Picture of the Week- Little Adventures

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Quote of the Week- Get on Out There!

My goal right now is to have a positive conversation with a stranger every day. Looking to make the world a kinder place. Who wants to join in my mission?

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Five Favorite Etsy Stores- Laundry Goodness

from Rustic Honey Signs

Laundry Goodness shouldn't even be a thing (I mean, it's basically the worst in every way), but these Etsy stores have great ideas for everything from baskets to soaps to laundry room decor (please, no more vinyl stickers that say "laundry." no one ends up in their laundry room for a fun adventure, so they know where they are). If you are looking for something for the room, consider these small businesses instead of just getting what is most immediate!

from Red Check Market

1. Red Check Market- This store sells all sorts of smart and good-looking home organization, but I especially love their hampers, some of which hang. Why aren't these everywhere? Such a genius idea for dorm rooms or just a small space?

from Autumn Moon Soap Co

2. Autumn Moon Soap Co- One of my favorite laundry soaps I have found so far on my quest to say goodbye to wasteful mainstream plastic-wrapped laundry soap. Last a long time for the money, smells amazing, and it makes a great first step into more organic and eco-friendly laundry soap.

from Bog Berry Handicraft

3. Bog Berry Handicraft- I love a dryer ball, which I think in a couple of years everyone will use over dryer sheets. I especially love these ones because the wool is American, as is the labor that made them. Plus, they are beautiful colors. I am thinking these ones would make awesome hostess gifts or stocking stuffers. Is it lame to have dryer balls as a stocking stuffer? At least slightly less when they are as pretty as these!

from 03 Littlebird Studio

4. 03 Littlebird Studio- These are adorable. If you have kids (or are awesome), The monster motif is pretty unique for a hamper, but they do look like fun. Check out their "unsponge" too- that looks interesting.If you want a beautiful hamper with a little less gusto, try Home Good Storage.

from hashtag adorbs

5. Hashtag Adorbs- Gah, laundry room art is mostly the absolute worst (seriously), but this did make me smile. What a cute way to home your lonely socks (though who has that few? 6? Really?).

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Greening the Basics- Really Clean Laundry

Laundry. If you are an adult, you do it. If you are anything like me, you hate it. If you are a lot like me... Some of us go to a laundromat, a place on campus, our parents' house, or our own basement, but laundry is something we all do and put money into.

Even if laundry is the devil's game, it turns out to be a goldmine for bourgeois environmentalists like me. We make the same purchases over and over again to do laundry, and if we all switched even half of those buys, we could cut out a tremendous amount of waste.

Forget Drying Sheets; Dryer Balls are the Business

First, hang drying is so much more eco-friendly than using the dryer. I get that it isn't always possible, and it doesn't always make sense for life. On the other hand, if you can get away with some hang-drying, DO IT! You don't have to do it all this way but even a load or two a week can cut your energy bills and your impact. Need a cord? Try Great White, Xcords, or use American-made Paracord.

Dryer Sheets are another one time use item that is basically instant garbage. They are also often covered in chemicals (read the box), and those chemicals (some potential carcinogens) get all over your clothes and you. It's cheap, but it comes at a high environmental price. The good news is that this is one of the easiest environmental changes we can all make!

1. Dryer Balls- You can buy these sets of dryer balls everywhere from Amazon to Etsy and they will last hundreds or thousands of trips through the dryer. So if you are the kind of person who throws a sheet in every time, a six pack of these balls will keep a whole row of boxes in the stores. That's less garbage for the dump and more money for you.

This one is a no-brainer, and I bet most people will have switched over before we know it. be ahead of the trends and do it now. I love mine (as much as I can love any laundry implement, and I would never go back. Here is a list of them:

A Little Green Bee- 19.99 for 6 balls, Made in America, Handmade, Natural, and Well-Reviewed
Pure Homemaker (Wow, I hate that name)- 12.95 for 6. Wool from New Zealand, Made in USA
Wonderful Wool Balls (Much better name)- 15.95 for 6 Extra large balls- about 9 inches diameter. Mine are less than 6, so these balls must last forever.
Ovella- 3 for 18- Made in Michigan in cute swirly colors. Part of Amazon's response to Etsy.Would make great wedding or baby shower gift.
Feeling Fluffy Balls- 17.96 They say each ball will last at least a thousand loads. That's 6 thousand loads for 18 dollars. I hate to think I will even do that much laundry in my life.
Kitchow- 15.97 for 8. Not as forthcoming about where they are made, but otherwise look good.
LooHoo- 3 Pack for 27.99. Why so much more? The wool is from the US and they are made in Maine. They also come in pretty colors.
Unvert- 6 for 14.99- Uses New Zealand wool and says it is organic, but maybe not the best option.
Thirsty Sheep- 6 and a storage bag for 19.99- These ones are rather small, but might be great with the storage bag if you are taking your laundry somewhere to do it.
Woolzies- 6 for 18.95- I think these are the ones I got for a gift (MIL, correct me if I am wrong). Made of New Zealand wool in Nepal (I found a couple others Nepal-made. No sign it is fair trade though, so I am not sure how the vulnerable people there are treated as employees).

from Bog Berry Handicraft

Want to buy them on Etsy instead? A Little Green Bee is on there (and slightly cheaper if you go for the larger sets), You can also try Bog Berry Handicraft, Redhead and Blue, Flatland Alpacas, and Pasta Quilts for balls that make for adorable gifts.

Plastic dryer balls are also reusable, but aren't nearly as eco-friendly. When in doubt, choose the thing that isn't plastic.

As a side note, I know my mother-in-law mostly likes the balls, but every so often she misses a drier sheet. If you have a particularly static-prone set of clothes, maybe keeping one box just for such occasions will help? If you only use it once in a very blue moon, I bet that one box can last forever.

As a second side note, watch out for toddlers if you have these. They see them as very fun toys and will steal them from you.

A Change in Tides- Switch your Laundry Detergent

You remember when the little detergent packs came out, and how they felt like such a step up? Why can't we pour our own detergent again? The packs are kind of cute (I like the swirl on the tide) but they turn out to be somewhat dangerous for little ones and pretty wasteful fir all of us. They also come (like almost everything in the laundry aisle) in plastic jugs that create a ton of waste. How many do you throw away in a year? Now multiply that by everyone you know. That's all landfill and our water. So basically, laundry soap leaves a lot of room for improvement.

1. Make your Own- Making your own detergent is a relatively common practice, you can find tons of organic and low-cost recipes online. Thank goodness for Pinterest. You could make enough to last you a year or start with a small batch and see how you like it. Another awesome way to be eco-friendly and save money all at once!

2. The Simply Co- This zero-waste company is one of my favorite finds this year. The formula they use is simple, the packaging is all glass and recycled paper, and our first jar was enough for 4 months of laundry in a house of three people (one of which is a slobby toddler). It didn't handle every stain, but we will just put dawn dish soap on the stuff that looks really rough, and that does the trick. We save money and I would never go back.

3. Other Clean and Homemade Detergent Companies- Etsy has tons of options for handmade laundry soap, so I will go through some with the most responsible packaging and lots of good reviews- Brighton Wool and Honey (Ohio), Green Bubbles Home (Nebraska), Shadelily Home Arts (North Carolina), The Bubbly Kettle (Kentucky), JMC Handmade (Connecticut), My Manoa (Hawaii), SOL Powder (Ohio) and Autumn Moon Soap Company (Pennsylvania). We have used this last soap (I was sure I was going to make my own, but started here to see how homemade worked) and it was really great as well.

4. Eco-Friendly Cleaners (in as large a size as possible)- Ecos sells a detergent with minimal chemicals (though where they do this and the materials of the packaging are unclear. Seventh Generation makes highly concentrated non-toxic detergent that you can buy in bulk as well. Biokleen is non-toxic, 3x concentrated, as well and its the only one that is proudly made in the US.

5. Buying in BULK- Love your Tide but want to do a little bit better? I still have got you. Buy it in the bulkiest bulk you can find. Natural Homelogic sells my favorite of these options (though their biggest bottle is 50 oz)- it's made in America, toxin-free, organic, and highly concentrated. The biggest Tide I could find on Amazon was 150 oz, but I bet larger ones are available at Costco. Powder is almost always more efficient if your machine can use it.


I have written about laundry baskets, organization, and bags before, so if you need that information, be sure to check it out here. Here are a few other things you might be looking for-

For an ironing board, you can find them made nearby! Check Homz Durabilt or Homz T Leg.
Need a steamer? Jiffy Steamers have been made in America for decades! We have one, and it is awesome.

Want to green some other basics? Check the list of all of our shopping lists!

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A Model Family Part 2 – Victorian to Edwardian wedding style.

Dear Reader,
In our last post, we started a thread of fabulous and historic wedding photographs from the family of Patience (who you can see modelling my own Heavenly Collection of vintage–inspired wedding dresses). 

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Fanny & The Wedding Party, 1888

This elegant 1888 Victorian wedding of Fanny, Patience's own Great–Great–Grandmother (above) is where we began. Now let's roll the clock forward to the next generation of society brides in wonderful Victorian and Edwardian wedding dresses...

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Great-Great-Grandmother Gladys' wedding, June 1903

You may notice some of the captions are in red (for Patience's maternal lineage) and some in blue (for her paternal line). It's fun to trace the likeness down the generations…

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Gladys in beautiful honeymoon outfit, 1903

Gladys' wedding to Walter, from The Times 1903
“Each bridesmaid was attired in a Romney costume of white muslin, with belts 
of pale blue silk, a fichu of white muslin being draped round the shoulders 
and caught in front with a single La France rose...”

Gladys’ "wedding dress and travelling costume and bridesmaids’ toilette" 
from The Times 1903

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Great–Great–Grandmother Apphia Elizabeth's engagement photo, 1904

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Great–Great–Grandmother Apphia, 1904

Great–Great–Grandmother Apphia, 1904

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Great–Great–Grandmother Apphia, 1904

The wedding of Great–Great–Great Aunt Irene to Francis, 
from The Times 1910

Great–Great–Great Aunt Irene’s "wedding gown and bridesmaids’ toilettes" 
from The Times, 1910

Don't forget to check back soon for the next instalment in this fascinating history of a remarkable family. I have some wonderful images from the 1930s to today to show you!

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

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The 2016 Earth-Friendly, American-Made Baby Registry

picture taken by Jenny Bickel Photography

Baby registries serve the very important purpose of letting soon to be parents know they are fools. Just idiots. We know nothing. It's good to feel this stupid now, and we can all imagine the feeling will pass and eventually we will be experts. I don't know when that happens, but it does seem to be around when someone is calling you Grandma or Grandpa. The registry is long, somewhat complicated, and requires you to have opinions on things you still know nothing (or very little) about. You read lists on the internet. You ask your friends who have spawned. You let the registry tool boss you around. But overall, this registry is just one horror film realization after another. 

I know we made mistakes when we made our baby registry. We could have done better at prioritizing where and how things were made, rather than the print or the price. 

When the baby registry is such a complicated and intimidating task as it is (why the hell would any non-parent know the difference between a sleeper and a onesie?), should you make it even more complex by trying to prioritize recycled and used materials as well as taking into account where the clothes, strollers, even toys were made?

Absolutely, yes.

Our first job as parents might be to get our tiny people ready for the world, raising them with faith, kindness, curiousity, etc. Our second responsibility as parents is to make the world a little better for them. This is the perfect first step. We can see our shopping as fulfilling a need as efficiently and cost-effectively as we can, but what good does that do for our children? 

Instead, we can see it as an opportunity to start their relationship with stuff on a healthy and responsible foot. We can skip these imported, plastic goods that- 

- use excessive fossil fuels for shipping halfway across the world

- take advantage of laborers- keeping them in dangerous spaces, requiring unhealthy hours, and even using slave labor.

-disenfranchise American workers and the economy your child will inherit from you

-adds that much more toxic and non-reusable materials like plastic into landfills and the water

Every time you buy new, plastic, Made in Elsewhere goods, you send companies the message that you are ok with these horrible symptoms of our extreme overconsumption. That it's alright with you for the world to look this way and that you will give them money as long as you get exactly what you want on the cheap. Are you ok with handing a world like that off to this tiny sweet person you are shopping for?

The baby registry, aside from being a horror movie moment of realization, is also one of the only times in life where you buy (or someone buys you) a really giant heap of stuff at once. You can use this opportunity to approach your shopping in a whole new way. You can make the world better instead of worse just by switching up your shopping.

There are three steps you need to take to change your approach to the baby registry: 

First, use what you have. Buy Less. If you already have a dresser that could work, give it an update, throw a changing pad on top, and skip the changing table. Also, take those itemized lists with a grain of salt. "Need" according to Babies R Us might differ from actual need. If you are breastfeeding, really all you need in the beginning is a few sleepers, diapers, and a boob. 

Second, find what you can in consignment or on groups like Buy Nothing. Get it Used. Baby clothes are the perfect opportunity to find adorable stuff and save hundreds of dollars by buying used. Baby stuff is used quickly before it is no longer helpful, so almost every item on your list can be found used. You can even encourage your baby shower guests to look in consignment or open box. If it's clear you can get it used (like a playmat or onesies), don't register for it. 

Last, buy or register for items that are made and sold nearby. Buy Local. Buy American.The standard platitude is that everything is made in China.  This list will prove that just isn't true. You can buy almost anything that tiny person needs right here from American companies. In this way, you can support American labor (the economy this baby will inherit) and higher standards for the treatment of workers and the environment. You can send the message to companies that it is financially beneficial for them to do the right thing, because consumers do care. It also minimizes this baby's carbon footprint before they can even walk- the shorter distances stuff travels, the less fossil fuels are wasted on shipping. 

This registry tries to be as truthful and detailed as I can manage about what turns out to be useful, and what is added baggage. The truth is, all of it will be individual to you and your baby. Some things are lifesavers in one family and nothing to the next baby. In the same way, we all come to the registry with our own priorities. 

The Registry List

Part One- Pregnancy, Delivery, and the First Trimester

Part Two- Dressing, Diapering, and Bathing

Part Three- Eating and Sleeping

Part Four- Lugging the Bub, Toys, and Odds and Ends

Just the Links

Here are the same lists, without commentary. The fastest way through if you just want to compare notes or ignore my witty banter.

Part One- Pregnancy, Delivery, and the First Trimester

Part Two- Dressing, Diapering, and Bathing

Part Three- Eating and Sleeping

Part Four- Lugging the Bub and Odds and Ends

No one can have a "perfect" registry; one that will simultaneously be adorable and save the world.  One person can't do everything, but we can all do something. If we started shopping based on what did the most good (however we individually define it) versus what we want the most, we could collectively shift the market for our children, save tons of goods from landfills, and take a stand against nasty labor practices around the world. 

It seems like a big task, but all I ask is that you skim the lists and make use of them as you will.

 Registering? Compare these lists to your own. You don't have to change everything, but you could set out to switch a third to American-made products (easily done!). 

Buying a gift? This can give you good clues on which things on the future parents' registry might be at consignment stores. You can save money and the environment!

Organizing after baby shower? Get an idea of what returns might do the most good (return Carter's, Fisher Price, and Melissa and Doug) and fill in those blanks without spending all your money! 

If you are interested in doing more eco-friendly or American-made shopping, check out the Giant List of Shopping Lists! Or if you want to cut down shopping and having in your baby's life, check out Ten Ideas for Raising a Minimalist Kid. 

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An Earth-Friendly, American-Made Baby Registry- Part Four- Just the Links

This is the Just the Links version of Part Four of the Made in America and Environmentally-Friendly Baby Registry. This will help you find car seats, baby carriers, and all of our favorite toys.

Evenflo from Amazon

car seats

Car Seat- Evenflo
Other Options- Baby Trend and Safety First

Cover- Used
Other Options- Loved Littles, Kids n Such, Caden Lane Gifts, Oh Baby Fargo, Kathy Koveleski.

lugging the bubba

Wrap or Carrier- Used and Solly Baby wraps
Other Options- Happy Wrap, Chimparoo, Tekhni, MJ baby Carriers (perfect alternative to the Ergo), Poe Wovens, Pavo, Golden Thread Mistress, Babyhawk,  Action Baby Carrier, Kinderpack, Cassiope Woven, Emmeline Textiles, Kokoskaa,  Cardbird Baby (some are 100% made in America, and some are America and China), Risaroo Wovens, and Maya Wrap's Premium Wovens. 

Hiking Carrier- Tough Traveler

Stroller- Used or Safety First 

Maple Landmark from Amazon

Toys

Keys- Green Toys 

Outdoor Toys- Used or Little Tikes 

Play Mats- Finn and Emma arch
Other Options- Alluring Co, Fawn Over Baby, Flagship Carpets

Sensory Toys- Baby Jack and Nel Quilts

Shape Sorter- Maple Landmark
Other Options- Green Toys

Stuffed Toys- Used and Bears for Humanity

Teethers- Lifefactory Silicone Teethers and Little Sapling Toys, Honey Bee Toy and Craft
Other Options- Sophie the Giraffe, Seahorse Teethers, Wowie Star, Green Toys Twist Teether, Begin Again, Manzanita Kids, Keepsake Toys, Two Five Tree, Beckman Woodworks, This hippo, The Teething Fairy, Paci Catcher

Things on Wheels- Green Toys and Holgate Toys

odds and ends

Bible- Jesus Storybook Bible

Books- Baby Bug, The Pout Pout Fish, Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Green Eggs and Ham, Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Monster at the End of this Book, First Word Books and Mercer Mayer

Diaper Bag- Kith and Kin. Tom Bihn,  ika bag tote, Christy Studio, Precious Little Tot , Dainty Bean

Fan- Honeywell

Teething Necklace- Style Hungry, mint sunshine shop, My Sunshine Studio, and Babes and Babies.

Be sure to check out the whole registry! You can get everything you want and make a better world for your baby!

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