mama earth organics review

i meant to post this review ages ago, but of course, life got busy, kiddo got sick, and i neglected to do this. okay so after the fab find certificate went up for mama earth organics, i quickly put in my first order for the following week. the way their ordering system works is that the latest you can put in an order is before 10 a.m. the day before delivery. the day they deliver depends on where you live in the GTA.

so with my $55 fab find certificate in hand, i had to decide what i would get for my first basket. since you have to use the full amount at one time, i had to sort of mix and match between the fresh produce and their other grocery staples. i didn't think that the three of us could eat that many fruits and veggies before they'd go bad. i ended up deciding on the regular/couple basket, which was $35. the produce each week changes depending on what is in season and what they are able to get. here is what we got in our basket:

• 3 fuji apples
• 3 anjou pears
• 4 cara cara oranges
• 1.5 lb fair-trade bananas
• 1 avocado
• 2 lbs. yellow potatoes
• 1 pt. grape tomatoes
• 1 boston lettuce hydro (came with roots and soil! neat-o!)
• 1 broccoli
• 1 lb. baby bok choy

quite a lot of stuff for the money and comparably priced with organic produce at loblaws. in order to make up the extra $20, we also got:

• nigari tofu
• fair-trade dark hot chocolate mix
• 2 minneola tangerines
• 2 lbs. red potatoes
• 2 lbs. yams
• 1 pt. white button mushrooms

everything was either organic or fair-trade. the order arrived in a sturdy rubbermaid container and was placed inside my garage as i had requested. everything was packed nicely and they even wrapped up the tofu with a bottle of frozen water so that it would be kept cool. nice touch! one of the things i liked best was that they include some recipes using the ingredients in your basket. we didn't get a chance to try any that week, but i definitely will in the future.

i was really impressed with their selection of stuff and also with the quality of the produce. this is the first time that i've ordered groceries online and my concern was always that i might end up with produce that is not so fresh or that it would get damaged in transit. the produce we got from mama earth was all good with the exception of the avocado. after just a few days, the skin got all spotty and it was *very* soft. they emailed a few days after delivery to ask how i liked my first order. i mentioned what had happened with the avocado and they emailed back immediately saying that they had gotten a mediocre batch, but hadn't realized it when they were filling orders. as a result, they credited my account in the amount of $3. i am a very satisfied customer and will definitely be ordering from them again.  

the vegan challenge

last night i finally sat down to watch an oprah show that i pvr'd last week about "the vegan challenge". i forced the hubby to watch it with me and it was informative. since last year i'd been thinking about adding more vegetarian/vegan meals to our menu in an effort to be healthier and environmentally-friendly. there was one particular segment in the show that really affected me. lisa ling went to visit a cattle slaughterhouse and you essentially see the whole process of how a cow goes from farm to grocery store. call me a softie, but i really couldn't help but cry through the whole part. if i had to hunt my own food, i would most definitely be a vegetarian. food expert michael pollen was on the show as well and made a comment along the lines of "if you're not willing to know how your food gets to your plate, maybe you shouldn't be eating it." i don't know that i agree with it entirely, but i guess it holds a kernel of truth to it. with the exception of when we eat out, we now buy only antibiotic-free/hormone-free meat. i'd say the drive to make this change was for our son. i would love to be able to find a local farm to buy meat from, but being that we're in toronto, it might be a trek to get to one. if anyone knows of any, please let me know.

i'd really like to try this 7-day vegan challenge (or even possibly the 21-day challenge), but i think it would be really hard if the hubby wasn't on board with it. i tend to throw myself into things full-throttle and then quickly burn out. i guess the trick will be to slowly introduce things and see what works for our family. if eating more vegan meals would give me a ton more energy, i'd be all for that! but it's also been a particularly rough week with the kiddo being sick.  :o) 

here's a link to a list of vegan substitutes as recommended by "The Veganist" Kathy Freston:
http://www.oprah.com/health/Kathy-Frestons-Vegan-Alternatives

fabfind: $25 for $55 worth of organic produce

today's fabfind is a deal for $55 worth of organic produce, pantry items, etc from mama earth organics and they deliver straight to your door (if you're within the GTA...see their website for details). i blogged about mama earth organics a while back, but still haven't had a chance to try them out for myself. today's fabfind is perfect for our family since we were going to try them anyway. i bought two of the certificates and will hopefully order our first basket this week.

here's a link for those interested in getting on today's fabfind:
https://www.fabfind.com///invite/Kathy8 

applecheeks swim diaper WINNER!

hi all,

i forgot to post the winner of the applecheeks swim diaper yesterday. sorry about that! so i thought i'd do a quick post before the hubby and i head out for new year's eve festivities.

the winner of this giveaway is ...

congratulations to beth! look for an email from me in the next little bit. please respond with your mailing address so i can forward it to the people at applecheeks. if i don't receive a response by sunday, jan. 2nd, then i will draw for a new winner.

stay tuned for a new giveaway coming next week! you won't want to miss it.  :o)

happy new year!!!

review + giveaway: applecheeks swim diaper

i know i've been MIA for a while. we were away for a short bit in november for a family vacation. as hard as we try to be environmentally-friendly, we just can't give up travelling...which is probably one of the most "un-green" things you can do.

since N is turning two this month, we thought we'd squeak in one last plane trip before having to pay full fare. so we went to the beautiful island of maui! it is already starting to get cold here, so we were looking forward to heading to warmer climes. since we'd be spending lots of time on the beach, it seemed like a good time to try a reusable diaper on for size. i've been wanting to try them for a while, but we're not allowed to use them at the pool where N has his swimming lessons. i approached the kind folks at applecheeks about doing a review on their new swim diaper, and they happily obliged by sending me one of their super cute corsica swim diapers.

so we took it for a test drive on ulua beach in south maui. we arrived at the beach, set ourselves up on a patch of sand, and proceeded to change N into the swim diaper. for those of you have never used a reusable swim diaper before, let me tell ya that it holds in solids (i.e. poop), but does not contain any kind of absorbent layer for liquids. i knew that going in, but what i didn't expect was for N to pee as soon as i put him in it. literally, he was in it for less than a minute when i noticed liquid trickling down his leg. :oP i then had to rinse off my straw beach mat since there was now a small puddle on it. overall, the diaper held up well and had a great fit. at the time of the trip, N was 23 months and 25 lbs. the size 2 was a great fit for him, just like the regular size 2 applecheeks pocket diaper. in fact, there is still a lot of room for him to grow into it, but the elastics were snug enough that nothing would leak out and the rows of snaps allow you to adjust to a perfect fit. i could definitely see using this as the beach instead of a disposable swimmer. unfortunately, i don't think it will work for the pool at the community centre as the ones in our neighbourhood state that diapered children have to be huggies/pampers-type swimmers.

here are some shots of N playing on the beach in his applecheeks...

* GIVEAWAY ALERT *

applecheeks is kindly offering up one of their fab swim diapers to one lucky reader! visit www.applecheeks.com and indicate which colour and size you would pick if you won. they come in two sizes and two colours (corsica, as pictured on N, and bonfire)

* EXTRA ENTRIES *

(please leave a separate comment for each additional entry)

• follow my blog via Google Friend Connect

• follow the AppleCheeks blog 

• like Applecheeks on Facebook

• follow @AppleCheeksDipe on Twitter

• follow @mylilsweetpea on Twitter

this giveaway is open to residents of Canada and the U.S. until Dec. 30, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. EST. the winner will be chosen using a random number generator. please include your email address in your entry so that i can contact you if you are the winner. you can email me at ecoparentblog [at] gmail [dot] com if you prefer not to post your email address here. if the winner does not respond within 72 hours, another winner will be chosen. good luck!