Water | Resources
Handmade Betty
All kinds of organic body care products for men, women, and children, including the purest sun protection I’ve seen. Packaged in glass jars. “We make everything in small batches & with only transparent ingredients . Our Company dedicate itself in finding the best ingredients and suppliers to find wholesome and beautiful ingredients. All of our products are made from scratch and made to order. It is made once the order comes in so nothing is sitting on shelves….We are very proud of my products! We are constantly doing research to make sure not only the products are free of harmful chemicals but also that each essential oil & ingredients that we put in our products are fresh and wont disturb your skin. Homemade Betty started making products for her children and her self. She was worried about all the products that were going on their body! She started making lotion and never turned back. Every product that she makes is something her or her family uses daily.”
Uncle Goose
Adorable wooden blocks painted with animal faces and features. Also beautiful ABC blocks. These are truly works of art. I love these! “We handcraft every set in Grand Rapids, Michigan, using choice materials from around the Great Lakes. And yes, we are 100% made in the USA…non-toxic, child-safe inks on all our blocks.”
Terrain Heritage Garden Hose
A beautiful garden hose made from toxic free polyurethane, with chrome-planted lead-free brass fittings. Come in six lovely garden-compatible colors. Plus this site has many more stylish and natural garden and home products.
Portola Paints & Glazes
Handcrafted Zero-VOC paints (acrylic base). made in small batches and blended by hand. “Jamie and Casey Davis, co-founders and owners, were born and raised in Los Angeles to a family of artists. Mentored by their father, a high-end custom home builder, Jamie and Casey inherited a deeply rooted love for design and color…Because every paint color provides an opportunity to tell a story and transform a space, the brothers take both time and pride in creating customized palettes that reflect a client’s unique personality. Their extensive variety of paints and specialty finishes are all made locally and in small batches at their L.A. headquarters. Using their knowledge of pigment and saturation, and an ability to match all of their paints by eye, they design full spectrum colors that reflect a broader range of light and coordinate in subtle, yet powerful ways, to any environment…Portola products are high quality, eco friendly & affordable. We are also a family owned and operated small business, and source everything locally.”
Soludos
Traditional cotton/jute espadrilles with natural rubber (latex) soles in up-to-date styling: tennis shoes, slippers, sandals. Also some suede uppers, some linen linings. Lots of colors, some decorated. Flats and wedge heels. Women and men. Read comments for advice about ordering the correct size.
Lancaster Creations
Organic herbal products “born out of a mother’s need for clean, natural, unadulterated products for her home and family…owned and operated by a self proclaimed “Arti-Free” Mommy of 2…We use the highest quality Organic ingredients & source locally whenever possible. Our beeswax is collected from a CCOF certified small family owned farm in Kingsburg, California, and every gram is filtered in house by April Lancaster herself…100% Organic Goodness. Made by hand, with love in a toxicant free home.
Rooted Athlete
Unscented, certified organic stick deodorant made from coconut oil, carnauba wax, arrowroot powder, shea butter, and baking soda. Also scented available.
Coco Pits
Unscented, certified organic stick and cream deodorants, made from organic virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil, sodium bicarbonate, organic arrowroot powder, beeswax, Vitamin E oil, and organic essential oils. Also comes in six scents.
Stick Candles
Unique handmade 100% beeswax candles—cast from sticks, twigs and branches. “We pour our candles one at a time. Originally made as a gift for mom…”The Candles that we are now able to cast, from shapes that we gather, strike me as beautiful and fascinating…when someone tells me about their experience with a candle that I made…It doesn’t point to me. It points to the shape of that cutting. Beauty in Nature.Wow : What Could Be Better Than That ?”
The Fastest Way to Remove Paint Fumes
Last week I had an interesting experience on a private Facebook group I belong to.
A pregnant woman with a 1 1/2-year-old posted that she had just moved into here new house the day after renovations were done and she could still smell new paint, floor adhesive and lacquer. She was trying to “get these toxins out of the house FAST!”
Given that this is a private group and anyone can post on any subject, she got quite a few well-intended recommendations. They were not, however, the correct actions to take to remove volatile chemical gasses from her home.
Here are some of the suggestions (and my comment on them on the indent lines after each comment):
- I have a floor fan you can use.
Inadequate.
- Do a wipe down with vinegar and water.
This will do nothing for paint fumes.
- Leave all windows open so fumes can vent out of the house. Can also put 2 or 3 box fans in windows on one side of house in open windows drawing air OUT of the house. This will pull in fresh air from the remaining open windows. You need to let the fumes escape from the walls and flooring, and then be vented out of the house. It may take some time.
Ventilation is always good, but in this case what is needed is to accelerate the release of the VOCs in the paints and adhesives.
- Place bowls of baking soda with lemon squeezed on top (leave the lemons in the bowl too) around the house.
Baking soda does remove odors, but not specifically paint fumes.
- Take big bowls full of ammonia and place them in every room, shut the door, it absorbs the smells.
This may remove odors, but ammonia itself is a toxic chemical and will not remove toxic gasses.
- Buy an air purifier from Target for around $100.
Air filters sold at Target and other such stores do NOT remove paint fumes and other VOCs. They are designed to remove particles such as dust and pollen, which are larger than chemical gasses.
- There are a number of plants that remove toxins from the air , floors etc and then give you fresh air. You can google the list. I believe there are about 12 different ones you can choose from.
Plants are not adequate to handle the toxic chemical gasses in this home. You would need hundreds of plants. I did the math once on this to see if I could recommend this instead of air filters. Not in a situation like this. A 9×12-foot room with an 8-foot ceiling is 864 cubic fee, so you would need 72 plants to duplicate the results from Wolverton labs—a virtual jungle!
Here’s what to do in a situation like this:
- Get yourself and your family out of the house. Find somewhere else to stay until you have handled the toxic exposure.
- Close the windows and “bake” the house. Follow the instructions at QA: Intructions to “Bake Out Toxic Fumes
- Get an air filter that removes toxic gasses. The best air filter I know of for removing toxic fumes from an area fast is the EnviroKlenz Mobile Unit.
Of course it’s always best to paint with a zero-VOC paint to begin with.
