Naturally Nourishing: 3/27/11

Friday, April 1, 2011

First thoughts on making Mildew Cleaner

CLICK HERE for the various versions of this solution. I chose to make the tea tree oil and water solution because I already had tea tree oil on hand.

Mildew Cleaner Parts and price:
(If you choose the tea tree oil solution)
1 small jar tea tree oil (depending on size and brand) = around $8.00
Water= $free.99
Total Cost: approx $8.00 for all ingredients.

The Process:
Put the tea tree oil in water, shake, and go!

Complaints:
None so far

Compliments:
Chemical free!

Performance:
No comments yet, really hoping it works!

Will update 4/15/11 after two weeks of use.

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What I will be making next... a facial/body bronzer!!

OK, so I am really excited about this one! Winter time has left me looking like a cotton ball, and in an attempt to keep baby safe, I am going to refrain from making the sun pay me back every ray it owes me this summer. As much as I want to fill a bath with every self-tanner this side of the pacific and lock the door until I come out looking like George Hamilton, I just can't justify putting all those chemicals into my skin... soooo I am taking things into my own hands!

Hoping to look effortlessly sun-kissed, like Elizabeth Taylor pictured here. Rest In Peace.

CLICK HERE to see the blog I got the ingredients/instructions from. I copied the recipe I'll be using below, but you should check out the website, she gives much more information.

Customizable Homemade Contour Powder

1 Tbsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp nutmeg powder
2 tsp cornstarch
15 drops rose otto, lavender, or rosemary essential oil

When you’re adjusting this recipe to your desired darkness, remember: Cinnamon adds glow, cocoa adds depth and darkness, and nutmeg adds a sunkissed brown. Cornstarch spreads it all out and lightens it. Essential oil keeps it together and thickens.

Adjust the levels of ingredients to your liking and mix well in a small bowl, making sure to break up any clumps with your fingers. Place the powder in your clean, empty compact and tamp down well with the back of a spoon.

Apply as you would a contour powder.

So that's that! Hoping for a success on this one, I will be making it 4/15/11

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Final Reviews on Wood Cleaner and Glass Cleaner

CLICK HERE to read list of ingredients and instructions.
AND HERE to read my first thoughts on parts, price, and process of making these products.

Look at that wood glistening :) that corner hutch has never looked better! (The dining room table has a "distressed" finish, so don't worry, the cleaner didn't do that!)

My Final Thoughts:
Cons- None really come to mind. Hmmm... if I was trying to think of one I think I would say that the wood cleaner is a little thick so you have to reapply to your cloth more often than some store bought cleaners.

Pros- These cleaners are both so easy to make, not to mention they work! What more can you ask for? The glass cleaner works just as well as any store bought cleaner I have used, and the wood cleaner works better than the previous cleaner I was using. If I listen close enough, I can almost hear my dining room table gulping it up as I rub it in :). I feel like prior to using this cleaner the wood surfaces in my house were dry and weary, and now they look fresh off a tree, gleaming. I never knew they looked were so thirsty 'til I saw them glowing after using this cleaner. Also, I loved that the oil in the wood cleaner was olive oil. I normally hate the oily residue that gets on my fingers when using cleaners like these, but somehow knowing it was just olive oil freaked me out less. I didn't have the constant urge to wash it off my hands while I was cleaning. Matter of fact, I could have let it settle in and given myself a free hand softening treatment. Bottom line, these cleaners rock!

Overall- No reason not to make these! The wood cleaner can be seen as a little bit of an investment when you're first collecting the ingredients (due to the olive oil) but because it's an oil cleaner, it will last you quite a while. Remember, get the cheapest oil possible. No need to pay homage to Rachel Ray and get EVOO. Also, I love, love, love the fact that my 18 month old could literally use our coffee table as a lollipop and I wouldn't be stressing about what chemicals she's getting in her system. Because the glass cleaner has rubbing alcohol in it, I would consider it maybe less toxic, but not chemical free, so this one isn't quite as game-changing... A funny side story: shortly after making my wood cleaner, I saw my daughter with the little jar I keep it in. I didn't think much about it because it was securely closed and it's just lemon juice and olive oil anyway, so I was letting her carry it around pretending to help me clean. When she was a little too silent, I looked down and realized some residue must have settled on the outside of the container. She was wiping the sides of the jar with her fingers and sticking them in her mouth. I took the cleaner away because it grossed me out more than anything, but it was an instant confirmation that these projects are so worth it! It is amazing that I have spent many nights trying to coax her into eating my homemade meals, and yet I put a little lemon juice and olive oil together and she has a new favorite snack. Don't worry, I won't be uncapping the jar and letting her guzzle it any time soon ;)

Here are my two fancy containers. I put the glass cleaning solution in an old empty spray cleaner, then wrote the "recipe" on the back so I'd remember it when it ran out. The wood cleaner is to the right. The white cloth (baby's old burp cloth) is what I use to apply.

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Write an entry for Naturally Nourishing!

Hello All!

As you may have noticed, I try to incorporate Readers's thoughts/stories/projects that in some aspect apply to natural/sustainable/organic living as much as possible. I do this because it's really a big part of why I started this blog. Other than chronicling my trial and error with homemade products, I really wanted to create a little community of other like-minded individuals who are on the journey with me. In order to comment here, there's no need to be an expert or 30+ year practicer of this lifestyle. Beginners and people as clueless as me are welcome!

So I am extending an invitation to anyone who would like to share any experience they have had with a more natural lifestyle. This can be anything from a homemade recipe, to an experience with an organic product, or what you do with empty containers, or how you cut back on water use. There is no topic too great or small. The more mundane and simple your tip is, the more it will apply to people's every day lives.

You can e-mail your short blurb or extensive novel to me at naturallynourishing@gmail.com and I will post here. Look forward to seeing what you all send!

*If you have any pictures to add, please do!*

Planning a square foot garden

If you are going to do a square foot garden, let me encourage you to plan your garden before you plant your seeds. I didn't plan this in advance and you can see that I have way too many plants. :) This makes for more work and waste -- both 'no nos'!

This site is very helpful with hints on how to plan your squares. Basically you want to figure out what you want in each square and how many plants you need. From there you can sprout only what you need. Great concept!

Let me know what you come up with. I'll send seed that I have left over accordingly.

Cheers!
--drr

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Starting a Garden (part 6)

4/1

Here's a photo of the seed starter trays I purchased a Dollar Tree. The other photo is of the plants I have transplanted so far to "toughen" them up before putting them into the garden. This is what happens when you don't plan how many plants you need before you start sprouting them. I have MANY MORE plants than I need!
-drr

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Dryer Balls

As I peruse through various "eco-friendly" sites, web forums, and message boards, there are occasionally items that I can't get away from. Mentions of a certain product that keep popping up, regardless of my search topic. THIS is one of them. Dryer Balls. I first heard mention of these about 2 years ago, when I was pregnant with my first. Instead of doing any research, or attempting to find any information about them, I just decided "I keep hearing about these, everyone swears by them saying they're eco-friendly and chemical free, I need to get some." So I wrote "dryer balls" on my grocery list having no clue what exactly that was, or what it looked like, but I figured I'd find them. Sure enough, I stumbled upon dryer bars. "This must be it" I thought. I had assumed the balls would be more, well, ball-like, but (obviously) not one to put much thought into these things, I tossed it in my cart and have been buying them ever since.

Then I had a light-bulb moment a couple days ago. I stumbled across yet another person raving about these eco/family friendly balls and I got a little annoyed, I'd been using them and didn't see how they were so environmentally great? So I did the unthinkable, I googled it. As soon as I clicked "enter" on my keyboard I saw my mistake. These dryer balls WERE actually balls! Not only that, they WERE eco-friendly and chemical free... they were made of wool! They can be purchased fairly inexpensively or of course, made at home.

Needless to say, I feel like a moron (and will be making the switch). I wish I would have looked into this just a smiiiiidge further before becoming a dryer bar buyer, but now I know... and now you know! Try 'em out!

I also want to add, they sell rubber versions of these that may be easier to locate in stores.

No need to get boring old dryer balls! Cute ones like these are available on Etsy. Ones like these sold by "Ela's Idea" on Etsy.

"Like" Naturally Nourishing on Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Naturally-Nourishing/174020649311719?sk=wall

This is a link to my new facebook "fan page." I got a notice that a certain amount of people have to "like" the fan page or it will go bye-bye? If you have a second, just click the link above and hit "like" on the page. Thanks everyone so much for your continued support!!

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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Starting a Garden (part 5)

Another family member's interest got sparked, and she is jumping on board! Here is her convo with drr.

3/29
C says: "I am scared to death of this task, but am very interested! The veggies I use often are onion, carrots, peppers, lettuce, bok choy, tomatoes. Are any of these possible. I also need to get some herbs going. If you think you can walk me through it I am game to try!"

drr says: Of course, we will work on this together.

1. This is a good first step -- making a list of what you want to grow.
2. Start collecting or purchase the containers in which to start your seeds. I bought the seed starter containers at Dollar Tree for $1 each. You could also collect a number of small cups (4 or 6 oz size).
3. Start collecting also 12 and 16 oz cups for later.
4. Purchase a large bag of potting mix (organic is available).
5. Be sure you have some gardening gloves.

Next it is good to plan the design of your Square Foot Container. That way you know how many seeds to plant for starters. I'll write about that later.

Cheers!

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Starting a Garden (part 4)

3/24

All my vegetables are now sprouted. Now I'm building my boxes so I can transplant in the near future.

I'm sending a link with photos of the sprouts to show how they look today. :)

Aren't they pretty? Now on to seeing if they can produce tasty veggies!

-drr

Starting a Garden (part 3)

3/17

Starting to see some sprouts! Yeah!
--drr

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Starting a Garden (part 2)

I added radishes and zucchini to my germination project. I still want some peas and green onions. Onions would go directly into the square foot container so will wait a bit to get those.

The sweet peppers need to be planted indoors for 8 weeks. So I will try to start those at N's since I don't have much sun here at the cottage.

I got the little seed starting thing-a-ma-jigs at the dollar store. One $ for two sets of 12.

--drr

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Starting a Garden (part 1)

An aunt of mine recently started a box garden. She has been updating us on her progress, and with her permission, I will be posting those as she sends! (Her words in italics)

3/13
Hey guys!

I'm trying to start these vegetables from seeds. Then we are going to plant them in containers and a "square foot" garden plot on back patio. Hope I can get enough sun. I think I need 6-8 hour per day.

For more on square foot gardening see the following web sites:

www.squarefootgardening.org, www.mysquarefootgarden.net

and/or google 'square foot garden'....

Be sure to check page 2 of the spreadsheet to see how I plan to lay out our square foot garden.

I am calling this an austerity/prosperity garden!

Cheers!
--drr

The vegetable list and plant date:
Beans, Pole 3/12/2011
Carrot
Cucumber 3/12/2011
Okra 3/12/2011
Zucchini 3/14/2011
Lettuce, Bibb 3/12/2011
Lettuce, Simpson 3/12/2011
Radish 3/14/2011
Peppers, Sweet Mix Plant indoors for 8 weeks 3/16/2001
Tomatoes
Lettuce,
Onions
Peas 3/16/2011
Summer Squash 3/16/2011

Copied from spreadsheet, apologize for weird formatting!

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What do you know about Monsanto?

CLICK HERE to read an article about Monsanto. A company that is getting a lot of bad press for being a monster, and manipulator in the food industry. Keep in mind, this is 1 article, and it is 3 years old.

Apparantly the movie "Food Inc" (which I have yet to see) explores this company (and other's) further, but I have yet to see the movie. Quite frankly, I'm not ready yet. For those who are braver than me, I have heard it is life changing. Check it out! If you've already seen it, let me know what you thought!

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Naturally Nourishing