Oct 15, 2010 | Green Living, Uncategorized
Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.
Water…
What does the word make you think about?
- Rain on your windowpane?
- Hot baths?
- The ocean’s caress?
- The coolness of the lake?
Right now for me right now I’ll have to go with water bill. We have had a record breaking year
that started with record rainfall and now is into record drought. To me that means either a dried up yard or a +$85 water bill (so I chose the first.) I lost a lot of new plants I planted TWO YEARS AGO! That is how dry it is.
I’ve been talking with others about the effects of global warming and the climate changes we’ve seen in our lives and contemplating the ones that are to come. They say that global warming is already changing weather patterns and will make everything more severe. Personally I feel the dust bowl type patterns will be returning (already are it seems) and that we had better plan for it by better building practices and by teaching ourselves and our kids how to conserve water. When I was young in school we were taught water, electric, gas conservation every year. I don’t see people caring here or even trying. Myself included a lot of the times. It’s all dependent on habits. Making them, keeping them, then it becomes second nature.
Why should we worry about water?
- Nearly 1 billion people don’t have safe water to drink.
- A child dies every 15 seconds from a lack of clean water.
- 1 in 4 children who die before age 5 worldwide, die of a water related disease.
- Children often walk miles every day to collect dirty water to drink.
- It takes 100 gallons of water to produce one egg
- It takes 256 gallons of water to produce one cotton t-shirt
- It takes 2500 gallons of water to make 2 pounds of steak!
- That dirty water you and I make goes somewhere- it is recycled back into our own drinking water and not EVERYTHING gets cleaned out. Remember water is global so it’s a global problem.
What can we do to conserve water?
- Become (and remain) AWARE of your water usage
- Don’t leave the faucet running when you brush teeth, wash dishes, wash your face…(by turning the tap off while brushing your teeth you will save 3 GALLONS of water a day! And another three for not shaving with the water running! )
- Use a low-flow toilet or fill a plastic drinking bottle with pebbles and put in your toilet tank. (This will save you 5-10 gallons a day!)
- If handwashing dishes don’t let water run. Fill one sink with clean water and one with rinse water. (Saves 200-500 GALLONS a month!)
- Compost instead of using the garbage disposal.
- Wash your car on your lawn.
- Always use bio-degradable/phosphate-free soaps (there are good ones like Dr. Bronner’s, Dollar General has a good automatic dish detergent that is phosphate free and cheap!)
- Don’t water lawns unless necessary- also plant wisely with native plants
and drought-resistant varieties
- Take showers instead of baths (wah!)
- Buy used goods and recycle old clothes
- Shop wisely and don’t waste food or water
- Get actively involved in water conservation groups and educate others!
Happy Blog Action Day 2010!
Oct 12, 2010 | Uncategorized
Sunday we went to church with some good friends,
then out to lunch
and…
Good old-fashioned,
southern,
Sunday fun!
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| Boys in awe |
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| Swinging at the State Fair |
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Hubby trying the deep-fried Twinkies
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| Original or ? |
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| Baby Ducks Sliding |
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| Newborn piglets |
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| The only veggies at the fair? |
I love how everyone has a favorite part of the fair. The animals, crafts, rodeo, junk food, rides, freak shows, games, or for me just the people watching. They had a giant yo-yo ride that was a capsule attached to bungee cords- insane. I thought about how I would have done that about 20 years ago. Now?
No way.
Especially after the junk food.
Oct 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
Our school had a family outing yesterday afternoon to a local pumpkin patch.
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| Sugar Pumpkins |
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| Spooky Dancers |
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| Lost in the Hay Maze |
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| This is the “one!” |
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| Granny, is that you? |
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| Trick-or-Treaters? |
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| Into the Corn Maze! |
If you live in central AR I highly suggest you visit BoBrook Farms.
Not far from Pinnacle Mountain. Very nice folks.
In the summer they have berries also and will have Christmas trees this winter!
Sep 24, 2010 | Green Living, In-Edibles, Recipes, Uncategorized
Rub-a-Dub Tub Scrub
(or “Because I have 3 men in my tub scrub”?)
- In a mixing bowl pour about equal amounts of baking soda and Borax. (What I do is take 2 jars, fill one almost full of Borax and the other almost full of baking soda. Then I pour them both into a bowl.)
- Pour in some True Lemon powder (you can use True Orange or Lime also, or citric acid if you can get it) just enough to scent the mix, about 2-4 Tablespoons more or less.
- Mix and put back in your jars!
To use: Wet bathtub or sink. Sprinkle tub scrub in tub. Watch the fun! It bubbles when it gets wet!
Scrub and watch the sparkles! This smells yummy too.
Liquid Laundry Detergent
1 cup Washing Soda (you can get this at most grocery stores now)
1/2 cup Borax
7-10 drops of tea tree oil (disinfectant and antibacterial)
*You can add other essential oil drops if you want a scent but I don’t
1/4 cup or so of
Dr. Bronner’s Baby Castile liquid soap
4 quarts hot water (first) then added about 8 more quarts
Mix it in a bowl with a whisk because the washing soda (soda ash) gets hot when it gets wet. (Luckily I knew this from my pool or I’d have probably burned my hands trying to get the clumps out.) Let sit for about 20 minutes to cool off, then put in containers. I use old detergent bottles and glass bottles.
Very inexpensive and effective!
Sep 24, 2010 | Green Living, In-Edibles, Recipes, Uncategorized
I like to post on this, but usually do it from my cooking blog so I thought you could indulge me…
Great Recipes for Keeping it Clean and Green:
Rub-a-Dub Tub Scrub
(or “Because I have 3 men in my tub scrub”?)
- In a mixing bowl pour about equal amounts of baking soda and Borax. (What I do is take 2 jars, fill one almost full of Borax and the other almost full of baking soda. Then I pour them both into a bowl.)
- Pour in some True Lemon powder (you can use True Orange or Lime also, or citric acid if you can get it) just enough to scent the mix, about 2-4 Tablespoons more or less.
- Mix and put back in your jars!
To use: Wet bathtub or sink. Sprinkle tub scrub in tub. Watch the fun! It bubbles when it gets wet!
Scrub and watch the sparkles! This smells yummy too.
Laundry Detergent
1 cup Washing Soda (you can get this at most grocery stores now)
1/2 cup Borax
7-10 drops of tea tree oil (disinfectant and antibacterial)
*You can add other essential oil drops if you want a scent but I don’t
1/4 cup or so of
Dr. Bronner’s Baby Castile liquid soap
4 quarts hot water (first) then added about 8 more quarts
Mix it in a bowl with a whisk because the washing soda (soda ash) gets hot when it gets wet. (Luckily I knew this from my pool or I’d have probably burned my hands trying to get the clumps out.) Let sit for about 20 minutes to cool off, then put in containers. I use old detergent bottles and glass bottles.
Very inexpensive and effective!
Natural Deodorant
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup baking soda
*If you have sensitive skin (like me) use more cornstarch and less soda to still equal 1/2 c total.
10 drops essential oil (I like tea tree or bergamot)
Mix it all together(takes about 2 seconds)
You can use it just like that- dust it on as a powder
OR if you want to put it in a stick form you add
2-3 tbs coconut oil (I use more and a little water because it’s been dry here and seems to crumble if I don’t.) you find it in the baking aisle by the shortening (also good as a skin cream and lip balm)
Once you have it all mixed up you pack it into an old, empty stick deoderant container. You will have to add and pack and keep this up until you get to the top. I like to use a small baby spoon to help pack it down tightly.
Let “cure” about 24 hours for it to hold together properly when you apply it.
This really works well, especially with the tea tree oil/bergamot mixture. Haven’t tried the powder form. Makes about 2 sticks in a normal ladies’ sized container.
Sep 24, 2010 | Recipes, Sweets, Uncategorized
Can you tell I love homemade granola? I am always trying to make the perfect batch. And this last one has come extremely close if not made the grade. What did I do differently? Well, I took my recipe and then looked at my friend Alison’s from this cookbook and sort of did this:
I used my granola recipe (which basically is cleaning out my baking cabinet because I use up any nuts and fruit etc. that needs to be used.)
6 cups of oats or more (I use what’s on sale, but Bob’s Red Mill are my faves)
1 cup coconut (today I used a whole bag of unsweetened)
2 cups wheat germ (sometimes I do flax seeds ground up or half and half)
1 cup sliced almonds or walnuts
1 cup chopped pecans
1 package of sunflower seeds (I used about 1 1/2 or 2 cups)
1 cup of baby oats or wheat flour
1 cup dried fruit (more or less to taste, I’m allergic to almost all fruit so I used dates)
This is where things got different…
Normally I microwave or cook my liquids to a syrup to melt the butter etc. Today I did this:
1/2 stick of butter, melted
3/4 cup of molasses (I like dark or blackstrap)
1/2 cup of honey
1/4 cup of agave syrup (or a little less depending on how sweet you want it)
Mix the dry ingredients (except for fruit) in a bowl and wait. Mix liquids in a bowl and pour over dry ingredients, adding a little at a time until it looks fairly wet. Mix well and put in greased or parchment lined cookie sheets. I actually use my turkey pan because it’s deeper and things don’t fly out when I stir.
In another small bowl take some oats and flour and a little brown sugar- to equal about 2 cups. Melt about 2 T of butter and pour over this mixture and add some of the syrup from above if any remains, if not add some honey and water to make a cookie dough consistency. I pat this in a small greased pan.
Bake both at 350, checking every 5 minutes to stir, until lightly browned. (About 20 minutes or so total.) Just depends on how brown you like it. (I like my crispy to stand up in the milk!) Take the mix that was patted in the pan and flip out onto a cutting board. Break it up into chunks. (Adds crispy bits to the cereal!)
Store in the oatmeal containers!
*I’d love your input on granola. Here is a post to my
friend’s recipe. She is a fantastic cook!
