Natural Clothing Blog

I delivered yesterday some Tee shirts to a group of kids at the foothills of Cascade Mountains.  Children were completing a survival week run by Wolf Camp from Snohomish,  Washington. Sitting in a comfortable shade of a  large tree, the small group of youngsters demonstrated the actual skills they learned that week and shared their stories.  Presentation  was very impressive: how to make a wood bowl using the fire coals, which native plants are safe to eat, a tea out of pine needles was shared, we saw how to build a warm shelter using forest  debris. But the most exciting part came when the boys showed us how to start the fire. No matches, of course… It took less than 10 minutes using their handmade tool of tied sticks (even though  the original attempts took couple of hours, we hear…).  They shared then how their appreciation changed for fire and water, their meaning to life, driven by their first hand experience. It was very touching.

Adults gathered in circle looked with pride at the camp participants, grateful for sharing this experience and applauding, just like their kids when the fire was born.  At the same time it was hard not to reflect on  how far we are now from appreciating the most fundamental basis of survival. Majority of us have shelter in warm houses full of asbestos insulation, we have stores full of neat cardboard boxes full of well preserved particles called food and fire flowing at will by flipping a switch. Don’t misunderstand me – I would never express any interest in living in a cave again. Proponents of sustainability by giving up any and all progress are unrealistic and ineffective. It would not resolve much for our civilization as it is.

But to disconnect completely, as we do now,  from understanding, caring and valuing the actual sources of shelter, fire, water and food – is counter-survival. It leads to abuse of Nature close to the point of no return  - putting toxic debris, sprays, sludge in waters, air, soil and consequently in our foods – escapes rationalization. We create modified plants, our food sources, so they would withstand these toxins and then feed it to our children and our animals. We put enough preservatives in “food” so it can stand on a shelf for weeks, how are they suppose to magically decompose in our stomachs?  We spray cotton crops with toxins so insects can’t touch it and then we sleep on it.  Any logic here?

Let’s start by waking  up every day and as we look up to the sky for the sun, let’s give our thanks to the trees for still being there for us, despite everything; to soil still willing to bear us plants, despite everything; to the life around us still willing to persist and forgive us and share with us. Let’s don’t forget to thank the fire for still willing to be born.

A young girl at the fair asked: “So what is your clothing? Can you eat it? I thought organic means that you can eat it safely?”

Well yes, maybe not it it but wear it safely since it has no toxins for your skin or the planet! To us simply means it is not poisoned: by pesticides, insecticides, dyes with metals or PVC in it.

What does it mean to you?

Life without poisons.  That’s what the “Green Lifestyle” means to me.

I  actually came across that wording  on some Italian site and it seemed like an obviously awkward translation of their expression. “We don’t use poisons on our food”, they said. It stuck to me and I cannot get it unstuck. Every time I eat beautiful “conventional” (not organic) food, wear the conventional “normal” clothing, their beauty might as well come from toxic veneer, their great texture from gene engineering. The more you learn the more you see the percentages, like GMO corn at 70%, toxic cotton at similar range. A bio-scientist /artist (?) in Chicago crossed Petunia with his blood DNA. Called it Edunia. Cute, hmm…

Even though I am quite fanatical about life without poisons, I can see that one could go nuts looking for the potential hazards everywhere. Where do you draw the line? Does your line fluctuate like cosine function or is it straight and bold ? Do you think we are doing better because of the awareness growing with the green movement or are we getting behind because of damage already existing?

I took my Mom to the Mall on Saturday (mother-daughter bonding time).

It was way too quiet for Sat night but the actual surprise hit me when we walked for a few minutes deep between the clothing racks. My eyes started to water and sting. Then my Mom turns to me and says “Let’s go somewhere else. My eyes are itchy…”

Does anybody else experience that? Have you heard of formaldehyde meter? I wonder how much it costs? I would love to have that meter for one day only and walk through life metering everything – clothes, furniture. Food? Probably one would not want to do it for longer than one day…

Welcome to my first post on Natural Clothing Blog! Wow, writing a blog is probably highest achievement of my technical skill… First things, first though – forgive me if my grammar is off. Being born on a different continent, I have an excuse, even though it is getting weaker and weaker the longer I live in USA (28 years coming soon). Spell checkers are great for spell but so so for Polish/English grammar…

Two – I have lots of ideas and thoughts which I would like to share with you but… most of all, I would love to know more about You!

What part of green movement makes sense to you? In your mind, if you have to go an extra mile (or extra dollar) to live organic, what would you say?

a)Organic clothing is a bit over board right now. With my budget being so low I don’t buy much period, I would rather not spend more on organic food, even less on clothing.

b) I have mixed feelings. I am a bit concerned, I hear about toxins used on a lot of crops but we don’t live close to any agricultural fields, I don’t see them sprayed. And after all, it washes off in a laundry, doesn’t it?

c) I am really concerned, I noticed my skin (or my spouse, kid) more and more sensitive to soaps and shampoos, maybe clothing should be free of chemicals, too. I definitely don’t want to eat sprayed fruit or veggies. I’ll buy organics even though I have to pay more.

If above options don’t fit, can you share any of your own thoughts on organic food or clothing?