Green is so yesterday, red has arrived
May 20, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 10 comments
This is cause for some serious celebration – kiwi season is OVER and orange season is OVER! at least for our family. Don’t get me wrong, I love both kiwis and oranges. Coaxing my kids to eat them for months hasn’t been a tremendous headache. However kiwis and oranges are after all no peaches or cherries which were spilling over a few stalls in my local farmers’ market this week.
Passing by an organic peach stand, I was amused to see people eagerly put tooth picks through cut up samples and deliver into their mouths with a great urgency. Then came the satisfying signs. People - I thought - you all were kinda nuts. But I followed suit to reward myself with the first taste of peach since last September. Oh, so good!
To kiwis and oranges that sustained my family through winter and spring, sorry, but I am so happy to see you go.
Hello peaches! and apricots! and cherries! More oowing and ahhing, and all around exhilaration. There was a general excitement in the air around me. Could the summer’s first fruit be this intoxicating?
I don’t care that the calendar says summer is still a month away. Every bite of peach heaven, apricot glory, and cherry loveliness has brought summer right in front me with all its aromas and flavors.
I don’t care that newspapers continue to fight over eating local vs. organic. At this moment, I am eating purely for joy.
For those who still have not had the opportunity to frequent their local farmers’ market, I am so sorry to say - you are missing the best collection of fruit, sweet, juicy, fragrant, and beautiful. Did I mention, mmm, mmm yummy?
Summer has definitely arrived in my little calendar-by-fruit world. By the delighted look on their faces, most people at my local farmers’ market would have agreed.
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
My beauty secret
April 3, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 10 comments
Beauty tips? You? I imagine my friends read this and roll on the floor laughing, with tears streaming down their cheeks. You? The person who confuses a lip liner with an eye liner, the person who has never deviated from asking for a wash and go hair style? The person who pretty much wears two pairs of shoes – one pair for the summer and other for the cooler weather?
Okay, I get it, even my five year old told me the other day that my top did not exactly match my pants.
But even I can discover a beauty secrete once in a blue moon – loofah, aka loofa or luffa.
Apparently in Asia and Africa, loofah is popularly grown to be harvested before maturity and eaten as a vegetable. Post maturity, it can be used as a sponge after being processed to remove everything but the network of xylem.
I have very dry skin, especially in the winter time. Never was a problem in Texas back in the college days. Since I moved to California in the 90’s, the dry skin problem gets a little worse every year. Who am I kidding? perhaps it’s just a part of getting older. Anyhow I have used all sorts of lotions - intensive care this and skin therapy that. Sadly nothing worked and now I am left with a collection of ineffective bottles of goo that are eye sores to my husband.
Then I bought a loofah bath scrubber from my local drug store to replace my nylon one, in the spirit of reducing plastic consumption. I had my doubts: it felt pretty rough and I was supposed to scrub my bare skin with that? After some hesitation, I tossed the soft but disintegrating nylon scrubber and picked up the loofah.
Let me just say that it is so worth my $2.15!! It took a bit to get used to the rough texture. But a month later, I no longer have dry skin – not much at least. It’s sort of like a natural and reusable exfoliate – taking off a layer of dead skin. I know it sounds oh-so-gross. Undoubtedly expensive exfoliates with 57 ingredients will never advertise “we polish off dead skin”. But hey, regardless how gorgeous the model is next to a $95 exfoliate bottle, removing a layer of dead skin is what an exfoliate does.
Amazingly, loofah can also be used to scrub kitchen counter or floor. Now this probably gives away any beauty cred I have earned from the previous paragraphs, if any.
(image courtesy of Rachel Ray, seriously)
How about “loofah can also be used to polish your luxurious kitchen counter – smooth as new skin.” Okay, I will shut up now. No advertisement career in my future.
The other nice quality about loofah is that it is compostable. Recycle This provides more ideas for reuse loofah - make glycerin soap or use as a planter. Brilliant.
Objects you may not want to use loofah on: babies, children, cars – all have much more delicate skin than us adults.
CindyW
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Fresh Look - rethink roses
February 12, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 1 comment so far
*This is a reposting from last year. I think it is just appropriate now… I agree with CindyC’s sentiment from yesterday that love seems more precious when it is not forced to be celebrated on a national love day. But if you still love roses on Valentine’s day, read on…
************************************************************************************
O, my Luv’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June….
Surely when Robert Burns rhapsodized about the red red rose in the eighteenth century, he did not imagine that one day the symbol of his love would be soaked in insecticides, fungicides, growth regulators, and other toxic chemicals. Takes the romance right out of the roses, doesn’t it?
(image: courtesy of Cordillera Peoples Alliance)
I was a happy rose receiver and giver until I actually visited a rose farm/factory in Ecuador a few years ago. In 2000, I spent a month in Ecuador taking Spanish lessons and going on “cultural field trips” with fellow students. One weekend, a teacher at the school took us to visit a rose farm because he was proud of the fact that roses were one of Ecuador’s top export businesses. That was where I saw the dirty reality behind the beautiful roses I had received and given over the years. In the rose fields near-by, a couple of men were spraying some sort of liquid on the plants, both wearing gasmasks. When asked what they were doing, our tour guide explained that the workers were giving the roses vitamins and medicine to make them healthy. Vitamins? Medicine? I was glad that my pharmacist never put on a gasmask when she handed me my vitamins and medicine! Later I learned that they had to regularly spray a cocktail of pesticides on the rose plants to ensure their “pristine and flawless” presentation. Turned out getting their fingers pricked by thorns was the least of the workers’ worries. They would get headaches, nausea, and dizziness from constantly breathing in the chemicals, along with a plethora of other serious ailments brought on by the toxic environment.
In a very twisted sense I wish I had never seen the rose factory in Ecuador, because after I came back from South America, I could never look at roses the same way. Instead of seeing romance and love, I saw gasmasks and clouds of pesticides. In this Valentine’s week, 200 million stems of roses will be sold. About 70% of cut flowers sold in the US are grown overseas where the labor is cheaper, the climate is more temperate, and the regulation on pesticide and chemical usage is sloppier. So chances are the perfect bouquet you are sending or receiving on 2/14 came from a factory similar to the one I visited in Ecuador.
Sorry to be such a downer. What’s one to do if your loved one really likes getting flowers? Fortunately aside from some local florists (and don’t forget your farmer’s market), there are now a few online outfits that sell and deliver organic flowers that have not been doused with cocktails of synthetic chemicals. Last week I went online and did a little research. The interesting thing I have discovered is that your out-of-pocket cost for organic flowers is not necessarily greater. In fact it is cheaper for example to order from OrganicBouquet than from many big national chains. I have sent my mom and mother-in-law roses from OrganicBouquet before. They both loved the vibrant colors and fresh aroma. The fact that they did not have to take in a cocktail of pesticides and growth hormones certainly is a big relief 
Some online sources for organic flowers are:
www.OrganicBouquet.com
www.californiaorganicflowers.com
www.diamondorganics.com
CindyW
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Can I persuade you to pick Pepsi?
February 6, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 4 comments
Pepsi or Coke? Age old competition that has strong proponents and opponents on either camp. The best answer of course is “neither” as both the fizzy beverages contain unhealthy amount of high-fructose corn syrup. And the diet versions of course are dosed with the dubious aspartame.
But even the most health-conscious amongst us can’t resist the fizzy sugar (okay, HF corn syrup) power every so often. When that moment comes, do you reach for a can of Coke or a can of Pepsi? If you are like me, not particular about either, can I persuade you to grab a Pepsi instead of Coke? Clearly not because Britney Spears was once its loud spokes person.
Turns out 100% of PepsiCo’s annual power usage is from renewable sources – all 1.1 billion kWh. Other Pepsi affiliated companies including the Pepsi Bottling Groups, PepsiAmericas, and Pepsi Bottling ventures all consume 100% renewable energy.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes a 100% Green Power Purchaser list. The organizations on the list total 4.2 billion kWh of green power. It is worth noting that PepsiCo and its affiliates account for 42% of the 4.2 billion kWh. Go Pepsi! Even though my family consumes about 10 cans of soda pops a year, all our 10 cans will be Pepsi brands.
Aside from PepsiCo, there are some familiar names on the list: Whole Foods, EPA, REI, UC Santa Cruz, PrAna Clothing, Clif Bar, and Green Mountain Coffee Roaster.
PepsiCo is the most surprising organization on the list. Not that you should drink more soda now that you know. But if you do drink Coke, maybe you will consider switching to the other camp? I am just sayin’…
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Going back to solid basics
January 29, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 5 comments
I don’t know what about the bottled shampoos, bath gels and lotions that draws me to them. Perhaps it is the pictures on the bottles that trick me into visualizing the warmth of early summer, the gurgling clear brooks, or the crisp air of an autumn morning. Or perhaps it is the descriptions on the labels – honey lemon, chocolate peppermint, peach crème. Yum, yum, yum. I am drawn to them like a moth to a flame.
The tragic consequence is that I have accumulated many bottles of half-used bath gels, shampoos, lotions and potions. Somehow I must have convinced myself that it’s okay because these are all “natural” products. My husband jokingly told me that one of my new year’s resolutions should be limiting lotion bottles to five at any given time. And for once he was right.
I don’t know the statistics on how many bottles of shampoo, conditioner, bath gel, liquid soap, toner, cleanser, and lotion are sold every year in the U.S or worldwide. I strongly suspect that I am not unique in finding a couple of dozens of these bottles around the house. They amount to millions of bottles every year bought, half-used and tossed into the landfill.
Seeing bottles everywhere, I decided to switch to bar soaps a month ago – for hand wash, body wash, and hair wash. There are already a few positive side effects:
- Drastically cut down the plastic bottles used
- Solid soap bars are like the Energizer bunny – they just keep going and going, ¼ of the cost compared to liquid soap
- Shorter grocery trips – no more ogling and smelling every bottle of something on the shelves
I have also learned a couple of tips so far:
- Get a soap dish with a lid. Close the lid in the shower. Otherwise shower water unnecessarily washes away the soap.
- Shampoo bar options are not great yet. I have been able to find Burt’s Bees baby bath and shampoo bar and Lush shampoo bars (Beth, thanks for the reminder). I have really low maintenance hair, so they have worked for me. But they many not be suitable for everyone.
Yesterday, CindyC wrote what green changes worked and did not work for her so far. The switch back to solid soaps has been very easy, painless, and financially wise for me.
Next step: solid lotion. Hmmm, any suggestions or recommendations?
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Kiwis add flavor and color to winter
January 22, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 2 comments
Somebody will be furious with me, but I will say it anyway.
Honestly, Dark Days Eat Local Challenge is not much of a challenge for people who live in Northern California, since the mild weather here is suitable for growing all sorts of fruit and vegetables through out the year. This was brought home to me when I stared into our bag of 40 kiwis freshly purchased at our local farmer’s market this weekend.
Since my insane family seems to live on this fruit in the winter, I dug around for some kiwi facts and would like to share some here,
Apparently the kiwifruit originated in China and was known as the Chinese gooseberry. At the turn of the 20th century, the first seeds were brought out of China by missionaries to New Zealand. New Zealand fruit growers then renamed it for their national bird and cultivated it further. Several plants were sent to the Chico Plant Introduction Station in California and exist to this date (1).
The first commercial kiwi vines were planted in California in the 1930’s, but kiwis didn’t become a popular consumer item until the early 1960’s when they were put on supermarket shelves as “exotic fruit”.
In a normal year, the kiwi season in Northern California runs from November to May. My kids quickly latched on to kiwis after they ate apples, pears and oranges for two months.
Nutritionally, kiwis are gems. At 50 calories per average fruit, it packs in a lot of vitamins and fiber. It provides a rich source of vitamin C. By weight, its potassium is almost the same as a banana. It also contains vitamins A and E. I don’t like the fuzzy texture of the skin. But if you do, the skin is a good source of flavonoid antioxidants.
Odd facts 1: Kiwi plants are relatively free from problems. But there is an odd problem - the trunks have a catnip-like aroma which cats love to rub against.
Odd facts 2: Though kiwi-strawberry is a popular flavor combination, their growing seasons overlap at most a couple of weeks, even in California. Kiwi season ends right around the time strawberries come into their full juicy glory.
Odd fact 3: Do people really have to invent a specialized utensil for each food? Kiwi spoon, huh? How about use your everyday spoon (2).
Anyway, enjoy kiwis (sans the kiwi spoon of course) this winter, especially if you live in northern California!
CindyW at Organicpicks
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1. http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/kiwifruit.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwifruit
Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Calling cool kids and cool parents
January 18, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , add a comment
Our friends at Progressive Kid recently published a wonderful book – A Hot planet needs cook kids. Thanks for sending me a copy, Sarah and Julie! Aside from running an online green retail, they focused their energy on writing this informative book for kids. Bill McKibben gave the book a thumb up: “What’s so dangerous about global warming is that it leaves many people feeling hopeless, as if nothing they could do would matter. This book makes it clear that that’s not the case. It shows young people how they are able to help.”
I read the small book in one sitting last weekend and learned and relearned quite a few fascinating facts. Anyone remember exactly what “thermohaline circulation” is? How about all the layers in soil – humus, topsoil, eluviation layer, subsoil, regolith and bedrock? Seventy three pages later, I have re-acquired the knowledge picked up when I was a 10 year old – the intended audience of the book.
Often, “people against nature” is the framework through which we see our relationship with the environment, humans being an integral part of nature somehow cast aside. With a concise but very clear approach, this book re-adjusts the framework to “people in nature”. A Hot Planet steps through the living elements in our eco-system and the stress they are undergoing right now. Reading the book, I remembered that my friend Jamie once said, “every time we destroy a part of the living eco-system, a piece of our humanity dies with it.”
At places the facts do become depressing and urgent. Were I a 12 year old, I’d get furious with adults around me - What have you been doing to my future? I thought you’d known better. I’d want my parents to read this book with me and then read it again. The book then devotes the second half to real actions – what people are doing and what a young reader can do (other than yelling at your parents). Some actions require adults to take the lead, such as “junk your junk mail” and “shop at farmers’ market”; others can easily be done by kids themselves – play outside, not just in the virtual world (why can’t that be on my to-do list?), turn off water while brushing your teeth, recycle bottles and cans, and many more.
I also really appreciate the mini-stories of eco-heroes: Rachel Carson, Wangari Maathai, and Pablo Fajardo, for example. They demonstrate to the kids that what they do matter and that they too can become heroes.
I am excited to share this book with the kids around me. Written for a 10+ year old, it is too advanced for my children. So next stop for this book – my 12-year old niece, whose parents are advanced consumers at the post-doctoral level (hey, I get to say this because they are family :)). Look for a real review from a pre-teen soon.
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Batter blaster, you call this food?
January 8, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 4 comments
Pancake whiz anyone? Waffle batter in a whip cream can? Shake, squirt and cook? Intriguing or disturbing. Over at Treehugger, a couple of people are enamored with the batter-in-a-can. They say, don’t knock it until you try it.
Now that I have tried it, I have earned the right to knock it. And knock it I will…
My friend Paul dropped by this weekend, bearing a gift – a spray can of “Organic Batter Blaster”. Seeing Paul’s smirk as he handed me the “gift”, I knew he wanted to watch and laugh at my reaction. Well, in terms of its reason for existence, it is on par with a butter stick or a toilet paper folder. Seriously.
A closer look at the can reveals that it is USDA organic and it contains no CFCs – chlorofluorocarbons that were widely used in hair spray cans and bore big holes in our ozone layer. Thank goodness that the pancake batter does not cause further ozone depletion. But why should it even be remotely related to my pancakes to begin with? Eek! And the USDA organic label? That’s just sheer embarrassment. Is this the moment that organic label has truly lost its meaning?
Why am I so irked by this useless invention? Partly because it epitomizes our estranged relationship with food, partly because it serves no purpose other than wasting our resources (steel and plastic), and partly because this product is simply esthetically tasteless (no pun intended). Are we so obsessed with fast food that we cannot even mix 5 ingredients together? My 5 year old can make a decent pancake mix without much help.
Some may argue that time is of essence in the morning. I get that. Every morning, I have to get 2 toddlers clothed and fed before sending them to school on time. How about making a few extra pancakes or waffles when you whip up a batch on weekends and freeze them? Cheap, fast and not involving a spray can.
I am not done yet. The other ghastly offense the batter blaster has committed is its less than adequate taste, in texture or flavor. In my weak moments, I might forgive this utter lunacy if it actually tasted gourmet.
With this poorly formulated pancake mix squirted out of a can, I really think the company should just go a step further and put a heating nozzle on it. Imagine your family sitting at the table in the morning. Turn on the battery operated spray can and squirt instantly cooked pancake mix into their mouths. That will surely qualify as an earth-shattering progress in human ingenuity.
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
An entirely different list of holiday gifts
December 5, 2007
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , add a comment
Newsweek has done it. Treehugger has done it, And of course Oprah has done it. Not to be outdone, we at Organicpicks have to do it too. Yes, I am talking about the holiday gift list, even though as you may have noticed I am not exactly proactive when it comes to shopping for presents. But with 3 weeks to go, I am putting together a list for people who don’t want to lose themselves in the labyrinth-like malls where ubiquitous bad clues (50% off signs) take you to all sorts of wrong places so the Minotaur can take your money and give you junk in return while tricking you into thinking that you or your loved ones REALLY need it.
So this year, do something different – give a present that does not require your loved ones to toss it to the are-you-kidding-me-who-can-I-unload-this-to pile right after opening your nicely tied box.
Best gifts come in small packages, or no packages at all
- Spa retreat gift certificate. Find a local spa you like and give a service as a present - facial, massage, makeover
- Private Yoga or Pilates lesson. A great gift for a post-holiday health kick-start
- Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) delivery. Health, yummy, seasonal and local produce or fruit delivered to the home for a month or a year. Find a CSA around you, make a call and decide how much and how often. Yep, that simple.
- Cleaning service. A clean home without breaking the back. In fact, to go with the service, it is an excellent time to try green clean products.
- Theatre or concert tickets. You can give movie gift cards or concert tickets - classic symphony or metal band, your choice. Last year I gave a pair of opera tickets to my in-laws and they were a hit.
- Family membership to a local museum, zoo or aquarium. A gift to the recipient and to the community. Locally I can recommend Coyote Point Museum, Monterey Bay Aquarium, San Francisco Zoo, San Jose Happy Hollow, San Jose Tech Museum, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
- Family menu subscription. Unusual but absolutely helpful. What’s Cooking plans meals and grocery lists every week, saving time and money. Best part? Every menu includes a part where children can help.
Happy Holidays!
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Are there toys even worth recommending?
November 27, 2007
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 1 comment so far
These days my attitude towards toys is decidedly quality over quantity. In fact, unless it is for a special occasion, I don’t actively seek them out. Luckily my kids seem to be perfectly content visiting our local library, playing in the playground, going on nature walks, or even just jumping in and out of the abundant and cushy leaf piles.
It was by accident I ran into the Imagiplay toy booth at the Green Festival. What drew me immediately to it were the toy designs – intricate and clever puzzles with brilliant colors. These three-dimensional puzzles were mostly themed around nature and animals. Their look and feel plainly spoke quality to me.
In spite of being quite busy, the lady at the booth patiently addressed my concern about the non-stop toy recalls. She reassured me that these puzzles were made from environmentally friendly material (rubber wood) and painted with tested non-toxic paints. After I visited their website, I corresponded with Barbera Aimes, the founder of Imagiplay. Her genuine voice convinced me that these were the right toys to buy and to recommend, besides the fact that both of my kids (5 and 3) absolutely loved the puzzles I got for them.
What raw materials do you use for your toys?
Barbera: Rubberwood, formaldehyde free medium density fibreboard (MDF) and bamboo. The puzzle pieces are rubberwood.
Why is rubber wood considered environmentally sound?
Barbera: Native to Brazil for hundreds of years, rubber trees were brought to Asia at the turn of the century because of the great demand for rubber they produced. Now they also grow on plantations in Southeast Asia. Rubber trees produce a sap that is used to make latex products. At the end of their latex-producing years (generally 25-30 years), the trees are harvested and new ones planted. The wood used to be burned, until people realized these wonderful trees had one more gift to give, that of their beautiful hardwood.
How do you ensure the paints are non-toxic?
Barbera: We purchase our paints from one producer, a very respected company with an excellent reputation. They have an entire division devoted only to non-toxic paints for children’s toys. The paints are also tested by a third party testing agency - SGS International. When we receive the toys in America, we test the paints yet again.
Do you exercise any other precautionary measures?
Barbera: One of the most important ways we insure the safety of our toys (in addition to testing, which we do quite a lot of), is through the relationships we develop with the small, family-run factories that we partner with. We take quite a long time to research and develop a relationship with each factory before we begin ordering from them. The people we choose to work with have proven to us that they share our values and are trustworthy. To me, partnering with someone you trust is worth far more than all the tests in the world.
In response to my recent writing about Americans consuming too much stuff (me included, but trying to change), Barbera wrote a very sincere deliberation:
“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that question myself. I’m kind of at cross purposes owing a company that produces consumer goods, yet believing that we all need to learn to consume less. I’ve come to wonder if the assumption that consuming creates a better lifestyle is a correct one? Are we any happier with lots and lots of stuff than we would be with little stuff? We just assume that more stuff = better lifestyle. I’ve begun to wonder if that’s true. Interesting question, huh? Especially from one who makes her living producing consumables. That’s why I feel the very heavy weight of responsibility to carefully produce only things that are beautiful, so they won’t end up in a landfill, are made from earth -responsible materials and made in a people-responsible way.”
Barbera’s puzzles clearly fit my criteria – quality over quantity. By the way these beautiful puzzles can also be used as decorations in the kids’ rooms.
Last but not the least, Barbera is kind enough to share a 10% discount code with Organicpicks readers: ORG0115 (case sensitive and good through 1/20/2008)
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
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