Plastic Baggies: "Bye, Bye!"

Neither the preschool that my son went to, nor his elementary school allow plastic baggies in the students' lunch boxes. They have "trash-free" lunches.  So, I put everything in reusable containers.  Until recently, I had yet to find a sandwich container that is the right size to hold a sandwich, but is not too big so that it fills up the entire lunch box - leaving no room for anything else.   I struggled with these awkward containers, and then I happened upon something called LunchSkins.

Here is an excerpt from the LunchSkins website, which talks about how LunchSkins began:

"While sitting around a kitchen table in 2008, we heard a staggering statistic - every day, more than 20 million sandwich bags from school lunches go into landfills in the US. We knew that many families were looking for easy, convenient ways to be green and avoid this kind of waste. So we put our passion and energy together and 3greenmoms was born. Our mission - to design a colorful, fresh alternative to the plastic baggie.

It seemed relatively easy... all we needed was a food-safe, dishwasher-friendly, moderately-attractive reusable bag. How hard could that be? Our number one priority was to find a food-safe fabric, so we went straight to the food industry. There, we found a very high-quality European fabric used by patisseries and bakeries certified as food-safe. Conveniently, this fabric is durable and withstands high heat, too - bingo! It can withstand repeated cycles in the dishwasher. We came up with some fresh, modern designs for those of us who want to dress up our bag lunch. Then, we found a family-owned manufacturer nearby in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

It all sounds logical, right? But, after many prototypes, sleepless nights, exhausting early morning flights and late evening telephone calls, we think we’re on the right track. Getting here wasn’t easy, but LunchSkins have now put a fresh face on an old idea. Thankfully, it has been a family affair with husbands, kids and friends sharing advice and support on a daily basis.

Whether you care about our environment, saving money, eating healthy, or looking stylish, LunchSkins are the answer to your plastic baggie blues -- they offer an environmental benefit (reduce landfill waste), a practical benefit (they can be used hundreds of times and save you money over the long run), and a healthy choice (food tastes better in a pastry bag). Welcome to our family!"

And it seems that business has been good.  And landfills are feeling the ease. Look at this!

"In just one year, our LunchSkins customers have taken a big bite out of landfill and ocean waste. With your purchase and use of LunchSkins, more than 12 million plastic baggies have been saved from the landfill. WOW! We’re on a mission to reduce the number of plastic baggies thrown out. Help us reach our 2011 goal of keeping 100 million plastic baggies out of landfills and waterways. Bag the (plastic) baggies!"

We love our Lunchskins sandwich bag.  I can toss it in the top rack of the dishwasher, or handwash it.  It is so durable!  Plus, my son likes the cool design on his.  Check it out.  And think about "trash-free" lunches for your kids!

MEATLESS MONDAYS

Across the globe, it is catching on... in an effort to reduce our meat consumption by 15% and to improve the overall health of our planet, restaurants, schools, hospitals, and homes are going "meatless" each Monday in the "Meatless Mondays" campaign.

According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization the meat industry generates nearly one fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change. Geophysicists at the Bard Center and the University of Chicago estimate that curbing meat consumption by 20% (which could be achieved through Meatless Mondays) would lower greenhouse gas emissions as dramatically as every American switching to an ultra-efficient hybrid vehicle.

The U.N. also found that current meat production methods cause nearly half of all stream and river pollution. Meat also requires a great deal of fresh water to manufacture. The production of a pound of beef takes approximately 2,500 gallons of water, compared to a pound of soy, which requires only 220 gallons.  By switching to soy on Mondays each individual could save about 890 gallons of water a week.

As of 2006, forty calories of fossil fuel energy go into every calorie of U.S. feed lot beef (manufacture, transport and storage included). By comparison, a calorie of plant-based protein only requires 2.2 calories of fossil fuel. If the population of the United States went meatless every Monday for a year, 12 billion gallons of gasoline would be saved.

Last night, we went to one of our favorite local spots, Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens, who has adopted the Meatless Monday campaign into their menu.  Even on non-Mondays, their philosophy goes alongside the Slow Food Movement's, in that they only serve local, seasonal, and organically grown produce, 100% naturally raised meats, artisanal cheeses, and are 100% high fructose corn syrup-free.  

Take a look in your area and see what chefs are thinking globally.  Also, Meatless Mondays are a great tradition to bring into your own home.  

THE LAVENDER FIELDS - AHHH...

Last week, I drug my loving husband and son out to the Keys Creek Lavender Farm.   (They are such good boys - humoring me!)  This is the only USDA certified organic lavender farm in San Diego.  Located in Valley Center, California and only open to the public a few weekends a year (May-June) - the fields are beautiful, lined with many different varieties of lavender.  There is a gift shop (of course), as well as a refreshment stand which serves lavender scones, which you can have with lavender butter or lavender honey.  You can wash it all down with lavender tea or lavender lemonade, if you wish!  Bees buzzed throughout the fields, a sign that these bees are doing quite well!  There was a guitarist whose music echoed throughout the fragrant farm.  My hubby and son even loved it!  We were able to see the distillery where they extract the oil from the plants.  All around, a lovely afternoon.  

Here are some lavender tips:

* When a recipe calls for rosemary, try substituting lavender leaves, in equal (or less) amounts.

* Dried lavender is much stronger than fresh lavender.  (One tablespoon of dried lavender = 3 tablespoons of fresh lavender.)

* Make lavender infused sugar by placing a few tablespoons of dried lavender in a Mason jar with about a cup of sugar.  Wonderful in teas, sprinkled on top of fruits and desserts, or in baked recipes.

* If you are not growing your own lavender, be sure to only use culinary (English, Provence) lavender in your cooking.  Otherwise, you may end of with a very perfumy dish! 

* A little goes a long way - don't let the lavender overwhelm your dish.

* Lavender is best if used within a year a it's harvest date.

* Buy organic lavender!  You don't want to be ingesting chemicals along with that fragrant herb!

* Once your lavender sachets run out of scent, you can re-invigorate them with a few drops of lavender oil.

* Lavender is a very calming herb.  Use it's oil after a bath and before bedtime to help you sleep.

http://www.keyscreeklavenderfarm.com

The Green Parent - Great Magazine!

I love magazines!  I am a sucker for anything related to gardening (esp. organic gardening), travel (esp. adventure travel), and parenting.  But, the selection of "green" parenting magazines is rather slim.  Until, one day, my mother-in-law brought over this amazing find from the UK.  The Green Parent is a wonderful resource for us sorta-crunchy mamas out there!  Here is a recent feature from their online site:

24 MAY 2010

Make recycled boats

In this project from the latest edition of The Green Parent you can learn how to make these great boats that are fun for all ages and encourage resourcefulness. Boats can be made out of anything that floats, from a simple piece of bark or twigs, to bits and pieces from the recycling bin.

Take your creation to the water

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*SUPPLIES *
For wooden rafts and boats: small straight branches or twigs, raffia (or string or twine), fabric scraps, needle and thread
For recycled boats: juice or milk carton washing up bottle (any item that floats) discarded paper, twigs, modeling clay

1 The simplest wooden vessel to make is a raft; add a sail and it not only looks more like a boat but the sail will push it across the water. Collect an assortment of small, fallen branches and twigs and look out for straighter wood. Decide how large you want your boat to be, trim the branches to that length and line them up to check the overall size. When you have the size you like, take a long piece of raffia and tie the centre of the length of raffia around the end of one of the trimmed branches. Note: Do not pull the raffia too tight or it might break, it’s okay if the branches are a little loose. Take the ends of the raffia and tie another branch the same way around the end right next to the other one. Keep adding branches and tying them until you’ve tied all of the branches together. Then tie the opposite ends of the branches together with raffia in the same way.

2 Make the boat more stable by tying a support branch across each end of the branches where you tied the raffia. Secure these branches by tying one end with raffia, then thread the raffia around the top branch and down around the lower branches. Continue threading until you reach the end and tie it off. Repeat on the other side of the raft. Make a sail for your boat by cutting a scrap of cloth into a triangle with a 90-degree angle. You may want to cut the triangle out of a piece of paper first and hold it up to the boat to determine the size sail you want; then use the paper sail for a pattern to cut out the cloth. At this stage >
> you may want to decorate the sailcloth with embroidery or patches.

3 Lay a straight twig over the cloth edge opposite the 90-degree angle and fold the cloth over the twig. Using a needle and thread, stitch the twig to the cloth. Add a twig to the bottom of the sail to create a “boom” and attach it with a needle and thread in a few places. Next take a long twig for a mast. Measure it against the boat to determine the height you’d like it to be and add about 5cm to its base (extra length is needed when you attach the sail to the boat). Stitch the remaining edge of the sail to the mast in a few places and leave a little room at the top for a flag. Stitch a small flag to the top of the mast if you wish. Wedge the sail between two of the twigs of the boat. If the mast is loose, tighten it at the base by tieing raffia tightly around the mast base and the twigs of the boat or wedge in a little modelling clay to tighten it. Set it to sail on a pond, stream, a bowl or the bath.

4 Make boats from recycled materials.
Position a juice carton flat on its side so the triangular part of its top points up and cut off one side. The triangle will form the bow of the boat. Take a piece of paper and cut out two pirate ship style sails, one slightly smaller than the other.

5 Trim a stick to the right length to form a mast and thread the sails on to the twig, the largest first. A flag can be attached to the top of the mast.

6 Roll a ball of modelling clay in your hands and centre it in the bottom of the carton and stick it down; then push the mast into the ball of clay.

Note: Boat making is a great summertime activity for a group of children, just provide a pile of parts and see what they build. After the building, hold a regatta. In addition to the boats, small sailors and pirates can be made using materials that float, like clothes pegs or empty thread spools with wooden beads for heads.
Download a template for the sails here

Joan Gorman is a full-time mum, part-time art teacher and contributes the fantastic crafts pages inside every edition of The Green Parent magazine. Visit her lovely blog for inspiration.