my so-called kitchen

As much as I love good food, I am at my wits end with planning, sourcing and preparing meals. It is time consuming, even when I try to keep things simple. If my focus of the day goes towards the kids or a particular project, then meals that day really suffer. Maybe I need new recipes or inspiration. I'm not looking for complicated, mind you.

I found a blog called My So-Called Kitchen (via Soulemama) and I am loving it. The food and photography are both tantalizing. Just look at her post on wheatberries! I wish her meals could magically appear on my table each day. They are simple, fresh and healthy. She says she "strives to eat foods that are fresh, healthy, natural, whole, organic and local (or as local as we can get)". She's a mom feeding young kids as well. Inspiring, indeed.

Speaking of local food, my garden is growing! But at this rate I think we might starve (or shop somewhere, obviously). I have one tomato and one snap pea. Yes, just one of each. Not exactly a bumper crop.

talking chicken

The other day at the grocery I noticed that the packages of chicken breasts were now being sold without the styrofoam trays. What a simple yet fantastic step in the right direction! Hopefully many more chicken producers and grocery stores will follow their lead.

ecofont

This post may well be about one of the coolest things I've heard of yet. As a graphic designer, I'm prone to loving typography as well as clever solutions to big problems.

Ecofont was designed by a Dutch studio called SPRANQ . Ecofont is a typeface which has white circles within the letterforms. This ingenious approach enables you to use the font and then print documents with much less ink—without sacrificing legibility.

The font uses up to 20% less ink, and is free to download and free to use. Ecofont is based on Vera Sans, an Open Source letter, and is available for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux.

green on the go

A snap from an exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences.

While on a few recent summer adventures, I cannot help but notice the ease of recycling (and even composting!) or the lack thereof.

I spent some time last week at the California Academy of Sciences. Not only is the the building very green and not only do they have a great environmental awareness exhibit up currently, but they also make tossing waste into the right container a simple no-brainer. They offered attractive bins for recycling, trash and compost at every waste station.

This was also the scene at our recent jaunt to the Marin County Fair (the "Greenest County Fair On Earth"). Among many impressive efforts, they offered the obvious 3 bin waste stations throughout the fairgrounds which had receptacles for trash, recycling and composting.

Contrast that to some airports (large and small) we flew through recently where I could hardly find a place to put a recyclable bottle!

I can understand that many communities may not be set up for bulk composting yet, but I really can't understand why recycling the basics is not more commonplace everywhere. Mind boggling.

scotch brite greener clean

Have you seen the new line of sponges from Scotch-Brite called "Greener Clean?" They are sold in major stores (like Walmart and Target) and look ever-so eco-friendly, with the brown sponges and all.

I've been a bit obsessed with sponges lately, and I have to say that my curiosity started before I even considered eco-friendly alternatives to the scrub sponge. My main complaint was that the standard yellow sponge with green scrubber became quite stinky pretty quickly. I had a feeling (very unscientifically, mind you) that it was partly caused by the synthetic materials. Later, a friend told me about how some sponges are able to compost—and the rest is history. I've been obsessed ever since.

Which brings us back to the Scotch-Brite. I had high hopes based on the packaging wording, such as natural fiber. Upon closer inspection I saw the scrubbing side of the sponge is made with "50% natural agave plant." Which of course begs the question of what the other 50% is made of.

I called the company to find out. They said the other material was polyester. BOO!!

Despite that, I am actually glad the company has made a greener product. Using 23% recycled paper for the sponge side and almost all natural materials is a step in the right direction. The sponges do work well, I just can't compost them. They do have sponges without scrubbers in the same line that are able to compost.

In summary, if you want to compost your sponges, then buy something else. But if you are still using those green and yellow sponges (like most people who took my poll were) then I would suggest giving these new "greener" sponges a try.

* I have photos to post, but am experiencing a camera issue. I'll add them as soon as possible.

(Just a reminder, I do not get paid to write reviews. I write about green issues which I come across daily.)

sunscreens put to the test

My family just returned from a fabulous week at the beach. It was idyllic, with kids playing in the surf from dawn till dusk. The weather was incredibly hot and humid, but thankfully the ocean was refreshing and welcoming.

The scenario was a perfect challenge to find the right sunscreen. You'd think I'd have figured out my favorite product after having reviewed so many, but trial and error still leaves me searching for perfection.

Since I began my quest for the best and safest sunscreen, I've amassed quite a collection. I brought all the tubes and bottles that had not expired to the beach. I wish I could tell you that there was a clear favorite, but in reality it was more like this:

I used Trukid Sunny Days SPF 30 sunscreen on my kids and my own face. It goes on incredibly smoothly and not too white. It can be a little greasy at first but thankfully it is not as thick and uncomfortable as some others and is a decent price-point. This sunscreen has no parabens, is non-toxic and uses titanium dioxide as the active ingredient. It is the brand I carry in my purse year-round for my kids' faces.

For myself, I started with a tube of the UV Natural SPF 30 Sport. I knew it was super thick and greasy from my past experiences, but I was hoping that it would hold up well to the hot sun and swimming. In the end, it was just too humid and uncomfortable to wear such thick creme. It made me sweat even more! No doubt the product works well and is ideal for water sports—I just couldn't bring myself to keep putting it on, despite a fantastic rating on the Skin Deep database (a 1!)

It was so hot and sticky outside that I lost all sense of good judgment and decided to just get a bottle of chemical-laden sunscreen spray. I tried the Neutrogena Kids Spray SPF 70. Comparable products do not get a very good rating on the Skin Deep database. Was the sun ruining all my good judgment? The spray application was so much easier and lighter. It was very appealing in the steaming sun. Even the kids begged me to use the spray in their limbs instead of the creme. I knew it was sinful (the skin absorption chemicals, the wasteful packaging), but it was the first product I reached for whenever I needed to reapply. Unfortunately, the bottle only lasted me about 2 days at the beach.

After that indulgence I attempted to amend my sins by using my tube of Aubrey Organics Natural Sun Green Tea SPF 25. It went on freakishly white. Seriously, I looked strange. It was also a thick yet grainy consistency which was not very comfortable. What really irked me was that where the product got on my bathing suit (which was brown) it would not rub off. I had white splotches all over the straps and edges where my application rubbed the fabric edges. It also stained my white cotton cover-up. After washing, neither the suit nor cover-up have come clean! Plus, after double checking the rating on Skin Deep (it got a 4) I don't think I would even bother with this product again.

I wish I had a solution after all this experimentation in the field. I know many readers have personal favorites and I'm sure they work well. While the conditions on my trip were somewhat extreme–with a heat index over 100 most days with high humidity–it seems a reasonable scenario for any sunscreen to perform in.

I'm torn. Looking at the facts on paper, choosing a sunscreen seems simple. But out at the beach, all bets are off. Rationalization gives way to comfort. How seriously do you take your sunscreen?

reader questions and more

I'm headed off for a family vacation next week and I don't think I'll be able to post from the road. I have big plans for the blog when I come back, though. There are many improvements I've wanted to make and I hope now that it is summer I'll have some time to do them.

One such idea is a feature called Reader Questions. So many people ask me excellent eco questions. I don't often know the answers but am eager to see what I can find out and share.

While I'm away, I'm hoping you readers can help me jump start an answer for one of our peers. A soon-to-be new mom wrote me asking about the safest and best options for infant formula. She is adopting a baby very soon and wanted to choose something good (obviously).

I've mentioned before how my first son ended up using formula (using BPA bottles, no less). I didn't really know to look into formula choices at that time. I tried a major brand and went with it. We had no problems, so I stuck with it.

But it is a good question. Knowing what we all know now, what are the best options for formula these days? Please add your advice in the comments below. I'll add my research and summarize when I get back. Thanks!