Our favorite color for summer and early fall!
We recently sat down (virtually) with Rita Naskar and asked her to tell us more about the natural elements used in the dyeing process of our plant-dyed quilts. Rita is a master seamstress and master dyer, skilled in using natural pigments for coloring plant-based fibers. She leads the production of quilts made by Kindred’s artisan partners in West Bengal, India.
We love everything about the slow process of harvesting the native plants to hand-dyeing the threads used to weave our fabric. We feel so lucky to have been able to get a glimpse into this heritage art form and be an active participant in this type of closed loop, sustainable textile creation. Wooo girl. This is the stuff that lights me up! I can tell you that this is just the surface for me - once I got a taste of it, I was intrigued to learn more. Maybe I’ll even try my own hand at it sometime in my kitchen studio.
Haritaki
Before more pigment is added, the organic cotton threads are treated with a mordant to ensure colorfastness. Two natural mordants are used: Alum (Potassium aluminum sulfate) and Myrobalan - ground nuts of the Indian hog plum tree or Haritaki (Terminalia chebula), native to Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Indochina and south China. Rita explained that Myrobalan creates a yellow-ish color known as the master color, and is a good foundation for all other dyes. Next, the weavers experiment with different shades using various fruits and plants sourced locally in West Bengal.
One of the dyers in our artisan collective dipping threads to test the color.
The quilt in "Ochre" is made from Haritaki, pomegranate rinds, marigold, and iodized salt.
Mint: Haritaki, pomegranate rinds, and indigo
This beautiful shade of pink is made with Haritaki, madder root, iodized salt.
Shop these amazing, plant-dyed quilts here!
You know how men are always saying we’re hard to shop for? Well, we’d argue it goes both ways. But fear not. If you’re still hunting for the perfect gift, we’ve curated a list of 10 Father’s Day gift ideas from local PWN and Black-owned businesses for every type of dad. Enjoy!
Maison Noir Wines "P-Oui" is made from a cross section of vineyards throughout the Willamette Valley. This bottle in particular is “complex and soulful” with tasting notes of strawberry and funk. Is Dad not a Pinot Noir guy? Check out Maison Noir Wines’ full selection to find the right bottle for him. Black-owned business; PNW local.
228 Grant Street Candle Co. makes handmade, small-batch scented soy candles and home fragrance products out of Baltimore, Maryland. Yay for products made in the USA! We have our eye on the Oakmoss + Amber Apothecary Jar-- it’s warm and cozy while still creating an outdoorsy atmosphere from home. Other “masculine” scent standouts: Mahogany + Teakwood, Tonka + Oud, and Tobacco + Patchouli. Black-owned business
There are a number of PDX breweries that offer tasting kits and subscriptions year-round, but the Swift Cider 12-can case stands out from the crowd. This micro-brewery has a super fan base and their case deals let you try seasonal, award-winning ciders and hard seltzers at up to 40% off of retail prices. Portland local.
Plan an outdoor experience like camping, hiking, rafting or fishing. Whatever his favorite activity, knowing you’re dedicating the day to enjoy it with him will be a Father’s Day gift he’s sure to remember. Pair it with a treat from Next Adventure to round out the celebration. Portland local.
Wishing you and the Dads in your life a bright, healthy and love-filled Father’s Day! Enjoyed reading? Be sure to sign up for our mailing list/newsletter to be the first to know when we publish a new blog post! You can also follow us on IG for more #momlife resources.
For Earth Day 2021, as we did in 2020, Kindred will be honoring our planet by donating 100% of profits on orders placed April 22-April 25th! While there are many exceptional organizations to donate to, I made the decision to select one that is local to my region and is fighting for an urgent cause near and dear to my heart: protecting orca whales here in the Pacific Northwest.
While orca whales live all over the world, the southern resident orca population make their home in the waters of the Puget Sound in the summer (their entire feeding ground spans from Vancouver Island, Canada to Monterey, CA). They feed almost exclusively on Chinook salmon, iconic in the Pacific Northwest, but a quickly vanishing resource. Heartbreakingly, the orcas' dependence on salmon means this population of orcas is critically endangered: scientists believe them to be starving. Their plight from historically low salmon runs is compounded by toxic pollution and climate change. Two years ago, the southern resident orcas made international news when scientists tracked a mother orca carrying her dead calf with her for 17 days. It terrifies me to know that there is a chance these incredible whales may gone within my lifetime.
Wild Orca is 501(c)(3) that is fighting for the orcas by advocating for policy solutions ranging from dam removal to improved salmon fishery management to help the population rebuild. I'm grateful for all that they are doing and look forward to supporting them this Earth Day and in the future. Their website has a wealth of information about the orcas and the challenges they are facing, including some that might surprise you (as they did me). They also have links to various petitions and political actions you can take, so I encourage you to check them out and get involved!
xoxo
Hope
Kindred is at the NY NOW digital market week this week, and there are oh-so-many gloriously fun brands to discover. I'm also pleased to say there's good selection of ethically-made, sustainable and fair trade shops.
If you're a retailer looking to find new and emerging brands, I would recommend you check out the show. If you're just a regular 'ole shopper quarantining and indulging your online shopping habit, you can still take a peek at these cool brands I discovered!
Here are a few brands that I'm feeling.
This London brand makes cute bags out of 100% recycled plastic bottles. AND donates 10% of profits to ocean conservation. That's my Kind 'a bag.
Made51 is an artisan marketplace created by the UN Refugee Agency. The organization links refugees across the world with social enterprises that offer product design, export and marketing. The outcome? Beautifully crafted goods providing economic support and stability to resettled refugees, offering opportunity for self-reliance through skilled craft. We love the sneak peak of this lampshade we found on NY NOW that will hopefully be available to buy soon -- but in the meantime, there's lots of other gems that you should definitely know about, so peep their website.
I am super into Areaware's gorgeous and creative wooden block toy sets, and I could peruse their home accessories section for hours.
Lula Mena creates beautiful Fair Trade home goods, fashion and accessories by working with women in high-risk areas of El Salvador. We like your vibe, Lula. And I might need to snap up that pillow for my abode.
Sasha Association for Craft Producers
Sasha is a Fair Trade artisan's collective that works with makers across communities in India. They work to preserve traditional craft, catalyze economic prosperity and offer services focused on technical assistance, financial access and social development to their members. Plus, they prioritize sustainable eco-friendly materials and production techniques. We dig it, Sasha.
We're absolutely in love with Floc's collection of unique mobiles, hand-made in Kenya. These have enough grown-up style enough that you don't need a nursey to get one. But if you're planning a nursey, you should definitely check out Floc for a killer statement piece that's also made from recycled materials to boot. Don't all floc at once.
If you're a shop registered at NY NOW, find us here and check out our new, soon-to-be released organic kids bedding collection. See you there!
Baby planning overwhelm. It’s a thing. If you’re planning your nursery or your baby registry, it’s super easy to get sucked into the convenience trap of bulk-buying at a big box store and settling for less. If your goal is to support small brands and conscious companies, but are feeling overwhelmed with doing the research, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a roundup of five ethical baby brands that you need to know about. From teethers to toys, these are some of my favorite ethical brands for new moms, and better yet, these products also make a natural and non-toxic addition to your nursery.
If you’re looking for …
Photo: @homeoftheharveys
Cuddle+Kind dolls make the best company in your baby’s crib. Every single doll is ethically produced in Peru with premium natural cotton, making them safe for littles to hug all night long. Plus, artisans receive a fair trade income, and for each doll purchased, cuddle+kind gives 10 meals to children in need across 66 countries.
Photo: @lindseytrapp_
If you’re looking for simple, ethically made furniture for your newborn’s nursery, Kalon makes the most beautiful pieces. From cribs to dressers, everything is made in the United States with natural materials, including sustainably harvested wood, latex derived from rubber trees, and coconut fiber from recycled coconut husks.
Kalon is currently donating 100% of profits to Médecins Sans Frontières, an organization working toward addressing the impact COVID-19 has had on refugee camps, homeless people in conflict areas, and other vulnerable populations.
Moses baskets are all the rage right now and there’s a good reason for it. They’re a beautiful, portable, and snug little spot for your newborn that won’t create an eyesore in your living room. Plum + Sparrow baskets are hand-woven with elephant grass and hand-dyed in Africa, and the weavers receive 10% back on every purchase, as well as fair pay and healthcare and schooling for their families.
For little ones whose motor skills are out in full force, Tender Leaf Toys crafts handmade wooden toys perfect for safe play. You can select from puzzles to dollhouses to toy kitchens, all made responsibly in Indonesia from eco-friendly rubberwood trees, and for every tree cut down to make their products, another one is planted in its place.
Your babe will be teething before you know it, so be prepared for the myriad of gross things that they will put in their mouth. Best to have some safe alternatives handy, and we love these teethers because they’re made from ultra safe materials and pretty to boot. Pretty Please Teethers is a Black-owned company that makes colorful, minimalist teethers here in the United States with 100% non-toxic silicone and natural beechwood treated with coconut oil and a beeswax blend. Sore and achy gums, begone.
And of course, if you’re shopping for bedding, check out our collection of Fair Trade, certified organic crib sheets. Our sheets are hand-printed with love using the traditional Indian wooden block printing technique, and we’re giving back by planting one tree for every purchase.
I'm nerdily excited to share my resolutions for 2020 which all center around how I can reduce our household’s footprint and create an intentional, sustainable home.
Going zero-waste is super intimidating for me. As anyone with babies or young kids knows, life, work, and taking care of other humans is madness and you’re doing your best to survive. Despite that, I know there are some easy steps I can take to reduce waste in my house that we aren’t doing simply out of habit. So, I’m going to approach this incrementally, and start with a few changes I can make that I know will have a big impact. Here are the 2020 resolutions, in order of easiest to hardest. Below this list, I am sharing some of my favorite green household products and steps that we’re already taking, so if you’re new to greening your home, be sure to check out those recommendations too.
I didn’t create a specific resolution for this, but generally, I’m also going to be more intentional about moving away from plastic items when we need to purchase new household things. Helen Milan is a beautiful shop that has some great natural and plastic-free items for home and baby.
What We’re Already Doing and Green Products I Recommend
FYI, none of the above products are affiliate links. They are just the products that I use and that I love and feel great about recommending to you. I feel like we’re off to a great start, 2020! I hope you get some good ideas from my little list and would love to hear yours!
xoxo
Hope
This Christmas, I decided to embrace my inner crunchiness. In prepping for this special time of year, I wanted to put together something meaningful, spiritual and fun for my kids that we can do each year as a family that's not centered around a religious holiday or Santa Claus. After doing some research about how the Solstice has been celebrated by cultures all over the word for centuries, I created some simple, children-focused rituals that celebrate Yuletide, honor the natural rhythms of nature, and remind us of our connectedness to Earth and each other. I hope it becomes a tradition for us every year. Enjoy, and feel free to use and customize for your family and what rings true to you! Peace and Love, Hope
Candles, bells for each person or child, paper and pens, two bowls or boxes, and a special treat to enjoy.
Open with a reading about the Solstice and take part in bell-ringing. Ask kids to listen for the words, "Welcome, Sun!" or, "Thank you, Moon!" and ring their bells each time they hear them. Here's ours:
Today we gather to celebrate the Winter Solstice, also known as Yuletide, to welcome the return of the light and longer days!
The Solstice represents the shortest day, the longest night, and the birth of a new cosmic year. Some ancient cultures used the Solstice to celebrate the power of the Moon. Thank you Moon! (Ring bells) And, they liked to believe that on this day, the Moon gives birth to the Sun. Welcome, Sun! (Ring bells)
Today we honor the Solstice and its darkness as a time of rest and rejuvenation for Mother Earth and all of her beings as she prepares for rebirth in the spring. We celebrate that each day forward from this point, the sun lingers longer, bringing with it renewal, warmth, brightness, and the promise of new growth and love. Welcome, Sun! (Ring bells)
On this longest night, we gather within the warm shelter of our home to be merry and give thanks for this opportunity of renewal. Thank you, Moon! (ring bells)
Prior to the ceremony, give each person two small pieces of paper. On one piece, write down what you want to let go of. On the other piece, write an intention or personal goal for the new year. Adults can help children write theirs. Each person can hold a candle.
(Set down bells and pick-up candles). Let’s start the burning ceremony. To let go of the things that no longer serve us, we light each piece of our “let go papers” with our candles and place them in the Yule Bowl.
Next, we honor this time of renewal to set intentions for what to welcome in the coming year. Place your “intention papers” in the Yule Box.
(Set down candles and pick-up bells again). We celebrate the Solstice as a reminder of our unity with all people, places, and animals in this world, and the Earth itself, by ringing our bells toward the four directional compass points: North, East, South and West. (ring bells in each direction).
We honor our place in a connected universe by ringing our bells upward toward the cosmos; downward toward the earth; and center, toward our own inner being and our divine spirit. (ring bells in each direction).
After you do the rituals, enjoy a special meal or dessert that you make each year.
I encourage you to add or subtract rituals that you want to incorporate for yourself and your family, Have fun!
You might have noticed that a lot of the most Pinterest-worthy nurseries these days have one thing in common: they look just like the bedroom you’d love to have. Go ahead and make it a room that you’ll love— after all, you and your babe will probably be spending some pretty serious QT in here.
There’s lots of ways to do this right. Even if you want to have a colorful nursery (we love a pop of bold color!) you can anchor the space in neutral or monochrome hues. Using pinks, blues, greens and reds in significant quantities can make the nursery feel outdated or busy. Save those for the details instead.
The nursery is your place to experiment with fun and whimsical artwork that you might not choose for other rooms in your home. Don’t restrict your choices to art that is specifically geared toward babies. The sky’s the limit – choose something you love to look at, and your baby will love it too.
Choose accessories with a story. Maybe it’s something inspired by your love of traveling, the great outdoors, a special heirloom or vintage piece. Hand woven baskets are a beautiful and functional solution for toy storage and handmade pillows or textiles add a splash of color and whimsy without being too childish. Thoughtful details will help you tie the nursery in with the rest of your home, and are much easier to transition as baby grows. Shop our collection of Indian hand-block printed crib sheets.
Want more ideas?
We’ve rounded up some great looks on Pinterest and Instagram – follow along for never-ending inspo for designing your own unique space!
Read on to get all your burning questions about organic cotton answered, and learn about Kindred’s commitment to always offer Moms bedding made with organic cotton that’s certified by the most stringent global standard. We got you, Mama.
Organic cotton crops use an estimated 71% less water and 62% less energy than conventionally grown cotton. The ethical fashion movement has helped increase awareness of the sheer tonnage of cotton grown and processed for clothes, and it’s time that we apply that consciousness to the home textile industry too, which uses about 35% of the world’s cotton. The massive amount of cotton we use for apparel and home textiles requires significant resources. By choosing organic, we can reduce the climate-change-causing greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy used in production— and save water. Organic crops are able to achieve these benefits from strong and healthy soil. By using crop rotation, organic farmers utilize the natural organic compounds in the soil, resulting in less fertilizer and less irrigation.
But there’s more. Conventionally grown cotton uses harmful chemicals that have a severe impact on both human health and the environment. Many insecticides and pesticides used to grow cotton are known carcinogens. Each year, farmers, cotton pickers, and manufacturing plant workers get sick and even die from harvesting and processing chemical-laden crops, including, tragically, infant illnesses from breast milk contamination. Symptoms among cotton harvesters that demonstrate impairment of the nervous system include delayed puberty, blood abnormalities, and acute symptoms such as respiratory problems, dizziness, nausea, and convulsions. What’s more is that neurological impairment is not just affecting a select few. A recent study found that a staggering 42% of non-organic cotton crop farmers reported symptoms of pesticide poisoning in 2017.
Beyond the overwhelmingly dangerous human health impacts, chemicals sprayed on crops affect entire ecosystems and poison lakes, rivers, and waterways by way of dangerous run-off. Conservationists estimate that pesticides were responsible for 67 million bird deaths by the year 2012, which has since grown – the recent New York Time’s article on the harrowing decline of bird populations (scientists say there are an estimated 3 billion fewer birds in North America now compared to 50 years ago), attributed pesticides as a significant culprit.
Organic cotton is grown without the use of poisonous chemicals.
(By the way, if you’re concerned about the bird emergency, which you should be, consider cutting pesticides and weed killer out of your lawn care routine and start incorporating more organic food. Even small steps can help. But for now, back to textiles).
The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) is the leading international standard for processing organic textiles. It includes strict ecological and social criteria, and in order to receive the GOTS label, producers require independent certification of the entire textile supply chain. Below is some more information about why the GOTS standard is the “gold standard” for textile manufacturing, and why it’s important to consider this label when shopping for organic products. (Not all textiles labeled “organic” mean that they are GOTS-certified!)
The lifecycle lens that GOTS-certification uses is critically important because it covers all steps of the process from harvest to manufacturing. It works like this: in order for any product to earn GOTS-certification, cotton famers who harvested the fiber must be certified according to their own recognized, national organic label (i.e., USDA Organic). Next, organizations and facilities involved in post-harvest all the way up to manufacturing must undergo annual site inspections for quality assurance. The production process must adhere to strict standards surrounding chemical usage, as well as sustainability and social benchmarks. For example, in order for a cotton textile to be GOTS-certified, it can’t just be organically grown. It must also be produced without any chlorine bleach, Azo dyes (which contain carcinogenic compounds), harmful solvents, toxic heavy metals, or formaldehyde, among other restrictions. Further, processing facilities are required to have policies and targets surrounding wastewater discharge levels and responsible methods of discharge. On top of these strict environmental requirements, there are social criteria that must be adhered to as well. Learn more.
Quite simply, GOTS is currently the best standard there is, and if a product is claiming it’s made with organic cotton but doesn’t specify the GOTS-certification, you may want to consider asking the maker a bit more about the certification process.
Yes. Many studies have shown that chemical residue from non-organically processed cotton can become trapped in the processed fibers and woven threads.
Some babies with very sensitive skin can experience rashes, but there are other health impacts from using non-organic bedding and clothes too, such as headaches or dizziness. Given that new babies can sleep upwards of 18 hours a day, it’s crucial that they are sleeping on organic mattresses, organic crib sheets, and other bedding that does not contain chemical residue that might irritate the skin, or worse, be absorbed into the nervous system through the skin over time.
It’s for all of these reasons that I made the decision to always use GOTS-certified organic cotton for all of Kindred’s crib sheets and bedding, without exception. This decision goes beyond just making sustainable choices for today. Choosing organic means we’re doing our part to create a healthy and abundant planet for our children, because, after all, they will inherit what we leave behind. I’m a Mom too. And I know how important it is to feel confident that I am giving my babies the best start I can, and feel good about making responsible choices for the planet.
Areaware
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