Guess who just got one step closer to becoming the QUEEN of GREEN lunches? Oui, c'est moi! Not only is my 6 year old carrying waste-less lunches, but now my preschooler has her own reusable snack/sandwich bag by ReSnackIt. This is the work of Avon, CT "mompreneur" Kristin Webster on a quest to create waste-free lunches and drop the plastic bag habit. Picked up a gender-neutral orange design at Whole Foods so that it gets maybe a little more use in that maybe my son might use it too, but I can already see we'll picking up more of these for days when we're out running errands, etc. My son has his eye on the skateboard print!
Newly Reported Dangers of Pesticides
As if there weren't enough health risks posed by pesticides, new studies reported this week have associated certain pesticides (or residues) to ADHD in children. Read the Time Magazine article here. All the more reason for me to keep up my garden and continue to buy organic produce. I do hear a lot of people say that organic isn't affordable, and if you only shop at the local supermarket, it's not only expensive, but it's pretty lousy too (*with the exception of the frozen store-brand organic produce - I think those are pretty good.) I agree with both statements. I do 4 things to keep my organic spending in check. 1.) No secret - I grow my own. 2.) I shop at Trader Joe's, where organic doesn't cost an arm & a leg. Sure, I have to drive 30 minutes to get there, but I combine trips or stop when I have to be in the area for work, and a neighbor and I pick up stuff for each other when one of us makes the trip. 3.) I shop Whole Foods too - but only the organics that are on sale. 4.) I follow the Shopper's Guide to Pesticides with the Dirty Dozen & the Clean 15:
The Dirty Dozen (Worst at the top)
Celery
Peaches
Strawberries
Apples
Blueberries
Nectarines
Bell Peppers
Spinach
Kale
Cherries
Potatoes
Grapes (Imported)
The Clean 15 (Best at the top)
Onion
Avocado
Sweet Corn
Pineapple
Mango
Sweet Peas
Asparagus
Kiwi
Cabbage
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Grapefruit
Sweet Potato
Honeydew Melon
Would you like to read a disturbing statistic? (You may want to avert your eyes or skip over this part.) I read that if a person gets their 5 servings of fruits & veggies a day from the items on the dirty dozen list, they're probably ingesting 10 pesticides a day. Does that turn your stomach? I'm NOT feeding my kids 10 pesticides a day! I got that from foodnews.org, and while I don't necessarily trust everything I read, it's a reminder that it's so very important to thoroughly WASH any produce.
On a different note, I realize I haven't been sharing as much info on the GREEN side of real estate/home improvement lately. It seems I keep getting excited about so many topics these days. For those of you who've shared with me your dreams of building GREEN, I will have an interview coming up soon with friends here in CT who has been going through the GREEN building process for almost a year now. We'll talk about the things you need to know and what advice they have for those of you looking into environmentally-friendly homes & construction.
Finally I want to pay my respects to a former real estate client of mine who passed away unexpectedly yesterday. I found her to be both a spit-fire and an elegant lady, and we shared a love for our gardens as well as our copies of Martha Stewart Magazine. Rest in Peace, Helen Condon.
Newly Reported Dangers of Pesticides
As if there weren't enough health risks posed by pesticides, new studies reported this week have associated certain pesticides (or residues) to ADHD in children. Read the Time Magazine article here. All the more reason for me to keep up my garden and continue to buy organic produce. I do hear a lot of people say that organic isn't affordable, and if you only shop at the local supermarket, it's not only expensive, but it's pretty lousy too (*with the exception of the frozen store-brand organic produce - I think those are pretty good.) I agree with both statements. I do 4 things to keep my organic spending in check. 1.) No secret - I grow my own. 2.) I shop at Trader Joe's, where organic doesn't cost an arm & a leg. Sure, I have to drive 30 minutes to get there, but I combine trips or stop when I have to be in the area for work, and a neighbor and I pick up stuff for each other when one of us makes the trip. 3.) I shop Whole Foods too - but only the organics that are on sale. 4.) I follow the Shopper's Guide to Pesticides with the Dirty Dozen & the Clean 15:
The Dirty Dozen (Worst at the top)
Celery
Peaches
Strawberries
Apples
Blueberries
Nectarines
Bell Peppers
Spinach
Kale
Cherries
Potatoes
Grapes (Imported)
The Clean 15 (Best at the top)
Onion
Avocado
Sweet Corn
Pineapple
Mango
Sweet Peas
Asparagus
Kiwi
Cabbage
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Grapefruit
Sweet Potato
Honeydew Melon
Would you like to read a disturbing statistic? (You may want to avert your eyes or skip over this part.) I read that if a person gets their 5 servings of fruits & veggies a day from the items on the dirty dozen list, they're probably ingesting 10 pesticides a day. Does that turn your stomach? I'm NOT feeding my kids 10 pesticides a day! I got that from foodnews.org, and while I don't necessarily trust everything I read, it's a reminder that it's so very important to thoroughly WASH any produce.
On a different note, I realize I haven't been sharing as much info on the GREEN side of real estate/home improvement lately. It seems I keep getting excited about so many topics these days. For those of you who've shared with me your dreams of building GREEN, I will have an interview coming up soon with friends here in CT who has been going through the GREEN building process for almost a year now. We'll talk about the things you need to know and what advice they have for those of you looking into environmentally-friendly homes & construction.
Finally I want to pay my respects to a former real estate client of mine who passed away unexpectedly yesterday. I found her to be both a spit-fire and an elegant lady, and we shared a love for our gardens as well as our copies of Martha Stewart Magazine. Rest in Peace, Helen Condon.
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