Fresh Look: Plenty
November 13, 2007
Posted by CindyC in : Fresh Look , add a comment
For the inaugural book of our newly formed neighborhood Green Book Club, we wanted something interesting, somewhat lighthearted and relatable by all. So we picked Plenty – the story about local eating from the now famous 100 Mile Diet Couple, Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon.
Plenty is not a compilation of statistics or political discussions on topics like climate change or steady decline of family farms. Rather it brings a very personal perspective through a local food experiment: for one year, the authors would eat only foods grown and produced within 100 miles of their downtown Vancouver apartment. Within the first chapter, the global reality of our food system hits: no sugar, salt or wheat produced within 100 miles. Cane sugar – OK. But salt? Wheat? How can that be when Vancouver is surrounded by the ocean and can support other types of farming? Further handicapped by poor timing (the Diet started in March, before any spring shoots), the couple basically ate potatoes for the first month. Motivated by their curiosity and hunger for variety, the authors eventually discover their surrounding land yields simple foods (long forsaken by modern pursuit for the convenient and exotic): fresh strawberry apples, wild blackberries, Early Girl tomatoes, pumpkin honey to name a few.
One of the most striking points of the book is that most of the diet could not be purchased in supermarkets, even in the bountiful summer season. The authors had to go directly to the growers and farms and take part in harvesting their food, creating an unbroken line of connection and accountability. In some ways, the book felt like a tribute to the past habits, when people took part in the food production, valued the efforts involved and savored the fruits of their labor. One club member remarked that Plenty reminded her of the frontier tales from The Little House on the Prairie, with the planting, harvesting, rationing, canning and occasional starving, except it took place in a large city. Although it sounds strange, I completely agree with her.
Plenty is fast and enjoyable read. To their credit, the author never claimed this experiment was easy or revolutionary. It was just a personal way to challenge our food habits and lifestyle. And it succeeded with our club members. One member shared her heightened awareness of all the fruit trees in the neighborhood; another tried persimmons for the first time; yet another joined a CSA to support local farmers. I received great tips on planning my small vegetable garden from a seasoned “localvore.” No one is planning anything as dramatic as following the 100 Mile Diet but we are trying to do better. I guess that’s what the book is all about.
CindyC at Organicpicks
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Where did my recycled laptop really go?
October 30, 2007
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 2 comments
What do you do with your 2-year old cell phone when you trade up for a new-fangled iphone? According to EPA, Americans retired 130 million cell phones in 2005. 98% of them went straight into trash then landfill (1). So what happens to the cell phones while they sit in the landfill year after year? Toxins like arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, copper and lead from the cell phone eventually leach into the ground and contaminate the ground water.
Then there is your computer that you upgrade every couple of years, not to mention the monitor, the printer, and other modern day electronic devices. Same as cell phone, most of them land in municipal trash piles, off gassing and leaching into the ground water. In 2010, 3 billion units of obsolete electronics will be scrapped in the US alone.
- courtesy of Basel Action Network
Facing this e-waste crisis, what do we do?
We caught up with James Kao, the CEO of GreenCitizen, a Bay Area company with the mission of helping individuals and organizations recycle electronics responsibly. Before GreenCitizen, James was a successful software entrepreneur in the Silicon Valley. What inspired him to redirect his energy to e-waste? “Bill Moyer,” James recalled that fateful night. On July 19th, 2002, PBS aired an episode of NOW with Bill Moyer, which addressed the e-waste crisis. James found out that 15 European countries had adopted the “Basel Ban”, which effectively banned all forms of hazardous waste exports from the wealthiest countries to poorer countries. But the U.S. continued its opposition to the Basel Ban.
Being an inspired entrepreneur, James began to think about a business that would help address this issue while being financially viable. In April 2005, he launched GreenCitizen. Small first, his store was behind a large Bay Area electronics retailer. Gradually, it moved out and opened its own store in Los Altos, then San Francisco. A year ago, I visited their Los Altos store to drop off an old laptop. The process was easy and the staff there were believers of what they were doing. Since then I have made quite a few trips and sent many friends there.
They track every piece of recycled electronic device the moment it comes into the store, through every stage of shipping and sorting, then all the way to the facility where disassembling takes place. That way, if their tag turns up in an irresponsible bulk recycler’s or another country, GreenCitizen can back track where the misstep was. James has combined his passion for solving the e-waste crisis with his background in software database.
How is GreenCitizen different from other electronic recyclers? James informed us that not all recyclers were responsible. Often the most valuable parts – precious metals, are stripped.
- courtesy of Basel Action Network
After a few other steps of removal, the leftover toxic components either end up in our landfill or are exported to developing countries in Asia and Africa. In fact, “50-80% of the electronics waste collected for ‘recycling’ is exported,” James told us. You could tell that he wished GreenCitizen could take that number down to 0.
GreenCitizen has been qualified as an E-Steward by Basel Action Network, a global organization with the mission to prevent the globalization of the toxic chemical crisis, include e-waste. You can check Basel Action Network website to find E-Stewards near you.
We were very impressed with the efficient operations in GreenCitizen’s warehouse. Monitors were tagged individually and packed with great care to prevent lead spill by accidents. Bins and boxes were labeled clearly and stacked neatly. Trucks came in and out on schedule. James has one hard rule for hiring his employees – they have to demonstrate that they are true believers of the mission. With that he has been able to hire bright young people from elite colleges.
Aside from dropping off at their physical stores, you can also find recycling kiosks at various convenient locations. Additionally GreenCitizen picks up from businesses around the Bay Area. In the last two years, 40,000 people and 13,000 businesses have dropped off their obsolete electronics at GreenCitizen. I feel lucky that one of their stores is two miles away from my home. I wish every consumer had that kind of convenience. “We are planning to expand fast,” James answered our anxious question about more stores.
We really hope so.
CindyW at Organicpicks
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(1)from Earthworks, an environmental non-profit organization
Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
But Canned Pumpkins Are So Much Easier…aren’t they?
October 25, 2007
Posted by MichelleS in : Fresh Look , add a comment
I am a recycling nut. When I was a teacher, I started a paper recycling program for the whole school. At home, we have separate bins for food waste, paper and plastics/cans. Because of my neurotic tendencies, I cringe when Halloween is over and there is a perfectly good pumpkin drooping on my front porch. Even though canned pumpkin is so affordable and convenient, would it be possible to recycle the pumpkin that I already have?
Here is the scoop (forgive the pun!):
There are special “Pie Pumpkins”, which are smaller, sweeter and smoother in texture than the one you purchased or harvested this Halloween. They are about 8-inches in diameter and are typically available from September through the early part of December. If you wish to purchase one of these specifically for cooking, look for one that is bright orange in color, firm and has no bruises or soft spots.
However, if you are eager to recycle your Halloween pumpkins and make them a part of your culinary festivities, you can easily do so! You may simply need to add some additional brown sugar or maple syrup to your recipe to compensate for its lack of sweetness.
How To Make Your Own Pumpkin Puree:
- Cut out top of your pumpkin and clean out all seeds and strings from inside.
- Slice pumpkin vertically into 3 inch wide strips.
- Place strips onto a baking sheet.
- Bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour.
- Once done, scrape the pumpkin from the skins, then beat with a mixer or puree in a food processor until smooth.
Save The Seeds:
- The seeds can be used either to plant pumpkins next year, or roasted to eat this year!
- Place them in a bowl of water and rub them between your hands. Pick out the orange pieces that are floating, and discard them.
- Drain the water.
- Spread the seeds on a dish towel or paper towel to dry…and voila! They are ready for next year’s planting or to roast.
Give It A Try:
Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Bread
2 cups flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 eggs
1 cup mashed cooked fresh pumpkin
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
6 (1 ounce) squares BAKER’S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, coarsely chopped
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices until well blended; set aside.
- Beat eggs, pumpkin, sugars, milk and oil in large bowl with wire whisk until well blended.
- Add dry ingredients; stir just until moistened.
- Stir in chopped chocolate.
- Pour into greased 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- Bake 55 minutes to 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack. Cut into slices to serve.
Servings: 15
CALL THE KIDS:
- Measure cinnamon and nutmeg
- Crack eggs (in a separate bowl, so it is easier to fish out stray egg shells)
- Measure sugar, brown sugar, milk and oil
- Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices
- With adult supervision, use a hand mixer to blend eggs, pumpkin, sugars milk and oil
- Fold wet and dry ingredients together until combined
Nutrition (per serving): 253.6 calories; 28% calories from fat; 8.6g total fat; 35.5mg cholesterol; 239.9mg sodium; 141.7mg potassium; 41.8g carbohydrates; 0.8g fiber; 20.8g sugar; 41.0g net carbs; 4.4g protein.
Michelle Stern runs What’s Cooking, a Certified Green business in the SF Bay Area, that offers healthy cooking classes and gifts for kids and menu planning for families.
Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Dare to eat your lotion? You are doing it
October 23, 2007
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 1 comment so far
In the last couple of years, many consumers have reaped benefits from moving toward organic produce, grain, dairy, and meat. The word organic has certainly gained some prominence.
So now that you have figured out what to put on your plate, it maybe time to reconsider what you put on your skin. After all, quite a bit of what you apply on your skin gets absorbed into your skin. In some sense, you are effectively eating your lipsticks, your lotions, and your eye shadows. Glamour magazine reported in its June 2002 issue that “women inadvertently eat about 4 lbs of lipsticks” in a lifetime.
Well, do you know that lipsticks used by millions of American women also contain surprising level of lead? Campaign for Safe Cosmetics recently commissioned an independent lab to study the safety of lipsticks in the market place. In September 2007, the lab tested red lipsticks bought in Boston, Hartford, San Francisco, and Minneapolis. Amongst other things, they found that 11 out of the 33 tested lipsticks exceeded US FDA 0.1 ppm limit for lead in candy – “a standard established to protect children from directly ingesting lead.” Some national brands have as much as 6 times the lead limit in candy. While I am not exactly sure how much the lead in 4 pounds of lipsticks can harm you, I suspect most women would choose to buy lead-free ones.
Similarly few people can be persuaded to eat the chemical DMDM Hydantoin, which is called out as a “known human immune system toxicant” by National Library of Medicine. It is, however, in many brand-named moisturizers, sunscreen, shampoos, and facial cleansers. How about Sodium Methylparaben? Doesn’t sound that appetizing either. In fact Europe has banned its use in cosmetics. But it can be found in many American brand-named shampoos, anti-aging lotions, and cleansers.
According to FDA, “Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act, cosmetics and their ingredients are not required to undergo approval before they are sold to the public”. So how can an average consumer find out whether their lotions are safe? Study all the ingredients on the shampoo bottles? Lotion jars? Lipsticks? Not an option. Have you ever seen the number of unrecognizable names on any given bottle?
Fortunately Environmental Working Group has created the Skin Deep cosmetic safety database, where one can search for a product or an ingredient and learn its safety score. For example, Olay Complete Defense Daily UV Moisturizer, SFP 30 has a Skin Deep score of 2 out 10, meaning low health hazard. 0 is the best and 10 is the worst. Take it a step further, you can find the score for all the ingredients used in that lotion. PEG-90M gets a score of 5 (medium health hazard) and water of course gets a score of 0.
Just because a shampoo is sold in a health food store, it does not automatically garner a low health hazard score. For instance, Avalon Organics Vitamin C Hydrating Cleansing Milk has a medium Skin Deep score of 6 for containing Benzyl Alcohol, Melatonin, and a few unspecified essential oils.
If you are concerned with a particular ingredient, search that directly. The infamous phthalate has a high health hazard score of 10 because National Library of Medicine calls it a “known human immune system toxicant”. You can then find all the nail polishes, nail treatments, and cuticle treatments that contain phthalate.
The database has an amazing number of products. For example, you can find 656 foundations, 779 lipsticks, 345 hair sprays, 478 tooth pastes, 901 fragrance, and many many more.
Armed with the easily searchable knowledge base, I can now feed my skin healthy ingredients that nourishing and safe. And if I decide to eat a couple of pounds of lipsticks in the next few years, I know which ones to choose…
CindyW at Organicpicks
Related Post:
My favorite shampoo
Anti-fashion fashion
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Atlantic farmed salmon = grey flesh + pink dye + antibiotics
October 16, 2007
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 23 comments
Last week I had dinner with a friend who was 6 months pregnant. Like a good expecting mother, she duly added fish to her diet to help fetal and neonatal development. She picked grilled salmon from the dinner menu. The detailed description of the entrée indicated it was Atlantic salmon. Having heard some nasty stuff about Atlantic salmon which were primarily farm-raised, I dissuaded her from ordering the entrée and promised to find more facts rather than relying on my not-so-reliable memory. So here it goes:
Wild salmon versus farmed salmon
Wild salmon live in salt water and spawn in freshwater. They forage in the open ocean for small crustaceans, herring, and other small fish. Once they start the upstream journey in freshwater to spawn, they stop feeding and rely on their stored energy. The longer and more difficult the journey is, the more energy is needed. The energy in the form of fat and oil, including omega-3 fatty acids, is what make salmon succulent and scrumptious.
Natural carotene pigment in Microalgae -> ingested by krill -> eaten by salmon -> naturally pink flesh
Farmed salmon, on the other hand, swim around in enclosed pens with thousands of other salmon. They are fed formulated pellets, other fish, or sometimes even corn. Naturally their flesh is gray. To make it more attractive, pigments are added to the feed to give them pink-colored meat. Want light pink, dark pink or something in between? How about light steel blue color? It matches with my dining room…
Grey flesh -> added pink dye of your choice -> designer pink flesh
Pacific salmon versus Atlantic salmon
These days, wild salmon come mostly from the Pacific (with a majority from Alaska). You may have heard some of the five species: coho, sockeye, king (sometimes also called Chinook), pink, and chum. Pacific Salmon season generally runs from May to September, depending on the specific species.
Once upon a time there were wild Atlantic salmon. Unfortunately most of their spawning habitat has been destroyed by pollution, logging, damming, and other impediments. There are still very limited wild Atlantic salmon left. However majority of the commercially available Atlantic salmon are farmed, and yes fed the pink dye.
Other reasons farmed Atlantic salmon are not rosy as their ingested dyes
- Wild salmon just taste better. Try it for yourself if you don’t believe me. I’ve had both, and the differences in taste and aroma are obvious even to a non-foodie like me.
- Farmed salmon are raised in the marine equivalent of factory farms. The concentrated waste from the pens spoils the local marine environment and spreads disease, such as sea lice. Yuck!
- Much like factory farmed beef industry, farmed salmon are administered antibiotics.
- Farmed salmon have been found to contain significantly higher concentrations of PCBs, dioxin and other contaminants.
So, when you buy salmon or order at a restaurant, always ask where it is from, especially in the off season. I for one, will not spend money to eat pink dye, no matter what shade it is.
CindyW at Organicpicks
Related Post:
Eat sustainably from the ocean
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Fresh look - healthy hair, healthy body, healthy environment
October 9, 2007
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 1 comment so far
Like many women, I am fairly picky about hair products. For me, shampoos and conditioners are a big deal since they are used almost daily. The very basic requirements are cleaning well and non-irritating to the scalp. My hair is quite heavy, so shampoos that weigh it down further get crossed off the list immediately. Of course post-drying (blow dry or otherwise), the shampoo-conditioner combination needs to give the hair a shining look and light feel. Then there is the scent. Personally I prefer mild, fresh and understated scents. Anything strongly fragrant will be relegated to my husband whose olfactory faculty is not as well developed. Oh yeah, one more thing. The shampoo is off my list if it makes my hair greasy within a day or two.
So with all these requirements, I tried half a dozen natural shampoos over the past year. Here is my assessment: All the shampoos clean pretty well and don’t irritate. But the similarities stop here.
Avalon has an overwhelming scent (lavender in this case), weighs my hair down and doesn’t do well if I don’t use it daily.
EO is fairly fragrant, burdens my hair and just does not feel like a well-formulated shampoo.
Shikai has a fairly mild scent (not pleasant or annoying), does okay but nothing special. It is still more or less a daily shampoo. More than a day from last wash, my hair gets greasy.
Natures Gate has a mild and pleasant scent, but seems to make my hair coarse to the touch. It is also a daily shampoo.
And the winner is: Giovanni Golden Wheat Shampoo! Love the gentle, fresh and slightly minty scent. A small amount is enough to get a rich and luxurious lather. Feels great on the scalp. It is also easy to wash off. The best part is after washing and conditioning, my hair feels clean, soft and well nourished. Trust me, it just feels different. Giovanni Shampoo also surprised me by keeping my hair clean and non greasy when I went camping for 4 days (yeah, no washing). What else can I ask for? Luckily you can buy Giovanni shampoos and conditioners in most health food stores, wellness pharmacies, and many online stores.
When it comes to health safety of ingredients, I check Skin Deep database offered by Environmental Working Group. On the site one can find health safety scores for most shampoo brands – 0 to 10, 0 being the safest and 10 being the most hazardous. Giovanni Golden Wheat Shampoo has a low hazard score of 2. All around a great buy.
You can also check what Organicpicks users have to say about natural shampoos and conditioners. Even a hair expert weighed in on the topic!
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Fresh Look: Clementine Culinary Productions
October 2, 2007
Posted by CindyC in : Fresh Look , add a comment
I love food and more specific, eating food. Since I’ve embarked on my green journey, I realized that some of the best foods are made from local, fresh ingredients that has it original flavor, unmarred by long distance trucking, pesticides or genetic enhancements. So I was very excited when my friend Jess left her corporate job, became a TV personality (as one of the finalists on the Next Food Network Star) and founded Clementine Culinary Productions to provide personal chef services and in-home cooking classes for beginners and enthusiasts alike. One of Jess’ personal interests is to peruse farmers’ markets and visit local farms and vintners for inspirations to create quality dishes using fresh, seasonal ingredients.
Promoting local green (or aspiring green) businesses is one of Organicpicks’ missions. So we were very excited when Jess agreed to collaborate with us on a promotion this past summer: write reviews on green products for opportunity to win a Tuscan Inspired Feast from Clementine Culinary. The promotion was a great success and in the end, it was Jocelyn from Palo Alto who won the coveted prize! Clementine Culinary worked with Jocelyn to create a delectable menu for an intimate and fun at home gathering for friends.
In Jess’ words:
“Last month, I had the pleasure of preparing a meal for Jocelyn and friends. The dinner couldn’t have come at a better time as every stall in the farmers market were displaying the fruits of summer so I chose a menu to match the late summer harvest. We started off with one of my new favorite summer salads, an heirloom tomato carpaccio.
Thanks to a new mandolin I recently purchased, paper thin tomatoes were a cinch. Dressed with some balsamic vinaigrette, I can’t imagine a flavor that better represents the season. For the main course, I seared up some scallops to accompany cream based pasta that was kept light with a hint of lemon, tarragon and summer peas.
As a big fan of vegetables, I also included a cold green bean salad with fennel and capers and potatoes with white truffle oil to round out the meal. We ended the night on a sweet note – decadent crème brulee topped with perfectly crystallized sugar and fresh raspberries.”
And apparently, the meal was a big hit as Jocelyn raved:
“We and our dinner guests had a Tuscan-inspired dinner that was just fabulous. Our foodie friends raved that it was the best dinner they’d had since B.K. (before kids) — comparable to what they have eaten at top-rated restaurants. ….. we ate the meal at home without having to prepare, travel or clean anything. Was it a dream? Rather, it was a dream come true….“
From the looks* and sounds of things (too bad we couldn’t taste it personally), it was a wonderful meal showcasing seasonal ingredients at the peak of their flavors. Kudos to Jess and Clementine Culinary Productions for demonstrating that good eating starts with good ingredients.
Read what Jocelyn and others thought of Clementine Culinary Productions.
*pictures courtesy of Jocelyn and friends
CindyC at
Organicpicks
Related Fresh Look Entries:
Preserving Basil Season
Heirloom Tomatoes
Buy Local Beef
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
All-purpose cleaner really is all-purpose, non-toxic kind too
September 25, 2007
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 4 comments
An average American family’s cleaning supply most likely include all-purpose cleaner, glass & surface cleaner, bathroom cleaner, kitchen cleaner, floor cleaner, shower cleaner, toilet cleaner and more. Bottles of chemistry lab solutions sit in the dark of a typical supply closet. About three years ago, I realized that common household germs and dirt were actually less insidious compared to the chemicals found in my common household cleaning products. Ever since then I have been experimenting with cleaning products and realized a few things:
- All purpose cleaners really are all-purpose. Forget all the room specific cleaners. I think it is just a marketing trick to get people to buy more stuff. Gone were the kitchen counter cleaners, bathroom cleaners, shower cleaners and others. Really all-purpose cleaners do a great job in different rooms.
- You can clean your windows with water. If you don’t trust the magic of water, add a few drops of vinegar. The result? Squeaky clean windows. Even if your windows have not been cleaned for 6 months, applying water and vinegar solution twice will still result in squeaky clean windows. My sister-in-law apparently loves the smell of Windex. Well, I think that maybe a whole different matter. Ammonia hydroxide addition? Me? It makes me nauseated.
- Homemade solutions for the most part are as good as stored bought kinds, as long as you clean more than once every couple of months. Water and vinegar usually do the trick with a few pennies. Okay, maybe I am just cheap. I like a clean house without negatively impacting my healthy or my pocket. Here are some tested homemade recipes.
But for convenience, sometimes, I do break down and buy all-purpose cleaners. Have I mentioned that you really only need all-purpose cleaners? My favorites are: Seventh Generation all-purpose for spray and wipe; Bon-Ami for scrubbing surfaces with splatters, spills and sticky messes.
I use Seventh Generation all-purpose cleaner everywhere. It has not disappointed me, even on our greasy stovetop and carpet stains, yep carpet stains. I also use it to clean my toddler’s crusty and food-stained high chair. Very effective without selling like artificial cleaning solutions. All ingredients are disclosed, none nasty. Friends have told me that “green” cleaning products often do a poor job. I usually recommend Seventh Generation, free and clear kind or the citrus kind. Apparently using on brass is not recommended.
Bon Ami polishing cleanser is an awesome product. It is made from calcite & feldspar mineral abrasives and biodegradable detergent, so it does not give out the unbearable chlorine fume like Comet does. You can use it to clean counters, scrub dirty sinks (without scratching the surface), and perform the touch job of getting rid of crust on the bottom of burned pots or pans. And it costs less than $1.50 in most supermarkets! Effective, cheap, non-toxic, versatile. What else can one ask for? I love it so much that I force it upon all my friends.
I am clearly opinionated on this topic. But I am sticking to it. For other people’s views, check out a wide variety of all-purpose cleaners and their reviews.
Related posts:
My favorite laundry soap
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Fresh Look - a birthday party done right
September 18, 2007
Posted by CindyW in : Fresh Look , 3 comments
Well, another weekend, another kid’s birthday party. Told you I went to birthday parties at least once a month, if not twice. Two weeks ago, I walked away from a birthday party, disappointed and depressed about all the plastic crap in the party. But this weekend, for a much welcome change, I went to the best toddler party ever (well, it’s all relative, we are talking about toddlers here)! Both of my kids (5 and 2&1/2) said this was the “funnest party”. Here are some reasons:
- It was in our neighborhood. No need to drive. We took our alternative vehicles - scooter, tricycle and legs.
- The host specifically requested for “NO presents”, because the occasion was meant for having fun together, not getting more stuff. Least you think, “oh, the poor deprived boy”, he has received awesome presents from his parents and grand parents
- The birthday was in the backyard on a typical end-of-summer sunny, warm and beautiful day
- Kids played kids’ games – wheel barrel competition, three-legged race, tag… Remember those? In additional to work out their sugar high, these games actually taught kids to work together in a fun way
- Theme of the party – bugs. Bug-finding magnifiers were provided to encourage kids to find insects in the backyard. What kids don’t like bugs?
- Kids participated in pizza making. Well, it was no more than putting on a few slices of pepperoni and sprinkling cheese. But the pizzas sure tasted better to them
- Warm homemade chocolate cake served on real plates, topped with Straus mint-chocolate chip ice-cream!
- Kids got to pick and eat all the berries, tomatoes, and grapes grown in the backyard. I had more than a handful myself. Yum!
- Instead of buying individual birthday cards, they made an incredibly creative book together for the occasion. Spills and messes were all forgiven in the backyard with a hose
- No goody bags (I believe the original reason for giving out goody bags is to appease the little birthday attendees since the birthday boy or girl usually gets a ton of presents at the party. This time around, no presents and no goody bags). Whew!
- Parents happily watched the kids while having a glass of champagne mimosa
Hey, I will go to that kind of birthday parties any day - fun, creative, green, and inexpensive. Sam and Anna, thanks for the “funnest” birthday party!
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Fresh Look: Oompa Toys
September 11, 2007
Posted by CindyC in : Fresh Look , 2 comments
Last week, Mattel announced yet another recall on lead-contaminated toys. Industry experts estimate that over 80% * of toys are either made or source materials from China, so more recalls are likely to come. With the quality of mass-produced toys in question, there’s been plenty of talk about not buying toys, making your own toys, buying only organic cotton toys and so forth. I agree with all these reflections and really try to live by the less-is-more motto. However, I don’t think it’s practical to not ever buy another toy, especially since not all parents share the same philosophy. Rather than joining the Not-Made-In-China hysteria, I decided to go back to some basics of toy selection: safe, age-appropriate, non-violent toys that stimulate imagination and motor development.
So for an upcoming birthday party, I decided to try out Oompa Toys,
an online retailer that believes “toys should be natural, non-violent and from manufacturers who provide safe and nurturing environments for their employees.” Beware that you will NOT find character-based, dirt-cheap plastic, almost disposable toys here. For the most part, Oompa Toys carries a large variety of wooden toys (mostly manufactured in Europe), even though a smaller selection of art supplies, stuff dolls and ride-on toys is available as well. Examples of the well-known brands include Brio, Haba and Selecta. The site is well organized and searchable by categories, brands or age. For each item, there’s a detailed description, age appropriateness and learning skills guide. The really nice addition is that Oompa details where the toy is made and the safety standards met by the manufacturer. There’s a special “Made in Europe” category for toys where the source has been specifically confirmed by the manufacturer. The prices are competitive with many of larger retailer sites that carry some of the same brands. It appears that Oompa has gone to great lengths in manufacturer selection and communication, as I read through their blog. I was surprised by the willingness of the vendors to share their manufacturing details. For example, Haba (small compared to Mattel but well-known in their niche) provided a list of manufacturing origins for all of its products. Oompa has also added a “Where Our Products Are Made” page that summarizes the product source and safety certifications earned by each of its vendors.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the Oompa’s online store efficiency. Their shopping cart is fairly standard but does offer an address book option to help return shoppers speed up the checkout process..
Also, if you write reviews on the products, you can accumulate discount points towards your future purchase. I ended up purchasing the Haba Fantasy Blocks. Even with regular ground shipping, the blocks arrived in 4 business days. Although the toy was still encased in protective packaging, there was definitely less of it, just enough to keep the blocks together and unscratched. Overall, I was very happy with my purchase and Oompa and I am glad to have found this little online treasure.
CindyC atOrganicpicks
Other related Fresh Looks:
Crazy Crayons
Great Children’s Books
Organic Children’s T-shirts
* As initially reported by MSNBC
Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
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