Green Living: Make Your Own {Green} Dishwasher Powder

I'm usually skeptical of "green" dishwashing powders or tablets sold in the supermarket, as they seem very expensive, less effective and only marginally better than their commercial counterparts when it comes to their ingredients list. And my only other foray into making dishwashing liquid was very, very stinky. And messy.

Recently I came across a recipe on Re-Nest (and cannot for the life of me find it, but I will!) that called for just two (and an optional third and/or fourth) ingredients. Brilliant!

You need: 

1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda (or bicarb soda, but I used washing soda)
a few drops of essential oil* (teatree oil is perfect as it's naturally antibacterial)
white vinegar*


(*optional)

Just mix the borax and washing soda together in a jar or container. Take 1-2 tablespoons and put in your detergent dispenser in the dishwasher.

Put some vinegar in the rinse dispenser, as well as a couple of drops of your essential oil.

I've tried this a couple of times and have been generally really pleased with the results. It costs next to nothing to make, leaves the dishes nice and clean, plus it smells so so so much better than those faux citrusy dishwasher tablets.

Confession: I didn't have any vinegar so I haven't tried the rinse thing yet. So I just put a couple of drops of oil in with the dry ingredients. It all seemed to work fine, but the oil did cause some of the powder to set hard like concrete and I had to dig it out with a fork (!!)

Green Living: How to Clean Your Shower without Chemicals

Week in, week out, this annoying, thankless task needs to be done. When I was pregnant with Isla I became super-sensitive to commercial bathroom cleaners and their horrible, toxic smell so I had to find a natural alternative. It's taken me a couple of years to perfect it, but I wouldn't consider any other option these days.

You'll need:


borax
white vinegar in a spray bottle
damp cloth
microfibre cloth or old, soft rag

1. Spray your shower walls and floor (or all tiled surfaces) with undiluted white vinegar.

2. Sprinkle a couple of spoonfuls of borax over your damp cloth and use this to scrub your tiles and grout, concentrating on any dirty/soap-scummy/mildewy spots. Leave the vinegar and borax while you clean the rest of the shower.

3. Give the shower a quick spray to rinse off the vinegar and borax, being sure to concentrate on the floor to rinse out any excess. Also give the glass surfaces a quick spray with water.

4. Spray the glass surfaces with your undiluted vinegar and wipe over with a clean damp cloth, concentrating on any shampoo or soap scum around the bottom.

5. Wipe over the whole shower with your microfibre cloth to dry and remove drips and streaks.

Fun? No. Green? Most def.

Green Living: A Guide to Shopping Vintage and Second-Hand

The last few weeks has seen about 15 parcels arrive on my doorstep as I started buying second-hand and vintage pieces for Spring and Summer. I got lucky in that everything I've bought so far has fit really well, but from now on I don't really want to leave it to luck.

I've put together a list of tips so you can get the most out of your second-hand and vintage shopping, both online and in person.

1. Have a list of what you need. Etsy and eBay have tens of thousands of items of clothing, that it really is overwhelming to just browse. You may end up with lots of great pieces, but if there are things you need (for example, I needed flat leather sandals, 3 or 4 dresses, some denim shorts and at least one maxi dress) you should keep that list next to the computer or in your purse.

2. Know your measurements! This post on FreckledNest sums up everything you need to know about taking measurements for buying vintage dresses - it's incredibly helpful and well worth a look. Keep a note with your measurements beside the computer and another one in your purse.

3. Work with what you know. If you have favourite current labels that you know fit well, then it's worth scouting for second-hand or even BNWT (Brand New With Tags) pieces on eBay. I picked up 4 Anthropologie dresses recently for between $20-$90 because I now know that their size 6US fits perfectly. Keep a note of these too and you can snap up a bargain if you see it.

4. Be patient. Set up searches for the things you're really after (I use the eBay app on my iPhone, which keeps track of new listings for things I'm looking for) and don't settle for anything you're not 100% sure of.When shopping in person, understand that it may take a few visits to your local second-hand/vintage/op-shop to strike gold. Plus chatting with the staff will help you figure out when they restock the store, when they have discount days and if there's anything exciting waiting out the back.

5. Read carefully! When shopping online, be sure to read the descriptions carefully, as well as the sales conditions, shipping estimates and other essentials. Nothing worse than just skimming the description, only to find there is a stain on the garment or a button missing.

I'm certainly no expert, but I've been amazed at how much further my dollar stretches when shopping this way, plus that buzz you get knowing you're wearing something one-of-a-kind. I do also love the environmental benefits of buying vintage and second-hand, plus it's kind of like a scavenger hunt, with really good prizes!

Green Living : 3 Tips for Reducing Food Waste

via Bob West on flickr

Ever get that guilty feeling as you toss some good-food-gone-bad into the bin? Realized as you're cleaning out the fridge that you had enough food for another meal or two, if only you'd thought to check, or been more organized?

Despite my best efforts I often have that realization and it really annoys me. So a while ago Sparky and I started planning our meals a week at a time. It's really helped cut down on waste, it makes writing a shopping list easier and doing the groceries less of a pain.

But still we get caught and I thought I could give some tips on how we can salvage some of those easily wasted foods:

You can rescue a stale loaf of bread by wrapping it in a clean, damp tea towel for fifteen minutes. Take the teatowel off and pop it into a hot oven for three minutes or so. Not quite fresh baked but better than tossing it.

If you've bought too many veges, you can save them from an untimely end in the bin or the compost heap by freezing them. (This works particularly well for onions, carrots, pumpkin, parsnip and other root veges.) Just peel, chop and place into freezer bags, and freeze until you can use them.

Similarly, if you have too many berries, place them in a single layer on a baking tray and freeze. Once frozen you can pop them in a freezer container until you need them. (The first step just stops them from sticking together).

If you have lots of odds and ends of veges rolling about in the crisper, you can always cook up these vegetable quesadillas or this hearty soup. Both are really good ways to use up what's left and eke out an extra meal from your weekly shop. 

I'm constantly on the look-out for recipes like this, so if you know of any, please point me in the right direction!

My Name is Brooke and I am on a Decluttering Bender.

Sorry for the radio silence, friends. Every spare moment lately has been spent clutter-busting our home. I'm only a fraction of the way there, but damn it feels good. I feel lighter somehow.

I've been reading lots about minimalist living and the slow home movement, and buzzwords aside I think they're both really interesting, desirable, accessible ways to live. They both apply to what this whole journey is about.

So far:

Sparky and I have cleared our wardrobes, with the hope of sharing one wardrobe and getting rid of the other, as it clutters up our bedroom far too much. This 30 minute exercise netted us 5 big garbage bags of clothes to donate and two big garbage bags of pure crap, which was recycled or tossed as a last resort.

Yesterday I cleared out both of our bedside tables (netted another huge bag of recyclables/rubbish) as well as our bathroom cabinet. Another big bag full'o'junk there.

Went through my multiple piles of costume jewellery and tossed 95% of it. It was mostly tarnished, broken, mismatched or really really ugly. I actually don't wear much jewellery, so I need very little in the way of this stuff.

I cleaned out my craft cupboard and threw away two more bags worth of random scraps that I'd been keeping for "just in case". Nope, no more.

I sorted through our cookbooks and bookshelves, put aside all those books I've borrowed over the years and never returned (sorry, Dad!) and now have a big basket that I will try to sell to the local second-hand bookshop or otherwise donate to Vinnies.

You know those magazines that you buy/subscribe to and keep for no real reason? Yeah, me too. But as of yesterday: gone. I tore out anything I really wanted to keep and the rest was recycled. (I did keep my Organic Gardeners though - I use them a lot).

This morning I'm tackling the laundry and may just be crazy enough to try and tame the beast that is our "store room". Maybe.

Green Living: Rosemary Water Hairspray

{unrelated except that our rosemary is in the background}

Here's something interesting I came across recently. You can make a hairspray alternative using rosemary and water.

I'm really keen to try this out, as even though I barely use hairspray, I am mindful of the fact that it is really toxic and could be inhaled by the kids on occasion.

I'll let you know how it goes, but this is what you need:

a handful of (dried) rosemary sprigs
a French press
boiling water

1. Put the rosemary in the French press and fill with boiling water.

2. Allow to steep and cool for a couple of hours

3. Transfer to a spritz bottle and use in place of hairspray as needed.

Green Living: Shopping Vintage and Second-Hand

Spring is (nearly) in the air and I'm feeling sartorially inspired. I'm keen to find some new-to-me spring and summer clothes, accessories and shoes that are pre-loved, vintage or second-hand.

I immediately turned to Etsy (gah!! the choice is paralysing!!) and eBay and have started to slowly buy some bits and pieces for the warmer weather.

I know that the environmental benefit of buying vintage from a seller in the States and having it shipped to Australia is debatable (no resources used to make a new item versus the resources used to have it shipped here) but the majority of what I'm buying is local, so I'm OK with the occasional international purchase.

These ones have already made the cut and are currently being shipped:

from Specialty Vintage on Etsy

While these delicious treats are in the Definitely list:

From Margaret and Olivers on Etsy

From Thriftage on Etsy

From Sally Jane Vintage on Etsy

From Sally Jane Vintage on Etsy

How about you? Do you shop vintage or second hand at all? Do you have any red-hot vintage tips for me? Any must-visit stores? Do tell!!!

Green Living : Make Your Own Baby Food

We're in the throes of introducing little Toby to all sorts of new fruits and veges at the moment (he is such a guts too - would literally eat anything and everything we offer him!) so making baby food is at the forefront of my brain these days.

Making your own baby food is really simple, and I find that if I do it all on a Sunday (my cooking/baking day) then it's hardly stressful at all. Like most things, if you do it in bulk, the benefits are outweighed by the slightest bit of extra work. Plus it's a lot cheaper than buying baby food all the time, and I know exactly what's in it. (Better still when I can get local and/or organic fruit and veges to use, but that doesn't happen all the time. Or most the time.)

Some good combos, as approved by Toby are:

- pear and apple
- pumpkin, sweet potato and corn
- carrot and corn
- pumpkin, potato, zucchini 
- (rice or pasts can be added to any of these as bub develops)

1. Peel and chop your chosen fruit/veges. The pieces should be around 2cm each.

2. Put in a saucepan with a little water - around 1-2cm.

3. Bring to boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer until the fruit or veges are tender.

4. Use a blender or a stick mixer to blend up the food for young babies, and a fork to mash it up once your little one can handle slightly chunkier food.

5. I freeze Toby's food in plastic containers and pull it out as needed. 

When you're travelling or get caught short, there's now a few good, organic baby food options at the supermarket.

Raffertys garden is a good one, but I'd go for their organic products, as last time I looked I realized there's no mention of their regular products being GMO free. So best avoided I'd say!

In The Garden: How to Prepare Soil for a New Garden Bed

A chilly Monday morning to you! The weekends go by so fast, don't they? This one was particularly quick, as I seemed to cram a lot into just the two days. Unfortunately a lot of it wasn't very productive or fun (sorting laundry, anyone?) but we managed some good times.

Sparky was laid up all weekend with a super sore back, so we juggled kids and painting on Saturday, and I tackled the soon-to-be fruit tree garden bed on Sunday.

I've never had to prepare a brand new garden bed from scratch, so I did some reading and thought I'd tell you how I went about working on the soil, getting it ready for some apple trees in a few weeks' time. (I'm clearly no expert, so feel free to take or ignore the following as you see fit!

1. I bought a few bags of composted cow manure and chook manure from the nursery, as well as a bag of mushroom compost. Cons: All bagged manure/compost sold in Australia has to be heat-treated by law, so they are lacking some of the vitality of the natural manure you can source. Pros: Easy and a much quicker turn around.

If you're looking for the best way to prepare a bed, they say to buy manure straight from the producers (ie local farms, studs, dairies etc) and compost it yourself. Problem: it takes a long time to prepare it this way (at least a month or two before you should use the manure in your garden) and can lead to lots of weeds in your bed by way of undigested seeds etc.

2.  I added one bag cow manure, half a bag chook manure and a bag of mushroom compost to the bed (I was unsure about the amount of chook manure to use, as I know it's very rich and can burn the roots of some plants, so I erred on the side of caution).

3. Dug through the bed to at least 30cm and thoroughly combined the old soil with the organic material. This took longer than I thought, but was such a good workout in the chilly winter air (it was dark by the time I finished) that I didn't mind. I made sure to remove any bits of tree roots, stones, concrete I found, as well as to break up any clumps of dirt.

4. I levelled it out, raked the surface and gave the whole area a thorough water.

Ideally I'd add a thick layer of lucerne hay, to help the soil settle and prevent too much water loss, but I need to go for a drive to a farm to get it and I may not have time.

I'll leave it as is for a couple of weeks now and then take another look before we go and buy our bare-rooted apple trees.

I hope you had beautiful (chilly) weekends too??

In The Garden: Getting My Geek On

So it's been a tumultuous kind of week or two round these parts, but hopefully things are heading back to normal-ish. I can live in hope anyway!!

Aside from drinking a tonne of coffee, any down time this week has seen me embracing my inner garden nerd. I've had my nose stuck firmly in some of my favourite organic gardening books and planning what we'll be planting in August/September, and figuring out how our crop rotation system is going to work. I've also been planning out the front garden, which we'll plant in September/October.

Toby is having his christening next weekend, so it's all hands on deck to get the place looking good before then, but once that's over I'll be garden-crazy all the way. I really want to have the beds in place and the soil worked on by the time August comes. (Or maybe the middle of August.)     

There are a gazillion different gardening resources out there, but in the effort to keep it as simple as possible I've decided to choose two or three resources and just stick to their advice, otherwise I find one book will contradict another and I just wind up confused.

So in case you're keen on starting your own vege garden, I thought I'd list the resources I'm going to stick with as I build and start the garden.

Organic Gardening magazine is great, but they have recently released their third Essential Guide, and they are all excellent. You can buy the newest one online, and the others on special order or from ABC shops:
- Getting Started (bed construction, composting, soil, growing in pots etc)
- Fruit (A-Z of fruits to grow at home)
- Veges (A-Z of veges to grow at home)

City Food Growers website is awesome. There are free and paid versions of the subscription (the paid version is so worth the $50 a year) and it will personalise the planting details based on your postcode, as well as offer a list of the best plants for your area, when to plant, what to plant with and common pests and diseases. It's incredibly helpful and I find I look at it most days when I'm trying to figure out what I'll be planting.

Gardenate app for iPhone. It has less detailed information that the City Food Growers website but it has the benefit of being portable, and it has a Garden Notes section where you list what you planted and when, and it will track the harvesting progress for you. Handy to keep track of the details that seem so simple at the time but will get pretty fuzzy pretty quickly.

So that's where we're at currently. And thank goodness for the gardening distraction, otherwise the past weeks may have seen me consume way too much wine and chocolate! Gardening as therapy = win!

Making Your Own Bread

image: baobread on Flickr

Before Toby came along, I sometimes found myself with enough time to bake a loaf of bread from scratch. It was delicious and ridiculously satisfying. But since around October last year I haven't had time to think about it.

But the reality is that buying bread from the supermarket is expensive (up to $5 for a loaf of Helga's) and even pricier for good quality, locally baked bread ($6-8 from the bakehouse) plus lots of brands have additives, preservatives and loads of sugar/salt.  So I've known that making your own would be better and cheaper and more in keeping with our new way of living but, seriously, who has the time to bake bread once every couple of days? (And if you do, then hats off, my friend!)

Anyway, I've been stalking ebay for a few things for our house recently, and thought I'd check out the breadmaker situtation. $60 later we scored ourselves a big loaf bread machine!

I used it twice yesterday, to make a fruit loaf and a soy and linseed wholegrain loaf, and can I tell you how delicious and easy it was. Just add your ingredients, press a few buttons and three-ish hours later, yummy bread. I'll freeze half of each loaf so we can use it over the weekend.

The fruit loaf I did from scratch but the soy and linseed loaf I used a Laucke breadmix. Both ways turn out at around $2 per loaf, which is tops.

I know that breadmakers fall into that 'Christmas present you you use twice and then stick in a cupboard and feel vaguely guilty about' category (hence the number of them on ebay, I'm guessing) and I also know that they use a bit of electricity and are bulky to store. BUT its a matter of weighing up the pros and cons and we figured, considering we'll use it 2-3 times a week and save at least $20 off the groceries bill every fortnight, that it was worthwhile.

I'll let you know how we go, but for now, I've got a breakfast date with some fruit loaf and a strong black coffee. The kids have both been up since 5am. Eugh.

Repurposing: Craft By Using What You've Got

Sparky and I are still very much in the furnishing and decorating phase of the renovation (not to mention the painting phase...ahem) and we're on the look out for quirky bits and pieces to adorn the walls. Proviso: we don't have a lot of cash to spend on this stuff at the moment, so we've been looking at what we already have and ways to reuse and repurpose it into wall 'art'(?).

I subscribe to frankie, and every issue they include a pretty wall poster by an emerging artist. Last issue was a world map, which I loved. I'm kind of past the whole "stick posters to the wall with Blutac" thing - it just reminds me of my high school days way too much (Jonathan Taylor Thomas, I'm talking about you in particular) but I wanted to see it on the wall somehow.

I dug around in my project box (where I keep odd photo frames, cardboard, paper and fabric offcuts etc) and found some old white frames that I've lost the glass for. Perfect! I cut the map to fit and presto! I already had another white frame decorated with felt offcuts, which coincidentally matched the map colours well, so I think I'll hang these three together somewhere.

From these...

...to these!

I did something similar with more felt offcuts a few weeks ago, and while the photo is craptacular, I'm actually really happy with the result. I showed the mirror repurpose a few weeks ago, and these pieces are just continuing the theme.

Isy helped me with the top right-hand piece, hence the reason it's much more beautiful than the others.

I really love being able to pull things together from scrap and leftovers. Sure, it's not high art. It's probably not even art at all. But I love it nonetheless.

Green Cleaning Toolkit: The Whole Shebang

I've gone through the major elements in a good green cleaning toolkit over the past few weeks:

• bicarb soda
• castile soap
• white vinegar
• borax

and figured I'd add the remainder to this post, because they're not used as often as the four major ones above.

Washing Soda

Find it in the laundry aisle at the supermarket.

Laundry: Use it in your homemade laundry detergent.
Laundry Brightener: When washing with castile soap, I add a couple of tablespoons of washing soda for all loads except darks. It helps brighten and soften the clothes and I think they smell fresher.

Salt

Regular, household salt.

Laundry: Add 1/3 cup to your dark laundry loads to preserve the black in your garments.

General Cleaning: Combined with castile soap, water or lemon juice, salt makes a really effective soft scrub for sinks, basins and benchtops that need a good, deep clean. (I generally tend to use bicarb and vinegar for this though, but it's a good alternative.)

Various Essential Oils

Make sure to purchase essential oils, rather than scented oils, as the latter can be almost as harmful to your health as the chemical cleaners you're trying to avoid. It's also worth checking that you don't have an adverse reaction to any particular oil before using it all over the house. Additionally, pregnant ladies need to be cautious around essential oils as some can stimulate labour.

Laundry: Add 10 drops to your rinse cycle for beautiful smelling clothes. Plus some oils, like tea-tree and lavender, have antibacterial qualities, making them great to wash things like fabric nappies.
General Cleaning: Add a few drops to your homemade cleaners for a nice change.
General Cleaning: Add 20 drops to a spray bottle and use as a room freshener.
Dusting: A damp microfibre cloth sprinkled with a few drops of lavender oil makes the whole room smell lovely. Lame, but true.

Equipment

Cloths

Washable Chux cloths: Generally once they're done in the kitchen, I wash them and add them to the cleaning cupboard. They're reusable and do a good job of tackling most tasks.

Microfibre Cloths: $3 for a pack of four at the Reject Shop. Get some. I use a damp cloth to do all my dusting, plus they clean glass and make rinsing and wiping out basins, vanities, baths and showers super easy. They are brilliant. Plus you just throw them in the wash and use them time and time again.

Spray Bottles

Spend a little bit extra and get the good spray bottles from Bunnings or somewhere similar. The cheapies are fine for mild cleaners, but I found that when I put vinegar in them, the spray mechanism would stop working after a week or two. I bought some Oates ones about a year ago and haven't had any issues since.

There really isn't much involved in getting your green cleaning toolkit together, and it becomes second nature really very quickly.

Let me know if you have any specific questions or things you use in your green cleaning. I'd love to get some more ideas!

Green Cleaning Toolkit: Bicarb Soda

The last of the big players in my Green-Cleaning Toolkit is bicarb soda (you can see the other Toolkit posts here.) I've already posted about some of the quirkier and non-cleaning related uses for bicarb, as well as the bicarb and lemon wedge miracle but thought I should list the many ways I use it to clean, as it is super effective.

Laundry Uses:

Softener/Deodoriser - Add a tablespoon-ish of bicarb to your wash for cleaner, fresher clothes. It also reduces the scratchiness you can sometimes get in linen.

Stain Remover - I use a commercial (natural) stain remover, but bicarb can be used as a stain remover too. Mix it with some water to form a paste and then apply to stains, leaving for at least five minutes, overnight for stubborn stains. Then wash as normal and hang to dry in the sun.

Cleaning Uses:

Heavy-Duty Scrub - Sprinkle surface with bicarb, then spray surface liberally with straight vinegar. You can leave the solution to take action for a few minutes, then, using a damp cloth scrub away. Rinse using a clean cloth and wipe over to dry. Great for stovetops and ovens.

Light Cleaner - Sprinkle some bicarb onto a damp cloth and use it to clean benchtops, tables, stovetop, chopping boards, microwave, vanity units, tiles etc.

Oven Cleaner - Make a paste with bicarb and water and apply liberally to a cool oven. Turn the oven on to warm for 30 minutes then use a damp cloth to wipe out the paste. Wipe clean. (For stubborn grease, apply the paste to a warm oven and then leave it overnight.)

Other Uses:

Carpet Deodoriser - Sprinkle onto carpet, leave for a few hours and then vacuum as usual. Great for car carpets in particular.

Spill Clean-up - For liquid spills on the carpet, sprinkle the liquid liberally with bicarb, allow to soak up the spill, then vacuum.

Car Windscreen Cleaner - Remove stubborn bug splats by sprinkling with bicarb, wiping over with a damp cloth and wiping clean with a clean, dry cloth.

It's completely non-toxic, easy to find (grab the 1kg box from the supermarket - until I find where to buy it in bulk, that's the cheapest option) and really versatile. Paired with castile soap, vinegar and borax, you can clean pretty much anything in and around the house.

Get Out(side)! Plus the Clean-Out Continues...

Ahoy! I hope you all had wonderful long weekends? A pretty wet affair here in Sydney unfortunately. We managed to get one day's worth of outside work done though, which felt so, so, very good (nothing beats gardening and outdoor work to chill my mind and work my muscles) and we now know exactly where the vege garden will be going in a month or two, as well as the fruit trees, compost bins and chook run. I'm ridiculously excited! I'll be sure to take some photos of the work as it progresses.

Aside from the garden planning, I managed to have another big clear out of our storage room, and have culled another 4 big garbage bags of clothes and toys that can go to Vinnies. I also finally organised the craft cupboard and went through all my remaining jewellery stock. I only have one crate of it left, so it's gradually going. I can't tell you how much better I feel with every cull I do. Just releasing ourselves from the excess stuff we've accumulated is seriously liberating.

I estimate that I've got about another 6 crates worth of stuff that can go, it's just a matter of sorting through it all to find what I need to keep, what I really, really want to keep (remember: love it or get rid of it) and what can go.

Adventures in Op-Shopping: A Tale of Success and Woe.

Sorry for the recipe-heavy nature of yesterday - I guess the cold weather has my brain switched to the Food setting!

Last weekend was a busy one, but while I was waiting around for a doctor's appointment on Saturday morning I snuck into our local Vinnies for a quick peek. They usually have tonnes of kooky knick-knacks that are fun to look through, but the real gem is the furniture "showroom" downstairs. It's always hit and miss, and fun to have a look around.

I scored a great raw timber A1-sized frame for the princely sum of $3, that I have plans for (showcasing some of Isy's art and craft) and I spotted a delicious chest of drawers, that was screaming for a makeover and a new home in our living room (maybe even as a TV unit?)

I sent a picture message to Sparky that said something like: "$35?" but he sensibly reminded me that we actually need a lounge first. So I had to let her go. But it hurt just a little bit, I have to say.

I'm really enjoying the process of decluttering, but I'm also surprised by how much I'm enjoying scouring second-hand furniture shops, ebay and garage sales for new furniture for our house. I know it's not everyone's cup of chai, but I love the positive environmental implications of not buying everything new as a matter of course as well as the fact that these pieces have a history to them.

Bonus: this coming weekend is a long weekend (yay!) and it's also hard rubbish night for our area (double yay!) I am going to try and convince Sparky to take a scouting drive with me, but we'll see how successful I am.

In the Garden: How to Make Leaf Mould

image via Self Sufficient UK

While today is actually the first day of winter (boo!) the majority of deciduous trees around us have still yet to lose all their leaves, which means two things: Mess and the opportunity to make leaf mould.

Sounds Gross. What is it?

It's basically the term used for rotted down autumn leaves. The gardening nerd in me knows that this stuff is beeeyootiful for your garden - it can be used as a soil conditioner (to improve the overall health of your soil) or as a gentle, rich mulch to help retain water and keep weeds at bay, and gardeners often refer to it as "precious gold". It's perfect for ferns and rainforest plants in particular, but will help enrich any soil in your garden by improving the water retention and overall health of the garden.

How do I Make it?

Super simple. Just rake up all your fallen leaves and give them a spray with the garden hose. You want them to be fairly wet, to help speed up the decomposition. Then fill some heavy-duty black plastic bin bags with your leaves, adding a handful of blood and bone every 30cm or so (this appears to be optional, but I trust the word of Gardening Australia!) Close your bags up, poke some holes in it with a garden fork and leave in a sheltered place, preferably on soil/grass, for at least a year.

So, this isn't an activity for those who are after instant gratification, but it is worthwhile. If nothing else, it gets me outside in the chilly winter air for a while, and gives me something for my garden for basically no cost.

How do I Know When it's Ready?

It will be crumbly and sweet-smelling, and resemble the look of regular compost. (Just a side note: you can't add many autumn leaves to your regular compost bin, as they don't easily break down in those conditions. Too many and it will slow your pile down.)

Sounds Good. Any Tips?

If you want the process to go a little quicker, try dumping all your leaves on the lawn and mowing over them. This will break them up, meaning they'll break down quicker. Also, there are special leaf mould compost bins available, which compress the leaves, apparently speeding the process up some more, so perhaps try keeping a weight of some sort on top of your pile. Maybe some timber or corrugated iron would do the trick.

So, if this ridiculous sinus infection goes away some time soon, this is what I plan on doing over the weekend. And, funnily enough, it makes me not dislike winter quite so much!

5 Quick Mood Boosters

Ever get the Flat Stanleys?

You know - money worries, broken oven, broken heater, head colds, tummy bugs, busy at work, too much to do at home, crummy news, bills due, groceries cost more, blah blah blah?

I can relate, believe you me. But lately, I've decided to take my feelings into my own hands and own them. Feeling shit? Accept it, get through it or change it. Take ownership of your reactions. I can't change other people and I can't (always) change circumstances, but I can change the way I choose to react to them.

Here's five green, free, or inexpensive mood boosters that can help:

1. Take ten minutes and clean out your top two kitchen drawers. 

If you're anything like me, there will be a fine layer of toast crumbs, Milo, baby cereal and something else at the bottom of your cutlery and utensils/other-unclassified-crap drawers, and giving them a quick tidy, organise and wipe out will make you feel better. You can own that one piece of organisation. Plus, achieving something, no matter how small, does help you feel better.

2. Spend 10 minutes outside doing some very simple yoga poses.

Try something like this if you're a yoga beginner. The combination of deep breaths, increased blood circulation to your noggin and simply being outdoors works wonders.

3. Try the following exercise for ten minutes in the morning.

(Or more frequently throughout the day if you can, or if you're feeling particularly anxious). It truly helps to bring your mind into full presence for the day ahead. I try most mornings to have ten minutes of just sitting with my coffee, looking out our back doors at the trees, breathing deeply and taking stock of each of my senses:
   - what can I see?
   - what can I hear? (usually Charlie and Lola if it's ten minutes I'm after)
   - what can I taste?
   - what can I touch?
   - what can I smell?
Sounds simple but it is really one of the most important parts of my day.

4. Eat a banana!

Super good for seratonin production, which = happiness hormone.

5. Scribble down two or more pages of stream-of-consciousness writing on some scrap paper, then throw it away recycle it. 

Just have a brain dump. Start with the first thing that pops into your head and do. not. stop. writing. Don't censor yourself. Just write. And if you can't think of anything, just write, "I can't think of anything," over and over until your brain throws something else out at you. And it will.

This is seriously a brilliant way to clear out the extraneous stresses and worries in your mind. And I often find it helps me to figure out what's really troubling me, and helps me do away with the things that are not important. Once they're out, they're not getting back in, and once you get rid of the piece of paper, they're gone.

6. (Because number one sounded too much like housework) Drink a cup of green tea. 

Powerful antioxidants and other large words mean that green tea is a proven mood booster.

There will be shitful things that happen and none of these measures change that, but I'm finding a combination of them throughout my days has helped my mental well-being out of sight. (Maybe more on that some other time.)

Happy days, my dears. x

Green Cleaning Toolkit: Castile Soap

This week's Green Cleaning Toolkit edition is C for Castile Soap. (You can see other Toolkit posts here.)

I have previously written about my love for castile soap, and I admit to you now that I have a fondness for the slightly confusing and over-the-top spiritual rantings on Dr Bronner's soap bottles. Aside from that though, I really do use castile soap every single day and thought I should probably revisit the ways I use it now that I'm doing the Toolkit series.

Castile soap is traditionally a pure soap made using olive oil. It is entirely vegetable based (no animal products, such as tallow) and much gentler on the skin than many modern soaps. This is mainly due to the fact that castile soap retains its natural levels of glycerin, whereas commercial soapmakers remove the glycerin in order to sell it separately.

Basically, it is super mild, very effective in cleansing and highly moisturising. It. Is. Awesome.

What Can I Use it For?

Well, according to the delightful ramblings on the label of the Dr Bronners Lavender Castile Soap that I use, it has 18 or more uses, including:

- Shampoo
- Body Soap
- Toothpaste (euch.)
- Laundry
- Floor cleaning
- General household cleaning
- Dishwashing
- Nappy wash

I can tell you that I have used it as shampoo (no good for me at all - it was Stringy Town all over), hand soap, body wash, laundry, nappy wash and general cleaning. And apart from the shampoo debacle, it's been awesome. So read on if you'd like to see how you can use it.

Laundry Uses:

Washing Detergent - I use a front-loader, and add around 1/3 cup of the soap to the detergent dispenser for all my washing. I then add a handful of bi-carb soda to the same dispenser and about the same amount of white vinegar to the rinse dispenser. Works a treat every time. Plus, our clothes smell incredible. I actively sniff my clothes. Often. In public sometimes.


Cleaning Uses:

Dishwashing Detergent - Just squirt some soap into your hot water as normal. It may not suds up as much though, but don't be tempted to use extra, as it will just make everything slippery. No good when washing priceless family heirlooms.

General Cleaning Ingredient - Add maybe a teaspoonful to your green cleaning recipes, particularly if you have a scented soap. It boosts the efficiency of your cleaning and smells d-to-the-vine.

Benchtop Cleaner (Scented) - A little (very little) squirt onto a damp cloth, combined with a sprinkle of bi-carb soda is a great benchtop cleaner.
   
Bathroom Uses: 
 
Hand Soap - Dr Bronner's Lavender Soap can't be beaten. The lavendery goodness is super relaxing before bed and a beautiful scent during the day. For hand soap I use just a normal hand soap squirty dispensery thingy and dilute the soap with water at roughly 1:1. This basically stops it from clogging up the squirty thingy.

Body Wash - I use a cute travel-sized squirt bottle (for shampoos and the like) and dilute the soap with some water at roughly one part water to two parts soap. The soap is really concentrated so this just stops me from using too much and becoming a lather monster.

Shampoo - As a shampoo, for me, Dr Bronners sucked. But I did have long, blonde highlighted hair at the time, so probably not ideal. I even tried Dr Bronners Shikakai Conditioning Rinse to help with the tangly, not-quite-clean feeling, but that was just weird. And it didn't work. And it was full of brown lumps that looked a lot like poo. So back to Burt's Bees for me.

And as for toothpaste... No.

So there you have a little rundown of why castile soap is indeed awesome, and why I rave about it. Aside from the fact that it's organic and harmless to my family and our health, it's also really quite economical as it's super concentrated and you can use it everywhere. Which I do. Except on my teeth.

Green Cleaning Toolkit: Vinegar

image by Mattia Valerio

The next installment in my Green Cleaning Toolkit is: V for vinegar. (You can see previous posts here.)

I have already posted about some of the top uses for vinegar around the house, but as it is the one ingredient I use multiple times every single day, I think it definitely requires its own Toolkit post.

I buy my white vinegar in 4L bottles from the supermarket for about $1.50. This usually lasts me between one and two weeks, so it's pretty good value. I'm on the lookout for somewhere I can buy it in bulk, to save on packaging, but so far I can only find it by the huuuge drumload.

Cleaning Uses:

General Purpose Cleaner - Dilute 1 part vinegar to 4 parts water and keep it in a spray bottle. You can use this and a damp cloth to clean just about everything. I use it to clean the bathroom vanity, the bath, the tiles (unless they need a heavy clean), the kitchen benchtops, the cupboard doors, the sink (unless it needs a scrub, then I use lemon and bi-carb).

High-Strength Cleaner - Keep straight white vinegar in another spray bottle and use it as a cleaner on stubborn marks like the bath ring or soap scum on tiles. Just spray thoroughly, leave for 15 minutes, wipe over the dirt with a damp cloth, rinse and dry. This is also really good to clean that greasy, dusty layer you get in the kitchen sometimes - particularly on the rangehood or the oven door.

Disinfectant/Cleaner - Spray all over your toilet with vinegar when you spray the bowl (remember the borax and vinegar toilet cleaner?) and leave it till you clean the bowl. This acts both as a disinfectant and cleaner for the loo. You can also spray your wooden and plastic chopping boards with straight vinegar, leaving it for a few minutes, then rinse and dry. This disinfects and gets rid of oniony smells.

Floor Cleaner - When we had our oiled floors laid during the reno, the floor guy told us to clean the floors using a bucket of warm water, half a cup of methylated spirits and half a cup of vinegar. That works a treat with the oil finish, but before the reno when we had floors sealed with polyurethane, I used a squirt of Morning Fresh liquid and a cup or so of vinegar in the bucket and that was really effective too. I think the vinegar cuts down on any soapy build-up and makes the floor lovely and shiny.

Laundry Uses:

Softener/Freshener - I add about a quarter of a cup of vinegar to every wash I do, with the exception of the fabric nappies (the vinegar can effect their absorbency), and it softens and freshens the laundry so much. I can tell if I don't use it, particularly with the linen as it feels all scratchy and rough. And despite the smell of vinegar when you first put it in the washing machine, you really can't smell it much once it's been washed, and not at all once the laundry is dry. Apparently, adding some vinegar to the wash can help alleviate eczema in those who have skin reaction to laundry powder too. I used to wash Isla's clothes in Lux flakes and vinegar before I discovered castile soap.

Other Uses:

Toy Cleaner - Spray the kids toys and board books with the 1:4 vinegar dilution and wipe over with a clean cloth. It lifts off stickiness and is a mild disinfectant too.

It really is just as easy as making one or two changes every couple of weeks, and before you even realise it, you'll be cleaning greener and simpler. I can't promise it will be any more fun though. Sorry.