Cooped Up in Chicken Coops

California chickens may get to spread their wings.

There is a new proposition in California that stipulates that animals caged for food consumption must have larger cages. People are rarely aware of the living conditions of the animals we eat. I strongly believe that eating a stressed out animal leads to poor human nutrition. We understand how stress ravages our own bodies, why would we think it would be different for animals?

We use the term "cooped up" and now I know why. The standard cage size per hen is the size of a 8x11 piece of paper. Can you imagine having your food and water dish in the front of a piece of paper and the rest of your living space in the back of a cage the size of a piece of paper? Proponents of this cage size say a chicken has "plenty of room" to turn around in their cage.

Proposition 2 will stipulate that a chicken must at least have enough space to spread its wings. This size change will impact large chicken raisers but can contribute to a higher quality egg. Companies are given up to six years to help companies transition to more humane accommodations.

This proposition will affect other animals as well.



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There is a new resource in town:
Denver Metro Living at its Finest:
Life in South West Douglas County
Lifestyle, Events, News and Gossip, and Real Estate for Castle Rock, Sedalia, Louviers, Larkspur, and Castle Pines and Castle Pines North in Colorado

Read more about Proposition 2 in California.

Watch YouTube videos on Prop 2 - against animal cruelty.

Mona's Restaurant Denver: Review

If you are a regular shopper of a natural grocery and if you've cut out trans fats and other preservatives out of your pantries at home then you may find that going out to eat often makes your stomach churn and leave you feeling sluggish. Even though I love going out to eat I've noticed that I have to be even more careful of the choices I make or else I will feel awful afterward, even if the food is delicious. Breakfasts are an even greater challenge as the oils restaurants use to make eggs are often incredibly greasy and rancid.

I am pleased to say that Mona's Restaurant in Denver offers a great, healthy, simple gourmet menu. I went to the new location on South Broadway a few Sundays ago. A friend of mine suggested the place. I took a look at their menu online but didn't find it too exciting at first glance. They have a seemingly basic menu and I braced my gut for the usual dinner fare.

I was in for a nice surprise. We didn't have to wait for a table at 11:30 on a Sunday morning.
I chose the Davinci's Crab Cake Florentine and was pleased that the muffin was replaced with a bed of steamed spinach. My breakfast was delicious. They also support local ranches by offering free range chicken, and meat without antibiotics and added hormones. It isn't easy to find restaurants that are making that commitment here in Denver. Their eggs are also free-range, antibiotic free. Even though I eat organic, grass fed meats at home, I've become vegetarian when I go out so that I can avoid corporate farmed meats so it was a refreshing change to be able to choose for any of the meat items on the menu.

Colorado Green Living - Green living for your health not just for our beautiful Colorado environment.

Green Babies, Sage Moms: Book Review

Green Babies, Safe Moms: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Your Organic Baby (2008) by Lynda Fassa, Founder of GreenBabies.com, an organic baby and kid clothing store.

This book is for anyone who is interested in changing their life into a more non-toxic, organic, sustainable lifestyle. You do not have to be a mother or father expecting a new child to glean excellent advise from her easy to read book.

I am not a mother nor do I intend to be, but long ago I decided that I should behave as if I were pregnant. What I mean is, if doctors and manufacturers say that pregnant women shouldn't eat tuna, drink coffee, or take certain medications and nutraceuticals because they may harm the baby, then I decided that my health (without a baby growing inside) is just as valuable and therefore, I shouldn't consume those things. It was tough giving up tuna and other fish that tend to host high levels of mercury. It was even more difficult to give up coffee but I believe that I enjoy a greater level of health because of it. Similarly, readers of Green Babies, Sage Moms can benefit and make their bodies and environments less toxic, or at the very least, become more aware of the bombardment of pesticides, herbicides and other chemical onslaughts and the unsustainable, consumptive lifestyle many of us lead.

Fassa enlightens us on organic foods and the chemicals incompatible with human life in cosmetics, perfumes, and hair products. She also talks about the use of pesticides used in cotton production and she touches on the burdens of waste in our trash dumps and how to improve indoor air quality by using non-toxic cleaners.

The book is full of resources and commentary by other green industry leaders. It is a quick read and is hopeful and not a "doom and gloom, scare the pants off you" book.

Green Babies, Safe Moms: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Your Organic Baby should be available in your local library (that is where I pick up my copy) or through Amazon.

Safe Green Living - Because not all sustainable living is healthy for humans.
Tips for non-toxic, organic, sustainable green living.

Colorado Needs "Water Day" Earth Day Reflections

The different domains of the globe can be separated by categories: earth, air, and water. Earth Day celebrates all three domains collectively in an attempt to encourage each of us to nurture and respect our own relationship with the environment. But in Colorado there seems to be a more pressing concern, our water, or better said, the lack of it.

Yesterday afternoon I watched a small dark grey plume of smoke over a ridge in Castle Rock. I later learned that two residential homes were burned but at the time I felt the sickening dread of "fire season". My family was intimately involved in the Hayman Fire in 2000. Dread, fueled by slippery winds and erratic fire paths, toyed with our emotions and our property for days. Would we be spared? Sadly we watched acres of gorgeous Colorado mountain terrain be swallowed up in a voracious fireball.

Our arid climate not only fuels fires but also the pine beetle devastation that has stripped our ski slopes, leaving the scrawny brown remains of the once evergreen, majestic trees. What can we do to preserve the purity of our Colorado water and conserve our water?

Ideas:

"Grass-roots" Green Technology
This idea is personally untried, but our new lawn care specialist is about to help us conserve water on our lawn. The soil beneath our Castle Rock lawn is claylike. The clay chokes plant roots and makes it very difficult for plants, trees, and grass to grow. Each year our new lawn has progressively gotten worse. We watered as much as we were allowed (per water restrictions) but the wind and arid climate seemed to siphon off the water we put on it. We watch our water glaze over our grass, onto our sidewalk and down into the city drain just like a watershed. This fast water path leaves behind our still yellow-green grass. Frustrated, we researched weather-based irrigation systems but then our new eco-friendly lawn management consultant recommended that we put top soil on the grass so that the nutrient rich soil can work its way down into our clay soil and help break up the death-gripe of our dirt. Several applications throughout the summer should not only feed our lawn but also help with water absorption so we can stop watching the run-off pool on our sidewalks.

Advanced "Green Technology"
For those of you attracted to gadgets, our low tech suggestion of adding topsoil may not be that exciting. Many new LEED certified green homes include a water irrigation system that uses a satellite connection to receive weather reports at your home. The irrigation system then self-regulates the amount of water needed to keep your landscaping alive and healthy. Use of the water-weather monitoring software system may mean that you do not need to follow water restriction calendars. Check with your town’s water department to see what the restrictions are.
Looking for more?
Harmony Lawns – Non-toxic lawn care – serving Castle Rock and ParkerThey offer low emission lawn care and their rates are affordable. Contact them now to get on their summer schedule.

WeatherTRAK ET plus system:
Read their article entitled: Is Your Irrigation System Killing Your Landscape?
WeatherTRAK Smart Irrigation - Save Water & Your Landscape
to find out more about their self-regulating water irrigation system.


Ten Steps to Non-toxic Lawn CareThis article is featured on the Breast Cancer Research and Education Fund website.

Colorado Green Living - Green living for your health not just for our beautiful Colorado environment.

Happy Earth and Water Day!

What is "Green"?

Everyone is going green...

"Green" is the now popular phrase that describes a lifestyle, commitment, and philosophy toward sustainable living. The idea is to minimize human impact on the environment by reducing the amount of waste and toxins each individual produces so that we pollute less, destroy less animal and plant habitat and leave a smaller garbage legacy.

Everyone is talking "green" including HGTV who is giving away a "green home", Wal-Mart, who is now carrying organic cotton bath towels, and yesterday my national chain grocery store gave me some documentation about how their company is "going green".

To me, the phrase green is synonymous with sustainable living, it is just easier to say. Sustainable living means that you take the resources from the earth that you need without leaving toxic sludge or minimized resources for future generations. The idea is that our grandchildren will not be forced to deal with polluted waters, burgeoning waste dumps and depleted soils just so that we could have all the consumer goods and lifestyle we want.

Is Green a Fad?I hope not. While our interest and commitment in environmental issues wanes and waxes over the years, developing a habit of contributions like recycling, buying energy saving appliances, recycling computers and cell phones, using rechargeable batteries, supporting local farmers and ranchers by purchasing their food directly at farmers markets, nourishing your family’s body and mind with organic foods, and reducing our use of water and electricity are habits we can integrate into our lives and they truly will make a positive difference in the world – especially if many of us do it.

Green Means RespectNative American's have a legacy of respect for Mother Nature. Their culture and stories warned that what we take from the earth, we must replenish. Going green means that we have respect for ourselves, our families, other humans, other life forms, and the earth.

Looking for more?

Tips for non-toxic, organic, sustainable green living.

Shades of "Green" - Deciding Who is Eco-Friendly

Shades of "Green"- Deciding Who is Eco-Friendly

Today I read a newspaper article criticizing Whole Foods shopping market. One criticism is that they shouldn't sell produce from other countries, presumably because of the fuel it takes to bring such a shipment to the United States and then distribute it to other stores. While this is a sound argument, it makes me think that we should keep in mind that going green is subject to interpretation. Each person and company decides to what degree they want to help save the environment.

Some people make seemingly drastic choices like giving up their automobile. We may think they are noble because of their choice (or crazy). They offset their carbon footprint but then someone else that is even more devoted to environmental responsibility will argue, "Yes, you gave up driving but you still use fossil fuels when you take the smog producing buses and trains. You should give that up entirely and ride a bicycle, like me." This more eco-friendly person smugly commends himself for how earth-sensitive he is.

Then, his woman friend decides he is too proud of himself and she condemns his choices because his bicycle is made by adorable, poverty stricken children in factories insensitive to fair-trade agreements. And what is worse; consider the amount of fuel it took to ship his bicycle to him. What a waste of natural resources. "What you should do is walk everywhere, like I do," she loftily proclaims. I can see the reasonableness of her argument too but what about the shoes she uses to walk around in? Where did they come from? How many parts and from which places did the materials come from? What environmental impact did the dye residues have that were used to make her trendy "earth-friendly" turquoise shoes?

There is an ideal, eco-friendly society, and then there is where we truly are. Our societies are so far removed from native earth living, that it is honestly unrealistic to expect that everyone must completely revert back to that lifestyle. If someone would like to join an earth commune then that is great but to judge others and dismiss their own efforts at environmentally sensitive living or criticize companies that are bringing organic foods to the masses is juvenile and egotistic.


We wrap up our criticism in a stifling environmental blanket that thinly disguises the American love-hate relationship with success. Most all of us want to be successful and often that success is measured in freedom and some degree of wealth and fame. But when someone becomes too successful, we act like a blood thirsty crowd in old black and white films, yelling and swing pitchforks and torches, claiming "Kill that profiting (successful) beast!"

I believe in living in harmony not only with the earth, but with each other and with our selves. If you personally believe it is wrong to eat produce from other countries because of the fossil fuel costs, then you can chose to only buy local foods rather than criticize the companies that provide both options. The beautiful thing about America is that the choice is entirely up to you. I hope we will always have that choice.

Safe Green Living, Examining the controversies and misleading information about going green and earth-friendly living.

Organic Baby Gifts: Clothes, Non-toxic Toys

Organic Baby Gifts: Bed Linens, Fun Outfits, and Safe, Non-toxic Toys

Give babies a true fresh start. Why expose them to man-made chemicals before their immune systems have a chance to adapt to life in our toxic world.

Does it seem a little excessive to buy organic clothing? Read about the chemicals incorporated into fabrics and clothing here. Flame retardants, pesticides, and formaldehyde are just a few examples of the chemicals in non-organic clothing. Decide if you would like to give your baby a non-toxic start. Organic clothing is still a new industry so the prices can be a little high. Because of the higher prices, organic baby clothing and bed linens make for excellent gifts.

Colorful Organic Onesies - Kimono style, Long sleeve, bodysuit style, short sleeve



Keep Baby's head warm, protected and comforted, organic cotton baby hats


Organic cotton baby pants, long


Organic Bunting Blankets

Organic baby clothing must be tightly worn in order to be considered safe by federal authorities. They are afraid loose baby clothing may be a fire hazard and that is why most baby clothes are treated with flame retardants. Keep your baby away from flames, cigarettes, and avoid the need for chemically doused clothing.



Organic Baby Wrapping Blankets



Organic cotton diapers, washable wool diapers



Bamboo Baby ProductsBamboo is becoming more and more popular. Thomas Edison planted hundreds of bamboo tree varieties on his summer property in Fort Meyers, Florida. He was trying to find an affordable natural rubber source. We are still finding new ways to use bamboo.



Organic Baby Gift Baskets
Wow them with these ready-made baskets.



Non-toxic teething toys -
some made from 100% organic Egyptian cotton, soft veggie toys, stuffed animals



Organic Baby Bedding and Linens Mattress protectors, organic wool mattresses that help regulate the baby's body temperature...