Don't Green Wash your Holidays

If the spirit moves you to look at the holidays this year through eco-colored glasses, why not go green beyond just how you shop or create gifts. Here are a couple of resources for Recycling your Christmas Trees or how to Green Your Menorah. Even if you aren't celebrating either of those specific holidays, you might get some ideas or at least your creative juices flowing through surfing the web on this topic.

Healthy Toys this Holiday Season

Dangerous chemicals like lead and arsenic are not healthy for anyone, especially for developing children. Yet, when the Ecology Center, a Michigan-based nonprofit, tested over 1,500 popular children's toys for lead, cadmium, arsenic, PVC and other harmful chemicals, they found that one in three toys tested were found to contain "medium" or "high" levels of chemicals of concern.

Let's make sure the toys that are purchased this season are safe and healthy for our children. Please take a look at the information that MomsRising has collected to help clarify and to share the message with others.

What's In Your Milk?

Most of us are familiar with the "rBGH free" stamp of approval on a variety of dairy products we see while shopping. Curious to know more facts about what that really means? Take a quick look at the Cancer Prevention Coalition feature article about Samuel S. Epstein's new book exposing industry and government cover-ups on the DANGERS of Genetically Modified Milk consumption. I whole heartedly agree with the idea of cancer prevention as opposed to the model of "finding a cure."

How It All Works

Like all good things it has taken time to figure out how this eco-friendly service will come to fruition, and part of that includes not only all the "Mother Herb Basics" listed to the right, but also what our customers will do to aid in that sustenance.

AT HOME ORIENTATION: Upon agreement of our service, I will personally come to your home and give you an orientation on the service. How to fold your diapers (for a boy or girl), use (or no use) of snappy diaper pins, how often to change the baby, the procedure for soiled diapers, choosing a designated site for diaper pick-up and drop-off and payment cycle, and to answer any questions you might have about cloth diapering. There will also be step-by-step procedures with pictures on the blog or website and printable versions available for those who need it.

DO I BUY THE DIAPERS?
Basically, it's like the customer is renting diapers from Mother Herb. We provide you with your chosen weekly amount based on what the average baby uses and then after a two week cycle, you will be receiving back the diapers that you started with and we'll have a better idea of how many you need. Each week you will be getting back the same diapers your baby used.

HOW WILL THEY GET TO ME?
Before your baby is born Mother Herb will deliver your first weeks worth of diapers, so when they arrive you'll be ready. Let us know when the baby has been born and we'll start up your regular cycle. Each week you will place the re-usable wet bag filled with your soiled diapers in the designated pick-up spot at your home on your pick up day, and it will be replaced with a clean re-usable wet bag filled with more fresh diapers.

WHAT DO I DO WITH THE SOILED DIAPER?
To ensure the integrity and longevity of our diapers, we ask that you remove all solid waste from the diapers before putting them in the pail. Though our own experience and research we have found that dunking the diapers in the toilet before placing them in the pail helps reduce staining (keep in mind we're not bleaching our diapers, though we will use natural stain removing detergents), and minimizes the strong urine odor that accumulates over a week. If the thought of touching your hands to toilet water makes you go germ crazy, bear in mind a good hand washing with warm water does the trick. Or you could check out this spray washer that hooks up to your toilet! Who thinks of these things?!

AGREEMENT AND PRICING
We ask that you only use our diapers for your baby's bottom. They are so wonderful you might want to use them as a blanket or sew them into a throw pillow, or place them over your shoulder for your baby to spit up on, or use them to sop up a spill, but don't. There are rags and burp cloths for those things.

We also ask for a four week commitment to start up your service.

Our pricing is being finalized, and will be posted when it is complete. It is our goal to offer prices that are competitive to purchasing Seventh Generation Disposables, or other unbleached chemical free disposables.

MISSION STATEMENT

To create a needed service with an approach that is sustainable.

Essentially, this idea came about when it came to diapering my own baby, again! I realized I had standards for how best to accommodate this natural process that were similar to many other families. Using only plant-based detergents that were gentle against baby's skin, and freshening diapers with only non-chlorine bleach. I even have experimented with Elimination Communication. And as we all strive to make ecological choices in our everyday lives, we often invest more time in doing those extra movements. Thus, time reserved with family, friends, and community becomes lessened. It's a hope of mine to free up some of that time, and create another avenue for people to make connections with each other.

Once I started doing more research on the environmental impacts of cloth vs. disposable, it was like adding fuel to my fire. I was feeling more and more dedicated to getting this idea off the ground. It was astonishing to find out that only 5% of families in America use cloth diapers. Not to mention that disposables are the 3rd largest solid waste stream in landfills.

There are so many ways we can shift simple everyday tasks into a stronger alignment with a sustainable future. Making the choice to use organic unbleached cotton diapers was a simple one. The purchase of thousands of diapers that were used without harmful pesticides or chemicals not only supports the strength of the organic movement, and ensures more healthy soil tilled, but optimal skin health as well.

In another effort to save resources, I aim to use less gas and minimize my carbon footprint by biking when possible to pick up and drop off diapers. I plan to bike the Northampton area in good weather, and drive to surrounding towns and utilize central drop off sites. Please utilize the survey to the right to give your thoughts on this idea.

I envision an open forum taking place on the website (or blog for now) where questions, ideas, and successes can be shared among other cloth diapering parents. What diaper covers they prefer, how to deal with diapering on the go, etc. Or even just as another avenue to meet other like-minded families and build connections in the area.

I appreciate that you've taken the time to share in this idea with me. If you have other ideas to add, or are interested in becoming a customer or know others who would, please contact me at angiejgregory@gmail.com. I'm excited to build the movement with others towards a sustainable future!