1. Build Healthy Habits

2. Make Use of What Nature Has to Offer

• Make our costumes; the more I can upcycle the better (signed up for a basic sewing class!)
• Buy pre-packaged treats to offer kids at the door (I just ordered fair trade chocolates from Global Exchange) including non-food options like stickers and pencils, but make (more alluring) homemade stuff for the kids we know -- like caramel apples or silly looking cookies
• Get my kids to collect for Unicef
• Order kit to educate adults about fair-trade chocolate issues (from Global Exchange - deadline is Oct. 1 for groups and Oct. 13 for individuals)
• Make our decorations (ghosts out of tissues or handkerchiefs, paper-and-paint old-school decor)
• Head out to the country for apple picking, hay rides, and selecting the perfect jack o'lantern from the pumpkin patch
• Have a blast carving pumpkins and eating roasted pumpkin seeds
]]>
{Originally published on Surely You Nest}

Well, my friends. It’s that time of year again. Time to snap those wallets shut and think about the true meaning of the holidays (even if you are not religious). I really love tradition, and celebrating with my family and friends. And usually, making the green choice involves having forethought and carefully planning how to tackle an event. So here are a few successful strategies I’ve found for limiting the giving-and-getting beast over the upcoming holiday season. Consider this a to-do-list for myself for the fall.

Halloween

• Make our costumes; the more I can upcycle the better (signed up for a basic sewing class!)
• Buy pre-packaged treats to offer kids at the door (I just ordered fair trade chocolates from Global Exchange) including non-food options like stickers and pencils, but make (more alluring) homemade stuff for the kids we know — like caramel apples or silly looking cookies
• Get my kids to collect for Unicef
• Order kit to educate adults about fair-trade chocolate issues (from Global Exchange – deadline is Oct. 1 for groups and Oct. 13 for individuals)
• Make our decorations (ghosts out of tissues or handkerchiefs, paper-and-paint old-school decor)
• Head out to the country for apple picking, hay rides, and selecting the perfect jack o’lantern from the pumpkin patch
• Have a blast carving pumpkins and eating roasted pumpkin seeds

Thanksgiving

• Bask in the brief, merciful respite from sugar-laden and gift-glorching holidays
• Eat favorite family goodies like oyster stuffing, stuffed peppers, and make-ahead potatoes; take walk through woods if weather allows
• Cook and then wolf down some of these pumpkin goodies (note to self: cook actual pumpkins to make puree rather than using BPA-lined cans)
• Read books on giving thanks and make a Tree of Thanks like my sister-in-law did last Thanksgiving (cut out kid-sized hands out of construction paper; everyone take a moment to write notes before dinner; have everyone read aloud, then attach to branch centerpiece)

Christmas

• Try to get family members to get sustainable/used goods that we really want/need
• If we can stop ourselves and others from celebrating with things (depends on the relationship), ask for donations to charities we love
• Give others homemade items (shop Crafty Bastards today! shop Etsy online)
• Give the gift of time (babysit, shovel snow, rake leaves, make dinner, walk dogs, corral kids into playdates, generally allow people you love to breathe)
• Make sure that the holidays are about special traditions (like seeing lights/holiday displays, making gingerbread houses, singing carols, reading special stories, seeing loved ones)
• When wrapping gifts, use reusable cloth bags instead of wrapping paper; if using giftwrap, buy recycled and reuse both it and the ribbons

Don’t Forget the Solstice!
One of the most wonderful things about this time of year is the ancient tradition of honoring the seasonal changes as the light dwindles and the evergreens promise ongoing life. Honoring nature adds to the wonder of the winter holidays.

Take A Breath
And a final note to self? Relax! Remember that even if your darling children have never eaten anything but hemp granola for breakfast, they won’t grow a third arm if Lucky Charms come in that Christmas stocking (hey, my children’s Easter Bunny brings fresh spring vegetables… couldn’t Santa just bring pickled carrots? I’m just sayin!) ‘Cause although I wrestle every year with the emotional connections we sometimes build through giving vs. the materialism that undermines the genuine sharing and love of the holidays, I do think that we all need ways to kindle warmth with each other. Hope you have a great fall building traditions with your families and strengthening your ties to your community.

This is my contribution to this month’s Green Moms Carnival, hosted on Monday, Sept. 29 by GreenBeanDreams. Go check out the other entries on the commercialization of the holiday

Editor’s Pick by Amy Turn Sharp of Doobleh-vay : I love to read Surely You Nest each and every time she posts. I learn so much about the green lifestyle and Eco friendly child rearing from mamabird! I love that she has passion and wisdom to share!

Please check out her blog and subscribe for her great information, writing, and tips like these.


]]> http://storybleed.com/2008/10/the-sweet-cha-ching-of-the-holidays/feed/ 1 http://storybleed.com/2008/10/sustainable-kitchen-project/ http://storybleed.com/2008/10/sustainable-kitchen-project/#comments Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:03:36 +0000 Megan Jordan http://74.220.219.67/~blognosh/?p=137 {Originally posted on Kelby Carr} When I decided to work at home most days, a major MAJOR factor was having more time to make good food for my family. I wanted to use more fresh ingredients, and make more things from scratch. Oh, in my mind, I would be the uber foodie mom, baking and creating and freezing and canning and doing various fun food things. I should totally have a sustainable kitchen. In my kitchen, I have gadgets for making yogurt, juice, pasta, even sausage. I have a bread maker missing just one piece. Besides that, I have the knowledge (or the ability to Google and find out) to make any number of things from scratch. I have plenty of land to grow my own stuff, and I live in Asheville, NC where it is super easy to find cool locally grown produce. Yet, my gadgets and cookbooks are gathering dust. I still hit the Super-Walmart so I can super consume. I spend $200-plus at least once a week on groceries. And I do still, sometimes (although definitely less and less often as I am at home more), give my children processed, packaged crap. OK, I said it. I may be a foodie mom, but I am a real mom. I am buying things in extra packaging for extra money and being totally non-green when I could just make and store things at home. Criticize away, if you must. I blame life and having lots of work and having three kids and all of that. But when my twins were babies, I was working full-time and making homemade baby food and pumping milk for them to have at daycare. It wasn’t easy, and I was pretty much psychotically exhausted. But it should be even easier now, much easier. So I clearly CAN do it. So I’ve decided I will create this public Sustainable Kitchen Project as a way to motivate myself, to keep myself honest, to connect with other moms who want a more self-sustaining kitchen, and to track my progress. I’ve already started in a few ways, and I’ll post about these very soon. For example, we are starting an organic vegetable garden. Here is a lettuce seedling I’ve started:]]>

{Originally posted on Kelby Carr}

When I decided to work at home most days, a major MAJOR factor was having more time to make good food for my family. I wanted to use more fresh ingredients, and make more things from scratch. Oh, in my mind, I would be the uber foodie mom, baking and creating and freezing and canning and doing various fun food things. I should totally have a sustainable kitchen.

In my kitchen, I have gadgets for making yogurt, juice, pasta, even sausage. I have a bread maker missing just one piece. Besides that, I have the knowledge (or the ability to Google and find out) to make any number of things from scratch. I have plenty of land to grow my own stuff, and I live in Asheville, NC where it is super easy to find cool locally grown produce.

Yet, my gadgets and cookbooks are gathering dust. I still hit the Super-Walmart so I can super consume. I spend $200-plus at least once a week on groceries. And I do still, sometimes (although definitely less and less often as I am at home more), give my children processed, packaged crap. OK, I said it. I may be a foodie mom, but I am a real mom. I am buying things in extra packaging for extra money and being totally non-green when I could just make and store things at home. Criticize away, if you must.

I blame life and having lots of work and having three kids and all of that. But when my twins were babies, I was working full-time and making homemade baby food and pumping milk for them to have at daycare. It wasn’t easy, and I was pretty much psychotically exhausted. But it should be even easier now, much easier. So I clearly CAN do it.

So I’ve decided I will create this public Sustainable Kitchen Project as a way to motivate myself, to keep myself honest, to connect with other moms who want a more self-sustaining kitchen, and to track my progress. I’ve already started in a few ways, and I’ll post about these very soon. For example, we are starting an organic vegetable garden. Here is a lettuce seedling I’ve started:



And I made orange juice this week:



Here are just some of the things I want to do as part of my Sustainable Kitchen Project. Hey, are there some I am not thinking to list? Let me know…

• Grow herbs, vegetables and fruit
• Make juices, teas and sodas
• Make yogurt
• Make pasta
• Bake breads
• Start a compost
• Buy more local produce and products
• Learn to preserve items when they are local and fresh with freezing, canning, etc.
• Make jams and other condiments
• Make butter
• Make beer and wine
• Make cheese (can that be done at home? that would be coool!)

I know I’m forgetting some. I’ll also keep track of the grocery bill, and any other side effects and impacts of the project.

Wish me luck with my self-sustaining kitchen!

Editors Pick by Catnip at Catnip and Coffee. You may know her as Type-A Mom, or as Foodie Mama, or by Kelby Carr, but no matter which name she’s using she completely rocks! I was inspired to set my own goals for a sustainable kitchen after I read this post. Thanks Kelby, for that little push! Don’t forget you can subscribe to her feed and chat with her on twitter!

]]> http://storybleed.com/2008/10/sustainable-kitchen-project/feed/ 6 http://storybleed.com/2008/09/good-porches-make-good-neighbors/ http://storybleed.com/2008/09/good-porches-make-good-neighbors/#comments Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:00:59 +0000 Megan Jordan http://74.220.219.67/~blognosh/?p=123 Originally posted on Mommy's Martini. One of my most vivid childhood memories is sitting in the dark, on the screened-in porch of my next-door-neighbor's house, and listening to the grown-ups talking. In the moist, heavy heat of a Georgia summer, the little ceiling fan on the porch would force a breeze, and the crickets would begin to chirp as night fell. The puffs of wind beyond the screens carried the faint scent of magnolia blossoms, and the asphalt twinkled with embedded sparkles in the pools of golden streetlamp light where hard-shelled Junebugs gathered. There was no light on the porch, so as to avoid attracting insects, and as the darkness gathered closer and enclosed our little room, I felt cocooned in an almost magical place. We lived in a house on a horseshoe shaped block of homes that had been built for returning GIs after WWII. Every single house on our street had the same front bathroom (what had once been the only bathroom), with the identical pattern of black-and-white tile on the floor and walls. You know the pattern; it's very like the "retro" one you can buy at big box home DIY stores now, except there is something different, a bit glossier, and better, about the original. We all had the original. These were small houses -- two front rooms, a kitchen, bath, two bedrooms -- that had been added onto over time so that by the time we lived there in the early 1980s, they all had a slightly different footprint. Except for three things: that central black-and-white bathroom, the wide front stoop, and the porch. Some houses (like ours) had enclosed the porch. But not next door.]]> Originally posted on Mommy’s Martini.

One of my most vivid childhood memories is sitting in the dark, on the screened-in porch of my next-door-neighbor’s house, and listening to the grown-ups talking. In the moist, heavy heat of a Georgia summer, the little ceiling fan on the porch would force a breeze, and the crickets would begin to chirp as night fell. The puffs of wind beyond the screens carried the faint scent of magnolia blossoms, and the asphalt twinkled with embedded sparkles in the pools of golden streetlamp light where hard-shelled Junebugs gathered. There was no light on the porch, so as to avoid attracting insects, and as the darkness gathered closer and enclosed our little room, I felt cocooned in an almost magical place.

We lived in a house on a horseshoe shaped block of homes that had been built for returning GIs after WWII. Every single house on our street had the same front bathroom (what had once been the only bathroom), with the identical pattern of black-and-white tile on the floor and walls. You know the pattern; it’s very like the “retro” one you can buy at big box home DIY stores now, except there is something different, a bit glossier, and better, about the original. We all had the original.

These were small houses — two front rooms, a kitchen, bath, two bedrooms — that had been added onto over time so that by the time we lived there in the early 1980s, they all had a slightly different footprint. Except for three things: that central black-and-white bathroom, the wide front stoop, and the porch. Some houses (like ours) had enclosed the porch. But not next door.

The people next door were about 10 years older than our grandparents. Although we were taught to call the parents of most of our school friends Mr. and Mrs. Lastname, these grandparently souls next door were known simply at Teta (pronounced tee-tuh) and John. “Teta” was the lisping toddler pronunciation of her real name, Teresa. And as so many of the children on the street had grown up thinking of her as their local grandmother, they had stuck to calling her Teta even when they could speak better.

I don’t remember talking much myself on her porch. At least, not after the darkness settled in. On summer nights, between the ages of about 11 and 14, I had few options for how to spend my time once the dinner dishes were done: read, play kick-the-can with the kids on the block, babysit for $1 an hour, or go sit on Teta’s porch. We tended to call our games over once it got really dark; sometimes we would stay out talking till our parents called us in; sometimes the party would break up earlier. On any night with nothing else pressing going on, I would go to Teta’s house before it got quite dark — strategically early enough to get my favorite chair, a low wooden rocker.

We would talk, and she would tell me stories of her childhood growing up in Greenwood, Mississippi in the early 1920s. She had 10 (or 7?) brothers and sisters, the youngest of whom was called Hattie. Poor little Hattie was always getting into scrapes — dared to swing on the trapeze they’d rigged in the attic, then left hanging there, stuck half upside down, while the rest of them trooped on to the next activity. I don’t actually recall many of the specific stories she told, though I do recall her voice, the soft slight accent on some words, the exclamation of surprise that stood for any occasion that one might need a swear word, “Well, GAR-den SEED!” And I recall that as it got darker, Teta’s porch door would squeak slightly when a neighbor opened it, then bang smartly shut thanks to its spring, while someone new settled down into a chair for a chat. Sometimes it was gardening. Or children. Or I don’t know what else. I would sit in my corner in the dark and listen, loving the stories, the ritual, the sound of the door welcoming each new visitor with a wooden smack that reassuringly promised to keep out the bugs. I know that the woodwork holding the screens taut was painted white. I know that we (for I was not the only girl hunkered down there on the porch, though in my mind’s eye, I am the one there most frequently) were occasionally allowed, if we called our mothers to ask permission first, to drink an ice-cold “co-cola” from a little glass bottle. I know that most women brought their own large tumblers filled with iced tea as they sauntered over to Teta’s for a chat.

In my memory, there were only ever women on her porch. John took the little terrier, Barney, for a walk every evening, and saluted the talking ladies with a wave and a nod as he exited the house, but otherwise, we never saw him. Or any other husband or father that I recall.

This screened porch was a woman’s sanctuary. A place to relax, tell stories, laugh, reminisce, soothe heartache, talk about the neighbors, plan parties. A place to connect.

In retrospect, I see that the magic I felt when I sat in that rocker sipping my drink was the simple magic of being part of a community. I knew everyone on the street, knew my way to their fridges and bathrooms, knew the best hiding spots in their yards, knew the names of their parents and the teachers of their kids. I knew whose door had won the decorating contest at Christmas and whose had been kicked at by “The Prowler.” I knew the names and ages of every single one of the 30 odd kids who lived “around the block.”

And I knew, when I sat in my favorite rocker on Teta’s porch, that I would hear something that I did not already know. Something that I would be glad to know. Whether it was useful or merely funny, a curiosity or a necessity, I would learn something new every single night on her porch, at the same time that I was learning something very very old–the power of community.

As it turns summer here in Michigan, I miss those days immensely. Don’t get me wrong; I have some dear and lovely friends who live both near and far, and I am beginning to knit myself into a new community online too. I can call my friends, and make lunch dates, and email, and have an occasional girls’ night out. What I am missing is not love or the intimacy of good friends. What I miss is neighborliness. Having lived in my house for five years this summer, I can only tell you the names of families in four houses on my street. No one has a screened-in porch, much less an open door policy where neighbors just wander over, drinks in hand, and pull up a chair without an invitation. For on Teta’s porch, an invitation would have been extended only to a stranger. The guest of a neighbor, for example, would have been politely offered the best chair (the big wooden rocker) as well as some sweet tea. Everyone else just pulled open the door and sat on what was available. The rules were simple: if Teta wasn’t home, the door was latched; if she was, you came in, and you didn’t expect her to serve you anything except some delightful talk.

Perhaps there are still neighborhoods like this. I like to think there are. I like to think that somewhere adolescent girls are knitting themselves into the fabric of womanhood through the simple power of presence and talking. Perhaps I am over romanticizing. But I do wish that my own daughter could grow up secure in the sanctity of the screened-in porch, surrounded by stories of love and work, sun-tea making and gardening, childhood and milestones, until the nights wove themselves together into a tapestry of shared experience.

Editors pick by Catnip at Catnip and Coffee. So much of what it means to make a house a real home is to belong to a community. That’s exactly why I chose to put this post from MommyTime in the Homemaking Channel. MommyTime is a fellow Blog Nosh Editor over on the Family Channel and you can find more of her beautiful words at Mommy’s Martini. Don’t forget to subscribe to her feed and follow her on twitter!

]]> http://storybleed.com/2008/09/good-porches-make-good-neighbors/feed/ 4 http://storybleed.com/2008/09/symbiosis/ http://storybleed.com/2008/09/symbiosis/#comments Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:00:00 +0000 Megan Jordan http://74.220.219.67/~blognosh/?p=143 {Originally published on Soy is the New Black} It amazes me again each year that from the humblest beginnings, little dry seeds and tiny seedlings can grow with such fury. Reaching toward the sky. Rambling out of their beds. Stretching twining tendrils. Completing life's cycle as Mother Nature intended. ]]>

{Originally published on Soy is the New Black}

It amazes me again each year that from the humblest beginnings, little dry seeds and tiny seedlings can grow with such fury. Reaching toward the sky. Rambling out of their beds. Stretching twining tendrils. Completing life’s cycle as Mother Nature intended.



We are ego-centric to think that they do it for us. Because we want to nibble on tender peas or pluck a sun-warmed grape tomato and pop it in our mouths.

They are the ones in charge, not us. They manipulate us into coddling them through late spring frosts, quenching their thirsts in the dry July heat, keeping predators at bay.

We make a hand-shake deal when we pull back the warm earth, dirt beneath our nails, and welcome them to their new home. We promise to love, nurture, and cherish. They promise to be fruitful and multiply.

But when we plant a garden, we are given more than just fruit.

Editors Pick by Catnip at Catnip and Coffee. This beautiful post is from Leeanthro at Soy is the New Black. I can completely relate to her eclectic mix of blog posts and her tagline says it all: family, food, foraging, and frivolity. I would add fun! You can subscribe to Soy is the Black, and follow Leeanthro on Twitter.

]]> http://storybleed.com/2008/09/symbiosis/feed/ 2 http://storybleed.com/2008/08/bpa-better-safe/ http://storybleed.com/2008/08/bpa-better-safe/#comments Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:00:00 +0000 Megan Jordan http://74.220.219.67/~blognosh/?p=114 Originally posted on Diary of a Modern Matriarch. I'm sure you have all heard on the news and media about the safety of the plastics we use, specifically in baby bottles, sippy cups, bowls, etc., especially regarding the chemical Bisphenol-A. In case you've been living in a cave, here is what it is: From the Green Guide: "Depending on whom you talk to, BPA is either perfectly safe or a dangerous health risk. The plastics industry says it is harmless, but a growing number of scientists are concluding, from some animal tests, that exposure to BPA in the womb raises the risk of certain cancers, hampers fertility and could contribute to childhood behavioral problems such as hyperactivity. According to its critics, BPA mimics naturally occurring estrogen, a hormone that is part of the endocrine system, the body's finely tuned messaging service. "These hormones control the development of the brain, the reproductive system and many other systems in the developing fetus," says Frederick Saal, Ph.D., a developmental biologist at the University of Missouri. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals can duplicate, block or exaggerate hormonal responses. "The most harm is to the unborn or newborn child," Saal says.]]>

Originally posted on Diary of a Modern Matriarch.

I’m sure you have all heard on the news and media about the safety of the plastics we use, specifically in baby bottles, sippy cups, bowls, etc., especially regarding the chemical Bisphenol-A. In case you’ve been living in a cave, here is what it is:

From the Green Guide:

“Depending on whom you talk to, BPA is either perfectly safe or a dangerous health risk. The plastics industry says it is harmless, but a growing number of scientists are concluding, from some animal tests, that exposure to BPA in the womb raises the risk of certain cancers, hampers fertility and could contribute to childhood behavioral problems such as hyperactivity.

According to its critics, BPA mimics naturally occurring estrogen, a hormone that is part of the endocrine system, the body’s finely tuned messaging service. “These hormones control the development of the brain, the reproductive system and many other systems in the developing fetus,” says Frederick Saal, Ph.D., a developmental biologist at the University of Missouri. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals can duplicate, block or exaggerate hormonal responses. “The most harm is to the unborn or newborn child,” Saal says.

Plastic water and baby bottles, food and beverage can linings and dental sealants are the most commonly encountered uses of this chemical. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stay put. BPA has been found to leach from bottles into babies’ milk or formula; it migrates from can liners into foods and soda and from epoxy resin-lined vats into wine; and it is found in the mouths of people who’ve recently had their teeth sealed. Ninety-five percent of Americans were found to have the chemical in their urine in a 2004 biomonitoring study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

For other informational videos and articles on the topic, all you need to do is google it, and there is more than 60 pages of websites. Or click here for a portal to all media stories on the topic.

Most concerning for me is this, “Bisphenol A is a hormone disruptor. Studies have linked low-dose BPA exposure with such effects as: permanent changes to genital tract; increase prostate weight; decline in testosterone; breast cells predisposed to cancer; prostate cells more sensitive to hormones and cancer; and hyperactivity.”

Both Canada and Germany have moved to ban the use of this chemical in their plastics, which you can find most commonly in Recycling #7 items. (Check the bottom of your plastics to see which are which, and click here for explanations of the recycling numbers).

Normally, I’m not on the freak-out bandwagon when the media focuses on one thing or another. But my own research, combined with the fact that other countries have moved to BAN this chemical based on their own research studies, currently has me in a tizzy.

Of course, the plastics company has this website dedicated to proving to us that their products is safe. But that isn’t surprising. A billion-dollar industry isn’t going to admit any wrong doings, and will find scientific facts to back up their product so long as the FDA and our country approve its use.

The Dr. Brown’s bottles I fed my daughter from were unsafe (they now have a BPA-free line). Her pacifiers (Avent) are on the “dangerous” list. Some of the sippy cups we used were also made from BPA products. The Del Monte mandarin oranges in the to-go containers are made with #7 plastic. Our water cooler bottles (the 5-gallon jugs) are made with it. What scares me the most about the water cooler jugs is that they can’t be truly recycled so they sterilize and reuse them for up to six months. This means further breaking down of the plastics from this process. And I drink from this thinking it was safer than tap water. I was wrong. It seems it’s everywhere.

I had heard the warnings but muted them in my head. One more thing for the media to rile people up about. Last week fish is great for you for Omegas. This week it will kill you with mercury. Red meat is an excellent source of iron. Red meat will give you a heart attack. Running is good for your heart. Running will kill your joints. I never listen, and do my own research to get the answers I need. In this case, I only wish I listened sooner. Much like the use of asbestos, other countries banned it first while our country convinced us that it was safe. Only until they could link specific lung cancers to asbestos did our country ban it. In this case, I am not waiting for my daughter to get uterine cancer, or my son to have low levels of testosterone before I act.

I have spent the last two days on this laptop researching this and have done the following: thrown away all of the unsafe baby products as well as our plastic drinking cups; canceled our water cooler service; emailed GoodStart (the formula we will most likely use with Sawyer since we loved it with Charlotte) to ask if their cans are lined with BPA, which some cans are; bought stainless steel travel mugs for me and Mike for our water at work (NOT lined in plastic -just steel) ordered stainless steel sippy cups (Foogoo brand stainless steel sippy cups are also available at Target); ordered bamboo plates and bowls for Charlotte; thrown away all of her pacifiers and am going to replace them with safe ones.

We can use glass or ceramic but she carries her bowls around and that is unsafe, which is why bamboo is a great option. I also plan to use Dr. Brown’s new glass bottle line for Sawyer for when we’re in the house and I can be safe, and the Born-Free bottles for travel and such. For water, we can’t use our local tap water because it is NASTY, so I’m going to buy a steel water filter for the sink.

I know I probably seem a bit nuts about all of this, but just go read and watch and research yourself. Then maybe I won’t seem so nuts.

Have any of you switched over to BPA-free products? Do you buy into the hype about its safety or do you just figure it’s something else for the media to harp on? What do you use for yourself and your babies? For me, even through the media frenzy, I’d rather be safe than sorry.

SafeMama is another site you can check out for links to all brands (as well as recalls and other safety information). You can google “BPA free products” or check out this link, but here is a quick list for your reference:

BPA & Phthalate Free Pacifiers:

• Playtex:
  Playtex “Binky” (one piece silicone pacifier), Binky Most Like Mother
  Latex Pacifier, Binky Most Like Mother Silicone Pacifier, Binky Angled
  Pacifier, Ortho-Pro Pacifier
• Gerber: NUK Original, NUK Classic, NUK Nautical
• The First Years: Soothies Silicone Paci’s, Safe Comfort, Ultra Kip
• Vice Versa Binky w/ Case
• Natursutten Natural Rubber Paci
• EvenFlo Mimi Soft Touch, Mimi Premium, Mimi Neo One-Piece, Vizion, Fuzion and Illuzion
• Gumdrop Silicon Pacifiers

BPA & Phthalate Free Bottle Products:

• Adiri Natural Nursers
• Avent “Via” disposable bottles
• BornFree: All bottles and cups BPA free *see note
• EvenFlo: Glass bottles, Classic Tinted Polypropylene bottles
• Playtex: Original Nurser,Opaque Soft Bottle (discontinued), Playtex Drop in liners
• Gerber: Gerber Clearview, Fashion Tints (also called “Plastic Pastels”), Gerber GentleFlow
• Medela: All bottles
• Sassy MAM bottles (UltiVent), Baby Food Nurser Kit
• Green to Grow Bottles **see note
• Sassy Baby Food Nurser Kit
• ThinkBaby Bottles
• Momo Glass Bottles
• Munchkin: Dora the Explorer Classic Bottles
• Nuby:
  Standard Neck Non-Drip Bottle, Wide-Neck Non-Drip Bottle, Wide-Neck
  Bottle with Handles and Non-Drip Nipple, Standard Neck Bottle with
  Handles and Non-Drip Nipple, 3-Stage Wide Neck Easy Grip Feeding System
  with Non-Drip Nipple.
• Nuture Pure Glass bottles
• Babisil Silbottles
• Weego Glass Bottles
• Siliskin Glass Bottles
• Dr Brown’s: Glass Bottles (all vent system pieces BPA Free), Dr. Browns Polypropylene bottles (due in store’s April 15th)
• Parent’s Choice Bottles (available at Walmart) – box is marked BPA Free

BPA & Phthalate Free Sippy Cups:

• Playtex: Coolster Tumbler, Insulator, Einstein Sip & Discover Training Cup, Sipster, Create My Own, Quick Straw, Insulator Sport, Sip and Discover, First Sipster, Einstein Sip & Discover Insulated Straw Cup
• Gerber:
  Sip & Smile Spill-proof Cup, Easy Grip Insulated Soft Straw Cup,
  Insulated Cool Cup, Fun Grips Color Change Spill-proof Cup, Grins &
  Giggles Spill-proof Cup (source)
• BornFree sippy/drinking cups
• Kleen Kanteen
• Thermos Foogo Sippy Cups, and drinking bottle with straw
• SIGG Toddler Water Bottles
• Kid Basix The Safe Sippy
• Boon Sippy
• GrowPure Multi-Stage Feeder and Sippy Cup
• iPlay Aqua Bottle
• ThinkBaby Training Cup
• Sassy Snack Time Infa-Trainer Cup
• Munchkin: Cupsicle, Cupsicle Straw Cup, Big Kid Sippy
  Cup, Mighty Grip Flip Straw Cup, Mighty Grip Trainer Cup, licensed
  character Sports Bottles, Re-usable Straw Cups, Re-usable Spill-proof
  Cups
• Nuby:
  No-Spill Sports Sipper, Insulated Soft Silicone Spout Cup, Soft Spout
  Easy Grip Cup, Gripper Cup with Soft Silicone Spout, 2-Handle Cup,
  Tinted Mega Sipper, 7oz Tumblers
• The First Years: Take & Toss, Spill-proof Cup, Insulated Cup, Licensed character sippy cups, Insulated Spill-proof Cup, 2 Handled Cups

Editors pick by Catnip at Catnip and Coffee. How much do I love this post AndreAnna wrote on BPA? The extent of her research is phenomenal! This is excellent guide for anyone concerned about the effects of BPA in the products we buy. AndreAnna is not only one of the sweetest bloggers I’ve “met” but her writing is always fun and engaging. She chronicles her family life at Diary of a Modern Matriarch and is the co-founder of the food blog Chop. Stir. Mix. You can subscribe to her main blog here, and Chop. Stir. Mix here.

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