Read those Labels?

How often do you read labels? I mean really read labels? We check to see what size clothes we are looking for, and sometimes the fat, sodium, fiber labels of food. But how often do you check the label of where your food is actually coming from? I shop at Whole Foods and always just blindly assumed that Whole foods always did what was best for me, Naive I know! Recently I saw this video that shocked the holy heck out of me!  Video is below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=JQ31Ljd9T_Y

Below is a link to the Whole Foods response to the above video.

http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/whole-foods-market-responds-to-wjla/

After watching this I sprinted, no joke, to my freezer to check out what was hiding there.  Luckily most of my frozen products said product of the USA, but some of them didn’t have a product location at all. But low and behold my frozen broccoli, which I use in my veggie lasagna, had it Product of China.  Into the chicken bin they went.  The ones that were blank I’m not throwing out, but I won’t be buying again unless it has the product location info on it.

Check those labels! Not only do frozen foods come from China, but so does some milk products! Milk is dried and then shipped to the USA where it is packaged for US companies.  I don’t know about you but I prefer my milk to be fresh and it’s not just me I have to think about.

Take care and read those labels who knows if your California blend is even from this country!

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!

Organic clothing discount

Green as Wee Grow is offering a 20% discount on all items from now until August 31st 2009.  Green as Wee Grow is an organic baby & toddler clothing and bedding company.  All of our products are made in the USA all of our cotton comes from fair trade farms.  Come check us out. 

 Just our way of saying thank you!  The coupon code is blogged!  

http://www.greenasweegrow.com

 Happy shopping

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