Green Options

I am not entirely sold on the idea that people need to take multivitamins if they eat right, but I give them to my children frequently despite my reservations. I feel that multivitamins can accommodate for days when my children don’t eat well (or I don’t cook well). Now, there is an organic multivitamin powder for kids made by New Chapter Organics.

EveryKid comes in three flavors: awesome apple, brilliant berries, and grape (sold exclusively at Whole Foods). The powder can be taken directly or mixed with water, and it is recommended for children over the age of four. At first, my daughter thought EveryKid was strange, as she is used to a chewable multivitamin; however, in subsequent days she requested EveryKid over her regular Rainbow Light’s chewable NutriStars. EveryKid is organic. Since I only feed my children organic food, it makes sense to give them organic vitamins. Dr. Charles Benbrook, Chief Scientist of The Organic Center explains:

All kids need wholesome, safe foods that protect their growing bodies from pesticides, chemicals, and unknown risks from genetically-modified crops. Nourishing young bodies with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants each day is equally important, because growing up is serious business.EveryKid whole-food complexed multivitamins are a great way to fill any nutrient gaps in kids’ diets, so that they build a lifelong foundation for good health.

eInsider is the “electronic newsletter for the quilting and soft crafts industry” by Quilts Inc., the company which produces the International Quilt Festivals. The article Green Quilting: Improving the Earth One Fiber at a Time appeared a while back, though I didn’t find it until now. It profiles a variety of green crafting issues in quilting and beyond.

I did have a couple of bones to pick with the article, but there were also quite a few good things that were new to me.

First, the Green Quilts Project, founded by Susan Shie, encouraged quilters to make quilts from 1989 to 2004 to send healing energy to the Earth. I had never heard of this effort before. I also didn’t know about Mountain Mist’s Eco Craft batting, fiberfill, and pillowforms, which are made from corn fiber.

The Aurora Silk website offers natural dyes and great tutorials for using them. And it was good to see a mention of Betz White’s delicious recycled wool sweater crafts and her book Warm Fuzzies, which always make me want to buy every wool sweater within a 10 mile radius and start felting them.