In The Garden Part 2

So as talked about in my previous post that I planted some lettuce and a few sunflowers for #1. I was super excited yesterday when I went to water and saw that they are coming up. I have never been so proud. I do not have a green thumb what so ever. I have killed just about every plant to come my way. I was told by my older sister that if a frost is coming that I will need to cover them with sheets or they will dye because the baby plant are pretty fragile. I think that is easy enough and will be able to do. SO EXCITED!

  

 Sunflowers

Lettuce 

Recipes #2 Baby Care

This is the recipe that I found the most often when doing research on this. I liked this one the most when using my reusable cloth wipes. My sister used to just wash her babies booty's in the sink when changing her babies. I do this when they have been really sick and got that nasty booty rash. Also you can just use water but I like the idea of having something a little extra. Tea Tree oil has many benefits such as antiseptic and antifungal properties. Also is used as a preservative. 

Baby Wash Recipe (the twos, is how I remember this recipe, I don't remember where I got this)
2 TBSP baby wash (castile liquid soap, non-scented)
2 TBSP olive oil 
2 drops Tea Tree oil
2 cups water
Mix well in a spray bottle or your wipes box. Mist on wipe before using if in spray bottle. Shake solution around wipes if using a wipes box. I just used a recycled body spray bottle. 

Homemade Recipe for Diaper Rash Cream 4oz  (My own Recipe)
1 1/2 ounces cocoa butter or coconut oil
2 ounces olive oil
1/4 ounce beeswax or approx. 2 tablespoons, grated
1 capsule Vitamin E , squeezed out 
small jar or container
double boiler
wire whisk or electric mixer
rubber spatula

On low-medium heat, in the double boiler add bees wax and cocoa butter. When it is completely melted add the rest of the ingredients. Whisk together well. Check the consistency by putting some on a spoon and let it sit in the refrigerator for 3 min. If it’s too hard, add more oil, if it’s too soft, add more beeswax. When you've reached your desired consistency give it a good mix until creamy, then add it to your container and let it cool to room temperature.


You can use this on your own rash or just use it as a lotion, works great! You can also infuse the olive oil with herbs (like Lavender) a couple of weeks prior to making this. DO NOT USE WATER, WATER WILL MAKE IT GROW BACTERIA QUICKLY!


Baby Shampoo (eHow)

12 oz. of distilled water

4 tablespoons Castile soap flakes (or shavings from a Castile bar)
1 to 2 drops of pure essential lavender oil

Boil the distilled water and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes. Pour the water into a glass bowl and add the soap flakes, allow them to dissolve while stirring. Next add the lavender oil and keep stir until completely blended. You only need a dime size amount to wash your baby. Store your shampoo in a cool, dry place and shake the bottle gently before every use. You can also adding camomile tea to the boiled water while it is cooling.

Important Reminders

• All of the ingredients are gentle enough even for a newborn, but it is always best to do a skin patch test in case your baby has very sensitive skin. Rub a bit of the finished shampoo on the inside of your baby's arm and wait at least 48 hours to see if there is a reaction.
  Your homemade baby shampoo will not feel or look like a commercial shampoo. It will be a thinner consistency and will not lather up or be sudsy. Sudsing agents are used in commercial shampoo and are not necessary. This shampoo will clean hair just as well as any of the high-priced shampoos, but is made especially for your baby by you with no chemicals that are not needed or that may be harmful.

http://www.ehow.com/way_5199663_homemade-baby-shampoo-recipe.html

Stuck on Where Our Food Comes From

I'm stuck on trying to find out everything I can about where our food comes from. The more I research the more I figure out that there are still so many people that have no idea. In a documentary that I saw (I can't recall which exactly as I have seen many on food) there was a scene that was quite disturbing to me. They went to fifth graders and showed them pictures of different things and the kids could not recognize a tomato but knew who Ronald McDonald was, made me sick to see this. For the record my kids are never allowed to eat there and we are fazing out many restaurants basically any who are not "green" or trying to be more sustainable. Chipotle is one that we love and will continue eating at. Anyway, I was reminded about the children we saw yesterday when we where in a different city and went to eat at a BBQ Place (Love this place, can't remember the name, all take out containers are compostable and the food we soooo good!) there was a family sitting next to us and they had two little girls probably 4 and 2. It was around lunch time. The two girls only had french fries, that's it. The mom had a salmon wrap I think and I didn't even look and the dad's. Anyway I couldn't believe my eyes and I almost said something to them but I didn't know what to say. Why are we doing this to our children? I just can't believe it! My daughters eat what we eat! We eat pretty healthy most of the time lots and lots of veggies! It got me thinking that I need to do better and I can! So I started looking up different all natural local farms and found that there a number of grass-feed meat farms that only graze their animals! Most of them had very reasonable prices even better than the grocery stores! Also I found a wonderful blog about local food and found a list of many local farms and ranches. This is a wonderful resource. http://www.ediblecommunities.com If you look at the bottom of their page you will see a list of links of areas in the US. This is how I found my local farm and ranch guide. Anyway we are going to make weekend trips to some of these ranches and get good healthy food. I think that my daughter will love going to these as she loves animals and I will love that she will learn where her food comes from.

Bountiful Baskets VS. Farmers Market

Most people have no idea what a Bountiful Basket is. Today I experienced it for the first time and found it to be interesting. Not what I expected it to be. I heard about this from a friend and it sounded good so I thought I would try it out. She said they are a group of volunteers that give out food in laundry baskets and they get there food locally. Anyway so I went online and ordered two Organic baskets which are twenty five dollars (non-organic is 15 dollars each). On their website they say that if you volunteer that you be there an hour early. So I brought #1 with me and we went at the volunteer time. I knew the food had to get there some how but it came on a huge freight truck which I was not expecting. Then the organic variety was all presorted and most of the non-organic food was labeled from Mexico and California, which was surprising. Anyway when I looked at what I got in the box it was more of the same, Mexico and California. It was just disappointing. Later another friend said maybe it is because it has been super dry here. I hope that is the only reason because I like the idea of volunteer based food system but I really want local.

I like going to the farmers markets here. I like being able to see who is growing my food and being able to ask questions. There is usually a lot of variety and sellers of other goods like bread and honey. There's still that unknown factor, is the food really pesticide free or are they just saying that to get you to buy their food. I've asked a few when I've gone and gotten the yes answer but in my gut I don't believe it. I do know that all the food there is local, that's what I like most, though it is pretty important to me to have pesticide and hormone free!

The point I am trying to make is that where you get your food from is important! I am going to the first best thing and that is to grow my own garden but until things are ready I need a second best and I think I might just stick to farmers markets. I like supporting my local farmer and I can bring my own bags and produce less trash. Prices are just as reasonable. Also if you go towards the end of the day you can get some really great deals.

P.S. I was going to buy a share of a CSA which is the very best second option to get your food but apparently I was to late in the game this year and all the shares were sold out to my favorite farms already when I tried to get it.

Recipes..Part One

I have many people emailing me asking me what my recipes are for my natural cleaning and personal care products. This post will be focused on giving those to you. I usually Google them and try them out before tweaking them to our specific needs.

There are a ton of recipes for laundry detergent, my favorite one come from http://www.homemadelaundrysoap.net/ and I kept this one just like it says, it works great and smells great. I think that my clothes come out brighter than with all of the other detergents we used. This is just for the liquid detergent, that's what I prefer to use and would recommend because I know it works.

What you need:
If you make a double batch of the liquid detergent you need a bucket, I recycled a cat litter bucket, worked great! You also need a greater and a large pan.

Where to Buy Ingredients:
Most of the ingredients can be found at your local grocery store in the laundry aisle and at some Walmarts and Targets. Some people have a difficult time Fels Naptha soap. If this happens, you can either try a substitute (such as Zote, Ivory or Sunlight bar soaps, or other low-scented soap) or buy it online at Amazon.com. I got the Borax at Target (76oz for 3.50) I got the washing soda (55oz for 4.50) and Fels Naptha (1 bar for 1.50) soap at Ace Hardware.

What to Store Your Soap In:
To keep your large batch of liquid laundry detergent in a 5-gallon bucket with lid and keep a large wooden spoon in it to stir it before each use. I reused two liquid laundry soap containers and just stirred before transferring it. I did wash them before using them and you do have to shake them before using.

Scented Soap:
"The detergent has a fairly strong scent right after you make it, but it fades quickly. After the clothes are washed, there is little, if any, scent on the clothes. If you’ve never tried a non-scented laundry detergent before, it might be hard for you to accept that the clothes are actually clean. They are, whether they smell like soap or not. But if it continues to bother you, you might want to try adding a liquid fabric softener to your wash or even adding your favorite essential oil to your preferred liquid laundry detergent recipe"

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap Recipe

This is about .0096 cent per load for 10 dollars you get 1041.66 loads. lol

Ingredients:
1/3 bar Fels Naptha Soap (1 full bar Ivory or 1/3 bar Zote will also work)
½ cup washing soda (
½ cup borax powder
2 gallons water

Instructions:

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda (NOT baking soda) and the borax. Stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into a 2-gallon bucket. Add soap mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours until it gels. Use a ½ cup detergent per load of laundry.

The Math!

.04 per ounce borax

.08 per ounce washing soda

.50 per 1/3 bar Fels Naptha

.62 for 2 gallons of soap

16 cups in a gallon 

32 cups in a batch

1/2 cup per load

64 cups per batch

.0096 cents per load

Hair Spray

This is important to me and I found basically 2 recipes. One with lemons or oranges and one with water and sugar. I like my Hairspray to be extra extra hold so I combined the two and made my own.

Ingredients: 

2 cups water

1 orange cut in to pieces

3 Tablespoons sugar

1 ounce Vodka (preservative)

Sauce pan

Cheese cloth or similar (I used a wash cloth)

Instructions:

Put water and orange slices in sauce pan and boil until is reduced by half. Before adding slices squeeze juice into pan and throw slices in after. Strain with cloth in bowel. Add liquid back into pan and add sugar, stir until completely dissolved. Add vodka and let cool. put in a bottle with a fine mist. (should be good for 2 weeks or longer, I'm not sure exactly as I just made this)   I recycled a hairspray bottle.

The Math 
.50 cent vodka (Cheap is fine) you can even use rubbing alcohol. 
.25 cents orange
.003 cents sugar
.753 Per bottle  .503 if you use rubbing alcohol 

Red Robin...A Deliciously Wasteful Restaurant

Last night my husband took us to Red Robin for dinner, with a little protest as I don't think they are very healthy. I also want to mention that the other day as were planning to go there I called and asked where they get their meat from and if it is hormone free. The manager came to the phone and said that they get it from the Wolverine Packing Company in MI. He also stated that their meat does not or no longer has pink slime. Which I thought was good but I told him that that is not the same as hormones. I Googled Wolverine and called them the next day and asked them if they inject their cows with hormones and a guy told me no, I asked him how he could know that and he said they test the meat. I hung up the phone and was thinking that how could that really had been his answer? How could he just not tell me that they don't shoot up their cows with hormones? Now I may not be a super genus but I don't believe him. If he knew for sure that they don't, I think that's what he would've said.  I also called the main office of Red Robin in Greenwood Village near Denver and have not gotten a response yet.

 Anyway the main reason I wanted to write about this is because all I could think about while eating there is how wasteful it was. I asked to be seated outside as it was nice out and couldn't help but notice a family walk to their can and they had 3 balloons, the little girl, maybe 2 or 3 years old, accidently let go of hers. The family just stared up at it as it went into the sky. Right then and there I decided that my girls would not be getting anymore balloons, ever. They are so wasteful. Where do they end up? Popped somewhere, just laying there not biodegrading. What is there purpose anyway, they are useless, they don't clean anything, you can't really play with them, you just end up throwing them away and they are probably more toxic then we like to think about. The other wasteful thing was the napkins we of a ton of napkins and my husband asked for more, which we didn't use. They probably throw them away when they cleaned up our table. I decided to remedy this that I will be making napkins that we can take with us. I can just stick them in our diaper backpack for now and when I am no longer using that I will stick them in my purse. The 3rd thing was my fault I forgot to bring a dang container for leftovers and had to use their Styrofoam crap! Uhhggg!  I hate styrofoam! Not good for your health what so ever! Also terrible for our planet! I have been keeping all the styrofoam I have been accumulating and I am going to take it to the Denver to be recycled as I found out there is a place there that does it. Only one in the state. 

I want to mention that this is not intended to me a personal attack on Red Robin that this occurs in many restaurants. Consumers and restaurants need to be aware and help out! Red Robin DOES need to get rid of their balloons though! Also my husband did end up getting #1 a balloon, I was very disappointed and told why I didn't want her having them anymore. He told me that I was a meany and a  party pooper. After I explained how I felt they where super wasteful he didn't say anything back but hopefully we won't be that wasteful at a meal ever again!

I did a little research about balloons and the effect on the environment and there is evidence that they are biodegradable but not all of them. If you are interested just do a little google search and there is a ton of info on this. I personally would just like to avoid them and not be a part of a possible problem!

Eliminating The Trash...Part One

  This will be a series of posts as I am still in the process of reducing the amount of trash that we produce, including our recycles. My ultimate goal is to have no trash/recyclables. It is probably one of the most challenging things I have ever done. This should be easier but with all the things that are available to make your life "easier" it is a lot to have to replace or figure out another way. I took a long hard look at what it is that we are throwing away to figure out what I need to replace with reusables or need to make from scratch. I'm doing this in steps because it would just be to overwhelming to do it all at once and because it is expensive at first. Eventually I will save $ because I won't be buying these things anymore. 

So far I have discovered several things wrong with what we were doing besides all the waste. I didn't realize what I was doing to my family and I. The first thing was all the plastic. As you already know, if you've been following my blog, I've been getting rid of plastics. When I was thinking about the trash zip lock and grocery bags came to mind. We use these a lot and and they are so temporary. What I mean is you buy them, you use them, then just throw them away. Such a waste of money! Also no where on the box does it say BPA and phthalate free. So all those bags we where using for snacks and sandwiches probably were poisoning us. Anyway I got these reusable zipper bags made from nylon that is BPA and phthalate free. I love them! They are easy to clean, water resistant and airtight, so your sandwichs won't dry out. I also bought reusable produce bags which are made of cotton and have their weight listed on them. Most stores will take 10 cents off your bill for every bag you use. I put all the shopping bags on the front door handle so I don't forget to take them when I go shopping. This used to be something I often forget to do and when I would get to the check out I would get frustrated at myself for forgetting.

I am also trying to remember when we go out to eat to bring along a container to bring home leftovers in. I have yet to remember this, but I have faith that I will. I'm also in the process of making my own reusable paper towels. I am making them from birds eye fabric and surging the edges. The are super cute and can even wrap them around a paper towel holder to make them just as convenient as disposables. I am choosing to stop buying sponges as washcloths do a great job and I can wash those. I am keeping all the containers for my personal and cleaning items so I can put homemade products in them. I think that's all I've actually done so far. 

There is still a lot that I need to replace but I have done my homework on what and where I need to get.   For plastic wrap/ aluminium foil I found a great solution on Etsy. They are cloth waterproof container covers with elastic and for the oven silicone pan covers from reuseit.com. reuseit.com also has metal straws I would love to have. When we start seeing all the money savings I want to start getting royal crest milk to stop throwing all those away since they reuse them. I love love Swiffer because of how fast and easy it is to use. I am going to make pads for them that are washable. I will post these so you can see what they look like. I am also looking at getting these upcycled dryer pillows to replace clothes softener and dryer sheets.

I got the sandwich and shopping bags on Etsy. Below is the link to her store. She also sells produce bags and some other great items! 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LoveForEarth

For Dryer Pillows

http://www.etsy.com/shop/zJayne