Home-made Clothing Detergent

We are so lucky these days to have so many amazing natural cleaner options. With choices like Method, 360, Full Circle and Seventh Generation we really can't make any excuses not to live more "green", except that they do tend to be a bit more expensive. So in my quest to live more enviro-friendly, I found a few recipes on how to make your own home-made, natural, "green" dishwasher and clothing detergent. I haven't made the dishwashing detergent yet so I will leave that for another post to report how good it works.

Clothing Detergent

3/4 cup Borax

3/4 cup Washing Soda

1 bar natural soap (Fels Naptha, Ivory, Pure & Natural)

The Borax is easy to find in any grocery store in the detergent isle, but I found the Washing Soda to be a challenge. It is commonly made by Arm & Hammer, it is like Baking Soda, but the chemical compound is slightly different. You can't eat it like the Baking Soda, but it is equally effective for cleaning clothes and is biodegradable. I finally found it at Fred Meyers, right next to the Borax and the Fels Naptha soap.

Grate the bar of soap, then combine it with the Borax and Washing Soda. Be sure to do this in a well ventilated area or use a mask. Once combined, you can leave it like this, but my grated soap was so big that I decided to put it in my food processor and it made it more granular like normal detergent. The pic I have here below is before I put it in the processor. You only need about a tablespoon or so for each load- I did my first load today and the clothes came out super fresh and clean. The Fels Naptha has fragrance in it so it is pretty soapy smelling. I also made another batch using a bar of Ivory soap and it's much less soapy scented, so it just depends on how sensitive you are to scent.

If you prefer liquid detergent, this can be made into a gel. Grate the soap and put it in a pot on the stove. Add 12 cups of water and turn the burner on to medium till the soap is completely dissolved. Add 1 1/2 cups of the Borax and 1 1/2 cups of Washing Soda to the pot and mix till it dissolves. Then take a large bucket and add 8 cups of hot water, then add your soap mixture to the bucket and stir. Again add 2 gallons of water plus 12 cups of water and stir. Let the mixture sit for 24 hours, and then mix it really good once it becomes a gel to make it smooth. Use about a cup for large loads and a half cup for smaller loads.

Natural Vegetable/Fruit Wash

I'm starting to think that I should change the name of this blog to "1001 uses for vinegar"! I by no means consider myself a germ-a-phobe, but after hearing stories from friends that have worked in grocery stores, I'm definitely more inclined to wash my food items before consuming them. It's a really good idea to wash your fruits, vegetables, cans and especially soda cans! I read an article a while ago (I can't find it, sorry) that in a study comparison between a water wash, commercial vegetable wash, and 1:1 vinegar to water wash, the vinegar and water wash killed much more bacteria than the other 2 techniques. Vinegar is a natural anti-bacterial that not only kills harmful bacteria, but it can also help in breaking down waxes used by the farming industry. Just keep a spray bottle with half white vinegar and half water handy along with a potato brush (get those from the grocery store). Spray, scrub and rinse the smooth skinned fruits and veggies and cans, or just spray the softer skinned ones, even lettuce, then quickly rinse the solution off (that is, unless you want your strawberries to taste like vinegar).
One note about scrub brushes: try to avoid multi-usage scrub brushes or sponges. One scrubbie for food items, one for dishes, one for cleaning the kitchen (Not the same one for dishes! Gross!), and one for your bathroom. It's kind of considered a cross contamination in the cleaning world- would you really want something that scrubbed a counter top to clean your fruits?

Fabric-ing a Wall

I admit it, I love decor. Interior design. Architecture. It really makes me happy. I had the pleasure of seeing so many different houses and their amazing furnishings that it really inspired me over the years to look beyond the norm. One of my favorite magazines is Domino, but it's out of print. : (

A few months ago I decided to completely re-do my bedroom to try to lift my spirits. I bought a new headboard for my bed, new sheets, a new duvet cover, and painted the walls what I like to call, "plant green". I still need some wall decor, but I had a great idea to fabric one of the walls. This in a sense is simply wallpapering with fabric. I've never done this before and as anyone who has ever rented knows that it's difficult making your place really interesting without losing your deposit, so I hope it works and I hope it comes off easy! I found this amazing modern artsy fabric through Ikea- I think it will look great, I'll post some pictures when I'm done (if it turns out cute!). So this entry is more of an experimental tip than a tried and true trick! I did some research, and this is apparently how I'm going to do it:

1. Clean the wall to remove any dirt.

2. When cutting the fabric, add a couple extra inches, and make sure the design will match the next panel like when using wallpaper.

3. Spray the top part of the wall with Spray Starch, and smooth the fabric into place leaving about an inch to be trimmed later. Use push pins to hold the fabric temporarily in place.

4. Apply starch to the top of the fabric, smoothing the fabric in place to remove bubbles and wrinkles.

5. Work your way down the panel, continuing to spray starch onto the wall, smoothing the fabric, and applying more starch.

6. Repeat steps with second panel.

7. Cut the excess fabric when it's completely dry.

Vermicomposting

It’s my first video blog! Hope I don’t stumble too much. As I say in the video, I’ve been composting with the use of worms (vermicomposting) for the past couple of years and I completely love it. People ask me every now and then exactly what is vermicomposting, and recently a friend requested that I do a blog entry on it and set one up for her. A few things I forgot to mention in the video, (hey it’s hard remembering everything when it’s impromptu!):
· Worm bins can be kept inside and outside. When I had a garage I kept them in there, but when I moved I kept them in the kitchen closet. The general rule is if you are cold, so are they. I put them out on the deck early spring when it was getting warmer (don’t leave them in the direct sun), and will bring them back inside when it starts getting cold. It doesn’t smell, and you only get fruit flies during f.f. season if you aren’t careful.
· If it does start to smell, lay off on the food for a while and add “brown” (paper, leaves). That will help balance the bin's contents. Just remember that it needs balance- give them a variety of food, and keep it moist but not mushy and drippy (that’s what I call worm diarrhea!). If you overfeed them, it will bottleneck the process.
· If you want to use the castings for your garden or house plants, stop feeding them for a while so that they can go through the food that’s already in there thoroughly. It can take about 3 months sometimes to go through everything.
· Some items they love are fruit, veggies, stale rice/pasta/bread, coffee grounds, tea (take staples out of the bags!), used napkins, paper towels, and my favorite, used coffee cups! They will eat all of the paper and leave the wax lining, so you will have to pull that out when they are done. (I find it fascinating, but maybe I’m just weird!). Don’t give them fats, dairy, meat, or anything cooked. Throw all of that stuff in your yard waste bin.
· One more thing I forgot to add, it’s not the worms that actually eat the food. The food breaks down with the help of microbes, and it’s the microbes that the worms eat. Nice little cycle!

Coffee....Part II

Speaking of coffee…..I love it. I had my first cup in the 4th grade, and started drinking it steady from the 7th grade on (maybe that explains my height?). I love everything about it! The color, the smell, the pure taste (cream? NEVER!); it’s like a beautiful ritual every morning. But what I don’t love is poor treatment of it. Here are some tips that I have learned from years of working as a barista, and just pure passion for the drink. And yes, I freely admit, I am a coffee snob.

*Always buy whole bean, never ground. Your coffee is at its peak flavor upon freshly grinding it. If you must buy ground, make sure it is in an airtight package.

*Buy organic (free-trade is a big plus!). Organic coffee doesn’t necessarily taste better or different, but it is usually grown outside of the American border and pesticide restrictions vary internationally. If you think it’s too expensive, go to CostCo, there they sell a great coffee bean by San Francisco Bay. It’s organic, a great roast, and you get 3 lbs. for about $14 compared to the typical 1 lb. for $9 at the store. My only complaint is that their bag is transparent, which the coffee beans should be packaged in a dark bag.

*In a dark bag, you say? It’s best to store your coffee in a dark, air tight canister at room temperature. DON’T put it in your freezer; it’s not a bag of peas. Freezing just strips it of its natural flavor and oils. It can get freezer burn too, so don’t stock up and think you’re good for winter.

So now you’ve got a clean coffee machine, and great whole beans - go make me some coffee!

Cleaning Your Coffee Machine

Your drip coffee machine needs to be cleaned just like anything else does. It can gradually collect a build-up of calcium deposits and mold making your coffee taste...well...not so fresh. Rather than buying a fancy cleaning solution (eww..more chemicals?) from the store, buy a jug of white vinegar and brew 1 part vinegar, 2 parts water once. It will strip the calcium and kill any mold spores hanging out (vinegar naturally kills mold). Turn off the machine, and leave it in the pot for 15 minutes. Dump the solution out and do that again 2 more times but with straight water. Be sure to wash your grounds basket and the carafe often, and compost your grounds!

Stainless Steel Care

By far the most popular appliance surface is stainless steel. Sure, it's very attractive, but man it's a pain in the butt to keep clean. Finger prints, food smudges, and sticky condensation on stove hoods are magnets to destroy a nice surface appearance.

Along with residential cleaning, I also did tons of remodels and new construction cleans. Every contractor and owner would set out the little bottle the manufacturer would include to polish the appliances. Don't bother using it. It's overpriced and doesn't do a good job. Instead, first wipe all spots and smudges off the steel surface with a damp rag or scrubby sponge. If you have a stove hood, you'll probably need to hit it with some degreaser. The more serious chefs should be sure to deep clean it at least once a month. Also remember to wash the stove hood screen (most stoves have one). You can just toss it in your dishwasher and let it do the work.

Once it is clean and dry you can polish the stainless steel with either Pledge (or something like it- Endust), or mineral oil. You can also get some pretty good stainless steel spray polishers from stores like Home Depot, but Pledge does just as good a job, and it's more accessible. Spray it on, wipe it off. It is non-streaky, quick, easy, and leaves a nice shine (and lemon-like scent, oo!). Same thing with the mineral oil- I've never used it, but I've seen it used and it leaves a nice finish.