Eco Child’s Play listed a very simple, very safe recipe yesterday for making your own glue for art projects. Who needs Elmer’s when you can make if yourself out of supplies from your kitchen!
Photo from Flickr by Fotologic
Today I’m over at Eco Women: Protectors of the Planet with a safer, eco-friendly option to use instead of baby wipes and diaper rash cream. Go on over and take a look.
Bummas
Free shipping code listed below!
Bringing your lunch to work or school is an easy way to eat a healthier diet, reduce the amount of waste you produce, and a great way to be aware of your portion control. Plastic containers are lightweight and convenient to use but not the safest choice since they can leach toxins into your food and could possibly contain BPA.
I recently found out about Lunchbots, which would be a better choice both for health and environmental reasons. They are made from high quality stainless steel, don’t leach chemicals into your food, are easy to clean and come in two varieties, one with a single container and one with a divider. They were created by a mother who wanted to eliminate plastic from her children’s daily lunch.
Lunchbots
Both Lunchbots:
Each of the Lunchbots available are $14.99 and can get to you with free shipping in the United States by using the code “FREESHIP09″ at checkout. This code doesn’t have an expiration date.
I posted a while ago about how I made my daughter’s baby food and how easy it actually is to do so. I mostly used a “food wand” blender to puree her food, but I’ve also used a food processor as well. If you’re someone who has a food processor or blender in your kitchen, you really need to check out Z Recommends post from a week ago. They’ve listed many food processors and blenders and have listed if they contain BPA, PVC, and/or phthalates. Be sure to check out an update they did yesterday on the Hamilton Beach products they listed. Do yourself a favor and head on over.
Photo from Flickr by Jodiepedia
When I first started this blog last July, I did it to organize all the new, “green” information I was learning and to then make it available to others who might be interested. The former teacher in me just always wants to help others. So when I found out yesterday from Lena at Over Coffee that she nominated me for a Lemonade Award, well, I was tickled pink! An award? For me?!!!!! I have to say that’s it’s pretty nice to be recognized and appreciated. Thank you Lena!
Over Coffee
Here is what it said to do after-
1. Thank the person who was so thoughtful for giving you this award by linking their blog to this post.
2. Put the logo on your blog or post.
3. Nominate 10 blogs which show great attitude/gratitude.
4. Link your nominee to your post.
5. Comment them to tell them about the award they’ve won.
So I’d like to nominate sites that I mention often and provide readers with a great deal of very important “green” information (OK, so I only have 9, not 10, but that just shows you that I’m not choosing just anyone – these sites are ones you should really check out):
Eco Women: Protectors of the Planet
SAF Baby (Safe Alternatives for Baby and Child)
Keep up the good work everyone!
Having a young child who I often hold close has encouraged me to rethink the makeup that I use each day. As each of my current choices run out, I’ve been replacing them with items that have a lower, safer rating on Skin Deep’s web site.
Over the past two weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to try out Miessence Organics Translucent Powder. Skin Deep gives it a “low hazard” score of “1″. To compare with other powders on Skin Deep, I did a search of powder for the face and found that most powders that you can purchase in a drug store, for example, have a score of “4″ or more – many have a “high hazard” score of “7″ – “10″.
Miessence Organics personal care products and makeup are the first skin care line to be certified organic to food standards. They’ve also received the seal of approval by Australia’s leading certifying body, The Australian Certified Organic (ACO). Skin Deep has tested 84 of their products, all of which have a “low hazard” score. Many of them have a score of “0″, the safest score possible.
Miessence Translucent Powder
What I really love about the Miessence Translucent Powder is that it blends very well with my skin and doesn’t appear to “sit on top” of it, like I’ve found other powders to do. It lasted all day without the need to “re-fresh”, has a very pleasant scent, and although it comes in a small container, I can see it lasting a long time.
If you’re interested in purchasing the Translucent Powder I’ve reviewed here, let Linda over at Grand Strand Organics and Myrtle Beach Organics help you with this product or any other Miessence items.
Many of us know that we should limit the amount of meat we eat for health reasons. Additionally, with the economy as it is, many families are looking for easy ways to cut costs and stretch their budget. Now, please understand that as a vegetarian, I have never forced my views on anyone and I’m not about to do that to you, readers. I merely bring this food item up to you as an introduction to something new if you’ve never heard of it before that could easily replace one of your meat meals a week which can help reduce your carbon footprint. It will also save you money and add something nutritious to your diet.
Quinoa is a “complete protein” that is just as versatile as rice, tastes delicious, and costs very little. Quinoa:
Basic cooking instructions from the New York Times Newspaper:
1 cup quinoa
3 cups water, chicken stock or vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
1. Place the quinoa in a strainer and rinse until the water runs clear.
2. Bring the water or stock to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the salt and the quinoa. Bring back to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer 15 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender and translucent, and each grain displays a little thread. Drain and return to the pan. Cover the pan with a clean dish towel, replace the lid and allow to sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. Fluff and serve.
Yield: about 4 cups, serving 6 to 8
Give it a try and believe me, you’ll be hooked!
Photo from Flickr by Rusvaplauke
When I first became pregnant almost 2 years ago, I stopped wearing perfume. I was semi-green thinking at the time but I knew enough then that the scent I was smelling couldn’t be healthy, so I gave it up.
But recently, I started thinking about how nice it would be to wear it again. I searched all over the internet for something without synthetic fragrances but had no luck. I even went so far as making some myself – how’s that for being “eco” and “crafty”?! It was actually really easy but the hardest part about it was finding the right low, middle, and high scent tones to mix together. I’m very particular about perfume and I just didn’t like what I mixed.
So, I sort of gave up and asked for help. I reached out to Kathy over at Lovely SafeMama to see if she knew of anything, and that resourceful woman did. She did a post about it and passed the info along to me. Wasn’t that nice? I went to Red Flower nearby where I live and checked out some of their other products as well (I’m in love with their Blood Orange Moisturizing Body Lotion – the citrus scent is to die for). I also picked up their Organic Perfume in Guaiac that Kathy wrote about.
Red Flower Organic Perfume
Then, as luck would have it, I found out about Pacifica Perfume. Pacifica:
Tuscan Blood Orange
I bought their Blood Orange scent and I like it but it’s a little more “sweet” than “citrus”. Pacifica also sells soy candles, body butter and natural soaps. To see where you can find Pacific products, click here.
Months ago, I wrote about how much I really like using the Twist Euro Sponge #10. It’s helped cut back on my paper towel use and you have to love the fact that it’s 100% biodegradable.
So I decided to give the Twist Loofah Sponge #50 a try in hopes of doing away with the Scotch Brite sponges I’ve always used. It’s with great disappointment to report that it just doesn’t seem to work well on those really tough pots – like the one I used yesterday to make scrambled eggs for Eco Girl. The pot is still sitting in the sink after repeated soaking of hot water, a little soap, and scrubbing. Oh, well. Not everything “green” is going to work out like you want it to.
Twist Loofah sponge #50
How about it readers? Have you found a great “green” scrubbing sponge that gets the job done? Let us know about it.
Last week, I was at The Container Store, walking down the bath aisle, when the word “eco” caught my eye (this seems to be occurring more and more often these days). At first glance, it really didn’t look like anything unusual, just a really sleek bathroom collection of cups, toothbrush holders, and boxes. That is, until I turned one of the items around and read about them.
EcoGen
EcoGen’s Bath Collection is biodegradable in six to nine months when composted.
“To create EcoGen, we feed naturally occurring bacteria sugar that is obtained from corn starch. These “bugs” digest the sugar and store the resulting PHBV polymer much as the human body would store fat. Extracted from the “bug,” the stored “fat” becomes an injection moldable material. This material, Enmat®, is then blended with other biodegradable compounds to enhance its ability to process efficiently in standard injection molding machines. When exposed to microorganisms in compost or soil, EcoGen decomposes into carbon dioxide, water and biomass. Extensive scientific testing has established no harmful toxicity from the process or the end product.”
EcoGen’s Collection is available in four colors: black, white, green, and blue and can be found at The Container Store locations and on The Container Store website.
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