Green Options

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I usually feed my children oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast, but on occasion, organic cold cereal is a quick solution on a rushed morning.  We have tried Envirokidz organic cereal, and my favorite flavor is the gluten-free Gorilla Munch.  Nature’s Path has just introduced two new flavors of Envirokidz: Leapin’ Lemurs and Penguin Puffs.

The Story Behind Nature’s Path

The story behind Nature’s Path is kind of interesting. In 1971, Arran Stephens and a business partner opened LifeStream, Canada’s first large organic supermarket.  This store quickly expanded into a natural food line founded on the principle of “wholesome foods grown and processed in harmony with nature”.  Ten years later, an awkward partnership led to the sale of the company to Kraft/Philip Morris.  In 1985, Arran and his wife Ratana started Nature’s Path, which quickly grew to the point that they built the first third-party certified organic cereal plant in the world in BC.  Arran and Ratana were even able to purchase Lifestream back from Kraft, something you don’t usually hear of happening when giant corporations buy out smaller health food companies.

–Don’t forget! Send in your posts for the new Carnival of Green Crafts. Taking submissions now.–

I know that we’ve covered hemp yarn before from Lanaknits and Autumn talked to us about macrame , but it was Leslie’s quest to try natural dye that got me to take a second look at Aurora Silk’s Hemp Yarn.

At first look this yarn from Aurora brings to mind all the stereotypes that Syke talked about when she profiled hemp fabrics. But no it is Not Marijuana.

Hemp yarn is derived from the growth of industrial hemp, a different species of it’s more famous cousin. Industrial hemp grows fast without the need for much pesticides or herbicides. The fiber harvested from the plant is more commonly known as bast. Bast fibers are long and very strong and can be woven or spun to make fabric, rope or yarn.

Little girls love princess, but eco, feminist parents lament the adoration of helpless females who need rescued by princes.  My daughter has thankfully moved away from the princess phase, no matter how much I tried to shield her from its influence from the start, but she often still asks about real princesses.  I tell her that yes they exist, but that royal families aren’t necessarily role models.  Now, I have found a princess that is inspiring her subjects to grow organic vegetables.

Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand is calling on residents of Nan to plant organic gardens. Her own Thong Noi palace, which she visits once or twice a year, is a model of organic farming.  Somsak Yasang, the princess’ gardener, explains:

Sometimes the princess cuts vegetables in the backyard herself. The vegetables grown in the palace are served on her table.  The princess also sells home-grown vegetables at reasonable prices. Some of the surplus produce is processed and sold. Fruit including jackfruit, tamarind and papaya were donated to the nearby Nan Panyanugul school for mentally challenged children.

The ‘Goodbye Girl’ says a hearty hello to biodyamic herb farming and creates some wonderful, healing organic skincare and wellness products.

Marsha Mason’s publicist reached out to us last year and we rated an excellent sampling of some of the products made on her New Mexico herb farm, Resting in the River Organic Farm.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was truly impressed with the quality of all the products we got to play with, which included:

Healing Body Butter
Healing Body Lotion
Intens-Salve
The Family Herbal Wellness Kit- which includes a variety of wonderful herbal sprays that were surprisingly useful
Healing Hydration Mist

I had the opportunity to meet with Ms. Mason in her Manhattan apartment last year, and was fascinated to learn about her ’spiritual agriculture’ practices and how she got from being an award-winning actress to her farm in New Mexico.

Read the Interview

OK, so the penguins in top hats are a little cheesy, but I’m always pleased to find organic cotton PRINTS. There’s a wealth of solids out there, but few prints. And since it was over 100 degrees for more days than EVER last month in Austin, I’ll take cool thoughts where I can get them. (In case you like the penguins, though, it’s a 54 inch wide organic cotton jersey knit.)

Penguins aren’t all that Wildrose Farm Organics has to offer, though. They have a range of fabrics available in either blanket form or by the yard, since their primary business is making clothing and rugs from organic and sustainable textiles.

Move over Pink’s. There is a new fast food joint in town that wants to serve up the next cult hot dog and must have ground patty, but O!burger’s offerings come with a twist. O! goody.

Serving up grass fed beef and free range turkey, all of the new burger joint’s menu items are organic and tasty. Grass fed beef makes the meat richer with omega 3, beta carotene, vitamins A & [...]

The most exciting fashion aspect of recycling is art. Wearing art as jewelry is common, but not so true when it comes to clothing. It takes a special talent to make stylish clothes from recycled materials, — an artistic talent.

Hence, I am honored to introduce you to Thai designer Nunthirat “Koi” Suwannagate, who approaches her work through the prism of art. Each piece she designs is a completely unique, one-of-a-kind handmade garment, and reflects her own personal vision.

Koi has a thing for vintage cashmere and incorporates the recycled material into her collections. Her signature style is to hand-sculpt the cashmere into fabulous rosette appliques. She also designs with organic cotton and silk. The combination is a richness and superior softness that Koi says is the epitome of luxury and pure indulgence.

Koi’s talent to enhance and beautify the natural contours of the female body are obvious, but less emphasized in the press. I think it’s because each admirer is hypnotized over the construction details, and speak less of the drape that allows fluid movement and ultimate comfort. Yet the press is dishing loads of favorable reviews from the pages of W and WWD, Vogue, Bazaar, and much more.

Saw an article in the New York Times that got my attention this morning - Cutting Out the Middlemen, Shoppers Buy Slices of Farms by Susan Saulny - that inspired me to do a little shout out in support of CSA(Community Supported Agriculture). Of course, the concept isn’t so new to many of us who have been at this sustainable lifestyle thing for a while, but I realize there are a lot of folks just learning about some of this - yeah!

Over 20 years ago (when I was about 12 - not really, but I hate to seem so old!), I lived in the Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts, which was an enclave of progressive, sustainability folks. I became president of one of the largest most comprehensive store-front food coops in New England, Berkshire Co-Op Market. We were plugged into some great local organic farmers and I was fortunate to be part of one of the early CSA groups.

It felt great to support our local organic farmers, who at that time, were struggling - there were no supermarket chains buying organic produce back then!

Find out more about CSAs and how you can find one near you!

Young children like to be helpful, and I don’t want to discourage their desire to imitate my house cleaning (even though I often have to re-clean what they have done).  We use all natural cleaning products in our home not only because we care about the environment, indoor air quality, and have a greywater system, but in order that our kids can safely help us clean.

Basic H2 Organic cleaning concentrate was the first official Earth Day product in 1990 and has hundred of uses. From windows to stovetops, the concentrate allows you to mix the appropriate amount of water for your use.  This little 16 oz. bottle of concentrate can mix up an unbelievable 48 gallons of safe, powerful cleaner.

Basic H2 is quite sudsy, so I suspect it contains SLS; however, I am not sure this as much of a concern for a cleaning product as it is for a beauty product.  As long as your child’s skin doesn’t come into contact with it, it would not be irritating. Shaklee, the makers of Basic H2, will not release full disclosure of ingredients because, “We do not list the  specific ingredients for all of the cleaners as some of the formulae are proprietary.” This is common with household cleaners, but they state their products are from sustainable sources such as corn and coconut (SLS is coconut-derived).

I did not pick up this magazine at my local book store because I was half-baked and looking for a quick giggle. No, my dears, the header of “Food as Celebration | Passionate Gardening | Nostalgic Crafts and Stitchery” was just as eye catching.

Mary Jane’s Farm , a publication of Mary Jane Butters, appears to be Martha Stewart Living for organic farm girls, or those of us who wish they were organic farm girls. Usually, I have a big problem with putting one person’s name and image all over things that were the combined effort of many talented people. However, my distaste of personified brands was trumped by aesthetically charming, recycled pages awash with useful content, and the company’s dedication to recycling and alternative energy usage.

I am all about buying local and in particular, I am a big supporter of local farmers. I’ve always seen Wal-Mart as the antithesis of my beliefs in creating a more regionally economically sustainable culture.

When a press release came through from Wal-Mart announcing their commitment to increase their use of local farmers to provide fresh produce, I was skeptical.

However, in doing a little research for this post, I visited the Wal-Mart website and found that they have an entire section devoted to sustainability. Okay. That is good. You can see that they are going to great lengths to at least appear to be implementing more sustainable activities across the board. But one could argue that these are all either cost-saving measures or done to be SC or Sustainable Correct, which is important to their marketing and PR efforts.

This cynical view of things aside, one could also argue that anything Wal-Mart implements on a corporate level will have a pretty big impact on whatever local economies they might otherwise be harming.