Over the next few months you’ll probably be seeing more baby related posts here, though I will try to maintain a balance. This morning’s mission for us though was to decide on the mattress (and the crib) for the baby we’re expecting soon.

Organic or Not?
We’ve tried to get as much as possible made from organic cotton, but the mattress was a challenge. Although there are several mattresses using organic cotton on the market, none of them are pure organic. There are two layers that it seems just cannot be organic/chemical free:

• The fire barrier (legally required for the US);
• The waterproofing layer.

So, while they’re not really fully organic, the goal was to get as close as possible within a reasonable budget.

We ended up with the L A Baby Organic Cotton 2 in One Orthopedic Crib Mattress as our favourite, and wanted to do some more research into its organic claims.

Online, we found a post at the WindsorSpeak forums where somebody had kindly pasted in the statement from L A Baby about the organic content of the mattress, and also the chemical they use for the fire barrier (boric acid). Here’s the statement about the organic content (apologies for the caps, it was how it was in the source):

ON THE 5260 ORGANIC MATTRESS SPECIFICALLY THE CORRECT PERCENT OF ORGANIC COTTON MATERIAL THAT IS IN THE MATTRESS IS 59% THIS INFORMATION IS ON EVERY LAW TAG THAT IS ON EACH MATTRESS. WE HAVE TWO LAYERS OF ORGANIC COTTON.
THE THIRD LAYER IS 85% COTTON AND 15% POLY FIBER – THIS IS THE FIRE BARRIER THAT WE HAVE TO USE TO MEET THE STATE AND FEDERAL FLAME TESTING REGULATIONS.

Lower down in the text they also give lots of additional information about boron and boric acid that was interesting reading.

We’ll post a follow up on here to let you know more about the mattress once it arrives.

Sitting here eating some delicious organic dark chocolate from Green & Black’s (left over from a chocolate tasting party we hosted last weekend), I wondered about that little organic label and what it actually meant. We’ve all seen the organic sections appearing in supermarkets, and labels on products announcing that they’re organic, but what does that really mean?

US Standards
In the USA, the standards body for labeling food is the USDA, and they have three grades of organic product:

• 100% Organic
• Organic
• Made with organic ingredients

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A good lawn is green, but what about the lawn care products that you use to keep it looking great? Here’s a round up of a few products that can help to make your lawn care as green as your lawn.

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