Easily accessible eco-friendly clothes and shoes March 23, 2009

Have you heard the news? Starting April 19, 2009, Target will be selling a 100% organic cotton clothing line for a limited time at Target.com and select Target stores nationwide.

The collection, called Loomstate, is designed by Scott Mackinlay Hahn and CFDA award winning designer Rogan Gregory.

The line was created due to the demand for certified organic cotton using socially and environmentally responsible methods of production. The entire collection will range in price from 14.99 to $44.99. You can view the entire collection here.

And just a reminder, Payless Shoes announced last year that they will be selling a “green” line of shoes for this April as well. I checked their web site and don’t see them as being offered yet. However, I did see that they’re currently selling, shoes made from hemp and flip flops with a PVC-free, degradable, recyclable ecoFoam outsole.

Copyright © 2008. Trying To Be Greener. All rights reserved.

Giveaway – Adorable, organic onezee with something to say January 19, 2009

Giveaway is over.

The winner is:

Here is your sequence:

• 3

Timestamp: 2009-01-27 15:16:01 UTC

Congratulations Kathleen!

So often I see beautiful, organic clothes for babies but the cost often prevents me from purchasing them. Even though I know that it’s better to have organic cotton near Eco Girl’s skin rather than not, I just can’t see buying a t-shirt for over $20.00 that I know she’s going to outgrow in three months.

There’s hope for buying organic without breaking the bank, though. Gobaby has the most adorable organic onezees and t-shirts for toddlers with catchy sayings, like “handle with care”, “fragile” and “100% natural”, that cost only $12.00. But it gets even better. Right now they’re offering free shipping and Trying To Be Greener readers can get 25% off when MOMDEALS is entered at check out.

Lucky you: One reader will win an Organic Onezee or T-shirt from GoBaby! You can enter a total of 5 times (leave a separate comment for each entry).

• Comment on this post for your first entry. Only one comment per person will count as an entry.
• Subscribe to Trying To Be Greener or let me know if you’re already a subscriber.
• Spread the word on Twitter with a link to this post.
• Give this post a Stumble.
• Blog about this contest on your own site.

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents and will end on January 26, 2009 at 12 midnight, EST. The lucky winner will be chosen by Random.org and will be notified by email. If the winner does not respond within 3 days, a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!

Copyright © 2008. Trying To Be Greener. All rights reserved.

Book Review – Itsabelly’s Guide to Going Green with Baby January 14, 2009

For much of my adult life, I considered myself a “green girl” but when I became pregnant in early 2007, I discovered a whole new area of health concerns that I didn’t know about – plastics, personal care products and more. I used the internet to help with many resourceful sites on what to be aware of and what I needed for the arrival and care of my new daughter. How I wished all of this information could have been in one concise resource.

Itsabelly’s Guide to Going Green with Baby by Jennifer Lo Prete and Melissa Moog is just that. Melissa Moog is the founder of Itsa-belly, a great resource for all things baby. This all inclusive book lists safer, eco-choices from clothing, bedding, skin care and baby wearing, just to name a few. So many specifics are given, like safer baby wipes with homemade wipe solution and better choices for non-toxic cribs and mattresses.

Itsabelly’s Guide to Going Green with Baby:

• shows you how “going green” and making “safer” choices doesn’t have to be more expensive.
• shows you how “greener” and “safer” options are more easily available than you may think.
• gives specific items to consider with company web sites.
• provides you with a very helpful glossary of important terms.
• gives you a “green” resource directory with web sites of associations and blogs.
• scatters eco-friendly tips throughout the book.

I myself wish I had something like this book before I was even pregnant to help me with understanding the importance of avoiding parabens, BPA, phthalates and other harmful components. This book is a must for anyone considering becoming pregnant, is pregnant or has a baby.

Itsabelly’s Guide to Going Green with Baby can be purchased directly through Itsabelly, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Copyright © 2008. Trying To Be Greener. All rights reserved.

Wonderful Lentil Soup for your Little One and You January 12, 2009

Here’s a recipe for Lentil Stew that I put together for my Eco Girl, which she just loves. Make it for your own child or yourself – believe me, it’s really tasty! I occasionally add a little pear sauce, spinach or both just before I serve it to her. Lentils are loaded with fiber and protein with a fair amount of fiber, are  inexpensive and really delicious. You don’t need to follow the recipe exactly. Add a bit more or less of the cinnamon or cumin if you prefer – it’s up to you and do your best to use organic ingredients. The recipe below will fill two ice cube trays with enough left over for a lunch serving for yourself – Enjoy!

Lentil Stew

1 Teaspoon olive oil

1 carrot pealed and diced

1 small sweet potato pealed and diced

1/2 small onion diced

3/4 cup red lentils that you’ve put through a sieve to clean and checked for any small stones

2 1/2 cups water

1 Teaspoon cinnamon

1 Teaspoon cumin

Saute the onion in the olive oil for a few minutes until the onions are translucent, stirring occasionally.  Add the carrots, sweet potatoes, cinnamon, and cumin for a few minutes more and continue to stir. Add the water and lentils and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for about 15 – 20 minutes or until the lentils are soft.

Let the lentils cool a bit if you’re going to put them in a blender. Puree to the consistency that your baby can handle and spoon it into your ice cube trays to freeze and use when you need them.

Copyright © 2008. Trying To Be Greener. All rights reserved.

For the holidays choose safer, natural toys November 14, 2008

Recently, I wrote about introducing my daughter to toys made of safer, natural materials. My desire has been to try to limit her exposure to lead, BPA, and phthalates, all of which are extremely harmful but even more so to small bodies.

This isn’t an easy thing to do. You can’t always rely on safe toys being sold in conventional places. Many of the products sold there contain the harmful components mentioned above. I’ve always just ended up doing research myself on individual toys and just searched for them all over the internet.

I used to feel uncomfortable about well meaning relatives and friends purchasing toys for my daughter that may not be the safest choices and with the holidays coming up, this could be a time of “plastic overload”. I found, though, that there’s an easy way around this. When asked what they can get for my daughter, I just suggest a store that has a variety of choices with a high standard for safety.

One of those stores is Natural Pod. Natural Pod is a Canadian company that was started by individuals who were just interested in finding safer toys for their own children. Their site has a variety of beautiful toys for babies, toddlers, and young children. These are toys that you’ll want to hang onto for generations to come – how often have you been able to say that about typical toys you come in contact with?

They have lovely toys for babies:

Organic Soft Block Set

Stacking toys for toddlers:

Nesting Birds

Toys that inspire imagination:

Chef's Kitchen and Hutch

And toys that keep your child active:

LikeaBike Forest

Not to mention others, like musical instruments, bath toys, arts and crafts, and dolls just to name a few.

Lucky you: Get 10% off your first order at Natural Pod when you use the code “GCM08″ through December 31st. Be sure to pass this information along to any family members who may interested in purchasing holiday toys for your little ones.

Copyright © 2008. Trying To Be Greener. All rights reserved.

The Dirty Dozen Fruits and Veggies July 15, 2008

The Environmental Working Group has put together a list of 43 fruits and veggies ranking their levels of pesticide contamination. They also have a printable version that shows the 12 least and most contaminated fruits and veggies that can be easily carried in your wallet as a quick reference when you’re out shopping.

The Environmental Working Group states that, “There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects. Because the toxic effects of pesticides are worrisome, not well understood, or in some cases completely unstudied, shoppers are wise to minimize exposure to pesticides whenever possible.”

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