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Photo by Secret Leaves

Ann Hirschfeld and Sharon Derry are the co-conspirators of Secret Leaves, a charming St. Louis, Missouri-based company that breathes new life into discarded books and vintage papers by transforming them into scrap journals, photo albums, and note cards. I spoke with Ann about her love of old paper, and the growing role the environment plays in running their business, right down to the smallest detail.

1. How did Secret Leaves come about?

Sharon [Derry] had a card/paper arts company called Papeterie, and I worked part-time for her here and there helping to assemble the journals. A little over a year ago, we were talking on the phone and she spoke of her desire to start a web-based paper arts business. She wanted to pursue it full-time but was not interested in doing it alone. She wanted a partner. I immediately said, “Pick me!” We met a few times to discuss her goals for the business and she did—pick me. This was April of ‘06 and we’ve been working together ever since. It seems like we’ve come a long way already.

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Photo by Steve Bailey, under a Creative Commons license

I love this quote from Susan Rubin, co-producer of the film Two Angry Moms and founder of the advocacy group Better School Food, from an article excerpted by CalorieLab:

You get angry when your boundary has been violated, and the food industry has violated our boundaries with what they are offering out kids. I’m just trying to protect my cubs.

I think every penny is worth it. To me, food is health care. You can pay the farmer or the doctor.

(Emphasis is mine.)

I can really attest to that—since I started cutting back on processed junk for mostly local, organic food two years ago, I haven’t been sick once. (Well, other than my regular migraines, for which no earthly balm can abate.) My friend Felicia trumps me with THREE.

In theaters Aug. 17—that’s tomorrow!

Frugal Luxuries: Simple Pleasures to Enhance Your Life and Comfort Your Soul by Tracey McBride

Someone asked me if Frugal Luxuries, which I quoted from earlier, trod the same ground as Your Money or Your Life—it almost seemed that way in the beginning, but as Tracey McBride began to neatly (and maternally) check off the different aspects of frugal living—from finances to food to your wardrobe—while drawing from her family’s experiences, it became clear that hers was more reminiscent of the housekeeping manuals of the past, updated for our post-Susan B. Anthony era, of course.

Just some of the tips I’m eagerly lapping up from my tattered library copy, in McBride’s own words; her book contains multitudes:

1. To make nonstick cooking spray, combine equal parts vegetable oil and liquid lecithin (available at most health food stores and some drugstores) in a clean pump bottle. Use it as you would the more expensive sprays (at a fraction of the cost.)

2. Save water that vegetables have been cooked in, and use it as a basis for soups and gravies. It is best kept in a large (2 quart) recycled wine bottle, with a cork stopper. Or your can keep a large container in your freezer, and add vegetable broth to it.

3. Transform an ordinary dinner salad into a meal by adding rolls of prosciutto stuffed with sauteed red chard (saute in garlic and olive oil), or herbs and cream cheese; add chopped cucumber and sweet red onions.

4. You may easily sour fresh cream or milk by adding 2 teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice. … To make a rich sour cream you may mix 1 tablespoon of vinegar into 1 cup of undiluted evaporated milk and let it stand for 5 minutes.

5. Cooked vegetables may be heartily improved by adding a bit of acid. Spinach is a prime example. Ordinary cooked potatoes become sublime by the simplest addition of lemon juice and parsley.

6. Remember the words of Thomas Jefferson: “Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap. It will be dear to you.” In other words, do not acquire a garment simply because the price is so low “you cannot resist” it. Avoid buying an item because it “will do.” Chances are you will not enjoy wearing it, and it will clutter your closet and unnecessarily drain your budget.

7. Make your own lingerie bags by running a ribbon through the casing of pillow cases to create a drawstring. Or attach Velcro on either side with Tacky Glue.

8. Make your own dryer sheets by pouring a tablespoon of liquid fabric softener onto a damp rag (or use a clean sock with a missing mate).

9. Candlelight at the dinner table, in the bath, or simply set strategically about your home (always away from the reach of little hands), used on a regular basis, can add a comfortable, romantic quality to daily life.

10. Always look for beauty in the ordinary. Use time-honored strategies and materials in new ways that suit your personal needs and tastes. When you treat the ordinary objects in your life with artfulness, they will become extraordinary.

Photo by Bill Ballantyne, under a Creative Commons license

From Frugal Luxuries: Simple Pleasures to Enhance Your Life and Comfort Your Soul by Tracey McBride, on frugality versus miserliness:

There is a vast difference between practicing frugality and being miserly. To be frugal is to set higher standards for your thoughts, behavior, activities, surroundings, and possessions. A frugalite (a word of my own making) is one who enjoys comfortable, attractive surroundings and endeavors to transform the simplest foods into a feast. You exult in keeping the bonds of family and friendship alive through simple and elegant entertaining. You enjoy quality accoutrements to daily living, although many frugalites have a (sometimes stringent) limit to their income. Frugalites prefer to make wise decisions on how to spend money and time … They know that money, saved by wise spending, can be used to enhance their lifestyle, contribute to worthwhile charities, or both.

Born from the Latin word for “wretched,” miserliness is the absence of generosity. A miserly person will spend money reluctantly and deprive himself of all but the barest of essentials, for the sole purpose of hoarding money. In my humble opinion, to live a miserly existence would truly be wretched. To wait for “someday” is the ultimate futile exercise.

Related article:
1. Money Quote: Joy vs. Stuff

A Slice of Organic Life by Sheherezade Goldsmith (Ed.)

Novices taking their first toddling steps toward a more sustainable lifestyle should look elsewhere for a reassuring hand and the soft coo of encouragement. A Slice of Organic Life, edited by Sheherezade Goldsmith, dives headlong into the often baffling business of eco-friendly living by rattling off a series of instructions, without framing them in any kind of context that might make sense to a greenie-to-be.

A foreword by acclaimed chef, author, and food activist Alice Waters is followed by an introduction by Goldsmith. But just when you think you’re on solid, navigable terrain, the ground suddenly opens up below your feet and you find yourself inexplicably rushing past an edict to “Grow Salad Leaves in a Window Box.” Immediately after, you’re asked to “Save Energy the Easy Way,” and then to “Shop Ethically,” as if you were flipping through a stack of flash cards, each bearing little relation to its neighbors.

It would be unfair, however, to say that no effort at organization has been made—the book is ostensibly split into three sections based on your living situation: 1. No Need for a Yard, 2. Roof Terrace, Patio, or Tiny Yard, and 3. Yard, Community Garden, or Field. It might be easier to think of Slice as a collection of homesteading projects, from making and freezing baby foods to—I kid you not—raising a couple of young pigs.

The large type, vibrant and generously laid-out photographs are certainly appealing, and so this is the kind of glossy picture book you could strategically place on your coffee table to pique the curiosity of non-environmentally inclined guests. Slice makes for an easy, non-threatening read—and you really do emerge from its pages believing that yes! you could grow sweet peas on a teepee or become a bee keeper—but the book also tries to toss too many balls in the air at the same time, and keeping track of all them can leave you feeling dizzy. ($25, cloth)

Want to snag my free copy of the book? Comment below about something you never thought you’d DIY, but you did. I’ll pick a winner at random on August 1.

This review refers to a first American hardcover edition, courtesy of DK Publishing. A Slice of Organic Life can be found in stores now.

Photo by Amy R. Singer

One of the surprises from Knitty.com’s Spring 2007 issue: The Everlasting Bagstopper, designed by the chief knitwit herself, Amy Singer. Using only two skeins of Hemp for Knitting’s allhemp6, the bag includes a drawstring closure for extra security, which is a nifty touch.

Related article:
1. Yarn Review: Hemp for Knitting allhemp3

Photo by Viva Terra

At the Union Square farmers’ market on Saturday, I saw a couple breeze through the crowd while carrying a basket much like the one by Viva Terra pictured above—incredibly stylish; far chicer than the medley of plastic bags the hordes of produce hunters were clutching. I found some really fetching fair-trade African baskets here, as well as a large assortment of styles handwoven by a woman in Vermont.

Tip: When buying bread from your farmers’ market, take with you a used bread bag (from your previous supermarket loaf) so you can save some extra plastic.

Related posts:
1. Big Brown Bags
2. Neither Paper Nor Plastic: An Ecological Intervention
3. Plastic Bag Ban: Friend or Faux Pas?

Photo by yamiq, under a Creative Commons license

Answer summer’s call to sun, surf, and sand, if you must, but remember to slather on the sunscreen, wherever you may roam, to ward off crispy bits, premature aging, and potential skin cancer caused by the sun’s UV rays.

But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasn’t approved new chemicals sunscreens since 1978, which means that the United States has at least 12 fewer approved—and possibly safer and more effective—sun-blocking ingredients than Europe does. (If you do some quick mental math, that means the FDA has been dawdling on this matter for the past 29 years; it made its last resolution back when the Internet was merely a gleam in Al Gore’s eye, Michael Jackson still looked human, and I was a mewling bairn whose only concern was making doodie.) At the same time, sunscreen products on the shelves go largely unregulated, says the Environmental Working Group, which analyzed the safety and effectiveness of more than 700 name-brand sunscreens.

The Washington, D.C.-based non-profit found that a staggering 84 percent of 785 sunscreen products (with an SPF rating of 15 or higher) offered inadequate protection from the sun’s rays or contained questionable ingredients. “Ironically, some popular sunscreen chemicals break down when exposed to sunlight and must be formulated with stabilizing chemicals,” says EWG, in a press release. “Others penetrate the skin and present significant health concerns.”

In fact, EWG found 50 percent of the products currently on the market to bear claims—such as “all day protection”, “mild as water,” and “blocks all harmful rays”—on their bottles that are “unacceptable” or misleading under the FDA’s draft sunscreen-safety standards. Because the FDA’s standards have not been finalized, however, companies are free to flout and hype up claims that have led to recent class-action lawsuits, involving major brands such as Hawaiian Tropic, Banana Boat, Bull Frog, and Neutrogena, in California, says EWG.

Of the 700-plus sunscreen products EWG scrutinized, it can recommend only 130. It promotes caution with 618 of the products and suggests outright avoiding 37 of them. (Learn more about the methodology used here.)

Check out EWG’s database of sunscreen products it rates the best or considers the worst. Or use its search tool to find out how your current sunscreen product rates. Plus, if you have to spend any amount of time outdoors, be sure to read these tips for both grownups and kids. Apply sunscreen early and apply often. Well, unless looking like freshly tanned leather (or Dina Lohan) is your thing—I don’t judge¹.

¹I will completely judge you.

Calling all crafters, illustrators, and graphic designers: If you’ve ever wondered what the impact of your paper choices was, do some number crunching with Environmental Defense’s Paper Calculator. Above is a comparison of 1 ton of solid bleached sulfate paperboard with zero percent recycled content, versus 1 ton of the same paperboard, but with 100 percent recycled content.

In this case, simply choosing recycled saves 4 tons of wood (or 26 trees), 18 million BTUs of energy, more than 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide, nearly 9800 gallons of water, and 1,080 pounds of waste.

Mosey over to plug in your own numbers, especially if you work with paper or know someone who does. For alternatives to virgin paper products, check out Celery Design’s comprehensive guide. And the UK-based Lovely as a Tree debunks some recycled-paper myths.