Well Fed On the Town

Operation Green is a weekly Well Fed On The Town column where editors Cate O’Malley and Sarah Caron explore their efforts to live greener lives. Follow along as they forage for local food, find more Earth-friendly solutions and decide what their limits are.

Cate O’Malley: I’m glad that I have a partner in this new effort for Operation Green - it helps to bounce ideas off someone and share finds with. Anything new you found this week?

Sarah Caron: A couple things, actually.

Cate: do tell!

Sarah: I found a local soapmaker that uses goat milk to make all-natural soaps. And the scents sound so alluring - like blackberry sage. It’s called Goat Boy Soaps, and they ship too.

Cate: Oooh Blackberry Sage sounds like an interesting one.

Sarah: Yea, and there are some more common scents too - cucumber melon, lavender oatmeal, etc I am going to be in the area of the farm this week, so I might drop in and pick some up to try it. The bars are supposed to be really longlasting too.

Cate: In a recent issue of InStyle magazine, they mentioned www.mrsmeyers.com. I haven’t heard of them and went to place my first order. Then I found a local place that carried some of their products and bought them there instead. I got the Lemon Verbena scent for counter spray, which smells divine. Saved me shipping too.

Sarah: Awesome. How does it work?

Cate: So far so good. I’ve been having a hard time finding something for wood, but just found two new sources… one is vermontsoap.com. Looks like good stuff but you have to dilute to use it, and I wanted something that you didn’t have to dilute. This morning I was in Target, and checked out their Method line, and they happen to have items for wood there. One is a liquid for wood floors. The other is wipes for tables, etc. Picked up one of each and will start using this week. Doesn’t smell like Pledge, but that’s probably a good thing.

Sarah: I bought the Method wood wipes this week to try out. So far I really like it. It gives a great shine.

Cate: oh good! I’m debating about finishing up the stuff I have or freecycling (freecycle.org) them.

Sarah: I also got their all-purpose wipes, which worked well. I’ve been thinking about all the stuff I have too.

Cate: Since I bought the counter stuff this week, I freecycled the current, ahem, more toxic stuff I had.

Sarah: I would hate to waste it. That seems counterproductive.

Cate: Then freecycle it so someone else can use it. I had tons of replies when I put the other stuff up. Tuesday I’m heading down to Whole Foods and Trader Joes to see what they’ve got in the way of eco-friendly stuff.

Sarah: Freecycle? I’ve never used Freecycle, how does the whole pick-up and whatnot work? Trader Joe’s has a line of super crunchy cleaners. It might be a little too organic for me at this point though. Baby steps, you know?

Cate: For freecycle, if you go to the website, you can sign up to send/receive e-mails for the particular county you live/work in. When you have something you want to get rid of, you send out an e-mail with details about the item. Then people respond, and you set up a time/place with who you decide to give it to. Easy peasy. Gotcha on the super-crunchy. Totally baby steps.

Sarah: It was really hard to give up the Scrubbing Bubbles and Fantastik. Those have been my go-to cleaners since I went to college.

Cate: So maybe there are a few things we don’t want to sacrifice — we just make up for it in other areas. Every little bit helps.

Sarah: But fortunately, the Method shower cleaner worked wonders - we had a terrible soap scum problem and it just wiped away after I let it sit for 10 minutes

Cate: Nice! I picked up the bright green Method handsoap today with a refill bottle too. Nicholas was pretty impressed with the vibrant color.

Sarah: I am not at a point where I am willing to go 100% all natural, or even more extreme like No Impact Man.

Cate: No Impact Man?

Sarah: I like my chocolate, my coffee, my bottled water and my tropical fruit - those are things I am not willing to forgo.

Cate: Yeah, can’t say I’m going to forgo AC anytime soon. I have my limits.

Sarah: No Impact Man is a New Yorker who has given up all things that impact the environment - everything from electricity to toilet paper. He is even using a solar panel to power his laptop. It’s a one-year experiment.

Cate: Oooh, cool find. Betcha we can get a little inspiration from there.

Sarah: How wild is that? Living in a NYC apartment and turning off your electricity on purpose? And his 2-yr-old daughter and wife are along for the ride.

Cate: Very brave. Especially with the ultra-hot NYC summers …

Sarah: I am NOT giving up toilet paper, Cate.

Cate: LOL - I hear ya! Love my Quilted Northern a little too much.

Sarah: I have a septic, so it’s Scotts for me, but we do use Quilted Northern every once in a while and that is quite a treat. So soft.

Cate: lol - it’s the little things. Even though we’re just making small changes here and there, I gotta tell you, I feel better already. Just being more conscience of our impact … and a great lesson for the kids.

Sarah: It definitely feels better to be able to clean and not shoo Will away because I am using some heavy-duty toxic cleaner. He loves to help, but I would never let him touch the old cleaners or even wipe them away. With the ones I am experimenting with, it’s okay for him to help wipe down the table or whatever. LOL. His wife will love me for it someday.

Cate: Exactly. I explained that the old stuff has chemicals that, while they have their place, we can find cleaning stuff without it that’s much better for us. He’s actually a big help with recycling too. I got these cool containers from Design Within Reach. They velcro together, 4 in a set. Any time we’re in the kitchen, and he sees recycling to go outside, he happily takes it out, and even manages to get it into the right container. That’s the kind of help I like!

Sarah: Will is still a little young for that, but I can only HOPE that he wants to do the same when he’s Nick’s age. Okay, a lot young for that

Cate: Eh, give him another year… he’s clearing the table, if I remember correctly, right? He can handle it.

Sarah: Yes he is. It’s the cutest thing. But speaking of kids, you know I am pregnant and I have severe asthma. Another thing I have noticed is that cleaning with the more natural stuff doesn’t effect my breathing the way Clorox with Bleach or Pine-Sol did. I couldn’t even stay in the house when my husband would clean the floors. Already I see marked improvement in that front.

Cate: That’s awesome - totally makes this worth it then. I have asthma too, and if there’s anything that will help that, I’m all for it. So I hope we’ve given the Fit Fare readers a little something to think about with this week’s chat. We’d love to hear from everyone on what they use to clean that is eco-friendly and works well.

Sarah: So what’s up for next week?

Cate: How about we tackle healthy, smart choices for kids snacks?

Sarah: Sounds great.