The 3 Rs - Part 2

Way back in June, I posted about the first R - reducing. A week later, our garage was broken into and my very nice Norco Vermont was stolen. The kicker was, we had made the momentous decision to take our car off the road only 6 weeks earlier. I was now totally without wheels.

I had a good cry, called the police to report the theft, and then started surfing around on Kijiji and Craigslist to see if anyone might be dumb enough to try and sell my bike there. No luck.

So what's a girl to do?

In my case, get incredibly nostalgic and buy a 1970s Sekine 10-speed that is the exact same bike I had as a teenager. I need the bike for commuting, not for racing, so I immediately headed over to the Orioles Bike Cage and with the help of the lovely volunteers I swapped our the handlebars and brakes. Then I headed to my friendly local bike shop for some new tires, rack and handle grips, and my sweet new ride was ready to hit the streets.

Orioles Bike Cage is the most amazing place. It is all about the second R - reuse. It is located behind the community centre in a building that was formerly the shop / office at the wading pool. The wading pool is now the velodrome (20 laps = 1 km) and the building is full of assorted parts and tools. On the afternoon that I was there, there was also an assortment of people hard at work on an assortment of bikes.

I live in the inner city and the bike cage is my neighbourhood encapsulated. Wayne is an older guy of indeterminate age with a grey handlebar moustache. We chatted amiably about the gang house next to his house, and how glad he is that they've finally moved on. Tim, the young guy helping me, doesn't live in the area, but he is a bike enthusiast and is there to share his skills and spread the love. Jacob is a 10-ish First Nations kid who clearly lives at the Bike Cage, since he's been there every time I have been. He's fearless and independent and totally into his BMX (though he's saving up for a skateboard).  There is a pixie-faced hippy chick who clearly knows her way around a bike and is restoring a gorgeous red cruiser from the '40s or '50s. There is a Filipino guy with his two little kids building a bike from the frame up. A big dude who looks like he rocked out in the '80s (and is still rockin') is doing the same thing. An older woman who didn't speak English very well is waiting for help with her flat tire.

I'm sure everyone is there for different reasons, but lack of money is definitely one of them. The Bike Cage takes money out of the equation. There, with a little work, anyone can have a bike.

Just in case you couldn't tell, let me say it: I LOVE the Bike Cage. And I love my new old bike as well.

latest finds for kids

once my daughter was born, i knew better than to swear that i wasn't going to have ANY plastic toys in my house. but i did really want to keep from buying cheap plastic toys as much as possible. i was grateful for all the hand me down items that were given to us [which have since been handed down again]. and i scoured craigs list and freecyle and berkeley parents network for items that i thought we could use. [btw - berkeley parents network is a GREAT resource. it's full of information on parenting and tips on bay area businesses, etc. you have to be in the bay area to sign up for their lists, but anyone can browse the site for info. i wonder if other communities have similar networks set up? if you know of any leave the info in the comments?]




i was really happy to discover green toys . they are actually made in california [the state where i live] and are made from recycled plastic milk jugs. you can read more about the process here . the thing that i really like about green toys, though, is that they LOOK nice too. i have to admit that looks are important to me. especially since toys are going to get left lying around. i might as well find the objects strewn about my living room aesthetically pleasing to look at right?




i was able to find a shop locally that carried the toys so i went and checked them out in person. they look and FEEL nice. my daughter is still a bit young for most of their toys, but i definitely will be getting some for her in the future.

green toys has their own online shop, or here's a list of stores that also carries their stuff.



the other thing i found were these stainless steel drinking straws. my daughter has just discovered the joys of drinking from a straw. i happened to have a very old box of plastic straws around that we've been going through, but i really didn't want to have to buy a new box of straws. so wasteful. and i certainly didn't want to try and explain to an 18 month old that we couldn't use a straw because they were bad for the environment. nor did i want to try and find BPA free plastic straws [somehow the thought of trying to keep a plastic straw clean didn't really work for me]. but stainless? these i like! the only bummer was that i couldn't find any locally to buy, so i gave in and purchased some from amazon .

and so goes my recent adventures in green shopping for the little. not as cool or green as re-making bibs into handy wipes, but it's what i got !

Garbage-less Lunches

I may write a whole lot about food over at my other blog (It Ain't Meat, Babe), but I don't get much of a chance to write about how that food gets eaten. I usually leave that up to my readers. But personally, despite spending most of my time thinking about how the food gets prepared, I also have some systems in place for how it gets eaten.

First let me tell you that my day job necessitates a lot of travel. A LOT! I am rarely in my office. Some days I am working in rural communities two hours out of the city. Some days I'm in some far-flung suburb. Occasionally I am lucky enough to be working somewhere within walking or biking distance. As a result of this, I've become very good at packing a lunch. I know it's usually the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly thing to do. Not to mention the fact that vegan food is hard to come by in most places, especially if I'm looking for a quick lunch to eat while I'm traveling.

So I pack my lunch. But what do I pack it in?



Over my many years of lunch-bringing, I've figured out how to make everything involved with my lunch reusable. Lots of schools have garbage-less lunch programs in place, I figured why not have a one-woman garbage-less lunch policy in place for myself?

My first step was to find some glass containers with good lids. I try to use as little plastic as possible, period. Although we have no microwave at home, I do sometimes use one when I'm lunching elsewhere and I am loathe to microwave any of my food in a plastic container. (Why fuss around trying to figure out if one container or another is "microwave safe" when you can just avoid the potential danger all together?)

So far, in our house, we've tried three different kinds of glass containers (all have plastic lids). The little round one in the photo above is made by Anchor. We have larger versions as well and I have to say that they are the clear winners. They are union-made in the United States and they are reasonably priced, widely available, and oven safe. The lids fit tightly, even after a few dishwasher washings. They aren't completely leak-proof, but they aren't too bad if the food inside isn't too liquidy.

The other container in the photo is made by Pyrex and it is my least favourite of our three varieties. The sizes are kind of awkward, and the lids are freakishly tight at first and then loosen a lot when washed in the dishwasher. Though I must say, looking at their website it seems they've introduced a line of containers with "No-Leak Lids". I'd be anxious to give those a try.

My other favourite is the Glasslock containers (not pictured). The lids are almost completely leak-proof (why "almost"? Well, let's just say my purse smells a bit more like curried cauliflower than I'd like it too. However, my boss brings soup in one of these containers everyday and her briefcase is unscathed, so I may just have a slightly wonky specimen.) These are a little heavier than the Anchor containers and some of them are labelled "not safe for oven". They are also made in the U.S.A.



The other lunch item I never leave home without is my homemade cutlery holder. If you can sew in a straight line, you can make one of these. All it is, is a rectangle of fabric, folded over on one end with stitches making sections of the fork, knife, spoon, and napkin. I added a ribbon to one end so that after I fold down the top flap and roll it up, I can tie it closed. Some spare cutlery from a secondhand store and a cute cotton napkin complete the project. It doubles as a placemat if you want to be fancy. And at the end of the week you can throw it in the washer. I like it so much I'm slowly making similar ones for all my coworkers.

And last, but not least, (though totally unrelated to lunches, at least right now) I wanted to give you all a garden update. You may remember my last post about getting over my fear of starting seedlings from scratch. Well, get a load of those little seedings now:



They're big, healthy tomato plants! Growing happily in the garden. I can't wait until harvest time.

J.

Refresh your wardrobe on the cheap

A few weeks ago, as I was looking at the clothes I have in my wardrobe for Spring/Summer, I came across a few tired old favourites. Items of clothing I couldn't bear to part with (or put in the scrap fabric bag), but didn't wear any more, for one reason or another. Being perpetually skint* has a way of making you more creative with what you have. One old Guns 'n' Roses tee got an Alabama Chanin makeover. One cotton sundress had its cap sleeves removed and its broken elastic waist moved and re-elasticised. A check tunic top had its shrunken cap sleeves removed and a few other pieces had minor repairs (buttons sewn back on, holes patched up). I'm wearing all these clothes with pride again, just like when they were new.

*That's British slang for "penniless", "broke" or "poor" -- don't say I never taught you anything. Check out the Cockney Rhyming Slang website for a really good laugh. (:

Of course, there are a number of environmental benefits to revitalising old clothes, so I thought I'd share with you a few simple alteration techniques. Don't worry, as long as you have a needle and thread, pins, sharp scissors and an iron, you'll be OK (although a tailor's tape and a fading fabric marker will be very good investments too). In case you don't know much about the anatomy of a garment, here's a few Wikipedia definitions for you:

• Hem: To hem a piece of cloth (in sewing), a garment worker folds up a cut edge, folds it up again, and then sews it down. The process of hemming thus completely encloses the cut edge in cloth, so that it cannot ravel. A hem is also the edge of cloth treated in this manner.

• Seam: ...the stitching that joins two or more pieces of fabric.

• Dart: Darts are folds sewn into fabric to help provide a three-dimensional shape to a garment. They are frequently used in women's clothing to provide a fit that closely follows the shape of the wearer.

This is a vintage Laura Ashley dress. It was my mum's, and I've been itching to give it a makeover for a couple of years now. It's a UK size 12, one size too big for me, which makes it perfect for altering. I'm going to take you through what I did with it yesterday to make it into this:

The first step is to decide what needs changing. Put the garment on and take a good look in a full-length mirror. I was keen to preserve the gorgeous details on the body of this dress (the piped seams and beautiful scalloped neckline), so when I decided I needed to nip in the waist, I decided on the side seams (the ones directly under my arms). The sleeves wanted to be shorter. A general rule with sleeves of any size is that the eye will be drawn to your body at the point they stop. These sleeves stopped at an awkward point somewhere between my bust and my waist -- lengthening them would be a nightmare, so bust it is! Then there was the skirt's hem. It was "frump" length. I like the skirt to fall just above the knee - the perfect length, or at least the most versatile, for wearing bare-legged, with jeans, with leggings, with tights & biker boots, etc. So that meant about 10" had to go.

Because of the masses of fabric in the skirt (94.5" around!), that was the biggest job, so that's where I started.

Altering the hem:

I turned the dress inside out and laid it on my sewing table. I then used my tape measure to fold the hem up 27cm, just over 10", and added a row of pins 3cm or 1.25" up from the fold and about 3" apart, to mark a line to cut. Once this was done all the way around the hem, I cut off the extra fabric, using the line of pins as a guide. It's important that you don't just cut a straight line across the garment, as hems are often not straight lines, even though they may look it!! Measure carefully up from the existing hem. :)

The next step is to press the hem. Still with the garment inside-out, fold the now raw edge up 3cm/1.25" and iron it down all the way around. When you get back to the beginning, fold the raw edge under itself so that it is completely enclosed and press. Do this all the way around again, adding a pin every few inches to keep the fold in place for the next step.


Note: I stitched this hem by hand, in keeping with the original hem. If you have the choice of sewing by hand or by machine, then just remember to be sensitive to your garment. If I'd slapped a row of machine stitches along this hem, it would have ruined the integrity of the dress. However, for other dresses I've altered that was exactly what they wanted. Many machines will do a "blind stitch" which gives the same outside look as a hand-stitched hem, but (on my machine at least!) you have to fold and press the hem just-so, which can be fiddly. If in doubt, test on a piece of scrap fabric!

Back at the sewing table, thread a needle (this thread should be the same colour as the original thread!) Garment still inside-out, make two or three small stitches on the top of the hem fold only. This just locks it in place. Now for the first stitch: about every 0.25"/5mm, make a tiny vertical stitch down that pierces just the outer fabric on its way out, then pierces the top of the hem fold on the way in (so it goes through 3 layers of fabric). The stitches on the inside of the fabric should look long and slanted (like a "\" turned 90 degrees clockwise) and those on the outside should be tiny and vertical.

Just continue until you come to where you started and you're done! When you reach the end of your thread, lock it in place (two or three small stitches on the fold, on top of each other) and start with a new length of thread.

This process is the same for sleeves, but instead of turning up 3cm of fabric, turn up about 2cm (just under1").

Taking in the seams at the waist:

This dress fit well at the bust, but was saggy around my waist. By adding a row of stitches just a short way in from the outer seams, I nipped in the waist for a much better fit. Here's how.

Sorry, this is the part where you look like an idiot for a while. Put your garment on inside-out. Trust me. Use your fingers to pinch the side seams at your waist (the smallest part between your bust & hips) until it feels comfortable and looks even. Put a couple of pins in either side. This will give you a stitch guide. Take the garment off (phew), and use a tape measure (or ruler) and pins (or fabric marker/tailor's chalk if you have it), mark out where you will stitch the seams. Make them as symmetrical to each other as possible. The line should start and end on the original seam line, otherwise you will end up with unexpected tucks in the fabric.

Stitch along this line (I used my machine, but a backstitch is your best option if you're sewing by hand). Now turn your garment right-side out and try it on. If the fabric is now wrinkled or puckered, you should let the seam out a little on that side (make a new line of stitches further out, then unpick the old one using a stitch unpicker or embroidery scissors). When your seams are in their final place, add a row of zig-zag stitches outside them if you can, just to reinforce them. Unless the seam now looks really bulky when you put the garment on, there's no need to cut the excess fabric off. In fact, if you leave it on, you can adjust the seam again if you need to in the future.

And you're done!

For inspiration, have a look at the New Dress a Day blog.

What are your alteration tips?

Maimy x

P.S., check out my new collection of handbags on Etsy! ;)

Shopping baggage

Late last year I read about a study that made me start to think a lot more about our use of shopping bags. We’ve been using the ubiquitous (in Australia, at any rate) green polypropylene shopping bags for our grocery shopping for years now, but the Woolworths Shopping Bag study, by RMIT’s Centre for Design, made me start thinking about all the bags we consume when we buy or receive goods.  The study looked at the whole life cycle environmental cost of a number of different types of retail shopping bags (paper and several different plastics), taking into account the production of the raw materials and manufacturing of bags from those raw materials, transport, use and ultimate disposal of the bags.

The study concluded that reusable bags had lower impacts than single use bags, but these benefits were highly sensitive to the number of times a bag was re-used. Not a surprising discovery, but more surprising was the fact that despite having the lowest impact on litter, and being made of renewable resources, paper bags had the highest environmental impact due to the energy embodied in their production. You can read more about the study and conclusions here and here. Since reading that, I’ve been carefully hoarding any bags (especially paper) we receive for re-use, and giving a bit more thought to the kind of bags we do use, or perhaps could use.

The shopping bags we use are polypropylene, which is recyclable when they reach the end of their useful life. In theory that is. In practice, I was surprised to learn here that because the thread used to make them isn’t recyclable they have to be unpicked by hand, they need to be shipped from Australia to China, where labor is cheaper, to make recycling economically viable. This is a great example of the fact that even though something may be recyclable, the process of recycling (if and when it is disposed of in a way that enables recycling) is not without environmental cost (and may well have some ethical issues too).

Perhaps I’m a tad cynical, but I do feel that recyclability is increasingly becoming an easy green-washing feature for advertisers, with a whole heap of ifs and maybes being swept under the carpet, out of the consumer’s sight. I guess it’s up to each one of us to consider why we choose the purchases we choose, and to be satisfied in our own minds that they are worthy justifications based on the best information we could access.

But back to bags- there are certainly some opportunities in the shopping bag arena for some environmentally beneficial creativity. First up, if you are lacking reusable shopping bags, make yourself some shopping totes that suit your needs- perhaps something that folds up nice and compact, a big roomy bag, a retro crochet bag (link to .pdf), or whichever size and shape you might need, perhaps re-purposing materials you have on hand (ideally natural materials such as cotton that will decompose at the end of their useful life). Second up, make sure you have them on hand when you go shopping, and use and re-use them for as long as possible.


Our household already has a useful stash of shopping bags, and are in the routine of using them, but I realized we could do with some reusable produce bags. Although we re-use them a lot of the time, I found that we were always coming home with a few more plastic produce bags every time we bought our fruit and veg. Inspired by some handmade mesh produce bags I saw on flickr, and this tutorial from Wisdom of the Moon, I hit our local second hand shops and found a sheer mesh curtain to re-purpose. One evening with my overlocker (aka serger) later I had a set of 10 mesh bags.

I sized them to minimize wastage from the materials I had, and to keep them similar to the plastic produce bags I’m used to, using some cotton yarn for drawstrings. I’ve been trialling them for a couple of weeks now and am really pleased. Responses from cashiers has varied, from the ditzy supermarket checkout chick who wondered if I wanted her to take the produce out to weigh it (Umm, no- that’s fine, they weigh next to nothing), to the ladies at our regular market vendor who remarked how nice they were (Oh thank you!). The only drawback is that we are now dependant on plastic containers to keep our veggies fresh in the fridge. At least they're re-usable, but I do wonder if there is a bag I could make for this purpose... Any suggestions?

brown bagging / bento

one of the things i've been thinking about lately is how to pack food economically and safely and in a more environmentally friendly way. it's no secret that packing a lunch is a great way to make sure you know what you are eating and to save money. with my little girl it's also becoming increasingly important to have snacks available at all times ! [nothing like being able to pull out a healthy cracker when she signs eat in line at the drugstore].

i'm trying to avoid using plastic bags of any kind - even ones like evolve - ziplock's "environmentally friendly" bags. i do use recycled content kitchen trash bags - which i feel guilty enough about.

anyway - above is a wrap-n-mat which you can use to wrap a sandwich or snack.



granted, you could make one of these yourself [i was thinking maybe oilcloth would be a good thing to try it out of - double sided] - but i spied these in a store and couldn't resist the ease of purchasing them. i do like how they disclose that some of their product is made in china, and that they have versions that are made in the USA. they also use a plastic for the lining that is BPA, lead, and phthalate free. [more info here ]

they work really well - keep leaky peanut butter and jelly from getting on anything else and are easy to clean up. they also double as a place mat - which can come in handy. if i end up actually trying to make any i'll try and post a tutorial.



i also really like boon's snackballs. they are stylish, hold a lot for their size, and double as a distraction toy with the little if need be.

my husband and i are also just a little bit into japanese bento boxes. we've collected quite a few and my husband actually uses them quite often to take leftovers to work. i wonder if i'll be able to make great bentos for my daughter when she goes to school [i have a few years to practice]. if you just want to be inspired by bentos - try just bento . or if you want all the gear - lunch in a box has a great online store list .

anyone out there have any great brown bagging tips?? [minus the brown bag of course]

make a sock monster draft-blocker

{cross posted from f.pea}

Many days on end of cold, wet, icy weather have led to short bursts of creativity around here with the materials we have on hand.



Dyrrwurm is now guarding our back door, keeping out the nasty, cold draft that was coming in under our vintage 1952 door (which really ought to be replaced with a more insulated model). He was made from two pairs of identical socks that HWWLLB gave me recently for the purposes of sock monster making. Before his reincarnation as two pairs of men's socks, Dyrrwurm lived at the back door of the land of the giants, in the far, far north, where his hobbies included writing epic poetry, collecting pictures of his idol, the Earth Serpent, keeping out the cold draft, and doing pedicures for his dragon friends.

You can make your own door dragon - it's quite easy, even for sloppy, inexpert sewers like me. This project was done in two bursts - it took me one naptime, and one visit from the Little Pea's favorite Auntie to complete. You will need:

- 2 pairs of heavy socks in a dragoney color
- matching thread
- sewing machine
- a few pins
- polyester fiberfill or some other stuffing (rags are fine too)
- something heavy for inside - I used sand, but you could use dry beans, rice or pebbles
- four or five repurposed plastic bags to hold the heavy stuff

My door dragon is only three socks long, since my door is narrow. But for a standard-width door, you will need to make the dragon four socks long.



Cut the toes off all the socks except one - this will be the head. Sew the socks together cuff-to-toe, right sides together. Try to keep them lined up so that all the heels are basically running in one line down the dragon's back. Turn right-side out and admire your long, wiggly new friend.



Starting at the head end, put a small amount of stuffing inside each heel, flatten and pin down. Then sew the heel shut to make a fin. You can add some decorative stitching as I did to make it more fin-like. Repeat for each heel.



Use one of your cut-off toes to make front flippers if you like. Lay the toe flat and cut it in half up the middle. Turn inside-out and sew it into a triangle, leaving an open gap for stuffing. Turn the flipper right-side-out and stuff with a small amount of stuffing. Smoosh flat and sew shut. Add some decorative stitching to flatten the flipper and make it fancier.



Turn the dragon inside-out again. Cut a hole on each side of the foremost sock. Stick the flipper through so that the flipper is now "inside" the dragon and the sewn-shut edge is facing towards you. Sew the flipper into place. Once you have the flippers in place, turn right-side-out again.



Stuff the head firmly with stuffing, but leave the body un-stuffed. Isn't he cute?

Get out your heavy stuff - sand, dry beans or rice, pebbles, whatever you have on hand - and put a bit inside four plastic bags (repurposed bread bags worked nicely for me). Tie them each tightly. Pull one into your dragon, all the way up to the head, and secure in place (you can sew it or be lazy like me and use a safety pin). Use your stuffing to lightly stuff and shape the dragon around that heavy bit. Repeat with each bag of heavy stuff until your dragon is fully stuffed (and heavy). Leave the heavy stuff out of the very end of the tail if you can. Now your dragon will lay heavily in place on the floor.



Stuff the tail end very lightly with stuffing. Sew the tail shut across the final sock cuff. Add some fancy stitching to make the tail flatter and more tail-like. Embroider on a face if you like. Enjoy the new absence of a draft under your back door!


honey, you need a pedicure!

preserve

I have been on the hunt for items that have post-consumer recycled product in them. I started to think about how much time we spend recycling paper, glass, plastic, etc. in our homes, but where does it all go really? I mean we all feel better by doing it, but ultimately how are we really helping if we don't actually use our purchasing power to buy things that contain recycled material?

I try and try to buy garbage bags that are either bio-degradable or use post-consumer content. Same with toilet paper and paper towels [although we try to use mostly dish towels I do sometimes just want a paper towel -- and we do get to recycle them in our food bins where I live. More on this in another post]. Luckily Trader Joe's makes this quest a little easier. Their paper products contain post-consumer fiber.

I was reaching for their laundry detergent a few months ago when I spotted preserve's toothbrushes. Oh right. I need a toothbrush - so I picked one up. Nice colors, simple packaging. And then I read the box.

from their website:

Preserve makes everyday products that offer more. We believe performance and style are every bit as important as their impact on the earth. Our toothbrush, tableware and all other Preserve products feel good to use and perform as well as or even better than the old standbys.

We make our products from 100% recycled materials, which saves energy and natural resources. By manufacturing Preserve in the USA, we use less energy to get our products to your door. And all of our products are designed to stay out of landfills when you are finished with them.

Great in theory, right? You mail the toothbrush back to them when you are done and they re-use the plastic again.


So I went to their website and they make SO MUCH more than just toothbrushes.

The colanders [right] are some of my favorites. I also think that I will invest in a razor .

What impressed me the most, though, is that they recycle BRITA FILTERS . Brita Filters have always irked me. I want to use them to clean up my water, but they seem like such a waste of materials. Now I know I can drop them off at my local whole foods and that they will actually get re-used. You can read all about their partnership with stoney field farms yogurt too.

I know we are supposed to consume less -- but there are still times we need to consume. I feel like preserve offers an alternative and is trying to do the right thing.

** all images are from the preserve website.

seedling pots for an urban garden

we recently did some renovation in our backyard. we've always been weekend gardeners planting tomatoes and peppers and other veggies in planters every summer. this is the year, though, that my husband decided to get more serious about our gardening patch. he's now decided that he wants to try doing some farming all year round.

we definitely live in an urban environment - our neighborhood is mixed use with warehouses a stones throw away. we used to joke that hummingbirds and butterflies would make a pitstop in our yard flying from more vegetated areas.

[side note - is seems like we're not the only ones thinking urban gardening. i'm sure you already have heard - but check out the white house's new veggie patch.]

we try to have our backyard reflect our tastes and needs. so my husband built these fenced in vegetable areas. we have dogs and cats and so we wanted to be able to protect the plants from animal [and kid] invasions. he also set up a drip system that runs on a timer so that we can be as economical as possible with our water usage.




in the spirit of re-using we put our tomatoes and anaheim peppers in an old clawfoot tub that we rescued from a neighbor's remodel.

Newspaper pots
Originally uploaded by Clementine's Shoes

the other day i was looking at Clementine's shoes' blog and she had posted some newspaper origami pots she had made for seedlings.

Newspaper pots
Originally uploaded by Clementine's Shoes

what a great idea i thought. if we are going to try and have carrots and onions and broccoli and fava beans and lettuce going throughout the winter starting from seed we'll have to start plants continually. i was trying to think of an easy, eco-friendly way to do this lo and behold ! here it is. we get the Sunday Times - why not turn it into our start pots?? She links to it in her post, but here are the blow by blow directions . i have saved a bunch of the plastic started pots you get from garden stores, but those eventually fall apart - and i personally hate the "bio-degradeable" brown started pots you can get. they always seem to crack and break and never seem to fully degrade. newspaper is the ticket!

when i emailed Clementine's Shoes to ask her if i could re-post her pictures she mentioned that she also knew that people used toilet paper rolls as starter pots too.
indeed they do .

happy gardening. i can't wait to taste our beets!

adventures in green babyhood

Being a professional environmentalist as my day job, I always figured that when our baby came along, I'd just naturally be the greenest parent in town. No stress - I'd just know which products to buy or avoid, how to find them, and I'd have boundless energy to explore the greenest ways to raise our Little Pea. Ha, ha. I do know some wonderful parents who fit that description, but despite my best intentions, and my own expectations, I am sadly not one of them.

But I do really, really care about sustainability, the environment, and in particular how pollution affects children's health. So I am struggling to make this green parenting thing work. For those like me, here are a few things I've been able to make work. And for those who fit the green parent profile better than I, please please share some of your suggestions in the comments!

breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is absolutely the most affordable and sustainable way to feed a baby, not to mention the healthiest. The decision to breastfeed is probably the most important step we've taken in terms of sustainable babyhood. I realize that there are many reasons that some families are not able to breastfeed, and nobody should feel guilty if they can't, but I am very grateful to be able to feed the Little Pea this way.

Baby formula is a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States, is typically made from soy or cow's milk. Soy and dairy are both huge agricultural industries with all the associated pollution and energy problems that you already know about, not to mention all the packaging, shipping and waste that buying such a product entail. How wonderful that our bodies almost always make this product unnecessary!

gifts
People always want to give you baby gifts, no matter how much you protest or try to avoid it (at least, I tried to). I didn't want people to buy things we didn't need or want, or that contained toxic plastics, etc. But I also found it very hard to say to people, "Don't get anything, but if you do, you have to do a lot of research and spend a bunch of money to get us something that meets our values."

Thankfully, I have an awesome sister, who organized a green baby shower. She asked people to give us hand-me-down or hand-made gifts, or if they bought something, to please consider organic and non-toxic products. It worked beautifully. Many of our friends and family gave us copies of their favorite books from their childhood, something wonderful that they made, a big box of hand-me-down clothes from their kids, or something great they found at the thrift store. We also got lots of organic blankets, burp cloths, etc. I could never have asked for this (there's something too Puritanical about me), but my sister did a wonderful job with it.

stuff
Before the Little Pea was born, we got some great advice from a friend: to never, ever turn down an offer of hand-me-down baby stuff from friends or family. As a result, we have more baby clothes than one baby could ever wear, and we've had to buy almost nothing. Friends have given us a crib, co-sleeper, stroller, high chair, tub, baby seats, toys, books, blankets, towels... it's amazing how many times these things can be used, by so many babies, before they ever begin to even show any wear. We are lucky to have a big community of friends with little ones. Even if you don't, because your family is small or you're new in town, you can get much of what you need from thrift and consignment stores, saving oodles of money and reducing a lot of waste.

diapers: We've covered this area a lot already on Sew Green -- check out earlier posts on diapering here and here.

I am really interested in other folks' strategies for green babyhood. And I'm particularly looking forward to learning more about stuff like making baby food, toys, and how to communicate your values to kids' friends and grandparents. No parents are born knowing how to do all this stuff, and supporting each other has been critical for me - thanks to all of you for sharing what you've learned, too!

(tap tap tap) Is this thing on?

Ok, so it's been a while hasn't it? The world has gotten crazy, then awesome, then crazy. Honestly it is my goal in life to dial the knob to awesome and then break it off so really, it's a good thing.

So if you don't remember me or if you don't know - a brief bit of info for you all in the blogosphere! My name is Amber Clisura and I am a fashion designer who takes a special emphasis on renewable, sustainable, and eco technology as applied to the craft of fashion. I worked most recently with Del Forte Denim and Mission Playground. I am currently freelancing in the San Francisco Bay Area and you can see my work here.

I feel that fashion (and that is all fashion, jewelry, accessories, and shoes) is yet another one of the many places where to be sustainable and eco has been an uphill battle. Only in the last few years has green become synonymous with "hip" with everyone from Chloe to Seven getting on the bandwagon. Today I wanted to scale it back a little to some homegrown peeps who started a artist collection called "Social Entropy" and who are staging their first fashion show this weekend, August 8th, at the Oakland Metro. I also wanted to shine the spotlight on one of their featured designers Rhiannon Jewelry.

Rhiannon Jewelry was started by Shannon Haire in 2000. Rhiannon Jewelry specializes in creating one of a kind, custom pieces. She does limited edition lines with wedding sets and her signature gun necklace and the bullet lines. Most recently she started using semi-precious and precious stones in her sterling silver and gold fine jewelry lines. Never one to say no to something shiny Swarovski crystal has also made it into some of her more whimsical pieces. Most recently with the eye towards green reaching the jewelry world Shannon as started to employ recycled and organic materials ranging from bullets to recycled vinyl records and antique keys. Her fine skills are not lost on those in the know. Her fine craftsmanship has been utilized by the likes of Tori Amos and her jewelry has been worn by Samia Doumit in the movie "The Hot Chick."

I had a chance to sit down with Shannon at Cole Coffee in Oakland to talk about the show and how she feels about the eco movement within her line of work.

So Shannon, why recycled? Do you feel it has a place in somewhere like jewelry?

I think recycling is important in everything. For most people jewelry is a luxury product so I like the idea of building it out of materials that are organic or once discarded. Elevating the discarded to divine.

Speaking of devine, your labradorite necklace is quite stunning. Are your stones produced sustainably?

I love using sustainably produced stones in my custom work, and find it important stress to my clientele that it is very important to do so whenever possible. Unfortunately the price point is so prohibitive for most people that I instead try to use stones for my ready to wear line that are purchased locally though through small businesses in the bay area, rather than on line or at trade shows. That's also where the idea for the recycled line came into play.

I was wondering what could have attracted you to the idea of using bullets in jewelry.

I really liked the idea of taking something that most people think of as ugly and destructive and transforming them into things of frivolity and beauty.

Tell me more about your process with the recycled pieces.

Well, bullets are always recycled. Mostly fired and collected by me as well! I've also been into using recycled records lately too - just because so many think that Vinyl is obsolete. I pair the vinyl disks I have with antique and recycled broaches or vintage sterling silver pieces. There are also many pieces with real branches and leaves that have been dipped in silver. A way to evoke the green without using hemp and clay beads! I've also been quite fond of utilizing reclaimed wood, bone and seeds as elements in my jewelry making.

I know, as a designer, it gets tough every day trying to make - what keeps you going? How do you not make the same thing all the time (cause god knows I make that damn shrunken vest every two years!)

Day to day I look for ways to take traditional ideas and turn them on their heads. That's the inspiration for a lot of it. Also, natural colors, leaves and branches, brick...I like both the super-industrial and the sparse open spaces in nature. In terms of my work I always recycle and refurbish my peices. If I don't like them or customers aren't responding to an idea - I take them apart or rework them. Constantly trying trough making to get to the ideal idea. It keeps a fresh outlook for me and moves more with contemporary fashion.


Contemporary fashion and eco still seems so hard for me to put together. Trends are speedy and disposable, sustainability is at total odds with that. What is a challenge facing you as a jeweler in this environmentally conscious times?

Trying to find a balance between fair trade and the love I have for stones in general is always a challenge. So many people are hurting in this economy and cannot afford even inexpensive jewelry - and when you get into fair trade, all costs go through the roof. Finding a compromise is really challenging. In fact, making jewelry at all commercially in these times is challenging...I just hope for the best and try to keep costs low.

So, Damask Boudoir and Social Entropy eh?

Social Entropy has a grand vision and the people involved have the willingness to try it out. Their vision to create something that not only benefits the people involved, but also gives back to the community is great. It also has an edgier vibe which appeals to my nature and excites me. I hope that Social Entropy achieves their goals and am excited to be part of it.

I wanted to sit down with the organizers of Social Entropy but could not get our schedules to work out. Instead I was able to email back and forth with two of the creators, Tania Seabock and Christine Hill.

Social Entropy was started as a way to get like minded individuals together to create. It was important not just as artists to get back to the collective but as people to really join back together into community to draw together as well as inspire.

The Damask Boudoir is their first experiment as a collective. The show is being held at the Oakland Metro Opera House this Saturday, August 8th, 9pm - 2am. In an effort to bring together all sorts of different artists Christine and Tania (both a jewelry and painter respectively) decided to call on their wide knowledge of artists around them. "We wanted to do something with our friends!" writes Christine "Everyone is so talented it didn't make sense there wasn't a place for us to show off and be sucessful at it!" explains Tania.

The night has various recycled runway pieces and fashion lines as well as a full array of regular fashion and couture wear as well. Other designers include Dollymop, Pieces by Anna Quinones, Luma Gallegos, and Erika von Petrin. Performers include soprano singer Diva Marisa, Rev. Mother Joseph, with dancing numbers by the Black and Blue Burlesque dancers, blackhoodygrrl, and MAN-A-SAURUS-REX. Not to mention Rhiannon Jewelry and a bevvy of other amazing vendors and craftpersons!!

Hopefully if you're in the bay area you might get a chance to go out and see this show - especially since yours truly is leaving for two months and will be missing it!!

Social Entropy Presents:
The Damask Boudoir
Saturday, August 8th
9pm to 2am
The Oakland Metro Opera House
630 3rd Street, Oakland
(between Martin Luther King & Jefferson)

Shannon can also be found teaching jewelry classes twice a month for Baubles and Beads, on Shattuck in Berkeley,CA.

cloth diapers

I had a baby in January. Before she arrived I had been thinking about what my choices were when it came to diapers. I couldn't help but think about how many diapers I'd be adding to a landfill [5-10 a day for 2-3 years?!?!]. I also really really dislike the smell of some diapers. They add this chemical fake baby powder smell that makes me cringe. If my nose can't stand it, how could I feel OK putting that up against a newborn's skin?? And don't get me started on the dumb cartoon characters. Why does everything have to be cross marketed that way?? I also I knew I'd be drop dead tired and most likely not up for any sort of complicated diapering plan. What could I do to do my part??

I researched g diapers ... but the thought of standing over a toilet with a wand in the middle of the night or saving those diapers until morning really didn't appeal to me.

Then I hit the gold mine in terms of cloth diaper info. I read ask moxie's cloth diaper posts part 1 and part 2 . OK - so the reality check is that even using cloth diapers isn't the best - but as much as I planned on being in tune with my baby, the elimination communication method probably wasn't going to work for me.

Realistically, I also knew there was no way I'd want to launder my own diapers. But there are some ways to make it easier than you'd think. check out soft cloth bunz or diaper pin for all the possibilities - and for articles and support on how to diaper at home. I wish I could be that hard core and good.

And then we got lucky. One of my friends gave us 3 months of a diaper service as a baby gift. ABC diapers is run out of Sacramento, CA and they serve the entire Bay Area. As Hayley mentioned in her last post - it's easy. You drop a bag of soiled diapers on your porch one night and the next day you get a whole bag of clean ones. [see the above blue bag] YES these services use water - and yes water is a scares and precious commodity in these parts - but I still feel better than if I used disposables. I don't have to contribute to what goes into manufacturing the diapers [if you want to know what goes into making a diaper - read here [eeewww] , shipping the diapers, disposing them. Although when my daughter goes to daycare I'll have to use disposables there - at least that will be only part time. YES ABC's delivery trucks use gasoline, but they are looking into bio diesel.... and at least we're talking delivery of a couple hundred miles instead of thousands of miles.

Sometimes I feel as though it's simply important to do what you can when you can. And trust that every little bit helps.

I do wish there was a good disposable that used recycled content. Seventh Generation eschews the chlorine - which is great - but still uses wood pulp [and doesn't list that it's post-consumer content]. There's also tushies diapers which like Seventh Generation are better for baby. But the magic better for the environment diaper that is convenient could be someone's million dollar money maker. [maybe anjolina jolie or some other celebrity environmentally conscious mom should champion this cause]

The cost of this diaper service is comparable to buying disposables. Maybe even cheaper. If you want to find a diaper service in your area try the national association of diaper services . If you are in So Cal... Hayley used this service.

Don't think it's tough to use cloth diapers out in the world. It's really not. Just keep a few extra in your bag... and be sure and keep some baggies [I like to use the bags that our Sunday paper comes in] to hold the dirty ones until you can get them home and into your pail. I ended up getting the vinyl sleeves to hold the diaper - so there is no pinning - just folding and velcro and snapping involved. Every couple of months I have to get the next size up sleeves. 3 has been a good number for me. 1 to wear 1 that's in some state of wash/dry and 1 as backup. What to do with these sleeves when you are done I still haven't figured out. I'd be happy to hand them down to someone - they are technically cleaned and washed [although no longer white and shiny] -- but I'm not sure I'll find a taker.

Plus having the diapers on hand is really a nice thing. They make great emergency breast pads/burp cloths, they clean windshields on cars like there's no tomorrow, they pick up cat puke incredibly well [and i didn't hear a peep of complaint from ABC about the mystery non baby mess], they are quick to catch the pee stream that always happens once you REMOVE the diaper [don't think this won't happen to you], and you can hand a clean one to the babe while you change them to keep them occupied [who knew a cloth diaper could be so fascinating?]



and the cat likes sleeping on them. How could I take away his favorite spot??

dish towels

I had always wanted to give up paper towels, but found convenient reasons to keep on buying them. My cloth dish towel collection was accumulating, and I was using them, but only for non-staining messes so not to dirty the towels. When I had a baby I was expected to enter the world of disposable everything. Troubled by the idea of creating excess trash, I made the controversial choice not to use disposable diapers, much to the surprising disgust of almost everyone. Who knew people would be so opinionated about me wanting to put cloth diapers into a bin, instead of disposable? I signed up for the service that dropped off 80 clothes a week, and picked up the dirty ones. Highly recommend to any new parent. Getting 80 cloths a week, that I didn't have to launder myself was one of the greatest things ever. I used them for everything, from spills, spit-ups, breast pads [not attractive but effective around the house], and of course, diapers. The best part was never worrying about running out, or having to go to the store to pick up a bulky case of diapers.

So then a funny thing happened, I ran out of paper towels and didn't notice. When I finally got myself out to the store, baby in tow, I cringed at the fact of lugging the groceries, baby, and towels up to my second floor apartment. It sounds petty, but as a single mom I have to carry everything myself, and when I have a large car load I feel like that farmer at the bank of the river, with the chicken, the bag of seed and the wolf. It's a balancing act that can't end with leaving the baby unattended on either end.

And now I use my cloth towels for everything. For staining messes like pitting cherries, or gross baby messes, or even just to eat an apple without dripping juices. And when they are dirty they get thrown in the wash along with our clothes. My towels may not be in pristine condition, they have stains and holes, the edges are getting raggedy, but I save money, time, armloads, landfills and hope I am setting a good example for my little plum. I am waiting for that day when she turns to me and says, "Can you believe they make towels out of paper and people just throw them away?"

A few tips:

• Put a bin, basket or bag in the kitchen to put used rags- I use a bag that hangs over a metal storage rack.
  
• If you have fancy towels, also buy a cheap set of plain one for the really messy stuff. I like the flour sack towels from Target- either white, or organic.
  
• Old shirts and worn out clothes can be upcycled into towels. There are plenty of instructions out there, or just cut & hem.
  
• If you do make your own- don't spend too much time on them or you will be less likely to use them. But don't stick with plain ones if that is not your style.
  
• Store them in a convenient place where they are easy to grab. I keep a few hanging over a horizontal paper towel holder, and the rest folded in a kitchen rack, and some smaller ones in a pretty bowl.
  

Cheers!

*towels are a mix of Ikea, organic cotton from Target & vintage

new architectural materials

an architect friend sent me this link to a lecture by Blaine Brownwell .

the lecture is really great - he talks about new materials for buildings [like windows that actually house solar panels with in them instead of having to place panels as an add on]. and then goes through a litany of recycled, re-purposed products [a cool lamp out of drinking straws]. it's really cool.

watch the video

swap style

Ever since college, a group of our friends has been getting together a few times a year for a clothes swap. I love the clothes swap, particularly now that I'm not buying anything new (thank you, Wardrobe Refashion!). This time I came home with a great haul: several tops to wear to work, a great skirt, some short pants for spring, an orange vintage crocheted blouse, and some great socks for making sock monsters. And nothing beats the price: free!

If you've never been to a clothes swap and you'd like to try cooking one up with some friends, here's what you'll need to do it:



Space. We've always had the clothes swap at someone's house, though lately it's gotten quite large and we had to move it to a bigger venue (in this case the performance space at a wonderful music shop in downtown Raleigh). As long as you've got a main area for laying out clothes, and two spaces for dressing rooms (one for fellas, one for ladies), you'll be all set.



Clothes. The price of admission is at least one clean garment in good condition. I usually have a shopping bag or two; some folks come with just one item and some come with huge bags full. At a clothing swap last fall, I scored a beautiful black crepe suit made for a friend's great-aunt in Paris in the 1950's.



A cooperative spirit. This is not a competition, it's a free fashion night. The most successful swappers hunt in teams. If you dig up the perfect skirt for your friend, toss it to her. She'll do the same for you.


cats and catnip are optional at most clothes swaps

Basic rules. This is the least fun part, so I prefer to minimize rules, but suit yourself. The way we do it is, start at 7PM. Lay out the clothes by type (pants, skirts, jackets together, etc). We never used to segregate clothing by gender, but as this thing has grown quite huge, it's starting to seem like a good idea. Don't start swapping until it's time... time is around 7:30. Keep swapping until your appointed time, say 9 PM. No limits on how much you can take - just as long as you actually plan to use/wear it. Then everyone helps bag up what's leftover to take to the thrift shop.

Snacks. Not required, but highly recommended. We do it potluck-style, and the fare ususally consists of chips, salsa and some beers. The quantity of beer usually correlates directly to the zaniness of outfits that people start modeling as the evening goes on.



Clothes swapping is a lot of fun and very economical. It's also a delight to see your old favorite clothes getting a second (or third, or fourth) time around on your favorite people.