What is The Green Sisterhood and #greensisters?

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed an avalanche of tweets this weekend with the hashtag #greensisters. I do apologize for the volume of grouped tweets, it should only have happened once. When you see tweets or shares with the hashtag #greensisters, you can know that I am sharing something from another blogger who is a member of The Green Sisterhood with me. You might be asking, "what is The Green Sisterhood?". The short answer is that we're a group of bloggers who blog about green living, the environment, various forms of low impact living, handmade and DIY, and who are all passionate about making positive changes for our future.

What does The Green Sisterhood do?

If you are a blog reader or someone interested in green living, climate change, or environmental advocacy, The Green Sisterhood is a great place to learn! Subscribe to our weekly email to receive summaries of what each sister is blogging about this week. Or, visit the main GS blog on Fridays for a weekly reading list of the best of the sisters' posts each week.

If you are a blogger (green or not), The Green Sisterhood hosts free blogging-related webinars regularly. Today at 12pm CST we'll be hosting Lara Galloway for a webinar entitled "Blogging is NOT a business".

If you are a business or PR professional, The Green Sisterhood is a great way to reach people who are interested in your product, service, or book. With a combined 2 million page views per month, all the green sisters function as a unit to reach a relevant audience through our individual blog voices and social media channels. You can contact us for rates and options by emailing info {at} greensisterhood {dot} com!

What does The Green Sisterhood mean to me?

On a personal level, I feel really privileged to be a part of this group of women. I would not be tweeting out links to these ladies' posts if I wasn't truly interested in what they have to say. They encourage me daily to keep up a greener lifestyle and to advocate for change when I might otherwise be silent. I've found that The Green Sisterhood encourages me when I get discouraged about blogging or making positive changes in my own life and the lives of others. It can be difficult to "be green" when no one around you is doing it. I don't know how many times I've had friends ask me a question about green living that I can answer by passing on a link to a post from one of my green sisters. Some of us are greener than others in various areas. Together, we have experience in nearly every area of sustainable living, or we know someone who does.

I feel like we also serve as sounding boards for each other when it comes to blogging decisions. For example, if I have a question about how to handle the business end of blogging, I ask these ladies. We had a great discussion just last week on working with PR reps, the points which we discussed will likely come up when I speak at BlogHer in Chicago in July. When Google shut it's RSS reader shut down, there was Karen Lee with a post about alternatives to Google Reader. They've recently encouraged me to (reluctantly, awkwardly) embrace Google Plus.

I hope that you love The Green Sisterhood as much as I do and that you'll follow along with us as we move forward for a greener future!

Low Toxin, more eco-friendly hair color

Obviously, I dye my hair. No one is born with pink hair.

You might be thinking: what about the chemicals in hair dye? Is there a toxin free way to bleach and dye hair? The answer is: there is no chemical free way to bleach or dye your hair but there are ways to reduce your exposure to specific toxins and hair color systems that are more eco-friendly.

Henna - An ancient form of hair coloring based on the henna plant, henna is moisturizing and provides some pigment upon one application. You can re-apply over and over to build the shade up. Henna can lighten a few shades, but not much. Pure henna is almost always some form of red. I have found henna-based dyes in bright colors like pink, blue, and purple but I've also read that since the henna plant leaves obviously do not grow in those colors, those products are really mostly chemical dyes like any other chemical dye. The metallic components added to henna to produce these unusual colors can also react with traditional hair dyes, so be very careful mixing henna with other forms of dyeing or bleaching.

Highlighting - In general, highlighting with any type of product exposes your body to less direct contact with the dye because it doesn't sit on your scalp like all-over haircolor would -- it is typically applied with foils. At least, it doesn't cover all of your scalp when it does touch at the roots. Be aware of what bleaching agents are used in highlighting formula you use. My stylist did some research on ammonia in bleaching and found that some of the low-fume ammonia dyes contained just as much ammonia (or more) than the stronger-smelling ammonias, they were just more difficult to detect by smell. He prefers to use a low-ammonia version of bleaching rather than conventional ammonia disguised with extra chemicals to hide the smell.

Botanical and lower-toxin brands of professional color - The two main brands I found are Aveda and Pravana. Both are professional salon color systems and have a large spectrum of colors, traditional (browns, blondes, gingers) and alternative (pink, purple, blue, green, etc.). While these brands do utilize chemicals that are found in traditional color systems, they make a point to avoid phthalates, formaldehyde, and parabens. Both brands specifically avoid the use of petrochemicals or animal ingredients and do not do animal testing. Most of their product packaging is recycled and/or biodegradable.

What I have on my hair in the pictures you'll find on Instagram and Twitter is the Pravana VIVIDS for the pink, and their low-ammonia bleaching system for the base blonde. Did I have to bleach the crap out of my scalp for that light blonde? Yes, yes I did. Is that probably great for my hair? Probably not. At my last appointment, my stylist did a deep conditioning treatment and I do a weekly coconut oil treatment. I'll have to post more on that later. Overall, I am happy with my choice and plan to keep it up for as long as possible. I expect that 6 months is probably the longest I can do this before my hair becomes damaged.

Do you dye your hair? If so, have you tried lower-toxin alternatives or henna? What have been your results?


NOTE: I was not compensated in any way for the mention of these product lines, information is based on my own research and I pay for my pink hair out of my own pocket!

Buy Nothing Day 2012

In case you haven't noticed, I don't really promote Black Friday deals of any kind on this blog. Obviously, I'm not a "deals" or coupon blogger. Although a lot of my essential oil remedies and cleaners can save money, and I always do let you know on my Facebook page and Twitter if any of my favorite organic and natural brands have sales or coupons, or if organic grapes/strawberries are on sale locally in Dallas, you will never see me extreme couponing or doing "anything" to save a little money. You know what saves money? NOT SPENDING MONEY ON STUFF.

So this Thursday night and Friday morning, you will not see me at any stores. In fact, in the past my husband and I have joked that we participate in Buy Nothing Day.

Buy Nothing Day is an international day of protest against consumerism celebrated annually just after Thanksgiving.

Technically, I don't think we've gone the 24 hours without buying something because we usually have to go to a grocery store and buy milk or eggs or something. But no, we don't get started on our Christmas shopping. I've never gone to a store at some insane hour, and I don't plan to start now.

In fact, this year we plan to do very little Christmas shopping. Not because we don't celebrate Christmas, but because we do. We celebrate the birth of Someone who is special to us, and we don't do it by spending a lot of money on stuff. Did Jesus have stuff? From all accounts, Jesus was nigh-homeless.

Last year, we were in a weird situation that caused us not to buy gifts at all. And you know what? We didn't miss it, and our family didn't miss it. I made some things for our close family. This year we will be buying small gifts for our nieces and nephews. But I don't think any of us adults are planning on spending money on each other. We all have everything we need: food, clothing, shelter.

If you aren't up for AdBusters' version of Buy Nothing Day, you can always host or attend a Black Friday "Snuggle In"! Get all comfy cozy, watch some Christmas movies, and tell the shopping stress goodbye! Are ya with me?

Eco-friendly kids paint: Earth Paint

As soon as Little Sir was old enough to attend Mother's Day Out, he fell in love with painting. I had been afraid to introduce paints at home due to the mess, but he just LOVED painting so much, even at a year old, that I really wanted to let him paint at home. However, every time I went to the craft store I was crippled by the choices and worried about the ingredients of the paint. Particularly when Little Lady came along and started to show interest in painting too (again, thanks to Mother's Day Out!), I was worried that she would put the paints in her mouth and I didn't trust the safety of craft store paints.

Then I discovered Earth Paints!

 Ya'll, this stuff is so amazing! It's made from, well, the EARTH! As in, dirt and clay are used to form the pigments for these colors. It is actually a milk-based paint, which is common for eco-friendly kids paints. The problem with most homemade or eco-friendly paints is that their colors are typically very light (think pastel) and watery. Not Earth Paint! Check out the colors of the paints I mixed...


I say that I mixed them because they actually come in powder form. You can add as little or as much water as you need to make them thicker or thinner. If you do want a watercolor-type experience, you can do that. But you can also go for the more tempura paint type pigment.

For the purpose of our first trial of Earth Paints, Little Sir had found a paper towel cardboard tube and was requesting that he be allowed to paint it. If these had been your typical milk paints, the pigment wouldn't have shown up at all on the dark cardboard. No problem with the Earth Paint!




And, of course, Little Lady wanted to get involved and made quite a masterpiece herself...





You can see from the photos how nice and bold the colors are!

Now, you might be asking yourself, "Why on earth can't I just use conventional kids' paint? Jenny, you are super paranoid!". And it's true, I am more conscientious than your average consumer, so I asked Leah, creator of Earth Paints, what kinds of things we should be avoiding when it comes to paints. She sent me some great information.

Petroleum derivatives? Fungicides? Bactericides? Unfortunately, just because a label says nontoxic doesn’t mean it’s earth friendly or human friendly...
...After doing extensive research I was shocked to find that many commercial kids paints contain biocides which include formaldehyde and are used to extend the paints shelf life and preserve the ingredients. I also learned that conventional paints may contain hundreds of different chemicals, many of which contain carcinogens or neurotoxins. Even "Low VOC" or "nontoxic" paint may contain fungicides and bactericides that not only cause headaches and dizziness when inhaled but can contribute (little by little) to greenhouse gases.

Leah goes on to describe how some major kids' paint brand companies would not disclose their ingredients even when asked directly. Scary! So she created Earth Paints as a high quality, safe alternative.

I have to say, I am in love with Earth Paints. When the samples I was given run out, I will be heading over to www.NaturalEarthPaint.com to order more Earth Paint!

I hope you'll give it a try, too - if you do, please feel free to share photos of your kids enjoying Earth Paint on my Facebook page!

*DISCLOSURE: I was given free samples of Earth Paint for review. All opinions expressed are my own, and my kids'!

All the Drama on the Internets Episode #2

Every so often I like to give you a bulleted list of some recent "green" stories in the news and why half of the people are excited to hear about the news or study and the other half are super offended by it for some reason. DRAMA ENSUES. Almost 100% of the time, I am somewhere in the middle. I just figured that some of you might want to know what's out there and read for yourselves. Just in case you aren't already immersed in social media 24/7 like I am...

• CBS reports toxic levels of phthalates in childrens' backpacks. See, I am not crazy for obsessively avoiding phthalates! Even CBS admits these chemicals are bad. A backpack is something your child breathes right next to and handles with his or her hands. Here is my suggestion: backpacks on Etsy. 


• Toxic Baby blog report on toxic school supplies, a.k.a. the blog post that pre-dated the CBS article, a.k.a. I knew about this before CBS reported it. In case you might not remember, Toxic Baby was the movie I had a chance to screen at BlogHer in NYC this year.


• An article in the New York Times about Big Chemicals and the Safe Chemicals Act. As of now, chemical companies have absolutely no requirement to prove the safety of the chemicals they manufacture. This article goes into a little more detail about the scientific studies currently being published about the dangers of endocrine disruptors.


• The Safer Chemicals Act. This isn't particularly new, as this bill is still currently on the Senate floor, but it has taken over a year for it to get there. You can read the contents of the bill and contact your Senator, all with a few clicks. PLEASE DO.


• Just today: Arctic sea ice hits record low levels. Sure, this summer didn't "feel" as hot to us as last summer. But that's not what the polar bears are thinking. This is not some political organization's speculations, this is the findings of regular scientific measuring.


• Climate Change is not a political issue, but you need to know where the Presidential candidates stand (or DON'T, more realistically). I am voting with a high emphasis on climate conscientious-ness, as I always do. I don't care how you vote, but this is one of my pet peeves. I want you to know what you are voting for, so please read this article.

There are other things, but my head is going to explode soon, so I'll stop there. The important thing is for us to be aware of what ways we are not protected by laws, and protect ourselves. Remember, you can't go wrong making your own {fill in the blank} or buying handmade {fill in the blank} from someone using natural ingredients. Let's lean that way, in order to keep our earth and our kids safe!

*climbs down off soapbox*

GMO: Genetically Modified Organisms

Have you seen the little GMO-free labels on food? What do those mean, anyway?

GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. The Institute for Responsible Technology defines a GMO as:

the result of a laboratory process of taking genes from one species and inserting them into another in an attempt to obtain a desired trait or characteristic.

Basically, foods or animals that have been genetically modified have had their DNA messed with. So it's still simliar enough for the organisms to look and taste the same but there are small differences created by scientists.

Why modify genetics?
To make things better, faster, stronger. In plants, the genetic modifications are often to make the food mature faster so that more and more food can be made in less time, or to make the plant excrete chemicals that repel insects and predators. In animals, to make them resistant to certain illnesses.

What's wrong with messing with genes?
The idea behind avoiding GMO's is that we just aren't sure what other effects genetic modifications have on people or animals who consume or use genetically modified species. It's a relatively new science, and there's basically no regulation. Again, the Institute for Responsible Technology has a list of 65 Health Risks, if you're interested.

Most importantly: There have been NO long-term studies conducted on the safety of genetically engineered foods on humans.

Well, I never eat GMO's so I don't care.
What's interesting about GMO's is that they don't have to be labeled or identified at all. That corn on the cob you just bought in the produce section of your local grocer? Very likely GMO. Most corn is at least partially genetically modified. As are many other fruits and veggies, but you would have no idea because the growers are not required to identify whether or not their crops have been genetically modified.

What can we do?
There is currently a law in process in the state of California, Proposition 37, to require the labeling of GMO foods. You can read more about it www.carighttoknow.org, by "Like"ing their Facebook Page or following California Right To Know on Twitter. If you are a California resident, please vote "Yes" on Proposition 37!

If you are NOT in California, you can still lend your voice to the petition on Care2 asking Walmart to start labeling GMO's in it's food. This is a very important campaign because Walmart is one of the top providers of foods in the entire U.S.!

Thanks for your involvement, please leave me a comment to let me know if you participated in any of the actions!

BlogHer 2012: Part 1 of recap

Another BlogHer has come and gone: amazing, overwhelming, encouraging, and EXHAUSTING. Every year is a slightly different experience, and this year was my first without being pregnant or bringing a baby. As a result, I stayed up waaaay too late dancing and eating and talking (ok, and drinking...) with women I only see "in real life" every 1-2 years, and some I had actually never met before, except on Twitter.

While I was in New York City, I also took the time to take a Megaformer Pilates class (the kind I teach in Plano) at the SLT NYC studio. Because a 50 minute hardcore strength and cardio workout is definitely what you need after you've eaten crap for 24 hours and drunk sodas to stay awake (I don't normally drink soda at all).

>Unlike last year, I did remember to take actual pictures this year. Not many, because all I had was my iPhone, but I think they are representative.

First, one of the things I was so excited about: President Obama addressing the BlogHer attendees on Thursday afternoon.



Sure, what he said was pretty campaign-y but if you look beyond that, I think what is obvious is that he (and presumably more and more politicians) acknowledged the power of our voices as bloggers. What we say matters in the larger sphere, even when we're "just" blogging about our families or our individual efforts towards sustainable living.
Takeaway: Those in power are taking notice of what we do as women and bloggers, and that is encouraging.

Thursday night there was a party for "green" bloggers hosted by Stonyfield and Healthy Child, Healthy World>.



Following that party, we had the opportunity to view a wonderfully educational film, Toxic Baby, produced and written by Penelope Jagessar Chaffer. It contains a lot of great information on the toxins that surround us in our everyday lives and how they affect our bodies.



I enjoyed the movie and a wonderful discussion afterward between Penelope, Gigi Lee Chang, CEO of Healthy Child, Healthy World, Dr. Shanna Swan, Vice-Chair for Research, Department of Preventative Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Dominique Browning, co-founder of Moms Clean Air Force.



Takeaway: A reminder from the ladies that we have to combine our personal purchasing (or NOT purchasing power) with legislative action to speed the process of making the world a safer place for our children. "Safe until proven dangerous" is not the right approach to take when introducing new chemicals.

Wow, this post is long and I haven't even gotten to the parties or the sessions. I'm exhausted already. How about Part 2 another day?

7 Quick Takes Friday #39

--- 1 ---

We have had our chickens for one week now. It has been going really well, except for the day that I spent 30 minutes one morning chasing a chicken around the back yard, wearing a dress, while my children wailed inside the house because we were supposed to leave for a blogging-related shopping event. Since then I have been advised to squirt them with the garden hose to get them back into the coup. Duly noted.

--- 2 ---

This weekend is Earth Day! If you're looking for activities to celebrate with your children, Dallas is hosting an Earth Day event and here's another handy list of Earth Day activities for kids, even if your city isn't hosting an event.

--- 3---

Ironically, I have a ton of cloth diaper related posts coming up even though this week was Real Diaper Week. Better late than never, I guess. You can also find me blogging this week on CottonBabies blog about using cloth diapers at daycare.

--- 4 ---

I continue to do poorly at saving money. Here is another reason our family sucks at this: no one in our family will touch leftovers. At all. Ever. Well, except me. But I get pretty sick of whatever it is after eating it 3 times in a row and it inevitably gets thrown away. And yes, I have tried freezing things. The kids and the husband will not eat anything leftover, whether it is thawed or refrigerated. The fact that it is not fresh makes no one interested in eating it. Therefore, I have to constantly cook brand new things and the portion sizes have to be exactly what we will eat in one sitting or else it's wasted. Anybody have any solutions for me there?

--- 5 ---

I hope to do a garden update this weekend, but our peas were getting eaten by some sort of pest so I bought a container of ladybugs to take care if it. We released them last night at dusk.



OUR CHICKENS WERE WAITING


Many ladybugs perished in the chickens' stomachs, but hopefully some of them survived.

--- 6 ---

In case you were wondering whether the $3.99 bottles of wine that Whole Foods has come out with are as good as Trader Joe's "Two Buck Chuck", the answer is NO. WF $3.99 wine is TERRIBLE. I do not recommend it. What ingredients do I need to make this into sangria or something?

--- 7 ---

Have a Happy Earth Day on Saturday!

~~~

Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

Real Diaper Week 2012: Just Do It

I'm proud to be emotionally and mentally supporting Real Diaper Week this week (April 16-21), as well as The Great Cloth Diaper Change on April 21st. "real" diapers, of course, being cloth diapers! On April 21st, cloth diapering mamas assemble all across the nation to simultaneously change their babies' bums with cloth. Once again, I slacked off and did not register in time for the Dallas/Fort Worth event hosted by the DFW Cloth Diaper Group. But I can guarantee you that I will be changing no fewer than 7 cloth diapers that day, as I do every day with two children still in {cloth} diapers!

In honor of Day 1, Cloth Diaper 101, I am going to be lazy and list the posts I have done on this topic for the CottonBabies blog, and only one from my own blog. This is because the posts I've done in the past about my diaper stash and washing process are outdated and need to be updated!

So, check out these great basic tutorials:

• Cloth Diapers 101: Air drying indoors [Cottonbabies blog]
• Cloth Diapers 101: For the love of pockets [Cottonbabies blog]
• Cloth diapering: cloth wipes [this blog!]

Have fun, and change a real diaper (or two, or 500) this week!

Plastic bags are ridiculous

Monday when the EcoMaids came to clean our house, I took the kids on a walk to get out of their way. We walked to our nearby Walmart Neighborhood Market despite the fact that I have a Walmart phobia. It is the closest grocery store to us, so sometimes I go there. I am careful to buy only foods we would normally buy, as far as being environmentally responsible and organic when possible. They are one of the only places I can consistently find organic garlic and they have recently started carrying organic milk. Good for them!

In my rush to get out the door with both kids, I left our reusable shopping bags at home. I told the checkout person that I'd be fine just putting the items into the stroller basket, but she didn't want to do that. I have noticed that when I walk to stores with the stroller they sometimes have policies against putting your groceries in the stroller basket, I guess because it looks like you're stealing. So, she put our items in plastic.

When I got home I was horrified to find she had used 6 PLASTIC BAGS for only 13 items!! And these were small items - two were jello packets. I could have fit all of them into one reusable bag.

Here is a picture of the groceries I bought (NOTE: cans are for donation, but I only bought non-organic items that are on the EWG Clean 15 list):



And here is the stack of plastic bags. My toddler is standing behind them to show the scale:



ACK! I was really traumatized by this experience. Why do the checkers use so many bags for so few items? Why couldn't I have put them in my stroller basket?

The plastic bags are hanging on my doorknob, waiting for me to find somewhere I can recycle them.

Ridiculous!

How to Compost with or without Worms

Today's post is a guest post that I have really been looking forward to! Years ago B.K. (Before Kids), I tried vermicomposting and failed. Because we have always rented, I have never tried "real" composting because I never knew when we'd move, and most landlords look poorly upon storing decaying matter on their property. As we continue pondering whether to buy a house, I dream about one day composting for real (unless someone gives me a NatureMill Composter - anyone?). Meanwhile, Merritt is here to tell you all about how to compost!
~~

Merritt Onsa is a fellow blogger and friend who recently moved from Dallas, Texas to Colorado where
she and her new husband are soaking up the cooler temps, mountain views and big blue skies. She
recently launched a blog about the realities of life as a newlywed – at www.livesimplylove.com. Stop on by for a visit and tell her Jenny sent you!


Why I Love to Compost

I love to compost! Maybe it’s because I grew up with a dad who recycled anything he could and was
composting in our backyard long before it was cool or “green.” I’m definitely my father’s daughter, so
when I moved into a real house with a real backyard, the first thing I wanted to do was compost. Dad
bought me an upright container, and I went to town putting in fall leaves, summer grass clippings and
every fruit and veggie scrap from the kitchen. It wasn’t long before I had abundant lovely, lush compost to share with all of my outdoor plants! And boy did they love it!

Then, a few years ago I learned about worm composting from my friend Heather at the Texas Worm
Ranch. I met Heather at Dallas’ White Rock Local Market. She was demonstrating her worm bins and
showing every child that walked by what Red Wiggler Worms looked like (and letting parents smell
the bin to prove there was no odor). I was hooked. But I was also newly married and needed to make sure the new husband was game for keeping a worm bin in our laundry room. He came one weekend to the WRLM and Needless to say, the answer was yes, but they would be my deal. Hey, that was fine with me. 

A few things I love about composting:

1. Compost becomes nutrient-rich soil for my plants. In fact, it’s better to use compost than it is to put chemical fertilizers on your garden, lawn or other plants. Plus it’s free!!
2. Worm castings (yes, that’s a nice way to say worm poop) have tons of beneficial microbes. If I have a plant that’s suffering or just needs a little extra love, a handful of worm castings on top of the soil really does the trick. It’s nature’s fertilizer.
3. Less waste in the landfill. Because they breakdown without oxygen, food scraps in our landfills contribute to greenhouse gas emissions (yes, they become methane). It’s good for the environment.
4. Teaches me about nature’s processes. I enjoy figuring out the ratios, stirring the bin and watching the critters that are naturally drawn to my garbage. My yard was free of chemicals for more than five years and boy, did the geckos came out to play! They ate their fill of bugs in the compost, and I witnessed their cuteness on my visits to the bin.
5. Composting inspired me to start gardening. And having my hands in the soil was good for my soul. Plus having a few home-grown veggies isn’t anything to laugh at either!

Now, I can’t say I’m an expert, but I have learned a few things along the way. Here are some tips if you want to get started on either version of composting:

Outdoor Compost:

1. Microorganisms do most of the work in your compost pile; your job is to fill the pile with the things they need for proper decomposition.
2. The carbon to nitrogen ratio in your pile determines how quickly it breaks down. It should be somewhere around 25 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen.
3. High carbon items are known as “Browns,” like leaves, newspaper, peanut shells, etc. High nitrogen items are known as “Greens,” like coffee grounds, vegetable scraps, grass clippings, garden waste, manures, etc. Add these items as they become available and stir or turn to combine. 
4. Composting doesn’t require a bin; you can easily make a pile in your yard wherever you feel comfortable keeping it. Determine your preferred method based on how you wish to manage the process.
5. Your compost needs to be turned at least weekly. If you’re really serious you can buy a compost thermometer to find out how “hot” your pile gets. The hotter the pile the faster the breakdown.
6. Do NOT put animal products (no dairy, meat, bones, grease) in your compost. It will smell bad AND attract rodents.
7. And, no, you cannot put cat, dog or human feces in your compost. Or used kitty litter. Sorry!

Worm Composting, otherwise known as Vermicomposting:

1. Red Wigglers are the best choice for vermicomposting.
2. This is a great alternative if you don’t have a place for an outdoor compost pile. Store your worm bin in the garage, laundry room, basement or even under the sink. Just be careful of extreme temps in any of those locations (between 40-80 degrees F is best).
3. Worms need the right amount of air, moisture, oxygen, food and bedding. Otherwise, vermicomposting is very low maintenance. Your bin can be left alone even for a few weeks at a time.
4. Keep your worms on a vegetarian diet along with moist bedding of paper, cardboard, paper towels, newspaper, paper from your shredder (it’s the safest way to dispose of documents containing personal information – let your worms eat them!)
5. Harvest the castings from the bin every 6-8 weeks, and you’ll end up with nutrient-rich compost your plants will LOVE!
6. Contact Texas Worm Ranch for more information and helpful resources. 

If you’re in Dallas and looking to learn more, there’s a free composting event on 8/31 and you might even go home with a composting bin.

Wed., Aug. 31st 6:30- 7:30 in the sanctuary

Come learn about composting and get a FREE composting bin ($90 value)! Master Composter A.L. Nickerson will educate you on how to use a composting bin to reduce your trash and to generate your own free, rich compost.

The first 150 pre-registered Dallas residents will receive a free composting bin from the City of Dallas Waste Diversion Team by registering below by Sunday, Aug. 28th.

Click here to register and for more details.

Mama cloth pads

I am sure the title of this post alone is a little uncomfortable, especially for my male readers (all 2 of you, one being my husband). It was probably inevitable, since I don't like disposable diapers, that the products I use for my lady needs bother me just as much from an environmental standpoint.

At BlogHer 2010, I received a good supply of Lunapads from the Lunapads ladies, but I failed to adopt using them regularly because I only had enough for 1-2 days. While I wash my diaper laundry every-other-day, I do not wash my own laundry that often. Maybe once a week? I bought more, but after investing almost $50 I still didn't have enough to go between washes. I slipped back into using disposable liners, but I did have the decency to feel bad about it.

This year at BlogHer 2011, I received more "mama cloth", as cloth menstrual pads are often called (although you don't have to be a mother to use it, so I feel like that is discriminatory and I don't use that phrase much), and I decided to give it another try. The Charlie Banana and The Willow Store liners that I got this year are significantly easier to use because they don't have multiple pieces like the Lunapads.

I ended up with about 8 extra Lunapads inserts and decided to buy some flannel myself and make backings and some very light liners. I don't have a serger so I just had to do a good zigzag and allow the edges to fray on their own somewhat.

The hardest part was attaching the snaps with a hammer and this little blue tool thingy I got from the fabric store...

But I did finally get it figured out.

So, I'm going to give it a try on a day-to-day basis and see how it goes...

How about you? Have you made the switch or are you thinking about it? Any advice or questions?

Greening your baby

People who formerly feared "being green" often end up asking me how they can become more green when they start to have kids. Something about having kids makes people want to eliminate chemicals and waste from their lives... go figure!

As you know, I currently have two children under the age of two, so this list was put together quickly and off the top of my head. Ask me again in a year and I might have something more comprehensive!

Cloth diapering - Obviously good for the earth but also cost effective, as are many "green" lifestyle changes. In addition, I have never experienced a late-night moment when we've run out of diapers (I actually didn't realize this happens to people until I heard another blogger talk about it). I am not going to go into details on how to cloth diaper in this post, but I've done previous posts on my cloth diapering regime as well as cloth diaper reviews and you can also find me writing for the CottonBabies blog. My #1 recommendation for learning about cloth diapering is Kelly Wells' book "Changing Diapers: The Hip Mom's Guide to Modern Cloth Diapering".


Make your own baby food - when I bought the Beaba Babycook Baby Food Maker it was an investment, but it was definitely worth it. I use it to make purees to hide veggies in food now that Little Sir is a toddler, and I'll use it again when Little Lady starts solids. Making your own babyfood is also cheap, and with an all-in-one appliance like the Babycook, it's super easy.

Washable towels and cloths for everything - Let's face it, paper towels and Kleenex are actually pretty flimsy - you can use a roll or box on just one mess. You can upgrade and also be more "green" by replacing them with washable cloth versions. I did a recent post about getting rid of paper towels by using absorbent washcloths from Ikea. I'd also recommend tons of microfiber cloths for cleaning up spilled milk and scrubbing things - you can buy microfiber cloths at the dollar store! When my son was born, I bought a huge amount of old school cloth diapers that I use for burp cloths and cleaning up all kinds of formula, milk, and runny noses. Little Sir recently learned to "blow snot" into these burp cloths and now whenever he sees a cloth diaper, he tries to blow his nose into it!

Consignment sales/preowned clothing - The "reuse" part of "reduce, reuse, recycle"! Twice a year I go to our local huge consignment sales and stock up on gently used clothing for the kids next season. Recently I also discovered Kid to Kid, which is a franchise of kids consignment stores for in-between consignment sale season. At least half of Little Sir's clothing is pre-owned. As for Little Lady, because we have two nieces who are older than her, and friends who have older girls, I don't think ANYTHING she has is new - it's all hand-me-downs! Which is awesome for me since I am not great at picking out girls' clothing.

Snacks - This is the part where I tell you to do things I am failing at... If you have toddlers, you know that you should NEVER go anywhere without snacks! Instead of using plastic bags and pre-packaged treats, it's always greener (and cheaper) to buy larger boxes of treats or put fruit into reuseable snack bags. I say this, but I own only 2 of these bags, so currently I do use waaay too many pre-packaged snacks.

Cleaning products - Usually when people ask me the "green" question, they are asking about how they can replace their conventional (toxic) cleaning products with more green (kid-safe) versions. When you see your little darling gnawing the floor or the chair leg, you can't help but think whether they might be ingesting some of that chlorine bleach/ammonia cleaner/Lysol you just sprayed on it. There are a lot of greenwashed products out there, but I'd recommend using vinegar, baking soda, Bon Ami, and essential oils like tea tree and Thieves Oil to replace conventional cleaners. Young Living also makes an entire line of Thieves Oil household cleaners.

Avoid phthalates - If you read my blog much, you might know that this is one of my pet peeves. Phthalates are used in making plastics and also in body care and makeup products. Phthalates are endocrine disruptors and can cause hormonal imbalances in young children and infertility in adults. Unfortunately, manufacturers are not required to specify if they use phthalates in their products. In plastics, avoiding anything using PVC can help reduce phthalate exposure. In personal care products, most often the ingredients list only "fragrance". Make sure that the products you buy are either unscented or use only essential oils for scent.

Those are my quick tips for going green for your new baby!
Do you have anything to add?

Related posts:
Best postpartum products - My favorite baby item

What makes me #Hautegreen?

I feel really special because I have been invited to a special pre-conference event in San Diego called #HauteGreen, hosted by a bunch of awesome bloggers and companies. Read the list here.

Calley challenged us all to blog about "What makes [us] #HauteGreen"!
Here are my answers.

Haute
I may not be so Haute, but I am totally hot.
Literally.
It is 102 degrees here most days in Texas.

Can't wait to visit San Diego:


Green
Is this where I list my green cred?
I get all, "Look at me, I am greener than you"?
I can tell you I am not going to win this game, people.

Last year Beth of Fake Plastic Fish was at BlogHer and I was so freaked out by the amount of plastic I have in my home that I was too scared to talk to her. "Hi, I'm Jenny, I have a green blog but I have a 3 BOXES OF ZIPLOCK BAGS AT MY HOUSE. And I totally use them too. All the time!"

I only look green compared to most people in Dallas. Put me Austin or California and I look like a carbon-spewing, environment-destroying consumerist.

This is a blog about living more consciously, about thinking before you act.
Being green is part of that, but it's not everything. I am as green as I can be within the time, financial, and family constraints that I have at this time of my life. I look forward to meeting a bunch of great bloggers who can help me in my journey to be more green in a livable way!
~~~

So there you have it. Am I #HauteGreen? I hope so! I can't wait to meet my fellow hautees!

Ant update

Tomorrow I have some great eco-friendly cleaning product recommendations, so stay tuned!

I wanted to update everyone on the ant situation. The ants went away for the most part on Saturday night and were gone all day Sunday. I was very excited to cook my first few meals in over a week.

Then. Last night. The ants came back.

Just as bad as before or worse.

Back to washing dishes in the bathroom sink and bathtub.

Our poor nanny is so disappointed. She never got to go back to washing things in the kitchen sink like I did for 24 hours.

I guess we will be calling Eco-Safe again tomorrow for a second treatment.

I say this to warn anyone else who is looking into "green" extermination. Just be aware that it doesn't work as great as the earth-killing chemical kind. Or as fast. Or, maybe.... at all.

EcoSafe: The Terminator came

Today the exterminator finally came! We picked EcoSafe because they have an option where they use treatments safe for kids and pets, and also we had a coupon. The man sprayed everywhere, inside and out. He told us that this particular kind of ant builds huge, extensive colonies underneath the house. He said it wouldn't have mattered if we had been able to drive them out of the sink/kitchen area, because they would have come back in another location, since their colony was not actually in the sink/kitchen.

So, I guess the treatment can take up to a week to take effect, but I am hoping for the best and keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to cook in my kitchen tonight. I will keep an eye on it, but it is good to know the ants are suffering and perishing, even now. BWAHAHAHA.

Pushing products

I just wanted to publish a quick post letting anyone who is still reading (anyone? anyone? *crickets chirping*) that I realize I've been reviewing quite a few products and services lately.

I would apologize for that but, honestly, I've been looking for these particular products and services for a long time now and had until lately been unable to find anything that I felt good about spending my money on and using in my home or on my body. It's true that in the past I've made things like body sugar for hair removal and my own "green" version of the Swiffer. But I think it's even better when a company comes out with a conscientious product that I can buy ready-made and support industry that is really thinking about the earth, our health, or sustainability. I want to support those efforts!

If you've seen Food, Inc. you might remember at the end where the farmer says that if the consumer demands a certain amount of accountability, the marketplace will deliver. I believe in that!

Celebrating Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!
This post is a long one, so hang in there. For the first time, I've been contacted by several companies to highlight the way they are celebrating Earth Day and I'd like to let you know about each one even though I don't receive anything for any of it. I think it's important to let anyone who might be reading know about the efforts these companies are making because the way we spend our money on even things we normally buy means something! Support companies that are making an effort!



Expedia


Traveling this summer? To commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, Expedia.com, has expanded the company’s Green Hotel program. The new program now offers more than 1,700 "green" hotels to travelers who prioritize environmental sustainability.

The hotels offered are certified by a cross-section of organizations, including Green Seal, Green, LEEDS and STEP. Expedia.com has also partnered with TerraPass to create carbon offset bundles, based on distance flown, to fund clean energy and carbon reduction projects.


Spend For Good: buy things on Earth Day!
I recently received an email about a neat web site called Spend For Good
Basically, if you sign up on the Spend For Good site and then you buy things at participating retailers like Amazon, just like you usually would, they donate part of your purchase to the charity of your choice!

On April 22nd (today!), Earth Day, several retailers who participate in Spend For Good are doubling the percentage of your purchase that is donated to charity, and their selected charity is Reverb.

Event details:

What: Spend For Good Earth Day Online Shopping Event; Top retailers will double charitable donations for purchases made through the Spend For Good site to support green music charity Reverb
When: Thursday, April 22, 2010 – 12:00 a.m. – 12:00 a.m. CST
Where: Spend For Good Online Charitable Shopping Site

To participate in the Spend For Good Earth Day Shopping Event, all consumers need to do is shop through the Spend For Good site on April 22nd. While shoppers will be able to choose from hundreds of popular online stores on the site, they are encouraged to support those retail partners that have offered to double their contributions on Earth Day: Cooking.com (10% of purchase amount); Land of Nod (12%); Shopbop (14%); eBags (12%); Moosejaw (10%); and PetSmart (11%).

What will I be buying?
I am totally excited because I have been drooling over the Baby Jogger City Mini stroller ever since Jes at Chirky showed me hers. We had kinda been putting off buying a real stroller for Little Sir and had been making do with an umbrella stroller, NOT ANYMORE!

One of my favorite kids' retailers, Land of Nod, is participating in this Earth Day Spend For Good event, and also offering free shipping on strollers! So not only will I get the stroller of my dreams, but Land of Nod will be donating around $25 of my purchase to Reverb!

It's a win-win!

Now, what will you do?

Get some ideas on how to celebrate Earth Day or share how you are celebrating on Twitter by visiting TwittEarthDay.

Happy Earth Day!

* disclosure: nobody paid me for any of this, I have to pay for that stroller with my own money. But hey, if you want to give it to me for free or book me some free travel GO RIGHT AHEAD!

Earth Day is coming

I am just going to go ahead and post some Earth Day stuff now, since it is very possible I will actually forget about Earth Day when it does come around (as I have been known to do in the past).

First of all, Amazon has created an Earth Day store, which is fun!

Be sure to check out their tips on green cleaning! One of the tips is to hire a green cleaning service. I hope to have a recommendation for you on local services very soon, keep checking back.

Amazon has also started a new Green Earth Exchange service, where you can trade your old electronic devices for an Amazon gift card!

Next, I'd like to share with my readers anything I could to encourage you to become more "green"!

I have a question for you:

What area of your life would you like to make more "green", or in what area have you tried and failed?

I will try my best to find an answer for you!



Disclaimer: Amazon did not pay me to highlight their Earth Day store, but if you buy something from them by clicking on any of the links from this blog, I get like 2 cents of their profit. Oooo.

Recycling a large CRT TV in Texas/DFW

I had no idea how difficult it would be to recycle an old CRT TV larger than 32 inches!

It is not my TV, but a friend of mine's. She and I were searching together for somewhere she could send it for appropriate disposal.

You do know that putting an old TV out on the curb for the trashperson sends it to a landfill where it leaches dangerous chemicals into the ground, right? Hence the attempt to recycle the large TV - to send it to a company that will disassemble it appropriately and safely dispose of the dangerous waste.

Normally, I would recommend Best Buy's recycling program for TV recycling, but it appears that they do not recycle TV's larger than 32 inches.

Goodwill also has a recycling program for TV's they cannot resell, but they will not take sets that are not operational.

The next stop was the Texas Take Back web site, which is a site supposedly dedicated to helping consumers dispose of electronic waste properly in Texas. However, as you can see just by visiting the site, it is extremely difficult to assemble the information on televisions. If you know where you purchased the set and have a proof of purchase, you are in luck. But how many people have (or can locate!) receipts from a TV purchased 3 years, 5 years ago or more? The other option on this site is broken down by manufacturer. In case you have a TV to recycle and are as mind-boggled as I was by all the disparate information for the different brands (the links don't send you to the actual information in all cases, sometimes you have to locate the information on the manufacturer's sites), here is the breakdown:

LG/Goldstar/Zenith is done by HOBI International
Samsung has a map where you type in your zip code
Mitsubishi/Panasonic/Sharp/Toshiba/VIZIO are all here

Sony says they will recycle old Sony TV's, but they actually won't unless you buy a new Sony TV from one of their SonyStyle stores. I worked for Sony as a client in one of my previous jobs, and I can tell you that SonyStyle stores are way overpriced in my humble opinion. The Sony television we have, we bought at an electronics store for much cheaper than the same model would have cost at a SonyStyle store.

However, in this case the television was a Phillips - none of the brands listed!

Through TimeToRecycle.com, my friend eventually found Intechra, which accepts large televisions if you drive to their location at a loading dock in Carrollton between the hours of 6:00-11:00 and 12:00-2:00. The information actually appears to be gone from the TimeToRecycle site now, so it's a good thing we saved it, and part of the reason I am reprinting it here.

Not exactly the easiest thing in the world - no wonder so many people just put their old TV's out on the curb. And what about other areas of Texas? Not everyone can drive to Carrollton.

Public Research Works recently published a report entitled "Free e-recycling, but nobody knows. Even the information provided on this site and the resources listed could not have helped us. It's easy to recycle a computer, but not a television larger than 32 inches!

What gives, Texas?!

UPDATED: I have been told that now BestBuy will recycle TV's and most electronics for no fee. Unfortunately, I think there still might be a limit on what size TV they will accept.