 2000 almost 2 billion pounds of active ingredients were applied in California alone.  I’m not sure about anyone else but 2 billion of anything toxic doesn’t sound good, and this is just in one state.  Granted this is an almost 10 year span, and CA does produce a lot of crops, but still 2 billion is a lot of anything.  PAN is a great site to check out if you would like more information about pesticides and pesticide use.  the site is http://www.pesticideinfo.org It has a lot more detailed information, more than I want to use, but it’s a good reference.

There is a ton of produce, crops, and products to look at but I’m only going to look at the top “bad guys”.

Let’s start with the dirty dozen, just because it’s nice to have a refresher course every now and then right.  The dirty dozen are the fruits & veggies that you should buy organic if you can’t afford, find, or don’t really care about anything else being organic.     It is also in your best interest to buy all of your animal by products organic as well.  I’ll be adding another blog about farm animals and pesticides.

But for now  “THE DIRTY DOZEN“

1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet Bell Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Lettuce                            
9. Grapes
10. Pears
11. Spinach
12. Potatoes

Now that we have our dirty dozen, what exactly is a pesticide? We’ll pesticides are any substance or any mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.  So what is a pest?  When I hear pest I think of insects & rodents mostly.  But the actual list of what pesticides are used to get rid of is much longer than just those two things.  The list includes insects, plant pathogens, weeds, molluscs, birds, mammals, fish, nematodes (roundworms), microbes and people that destroy property, spread or are a vector for disease or cause a nuisance.  Now I’m sure pesticides aren’t meant to destroy or repell people, but sadly that does happen when carry off from crop dusting occurs and just the handling of certain pesticides can cause horrible side effects.  Farmers and farm workers are exposed to harmful pesticides on a regular basis.  Some of these pesticides have been shown to cause cancer, birth defects and long term health problems such as respiratory problems, cancer, memory loss and depression.  It is estimated that 18,000 people die each year of pesticide poising.

Now what about pesticides effects on the earth & how do they get places they aren’t supposed to be?

This chart was borrowed from the pesticide.org website.

water monitoring

Here are some links to great sites that offer more in depth information about pesticides, fungicides and different aspects of  agriculture farming practices

http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/pesticides/

http://www.croplifefoundation.org/index.html

www.pesticide.org/RHSLEnvironImpofPs.pdf really interesting site about effects of pesticides on the environment.

This post takes a glimpse at some of the pesticides that are currently being used in conventional farming.  Over the next few posts I’m going to look closer at what we can do to help stop the use of pesticides and what sorts of pesticides are used on organic farming and explore alternative farming methods.   Also what sorts of pesticides, fungicides and other toxins are used on dairy and meat animals.

Up on the Rooftop

What do we have an abundance of, but has only one real use and could actually cost us extra money in the long run if not used properly and if used properly could actually save money and help reduce CO2 in the air?  Our roofs!

Doesn’t make much sense right, let me explain.  Everyone who has a house, business or a building has a roof on it, there is the abundance.  The only perceived use for a roof is keeping homes from the elements, however these very elements  could end up costing us more money in the long run.  The cost thing is totally debatable, but this is what I am referring to.  Our roofs bake in the sun through the summer keeping our attic spaces a scorching temp, which means that either our AC runs more often or harder trying to keep the house cool.  In the winter heat rises up into the attic and then out through our roofs, making our heating units work harder to keep our houses a nice temp.  Read on for the CO2 reduction.

So what if we gave our roofs a second job?  What if we, as home owners, turned our roofs into living roofs or roof gardens?  What if every restaurant put an herb garden or seasonal veggie garden on their roof to use in their restaurants?  What if big businesses added a roof top garden for employees to use as a lunch spot or as a place to take their breaks during the day?  What would be the benefits?  Why even think about doing this?

Courtesy of Metaefficient

Roof gardens help with so many different aspects of life, without really needing anything in return from us.  They help insulate  from the outside in by absorbing the heat and cold before it has a chance to get into our attic and crawl space.  Which will benefit your heating/cooling bill by making your AC/heating unit work more efficiently.  While being more efficient roof gardens also help with outside noise.  The insulation from the plants  helps filter out the noise from outside, I’m all for a quieter house.  If you have a semi flat roof you could actually end up having a place to grow veggies and other edible plants or adding a nice seating area just to relax.  Those with a pitched roof that would be a pretty hard harvest, but not impossible depending on the pitch.  The beauty of a roof garden is really under rated.  A lot of homes in Europe already have roof gardens and when you see them all green and swaying in the wind, it really is an amazing site. Green roofs are also  very ecologically savvy.  Green roofs help reduce the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere due to the vegetation absorbing CO2 to help with photosynthesis which in turn improves air quality.  So imagine if an entire neighborhood  switched to green roofs, the air in that neighborhood should, in theory, end up with improved air quality.  Reducing CO2 emissions is something that we should all be worried about.  This is a way for us to help, without a huge change in our regular lifestyle which is really hard to do/maintain.   A little recap of the home perks for us personally.  They reduce our heating/cooling bills, they are beautiful to look at and they can function as an added outdoor space/garden. The perks for everyone is the reduction of CO2 in our environment.

There are other big perks to a green roof, but listing everything would make for a very long post.  Here’s just a few that I really want to mention though.  Green roofs can incorporate rain water storage  and can be used in conjunction  with gray water systems as well.

OK so all of these pro’s are great, but is it really worth it?  what about watering and all the other things that are hard enough to do with a land based garden and now you have to do it on a roof.  Well here’s a couple of things to think about.  Roof gardens can be anything you want  They can be native plants that will grow and flourish without your “help”, they could be veggies and fruits that you will have to water and tend too, they could be a combo of both or depending on your roof space, and money, they could be an amazing full scale garden with all the bells and whistles you could want or as simple as a few planters with plants in them.

Graze the Roof Garden – Glide Memorial Church, San Francisco picture from insideurbangreen.org There are so many different ways of putting a roof top garden together, and I am not an expert so I won’t be telling you how to go about it, but there are so many companies that have started taking on these projects.  I’ve listed a few below.

http://www.duro-last.com/

http://www.carlisleroofgardens.com/Default.aspx

http://www.roof-gardens.net/

http://www.greengridroofs.com/greenroofs.htm

http://www.livingroofsinc.com/about_us/?x=1

Thank you for reading this far, or at least skimming!  Look for a follow up on Green roof tops for big office buildings & what if an entire town installed green roofs.

Eco-Dough

What kid doesn’t love play-doh, I know I love play-doh.  What I don’t love about play-doh is what it’s made of, water, a starch-based binder, a retrogradation inhibitor, salt, lubricant, surfactant, preservative, hardener, humectant, fragrance, and color.^[7] A petroleum additive gives the compound a smooth feel, and borax prevents mold from developing, this information was obtained by wikipedia quoting the 2004 patent of play-doh.

I’ve tried making my own play-dough, but it never seems to come out right or it hardens over night and if you try to “revive” it, it turns into a funky slimy mess.  A great solution to the play dough dilemma comes in the form of Eco-dough from eco-kids.  This product is great.  The colors are dark and bold, the smell is similar to a peppermint & tea tree oil combo.  The ingredients are naturally derived and contain things like beets, paprika & carrots.  We have had our Eco-dough since Christmas and have used it almost every day without any drying issues.  The instructions say that if you do have an issue with the dough drying out to add a small amount of olive oil.  We play on our dinning room table and have never had an issue with clean up, double & triple bonus.

Here is B testing out the amount of abuse that this product can handle. And again turning it into a snake.

If your in the market from a fun, indoor activity and are a little freaked out about play-doh but like what it can do, check out Eco-kids products at www.eco-kidsusa.com

Great product that really is a great alternative to the traditional Play-Doh.

Organic Clothing SALE, New Products & Photography

Green as Wee Grow has set up a SALES page on our site.  We currently have 4 of our organic products listed from 25-28% off.  We are looking to add more so keep coming back for updates.  Check out http://www.greenasweegrow.com/home.php?cat=8 to see our new sales items.

We also have some new items that are just being listed.  We have a new girls shirt that was debuted at the San Francisco Green Expo.  We are thrilled with the way this design has turned out and we are very fortunate to be working with an amazing new artist Stephanie Corfee.  You can check out more of her products at http://www.stephaniecorfee.etsy.com or if you would like to own the “Grow” shirt in a print you can purchase it at the same site.  We will be adding new products designed by Stephanie in the beginning of the year as well.

This awesome little robot was done by one of my favorite artists to work with Jasen Strong.  Not only is this guy an amazing artist, he’s an absolute hoot to work with!  You can see more of Jasen’s art work at http://jasenstrong.artstooge.com This little robot guy will be a big hit with the little men in your life.

We have also had a whole new set of photographs taken for the website.  We have a wonderful local photographer who is doing an amazing job.  She does family, children, maternity & new born photography, if you live in the San Francisco bay area check out http://www.hillaryduarte.blogspot.com This amazing lady will make any photo shoot fun!!!!

Hope Your all enjoying the end of 2009

Greener toys for the holidays

So the holiday season has snuck up and smacked me square in the back yet again.  It’s like turning your back to the ocean you stare at it for a long time and get comfy with it, then turn your back to talk to someone and WHAM your off your feet and on your butt in the middle of the sand & water.

Back to the point!  How did this holiday season end up here so fast and what to get the wee ones in your life?  This year I’ve really started looking at the materials used in toys and where they were made.  I am trying to buy toys and gifts that aren’t made of plastic or made in China.  It’s actually a fun challenge if you think about it, I’ve gotten a chance to really look at some cool toys that I might not have found otherwise.  So I am going to give you a few of my favorite finds.

The first toy I found was at the Green Expo in San Francisco.  This is an amazing doll that is similar to the old fashion rag dolls, but with an Eco twist.  The company is called The Earth Friends and they make great dolls from organic, recycled and sustainable materials.  For more info about The Earth Friends, check out their site http://www.theearthfriends.com I think my favorite thing about this doll is the little details that remind me of dolls that my mom made me when I was little.  The yarn hair, the big eyes, the tiny line nose and so many other things.  Did I mention that B spent about 30 minutes lining the dolls up trying to figure out which one Santa might bring her.

Here is one of their fun dolls.  Did I mention that they are sewn here in the US!
This is one of the little girl dolls that they have.

And here is one of the little boy dolls they have.

The next toy that I found is made of recycled plastic, the thing that really surprised me about this toy is how sturdy it was and how interesting the texture is.  It’s made from recycled plastic, but doesn’t have that super smooth, cold, hard feel that plastic does.  I love this dump truck and there are a growing number of recycled plastic toys out on the market so keep looking.  Here’s one of the dump trucks from Green Toys, check out http://www.greentoys.com for more of the great products that they have.  They have a great tea set that my little B loves, haven’t bought it yet, but it’s on the list.

There are a few other items that I am interested in looking at first before I make any recommendations about them.  Until I get myself out of the house and into a store here are a few sites to check out for ideas on Eco toys.

http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toys/toy_categories/green_toys/index.cfm The cool thing about this site, besides the mass quantities they have of toys, is that they break down the “Econess” of the toys. They have categories which range from sustainable wood-recycled product- organic cotton.  They also let you search by interest, age, gender and origin of toy.  There really is a lot of items on this site.

http://www.moolka.com This is another company that has a lot of organic, wood toys.  They carry a brand called Haba majority of their toys are made in Europe, mostly Germany but they do outsource to China.  The thing is that this site offers you the ability to search by county where the product was made.  They also have a lot of other brands as well. When B was little we had a lot of toys from Haba that came from England, my parents spent about 5 weeks in England the summer after B was born and seemed to bring back one of every toy they could find.

This is a block puzzle and these have become B’s favorite type of puzzle. They have different scenes on each side. This one happens to be made by a Swiss company.

I hope you found this helpful.  If you have any other recommendations I would love to hear about them!  I’ll try to post more products as I find them.

Cheers!

To Greening up our kids!

One Crafty Mastermind, Priceless

I recently did a post about a great new etsy shop that makes goods out of recycled materials.  Here is a short interview with the crafty mastermind behind Kellypress on Etsy, soon to be To the Farthest Star Press.  I hope you enjoy her amazing creations as much as I do!

Tell us a little about yourself:

I’ve been an artist my whole life.  While my favorite medium is paper, I also love painting, renewing antique furniture and items, sewing and letterpress.  I have a wonderful husband and a Boston Terrier named Spencer (our only child so far.)  I’m a creative soul with a big heart, I guess you could say.  The only thing better than crafting, to me, is the joy that my creations bring others.

I graduated Antioch College in Ohio last year, and then my newlywed husband and I moved to Portland, Oregon.  While he transitioned easily into a great job, it took me longer to decide what I wanted to do: I was looking for a career that combined my strengths, talents and interests.  After long deliberation, I realized that I should create my own business!   It would combine my passion for crafting, my interest in small business, my belief in living a green lifestyle, and would position me as the owner, the manufacturer and the designer of the business.  This enables me to ensure great quality of product, great customer service and a direct connection between myself and my customer. Tell us about your company:

KellyPress, (soon to be To The Farthest Star Press,) is a one-gal show.  , I create paper goods, such as journals, foto book sand greeting cards out of recycled materials.  I also do custom orders, which are some of my favorites.  The style of KellyPress is really my own personal style: classic and sophisticated as well as cheery, bold and romantic.  My main goal is to create a beautiful, lasting item that will act as a tool, in a way, in its owner’s life.  Greeting cards will convey their wishes to another.  Journals will hold their dreams and secrets.  A foto book will hold their memories.  It is a huge honor to create the tools that hold a person’s dreams and memories.

I work at home in my attic studio, often using the view from my attic window as inspiration for my next piece.  My business front is on Etsy.com as of now, with high hopes of my own website coming soon, and eventually a storefront studio.

Where can we find your products?

www.kellypress.etsy.com, and I blog about my crafting on www.papersweet.wordpress.com What do you mean by “recycled” products?

I use materials that have been pre-owned, disregarded as too old or unuseable and  items that would otherwise be destined for landfill somewhere.  I use paper that is handmade, generally from other paper.  I even use thread, buttons and hardware from old clothes!  My favorite items to reuse into a craft are children’s books.  I never use pages or parts from a book in good condition; most of my favorite finds are scribbled-in, torn and warped books. Do you consider your business to be a Green business and why or why not?

I definitely do! As well as saving trees and helping the ecosphere, I’m making older, tired items into new ones!  The items I use are recycled in  one of several ways,  the paper I use is recycled and several other materials I use are, too.  I also consider KellyPress a green business because I highlight my products’ renewed quality, and stress the importance of it!  I show consumers that recycled doesn’t have to mean shabby or cheap. What inspires your to be creative and how do you keep new ideas coming?

Oh, everything inspires me!  I’m inspired by strong, old things like trees and old books.   I’m emotionally inspired by other artists’ creations,  children, my family and my personal experiences.  I also get inspired by listening to people.  People so often say, “You know, they should make a….”  I keep new ideas rolling by writing every idea I have (or that my husband suggests to me) down, and I made a sample or trial item to see how it works.  One botched trial usually means three new great ideas! What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of your craft?

Hmm…accuracy in measurements, perfect-line trimming, producing an item from a vague mental invented image and not being able to give everything away.  Oh!  And glue!  I use a special glue for bookbinding, and it’s so hard to find, and most companies won’t ship it in the winter for fear of freezing!  Being in a creative mood without glue is a terrible thing!  :) On a personal note, do you consider yourself “green” or Eco conscious?

I do.  About a year ago I broke into my thirties and realized that I needed to start paying attention to what I ate, what cosmetics I use and how I affect the world with my intake and output.  I recycle, I buy organic, I use fair-trade and earth-friendly products, I compost, I garden and I reuse as often as possible.  And I love to learn new ways to be even greener!

If so what is one “green” tip you would like to share:

My favorite part of being greener is definitely shopping at the farmer’s markets.  Buying free-range eggs, organic apples and basil directly from the organic farmer is not only fun, but it’s a great reminder of my role as a conscious consumer. Also, use organic shampoo and conditioner!  Without all of the parabens, SLS’s and other junk, your hair will feel clean and shine! Anything else you would like to add? I’d love to add that recycled can be couture! It is possible to merge style, quality and usability into one creation!