Introducing Lumberjack Logs - Made in Minnesota

We are proud to present Lumberjack Logs, a brand new toy that's made right here in Minnesota from solid maple. We're the first toy store to have them and we even got a chance to work with the toymakers to develop them.

We like these a lot because they're audaciously big and the finished structure is extremely stable. The roof is held in place with a notched roof beam that keeps it from tipping over and the second story has a floor made out of maple slats.

What that means is that building the structure is only half the fun. Once it's built, you can play with it with dollhouse dolls, toy horses, toy furniture, etc. The play value of these toys is tremendous.

Available as either a cabin or a barn, Lumberjack Logs are available now in our store. In fact, we have the cabin set up and ready to play with. Stop in and let us know what you think.

NYTimes Conversation on Women & Breastfeeding

Hanna Rosin, left, of The Atlantic (perhaps you've heard about her article in the April Atlantic) and Ruth Lawrence of the University of Rochester School of Medicine, a longtime breastfeeding advocate, discuss what breast-feeding means for nursing mothers. (Follow the link at the bottom of the page to continue the video when it stops.)

Handmade Toy Alliance Testimony in Washington, DC

Testimony on April 1 at the capitol in Washington DC by Cecilia Leibovitz and Jill Chuckas, two of our co-conspirators at the Handmade Toy Alliance.

Our trip to St. Louis

We just returned from a week in St. Louis visiting friends. If you've never been there, you should take your kids to the City Museum in downtown St. Louis. This was our third visit and we had a blast. There's no other children's museum like it. Here's some pictures.

Peapods on Facebook

The facebook generation caught up with us! Yes, we now have a facebook page. We've posted a bunch of pictures from the past 10 years. We're also posting links to other pages, upcoming events, and articles we like.

So, take a look at our page and let us know what you think. -- Dan and Millie

Our letter in support of banning BPA in baby bottles in Minnesota

Here's a copy of our letter in support of removing BPA from baby bottles and sippy cups in Minnesota, an action currently under consideration in the state legislature.

February 13, 2009

To: Deanna White
Healthy Legacy
308 E. Hennepin Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55414

Re: Minnesota Bisphenol-A Legislation

Dear Deanna White,

Thank you again for meeting with us this week. We appreciate Healthy Legacy's work on promoting safer alternatives for children's products. We have been intimately involved as a business in the same initiative for over 10 years and agree that much work remains to be done.

As we stated, we are very concerned about the effect of product safety regulations on small businesses. The survival of our business and the hundreds of small companies we buy from has been severely threatened by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), which became federal law last August. We view it as an overly broad measure which unfairly hurts small manufacturers while forcing the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to focus on dozens of product types which represent little threat to health while ignoring high-risk products.

It is our goal to reform this law to make it more focused and effective and to preserve small businesses. To that end, we helped create the Handmade Toy Alliance and have been working closely with the CPSC and Senator Klobuchar's office to advocate for common-sense rules that will improve the CPSIA.

As for legislative initiatives in Minnesota, we would like to express our support for eliminating BPA from baby bottles, children's sippy cups, and infant formula cans. The dangers of BPA have been known for many years and several alternatives are now widely available. We feel there is no reason why BPA bottles and cups should remain in the marketplace. In fact, we have seen a dramatic increase in BPA-free cups and bottles at large retailers. Wal-Mart has even announced that they will be discontinuing BPA-based products.

Although we would prefer a federal ban instead of a myriad of state laws, we recognize the role that Minnesota can play in accelerating consideration of a federal ban by passing this law now. Keep in mind, though, that banning BPA in bottles and cups while continuing to allow it in canned goods and food storage containers only solves a small part of the overall problem.

We are not in favor of requiring third-party testing in order to prove compliance with a BPA ban. The state may conduct random audits to assure compliance, but mandatory third party testing will be disproportionately detrimental to small businesses, which is precisely the effect we've seen with the CPSIA.

Thank you again for soliciting our input on these important issues. We wish to stress again that we are very engaged with these issues, both as parents and business owners. Our goal has always been to provide safe and affordable alternatives to synthetic and disposable products. We look forward to working with you further to pursue these goals.

Sincerely,

Millie Adelsheim and Dan Marshall
Peapods Natural Toys & Baby Care

CPSC Issues Stay of Enforcement

Late yesterday afternoon, the CPSC issued a one-year stay of enforcement, which means our small manufacturers will have a another year to figure out how to comply with the CPSIA, Congress will have a year to fix many of its problems, and the CPSC will have a year to complete its rulemaking and issue exemptions.

Basically, the CPSC agreed with us that we should stop the car for a while before we try to change the tires.

Strangely, Thomas Moore, one of the two CPSC commissioners who voted for the stay, said his vote was in response to "an aggressive misinformation campaign" from bloggers and work at home crafters. The only misinformation we know about is that Congress and the CPSC were misinformed about the impact this sweeping law would have on small businesses.

Nonetheless, we are very thankful that we have been given a reprieve and a chance to work to get this law fixed before small businesses start losing their livelihoods.