The Hype About Hemp

By using hemp/cotton textiles in our products we feel we're doing a little bit to help the planet. Hemp has a long interesting history going back more than 10,000 years. We're talking about true hemp, Cannabis sativa the cousin to the marijuana plant. There is very little THC in this plant so you can't get high you'd just get a bad headache if you tried to smoke it. There is much to say about this wonderful plant but we'll try to make it short and sweet by giving the highpoints of what we like about it:

1) Hemp is an extrememly fast growing crop, producing more fiber yield per acre than any other source. Hemp grows well without herbicides, fungicides or pesticides.

2) It is one of the strongest and most durable textile fibers.

3) Hemp leaves the soil in excellent condition for any succeeding crop. Hemp's strong roots can decend for three feet or more where they anchor and protect the soil from runoff building and preserving topsoil.

4) Hemp doesn't exhaust the soil. Hemp plants shed their leaves all through the growing season, adding organic matter to the topsoil and helping it retain moisture.

5) Hemp seed is far more nutritious than soybean, contains more essential fatty acids than any other source, is second only to soybeans in complete protein,high in B-vitamins, and is 35% dietary fiber.

6) It's versatile, and is being used today to manufacture textiles, paper, rope, twine, food and oils.
If you would like to read more visit:
www.thehia.org

Wonderful Organic Cotton

And then there's organic cotton. When I first laid my eyes and hands on yards of this wonderful fabric a few years ago I literally got goosebumps and almost started salivating. Fabric mizers can relate.

Coming from a background of gardening for The Mother Earth News Eco-Village years ago where we were doing all kinds of bio-dynamic intensive gardening and also with a Master Gardener's certification I can totally appreciate what goes into growing cotton organically. Sally Fox lead the way to naturally colored cottons breeding the plants for a variety of subtle hues from white, creams, tans, greens, and browns. I am impressed and intrigued with the possibilities of the future of organic cotton and of course I had to make some bags with it!

Here are some reasons why organic cotton production is important to the long term health of the planet (taken from the Organic Trade Association):

*Conventional cotton uses approximately 25% of the world's insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants.)

*Approximately 10% of all pesticides sold for use in U.S. agriculture were applied to cotton in 1997, the most recent year for which such data is publicly available.

*The Environmental Protection Agency considers seven of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton in 2000 in the U.S. as "possible", "likely", "probable", or "known" human carcinogens.

*It takes roughly one-third of a pound of chemicals (pesticides and fertilizers) to grow enough cotton for just one T-shirt.

**Organic cotton is grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. Buying organic cotton products supports a sustainable method of farming. This method doesn't pollute or harm water, air, farmers, farmworkers or rural communities and it improves soil quality for future generations. An interesting website to visit to read more is:
www.simplelife.com