Eco shop?

I have an Etsy shop. I really enjoyed it for a while, and would like to get into it again. I started out by selling cloth diapers, thus the name DydeeDaze. But I got very tired of making diapers that took a while and were great quality only to have to sell them at competitive prices, which meant I made barely more than materials cost, and definitely did not make anything for the time I put into them. It was fun for a while, then suddenly it was not. Just as quickly I stopped listing anything, and took several months off. I had lost my passion for it. A couple months before Christmas I decided to list some diapers and other things that hadn't sold, then made a few scrunchies to throw on there as well. I have been noodling with the idea of combining my love for sewing/creating with my passion for being kinder to the environment to start a new shop (or just refocus the one I have) with a focus on eco-friendly products. Hm. Everything I listed in the current shop has been eco-friendly (cloth diapers/diaper covers/cloth wipes/scrunchies) but it might rekindle  my interest in the whole thing, and it would tie together my desire to learn more about living holistically and always finding more ways to be green. I could enjoy that. I wouldn't be focused on one product, but could constantly be finding fun new stuff to create. Hm.....

PreserveProducts.com

A while back I learned about the Preserve company from a book I was reading called Gorgeously Green, by Sophie Uliano. She spoke specifically about the fact that this company produces toothbrushes which they make from recycled yogurt cups. Cool, what? So I checked into it. Once the toothbrushes have done their duty, they can then be returned to the Preserve company, and recycled again into other plastic products. Wow! So I bought some. They're ok. I find that the bristles bend quickly, but whatever. I got them for the kids and for hubby and me. I haven't tried mine yet, even though I've had it for some time, simply because I had more than one to begin with. But I'll get to it. Today I went back to the Preserve website in anticipation of blogging about it today. I found a cool new thing (new to me, anyhow) they've added. Brita water filters can now be recycled and the plastic repurposed. This was great news for me personally, as I happen to use Brita pitcher filters. The only thing is that there are drop-off sites for the fitlers (and other items) but of course there are none that are within a reasonable driving distance from me. There is one, however, within a short distance from my father's house, which I frequent. That means being really on top of things. Collecting the used filters in the house, remembering to bring them to his house, then getting them to the drop-off site. That's a lot for my poor tired brain. But it could happen. ... .... Anyhow, the company is worth taking a look at. http://www.PreserveProducts.com.

Too much plastic! Interesting links.

Here are a couple of links I've just found, for those interested in reducing the plastic in our lives!

http://www.fakeplasticfish.com

http://www.lifewithoutplastic.com

Soap nuts trial 2 - Liquid Form - Update

The first time I made soap nuts liquid, I used a lot of water, a hand full of soap nuts, and the crock pot. The result was some light tea colored liquid, which I froze. They are, as I suspected, on the weak side. Quite weak, as I came to find out. Yesterday I decided to try making the liquid on the stove top. I put much less water, maybe a cup or two, in the pot, and threw in any soap nuts that had been used before in the laundry but still looked shiny. It was maybe 8 or 10 broken up soap nuts. (at the most) I brought the water to a boil and turned it down to simmer. The water quickly boiled down to a much richer, darker liquid. I poured this into an ice cube tray, then added more water to the pot. The water suds up a lot. I boiled the water down again, poured it into the ice cube tray, and added even more water. I could see at this point that the saponin in the soap nuts was finally running low. I boiled them down and threw the resulting liquid, along with the nuts, into the dishwasher. As we've had questionable results so far, (and hubby's patience with having dishes that aren't Cascade shiny is starting to run low to run low) I figure this is my last chance to make this work. I wanted to give this wash the best possible chance to come clean. I filled the soap dispenser and the pre-wash thingies. =) It's runnung now----we'll see. I also plan to do a load of cloth diapers and cloth wipes today using one of my super concentrated soap nut cubes. The cubes are shaped like stars. Let's hope they are!

Worm composting - update

I emailed my daughter's science teacher about keeping a worm composting box in her science room, and she is all for it! COOL! After the holidays, dear daughter and I will set a box up, introduce the worms, and bring it to school. How fun! Of course I will take pictures throughout the process and share them. The teacher, not surprisingly, has done this in the past, and says the kids enjoy "feeding" the worms. So basically once DD (dear daughter) and I set it up, the teacher and students will maintain it. Perfect! She suggested that DD and I introduce the concept to the kids at school. I'm shy as can be, and DD is too, so I suggested to the teacher that we set up a poster or something with facts, pictures and information. That would be fun for us, too, and would allow DD to feel proud of the project, and not scared. I hope she goes for it (teacher, I mean.) She will.

Worm composting

To my "compost" post, JK replied: "Compost year round! We have tons more scraps in summer, but also more of a fruit fly problem. Bug free now that it is colder, though! You should look into earthworm composting. They teach it in the schools here---very simple and cheap if you have someone to show you, and a certain someone would LOVE it (perhaps too much)!"


I have been reading about this online. In fact there was a cool article about this a few months ago in Family Fun magazine. I think it's cool. Though I've been a little commitment shy with the whole thing. I mean, it does mean feeding and reproducing worms in your house. I'm skeptical, and dear hubby is, plain and simple, not into it. However.....perhaps if my daughter and I put a worm compost box together, her science teacher would be willing to host it in her classroom....hmmmm. Anyhow, if you're interested in reading more about them or watching some videos on it (very interesting!) do a Google search on worm composting. It's really neat! 

Composting

Yesterday I finally saved some kitchen scraps for composting. It's one of those ideas that's been rattling around my head for ages. My daughter has a garden in the back yard. What an awesome opportunity to learn, and teach, about composting, recycling, reusing, organic, and on and on! Fun! So while making dinner in the morning (crock pot) I saved potato peels and so forth in a cup. I saved it for my daughter, but funnily (did I make that word up?) it was hubby who took the stuff out. (cool-grin) Anyhow, I've got some reading to do, but I'm excited about it. So off to collect the coffee grounds from today! =)

Anyone already compost? If you've got any advice or ideas, please share them. I know very little about composting other than the obvious.... for example, do people compost all winter? Or just in the warmer seasons?

Soap nuts trial 2 - Liquid Form - Update

I ran the dishwasher overnight using the soap nut liquid I created in the crock pot the other day. The dishes were clean. They were fine! There was one bowl I had to hand wash. But that happens with Cascade, too. There are foods that have to be washed off before a dish can be machine washed. The vinegar added a shine. Which is weird. But true. Sooo.... I guess I'll keep using the soap nut liquid in the dishwasher for a longer term study. But I'd say for the most part, it's pretty successful, which is cool. I'm happy because the dishwasher is a tough place to go green. Detergents claiming to have less impact on the environment that I have tried in the past have just not worked well enough for continued use. Either the dishes weren't clean, or the dishes came out with a film on them.... I'm still a little skeptical on this one, and hubby is very skeptical, but I am hopeful.

The dirt on.....DIRT

I've been thinking about  the word "dirty" and what it means to us as a culture. I think it's safe to say that as a general rule, Americans associate "clean" with better, and "dirty" as not as good. Think about tv commercials you've seen. What percentage of them are ads for household cleaning products, or personal hygiene products such as shampoo? Then think about how these products are marketed. Is it enough to say that the products simply clean? It's not! In order to impress us, the products have to do much more than clean. They need to shine what they clean. Or scour away dirt. And they need to leave our homes/laundry/hair/skin smelling good! They need to make white whiter or colors brighter. Even our air can smell cleaner using air "fresheners." Then there's the spray to make our upholstered furniture smell clean. We are so conditioned to expect the advertisers definition of clean that we are willing to spend a fortune on products that claim to work the best to achieve these results.

I did a google search for this, and the first definition of clean I found is "free from dirt or impurities." I guess all things can be subject to interpretation, including "dirt" and "impurity."But I remember reading on the internet one. Various websites but all about how to be more green, and this really stuck with me. CLEAN HAS NO SMELL. Think about it! It makes sense. We have been taught to think that something with a pleasant scent must be clean. Or cleaner. But it's not true. Now some folks might prefer the scents, but that's another discussion. But you can clean your hands, hair, car interior, carpet, laundry, etc., without it smelling like lavender, roses, vanilla, wildflowers, orange, lemons..... They are still clean.

In fact, in my opinion, they are cleaner without the scents. I mean, isn't it true that in order to make something smell like something, you must add something to it? And wouldn't that, in a sense, be making the product less pure? So wouldn't that, then, qualify the added ingredient as an impurity? And, (work with me here) wouldn't that, by our definition, make the product un-clean? So while using the product to "clean" the dirt from something, aren't we, in a sense, adding more? Is that wacky?

Now more than ever before, people, children, are getting asthma and atopic dermatitis. Why? Could our products have anything to do with that? When we use all of these products in our homes, where is all of it going? I'll tell you where. On our skin, in our lungs, in our food. So? Maybe that's fine. Maybe they have no effects, short or long term. But maybe is not good enough for me. I remember once tossing some carpet freshener powder over a carpet and running the vacuum. The stuff was so thick in the air and in my lungs I had to leave the room. I felt sick to my stomach. Yuck! Then more recently I volunteered to help "clean" my daughter's school in preparation for the school year. I spent about 2 hours washing windows using store-bought window cleaning spray. I had what I termed "Windex heartburn" for hours after that. Not good! Yes, I have eczema and perhaps I'm more sensitive than most. But this stuff cannot be good for us. Anyway, perhaps I'm straying a bit from my original point. Which was, basically, what defines dirty?

So. If clean is sparkling, shiny, scented, scoured, fluffy, colorful, super white, tangle-free...then dirty is, perhaps the opposite of that. Interesting. Truly it must be difficult for us, as Americans, to keep everything in our worlds up to this standard. But we try, don't we? Heck, you can even buy "new car scent." That cracks me up! So we want our cars to smell like plastic and processed leather. Ak! I would love to see a comedian do a skit on this topic. Wouldn't that be a crack-up? And we'd all laugh. Because what's funnier than ourselves? Right?

Anyhow, I'm just sharing my thoughts from today. So do me a favor. If you want your house to smell like flowers, TRY BUYING SOME FLOWERS. Weird, I know! And try washing your hands with unscented soap. Ew! Who wants to smell like nothing?!

Well....me. (shrug)

PS Because I live in a relatively unscented world (due to eczema primarily) I am REALLY aware of scents around me. Everywhere I go. Funny, that.

Soap nuts trial 2 - Liquid Form - Update

Here is the soap nut liquid I created after 5 hours of boiling in the crock pot. Not as dark as I might have thought, but it was tea colored. From that I made some ice cubes...

I am now doing a load of laundry using three of these cubes. I have read that one will do in a normal sized load of laundry, but I am skeptical. Mine aren't very dark so I figure they're not very concentrated....what do I know. So far I don't see any sudsing in my laundry, but that's ok too.... Anyhow, I'll let you know how/if it works. I also plan to try the liquid (there was a lot, so some became cubes and some stayed in liquid form) in the dishwasher. The results of using the soap nuts in the dishwasher has been so-so. Most of the dishes are cleaned, but some are not, which isn't good enough, is it? So I will try the liquid in the soap holder thingy, with vinegar in the rinse aid thingy, and see how that works. Failing that, it's no more soap nuts in the dishwasher. =)

I'll test the liquid and cubes in other areas of the house and report back.

Soap nuts trial 2 - Liquid Form

Today I am boiling some partly used soap nuts to see what the liquid is like. I am using the crock pot. I didn't follow any recommended water and soap nuts amounts, I just filled the crock pot with water, and tossed in any soap nuts that I had used in either the laundry or in the dishwasher. I plan to reserve some of the liquid to try out today, and freeze the rest in ice cube trays for future use. Stay tuned...

Coffee Filters

Forever and ever I used a plastic, reusable coffee filter. I have felt good about this. No paper waste! It did not occur to me for one second that I have been pouring hot liquid over plastic every morning for years and years. I am a person who never microwaves anything in plastic or with plastic wrap, nor do I put hot food into a plastic storage container. So why have I never thought about the coffee filter? Who knows. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the more I make changes to my lifestyle, the more I become aware of areas that could be changed with good results. Or something. So. I just read this article about coffee filters. It is from http://www.projectgreenify.com/. Basically the writer suggests making cloth coffee filters, using unbleached, tight-weaved fabric. Huh. Where have I been? I see the benefits. No more paper, no more plastic. It will take me a while to get the filters together. It's a trip to the fabric store (once every 2-3 weeks), washing the fabric, and creating. But, when I get to it, I'll post pictures. =)

Cloth

This is an area of being green and reducing waste that's been a part of my life for quite some time. I thought I'd share my experience with replacing household paper goods with cloth alternatives. Here is a basic run down of what I've tried and what I think:

>>>Cloth napkins: We have used cloth napkins at home for a long, long time.

Pros: No paper waste, reusable, easy to find or make, can be made from recycled cloth

Cons: Adds to laundry and water use, we seem to go through them quickly

>>>Cloth wipes as Kleenex

Pros: Really reduces the red nose that is exacerbated by paper tissues, thicker and softer, reusable, last a long time, easy to find or make, can be made from recycled cloth, reduced paper waste, no chemicals on the skin

Cons: Germy. My daughter leaves them all over the place at home and at school. I hate how they smell when they're full of my boogers. Uk! For me, I don't prefer to use one more than a couple times before I want a clean one.

>>>Cloth diapers

Pros: Reduced waste. There is much information on the internet on how paper diapers pile up in the landfills. Non-toxic, unlike disposables. Reduced diaper rash. Reusable. Reduced cost over all. (They may seem expensive when you look at the unit cost, but if you calculate what you would spend over the years that your child/ren are in diapers, you spend much less with cloth! Especially if you use them for more than one child.) I made my own, which had benefits in many areas.

Cons: Bulky! Need to change them more frequently. They don't wick wetness away (some may argue this point. I always used all-cotton materials. There are synthetics which may wick) More laundry. Storing soiled diapers until wash time.

>>>Cloth wipes for use with cloth diapers

Pros: Stronger than paper wipes, don't need as many, easy to warm up for use, non-toxic, reusable (wash with diapers), easy to find or make, can be made from recycled cloth, gentler on skin

Cons: Laundry, need to be stored until wash time

>>>Feminine hygiene products

Pros: Reduced cost, reduced waste, more comfortable (IMO), non-toxic (do a little research on toxic shock syndrome-yikes!), reusable, easy to find (often called mama cloth, moon cloth)

Cons: Laundry, must store until wash time

All of this is obviously just my opinion and my experience with these things. I enjoy sewing, so much of our cloth collection has been made by me. However, all of the things I listed above are readily available online.

Holistic balance through feng shui?

To live in a holistic way is to live in a balanced way. Live your life in balance with nature. Balance all aspects of your life - emotional health, physical health, diet, exercise, non-toxic environment, yadayada. As I head down the path towards a more balanced life and self, I put my focus on one area one day, another area another day.... making small changes here and there. I am finding that as I make adjustments that make me feel good, or better, other areas present themselves and are suddenly so obviously out of balance that I am taken aback. For example, today I visited a home that was so.....orderly....that it was instantly unsettling to me. One of the owners of this home has been to my home, which is, well, DISorderly. I was instantly flooded with several emotions, including awe (her home is lovely), and embarrassment. Basically, in order to feel peaceful in your own environment, the first step is to create a peaceful environment. Having stuff piled everywhere does not create a calm mood. Why are some of us naturals at creating a clutter-free, peaceful space and others (me) are not? I do not know. But this part of my journey will never be easy for me. As with all of this, it's a process. I have no plan for the "perfect" space for us, just one that one that is nice to be in.

Soap nuts in the dishwasher

Tonight I tried using soap nuts and vinegar in the dishwasher. You toss the equivalent of about 4 soap nuts in the silverware holder, and fill the rinse aid compartment with vinegar. The dishes came out surprisingly clean and even shiny. There were three or four things that were heavily soiled and had not been rinsed. They will need to be re-washed. But the reviews I have read about using soap nuts in the dishwasher reported just that. Dishes need to be rinsed or soaked before being put in the dishwasher with soap nuts. This is true with regular detergent, no? So I would say the results of this trial were surprisingly positive. =)

It sudsed!

Ok, when my soap nuts didn't suds at all in the washing machine, I wondered if they really did. I mean, really. A plant? Sudsing? So I did what is recommended to test if soap nuts still have the saponin needed to clean with.... I put a piece of one in a container with a lid, and shook. This photo shows the result. I add that I didn't have to shake for long.

Soap nuts - interesting information

I am really into this soap nut thing. I have been reading and reading about how to care for them, how to use them, how to tell when they are used up....very, very interesting. Here are some things I have learned:

>>>Many people who love using soap nuts will boil them in water and use the resulting liquid for cleaning. 

>>>Because it is organic, soap nut liquid has a relatively short shelf-life, so it is a good idea to make what you will use in a week or less, and use it.

>>>The liquid can be frozen into ice cubes, and used as needed. The liquid lasts much longer this way.

>>>The liquid can be used in the laundry, for household cleaning, for windows (with vinegar added), for washing dishes, and even in the dishwasher (with other items added, which I'll write up if there's interest)

>>>Soap nuts DON'T suds much, according to what I've read. Some places claim they do, but many claim they don't. Mine have NOT been sudsy, which is why I read more about that very thing. Suds, according to one source, are extended chemically in store-bought detergents because people think that means the detergent is working better. (Not true)

>>>When soap nuts have done as much as they can do in the laundry, they can still be boiled down to make a good cleaning liquid. 

>>>LOVE this one! Soap nuts can be used as compost when they're used up!

>>>The soap nut liquid can be made in the crock pot. =)

>>>To test if the saponin (cleaning agent) in the soap nuts is used up or not, put the soap nuts in a sealable jar with some water. Shake it up, and if you gets any "suds," they are still good to go. 

>>>Although heat helps to release saponin from the soap nuts, they can be used in any water temperature. The saponin is simply released more slowly.

>>>The saponin released during the rinse cycle is not a worry. It's gentle and non-irritating (according to what I've read) and shouldn't be a concern. It beats soap residue on clothing!

I am very anxious to try the soap nut liquid around the house. I will post as I experiment.

Plastic Reusable Bottles

Plastic ... I use a water bottle every day. They're all plastic. My children use them, to... Time for a change. Here's one source of information:

http://environment.about.com/od/healthenvironment/a/plastic_bottles.htm

Soap nuts, trial 1, continued

I just finished folding the first load of laundry washed with my new soap nuts. They looked, well, NORMAL. Did I expect them to jump out of the drier and hug me and dance around with joy? Sorta. They didn't. But, other than being a little static-y (I haven't used drier sheets in years, but didn't really have a static-producing item in the bunch...) the clothes were clean. Very clean. I had one jacket out of the bunch that had a stain remaining. My daughter had gotten a big, dark pink chalk stain on the sleeve of a white sweat jacket. I figured chalk would come right out, but this was a really dark pink stain, so I'm not quite ready to blame the soap nuts yet. Everything else looked great! Does that sell me on them? Not q.u.i.t.e yet. Now I need to do a "dirty" load. I mean, a more than average dirty load. Oh oh I know! Cloth diapers!! I'll report back. =)

The soap nuts are here! Trial 1...

The soap nuts I bought arrived today. I couldn't wait to try them, and threw a load of laundry right in, which is now drying. In the meantime, this is what they look like. The little cloth bag is what you put them in when doing a load of laundry. The nuts came with instructions. It says to break the soap nuts, but many of them were already broken up, and I had to kind of guess at how many to use. They didn't suds up right away, but at the end of the cycle I could see that they had suds at least a bit. (I was out during the cycle) I will post again in a bit with results of the first wash. If anyone has used them before, I'd love to hear your thoughts.