laceyswartz

Of all my ideas for posts that I mentioned last week, since it’s already written, sharing this first affords me more time offline.  Probably going to do the coconut oil post next since the company has been asking me when I’m going to write it (I’m not obligated to, but they did send me free product and it is awesome, so I’m happy to do it…)

Anyways, for now…

Thanks, Fred, for letting me share your newest poem here.  🙂

Barefoot Pilgrim (Genesis 2:7, 3:8)

The rain arrived at night,
A steady, gentle soaking
Filling the garden soil with lifeblood,
Loosening unwelcomed roots,
Preparing a welcome mat for morning’s barefoot pilgrim.

Dirty hands were never so clean,
So holy.
Smeared on flesh, trapped under nails –
Proof of sanctification.
Though roots pierced deeply into garden’s heart,
The weeds disappeared.

Come, Barefoot Pilgrim, walk through your garden.
Dig gentle hands deep into root-ridden soil.
Dig, till the last hairy tendril slips silently out,
Till nothing is left to sap sustenance
From good seed you’ve sown.

Come, Barefoot Pilgrim, tread softly,
Gingerly upon this fertile soil,
Breaking no bruised reed,
Snapping no failing branch,
But binding them up, infusing new life,
Till your garden feeds a hungry world
And its fragrance clears our choking air.

Come quickly, Barefoot Pilgrim!
Come!

It’s been a busy few weeks here.  Kids getting out of school.  Our little ‘trial week’ of ‘homeschooling’ with the girls (we are thinking about ‘homeschooling’/’unschooling’ for next year).  Sending the girls off to spend most of July with ‘Baba and Grandma” for summer camp – they are so excited…  I hope they don’t kill my parents – or vice versa.  Watching my crazy little boys run around the house naked, giggling hysterically as they juggle their boy bits, splash in the kiddie pool, and pee on the grass together.  They are just too funny.  Playing board games with my three (almost four) year old and having him thrash me – and being so grateful to God for how well he’s doing given his rocky start as a newborn with IVH/PVL.   He’s such an amazing joy.  Helping new contacts evaluate labels on ‘natural’ (semi-natural) products.  Helping new team members get up and rolling.  Starting to train for a 5K “Zombie Run” in the fall – and falling off the bandwagon with the heat.  Beginning to make a more tangible shift from our current church body (which we love) to the new church plant body that we’re a part of in our hometown (which we also love).  Preparing for our trip to Ukraine in early August to serve a local church there with English language camps.   Beginning initial plans for a major work event at the end of August.  Trying to figure out where to squeeze in a vacation trip with some dear friends.  Fireworks – both man-made ones, which were impressive, and the most amazing God-made ones which were way more impressive.  Crazy cool lightening show, like I’ve never seen before.

One of the other great joys of this past week has been picking the first fruit from our garden.  A small handful of cherry tomatoes and three big cucumbers.  We first did a garden in 2009 and just did tomatoes.  Then we got overly ambitious in 2010, and it flopped.  Didn’t do a garden last year because it was just too much with the baby.  And this year, I think we have a nice little balance of fairly easy to grow foods that we definitely eat.  A few varieties of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumber, zucchini, carrots, onions – and a strawberry patch for next year.

Fred has really been enjoying weeding the garden barefoot and has written an awesome poem inspired by the activity – maybe he’ll let me share it with you on my blog?  I’ll have to ask him.  🙂

So anyways, yeah.  Been delinquent on posting.  Have some ideas kicking around in my head though…

Of course, as I was explaining to someone I met online recently, I am NOT a hard core blogger.  Not aspiring to be one either.  I love to write, but I’m so nit picky about details that I just don’t have the time, energy, or desire to really write lengthy, well researched, and precisely written posts.  I am trying to consciously limit my computer time, not increase it – and use the time I am on it as efficiently as possible.  I love to do the research, think critically about these things for my own family’s choices, talk about this stuff with people, and share what I’m learning, but I confess that I just don’t have time or desire right now to really hard core blog.

My blog is really more of just a place, as I said way back when I started in September of 2010, for me to chronicle some of my thoughts and experiences as a work from home mom on a journey of sustainable living – personally (our own practices at home), professionally (through my work as a consultant and business owner), and spiritually (as it is all rooted, ultimately at the core, in my faith) – and interact with anyone online who might want to chat about these various topics.

So, we’ll see how ‘the Spirit moves’ in the next few weeks and what posts come out first.  I’m open to suggestions if anyone wants to read/discuss one thing more than another.  🙂

Some of my thoughts/ideas include…

A post about creating life, not ‘making a living.’

A review on some amazing coconut oil I recently had the privilege of trying.

A review of a new book by one of my current favorite authors, Nancy Sleeth – I’m about halfway through so far.

A brief explanation of different types of milk and why it really matters which one you choose.

A post on the somewhat misleading ‘no animal testing’ labels on personal care products.

A post on some the ethical questions surrounding product choices with certain ingredients.

A post on sustainable network marketing – how it can be very beneficial for society if (and only IF) done properly (as in, not at all like what you may have experienced in the past with stereotypical network marketing or MLM hype).

A post on ‘failure-proofing’ home business ventures.

My recent adventures into yogurt making.

My stinky water kefir mystery – help wanted!

Our ongoing efforts to purge stuff.

My back and forth thoughts on homeschooling.

My back and forth thoughts on maybe going gluten-free.

And now maybe a post with Fred’s latest poem.  🙂

 

Too many ideas, not enough time.  Gonna go play with my kids.  Will try to get a post out next week sometime on one of these topics.

Any votes?

Hi gang!  We’re in crunch mode here – the last week of school.  Need to keep it short…

Year end parties.  Junk food.  Sigh…  🙁

Thankful for the Vitality Pack…  Check out this new video Narelle put together and just released today.

After watching the video, leave a comment below, then pop over here to give yourself the appropriate number of entries into my June raffle – just added “Watch this short video: Superfoods” as an entry option.  😉

 

Hi everyone!  This is a very quick post to announce that the long-awaited, new Miessence website is up and running – and working beautifully.  I placed an order today, and it was so easy to use.

I think most of the minor goofs (little typos, etc.) are worked out, but you never know where one little glitch could have been missed.  Miessence is a family owned and operated company, so they need the help of their extended family (all of us – reps, customers, and general fans) to spot the blips.  (New to Miessence?  Check out the three super quick overview videos here.)

To make this fun and thank you for checking out the new site, I’m running a little (or big, depending on how many people the word spreads to on Facebook) giveaway during the whole month of June.

SCROLL DOWN TO ENTER:  Besides leaving a simple blog comment below telling me what you like most about the new site, there are 7 other ways you can enter – from the super quick and simple – including liking my Facebook page, tweeting about the giveaway, or subscribing to my newsletter – to the bit more involved – including watching videos or hunting down hidden glitches on the new site.

Can’t wait to see who wins!  Make sure to register your entries in the Rafflecopter widget below to be counted.

Don’t forget to share the giveaway with your label-reading, health-conscious, organically-minded friends.  The more ‘likes’ my page gets on Facebook, the higher the value of the giveaway will be.  😉

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you missed it – or are new and weren’t subscribed yet last month – our April edition of MiCommunity had a great article on safe sun protection.  My colleague, Erin Demory, wrote a very thorough review of sunscreen chemicals vs physical sunblock ingredients.  Check it out.

Since summer is fast approaching – and I want to test out this new “Rafflecopter” giveaway tool – this is a quick post to announce my first official online giveaway…  (Disclaimer – it’s my first time using Rafflecopter, so we’ll see how it works!  Either way, someone will win – promise!)

On Monday, 5/14, I will be raffling off one of the safest sunblock products on the market – in fact, it ranked on the EWG safe sunscreen report back when there were only 30 or so products that made the cut.

The Miessence Reflect Outdoor Balm.

I was very impressed with its ingredient list and even more impressed with its efficacy – and we’re super pale and pasty in our family.  😉

See below for your chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here are 6 quick tips for spotting the greenwashers in the ‘natural’ personal care product industry…

1. Beware of misleading brand names – Just because the brand name is ‘So-and-so Naturals’ or ‘XYZ Organics’ doesn’t mean the product as a whole can be classified as natural or organic.  More often, this just means they use some natural or organic ingredients – along with all their synthetic chemicals.
2. Ignore the marketing images –  Just because a catalog has lots of plant pictures in it does not mean that the products are natural or organic.
3. Caution on the marketing claims – Marketing words on the front of a box or bottle – such as natural, safe, pure, gentle, beneficial, non-toxic, organic, and even certified organic – can have varying standards for ingredients and these days demand a closer look at the full ingredient list on the back of the packaging.
4. Demand full ingredient disclosure – Just because the ‘key ingredients’ list contains natural ingredients, or the product says, ‘made with’ natural ingredients, doesn’t mean the rest of the ingredient list doesn’t contain potentially harmful chemicals.  If a company does not readily disclose or answer your questions on the complete ingredient list, a big red flag should start waving in your mind.
5. Verify the third party verification standards – Case in point, ‘certified organic’ products.  Certified by what organization?  And what are the certification standards?  There are many different standards out there now vying to become ‘THE’ organic standard for personal care and cosmetic products.  Few if any meet the standards which most consumers have come to think of when they think ‘organic’ – that is 95% minimum organic content, the other 5% natural, no chemical preservatives, etc.  These are the food grade standards and they can be applied to personal care products as well.  Compare products meeting the food-grade organic standards with other ‘organic’ standards that require as little as 10% organic content and often allow ingredients or processing methods that would never be allowed in organic food.
6. Take the Toxic Test – Become familiar with the more concerning ingredients often still found in ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ products and start scanning the backs of boxes and bottles as a regular habit before you buy.  You can find lists of ingredients to avoid from groups such as the Environmental Working Group or the Breast Cancer Fund.  If you wish, you can also get a  free downloadable “Toxic Test” resource list of 50+ ingredients to avoid – all compiled in one document.

The bottom line is, you must have a clear sense of what you are looking for and then do some careful digging to find out if a given product matches what you want.  When in doubt, feel free to ask!  People regularly send me messages via my Facebook page asking me to look over ingredient lists for them, and I’m happy to help whenever I can.

I recently became aware of a big upcoming event called the Natural Beauty Summit America.  Their webpage says, “Take part of the fastest growing segment of the beauty market.”  A market segment that is estimated to reach $5.8 billion in the US alone by 2016.  The natural market segment.

My first thoughts, I’ll be honest were a little… um… cynical is not really the right word.  Sorrowful maybe?

I thought…

Yes, this is the fastest growing segment of the beauty market because – whether they are high maintenance or low maintenance – more and more people want truly natural products.  But they are so often led astray by misleading claims and even blatantly false advertising.  They think they are buying a truly natural product because the nice words on the big front label say ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ or some other equally meaningless, unregulated buzz word.  They often don’t bother to look at the ingredient label on the back.  They just trust the advertising images or claims…

Sigh…

Sometimes this is subtle.  A company may be 100% honest and yet still – intentionally or unintentionally – be misleading people.  For example, if a company says very clearly in its marketing literature that they use science and nature combined (side note – ‘science’ here usually means man-made synthetic chemical ingredients), but then has a website or catalog full of plant images, customers will still come away with a strong sense that they are buying a truly natural product.

Case in point:  Before my personal discovery of truly organic products that work well and stay fresh without the synthetic chemicals, I used and worked with a semi-natural line that I believed to be better than most conventional products out there (I had not yet become aware of all that I know now regarding the toxicity of some of their ingredients).  I always stressed very clearly to my clients that the line was NOT all-natural, yet still, some people would develop a wrong impression because of the catalog images (over which I had no control).

In reality, nowadays, with the trends in natural beauty products – remember, the fastest growing segment of the entire beauty market? – these sorts of ‘semi-natural’ products are the new norm.  Dime a dozen almost.

But a truly natural, truly organic product that doesn’t go funky halfway through the bottle, still has a good shelf life, and actually works?  That’s tricky.

So, when I first saw this site advertising the Natural Beauty Summit, I also thought, “I wonder how many of these companies are just greenwashers like so many others?”

Greenwashers…

For example, companies that say their products are natural or organic when in fact they still contain toxic ingredients.

Or, companies that develop truly organic products to stock on store shelves right along side their conventional toxic products…  They clearly just want a piece of that growing market demand for natural products; they are not actually founded on and committed to natural and sustainable living principles at their core.

Whatever the case, they are everywhere.  Walk up and down the store aisles and read some ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ product labels.  Can you pronounce that ingredient?

Google search online for natural products…  The greenwashing is everywhere and endless.

Here is one example of a blatantly false claim I recently found.  I won’t mention brand names because I don’t like to ever slam anyone, but really now, come on…

This facial scrub is introduced to the reader as containing “only natural and herbal ingredients and is safe for both mother-to-be and fetus.”

But here is the ingredient list openly displayed right below that intro.  (I at least give them kudos for putting the list there!)

Ingredients:

• Purified Water
• Glyceryl Stearate
• Ethylhexyl Palmitate
• Butylene Glycol
• Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate
• Sodium Cocoyl Methyl Taurate
• Polyethylene
• PEG-100 Stearate
• Myristyl Myristate
• Tridecyl Stearate
• Neopentyl Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate
• Tridecyl Trimellitate
• Phenoxyethanol
• Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer
• DMDM Hydantoin
• Triethanolamine
• Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate

 

OK, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that most of those ingredients are not natural or herbal.  Most?  Unless my eyes deceive me, how about all but the water?!  Yikes!  And if you really dig into these ingredients, you will see that some are downright dangerous for people and/or the planet.

(Note – If you want more details on these ingredients, sign up for my newsletter for a free, downloadable “Toxic Test” resource list (over 50 ingredients to avoid and why) or contact me about doing a label reading workshop for you and a group of people who also care about avoiding hidden toxins (note – there are no sales at a workshop, it is strictly generic educational info and can be held in person or online via webinar).

But contrast it with the ingredient list for a truly natural facial scrub (Miessence’s Garnet Exfoliant).

Ingredients:

certified organic aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice
alluvial almandite garnet
sclerotium rolfsii gum
citrus aurantium amara (bitter orange) fruit extract
certified organic citrus limonum (lemon) essential oil
certified organic citrus bergamia (bergamot) essential oil
certified organic citrus dulcis (sweet orange) essential oil

What a difference!

At any rate, back to the Natural Beauty Summit.

So, at first glance I was skeptical and a bit saddened by the madness of all the probable greenwashing.  The marketing noise is so loud out there, that it’s sometimes hard to hear the small but mighty and growing voices demanding truly organic and sustainable products. It’s sometimes hard to hear my own voice. But it’s getting louder and clearer as more people join in the chorus.  🙂

As I dug deeper into the website for the summit event, I noticed that it looks like the organizers want to address many of these issues.

From their site…

12 Reasons to attend The Natural Beauty Summit

1) Identify the opportunities in the natural & organic cosmetics market

2) Achieve an in-depth understanding of natural & organic cosmetic standards

3) Gain an understanding of ethical sourcing & ingredient issues

4) Learn what to avoid when developing and marketing natural & organic products

5) Overcome the technical issues when formulating natural cosmetics

6) Gain insight into the regulatory environment for Europe and the US

7) Gain a better understanding of corporate social responsibility and ethical business practices

8.) Learn how to use food & novel ingredients in cosmetic products

9) Discover the innovative and provocative trends in sustainability

10) Update your knowledge in natural technologies

11) Get practical insight from marketing, R&D and retailing success stories

12) Learn about sustainable best-practices in the cosmetics industry

 

This all sounds very hopeful.  It sounds like the event has huge potential to create more momentum for change as various stakeholders come together to evaluate the past, present, and future of the natural products market segment.

Let’s hope they all commit to stop greenwashing and move in the direction of honest and clear marketing with regard to what’s in the products they provide.

Here is Part Two of my client’s recent questions.  If you missed it: Part One.

(Note: this discussion was with a Miessence client, so I use Miessence as an example a lot here, but you can apply the general principles to evaluating other products of any type or brand just as easily).

Her second question…

“2) Cost – I definitely consider cost when I shop, and my initial reaction to the Miessence line was that is was more money than I usually pay for personal care products.  So, I decided I would monitor how long the moisturizer lasted and was pleasantly surprised that it lasted about six months; that seemed reasonable to me.  So… How do I best consider / justify cost in light of environmental impact?”

And here was my reply back to her…

“2) To be perfectly honest with you, I can’t even fathom trying to figure out the exact math on this.  It would be a great high school math project, I bet!  But, a general weighing out of the true cost analysis can be done somewhat intuitively, I think, by asking the types of questions I discuss throughout the video series.

For just one example, carbon emissions.  A company that runs its manufacturing facility on wind power and offsets their global shipping emissions will, environmentally speaking, cost less long term than a company that uses tons of non-renewable energy in its manufacturing and does nothing to offset its transport emissions – even if the more energy intensive company is closer geographically.  Also, with most products on the store shelves, they’ve been shipped more than once all over the place before landing in our homes – vs ordering direct from a manufacturer.  In Miessence’s case, the cost of the products does reflect the wind powered manufacturing and the carbon offset work the company does.  It’s all wrapped up into the price – similar to how some customers are willing to pay a little more for wind or solar energy for their homes through 3rd part suppliers.

And actually, in Miessence’s case, even at full retail price they are right in the middle range price point (not economy drug store stuff, but also not super high end fancy schmancy stuff either) for these types of products – and that’s including all these environmental benefits (organic ingredients, fair trade/pay for workers in fields, no toxic ingredients for our bodies or waterways, carbon negative manufacturing and shipping practices, recyclable packaging with R&D working on compostable packaging…).  And that’s not counting the additional 20% off all orders option customers have via the lifestyle membership.  Compare this to other mid-range price point brands on the market that are full of toxins, use non-recyclable packaging, do nothing to offset their manufacturing and shipping burdens, likely pay people poor wages along the supply lines, and offer no ongoing regular discount options to customers…“

Bottom line?  No matter what the product is we’re talking about – food, personal care, cleaners, furniture, clothing, energy… whatever…

True costs are more than just the retail price sticker.

But what if budgets are tight – as they are for most people?

Thankfully, more companies are beginning to take innovative approaches to serve customers who want to vote with their dollars by purchasing more healthful and sustainable products but who may not have the budget to do it as often as they’d like.

Check out this video.  Again, I use Miessence as an example, but you can apply the same principles to evaluating other companies.

 

In the end, as I always tell people in my general label reading seminars…

YOU decide what matters most to you when you weigh out all the variables.  But becoming more mindful of the ‘true costs’ – the hidden social, economic, and environmental costs – behind our daily choices is critical for a sustainable future.

As we support one another in finding safer and more sustainable choices for every area of our lives, we are participating in and adding momentum to the bigger movement of history that is at work to restore sustainable life to the earth.  What an exciting journey!

Not long ago, a client asked me two VERY good questions.  I’d love to share the first one here, and the second in a later post.

“I jumped ahead a bit and previewed your video series.  Still need to take the survey, but it was evident the amount of work and thought and heart that went into your video series… so well done!  I wasn’t very conscious about the stuff in my personal care products.  And, the awareness is still a work in progress for me…  I have a couple of questions to help increase my personal awareness and understanding of this topic:  1) Ingredients – When I look at the ingredients on the back of my moisturizing bottle, I’m surprised to see a rather long list.  I expected organic to be simple…”

Here was my quick answer to her:

“Organic definitely means simple in terms of the types of ingredients – things we can pronounce.  🙂  But, there is still quite a lot of science and research that goes on with regard to what ingredients do what and in what combinations – in the case of skin care – for the skin.  If you ever have a chance to listen to Narelle, who has formulated the Miessence products, speak on this, it’s really quite fascinating.”

Creating a shelf-stable product that is certified organic to food grade standards is a HUGE challenge.  Many people can and do whip up their own DIY recipes in their kitchens using organic food ingredients.  And in these situations, you can often use just a handful of ingredients.  But there are a few major drawbacks for some:

1- It takes time and often needs to be done daily to ensure freshness of the DIY product.  Some people love doing this – rock on!  Personally, I’d rather buy products from someone I know I can trust and spend my limited time in the kitchen preparing food to eat instead of lotions and potions.  (Although, truth be told, I’m not a big fan of cooking either.  We border on ‘going raw’ because it’s just so much easier to grab some raw produce – plus it leaves the full nutritional potency in the food.)

2- There is a microbial concern in some cases.  If you whip up your own concoctions in your kitchen and DO keep it more than one day, it almost always needs to stay in the fridge (with some obvious exceptions, like using straight coconut oil for a moisturizer).

3- There is a compromise in what many think of as quality.  Perspectives on this will obviously vary depending on what a person is used to using.  For example, some people find straight coconut oil works great.  For others, it’s too greasy and they just don’t care for it.

Whether for time saving reasons, microbial safety reasons, or quality reasons, many people prefer to find truly organic products that just replace their conventional products rather than go the DIY route.  But to create a shelf-stable product that is food-grade organic and that you can keep in your bathroom for months, there is a LOT of research that goes into what organic ingredients and packaging and more will keep the product from separating, molding, or going rancid.

Check out this presentation Narelle put together on their R&D process.  That’s some extensive, organic science and research.

The coolest thing though, is that it CAN be done!  For years, people said it couldn’t be done.  In 2001, Miessence proved the naysayers wrong.  And now, 10 years later, others are catching on.  The old, “But you have to have some synthetic preservatives” excuse just doesn’t fly anymore.