It's here!

A year ago my husband I began building our very own, eco-fabulous house, with our own sweat (and tears). I've literally been waiting for this day all my life. The kids and I are packing and moving as much as we can, because we can't not sleep there tonite!! But, we have yet to finish all the wi-fi wiring, so I will be down for a few weeks and checking in occasionally with a quick update here and there. Don't forget about me, I'll be back!

Recycle

I have a bag in the garage labeled "burned out CFL's". Thankfully there are TWO bulbs in it but I know they CAN'T be thrown away because of the mercury levels. I've seen recycle programs for them, but I always forget. BUT NOW, there is a super simple way to get rid of them. Take them to HOME DEPOT. Drop them off, FREE!

(Thanks Re-nest)

Turning green...

My mother thinks I am crazy for all the green things I do. I literally cannot have a conversation with her about global warming, politics, or organic foods. We've tried and they are subjects we avoid. So I treat my mom like a kids sometimes and trick her. Once a month I try to bring her along to Trader Joe's because she likes some of their meat. (NO GMI's and they're organic-haha mom!) I'll bring her over to the produce section, grab the peaches and say, "these are the sweetest peaches I have ever had (TRUE), the juice runs out of them, my husband loves them!" I carefully leave out that they are organic or from a local farm. Usually she'll go, "hmmm" and bag a few. I do this over and over. Costco just started selling an organic whole wheat bread and I think I have her hooked. I told her, "if you want to watch the kids, this is the only type of bread they will eat grill cheese sandwiches on" (kind of true). The reason for getting my mom to buy organic is because I want to know that when she watches the kids the 5 million strawberries (yes they could eat them all day) they ingest at her house are not doing them harmful damage. It is 100 times more important to me that the kids eat organic food rather than me or my mom or my husband, and my kids are my main reason for my shift in lifestyle.
Here is why organic foods are so important for kids:

"Because young children are more vulnerable to developmental damage from pesticide residues on foods, widening the margin of safety for them is appropriate.
Why are children especially vulnerable? Partly, it's because of their fast growth and speedy metabolisms, partly because of their smaller size, which means they eat more fruits and vegetables in relation to their body weight than adults do.
Most tests done by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set acceptable risk levels for pesticide residues were conducted using 154-pound adult men, not 40-pound preschoolers! In 1993, a congressionally mandated study by the National Academy of Sciences expressed concern that existing methods of risk evaluation for pesticide exposure were failing children. More recently, the Consumers Union and the Environmental Working Group released studies confirming that children are over-exposed even if their exposure is within legal limits. The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 enacted many of the recommendations suggested by these studies. When there are inadequate data to assess developmental risks, the Act requires the EPA to use a 10-fold margin of safety to protect children when setting standards for pesticides on food. Thus, the situation is changing, but the process is slow, and encumbered in bureaucracy. Our kids are young now—we can't wait."- Dr. Greene.com

Cut it.

This sounds sick, but there is nothing that I love more than coupons. I LOVE combining coupons with store coupons and clearances, I LOVE eating out then handing a coupon to my waiter (and then tipping them really nice), and I LOVE that there are TONS of coupons out there for organic products.
Every Monday I'll feature sites where you can print some for yourself...and remember, they don't care what is on the back of these coupons so print it on some old paper instead, and be even more green.

Horizon Organic
Organic Valley
Seventh Generation
Mambo Sprouts

Off the green path...momentarily.

I know this is not Green related at all, but I have to get it off my chest because...

I promise, I don't plan to turn this blog towards the political side of the green debate. It is too much for me to tackle, though I do know what I like and what I don't.
However, last weekend these buttons were being sold at a Republican rally. It makes me sick.


Seriously, what day in age do we live in...
Perhaps we could just call it the Green House come January 2009, and bite this blatant a-hole-ness in the butt.

Being Green=Saving money & the planet!! PT 2

I asked for your tips on how to be green and save money and my mailbox FILLED up! Thanks!
Here are a few of my favorites:

-Shower together. (I like this one) Together the shower might be a little longer, but definitely shorter than two separate showers. While he rinses, you can shave, while you wash your hair, he can soap. Make sure to turn the shower off if it leads to extended kissing...

-Turn OFF the Heat Dry on your dishwasher. Chances are you still have to wipe water off some cups, why not spend an extra minute toweling off all your dishes. (Try to remember to open the door about 15 minutes before hand, it lets the humidity out and fresh air in, and makes dry time go by even faster.)

-Drive less. Duh, this should have been a given! But it is important to mention. If you're like me and live out in the country you have to drive, so I try to combine all my shopping trips. But with two little kids there are days you just HAVE to get out of the house and the yard just won't do. So now we take the bike and buggy up to the nearest playground. I call my mom to see if she needs anything at the store and we combine trips. My husband drives his motorcycle to work. (He reminds me every day how much greener he is being...) It is all about the little things.

-Learn to drive. Rapid acceleration and braking can lower your gas mileage by 5 percent around town and 33 percent on the highway, or an average of $0.55 per gallon. And, you get less mileage for your money (23 percent less or $0.67 per gallon) if you drive over 60mph. Savings: $1.22 per gallon, or $634 per year. Also CLOSE the windows if your going over 40. Increase in drag=less mileage per gallon. It is more cost effective to have the AC on when going over 40. But turn it off at the stop lights and back on again once you are up to cruising speed.

-Drink more (tap) water. Instead of always giving the kids juice or milk, replace one of their drinks with water. Add an ice cube, they will love it.

-Re-use the envelopes you get in junk mail. Credit card offers, donations, all JUNK mail comes with envelopes, instead of just recycling it, reuse and hope your recipient recycles them! Just mark out the old labels and you're all set!

-Eat your leftovers. Simple, and if you know you're NOT going to eat them right away, label it and freeze it. Casseroles and soups are perfect for this.

-Give your junk away. Freecycle, Craigslist, Freesharing.

Thanks to everyone who submitted a tip! And keep them coming, there are 1000's more out there! (AND THEY ARE SO SIMPLE!)

Make the Pledge

I've talked about it before, wash your clothes in cold water! Good for the environment and your wallet! Now you can get a free Naturally Clean book from Seventh Generation for making the pledge to wash in only cold water. So go here, do it, and get book too!

Sunscreen

SUMMER is here! I know because the sunscreen now has permanent home on our counter. But the other day as I slathered the sunscreen on my kids, I couldn't help but feel guilty. I know they need sunscreen, but there is a huge list of unpronounceable words on that back that I know are bad- Benzophenone, oxybenzone, octinoxate (also called octyl methoxycinnamate) and homosalate- all found to act like estrogen in the body.

So when I got home from our day at the zoo I decided to do some research. Turns out there is even more to consider than just unpronouneable words, Nano-sized particles (BAD they bypass your body's "blood-brain barrier" (a natural defense against foreign substances in the bloodstream) and enter the brain where they can damage brain cells) and Micronized particles (not so bad). And they aren't listed on the bottle.
I kept reading articles saying my only options were to; stay out the sun, wear dark clothing, and wear uvb/uva protective clothing, but in our house the first two are NOT options. We live in Minnesota, we need to take advantage of the sun as much as we can for our three months of summer!

I found lists of how to make your own sunscreen, which is pretty long and insane, I won't even tempt you. At Target I found Burt's Bees Chemical-Free Sunscreen SPF 30, but it has nano-particles. Online I found Avalon Organics ("Organic" is used very freely in cosmetics because it is not regulated- Look for the USDA certified organic seal) Baby Avalon Natural Mineral Sunscreen SPF 18, but we all know the rule-Children should use a broad-spectrum sunscreen with a SPF of 30 or higher. It should be applied liberally, and put again after swimming.

The two I found to be the best are:
California Baby SPF 30+ Sunscreen with titanium dioxide (2.9 oz., $18)
UV Natural SPF 30 with zinc oxide (7 oz. $30)
These two lotion use titanium dioxide or zinc oxide, which physically blocks radiation and is less likely than other sunscreens to penetrate skin. (Chemical sunscreens absorb the light.)

So the key to looking at sunscreens-Find ones that list titanium dioxide or zinc oxide! However, there is no completely "safe" sunscreen. My advice, use it when you know you are going to be out in full sun and use a wide brim hat (kids looks so cute in them) on other days when your just outside of a little while. Try to play in the shade and avoid being out in peak hours 1-4pm, for long periods. And don't feel guilty about this one-you do what you can, especially if there is not much you can do to change it!

And remember, never apply any sunscreen to babies younger than six months. Protect them instead with proper clothing and by limiting their exposure during peak hours.

Metropolitan Mama!

I have no problem putting a few blogs and contests that I enjoy on my sidebar, but rarely do I ever blog about them. But, I am going to blog about one, mainly because I stalk her site checking for updates almost hourly...(ok, not that much, but at least daily). I enjoy it, because she is a great writer, keeps it short and sweet, and most importantly, seems to parent in the same style as I do.
SO:
The fabulous Metropolitan Mama is having an amazing giveaway. A CRUISE.
She has partnered up with Protect-A-Bed the maker of the "best ultra thin mattress protector". I approve, they have been tested for harmful substances and PASSED. Yay, no gross chemicals leaching onto you while you sleep. I haven't used them, but after going through teaching kid #1 how to stay dry during the night, this might be perfect for kid #2 and I am looking into it.

You don't have to do much to enter, though you can if you want. If you buy a mattress cover, save the order number, and you get an entry for each one you buy. If you have a blog, say a nice thing or two about Ms. Metropolitan. There are many nice things to say, so that should be very easy. Or you can just fill out the entry form.

So there you go, enjoy.

The kids were going for one of their favorite snacks this morning, Stoneyfield Farm YoKids yogurt and some organic strawberries (almost as good as straight from the field, seriously, you forget what a real strawberry tastes like after awhile!) I'm in the habit of flipping everything over to see if it is recyclable or not. But, what shocked me is that BOTH the yogurt and the strawberries were packaged in Plastic #6.-polystyrene (PS). What shocked me even more is that I didn't realize this till now. (I swear there used to be a different number on the bottom...)

Here's down-low on Plastic #6

Extruded polystyrene (#6 PS)- Product examples: Disposable coffee cups, clam-shell take-out containers. Commonly known as Styrofoam, used in take-out containers and cups, and non-extruded PS is used in clear disposable takeout containers, disposable plastic cutlery and cups. Both forms of PS can leach styrene into food; styrene is considered a possible human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. It may also disrupt hormones or affect reproduction.

What got me the most upset is that most yogurt containers are in #5, much less harmful and more recyclable. Sure enough the Yoplait and Old Home Yogurt also in my fridge are in #5 containers. Why is an organic KIDS yogurt in #6?

Other foods I've found in my house in #6 plastic-

Kashi TLC cookies- the tray the cookies sit in.
Pretty much ALL berries in plastic containers. Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Strawberries, Cherry Tomatoes, etc... Organic or not.

So all I can ask myself is, what am I going to do about it? Luckily as far as strawberries go, prime picking season will be here in about a month. My neighbor always has an amazing crop and she lets me go in and pick as much as I want! The kids love it too, they can sit in the dirt, play, and eat all afternoon! I freeze as much as possible, so come winter, I always have fresh strawberries. A lot of stores have their berries in "bulk". They sit in a bin and you can bag as much as you want per pound- great way to get away from those #6 plastic containers.

As far as Kashi and Stoneyfield yogurt goes (their large 32oz containers are ok) I think I will have to make a call to see what their rationale is behind using plastic #6. I'm going to stick with buying to big containers of yogurt and probably attempt to make my own "healthy" but oh so good, chewy dark chocolate oatmeal cookies.