Farm · Eco-Chick

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UnCommon Scents

There is nothing more odious (pardon the impending pun) than that heavy, pungent perfume you can smell from a mile away. And many of us have spent time perusing the shelves of that ubiquitous modern shrine to plasticity called Sephora only to leave with a pounding headache that has that “fake vanilla” scent stamped all over it.

Ugh.

I have been a true scent-junky for at least fifteen years and recently, upon applying a commercial fragrance, noticed I started sneezing almost instantly. I started to wonder just what exactly is in these products we apply on a daily basis. Being one who tries to always buy organic, it dawned on me that my personal doctrine to “stay natural” had not penetrated my hankering for smells.

Many companies, even those claiming to be “natural”, use synthetic fragrance and chemical additives such as preservatives and artificial coloring, and contain dangerous chemicals such as phtalates that are proven endocrine disruptors whose activity has been found to mimic hormonal signals in the body.

There are what I have always considered to be more natural alternatives to smelling like “Calvin Clone,” but often you end up smelling like a head shop or your grandma’s lavender garden when using organically derived essential oils. Some of us like smelling like a head shop, but for those who want something more unique, there are some interesting alternatives.

Rich Hippie is a line of completely organic, wild-crafted perfume, founded in LA. Through the use of carefully selected plant extracts and the implementation of traditional perfumery practices, Rich Hippie has created an environmentally conscious fragrance line that is original and hip.

The line boasts scents such as “Psychedelic – a sensual, lush, mysterious and romantic scent with extracts of organic Madagascan vanilla bean, organic ginger root and organic sweet orange peel,” “Nirvana” – a “unisex scent with extracts of organic sandalwood, West Indian bay leaf and organic Italian bergamot peel,” and “Wild Thing – an intoxicating, romantic, and sensual floral with rare Indian jasmine, Albanian Orris root and Egyptian rose.” There is also the signature scent, “Rich Hippie” – a “hip, bohemian, seductive floral with extracts of exotic African flowers, Madagascan Vanilla bean and Guatemalan Cardamom.”

These perfumes ain’t cheap, at an average of $85.00 per 1/2oz, but to support a small company that is investing in organic farming practices is worthwhile compared to the minimum $35 to $40 that is typically spent on factory-made fragrances that are known health hazards. According to the FDA, perfume companies don’t have to publish their ingredients anywhere, because they are considered “trade secrets”. Through growing consumer pressure to monitor cosmetics companies and clearly substantiate the safety of perfumes and other products, the FDA has clearly delineated its authority over this domain on its website This means there is no way for us to know what is in common colognes until independent labs do their own analysis and there aren’t a lot of scientists lining up to joust with big name cosmetics.

California is actually the first state in the union to implement the “Safe Cosmetics Act,” signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2005, which states that manufacturers must disclose (to the state) any ingredient that is on state or federal lists of chemicals linked to cancer or birth defects.

For more information on what is actually in your beauty products see NOT TOO PRETTY, SAFE COSMETICS and how they are affecting the environment see MARINE LIFE

Africa, Alba, Beauty, beauty products, Cancer, car, cosmetics, Eco-Chick, essential oils, farm, farming, FDA, garden, gas, health, India, junk, Lavender, Lush, mom, News, oil, oils, Organic, plastic, scents, wood

Ask Chicky: Vermicomposting

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by Starre Vartan · 11/22/05

worms

Dear Chicky,
I went to a dinner party last week and the host had a tiny composter in her apartment’s kitchen; she said there were bugs inside that eat the food she deposits. It sounds gross, but I feel bad tossing all my leftovers in the garbage—how do these things work? Why don’t they smell?
—Curious about compost

Dear Curious Composter,
All compost systems rely on the same principle: stuff rots and then turns into dirt. If you do it right. The good news is it’s not that hard to replicate what nature does on a grand scale in your very own kitchen. Properly composted food is never smelly and can cut down on your trips to the garbage bin (and the inevitable filling of our landfills). In fact, if you get into it, you can compost up to 1/3 of your household waste.

What your friend most likely had was a worm composter, also called a vermicomposter. This kind of composting is great for an apartment because it doesn’t take up much space, is totally hygienic and the final product is humus. Not the middle-eastern bean spread, but the ultimate fertilizer for your organic container gardening.

The busy earthworms, called red worms or manure worms, (yes, they wiggle, but no, you don’t have to touch them) will keep your composter functioning and odor-free. These special guys eat up to their weight in food every day, and their excrement is the aforementioned humus. Their casts (a nicer name for poop) contain all sorts of good stuff like nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, meaning that the humus they produce will make your garden grow. And on top of all that, once your scraps are devoured by the worms, all the nasty pathenogenic bacteria (the kind that can make you sick) are totally neutralized.

But there are some caveats; you can’t just dump all your leftovers in a vermicomposter, but fruit and vegetable scraps, eggshells, old bread, coffee grounds, shredded computer paper (no colored ink) and newspaper, and houseplant trimmings are all OK. Go light on the vegetable oils, dairy and meat; all these things take more time for the worms to digest, so don’t throw a big hunk of steak in your composter, no matter how free-range and organic it might be. Some people say small amounts of meat or bone will break down just fine, but it might take some experimenting. It isn’t complicated, by you will need to read up on the subject. You will need to keep the whole operation moist, and you can make your own or buy a composter ready-to-go at a host of websites and garden centers. The worms are also available online or from your neighborhood plant store. Try wormdigest.org, cityfarmer.com and cityknowlege.com.

Wormily yours,
Chicky

Ask Chicky, coffee, Easter, farm, Food, fruit, garbage, garden, Gardening, Manure, meat, News, oil, oils, Organic, paper, party, produce, spa, Tea, vegetable oil, waste

Tuesday Science Times Rehash

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by Starre Vartan · 11/22/05

Tuesday is has two redeeming qualities; it’s not Monday, and the NYTimes Science section comes out. A couple heartwarming stories from the last edition. Genetically modified produce is a flop, for both consumers and crop yields. And apparently, all that opposition to GM foods has really taken the mickey out of the biotech scientists. See, we do make a difference. Though now they’re making GM corn to feed to farm animals. Ew.

Bald Eagles are getting closer to being removed from the Endangered Species list.

Investors are finally taking windpower seriously, which is the good news. The bad news is that it’s because General Electric has gotten serious about it. Read why GE is not so great here. (Times article is actually from the business section.)

Thanks to the NYTimes for images. (For stories more than seven weeks old, you will need a NYTimes Select membership to view)

Animals, business, corn, Eco-Chick, electric, farm, Food, News, NYTimes, Politics, produce

Farmed and Dangerous

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by Starre Vartan · 11/21/05

So we all know that eating fish is a good way to get Omega 3′s, but because we’re all so hungry for the slippery suckers, wild-caught fish is expensive. But hell, we can farm corn and wheat, why not farm fish? Problem solved. Turns out that farming fish causes as many problems, if not more, than catching them from the ocean.

According to luluzine: Vol 2.6:

“The high PCB content these fish contain, not to mention their ubiquitous sea
lice problem, flow over into wild salmon runs and are responsible for 90-97%
of the collapse of these runs, according to marine researcher Alexandra
Morton. Add to that the fact that these fish find all kinds of escape
routes, (there are over a million reported to have gone missing last year,
and it’s suspected that number is actually much higher), and you’ve got
runaway Atlantic salmon breeding in open water, competing with indigenous
fish and consequentially spreading disease.”
According to a 2004 study called, “A Global Assessment of Organic
Contaminants in Farmed vs. Wild Salmon: Geographical Differences and Health
Risks,” (reported to be the most thorough study on the subject done to
date), consuming farmed salmon more than once a month could increase your
risk of getting cancer by, “an unacceptable amount.”