Green Options

Who is king on stinging nettle fabric? Well, Brennels claims to be the only company in the Netherlands to grow stinging nettles on a large scale. Driving forces are sustainability, fabric and fashion.

What’s new is the digestion process to produce lighter and more delicate nettle fibers to spin into fine yarns. The company has around 70 hectares of agricultural farmland in the north of the country dedicated to production with three years of extensive research under their belt.

Apples are not only delicious and an easy snack, but also very healthy in numerous ways. What are the main benefits of eating apples? What are some great apple recipes?

Apples are a great source of dietary fiber. As a result, they are believed to reduce the risk of some cancers, they improve the functioning of the intestines, eliminate cholesterol from the digestive tract, cleanse the lungs and colon, and help to prevent and potentially cure appendicitis.

Apples are linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer, stroke, asthma and Type 2 diabetes. Moreover, as Healing with Whole Foods reports, due to all the pectin apples contain, they can help to reduce blood cholesterol and remove toxic metals from the body such as lead and mercury. In addition, apples are also found to play a very beneficial role in cleansing the liver.

I love to eat apples with peanut butter. It’s one of my favorite breakfast combinations. But here are a couple of interesting apple recipes that go beyond my apple and peanut butter dish. Enjoy a rice casserole with apples or apple noodle pasta for lunch or dinner sometime!

While banana fabric might be hard to find, banana yarn is not. In fact we’ve talked about All Eco Banana Silk, a yarn whose fibers are hand crushed to get the material to spin.

This week’s Yearn Worthy Yarn comes from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Spiritual Trail Fibers specializes in rare, endangered, and unusual breed spinning fibers.

This spinnery offers many types of fibers, which are all hand spun and then hand dyed or painted in small batches.

Here’s a great online store from down under that specializes in organic and eco friendly yarns, fibres and fabrics. Ecoyarns has a solid selection of both animal and plant fibers, perfect for any knitter.

They offer a wide selection of yarns, ranging from organic wool, EcoOrganic Cotton, to a yarn called Black Diamond Fiber.

Fibra Natura yarns come in a variety of interesting materials, but what got my attention was their 100% certified organic cotton yarns.

Both Links and Cottonwood claim very high industry standards for organic certification and sustainability. Using the Global Organic Textile Standard, these yarns have been certified as an EKO Sustainable Textile.

Here’s another entry into the eco-friendly yarn field, again from Sirdar. I’ve already covered Sirdar’s Eco Wool, but this yarn is plant based. Just Soya is a lovely little yarn made from 100% soybean fibers.

Generally softer than cotton, Just Soya is another great summer yarn. It is silky, smooth and comes in DK weight. Perhaps a summer shawl or tank would be perfect to whip up in this yarn.

With a name like Darn Good Yarn, it’s hard not to like this yarn and their principals. This U.S. based company offers a small variety of yarn but specializes in recycled silk sari.

The yarn is spun from the remnants of the production of silk saris in Nepal. Darn Good Yarn only works with co-ops in Nepal that offer fair trade pricing for the spinning of the yarn.

The weather has finally started to take a turn towards the hot and muggy here in Washington, D.C. and that means I need to take a hard look at my knitting projects. Because let me tell you, knitting with wool or another heavy fiber when it get’s hot and humid, is not fun.

Thank goodness I’ve recently found Hope USA Cotton Organic. This organic cotton looks sturdy yet breathable, perfect for the season.

In one more laughable act, the FDA recently sent a warning letter to popular cereal maker General Mills to discuss the drug they manufacture. You know, that donut-shaped drug you can pop by the handful:

Based on claims made on your product’s label, we have determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug.

Let’s see: the FDA failed consumers when it came to the peanut-Salmonella outbreak. It recently suggested lifting the fish consumption warnings for children and pregnant women, despite mercury worries (and not to mention the mercury in high fructose corn syrup!). When U.S. infant formula was found to have low levels of melamine–but still above international standards for the chemical–the FDA simply said, “Meh. We’ll just raise the amount allowable.”

The Food and Drug Administration is busy ignoring all of these potentially problematic issues, but has plenty of time to harass a cereal company about its claims about whole grains. Seriously?!

Listen up Debbie Bliss fans, this yarn brand now carries a cute little eco yarn - exactly what we’ve all been waiting for.

Debbie Bliss Eco is an organic cotton that is the perfect aran/worsted weight yarn that comes in eighteen bright colors great for the turn of the season. The yarn is dyed using non-toxic dyes and the water is reclaimed and recycled during the dying process.