Go Ahead & Pick it!

Today’s post is actually brought to you by a great company called Trekaroo.  Trekaroo is a great site that has tons of ideas about places to visit with your children.  Esther from Trekaroo sent me a recent post from their site about places to pick strawberries.

This is something that I haven’t done for years.  It’s such a  fun experience for kids to go out and see where their food comes from and how it’s harvested.  If you have never done this before I highly recommend it.  There are a lot of farms that will open up to the public and you can go and pick your own fruits & veggies.  Most of the farms have you weight your goods and pay that way, most don’t charge you to just come out and enjoy a day of wandering around a farm.  Think if you pick it you buy it, no charge to enjoy the atmosphere.  I really can’t think of a better way to spend some great family time than hunting for the biggest strawberry, or fattest peach!

Trekaroo found some great farms that grow organic strawberries that are open to the public for picking!  I’ll do some more searching this week and see if I can add to this list for outside California.  If you have a farm or have been to one in another sate please let me know or better yet, check out Trekaroo and share your stories!

Please follow this link Trekaroo: Organic picking

Soleil Protection

I’ve seen a lot of info about sun protection and keeping yourself from getting burnt as we creep into summer.  I figured I’d add my two sense worth on the topic.  For as long as I can remember I have used a sun screen called Alba Botanica.  There are a few reasons why I picked Alba over the other Eco brands.

First price most of the Eco sunscreens ask you to fork over $25 for 3oz of sunscreens.  I have found Alba at a discount store for as little as $4 for 4 oz.  It normally retails for around $8 at a normal store.

Second They actually make sunscreen specifically for kids.  The sun screen has no fragrance and is paraben free, not just the kids but all of them.  It has a nice thick consistency so you can really see where you’ve put the sunscreen already, it then fades as it is absorbed.  It doesn’t leave a gross sticky or slimy feel, but as it absorbs it feels clean.  The best part is it actually really works, my daughter has never even turned pink from being in the sun.

Last I love that it is a variety of sunscreens  chemical free sunscreen, water resistant & organic  it’s made from minerals.  The scent that it does have is a natural scent that has a slight smell of really clean dirt, this is only noticeable if you are actually smelling your arm or something.  It’s not gross, but very clean and fades after 2 minutes or so.

Know that the sun is starting to call us outdoors, double check the expiration date on your old sunscreens. If it’s time to buy some new stuff give Alba a try, there are many to choose from and all are great.

Stay safe in the sun!

Kiddie Green Garden

Do you ever feel like the only things you can do with your kid end up costing you at least a hundred dollars for  a few hours of entertainment and that’s just if they are little kids.  Don’t get me wrong I love going to the park and watching my little on run around and climb and swing, but face it after 30 minutes I’m ready for something else.

Yesterday my daughter asked to go to the park.  I was not really thrilled with the idea of the park.  I made the suggestion that we go look at flowers, for boys you might try bugs, she was beyond excited.  We unpacked the car of all the normal junk that’s in the back stroller, backpack, 800 different balls, clothes etc and headed to our local nursery.  This is the best part our local nursery is a mom & pop style place with real landscape mixed in with the buy-able plants.  We spent well over an hour walking through the plants looking at flowers talking about the birds and counting things, anything didn’t really matter what it was.  When we were ready to leave the fun wasn’t over we had spent a whopping $35.00, less than an adult ticket to most places, on plants to bring home with us.

By the time we got home I thought my daughter would have lost interest, not a chance.  She couldn’t wait to get outside with her “tools” and help.  We spent another two hours planning where the plants would go and being very careful to watch for bugs and other plants.  Here’s my point for $35.00 and a few bucks in gas my family spent about 5 hours exploring, planting and learning about our local wildlife.  The best part is our money went to something that will produce oxygen and make our yard beautiful for years to come.  For all you parents out there who feel you are running out of ideas.  Give your local nursery a try, who knows what you’ll come home with and there’s no admittance fee.

20% Discount!!

Green as Wee Grow is offering a 20% discount on whole order now through May 31st.  Go check out all the fun items for your Organic little one.  Discount code is blogged!ic

Great 100% Organic cotton little girls shirts in amazing colors and fun designs

Girls "explore" shirt

Great 100% Organic cotton little boys shirts in bold dark colors guitar and telescope designs

Boys olive "explore" shirt

100% Organic cotton baby onsies in a variety of colors and designs.

Onsie "Whoo Me"

The 20% discount applies to the bedding as well, so check it out.  The fabric is amazing, you might find yourself sleeping in the crib!

Happy shopping!

Beautiful Skin?

What is the one thing that all people seem to want?  It’s on all the infomercials.  

Beautiful skin!!  So how do you get your best looking skin?  Do you wash, scrub, rinse, mask moisturize and repeat?  I really don’t think so.  I know a lot of how your skin looks is genetic, but I also think that eating healthy and eating foods that are organic and minimally processed helps.  I’m not saying that all skin breakouts or acne can be prevented or cured by what you eat, but I think there seems to be a real connection between what we eat and how our skin looks.

 Have you ever noticed that when you eat a lot of fruit and veggies and drink enough water your skin looks better than normal?  Well now imagine if you ate all your fruits and veggies, but they were organic!!!  Organic fruits and veggies aren’t treated with pesticides or preservatives, like wax,  convention fruits and veggies are.  Tests have been done to show that organic food retain their nutrition better than conventional foods.  The better nutrition you have the better your body processes things etc etc.  

I think this is the best secret to good looking skin.  Actually your all around appearance your eyes look brighter, your hair looks shinier.  So that’s my own little beauty secret, eating healthy.  I wash my face and use sunscreen, but my face always looks best when I’m eating the right foods.  

I’d love to hear your natural beauty secrets

Tooth paste

So everyone, hopefully, brushes their teeth.  Have you ever really thought about the tooth paste you use?  I’m not a dentist, let me just get that out now.  So this is just my personal “green” opinion.  I started using Tom’s of Maine toothpaste sometime between 2000-2003 for a few reasons.  First they don’t test their products on animals, this is extremely important to me.  Second they are a very Eco friendly company and use great all natural ingredients and take their responsibility to the environment seriously. “The best part? By making responsible choices, we create better products for you while producing as little impact on the earth as possible.” direct quote from Tom’s of Maine website.   I also liked the fact that they were a small company and seemed to value employees in a way that not many companies do anymore.   

I usually buy the “whole care” toothpaste in the spearmint, but every once in awhile I get a little feisty and mix it up and buy the peppermint.  I love how clean my mouth feels after using this product.  It’s a clean without the weird burn that some toothpastes can give you.  My little girl loves the strawberry kids toothpaste and I love the fact that it’s made with all natural ingredients. 

 I recently went on a mini vacation and forgot to pack my toothpaste, I was forced to go to one of those little liquor stores and get toothpaste.  The store didn’t carry my normal brand so I picked up the usual crest or Colgate, can’t remember which it was.  I can’t tell you how gross my mouth felt! I felt like I had just eaten a ton of candy right after I had brushed my teeth, it was horrible.

 So the big question is how well does Tom’s help protect your teeth from cavities?  Again I’m not a dentist, but I have only had one cavity in my whole adult life and it was caused by my braces poking a hole in my tooth.  I don’t know if my lack of cavities is from the amazing toothpaste I use, or just lucky.  Regardless I won’t be changing back to the old classic toothpaste.  

If your interested in finding out more about Tom’s of Maine check them out at www.tomsofmaine.com.  You can buy Tom’s at most local drug stores and grocery stores.  I don’t think you’ll be sorry if you give it a whirl.

Brusha brusha brusha

Where Does My Food Come From?

Kids are great at asking questions and here’s a question that could involve a fun family outing to learn the answer too.  I live in the San Francisco bay area and every Sunday rain or shine we have a local farmers market.  Farmers from all over central and northern California come to several locations to sell their produce, meats, goods and flowers.  We are fortunate enough to have a lot of organic farmers at our local farmers market with great produce and budget friendly prices.  

The farmers market is a great Eco friendly alternative to grocery stores.  By buying produce that is local we are helping to cut down the amount of CO2 that is put into the atmosphere by trucking food in from other states or countries.  Farmers markets also help to support our local farmers and stimulate our local economy.  Not only that the farmers market is fun.

Going to the farmers market is one of my favorite family activities.  My 2 year old loves to help pick out all her favorite fruits and veggies.  She likes to ask the farmers questions about what fruits or veggie she doesn’t recognize and the majority of the farmers are eager and happy to answer her questions.  After our visit to the market we usually take great finds and head to the local park for a picnic, after washing everything of course.

Happy Picking

Organic Baby Clothes

Our line of baby clothes and bedding are finally here.  We have worked hard to get the best product using the most Eco friendly method and material as well as using  humane labour practises.  We are proud to have all our products made in the United States and all of our raw cotton comes from certified fair trade labour farms.  The cotton is 100% organic and super soft, think your favorite worn in shirt cozy!  All of our inks are a water based ink.  Unlike normal dyes these dyes have a water base with a color pigment added to it, which means no harmful chemicals like PVC, phalates or lead.  

Our sheets and bedding are amazing to touch.  My daughter loves her sheets, she calls them her cozies!  The sets are made using a sateen cotton, nice and cozy for the winter, yet cool enough for the summer.  The stuffing that we have used is an organic cotton/bamboo blend.  We decided on this combo because of bamboos natural antibacterial properties and it’s ability to maintain its shape as well as the fact that it is an Eco friendly material.  

Green as Wee Grow, organic clothes & bedding for your wee ones!!!  

Girls "explore" shirt

Organic crib sheets

Doin the dishes

If there is one house hold chore I hate it’s doing dishes.  I don’t know why, I hate loading dishes into the dishwasher, I hate pre-washing, I even loath putting them away!  Alternatives, none that really seem healthy, I don’t think anyone would like it if I  let the dogs clean the dishes,  so I am forced to clean them the sanitary way.   If you have a non-disgusting way of doing the dishes w/out just throwing them out please let me know!!  Until then I will continue to do the dishes the way I always have.

One of the things that was ingrained in my head as a child growing up in California is conserve water.  So nothing freaks me out more than watching people doing dishes with the water running.  Of course there is always going to be a need for some running water, but it doesn’t need to be on while your scrubbing or even to rinse off all the dishes.  Here’s how dishes are washed in our house, not to say it’s the best way but it might get you thinking of a different way of doing your own dishes.  It might also save you a little money each month!

I fill, a little over half way, the largest pot or bowl that I am washing with soapy hot water.  I dump all the forks, knives and spoons into the bottom to soak.  Then I use the pot to soak the small plates and cups in, if needed.   If soaking is not required I just use the pot to wet my scrub brush and start pre-washing.  I really don’t rinse them off since they are going straight into the dishwasher.  Once everything is put into the dishwasher they are pretty clean already, but I like to run them through the dishwasher to get them really clean and sanitised.  Since they are already cleaned I usually run the dishes on a quick wash; this is about half the time of a normal wash and almost and hour off of the power wash on our dishwasher.

 Doing the dishes this way saves us a decent amount of water as well as a good amount of energy from our shorter wash cycle, which of course saves money.  The added bonus is that it’s helping to preserve our natural resources.

 What are your great ideas on ways to save water, energy and of course MONEY?

Dishes are done!!

Going off the Grid?!? part 1

My husband and I watched a story two nights ago about people living off the grid.  What does that mean, how do we do it and why should we?  Or shouldn’t we?  First what is “off the grid”?  Living off the grid is living without one or more public utilities, water, or power.  Doesn’t sound easy does it?  Think about how hard it is when the power goes off.  People that live off the grid have found alternatives to the carbon releasing power sources, what we get from the power companies.  

What are the some of the pros of going off the grid?  No monthly utility bill was our first thought.  Then we thought deeper about how much our carbon foot print is compared to people living off the grid.  Going off the grid isn’t really practical for everyone, but if everyone switched to even 25% off-the-gird living, it would make a huge difference.  For example, you could have 75% of your power come from power companies and take the other 25% from solar panels or wind turbines.  I don’t have exact numbers, but if you think about how many people you know and how many people they know and everyone agreed to give it a try, this 25% change could mean huge reductions in carbon emissions.  

The difficulty of actually doing this is the cost to get it started.  Right now, financial outlay would be too much for someone like my family.  The cost of solar panels is getting better, but the system that you have to put in to make your house run on solar is not a cheap investment.  I’ve seen a lot of things lately about money being given to people who are going “green” and adding solar to their house, which is amazing, but you still have to come up with the money to start the whole process.  One other thing about solar panels, which I didn’t know and hadn’t really thought about, is that solar panels have a life of 20 years  if the system is maintained well and installed properly.  So what happens if you’re a little slack on the maintenance?  I know I’m not the best at keeping up with maintenance all the time.

This program got us thinking about whether we could go off the grid a little or not.  We didn’t come up with any concrete game plan, but a lot of ideas started to surface.  I don’t think that I will ever want to go completely off the grid—I’m a big fan of the modern sewage system—but I do like the idea of providing for ourselves a little more.  

In the coming weeks, I’ll tell you more about what I learn.  I’ll be adding little bits about people and places; there are towns that have gone off the grid as well.

Check out all the houses with solar panels!