Mother's going GREEN Day 5 - Ignorance is Bliss

Today was a challenging day in the life of this Mother's going Green. After doing some research on cloth diapers and the detergent I would need to wash them, I realised that all too many of the products we use on a daily basis are full of harmful toxins.

It was just over two weeks ago, when I would not have given this a second thought. I used what I used because well it is for sale, its marketed, it's on the shelves at the store and well pretty much everybody uses it. How "blissful" it was to be "ignorant". But gone are those days - I am more aware now. Although, today I wished I was not.

Take for instance laundry detergent: the sweet smell of clean is not really sweet at all. It is synthetic fragrances which are known to trigger common skin irritants and possible asthma. Then there is what they call "optical brighteners" this is what makes your whites whiter. Well it doesn't really - It a creates a blue hue on your cloths that reflect back white light giving the appearance that your whites are whiter and of course it is toxic.

What gets me is; we wash our cloths to get them clean yet we cover them in chemicals, wear them, which in turn covers our body in these chemicals - Who knew the dangers of washing your clothes and were are the warning lables on these products. Also, as I noted at the store as I tried to obtain the most environmentally friendly detergent that none of them list all the ingredients, which made it so frustrating. I finally did find a detergent that was recommended buy the cloth diaper company and in the book"Green for Life - 200 Simple Eco-Ideas for every day by Gillian Deacon" called Nature Clean so a happy ending to a frustrating search for a simple item: Washing Detergent.

Below a list of sites which talk about the toxins in laundry detergent and everyday household products.

http://www.naturalnews.com/001061.html; http://www.groundwork.org.za/Resources/laundry.htm

http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/07/06/the_toxic_dangers_of_typical_laundry_detergent.htm

Here is the site were you can purchase Nature Clean laundry detergent or other household cleaners.

http://www.naturecleanliving.com/index.htm

Mother's going GREEN Day 4 - Children's "Green" Craft Corner

Fridays will be devoted to an environmentally friendly craft, especially for our young children. They too can be inspired to live green and crafting is a way for them to connect with the environment around them.

Today is how to make "Grass Potato Heads" an old well known craft.

You will need:

• Large Potato
• Potting soil
• Grass seed
• Water
• Markers for adding a face

How to make it (with an adults help if required):

Carve out the centre of the potato to create a well of about and inch deep.

Decorate the potato with a fun face using the markers

Fill the hole with some potting soil (or any other soil you may have available)

Sprinkle the grass seeds on top (in ours we were quite generous with the seeds)

Water and place in a sunny spot. Water daily and wait for the grass to grow. Ours pictured above took about a week to sprout. Once grass is long, you can have some fun giving your potato a hair cut.

I found that this craft taught my children of how plants grow and and what is needed in order for them to flourish: water and sunlight and special care which is what we have to give our planet earth.

Next weeks craft will be something for dad in preparation for Fathers Day.

Mother's going GREEN Day 3 - Composting the Worm Way (Vermiposting)

So today we set up the worm compost. Quite simple really..... In our household we are calling it the "Worm Farm".

You need a container - I chose a two Rubbermaid containers, we drill holes in the bottom of one container for aeration and place it in the container with no holes, this allows the bottom container to collect any liquid that leaks out. All very neat and tidy. The we drilled holes in the lid so the worms can breath (picture shows my husband drilling holes). As you can see we choose a larger container as I believe we have a lot of food waste that our worms will love, but they can be much smaller than that.

Then you add the bedding - shredded damp newspaper ( I read somewhere on the Internet that you should not use colour print - but not all the instructions say that. We have stuck with black and white print only which meant leafing through the paper to exclude the colour.) The dampness of the newspaper is important as if it is too damp it will cause your "worm farm" to smell ( and we don't want that). The wetness of the paper should be that of a wrung out sponge. (again some sites say add a couple of handfuls of dirt to the bedding - it helps the worms eat the food). We decided on adding the dirt.

Lastly you add the worms. Red wigglers are suggested. Allow them to settle into their new home for a couple of days and then let the 'feast' begin.

You can feed your worms the following: Fruit and vegetable peels, finely crushed egg shells (rinse out the eggshells first); coffee grinds and the filter, teabags, wood ash, sawdust, plant trimmings, dryer lint, grass. It is advisable to bury the food under the paper and in a different location within the bin each time. Also, make your waste into 'bite' size pieces for easier composting.
DO NOT feed your worms the following: Butter, bone, meat, fish, poultry, dairy or vegetable oil.

After a few months you will be rewarded with a dark rich earthy substance which makes a great natural fertilizer for your garden and plants. Also, the liquid that runs out the bottom can be used as a liquid fertilizer for you plants.

I have included some websites for you to get more information on Vermiposting.

• http://www.city.vaughan.on.ca/vaughan/departments/public_works/vermicompost.cfm
• http://http//www.bearsmart.com/bearSmartCommunities/Attractants&WasteManagement/TheDirtOnIndoorComposting.pdf
• http://cityfarmer.org/wormcomp61.html#wormcompost

Happy Composting and I will keep you updated on how ours is progressing.

Mother's going GREEN Day 2 - Wednesday is Garbage Pick Up Day

How Charming - Our weeks worth of garbage....5 standard garbage bags.

Lets look at my garbage:

• 2 garbage bags in picture above contain disposable diapers (remember I have a toddler and an infant)
• I would say the another 11/2 could be kitchen waste (those kids don't always eat all the food served to them and then it is those fruit & vegetable peelings, coffee filters etc.)
• The remainder I am not certain

General facts about North American garbage:

• an adult produces 600 times their weight in garbage over their life time. Now that's 40825 kilograms for a 68 kilogram adult. - Natural Resources Canada
• 1/3 of our garbage is paper and paperboard, 1/3 is kitchen and yard wast and rest is made up of glass,metals, plastics, textiles wood and other materials - Environment Canada
• Americans create nearly 210 million tons of garbage each year. About 31/2 pounds of garbage is thrown away every day in the US - http://garbage.wikidot.com/garbage3
  

Hopefully, by this time next week I can get rid of a couple of bags of garbage:

• I will be more mindful of what is going into the trash
• Look at composting our organic kitchen and yard waste
• Switch to cloth diapers instead of disposable

Stay logged on and lets see what becomes of my garbage.

Mother's going GREEN Day 1 - Our Family's Ecological Footprint

Going Green for the modern mother is an additional challenge added to her already hectic day, but after being inspired by others going green and reading a terrific book "The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating" by ALISA SMITH and J.B. MACKINNON, I could no longer turn a blind eye to the environmental crisis that our world is in.

Today, I sat down and calculated our family's ecological footprint and we came to a whooping 6.48 earths. That is, if everyone on the planet lived our lifestyle we would need 6.48 earths to sustain it. I am sorry but that is just pathetic. The average worlds ecological footprint is 1.5 earths, clearly our family is way beyond that and drastic steps need to be taken in order to reduce this footprint.

Now our family already recycles as much as we can, we also have done away with the plastic shopping bags, although one or two may find their way back into our household, yet it is not enough; there is so much more that we NEED to be doing....

And so our journey begins: Reducing our footprint!!!

To learn more about Ecological Footprints and to calculate your own Footprint you can visit

http://www.rprogress.org/index.htm - They offer great tips on reducing your footprint and some frequently asked questions. Also for a small donation you can have a poster of your Ecological Footprint done up. This is what I did and have posted it on our refrigerator as a reminder of our challenge.

For a children orientated quiz to determine their footprints you can visit http://www.kidsfootprint.org/ - this proved to be a fun and interactive activity for my 5 year old son.

For more information on "100 Mile Diet" book you can visit: http://100milediet.org/book/