Community Supported Agriculture

The universe - or someone in it - answered my prayers late this summer.  For years, friends and trusted publications had been extolling the virtues of Community Supported Agriculture - aka CSAs - and every now and again, I’d check out the Local Harvest website to see if any had come to the LA market. It was one of those occasional exercises in frustration as the farms that served my area were most often “booked,” and had no more shares to sell. So I took to asking the sellers at my local farmers markets if they provided that service.  For years, the answer was “Nope,” “Not at this time,” or “A what?”

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Fighting allergies without shots

Tissue?

My Daughter, Samara, has acute environmental allergies- dust mites, grasses, weeds, molds, pollens,dogs and cats, to name a few. Before we discovered this, we thought she suffered from chronic colds. The poor girl blew her nose constantly, even in her sleep and she had permanent dark circles under her eyes.

Living in Southern California makes keeping these allergies at bay particularly challenging. Her allergist recommends shots- once a week for nine months- to help her system build up a tolerance. The shots are a diluted cocktail of all the things she is allergic to. Some people have had great success with this but we know kids who don’t seem to have benefited from it all. Samara has panic attacks when she gets shots. She literally has to be held down by me and two nurses when they are administered. I can’t imagine putting her (or me) through that on a weekly basis. So, what to do?

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Don’t throw that old T-shirt away- it may be a cocktail dress just waiting to happen.

My daughter, Samara and I are addicted to Project Runway. We have the first three seasons on DVD, the fourth season is on it’s way from Amazon ( it will appear under the tree this Christmas) and the fifth season is safely recorded in our Tivo. Samara can quote Tim Gunn verbatim and can do imitations of most of the contestants. When I say we are addicted, I am not kidding. [Read more →]

In this series of posts I work my way through “Squeaky Green- The Method Guide to Cleaning Your Home” one chapter at a time.

In my original post I said I was going to skip the Pet chapter, as I only have a fish. But after reading it, I feel that pet owners should be aware of some of the important information this chapter covers.

CHAPTER 7

- Buy PVC free dog toys

Animals, like children chew their toys. Keep Phthalates out of your pets system by avoiding PVC. Rope toys or deflated tennis balls are good alternatives. [Read more →]

La Cense Beef 100% Grass-Fed

La Cense Ranch, Montanta

“What’s that smell?”  “Oh man, that is disgusting!!”  “Can you drive any faster??”

Although still three weeks away, I’m already preparing to hear these exclamations from my young sons, Alexander and Ryan, as we drive up California’s highway 5.  That road trip is part of our Thanksgiving ritual, traveling up the state from Los Angeles, where we live, to San Francisco, where most of our extended family lives.  The 5 is a straight shot through California’s western central valley, and is a favorite for all of us looking to make good time on the road - truckers and holiday travelers alike.  It isn’t scenic in the usual sense, but there are arresting glimpses of the large-scale food production our state is famous for - the even rows of almond trees, the California aqueduct and then, near Coalinga, there are the cows.

photo credit GreySyke

Cities of cows standing on bare brown earth, being fattened with corn, medicated with antibiotics and stinking to high heaven, hundreds of bovines roving around through their own bodily waste.  As my favorite food journalist, Michael Pollan, points out in his piece Farmer in Chief in the October 12, 2008 edition of the New York Times magazine, these Confined Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs, are not required to clean up their wastes as factories and human cities are.  So they don’t.  The sight is depressing, the stink is offensive.
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In this series of posts I work my way through “Squeaky Green- The Method Guide to Cleaning Your Home” one chapter at a time.

I was eager to jump into this week’s chapter on Kids’ rooms, as my daughter, Samara, was recently diagnosed with acute environmental allergies. Keeping her room clean and non-toxic is the key to keeping her sneezing and congestion at bay.

CHAPTER SIX

The number one reason kids stay home from school is asthma – a condition that is rising at alarming rates. Research has suggested that chemicals, pesticides and environmental pollutants may play a significant role in the frequency of both asthma and cancer in children. [Read more →]

In this series of posts I work my way through “Squeaky Green- The Method Guide to Cleaning Your Home” one chapter at a time.

CHAPTER FIVE

This week’s chapter on the laundry room was short but informative and included some water saving tips along with the usual toxin alerts.

Use non-toxic dryer sheets and fabric softeners. CHECK!

Many dryer sheets and softeners contain toxic chemicals that don’t fully wash out of clothes. A few ingredients that have been identified in some formulations are benzyl acetate, limonene, and chloroform. Individually, these chemicals have been linked to cancer, and it’s not likely they’ve been studied much in combination.

I eliminated both dryer sheets and fabric softeners from our laundry routine and our clothes don’t seem to be suffering from static cling. If you just can’t stand the idea of going without, try Static Eliminator Reusable Dryer Sheets. The Static Eliminator’s woven sheets take static cling out and soften fabric without any toxic chemicals whatsoever- plus they are incredibly economical, as one box can be used to maximum effectiveness 500 times!

To eliminate the need for a dryer altogether, think about using a clothing line. I have been talking about doing this for years now and have never gotten around to it. I am making a commitment, as I write this post to get a clothing line and set it up by the end of next week. My good friend Samantha Chapin wrote a great blog about clothesline that I urge you all to read. [Read more →]

$10 Off Eco Hatchery Eco Starter Kits

Do you know someone who needs an eco makeover?  Someone who is eco-conscious, but just hasn’t gotten a chance to translate that awareness into action?   Or someone who is just a wee bit paralyzed by the overwhelming - and often conflicting - information that is out there on getting more green?  Are you that someone?  If so, then Eco Hatchery Eco Starter kit is just the thing.  Attractively packaged, this collection of useful items will help you determine the healthiness of your home, lower your carbon footprint, and save money - truly a sustainability coach in a box.  The step-by-step instruction booklet helps you make the most out of each item, from the amount of time needed for each activity to its specific environmental and economics benefits.  All these simple tools will get you going in the right direction, and then you can use the site’s “My Eco Roadmap” function to take it to the next level.

Eco Hatchery President Adam Borut developed the kits and the website tools through 18 months of research into many aspects of the issues connected to modern carbon intensive lifestyles, but started with one simple notion:  A healthy environment begins in one’s own home.  To this end, he includes a water quality test kit - good to know what is coming out of your tap, after all - (in addition to aerators and leak detectors) and a soy candle.  Why soy?  Because paraffin candles are derived from petroleum products and are a major contributor to indoor pollution - yikes!  The Eco Starter Kit also includes:

• Energy Monitor to identify appliance hogs
• Eco Lighting Replacement Tool
• Home Tap Water Quality Test & Conservation Tools
• Reusable Filtered-Water Bottle
• Home Insulation Products
• Reusable Shopping Bag
• Eco-friendly Soy Candle
• A-Z Recycling Resources Directory
• Recycled Coffee Filters
• Online Eco Roadmap with personalized recommendations for ongoing savings

And when you register your kit online, a portion of your yearly carbon emissions is offset by supporting projects that reduce global warming, like wind energy and methane capture.  According to the good folks at Eco Hatchery, “a typical U.S. household can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2.5 tons and cut utility bills by $260 per year. The reduction of emissions is equivalent to replacing a mid-size sedan with a Prius hybrid or eliminating 5,500 pounds of garbage from landfills. “  Now that’s a gift I can really feel good about giving, especially with the holidays around the corner.

Usually, the kits sell for $97.50 - but lucky you!!  As an EcoPerks Blog Reader, you can get $10 off by using the code ECO23 at checkout on www.ecohatchery.com or by clicking here. The offer expires 11/20/08, so start making those lists of all those “someones” in your life and get hatching!

Spend the extra on organic when purchasing the “dirty dozen” and save your pennies on the rest.

Six years ago, when i was pregnant with my daughter, Samara, I started really paying attention to buying organic fruits and vegetables. I wanted to keep toxins out of my body and hers. But let’s face it. Organic is more expensive-  sometimes twice as expensive as the conventional option. If you are like me and you need to pick and choose where to spend the extra money, the “dirty dozen” list of must buy organic fruits and vegetables will come in very handy.

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In this series of posts I work my way through “Squeaky Green- The Method Guide to Cleaning Your Home” one chapter at a time.

CHAPTER FOUR

It may be the smallest room in the house but the bathroom holds plenty of toxic opportunities. I am proud to say that I fared better this week than I did in last week’s Bedroom Chapter but there are still quite a few things on my “to-do” list.

-Use Eco friendly cleansers to clean your bathroom. CHECK!

We talked about toxic cleansers in the Living Room chapter and learned how dangerous it can be to inhale them. Using these same products in the bathroom can be even more dangerous, as steam from hot water opens our pores making it easier for toxins to enter our bloodstream. No matter how well you rinse after cleaning residue from toxic cleansers may be left behind. When you shower or your child takes a bath, these toxins are released from the tiles into the water.

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