On The Green

I was at a meeting this afternoon planning this year’s Good Life Thursday Farmers Market at Boordy Vineyards and had a blast! It was refreshing to get back to planning for the growing season and working with other local producers. I was reminded of all the variety of fresh, traditionally raised, local produce and meats that are available so close to me! I can get everything from free-ranged pesticide-free eggs to raw milk gourmet cheese, black current wine vinegar to shiitake mushrooms, free ranged pork to organic, grass fed black Angus within a short drive from home. And there are getting to be so many ways to take advantage of this abundance! Just a few options in my area are to belong to a group that has drop off points each week for picking up fresh dairy and meat, going to a family farm and picking up fresh eggs, poultry and emu, belonging to a CSA and getting weekly deliveries of vegetables, local farmers market where you can get fruit, meat, veggies, flowers and baked goods direct from the producer, and frequenting restaurants that use primarily local ingredients. And those are just some choices I know about in my area! When I first started going out to local farms and picking up my food, it was a bit different from the weekly trip to the grocery store, but that was some of the appeal. Now it has become my norm, and it’s fun to be “in the know” about the new guy who’s raising such and such, or an old farmer who is starting to grow a new whatever. Call me crazy, but it gives me a sense of peace to be able to see where my carrot was grown or on what pasture the cow who’s milk I’m drinking has been grazing, especially when so many news articles are being written with horror stories about corporate agriculture and pollutents in our food. Not that I don’t still go to the grocery store, or eat at restaurants that may sell Monsanto meat, but I enjoy supporting my fellow small businessman and know that I am supporting a lifestyle that has long been out of fashion with each visit to the farmers market.
~Alison

As Spring approaches and I think about putting away my son’s winter clothes and sorting through hand-me-downs appropriate to the season and his size, I want to briefly address children’s pajamas. It goes against reason for some people, but I never buy any children’s clothing that claims to be pajamas! Unless, of course, it’s those close-fitting thermal underwear style pjs. Why? Well, pajamas are soaked in a flame-resistant chemical. I know you’re thinking, “sounds good, I want my child protected from fire while they sleep.” But what you’re doing is exposing the skin of their entire body to PBDEs - the family of chemicals that act as flame retardants. Never mind what these chemicals do when released into the environment, they are on your children for 8 to 12 hours out of a 24 hour day! A quick internet search will show you why this is less than desirable, including the connection between PBDEs and impaired brain function and motor skills in children, as well as neurodevelopmental and behavioral deficits, thyroid hormone disruption, and possibly cancer in animal studies.

So look for pajamas that specifically say something along the lines of ” not meant as pajamas” or ” should not be used for sleeping.” That means they are not flame retardant and the manufacturer doesn’t want to be sued for not following the law. But be sure to buy pjs that are made from natural fibers. It’s important to protect your child from chemicals, but it is still important that they aren’t in flammable clothes! Man-made fibers are very flammable, and will either burst into flames on your body or melt right to your skin when exposed to flames. When cheap man-made fibers started to be used in clothing, they realized the fire problems that produced and introduced chemicals to fix the problem, rather than going back to natural fiber cloth. It is difficult to burn a natural fiber, and for even more safety, use wool which is actually naturally fire-proof!

I would, of course, always recommend that any clothes you put on yourself or your child be made of natural fibers, but sometimes you’ll get a gift that doesn’t conform to your personal standards. Sometimes, it’s no big deal, but in my opinion, if it’s PBDE-treated sleepwear - it’s not worth chancing. I think this can end up being one of the easiest “green” kid choices to make, and it will pay off in your children’s health and the health of our planet!

As the first entry here in our blog, I thought I’d address the topic of green living!  Yeah, just a little topic like that!  Okay, so not really the whole range of ecologically sound, enviro-aware, non-toxic lifestyle choices.  More like, how do you get there from here – you know, where ever you’re at right now.  At times it can seem so overwhelming.  The more research you do, the more it seems like everything you were doing is wrong!  And suddenly you need to change everything in your life before catastrophe hits!  It truly is frustrating when you suddenly realize that you can’t or at least shouldn’t trust anything you buy without at least asking a few questions (and good luck with that at your local W-mart).  So I just wanted to take this first post to remind you that whether you’re at the beginning of your journey towards making yourself, your home, and your world a safer and healthier place, or you’re all the way to the point of going “no poo”* (more on that at a later date – let’s just say it’s a far cry from finally deciding you should really recycle all your empty water bottles!) that baby steps are way more likely to get you where you want to go.  Oh yes, there are a few of us who can quit a typical American lifestyle cold-turkey.  But for most of us, while this approach is exciting at first, it is so consuming that failure is almost guaranteed.  Try changing one thing at a time.  Or if you have the time and are very committed – one thing in a couple areas of your life: recycle those bottles, commit to losing one prepackaged food item from your shopping list, trade in a cosmetic for a chemical free option, etc.  But don’t try to do it all at once.  Rome wasn’t built in a day, and there’s a reason we’ve all gone along with the “browning” of America.  Convenience and price.  These toxic things we buy and use, often need less elbow grease, seem to work better (which is often a sham), and are almost always cheaper.  Cheaper because quality ingredients cost more money, and money is the bottom line.  Some changes will take getting used to, and some will far exceed your expectations!  A greener life takes a little more work, but I think it is ultimately incredibly more rewarding.  One step at a time and you will get there.  And you’ll enjoy the enrichment you get out of each step along the way!

*"no poo", for those who don’t know, refers to the modern movement of not using shampoo.