GladRags Gab

We just sent off more GladRags to Chris Hanley who works with the Mekele Blind School. She sent us these photos and note. Chris, thank you for your good work.

Ethiopian School for the Blind
LOVES GLADRAGS

When I saw for myself that the 38 girls at the Mekele Blind School in northern Ethiopia had nothing to use other than found rags during their periods, I was determined to find a sustainable solution to the problem. Disposable pads wouldn’t be practical, as the school has no way of disposing it’s garbage and the expense would be prohibitive for them. Gladrags was a wonderful, welcome alternative. During my next trip to Mekele, in June of 2007, I packed about 100 holders and 300 liners. They are in constant use. I have just received an additional order of more than 400 liners at a considerable discount from Gladrags, and will be carrying these over with me when I go to Ethiopia in May, 2008.
So, from the 38 beautiful, bright girls at the Mekele Blind School, Ethiopia,
THANK YOU GLADRAGS!
Christina Hanley
Friends of Mekele Blind School
www.mekeleblindschool.org

Besides working with Chris Hanley, we're continuing to offer our Goods4Girls Kit (in which we donate a carry bag when our generous customers buy the pads). Deanna Duke founded Goods 4 Girls and is compiling pads and carry bags from cloth pads companies around the country to send to organizations in Africa.  It's amazing how that Always pad commercial has galvanized the effort to get washable pads to these girls instead of just disposables.  It seems like we are getting an email a day from organizations wanting us to donate cloth pads. It's women working for women!

I love excuses to get out in the woods in the dead of winter.  Skiing, snowboarding, sledding and snowshoeing (ok, what's the deal with the "s-" sports of wintertime?) are good reasons to get outdoors and remember that life is ok, even when it's incredibly cold and potentially dismal outside.  As long as you're geared up and surrounded by trees and snow, all becomes right with the world again!

I personally find snowshoeing to be just the goofiest looking endeavor.  Giant flip flops for the snow, especially when coupled with ski polls for leverage, can't help but make you giggle.  Goofiness aside, man do they stop you from sinking into the powdery stuff and make for a nice walk in the woods.  I do find the flopping to be a bit too loud (here's where cross-country skis really take the cake) but let's not be too picky…

Snowshoes can be rented for as little as $10 - good, affordable fun for the whole family.  PB&J and hot tea (perhaps wine for the grownups) round off the trip nicely and a view doesn't hurt either.

Here's to happy flopping!

-Diana 

I find myself thinking about food a great deal lately.  I started eating vegan about a year ago in an effort to be more intentional with the food that I was eating.  My sister gave me Omnivore's Dilemma for Christmas and now I fear corn (Michael Pollan writes about the over-abundance of maize in our packaged foods.  Santa (aka my mom) gave me a pressure cooker and now all I dream about is cooking beans instead of can opening them.

I want more.  More of less.

While on 43 Things I found this entry:

I'm backing off snobby, complicated cooking. Some of it takes too long, is too costly, or is just not as great as the recipe sounds.

Lots of fishes can be poached to perfection. So can eggs. The trick is to keep on the edge of boiling pot not boiling. And so many good sauces are now available commercially.

I'm done messing around with organic sugars and flavored sea salts and odd spices that cost 30 dollars a smidgeon. Simplifying and eating well should go together rather than be opposing forces.

I understand what this person is saying.  We get excited about climate change, we want to make change, so we go on an organic shopping spree.  Good effort, but just a bit more of the same, no?  My town, Portland, OR, is chock full of "foodies".  There is really good food here.  I like the care with which food is prepared, but it is just so over the top.  I find it to be interesting that even though many in my city no longer have to truly worry about the basics - food, shelter, water, and clothing - we still obsess over them all with fancy restaurants and culinary schools, LEED Certified millions of dollars buildings, purified water in sleek bottles, and designer cordoroys made of organic cotton.  I'm not sure we're really liberated from these basics if they take up so much of our time.  But I guess life is in the details, huh?

Even if not conscienciously, I really do have such high and unrealistic expectations of the luxuries that life should entail.  I wonder how long it would take me to unlearn that sort of outlook on life.  Even in my progressive, environmentally-minded community I do not seem to be able to find a truly simplified life.  We're all still United Statesians - buying, working, distracting too much.  Just el otro lado de la tortilla, or two sides of the same coin.

So, my question for anyone out there is - How do you feel about the organic consumer culture?  And what is the Decapitator trying to say?!

I stumbled upon the GladRags website about 2 years while 'mindlessly' looking up cloth diapers on google.  I don't even have kids yet, but I grew up on cloth diapers, and want my kids to do the same.  Even though I had always known diapers were bad for the environment, I had never even thought about how pads were just as bad!  I had also started boycotting tampons around this time b/c one of my friends who is a pediatric nurse had a patient with toxic shock syndrome and it freaked me out.

Once I started using GladRags (1.5 years ago), I never looked back…I love them!  Maybe it's just in my head, but I think having a completely cloth pad feels so much cleaner b/c my skin can breathe, as opposed to a disposable pad that has the plastic-like lining that sticks to your underwear.  They have cute designs, prettier flowers, etc…I feel great when I wear them!  And all of my friends are getting hooked on them too…!

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all of the world's most important seeds.

In an effort to preserve crop diversity in the face of a mounting environmental crisis and monoculture farming, The Global Crop Diversity Trust has created an Arctic seed vault that will store millions of seed samples.  These seeds are the foundation of our world's agriculture and their preservation is important for continued food production.

Ok, there is a slight freakout factor with the existence of such a facility.  It means that we have brought our world to such a precarious state that we need to take precautions like ensuring we don't lose our food sources and have to manufacture all of our seeds in a laboratory.  However, this is a very pragmatic approach to preparing for the future even if it does seem "doomsday"-esq.  The fact is that our world is in such a state and we might as well act accordingly.

Another important organization is Seed Savers Exchange.  I just donated to them because I pictured being forced into eating food from a laboratory just to survive and having to take up meat eating for lack of anything else to consume.  Yikes!

I hope that our united efforts reinvigorate heirloom seed preservation and guarantee a world free of genetically engineered agriculture.

Save the Seeds!

Diana

I'll be making Walnut-Cheddar Harvest Loaf, vegetarian gravy, brussel sprouts, and cabbage salad to take to Thanksgiving this year.  The Harvest Loaf is from the really old cookbook, Diet for a Small Planet . My copy was used when I bought it and now it is totally ratty because of all the use I've given it. The loaf makes a great entree for those of us not indulging in the big bird.  When I've got time and want to impress friends I wrap it in phyllo and it's quite a presentation. 

While I'm cooking I'll be thinking about all the things I'm thankful for this year.  My healthy family, my wonderful friends, the chance to have had three art exhibits this year, and all the wonderful women I know though working at GladRags - customers, co-workers, store buyers, brokers, suppliers, competitiors/compatriots.

Best wishes to everyone for a safe, happy holiday.

-Brenda 

 Walnut-Cheddar Loaf

45 min 15 min prep
2     tablespoons olive oil
2     cups yellow onions, chopped
1     cup black walnuts, coarsely ground
1     cup cheddar cheese, grated
2     tablespoons lemon juice
2     eggs, beaten
2     tablespoons nutritional yeast
1     teaspoon caraway seeds
1 1/4 cups cooked brown rice (1/2 cup uncooked)
    salt
    pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350.
   2. Saute onions in olive oil until translucent.
   3. Mix with remaining ingredients, salt and pepper to taste and put in an oiled loaf pan.
   4. Bake for 30 minutes.

Most of us have a drawer of plastic bags in our kitchen.  In fact, when I was in college there was a space between the refrigerator and where the counter and cabinets ended.  We would shove our shopping bags in there, in the thoughts that we would reuse them.  Alas, 2 years later when we moved out, we had hundreds of plastic bags.  I have gotten a little better and do reuse them and also try and use canvas bags.  

But what to do with those pesky bags that we always somehow end up with.  Well, we here at GladRags are all about reusing and recycling.  And I am all about the crafts.  So my new project for this winter is to create items from my plastic bag stores.   I have found various crafting opportunities for plastic bags.  The most obvious (to me at least) is needle crafts.  Knitting and crocheting can be done with just about any material that can be cut into strips.  Make a recycled plastic bag purse! You can also buy these sorts of plastic bag purses from other people who had too many plastic bags on craft sites like Etsy.  Want some more ideas?  This blog post on Craftzine.com has a whole slew of instructions for plastic bag crafts!  

And yes, that is a plastic bag rooster!

-jodi 

What about that 'ick' factor of reusables, huh?  We all know that they are far from icky and closer to FANTASTIC but do you remember a time when you didn't think so fondly of your GladRags?  Here's what Elise remembers.  ~Diana

Hard to say what changed my mind about the "ick".  It wasn't one thing and somewhat coincided with starting a compost pile, recycling, eating more whole natural foods, organic gardening, and being a Mom…all things that have to do with preserving the environment for the future, and being less self-conscious but more conscious of the world around me.  I still have my original Keeper (and so does one of my sisters who I got started on GladRags too).  I can't go back, of course.  The Keeper is so great for everything from hiking and camping to business trips.  I don't need a box of supplies, but just some negligible space in a purse or carry-on.  Thanks for great products that last and last.  Certainly money well spent.  Hopefully, I can continue the trend–my young daughter recently asked what that isle in the supermarket was for, and I told her many women use disposables they buy each month instead of the things I have…she wrinkled her nose…"oh, they just throw them away?" (maybe that will be the new ick factor some day)

- Elise 

Remember last Monday when I let y'all know about The Virtuous Consumer by Leslie Garrett?  Well, Garrett featured GladRags and the menstrual cups in her book, as well as a quote from me (Diana) in that book.  And Garrett, in her multi-media-ness, also hosts a radio show on CHRW in London, Ontario.  Boldly bringing menstruation and menstrual alternatives into the media, Garrett invited me (Diana, again) onto her show to orient listeners to the world of reusables.

It's about time the dialog got ON AIR!  Take a listen here. And be patient - there's some music before the menstruation talk and commercials. 

Then it's all about that great period talk!

~ Diana

I have always thought of myself a pretty eco-conscious person, but when I started working at GladRags, I realized that I hardly do anything GREEN aside from taking 5 minutes showers, turning the heat off at night, opening windows and doors in the summer instead of using an air conditioner, letting the rain fall wash my car, eating local and when I can afford it, organic. I got to thinking, and researching other ways I could live a more green, eco-friendly life… and this is what I came up with:

Change out your BULBS!

By switching your standard bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, you will be using less wattage, therefore saving money as well! These bulbs last about 2-8 years, are fairly cheap at most local building centers, and just switching out 5 of your household bulbs is like taking 1,000 cars of the road!  

Don't Eat Fast Food!

I know it's so easy, but most fast food chains use way too much packaging, do not use local meats, fish, fowl, or veggies, therefore not helping local farmers. Eat Local, Buy Local!

Drive Less!

I have made the commitment of walking or biking to work now that I live closer. Gas prices are out of control, and the emissions of our little fun toys are the single biggest cause of pollution. Get out of your car and bike, ride public transport, skateboard, roller-skate, run, or walk!

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