Mother's going GREEN Day 35 - Body Wash and so much more

Body wash- something I have been researching for sometime. Knowing that I would soon run out of my regular chemical ladened body soap - and need to replace it with an environmentally friendly soap.

My search turned up many options some turned out to be quite expensive and then others I questioned how green friendly they were.

Finally I came to a decision. Dr.Bronner's Magic Soap. The bottle lists 18 different uses, but according to their website it has many more. Some uses include: dish washing, car washing, pet washing, laundry washing, deodorant, shampoo and the list goes on.

I purchased the lavender scent for my children and it can be used as a body wash, bubble bath, shampoo you name it. You only need 2 drops of it so I am sure it is going to last much longer than the regular stuff. Lavender I choose for my children to calm and soothe them before bedtime.

For my husband and myself I purchased the peppermint scent - this one because of it peppermint scent you can even use it as toothpaste. We will use this as a face wash too. I chose the peppermint as a fresh lively scent that will get us up and awake it the morning.

I know that I am going to enjoy these soaps. Oh and did I mention that it is Fair Trade too.

Mother's going GREEN Day 34 - Miscellaneously Green

Was it ever hot today. 32 Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit)!!! But it was a day of many small successes.

No energy wasted on indoor cooling systems: I have never been a fan of air conditioning. Not even in my car (it has always felt very artificial) In my car I prefer to have all the windows down and just let the breeze blow though. The same was true today. My husband wanted to plug in the electric fans to cool our house and I said no lets just open the back and front doors of the decks and let the very slight breeze blow through. It did the trick and kept the house cool.

Reused Water: Because it was so hot, and even though we are trying to live a greener life, I did want my children to enjoy splashing about in the cool water of a 'wadding pool'. We filled the pool a little with water - enough for them to cool down in and have some fun. What we did do with the water once we were done was water all of our garden plants (which we would have done anyway since it was such a hot day). This way the children could amuse themselves for a while as they filled their buckets (and thier watering cans) with water and watered our garden. Picture shows our daughter watering the small tree we planted on earth day.

Reduced waste and recycled: I am not one to feed our pets 'human' food. Although I have heard that it is better for them than 'pet' food. No additives. So today I made the decision that our dog could now eat the left over 'human' food that our kids do not eat. In doing so we throw away less of the food waste and our dog can eat a little treat too. Because I did not have an extra dog bowl for this delicious snack - I thought - mmmmm what can I use..... my green friends at Our Green Year spoke about recycling yoghurt containers, so I went off to our recycling bucket and dug one out. Cut it a little shallower (since we are buying the larger containers and not the individual containers - so we can reduce packaging) and presto I had a little dog bowl.

Organic Food: Food has never tasted better and tonight we enjoyed a 100% organic meal. Chicken with carrots and tomatoes with organic dressing. Even organic ketchup for the kids. Hats off to my husband who is getting into the 'organic food' thing.

No Plastic Bags: Further kudos to him as he also purchased another canvas bag when grocery shopping today after he realized that he would not have enough and to avoid the plastic ones. I believe my earlier post about his plastic pitfalls has put a little fear in him.

So all in all a great "going green" day in this household. Living green is becoming a habit, almost second nature. Which make this mom really happy.

Mother's going GREEN Day 33 - Cloth Napkins

I picked up a package from the Post Office today. Yippee, my cloth napkins had arrived and just in time too.

Having small children can be messy at meal times and we have always given them a 'paper' napkin to wipe their hands and their face. My husband as you may recall does all of our grocery shopping and likes to buy in bulk so we had a ton of paper napkins - we just this morning used the last one, so my package arriving today was great timing. No more paper napkins, that get used once and then tossed out. We are now going with cloth.

I bought my napkins off E-Bay - vintage was the description which means 'used' - So we are not only going to save throwing away the paper but we are also reusing. Ones mans junk is anothers treasure. I purchased 45 napkins for approximately $1.00 each. Enough napkins to last us through several meal periods without having to wash them. It would be a shame to waste additional energy to ensure we had clean napkins - sort of counter environmentally productive.

I think now I am going to invest in some 'napkin rings' just to add some flare to our meals. Having the cloth napkins too reminds me of meals with my grandparents who always used cloth napkins. A mix of differnent patterned cloth napkins - just like mine.

Mother's going GREEN Day 32 - Childrens Eco-Craft

Finally the sun came out in our part of the world....Yippee!! We crafted something simple outside in order to enjoy the sun.

Pet Rocks (a classic)

You will need:

• Nice smooth rock
• Paint
• Google Eyes (if you have any – not required)

Instructions:

• Paint rock in pet of choice (we did a Lady Bug – but you could do a bee or a regular bug whatever your creative heart desires).
• Stick on Google eyes
• We placed our 'Lady Bug' in our garden for a little bit of colour.

Mother's going GREEN Day 31 - Computers and Such

I have been having some computer problems for the last several weeks. Finally, today a technician was out to have a look at the problems..... After a few hours we got it fixed but he did mention to me that it was probably time I got a new computer. "What a new one, this is only 5 years old" was my response. "Yes, but a computers life is only about 5 years" he said.

That got me thinking - if everyone has a computer which pretty much everyone does have that's an awful lot of computers being replaced every 5 years give or take a few years, and an awful amount of computers being made each year. I made a decision to hang onto this computer for much longer. Okay so it gives me problems, sometimes it can be slow, but it does the job I need it to do. When the time comes I will get rid of it the environmentally friendly way. My friends at Our Green Year speak to this (http://ourgreenyear.blogspot.com/search?q=e-waste). However, I also found a website that suggests much of the E-Waste is then just simply sent off to China, Nigeria, India and Pakistan (usually illegally) where it remains in toxic piles waiting to be recycled, poisoning the residents. http://www.greenlivingonline.com/HomeGarden/stop-e-waste-by-recycling/

So when it comes time to reinvest in another computer (I will try and make this one last another 5 years - by fixing it) I will ensure that the company I buy it from will also offer a good recycling program for it, when it's time comes. Here is another interesting site on all the hazardous chemicals in ones computer: http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/story.html?id=e8def77a-3a8f-420b-ad29-a9e08d03fca0.

Moral of this story: Don't throw out your computer or any electronics for that matter and be sure to recycle it ethically. With an E-Waste company that has ethical practises.

A side note on plastics: One of the comments I received recently was that their organic produce was packaged in an 'unsafe' plastic. This prompted me to check mine. What I had, all seemed to be in the 'safe' plastic. But what I did note though was my milk and juice are packaged in 'unsafe' plastic; whereas my old cleaning detergents (I had to blow of the dust and search the back of the kitchen cupboard for them) are mostly packaged in the 'safe' plastic. How ironic - I guess the cleaning companies just don't want any more poisons to leach into their already toxic product.

Mother's going GREEN Day 30 - Let's talk Trash

On Day 2 of my blog, I spoke about our families 6 bags of garbage and how I needed to get that down, especially since on a whole we produce way to much garbage.

So today, Wednesday, garbage pick up day - I am proud to say that we only had 2 bags of garbage to throw out - a big drop from the 6 bags we originally had which was the norm. My husband even said "Hey, we do not even need to put the garbage can out for pick-up." And we didn't - but I put it out anyway as I want an empty garbage can for my next challenge - which is "One Can a Month". I know our family can make this challenge, we pretty much have with our 2 bag a week - but now that I have accomplished that - I want 1 bag a week. Lets see if I can do it. Can you do it? Join the challenge and find out.

Some of you may ask how did I do it? Simple really. First off I got rid of the disposable diapers, then we have our worm compost and we feed it lots. We feed it so much we needed to get more worms to eat it all - but in the end we are going to have great fertilizer. I also took more notice of what I was throwing into the garbage, simple things like plastic candy wrappers, paper clothes labels, the plastic do-hickeys that hold the clothes labels onto the clothes, paper receipts, the plastic that the bread comes in, the plastic do-hickey thing that holds the bread closed and many more small things that can be recycled. It is by doing this that I became aware that I was throwing away stuff no matter how small could that could still be recycled and now that is what we do. We recycle a lot more.

Word of the day in case you did not notice "do-hickey" and "recycled" .

Join the challenge of one trash can a month and to get more information visit: http://www.enviromom.com/enviromom/join-enviromoms-one-can-a.html

Mother's going GREEN Day 29 - Greening the Laundry

In a previous post I spoke of the hazards and dangers of laundry detergent (see day 5 - Ignorance is Bliss).

So it has been just over three weeks of using my natural laundry detergent and it is great. My whites are white (maybe not whiter) my colours are bright enough (maybe not brighter) But they are naturally clean and 'green'.

For my tougher stains I am also not using a chlorine bleach but and oxygen bleach as with the laundry detergent it has zero chemicals and breaks down into oxygen and hydrogen when mixed with water, otherwise known as an oxygen bleach.

And for those softener sheets (which by the way are too loaded with chemicals) I read somewhere on the Internet that a ladies dog died from eating it because of the chemicals, I know our dog once chewed one up and it was sick for a week not too mention that they are not biodegradable so I have switched those too. I am now using a cloth type thing that you can reuse for 500 times (after that I will probably use it as a rag - it is the stripey thing in the picture) but at least it stays out of the landfill. Using these also allows me to feed the lint from the dryer to my worms - since it is chemical free.

The above listed items I picked up from the local grocery store in their organic 'green' section.

Using 'natural' products is not the only way you can green your laundry:

• Use high efficiency washer and dryer (uses less energy).
• Use the COLD wash and rinse cycle (uses less energy to warm the water - and your cloths get just as clean).
• Ensure you wash a full load (no point just washing half a load) In our house I have 2 piles of laundry (whites and pastels colours & black and bright colours) ensuring full loads and I have never had my whites turn pink or any other funky colour.
• Ideally you should dry your clothes outside (no energy usage except sunlight which too is an excellent natural bleach) Having grown up in South Africa this was the only way we dried our clothes. Very few people had dryers and I only saw them in Laundromats.
• I am still using a dryer though - it has been wet and miserable here. But I use the least amount of time necessary to get the clothes dry and I use the low heat setting - if by chance they come out a little damp, which they sometimes do, I just hang them and let them air dry. I am not too sure either how my husband will take it "airing our dirty laundry" in the garden so to speak - baby steps - remember he still struggles on days with the NO plastic bag idea.
• Ensure too, that your lint catcher thing is always cleaned (clean it after each load) this keeps the machine running efficiently thereby using less energy.

Mother's going GREEN Day 28 - More on Plastics

After I wrote my blog yesterday, I still felt somewhat confused about the whole plastic thing so I decided to investigate a little further.

I looked in my kitchen at all my 'plastics' and found that 99% of the time they had a little logo (as depicted on this post) or visit http://www.packaginggraphics.net/plastic-recycle-logos.htm. This logo is quite important as it tells you what kind of plastic it is or is made of. Here is a quick summary of my findings or for more detailed information please visit: http://www.lifewithoutplastic.com/factsonplastic.htm

Symbol with a #1: Polyethylene terephalate (PET or PETE) is used in soft drink, juice, water, beer, mouthwash, peanut butter, salad dressing and other similar containers. This kind of plastic leaches Antimony trioxide. The longer a liquid is left in such a container the greater the concentration of antimony released into the liquid.

Symbol with a #2: High density polyethylene (HDPE) is used in opaque milk, water, and juice containers or cereal box liners. This type of plastic seems to be safe however research is ongoing.

Symbol with a #3: Polyvinyl chloride (V or Vinyl or PVC) is used in toys, clear food and non-food packaging (e.g., cling wrap), some squeeze bottles, shampoo bottles, cooking oil, shower curtains, medical tubing, and numerous construction products (e.g., pipes, siding). PVC has been described as one of the most hazardous consumer products ever created. It has been strongly linked to asthma and allergic symptoms in children; may cause certain types of cancer.

Symbol with a #4: Low density polyethylene (LDPE) is used in grocery store, dry cleaning, bread and frozen food bags, most plastic wraps, squeezable bottles (honey, mustard). Use of this plastic also seems to be safe but research is still on-going

Symbol with a #5: Polypropylene (PP) is used in ketchup bottles, medicine and syrup bottles, straws, Rubbermaid and other opaque plastic containers, including some baby bottles. Again, this plastic seems safe, but again, research is still ongoing.

Symbol with a #6: Polystyrene (PS) is used in Styrofoam containers, egg cartons, disposable cups and bowls, take-out food containers, plastic cutlery, compact disc cases. It leaches styrene, which is an endocrine disruptor mimicking the female hormone estrogen, and thus has the potential to cause reproductive and developmental problems.

Symbol with a #7: Other This category seems to be for all the other plastics that do not fit into any of the other groups It is important to interpret this category correctly because it includes polycarbonate - a dangerous plastic - but it also includes the new, safer, biodegradable bio-based plastics made from renewable resources such as corn and potato starch, and sugar cane.

Polycarbonate (the bad one) is used in most plastic baby bottles, clear plastic “sippy” cups, some “sports” water bottles, metal food can liners, some juice and ketchup containers, compact discs, cell phones, computers. Polycarbonate leaches Bisphenol A (BPA which has been in the news of late)

There is also two other types of plastic that fall under code 7 are acrylonitrile styrene (AS) or styrene acrylonitrile (SAN), and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Both AS/SAN and ABS are higher quality plastics with increased strength, rigidity, toughness and temperature and chemical resistance. AS/SAN is used in mixing bowls, thermos casing, dishes, cutlery, coffee filters, toothbrushes, outer covers (printers, calculators, lamps), battery housing. The incorporation of butadiene during the manufacture of AS/SAN, produces ABS, which is an even tougher plastic. ABS is used in LEGO toys, pipes, golf club heads, automotive parts, protective head gear. Again these 2 kinds of plastic seem okay but are still undergoing research.

So in a nut shell: Plastics with the numbers 2, 4 & 5 seem the safest so far with some of number 7. I am personally going to stay clear of all plastics numbered 1, 3, 6 and the bad number 7's. Although I am still weary of the number 7. And personally I figure if it does not have a label on it it is just plain bad.

This has now cleared up the plastic mystery for me and hopefully for you to.

Mother's going GREEN Day 27 - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on Plastics

So we made the switch from plastic water bottles and sippy cups to the stainless steel variety. The most popular being Klean Kanteen. They are great. I did though find out too that there are safer plastics than others out there and will share some info with you:

SAFER: If it is a #2 HDPE (high density polyethylene), or a #4 LDPE (low density polyethylene), or a #5 PP (polypropylene)- safer plastic for use as food and drink containers AVOID: #6 PS (polystyrene) - can leach styrene, a brain and nervous system toxicant, associated with advesre effects on red blood cells, liver, kidneys and stomach in animal studies.

AVOID: Other plastics not found in numbers listed above which includes polycarbonate plascti made with bisphenol A (BPA). BPA can leach from polycarbonate plastic, especially when heated. It is a hormone disrupter, linked to the early onset of puberty, obesity, recurrent miscarriages, decreased sperm productions, and is associated with breast and prostate cancer.

Holy Camoly, pretty unnervinfg stuff. I for the most part am going to try and aviod plastic of pretty much all kinds, unless it is noted clearly to be the safer plastic as listed above. The Kleen Kanteen has plaxtic lids but is of the safe plastic.

I will keep you updated on my purge of plastics and what I plann to use as substitutions. For starters there will be no more milk in plastic jugs but in the cardboard cartons.

For more information visit: http://www.toxicnation.ca/

Mother's going GREEN Day 26 - The Health Food Store

I in all my naivety always thought that a 'Health Food Store' was for those who worked out for 3 hours a day 7 days a week. I thought they really existed for the health nuts out there. Today, I decided to check out our local health store and was very pleasantly surprised.

While they did have there protein shakes, loose weight powders and muscle building pills they also had a vast selection of organic stuff.

• Candies
• Vitamins
• Body wash
• Shampoo/Conditioner
• Baby stuff
• Soaps galore
• Cereals
• Snack bars
• Dried Organic Fruit

I was needless to say impressed. This mother going green life just got a little easier. Here was a place I could buy the organic stuff I needed. Not that I did not enjoy surfing the Internet to find things but it is equally as fun to go to a store and browse through the products. What made my visit to the store more pleasant is that they had a corner set aside in the store for kids. I mean a play mat with toys and a chair in case you needed to stop and relax and feed your hungry baby - which is exactly what I had to do. This particular store made it easy for me what with 3 kids and all to browse their wares and at no time did I feel rushed or pressured into buying anything. In fact I was so overwhelmed that I did not buy anything except some organic candy for my kids. I need time to process all they have to offer and I will be back.

Now for the novices out there - this is pretty standard stuff - but I am sure too that there are folks out there that have some misconceptions about the 'health food store' but I say dismiss them and check it out. Hopefully like me you will be pleasantly surprised by their organic selection of goods.

Mother's going GREEN Day 25 - Children's Eco-Craft

Today we had a wonderfully warm day and the birds were out singing in the trees which inspired today's craft.

Pine Cone Bird Feeders

• You will need:
  Large pine cone (open – which means it has opened up and released it seeds – see picture to right)
• Peanut Butter
• Bird Seed
• Wire or String

Instructions (with an adults help if required):

• Spread Peanut butter over the pine cone and in between the crevices
• Cover with birdseed (we just stuck the whole cone in a dish of birdseed and it sticks to the peanut butter)
• Tie the wire or string onto the base of the pine cone
• Hang is a suitable spot (we hung ours off our back deck)
• Watch as the birds visit and enjoy a tasty treat.

Mother's going GREEN Day 24 - The Green Clean

I think subconsciously I always new the cleaning products I used to clean were harmful. I always had an excuse not to clean. First off the fumes give me a headache especially when it came to cleaning the bathrooms. Small enclosed space - lots of chemical fumes - no wonder.

When I was pregnant I refused to do any cleaning - poor husband - worked so hard at work and had to clean too. And even after I was a little hesitant. What would happen if my baby cried and needed me while I was cleaning - all those fumes would not be good for them. Now I think back to when I used to clean the bath tub - I would dread bathing my children in the 'clean' bath as I was sure no matter how well I tried to rinse the cleaning agents off - there would still be some residue. Then there would be the times when my little ones would want to help clean and I would say "No, yucky dangerous don't touch". Yes we clean with yucky dangerous stuff. See all the different products I have used - picture to the right.

Turns out I was not wrong and my fears justified about the cleaning agents I used.

Ammonia - Fatal when swallowed
Ammonium Hydroxide -Corrosive, irritant
Bleach - Potentially fatal if ingested
Chlorine - Number one cause of poisonings in children
Formaldehyde -Highly toxic; known carcinogen
Hydrochloric acid -Corrosive, eye and skin irritant
Hydrochloric bleach -Eye, skin and respiratory tract irritant
Sodium hypochlorit - Potentially fatal
Sodium laurel sulfate - Carcinogen, toxin, genetic mutagen
Sodium tripolyphosphate -Irritant
Trichloroethane -Damages liver and kidneys

and the list goes on..................... If this is the dangers to us humans imagine what it is doing to the environment....

Some interesting facts:

• In the past 40 years, at least 70,000 new chemicals have been released into the environment through new consumer and industrial products and food.
  Male and female infertility are on the rise. Research is now pointing to pesticides as a viable cause.
• Women who work in the home have a 54% higher death rate than women who work out of the home. - Toronto Indoor Air Conference, 1990
• According to the U.S Poison Control Centers, "A child is accidentally poisoned every 30 seconds and more than 50% of all poisonings occur at home with children under 5 years of age."
• There has been a 25% increase in the last 25 years in cancer incidence among children under 15 years of age.
• Thirty years ago the 3 major childhood illnesses were chickenpox, measles and mumps. Now it is asthma, ADD and cancer.

For more info on the above visit http://www.healthycleaning.com/whycleanhealthy.html

Today, I decided to go "green" with my clean and now have only a few cleaning products: Vinegar, Baking Soda, Lemon Juice, Borax (for tougher cleaning) Water Newspaper and a little Rubbing Alcohol way safer now for my children to help clean and for the first time in a long time I was excited about cleaning and these non chemical alternatives really and truly work. No need to worry about the headaches, accidentally mixing chemicals or the potential dangerous residue left in the bath tub that could harm my children. Now see the "NEW" cleaning products I use pictured above. What a difference.

In my search for information on cleaning products I came upon this web page: http://lesstoxicguide.ca/index.asp?fetch=household it too list the dangers of our current cleaning products, however it goes on to suggest some alternative products as well as some recipes to make your own from the ingredients I listed above.

Here's to the "GREEN CLEAN" my challenge now is what do I do with all the dangerous cleaners, throw them out? NO; Keep them? NO my kids may get a hold of them. I am tempted to send them back to the company so they can be made aware that I am not interested in their poison anymore.

Mother's going GREEN Day 23 - Books and Litter

Well you may be asking what books and litter have in common - not much really except for today.

My son is to start kindergarten in the fall and they had sort of an open house this afternoon. The school is fairly close so we walked as when he does start school we will be walking. It is a route we seldom walk now and the sidewalk is unfortunately strewn with litter. I made a mental note to take along a bag to collect the litter in the future (my son always wants to pick it up to examine it anyway - so we might as well pick it up and get rid of it properly.)

At the school they were giving away some older library books so of course we grabbed a few. My kids love to read stories and hey why not pick up some books and reuse them. There was one book in particular that was just left behind after the other parents collected the books and I figure I would grab it since no-one else seemed to want it. It is titled "The Wartville Wizard" by Don Madden.

When we got home it was the first book that my children wanted to read, strangely enough the book is all about litter and how one man (the wizard) tries to clean it all up and eventually discovers he has magical powers over the trash and can send the trash back to the person who discarded it - it then sticks to the person. Some of the characters have shower curtains, bed linen, cigarette butts all stuck to them. The story ends when the people of the town decide not to litter anymore and throw their garbage in garbage cans where it belongs. If only 'real life' could be like that.

It does send children a message about not littering, also about one mans struggle to care for the environment and how in the end he won. I enjoyed the book and I am glad we picked it up. Great for kids and great to reinforce our family's ideal of going green.

Moral of the story: Pick up litter. It is what you can do to live greener.

Mother's going GREEN Day 22 - Organic Food

Cooking for the most part just overwhelms me - the thought of it gets me flustered. I guess some people have a fear of public speaking but for me it is cooking - the food thing in general. Hence I married a chef. Throw in the organic food situation and my mind really goes for a loop.

Because I am a mother and my husband works long hours, I needed to learn how to cook and when I thought I finally could cook and prepare meals - they just were not good enough. Now they need to be 'organic' not packaged but fresh and preferably made from scratch. So instead of the frozen pancakes you put in the toaster - I now need to make them and with organic ingredients at that. No more meatballs and shells with tomato sauce quick from a can - they too need to be fresh - made from scratch again with organic ingredients. Very intimidating for me.

However, I can do it. My husband does all of our grocery shopping - so this last week I sent him off saying everything as much as possible needs to be organic - and lo and behold that is what I got for the most part. And now with everything I need it does not seem so daunting. I mean I can make meatballs from organic hamburger, add some organic tomato sauce; boil up some organic shell pasta and hey I have my kids favourite meal - it is fresh, organic and made from scratch.

When going shopping make sure your products are marked certified organic - usually there is a funky little label stating that. Just the words organic on the box or packaging is not good enough. When buying produce look for a number 9 at the beginning of the numbers on the little sticker that is stuck to the fruit and vegetables. This little number 9 means that it is organic.

The idea is to look for local organic first, then local non-organic, thirdly imported organic and as a last resort imported non-organic.

Soon our family will sign up for an organic produce delivery service. They will for a fee provide us with in-season fresh produce. Organic delivery companies usually are able to charge you a little less than the larger grocery stores can.

Here's to healthy organic eating.

Mother's going GREEN Day 21 - Shopping the eco-friendly way

Yes, there can be an environmentally way to shop.

• Shop less (do we really need everything that we buy - lets think how quick the excitement of the product you buy will wear off - especially when it comes to children's toys)
• Shop locally - support your local businesses in your community, often the business in our community in turn support the community we live in. Also, it will help foster relationships which is also a good thing.
• Locally made - Shop for locally made products. Support your country's economy.
• Shop online (my personal favourite) - when you shop on eBay or Craig's list you can choose to buy second hand items (recycling) "one mans junk is another's treasure" and many of the warehouses use much less energy than your conventional store.
• Packaging - try to purchase items with minimal packaging. Today, I was so excited to buy my infant a baby rattle (made no less with the environment in mind) it is made with wood and natural fibres packaged with recycled paper and none of those plastic ties which you land up having to pry from the toys with some sort of sharp object. This toy had natural string holding it on the board - a simple knot to untie and toy was ready for enjoyment. (pictured on right)
• Bring your own bag - always bring your own bag or try to anyway.

References for this post was from a book I have on hand "Green for Life (200 simple Eco-Ideas for Every day)" by Gillian Deacon

Mother's going GREEN Day 20 - Those darn plastic bags

Even though we long ago said "NO PLASTIC BAGS" one or two always make their way back into our home via my husband. As soon as he walks in the door he apologises - but he did not have any fabric bags with him and they just gave him a bag anyway is his excuse. It is a challenge to teach an old dog new tricks. First off I have suggested to him to just say no - no to plastic bags the cashier does not take any offense to it; and also at all times to have a bag ready. But I guess for some men remembering to take a bag with them everywhere they go can be quite a feat.

These plastic bags are like cockroaches - always around and no matter what lengths you take to get rid of them they always seem to be there and like cockroaches they will probably be around long after too - give or take a few hundred years.

Today, I told my husband that I am not getting rid of anymore plastic bags he accidentally brings home. I will be reusing them in several ways. I have found a website that gives you detailed instructions on how to make "fabric" out of them (he might be wearing a rain jacket soon from the bags he brings home). There is also many websites that offer crochet patterns for plastic bags. I love to crochet so I might be doing a bit of that with the bags. I already have 2 crafts that I will be utilizing the plastic bags in my children's Eco-craft Friday's. So my dear hubby better watch out - he might soon find himself among a ton of creative re-incarnations of the "plastic bag".

Some serious facts about the plastic bag:

• Well over a billion single-use plastic bags are given out for free each day.
• Each year billions of bags end up as ugly litter.
• Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.
• Production requires vast amounts of oil.
• Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.
• Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.

The above facts and more plus possible solutions can be found on the following website: http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php

Treehugger provides some pictures of 'plastic' fabric clothing and some links to places on how you too can make your own fabric or perhaps your next crochet project - just visit the following link: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/diy_plastic_bag.php

Mother's going GREEN Day 19 - Garden Pests: in particular a Squirrel

We have our rooftop garden underway - but the last few mornings we have woken up to see that some little animal has dug up our seeds - we suspect a squirrel. Now we are trying to grow our own vegetables in order to be sustainable - but we did not figure we would have to sustain a squirrel as well.

When I 'googled' garden pest deterrents I came up with some scary facts in regards to pesticides:

• Pesticides not only kill the pests but all of the good bugs too like Lady Bugs, Honey Bees and Wasps.


• Collect in the tissues of animals and humans, causing disease and possible death.


• Each year 43 000 children under the age of 6 are exposed to pesticide in concentrations high enough to cause damage to their developing bodies.


• Many of the common pesticides have been linked to an increased occurrence of allergies, asthma and cancer.

Since we are growing an Organic Garden using pesticides was never an option but the information on them very informative.... But I still had a squirrel to deal with.

One website suggested that we feed the squirrel - squirrel food. Set up it's own little eating area away from our garden and then he would not bother our seeds. While this would be ideal, quite honestly I do not want the squirrel to become reliant on me for providing its food.

Finally, I found a website that suggested hot pepper flakes. Currently, we have none on hand but I thought regular coarsely milled peppercorns might do the trick too.

My search on pest deterrents also lead me to a website where you can make your own Pest Control Spray right in your kitchen. Should we ever get those unwanted bugs we will be sure to try the recipes. Most of them involve a combination of Water, Oil, Biodegradable Dishwashing Soap, Garlic Powder, Chili Powder - all non toxic and chemical free.

For some information on the dangers of pesticides visit: http://www.noahsnotes.com/naturalpest.html

And for the recipes for the "Pest Control Spays - you can make in your kitchen!" visit:http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/programs/health-environment/pesticides/non-commercial-pest-spray.pdf

Mother's going GREEN Day 18 - Childrens Eco-Craft

Today (Friday) is Mother's going Green craft day and today's official craft is "Watering Cans" but as it turns out there was a surprise second craft "One-of-a-Kind Gift Wrap" - I was in need of some wrapping paper for our Fathers Day gifts.

Watering Cans

You will need:

- Empty Milk Jug (saved from the recycling bin)

- Sharp instrument to make holes (I used one of the handy dandy tools on my Swiss Army Knife)

- Paint

- Paint Brushes

- Sheet of paper or Newspaper

Instructions (with adult help if required – you probably will need it for using the sharp instrument):

- Lay down the newspaper or craft paper on your work area.

- Set the empty clean milk jug down and make some holes on the top side of the milk jug opposite the handle (see picture).

- Make anther hole on top of the handle which will allow for air to go into the bottle as water comes out.

- Paint the jug (be as creative as you can be – anything goes) – allow the jug to dry.

Once dried fill with water screw the lid back on and you have a one of a kind watering can. (I found having the lid on was great for my younger kids as with a normal watering can they tend to pour all the water out from the top – with the lid this stops all of that and the water comes out in a nice ‘sprinkle’

Enjoy watering your flowers and plants.

One-of-a-Kind Gift Wrap

Take the paper that you painted your jug on and use it to clean your brushes by brushing off the excess paint – allow to dry – you have instant gift wrap.

In fact you can use this idea with any painting craft you do. Instead of throwing away or recycling your “drop” paper just turn it into gift wrap. The excess paint will add some colour to newspaper and a truly unique piece of gift wrap.

A little 'reusing' history on our "drop paper":

We received it in a package, the items were protectively wrapped in it. Then it became our 'drop paper' for our craft project, acted as our 'paint brush cleaner' and finally our gift wrap. Talk about reusing!!!

Mother's Going GREEN - Day 17 - Involving the Children

Going green for our family was partly inspired by my children. What kind of world are we going to leave them? Whatever world it is I want my children to look back and know that I tried to do something for the world and for them. I also want to teach them the value of the earth and how important it is to our lively hood.

Our family's journey of going green most certainly involves them. The small ways that they help out is:

• cutting newspaper for the worms (our worm compost) each time we feed them we give them a little fresh newspaper.
  
• feeding the worms.


• taking care of the vegetable garden.


• ensuring lights are turned off in the rooms and are not turned on during the day. (my son noticed one deary grey evening, that I turned on the light for dinner and he questioned it as it was not quite dark enough for lights. Way to go son!)


• helping out with the recycling (sorting out the glass from the plastic and the corrugated cardboard from the paper)

I am seeing after only 17 days that my behaviour toward reducing, reusing and recycling is rubbing off on them. "Monkey see, monkey do."

Thank goodness for little children, thank goodness we have the opportunity to do right for the world for them.

Mother's going GREEN Day 16 - The 3 Minute Shower

Yes, it is possible. A 3 minute shower. After all I have read on water consumption I figured I could aim for a 3 minute shower. Now you may ask how is this possible? Well, I enjoy the warm water for a minute and a half, I also wash my face during this time. I then turn the shower off and soap up and wash my hair, then I turn the shower back on and rinse off for another minute and a half. Technically a little longer than 3 minutes but I only use 3 minutes worth of water.

Since I had children I have never had the luxury of anything more than 5 minutes in the shower always a baby crying or a child interrupting so a 5 minute shower for me has always been sort of the norm. That is why I challenged myself to use even less water by turning off the water while I washed. It seems to work great and now I am in the habit of doing it everyday. Not sure how I will feel about the cutback in the winter when you will get a little chilly - but perhaps I will appreciate the water even more when I get to turn it back on. In case you are wondering we have a clock in the shower which I use to time my showers.

When it comes to bathing the children, I bath the infant first in her little bathtub. I then dump her water into the big bath tub where I bath my other 2 children together. I fill there tub up with 3 inches of water. I measure this by putting my hand in the tub and when the water reaches my palm it is 3 inches deep (the length of my fingers). When I first did this my son exclaimed: "Mom, how are we supposed to bath in such a little bit of water?" It has since become the norm.

Based on some figures from my green friends at "Our Green Year" http://ourgreenyear.blogspot.com/2008/05/day-26-of-our-green-year-limiting-our.html ,

I am only using 45 liters of water per day on my shower, 315 liters per week or 16380 litres per year rather than the average North American who showers for 15 minutes using 81900 litres per year.

An interesting sites to visit regarding Canadian water consumption: http://www.environmentalindicators.com/htdocs/indicators/6wate.htm

The average water consumed in a household in Canada is 125 000 litres per person per day to see how your household compares to this average visit: http://goblue.zerofootprint.net/

Mother's going GREEN Day 15 - Picnics the Green Way

Summer is almost upon us in our neck of the woods, although you wouldn't believe it with our cool temperatures.

But with summer here many people will head outdoors for picnicking and there is an eco-friendly approach to these wonderful outdoor meal occasions.

• Make your food fresh and organic and local if possible.


• Use minimal packaging to transport your food. Perhaps glass containers for homemade salads, fresh veggies and dip, a nice sandwich and some yummy homemade cookies for dessert.


• Ditch the paper plates, plastic cups, cutlery and paper napkins and dine outdoors in style with stainless steel cutlery, glass glasses, cloth napkins and china plates (the plates you use on a regular basis). This way you will not creating additional waste which eventually lands up in the landfill.

Our family has a "picnic basket" - a gift I received from my husband for my very first mother's day and in it we keep all of our utensils, china plates and glassware along with our traditional red gingham cloth tablecloth and matching cloth napkins. It is perfect.

Going picnicking as a group or joining a group on a picnic can also be environmentally friendly if everyone just brings there own plate, cutlery, glassware and cloth napkin.

Going on a picnic is all about enjoying the outdoors, experiencing mother nature so in turn it would be nice if we left none of ourselves behind. Happy summer and happy picnicking.

Mother's going GREEN Day 14 - Our Rooftop Organic Vegetable Garden

After a lot of work, building boxes, hauling them and the soil onto the roof we finally have our Organic Vegetable Garden set up and ready. We are lucky enough to have a 'flat' garage roof with fairly easy access onto it and being dead space we figured we would put it to good use and plant our vegetable garden. Because of where we live we need to be mindful of the bears and we figure they will not be able to access our rooftop. We opted to make some boxes for our plants although you can pretty much use anything for container growing. Also, you can pretty much grow whatever you want in containers. We chose to use Canadian potting soil, it had to be chemical free and organic. We planted many of our plants from seeds but chose a few that have started growing so we can enjoy their rewards sooner.

We have planted: tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, butternut squash, peas, winter squash, cantaloupe, water melon, rosemary, cabbage, cauliflower, pumpkin (hopefully for our jack-o-lantern come Halloween), sunflowers, parsley and celery. I can hardly wait until we can harvest our vegetables and we hope that it can sustain us for a little bit - talk about organic vegetables and zero traceability and of course very local.

In our 'regular' garden mixed among our plants we have grapes, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries - the strawberries already have berries so can not wait until they are ready to eat. We live close to a wooded area where there are many blackberry bushes and they have fruit on them too.

We hope to have a summer filled with fresh organic homegrown berries. It feels great - this possibility that we will be able to sustain ourselves for a short while and eat the best and freshest vegetables ever.

Mother's going GREEN Day 13 - Lawn Care the Organic Way

Lawn care, while it is better for the environment to have little or no lawn (should be plants and trees instead) there is very little chance in the near future of my husband giving up our lawn. It is also nice for the kids to play on. Since we do have lawn, not much of it, but lawn anyway we have decided to take care of it the environmentally friendly way.

• Using a push mower for starters, no carbon emissions, no use of a natural resource - gas. Just plain old man power.


• The grass clippings are then just left on the lawn, acting a a natural mulch - no need to rake them up and throw them away, besides your manpower is all spent mowing the lawn.


• The mulch will also help retain water which your grass needs, but not too much. It only requires 1 inch of water a week that includes rainwater.


• Don't cut your grass too short, this causes it too look yellow and will also dry out quicker requiring more water.


• If you need to water your grass it is best to water it in the early morning or early evening, that way it will not evaporate too quickly.


• It is best not to use a sprinkler to water your grass but to stand there and water it with the hose and a nozzle. Remember it does not need a lot of water.


• If a fertilizer is required it is best to use an organic one or better yet the compost fertilizer that your worms are busy creating or the fertilizer from a traditional compost.

Mother's going GREEN Day 12 - Not so sweet facts on Chocolate

Chocolate - oh how I love chocolate. Ever since I can remember I have always had a chocolate bar or two a day but since discovering some not so sweet facts I can no longer just stop by the corner store a pick up a chocolate bar or two.

Not so sweet facts:

- Is farmed in unsafe conditions were large amounts of pesticides are used in order to yield a greater crop. These pesticides cause great environment damage seeping into local ground water, soil erosion and not to mentioned being in hailed by the farmers.

- Farmers are often children under 14, approximately 284 000 children are working on cocoa farms. These children are often beaten with whips and switches.

- Farmers are living in total poverty earning between $30.00 and $100.00 US dollars a year. That's way less than I spend in chocolate in a year.

For more information on the above see the following websites: http://www.sustainabletimes.ca/articles/chocolate.htm; http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2003/02/14/chocolate/; http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/02/the_bitter_trut.php.

Our family picked up a bar of Fair Trade chocolate the other day and after explaining to my children why this bar of chocolate was so much different to all others we sat and savoured its goodness and yes it did taste good we devoured the whole bar, even my son who is not that crazy about chocolate had his fair share of the bar. At over $4.00 for the bar, I think it may need to become a weekly treat, rather than a daily treat. We found a store selling our delicious chocolate through http://www.cocoacamino.com/

Picture on this blog is from http://www.sustainabletimes.ca/

Mother's going GREEN Day 11 - Children's Eco Craft

Friday’s Craft Corner: Individually Wrapped Chocolate Drops (especially for dad in preparation for Fathers Day)

You will need:

A jar (recycled – an old jam jar works well)
Foil wrap (preferably recycled – perhaps from chocolate or candy bars – I collected ours from chocolate bars – that is before we stopped eating them – but more on that in tomorrows blog)
Chocolate (preferably fair trade chocolate we used Coco Camino http://www.cocoacamino.com/)
Piece of old material
Wax paper

Instructions: (with an adults help if required)

Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave (microwaves take up less power than the stove)

On the wax paper and with a spoon drop the melted chocolate – see picture (it is a good idea to out the wax paper on a cookie sheet if you intend to put it in the fridge to set)

Allow the chocolate to set ( you can put it in the fridge to speed up the process)

Once the chocolate has set you can individually wrap them (see picture) and then place them in the jam jar

Cut a circle in the fabric large enough to cover and overlap the jar lid and tie it on the lid with a piece of ribbon or string.

Voila, you have Individually wrapped chocolate drops you’re your favourite dad for Fathers day and remember to reuse or recycle the wax paper.

I hope your dad enjoys these tasty treats. For added individuality you can place a nut on each drop of chocolate before it sets.

Enjoy.

See the chocolate all over the t-shirt; you can eat the left over chocolate in the bowl.

Next weeks craft will be a 'watering can' for your garden.

Mother's going GREEN Day 10 - Spreading the "Eco" Word

Today in South West British Columbia it is a cold and miserable "winter" day. 12 degrees Celsius (53.6 degrees Fahrenheit). I thought it was supposed to be summer. I almost wanted to turn on the heat - but grabbed some extra sweaters instead. This is what climate change is all about!!

Gandhi once said: "Be the change you want to see in the world." hence my decision for my family to start living a greener life. I urge you to spread the green word, if my blog does not appeal to you there are others that also offer great green tips in a different format - one of my favourites is http://www.ourgreenyear.blogspot.com or visit http://www.bestgreenblogs.com to view a green blogs worldwide.

The point is: Share this blog with your family, friends, neighbours, strangers or just about anybody perhaps it will inspire them, if not you to be more environmentally proactive.

When I first announced to my family that we were "going green", my husband was a little reluctant - but he recently suggested that to his work place that they should encourage a group order on an organic food delivery thus cutting back on the amount of delivery stops the organic company would need to make, reducing carbon emissions and promoting organic eating among the staff members. My 5 year old son also today made an announcement to his preschool class that his family was going green and trying not to make so much garbage and save the earth. Baby steps, but steps in the right direction.

Please feel free at anytime to post your comments and your green ideas.

Thank you.

Mother's going GREEN Day 9 - Green Birthday Gifts

Yesterday my 5 year old son received and invitation to a birthday party for tomorrow (not allowing me much time to shop). Trying to think of a 'green' gift in our small town provided to be a challenge. It certainly did get my creative juices going though. The first idea that came to mind was a seedling that could be planted by the recipient. However I am not sure how that would go over at a 5 year old birthday party and yes, I did want my son to get invited to other parties, says a lot for what the world is coming to... Lets face it kids birthdays are all about the toys.

I took this opportunity to start to talk to my children that, toys are not what makes a birthday, it is a celebration of life, a milestone, another year gone by. So with this in mind we headed to the store to try and find a 'green' gift. My son headed straight for the action heroes and said we had to get one of these for his friend. I, on the other hand opted instead for a bug container with magnifying glass and a book titled "Monster Bugs". If I could not get a totally green gift it had to be at least educational and allow for some outdoor fun and getting closer to nature. Books have no packaging and the bug container had very little so on that part it was environmentally good.

Purchasing children's gift can be a challenge when you want to keep the environment in mind. Had, I had some more time I would have explored my options on the Internet there are some great sites that offer 'green' toys. I still do like my tree sapling idea - but I think I need to work on the "packaging" so to speak, so that it would appeal to a 5 year old. (I will keep you posted on how that progresses.)

Things to consider when purchasing a 'green' gift:

• Organic (such as cotton or hemp)


• Fair Trade


• Local


• Educational


• Minimal packaging, preferably none.


• Perhaps even a donation to the persons favorite charity (for children this could be receiving an adoption kit for endangered species through the World Wildlife Fund.)

Some sites to look at for further green gift ideas:

• http://www.planetfriendly.net/gifts.html


• http://www.tenthousandvillages.org/


• http://www.greenfeet.com/

Be sure wrap your gifts in either recycled paper ( perhaps a gift bag you have received can be re-given). Someone once mentioned the Sunday Comics ( if you receive a paper) now wouldn't that be fun.

Mother's going GREEN Day 8 - Home Eco - Checklist

Today me and the children did what we are calling a "Home Eco Checklist". Basically we went through the house and looked at areas where we could improve our energy and waste consumption.

• Appliances not used on a regular basis need to be unplugged. We found several - Cell Phone Charger; Night Lights - although these are handy are they really worth the extra energy - we decided no - so unplugged them; Coffee Maker & Toaster. We found a couple more but we need to think of how to make the plugs more accessible in order to plug and unplug them with relative ease (that is without having to move furniture). We have placed these on our "To Do" list.


• Energy efficient light bulbs. We checked all of our light bulbs to ensure that they are the florescent energy safe ones. We noticed that there are some lights with still the older light bulbs - so they have to be changed.


• Fish Tank. We decided that rather leaving the fish tank light on all day that we would only put it on for a few hours in the evening. We also unplugged the "bubbles" as we found the filter provides enough oxygen into the water. We also decided the next time we clean the fish tank rather than through out the water we would use it to water some of our garden plants. Getting double the use out of the water.


• Doors and Windows. We ensured that all our doors and windows close properly and that there is no gaps allowing either cool or warm air to escape (pending the season). We found one that could use a little fixing.


• Appliances. We checked to see if our fridge and stove doors where correctly sealed when closed - since they are new we had no problems here. We do not want to be wasting energy when we use the oven having the hot air escape and same with the fridge - we do not want it to work harder to stay cool when warm air is getting in.


• Finally we checked the "Junk Closet". Things that we throw in there probably because they are broken and we haven't gotten around to getting rid of them or we no longer have a need for them. We found an extension cord that the dog had chewed and I decided that with some electrical tape it would be as good as new. Some items we set aside to donate to charity and some will go to a consignment store - nothing will go into landfill - at least from our home. It is important to fix or donate items rather than just throw them away.

I think the small actions of today could save some energy and every little bit helps. We have decided that every 6 months we will do our "Home Eco Checklist" to ensure everything is as it should be.

It would be great if everyone took a little time and walked through their home and just did some little checks to ensure their energy efficiency.

Mother's going GREEN Day 7 - My take on Cloth Diapers

On Sunday (yesterday) was our first official day of cloth diapers. I thought I would leave my comments on them for today as now I can comment based on experience.

I LOVE THEM !!!! Truly and honestly they are great. I have had two kids in disposables for a 21/2 years each and would have never ever thought of making the switch to cloth. They are easy and slim fitting (and really now that is all I can say about them). I want to say they are disposable, but when you think of how long it takes for a single diaper to compose (they say up to 500 years), is it really disposable.

Cloth diapers are great - no more complicated than a disposable to put on to a baby. There are no pins like in the days way back when. If you plan to wash your diapers every second day then you do not need to put them in a pail to soak and deal with that yucky mess. What about the poop you say - well with disposables and especially in young breastfed babies as my youngest is. Their bowel movement are so runny that I was always having to rinse my child's clothes as the disposables always leaked no matter what. My baby has had 4 bowel movements and not once did the cloth leak onto her clothes. Okay so now I am dealing with a poopy diaper instead of poopy clothes.

I have only one con for the cloth diapers - well it makes my baby's bum look so much bigger - yes they are quite bulky compared to disposables.

I realize that there is still some debate out there as to weather cloth is more environmentally friendly compared to disposables.... This is how I see it:

• Cloth have no dangerous chemicals in them (both good for my baby and the environment). Disposables have bleaching agents, and chemicals that are linked to toxic shock syndrome. Those chemicals are not good for the environment or my baby. It also these chemicals that lead to diaper rash (skin irritation) Cloth diapers are less likely to cause a rash.


• Cloth diapers will last as long as your baby is in diapers and for future babies you may have, saving the environment and your bank account. Disposables well they are expensive and take forever to decompose. Since I plan not to have any more children, I am already thinking that these cloth diapers will make the best cleaning rags ever.


• Washing cloth diapers is said to use up as much energy as flushing the toilet 5 times in a day. If this little baby was going to the toilet then we would be flushing it 5 times a day.


• Furthermore Treehuggers.com They say that cloth diapers has a 53% ecological footprint of that of disposables. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/how-to-green-your-baby.php and since my goal is to reduce our family's footprint I am sticking with cloth.

For more websites debating cloth or disposable (although it seems cloth wins) visit:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2004/12/ecotip_nappies.php

http://www.ec.gc.ca/envirozine/english/issues/45/any_questions_e.cfm

AS FOR ME I GIVE CLOTH DIAPERS THE FULL GO AHEAD AND GLAD I MADE THE SWITCH FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND MY BABY !!!!!

Mother's going GREEN Day 6 - Simple things CAN make a difference

I was reminded today that simple things can make a difference....

In my on-going journey to reduce our family's ecological footprint, I am looking at the what I am throwing out without much thought. One of the items is receipts. Paper receipts from stores. While it may not be a big thing it all adds up. A statistic I posted earlier says that 1/3 of garbage is paper products. These can be reused and recycled and not tossed out.

Recently I had to run to a store to purchase on item and left with a receipt of 11inches long (photo to the right) for one item. I have never been one to keep receipts, If I buy it I usually want it and don't plan on returning it, but I also usually just throw them out.

Today, I have decided to keep them and reuse them. Our family keeps a pad of paper stuck on the fridge where we write our grocery list. It is a running list as when something runs out we just note it on the list. From today on I will be using the back of my foot long receipts. I have a nice magnetic fridge clip that will keep them together nicely and who knows now if I ever do need to return something I will have the receipt.

This way I will reuse the paper and then be sure to recycle it.