Organic fabric source needed

Mmmm, tomatoes. I had some picked from the garden for my beakfast. Huge
beefsteak ones sliced and fried in a sausage sandwhich. Yum. It's not
worth growing the piddly little ones, they taste no different. And the
chillies. Man! I have 9 chile plants that I have to leave behind when I
move! We only have room for my mini thai sun chile (which although are only
1/2" long are hotter than anything we had in mexico!)

Charlie. (Who has regularly started having chiles for breakfast. Fried in
with the tomatoes.)


"Trish Brown" wrote in message
...
Sally Holmes wrote:

But we haven't had cars and fridges and technology and heavy industries
for
thousands of years. The world is a very different place now and we've
made
it so. Perhaps we should all try to do our little bit not to continue
raping
the planet - turn the light off when you're not in the room, don't use
more
water than you need, try to use fewer chemicals. It makes good sense if
we
want to leave our children and grandchildren a place to live in.

--
Sally Holmes
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England

Yes.

My personal bugbear is tomatoes.

The item we buy in supermarkets, jocularly labelled 'tomato' bears only a
superficial resemblance to the real thing. It is tasteless, floury,
colourless,
sterile (ie seeds rarely germinate) and generally *not* a thing likely to
inspire one's taste buds to throw a party. It has been chemically forced
to
germinate (with application of plant hormones), artificially forced to
grow
(through artificial long day-length greenhouses), artificially forced to
be
larger (those hormones again!) and then harvested early and held in cold
storage
until it's expedient to artificially ripen it through the use of gases!
(NB.
I"ve left out the bit about the legions of pesticides and fertilisers used
in
the process - I assume that's generally understood...)

What hope is there for the humble tomato? And why all this 'artificial' in
its
lifestyle?

Supermarkets! That's why!

See, supermarkets don't want to have to deal with loss. Profit is their
aim. So,
they dictate how and why and what they will buy from the producer. They
insist
that the tomato should be available all year round, hence the artificial
forcing
of the fruiting season (remember 'early tomatoes'? There's no such thing
any
more - supermarkets killed them!) They insist that consumers will not buy
small,
blemished or irregularly formed fruit. Hence, the *waste* of same that
causes
the profit to the grower to put him in a seriously compromised financial
position. No risk to the supermarkets, though! It's the farmer who chucks
out
the unsalable fruit (even the canneries will no longer buy what cosumers
don't)
and suffers the consequences.

We, the buyers, are thus left with no choice of tomato. Yet, there are
hundreds
of beautiful, tasty varieties steadily heading toward extinction because
farmers
can't afford to risk growing them. After all, convenience has dictated
that
housewives must buy from supermarkets and for the above reasons,
supermarkets
have dictated that one sole variety will be available there. What hope is
there?

All I can say is, grow your own tomatoes!!!! As soon as the eldest fruit
is
ripe, wait for a warm, sunny day and pluck it from the vine. Smell it and
note
the sunshiny, luscious aroma that comes from a healthy, natural fruit.
Bite into
it and let the warm juice run down your chin. Savour the sweet/acid
flavour of a
*real* tomato, spiced by the sun and nourished by the earth alone.

If a green caterpillar has bitten the fruit before you got there, swear a
bit
but realise he's simply fulfilling his place in the scheme of it all and
bid him
a cheery goodbye. At least the poor little b*gger has managed to flout the
*
icides and lived to tell the tale! Most of all, teach your children what a
*real* tomato tastes like! There exists a generation in the world today
that has
never experienced it!

Now, this is the story of the tomato... but what of the potato? McDonald's
has
become its most significant mechanism of natural selection in this modern,
chip-hungry world! What of wheat? Did you know that much of the
commercially
available wheat in the world has been genetically altered (ie.
tetraploidy,
haploidy) for years and years and years? Same with rye, same with
barley...

All because *supermarkets* need to show an ever-increasingly enormous
profit! I
don't know any rich dirt-farmers, but *all* the supermarket moguls I know
are
filthy rich!

Sorry for the length of this, but this thread has pushed a button of mine.
=:-0
--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

PS. Both my kids were allergic to disposable nappies and lived exclusively
in
terrycloth ones which I washed daily with fluctuating degrees of 'euuuwww'
and
pride.

"Charlie" wrote in message ...
I didn't say people were making it up, I said I didn't see the point when it
would only be taken home and washed in harmful chemicals. Thus defying the
point of buying chemical free fabric. Unless you plan to never wash your
clothes / upholstery.

Charlie.

There are plenty of environmentally friendly, fruit based, non
polluting, higly biodegradable washing liquids available these days,
eg EcoVer. I use that kind - we don't use any synthetic cleaners etc
in the house. It's also good for the septic tanks as it doesn't affect
the composting bugs.

There is masses of info on the web about how many pesticides and other
pollutants are needed to grown conventional cotton, and about the
harmful chemicals in dyes.

I am making a choice to use low-impact fabrics because I don't want to
contribute any more pollution than I have to. Why do that when there's
a choice? By chosing greener products it normalises them once more and
brings the price down.

Lucy

Many homes do indeed make their inhabitants suffer from over-exposure
to chemicals, and it is far from a joking matter, but, IMHO, the cure
lies in controlling what types of products go into the actual
construction of the house. Vinyls, wallboard, pressed wood chip
cabinets, carpeting: all these things outgas chemical fumes for years.
Pressure treated lumber is treated with arsenic, which is a proven
carcinogen. It has just now begun to be banned here for use in
constructing children's outdoor play swings and such. In the meantime,
though, many schools have these very expensive, toxic play areas which
are still used by our children.

Sometimes, the chemical exposure is in the workplace, with little recourse
for remedy. Also, the prolific use of fragrance products on bodies and in
the home is a big component. You can control your own home, but not the
workplace, and not places like school, theatres, etc. Sometimes, the crap
comes in your local newspaper, as a scented advertisement. This is illegal,
but just try to get someone to prosecute the perpetrator. I've tried.

The building products can be a big problem, but once you know about them,
and can control them, you're still exposed to all the avenues which you
can't control.

I agree, some of these catalogues are yuppie-fests. For some of us though,
it is critical.

"Charlie" wrote in message
...
I dunno. I know some people will see this as odd, but I think if we've
suvived as a human race for thousands of years, then I don't see what the
fuss is about now. All these celebrities telling us that we need this and
we need that to ensure our health. Seems odd to me.

Umm...we've survived thousands of years by NOT eating toxed out foods, and
not living in toxed out environments. That has changed in the last 75 years
or so.

Think of the chemically sensitive as the canaries you carry into the coal
mine to warn you of danger.

Charlie wrote:
I didn't say people were making it up, I said I didn't see the point when it
would only be taken home and washed in harmful chemicals. Thus defying the
point of buying chemical free fabric. Unless you plan to never wash your
clothes / upholstery.

There are lots of organic and non-harmful soaps and stuff out there
these days.

--
I know God will not give me anything I can't handle.
I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. - Mother Teresa

LucyD wrote:

There are plenty of environmentally friendly, fruit based, non
polluting, higly biodegradable washing liquids available these days,
eg EcoVer. I use that kind - we don't use any synthetic cleaners etc
in the house. It's also good for the septic tanks as it doesn't affect
the composting bugs.

There is masses of info on the web about how many pesticides and other
pollutants are needed to grown conventional cotton, and about the
harmful chemicals in dyes.

I am making a choice to use low-impact fabrics because I don't want to
contribute any more pollution than I have to. Why do that when there's
a choice? By chosing greener products it normalises them once more and
brings the price down.

Lucy

Yes! I saw a documentary about drug use recently. The convenor of the forum made
a comment that stuck with me: 'When we're young, we think 'My body is a furnace!
Whatever goes in there, I will burn up and become even stronger!' It's only the
wisdom of the years that teaches us our bodies are not as invincible as we
thought!'

Now, applying this concept to the thread we have here, I think we all believe
the world keeps turning day by day and is a furnace. It's only when we've lived
for a while and seen things we treasured or things that were comfortably
familiar disappear that we come slowly to the realisation that we're spoiling
things by our own consumerism. (Long sentence: hope it's not too wormy to make
my point?)

We have a dear little local creek (Ironbark Creek). When I was a child
(forty-odd years ago), it burbled through our town and had frogs, fishes,
tortoises, birds, lizards and even snakes living in and around it. As I was
growing up, I observed that Ironbark was gradually filling up with rubbish: lawn
clippings, cast-off cardboard boxes, paper, plastic bottles and eventually old
shopping trolleys and even car-bodies! The powers that be determined the creek
should be 'contained' with concrete in order to 'protect' it and make it easier
to clean out.

'Containing' a natural waterway in concrete is the quickest way to kill it! You
destroy its natural meandering and change the speed and direction of water-flow.
It's no longer able to carry its normal load of silt and detritus and it can no
longer drop its load in a natural way. Hence, its flow will decrease to a point
where it can't even deal with a pay-load and it will become a dribble of green,
eutrophied slime. This is what happened to Ironbark Creek. Today, there are no
animals or birds (aside from Crows and gigantic, ferocious introduced Carp) who
live in Ironbark and it's an eyesore!

The way I see it, we're doing the same thing to the world on a grander scale!
Somehow, we've accepted fertilisers, plant and animal hormones, insecticides,
fungicides and other chemical 'agents' (who knows what they're 'agents' for!?)
into our homes and our diets. In spite of protesting that we don't like the idea
of ingesting these chemical cocktails every day, we remain bound by the
supermarkets and we quietly acquiesce. Now, I'm no rabble-rouser: I shop at
Coles down the road, just like every other housewife in the district. But it
makes me uneasy! I wonder what consequences my kids will pay as this goes on and
gets bigger.

For one thing, they certainly won't be catching penny-turtles in Ironbark Creek!

We've all heard of the environmentally friendly alternatives in cleaning and
cooking and other aspects of daily life. I wonder how far it'll go before we (as
an earthful of concerned consumers) take them seriously?
Maybe I might start finding out a bit more and doing what I can in my own
home...?
--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

PS. I cleaned my stove with bicarb. soda this morning - just because I *could*!
LOL!

im finding this conversation fascinating...can you provide more info on EcoVer?
for example....does it do a good job of cleaning the clothes? ect...

thanks-
betsey
"we do not inherit the earth, we caretake it for our children"

I use EcoVer, Seventh Generation and other non-petroleum cleaners of all
types: laundry, dish washing, cleaning, soap. They work just as well as
traditional products, and smell wonderful. The only thing I have noticed is
the dish washing soap doesn't stay foamy as long, but it washes just as well
after the bubbles are gone. They are more expensive and harder to find -
fortunately I have a "natural" supermarket near me. I buy as much organic,
natural, non-GMO (genetically modified organism) as possible. Another plus,
most of them do not test their product on animals and have "green"
factories.

It might cost more at the check out, but saves in health costs that are
impossible to put a price tag on. There are many book that describe how to
make your own cleaning products. Two examples a

Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living
by Annie Berthold-Bond
CLEAN HOUSE CLEAN PLANET
by Karen Logan

Just go to www.amazon.com and find either and follow the other links to
related books.

Joy

"Two x over" wrote in message
...
im finding this conversation fascinating...can you provide more info on
EcoVer?
for example....does it do a good job of cleaning the clothes? ect...

thanks-
betsey
"we do not inherit the earth, we caretake it for our children"

On 27 Aug 2003 10:25:16 -0700, LucyD wrote:

Anyone know where in the UK or Europe I can source organic fabrics
suitable for cushion making? I have only found a couple of places so
far, both expensive. Any ideas much appreciated.

Lucy

Fabrics are harder to get than clothing and other goods. Try he
www.ecobusinesslinks.com/links/fabrics, and www.textilesfromnature.com.

I can recommend other sites for clothing, toys, baby stuff, etc. The one I
use most often is www.bishopstontrading.co.uk - very nice clothes and lots
of them reversible, so you get your money's worth.

Good luck.

Trish

"Home grown damaders
Home grown damaders
What would life be without home grown damaders?
Only two things that money can't buy
And that's true love and home grown damaders!"
One of my favorite songs, but I can't remember who sang it. *sigh*
Barbara

"Trish Brown" wrote in message
...
Sally Holmes wrote:

But we haven't had cars and fridges and technology and heavy industries
for
thousands of years. The world is a very different place now and we've
made
it so. Perhaps we should all try to do our little bit not to continue
raping
the planet - turn the light off when you're not in the room, don't use
more
water than you need, try to use fewer chemicals. It makes good sense if
we
want to leave our children and grandchildren a place to live in.

--
Sally Holmes
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England

Yes.

My personal bugbear is tomatoes.

The item we buy in supermarkets, jocularly labelled 'tomato' bears only a
superficial resemblance to the real thing. It is tasteless, floury,
colourless,
sterile (ie seeds rarely germinate) and generally *not* a thing likely to
inspire one's taste buds to throw a party. It has been chemically forced
to
germinate (with application of plant hormones), artificially forced to
grow
(through artificial long day-length greenhouses), artificially forced to
be
larger (those hormones again!) and then harvested early and held in cold
storage
until it's expedient to artificially ripen it through the use of gases!
(NB.
I"ve left out the bit about the legions of pesticides and fertilisers used
in
the process - I assume that's generally understood...)

What hope is there for the humble tomato? And why all this 'artificial' in
its
lifestyle?

Supermarkets! That's why!

See, supermarkets don't want to have to deal with loss. Profit is their
aim. So,
they dictate how and why and what they will buy from the producer. They
insist
that the tomato should be available all year round, hence the artificial
forcing
of the fruiting season (remember 'early tomatoes'? There's no such thing
any
more - supermarkets killed them!) They insist that consumers will not buy
small,
blemished or irregularly formed fruit. Hence, the *waste* of same that
causes
the profit to the grower to put him in a seriously compromised financial
position. No risk to the supermarkets, though! It's the farmer who chucks
out
the unsalable fruit (even the canneries will no longer buy what cosumers
don't)
and suffers the consequences.

We, the buyers, are thus left with no choice of tomato. Yet, there are
hundreds
of beautiful, tasty varieties steadily heading toward extinction because
farmers
can't afford to risk growing them. After all, convenience has dictated
that
housewives must buy from supermarkets and for the above reasons,
supermarkets
have dictated that one sole variety will be available there. What hope is
there?

All I can say is, grow your own tomatoes!!!! As soon as the eldest fruit
is
ripe, wait for a warm, sunny day and pluck it from the vine. Smell it and
note
the sunshiny, luscious aroma that comes from a healthy, natural fruit.
Bite into
it and let the warm juice run down your chin. Savour the sweet/acid
flavour of a
*real* tomato, spiced by the sun and nourished by the earth alone.

If a green caterpillar has bitten the fruit before you got there, swear a
bit
but realise he's simply fulfilling his place in the scheme of it all and
bid him
a cheery goodbye. At least the poor little b*gger has managed to flout the
*
icides and lived to tell the tale! Most of all, teach your children what a
*real* tomato tastes like! There exists a generation in the world today
that has
never experienced it!

Now, this is the story of the tomato... but what of the potato? McDonald's
has
become its most significant mechanism of natural selection in this modern,
chip-hungry world! What of wheat? Did you know that much of the
commercially
available wheat in the world has been genetically altered (ie.
tetraploidy,
haploidy) for years and years and years? Same with rye, same with
barley...

All because *supermarkets* need to show an ever-increasingly enormous
profit! I
don't know any rich dirt-farmers, but *all* the supermarket moguls I know
are
filthy rich!

Sorry for the length of this, but this thread has pushed a button of mine.
=:-0
--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

PS. Both my kids were allergic to disposable nappies and lived exclusively
in
terrycloth ones which I washed daily with fluctuating degrees of 'euuuwww'
and
pride.