"Diaper Wars"

I watched Nightline the other night and one of the stories was on the "diaper wars" between big diaper companies trying to get the largest share of the market. The reporter stated that some parents had posted on facebook that their babies developed a rash or irritation from the new Pampers DryMax. Pampers spokeswoman said she was "surprised" to hear this claim and they chalked it up to "advocates of cloth diapers" spreading rumors. I thought it was interesting. I'd heard that to make disposable diapers more absorbent they were adding gels and fibers (not natural) that may or may not be a health risk in the long run. Of course, not having a baby in the house, I'm not too concerned about it, right?

So the next night Journey was visiting at her great grandma's and needed a diaper change. Rather than run home and get a cloth diaper, Stephanie borrowed one from her sister in law. Journey wore ONE disposable diaper for only a few hours. The next morning it appeared that she was burned. She cried and cried. The Dr. looked at it today and said it was in fact a chemical burn caused by the diaper.

Nevermind that landfills are brimming with plastic diapers that will never disintegrate, or that they cost way more to use, but how about the fact that the disposable diapers can be harmful to your baby??

When Stephanie was a baby I used cloth diapers. I remember being excited about "prefolds", which people now use to make burp cloths. Back in The Day you had a large square of birdseye and you had to fold it every which way to fit your baby and then use diaper pins (scary!). So the prefolds eliminated a lot of that work and I found some little clippy things that eliminated in the pins. I also used liners so I didn't have to rinse a poopy diaper in the toilet (disgusting).

But now, with extra absorbent FITTED diapers and cute covers, why would anyone use disposables? With enzyme sprays, you don't even use a diaper pail with water. There lots of websites that discuss how to use cloth diapers, the different styles, and the cost comparisons. It just seems SMART to use them nowadays.

Here's a link to the Nightline story:

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/diaper-wars-battle-babys-bottom/story?id=11252355

ADHD and Pesticide Use

A study published today in the Journal of Pediatrics found that one type of pesticide commonly used on fruits and vegetables may be a contributing to ADHD in children. Exposure of children in early life to these pesticides can cause brain injury. The study says that even tiny amounts of pesticides effect children's brain chemistry. The researchers claim the chemicals can have harmful effects on development, including behavioral problems and the ability to think and communicate. Some experts recommend buying organic foods whenever possible.

Zucchini

Homegrown Cucumbers & Bell Peppers -

All Organic!

Everyday I pass a field which was recently plowed and planted with watermelons. These plants are vigorous and growing really fast, much faster than the watermelon plants on our farm. There are absolutely NO weeds in that field either. The topsoil blows away every time the wind blows.

Homegrown Spring Mix (No E-Coli here!)

It would be really easy for us to apply chemical fertilizers to grow our fruits and vegetables faster, to spray pesticides to eliminate bugs and herbicides to eliminate weeds. But those are not sustainable options. We're slowing building our soil health through natural fertilizers and cover crops. Some of our produce is attacked by bugs and that's just a fact of nature. We work extra hard to keep the weeds at bay. All of these factors can effect the price of organic foods.

Yellow Squash

Why go to this extra effort? Because my sweet little granddaugther is eating the food we produce. We want the healthiest, freshest food possible and organic is the best way to do this. We never have to worry about whether pesticides were used on our foods or if the lettuce or spinach will cause E coli. We want to know where our food comes from.

Marc and organic carrots

Journey likes Grandpa's carrots!

Journey's Nite Nite Diaper

Stephanie is busily making larger diapers for Journey. This time she's making fitted diapers without the waterproof cover (called "all-in-ones" or "AIO"). AIO's tend to leak more than diapers with separate covers, plus having just a few covers will be cheaper than using the waterproof material on all diapers, and the drying time is much faster.

After cutting out all the diaper layers (birdseye, velour (for the layer next to baby's skin) and super-absorbent microfiber terry) she was short one birdseye layer but had more of the terry, so it made sense to make a super-absorbent night time diaper. To make it easier to identify, Grandma embroidered it!

Tea Towels - Make your Own!

Here’s a quick and easy project you can make for yourself or to give as a gift. Following are the instructions for the two different types that I’ve made.

Method 1 - Using purchased terry towels

I purchased plain white waffle-weave cloth towels in the kitchen department of the local “big box” store. They came in a pack of three for less than $6. Prewash and dry the towels and press. Do the same for the fabric unless you buy quilting cotton, in which case it’s already preshrunk.

Using the width of the purchased towel as a guide, cut a band of fabric the width of the towel plus 1” (the seam allowances will be ½”). Make the band as long or as short as you want, this is just the decorative band which will be at the bottom of your finished towel. This is where you can use scraps left over from other projects. In this case I used a band about 5” long so that I ended up with a 4” strip at the bottom of the towel.

Cut off the hem from the bottom only of the purchased towel.


With the right side of the band to the wrong side of the towel, and raw edges even, stitch or serge using ½” seam allowance.

Press, folding band to the right side of the towel. Then press under your seam allowances on all raw edges of the band – 1/2” on each side of the band and ½” at the top of the band. Press well.

If you want to add any embellishment, such as ric-rac, this is the time to do it. I inserted jumbo ric-rac just under the band so the top of the ric-rac shows after it’s all assembled. You could also add piping or a coordinating strip of fabric. If you’re using any embellishment, stitch it in place before proceeding to stitch the sides. You can also add a decorative stitch here. I used the featherstitch.

Then stitch along each edge of the band using a regular straight stitch to secure the edges of the band to the towel. That’s it!

Finished Towels, to be given as Christmas Gifts!

Method 2 - Creating your towel from fabric

This method is a little more work. You’ll need a fabric that’s 100% cotton for absorbency. I used an interesting heavy fabric that I found at the quilt store for the “towel” part and a pretty green and red paisley for the decorative band.

Decide what size you want to make your towel. The best way to do that is look at some towels you already have and measure them. I wanted mine about 18 x 28 inches, finished size. Be sure to add ½ inch seam allowances to all edges before cutting.

So, I cut the "towel" fabric 19” wide by 25” long and the decorative band fabric 19” wide by 9” long.

With right sides together, having raw edges even, stitch or serge the decorative band to the towel.


Press, pressing seam toward band.

If you have a serger, serge all edges then turn under ½” and press. If you don't have a serger, press under 1/4" then press under 1/4" again (basically you're making a 1/4" hem on all sides).

Fold the decorative band wrong sides together so that the pressed edge meets the seam on the back of the towel. Press well then “stitch in the ditch” on the right side, catching the pressed edge of the band on the back of the towel.

Finished Towels!

The High Price of Convenience

When we lived in the camper while building the house we used lots of disposable products for convenience's sake. Not only are disposable items expensive but then you have to deal with the trash. Living in the country you don't have city trash service so you have to figure out how to get rid of it. It's a lot easier to reduce the amount of "stuff" that comes into the household than it is to get rid of it once you're done with it.

I've been trying to whittle down the amount of disposable items we consume in our household. We've eliminated paper towels for the most part (every now and then Marc buys some cause he likes them). I use only dish cloths, cloth kitchen towels, cloth napkins. I wash them all separately in hot water so I know they're clean. I have lots of them so I always have fresh ones.

I love using the Swiffer Sweeper but I was cleaning yesterday and didn't have any of the mop refills... what to do? I figured I could make some reusable ones out of old towels. I had some towels destined to become rags (some would say they've been rags for a long time) so I measured, cut and serged them up into cleaning cloths which fit the Swiffer Sweeper perfectly.

To make your own, measure and cut old towels into pieces 8 inches by 10 inches. Be sure to cut off the selvedges and hems. Serge the edges. Either tie off the threads or apply Fray Chek (which is what I used).

Other ways to reduce your consumption of disposable items include:

• using old-fashioned glass refrigerator dishes (Pyrex, Corning Ware) and jars (canning jars or repurposed mayo jars, etc.) instead of plastic baggies and plastic wrap. I have a turquoise Pyrex refrigerator dish of Mom's that must be at least 40+ years old and still going strong
• sew or buy cloth or recycled plastic grocery bags to eliminate those plastic or paper grocery bags from the store
• get a "commuter mug" for coffee or other drinks such as water
• OK, if you're squeamish or a guy don't read this one - cloth "pads". After all, what do you think women used 50 years ago??
• cloth diapers (see Stephanie's by clicking on her blog link above) and baby wipes. Stephanie made wipes using 8x8 inch squares of cotton velour, serged the edges together using a complimentary thread color. Not only do cloth diapers save tons of money but the amount of waste in the landfill is staggering.
• A friend gave me a hand-knitted cotton dish cloth. It's almost too pretty to use, but it really works well. She also gave me crocheted pads that look a lot like Brillo Pads - they're crocheted out of tulle or net. Hard to believe that they're hand made and they go in the washer (but not the dryer) and they don't scratch.

Got any good ideas? Please post them!