My Igauna Broke Her Femurs

For Hanukkah this year Chuck got me an adult Iguana from a buddy of his. His friend said she ate spinach and manderin oranges. When we got her home I did some research on iguana diets and found out that Iguanas should be given spinach on occasion only because High in calcium, but very high in oxalates and goitrogens, so it should only be fed occasionally. I can't even find oranges let alone manderin oranges on the Iguana Food Chart, and it's 6 pages long!

So ling story short, my Iguana has a calcium deficiency and her bones are eggshell thin. It was from improper nutrition and I am guessing that the depletion of nutrients in our soil had a hand in it ass well. She is now on a daily oral calcium supplement, a multi vitamin and her logs are in a cast for the next two weeks.


I am of the opinion that Artificial Chemical Fertilizers contribute to the change of nutrient value of foods, by increasing the abundance of crops without replacing all the exhausted mineral elements in the soil. Also, when chemical fertilizers are used, the earthworms literally leave the soil. Many of these chemicals kill the earthworm and also alter the nature of the microbes, which may become virulent instead of beneficial. The earthworm is one of the most important considerations in terms of a nutrient rich soil.

Another reason for poor nutrients in our fruits and vegetables is that continuous cropping makes the soil deficient after using the same land over and over. However, organically grown foods are much richer in essential nutrients than commercially grown products.

I found the following data at

http://www.spatrade.com/articles/archive/ds799-3.html

The calcium in Spinach is 96.00 in Organic and 47.50 in conventionally grown plants Milliequivalents per 100 grs.

So the moral of the story is:

Feed all members of your family organically grown produce, even your pets.




This is Donatella



Donatella in her homemade carrying cage after getting splinted at the vet.

Who Wants a LolliDoo Update?

Melissa and I are working diligently on complying with the new regulations surrounding children's products. We are looking for a lab who can test for lead but also, Dioxin, Phthalates, Polyurethane and TBT. We know that we are free but we figure that if we have to test we might as well certify so we can legally make claims.


Below are some CANDID sneak peaks of the New and Improved LolliDoo Two Diapers.




LolliDoo Two now has a snap closure option in addition to our one-size-fits-all. This particular diaper is snapped to a size Large, if you look closely, you can see that it can be snapped to size Extra Large.





Our hook and loop tape closure is now trimmer. We still have the laundry loop and have added a laundry line loop (not shown).





This is the new OPEN AIRFLOW design. This particular diaper shown in a pocket but the aio will look the same, sans an opening at the top for Stuffins. This design is revolutionary and dry time is minutes either on the line or in the dryer.




This is a LolliDoo Two snapped to a size small. Isn't it purty?



Soon we will have some professional high res photos to show you along with order forms :)

Eco-Friendly Termite Solution?

I don't have termites and I want to keep it that way. The termite treatment that was originally laid down on my house was the typical toxic variety. The time has expired and I now have to find a solution to keeping termites at bay without poisoning my house, the earth and groundwater.

I had one company come out to give me an estimate. They offer the Sentricon System which won the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge. It's a system that uses termite bait and manipulates natural termite biology and behavior to destroy the termite colony. It's billed as an environmentally responsible way to protect your house.

Baits rely on the biological fact that termites are social insects that feed and groom each other, hence providing a mechanism for transfer of chemical throughout their colonies. Because of social exchange of food (trophallaxis), termites can be affected by a slow-acting toxicant without directly contacting or feeding upon it. Furthermore, baits can have colony-wide effects because individual termites are not site-specific, but instead move freely between numerous, interconnected sites during relatively short periods of time. They also intermix with other colony members so that the same group of termites does not simultaneously visit a bait site.

In-ground stations are inserted in the soil next to the structure and in the vicinity of known or suspected sites of termite activity. In-ground stations often initially contain untreated wood that serves as a monitoring device. The monitoring wood is replaced with the toxicant once termites have been detected feeding on it.

The active ingredient is called Recruit. The active ingredient in Recruit termite bait is 0.5% noviflumuron, an insect growth regulator (IGR). It interrupts the termites’ necessary ability to molt, which means they are unable to grow and, therefore, die.

I dug around and found this PDF file alerting workers who process noviflumuron of safety warnings http://www.fluoridealert.org/pesticides/msd/noviflumuron.recruit.iv.july.05.pdf It is concerning to me that there would be risk for a "responsible" option. This option will cost me $1100 to start and an additional $285 a year to maintain.

I have another company coming out tomorrow with a different product that I believe is Nicotine based. I hope to learn more so that I can make an educated decision.

LolliDoo Makes It's First Print Appearance

I got an email from Stephanie Byng asking for information on several topics. I offered her my website and blog to use in her research. Imagine my surprise today when her book An Eco-Babe's Guide to Greening It came to me via FedEx. The book contained ten pages on cloth diapers and not only was LolliDoo mentioned, but she wrote a section highlighting our corporation Go Green Sustainable Industries, LLC.

The book in general is fabulous and an inspiring read. If you want to check it out, you can order An Eco-Babe's Guide to Greening It through a link on Stephanie's website www.stephaniebyng.com (Oh why can't I ever get the links to work).

Check her out and look in pages 161-172 for LolliDoo!