Visiting Avalon Orchards

We visited Avalon Orchard this year to pick apples with Christophe (and pick up a few things at the store, including cases of their cider, which is the cider we usually drink.

Avalon Orchards is an organic apple orchard with a u-pick operation as well as organic cider which they package in glass bottles. We're pleased with the cider, and it's difficult to find organic cider in glass bottles, so it's nice to be able to buy it at all, let alone in cases. The price on-site this year was $30 for 12 bottles, which is about $2.50 per 1L bottle.

We had a good time. I think it's likely we'll return next year. I also took some pictures, of course.

Christophe was scared of the Queen Ann's Lace; this was the only time he was willing to touch it, and immediately wanted to be picked up:
Christophe, modeling his new fox hat:



Christophe loved the tractor, although the exhaust fumes were a little much:

Pillow Talk

Now that Christophe is getting older we are looking into many new things for him - one of them a pillow.

He has now had his pillow for about 1 month and sleeps on it about half the time.

When looking for a pillow you need to consider many aspects including whether or not you feel you child is ready - if you and an inclination of doubt about your toddler and pillow then wait. I had a hard time finding definitive information as to when is it appropriate to give a pillow to a child; what I found ranged from 18months to 3 years old. Christophe is on the lower end of that scale at 18 months (when he got the pillow) however he had already been climbing onto our pillow at night since he was about 12 months old. One of the key components that I found was consistence in everyones advice is - NO PILLOWS UNTIL YOUR CHILD IS OUT OF HIS CRIB.

There are thousands of types of pillows to chose out there I wont list them all, instead I will just talk about the one we ended up choosing for him. We selected a natural shredded rubber pillow and purchased it at Grassroots; it's a custom order and took about 1 1/2 months to get to us. The reason why we chose shredded rubber over cotton or wool is that we wanted something that was machine washable and hypoallergenic. Natural and organic materials were also very important to us; therefor this pillow had it all.

At the same time we ordered one standard pillow to keep in his room from me that way I did not need to drag one of my pillows in there each time he wok and wanted me to stay with him.

So far we are happy the pillows, mine is actually one of the most comfortable pillows I have ever had. Christophe seems to enjoy his he understands it's his and it matches with mine and that makes him happy.

Beding, sheets and pillow cases

As Christophe gets older I find the need to scrutinize more and more things we buy for him (and us for that matter). A few years ago if I needed new bed sheets I would have looked for 100% cotton sheets with a 200+ thread count in a color that matches the decor of the room they are for. (We currently have beige and red in our room bought under these guidelines almost 3 years ago now)

Today now that I am a more savvy stay at home mom I need to add a few more criteria to this list - so now we are looking for:

• 100% cotton
• 200+ thread count
• Neutral color
  
• Organic
• no flame retardants
• Fair trade (optional)

Now why you may say well here goes:

100% COTTON

We like cotton the best in our house: it's a natural fiber; it's soft; it's washer and dryer safe. Their are many other natural fibers out there such as silk and hemp. I find hemp is not that soft and well silk kills thousands of little worms to make your sheets and not the most practical to wash. There are also some not so natural but claiming to be natural fibers out their such as bamboo - for more info read this great article from Inhabitat.

250+THREAD COUNT

When you get sheets you want to make sure you get good quality sheets something that will last well this is where thread count (tc) comes in. Thread count refers to the number of threads, both vertical and horizontal, in a one-inch square of fabric. With my experience I find the more you have the stronger your fabric is and the softer the fabric is. This is not the only determining factor for these but a good guide. For example we got 400 tc once and really hated the sheets. So open the package and touch them first.

NEUTRAL COLOR

I used to buy sheets in some sort of fun color to match my room and often I would end up getting rid of them before they ripped whether because I got tired of them or I changed the decor and they did not match anymore. Now we only buy unbleached or natural sheets that way all our sheets match, you don't have to worry about matching pillowcases and so one. Also no matter the decor of your room the sheets will go with it. A plus to natural sheets is they give you that hotel feel when you slip into bed.

ORGANIC (or Unconventinaly grown)

For thousands of years cotton was grown organicly and then in the 1950s pestisides came along and revolutionised the cotton industry for the worst (according to me). Cotton became more plentiful and cheep while our enviroment and health was placed at risk. Pesticides have been linked to many health issues and enviromental issues. Some of these are: fertility problems; sensory, motor, mental and psychological effects; farmers or a gardener run a greater risk of developing neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease; Effects on learning; links to cancer... All you have to do is google pestisdes and effects on your health and you will find thousands of articles.

You have to keep in mind that cotton is the most heavily sprayed crop on the planet; "twenty-five percent of all insecticide is applied to cotton. Two hundred chemicals might be applied to a single plant in one season in the United States. This translates to a third of a pound of chemicals per pound of cotton fiber. One and a quarter pounds of agricultural chemicals are used in California to produce the conventionally grown cotton in a single set of queen-sized sheets."1

Buying organic cotton products can have a large impact on the enviroment - for the positive.

NO FLAME RETARDANTS (PBDEs)

We cover everything that is man mad in flame retardants so it does not go poof if their is a fire. When the easiest solution is to surround yourself in natural fibers with no chemicals so they don't go poof if their is a fire. Flame retardants are bad when it comes to close contact with you; now don't get me wrong I think their are places where flame retardants are required but my bed sheets is not one of them.

Why are flame retardants bad? "Health Effects related to Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs): Brain and nervous system, Reproduction and fertility, Persistent and bioaccumulative, Neurotoxin; brain damage."2

FAIR TRADE

I put fair trade as optional because well, we all know fair trade is better because it garentees that the workers making our product are treated fairly and paid proper wadges. I would love to only buy items that are fair trade. However sometimes an item that meets all my other requirements will be $50 and an equivalant item that is fair trade will be $75. Most times we can justify paying more but sometimes we just can afford to do so.

The perfect sheets according to me that is...

So when we needed to get some bedding for Christophe both for his crib and now his toddler bed we looked arround at what was readily available here in Toronto that met our critarias and ended up on going with Coyuchi. These meet all of my critarias and I can get them at 2 stores that are within walking distance from my house: Kids on the Hip and Grassroots.

Depending on where you shop a fitted crib sheet will cost you about $45CND; a fitted twin sheet $80CND; and a fitted king sheet $105CND. These are well worth it we used our crib sheets for about a year and washed them once every 2 weeks and they still look like new.

1. Source Coyuchi
2. Source EWG

Green Cricket

Today Eco Friendly Friday is a review of Green Cricket, an online store that offers green lifestyle and home products in the Toronto Area.

A few weeks back we made our first order with them, it was delivered to our home by Green Cricket itself in a reusable box that we are to give back at our next order. There was no shipping cost because our order was over $75 and local. The site is extra easy to use and our service was great.

We have decided to start using them regularly for a variety of items we purchase on a semi-regular basis but used to have to visit 2 or 3 store to find them all. Such as organic coffee, diapers, wipes, parchment paper, beauty products, muffin cup liners...

During our next order we plan on also picking up this extra cute car for Christophe:

Toy Thursday: Under the Nile Fruits & Veg

Christophe's got a pretty complete collection of Under the Nile fruits and vegetables:


When he first started to babble, we got quite a few laughs out of him by holding up the banana and saying "B-b-b-b-banane!".

Eco Friendly Fridays

Pesticides:

Everyday your child under five consumes on average eight pesticides a day. You may not see an immediate reaction in your child but pesticides are know to have a cumulative effect, particularly in growing bodies and could cause health problems in the future. I will not explain all the negative effects they can have here but will share a few easy tips on how to avoid pesticides.

1. Use non toxic pest control options at home.
2. Wash and peel conventionally grown vegetables and fruits.
3. Remove an discard the outer peel of conventionally grown leafy vegetables.
4. Rotate foods so that you are not eating the same food every day. (different pesticides and amount of pesticides are used with different foods)
5. Purchase organic foods when available
6. Only purchase organic foods if you are consuming the peel or outer layer (i.e. berries, broccoli)
7. If you have the space start your own organic garden
8. When eating conventional grown foods stay away from the core of the fruit as pesticide then to accumulate near the seeds.
9. Try to only purchase organic pre-packaged goods as it is impossible to confirm what parts of the vegetable and fruits were used and how they were washed.
10. Only purchase organic dairy and meat products as conventional dairy and meat have a high percentage of pesticides.

Have a happy toxic free friday.

Great coupon site

I am always trying to find ways to save money and still buy organic natural products. Today I found this great web site with coupons you can print to save on all sorts of organic grocery.

Check it out: The Healthy Shopper

Mall shopping

Today we went to Scarborough Town Center and checked out the various kids stores they have. I tend to buy most of Christophe's stuff at Value Village or small independent baby boutiques so this was a new experience for us. My main purpose was to get him a pair of jeans--yes, even babies need jeans. We picked out a great pair of gaga tagou jeans at the Bay; we got them a bit on the big side so we hope they will last a few months.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that baby gap, baby roots and baby old navy all have organic lines of clothing. Both roots and old navy were reasonably priced considering its organic, however gap was similar in cost to the organic items you can find at little baby boutiques.

By all means, the mall will not replace my typical shopping spots for him but I will definitely poke my head in, once in a while, to see what new organic fashions are available.

Oh! For all you nursing mothers out there, if you are out shopping and are looking for a quiet place to nurse, every Sears has a nursing room near the infant section.

Culinarium

I have been on the hunt to find a shop in Toronto that sells Organic Flour in large quantities and stumbled upon this website for Culinarium a local store that only carries foods from Ontario. Sound interesting, nice and expensive.