Baking Soda

Baking Soda

    Baking Soda is not only an aid to stopping  indigestion it also aids in cleaning! Here are suggestions to help around your house!    Commercial drain cleaner is toxic and expensive! Instead you can use products already in your household or, if not, easy to find and cheap to buy! In your drains a combination of baking soda and vinegar breaks down fatty acids into soap and glycerin and allows the clog to wash down the drain. You can also use the recipe that follows!
    Be careful: DO NOT USE THESE METHODS AFTER ANY COMMERCIAL DRAIN OPENER HAS BEEN USED OR IS STILL PRESENT IN THE STANDING WATER!!! Toxic fumes will be created, if you do!
    To clear a drain
    In a bowl mix together 1/2 cup of baking soda, 1/2 cup of salt, and 1/4 cup of cream of tartar and pour down the drain, followed by a pan of very hot water - let sit overnight. In the morning, run cold water down the drain to flush it.

    Borax and Hot Water
    Alternatively you can use borax which is to be found in the laundry detergent section of your market. If you can't find it ask your grocer to provide it.
     Pour 1 cup of borax down the drain followed by a pan of very hot water. Allow to sit for an hour, then run cold water for a couple of minutes to flush.

    Laundry
    Add 1/4 cup of baking soda to front loading and 1/2 a cup to top loading washing machines to reduce the amount of chlorine bleach you use when washing your clothes! They will also smell clean and fresh. Chlorine bleach is an environmental hazard.

    General cleaning
    Clean and deodorize all kitchen and bathroom surfaces using baking soda on a damp sponge and for general cleaning dissolve 4 tablespoons baking soda in 1 quart warm water.
    Use a baking soda and salt paste to clean enamel,  ceramic and glass baking dishes. It also removes coffee stains from cups or counter tops and is a great soap scum remover.
    There are a number of companies that make biodegradable and eco-friendly cleaning products. Shaklee is one of those:
www.shaklee.com/shop.shtml
    There may be a Shaklee distributor in your area. Search their site for one, or even consider becoming one yourself.
    Another company is Seventh Generation:
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/about
Their mission statement:
    "To inspire a revolution that nurtures the health of the next seven generations."
    They carry many useful products, although I am disappointed that they don't carry cloth diapers, as the growing diaper mountain is a great unspoken environmental hazard, along with ever popular clumping kitty litter. More of that in a later post!!! Have a fantastic day! Try to do at least one green thing today and many more if you can!

Remote Watering!

Remote watering

Hey, folks! Sorry I've been away so much! I was dealing with a nasty situation here! Now, I'm going to take a little time to tell you what I've been doing. I found this idea from a fellow blogger about watering your plants when you can't do it! It not only waters, but also recycles wine bottles and corks! What a great idea!  Although you may only use it when you go on holiday, I'd say it could be a permanent addition to your plant pots. The wine bottles will look lovely and be a talking point for guests! You could also decorate the bottles and give your creative juices an outlet!

http://diy-vintage-chic.blogspot.com/2012/08/upcycling-wine-bottle-to-plant-nanny.html

As far as greening my week is concerned I washed my shower curtains using vinegar and water! They look lovely! I put about half a gallon of vinegar into about 3 inches of hot water and immersed the curtains. I left them for about three hours until all the grime had loosened. I took a scrubbing brush to the more stubborn bits and did have to carefully scrub along the seam and around the magnets. This work too me only about half an hour! I smelled like vinegar for a little while, but I find this quite pleasant.
     I found some scarves and a pair of leather clogs in the park and took them to Goodwill. The other day I saw a lovely wooden kitchen chair dumped in the park and would have taken it home, but there was a rather formidable woman with a child sitting on a stump and thought she had her eye on it. Sure enough, when I went back later woman and chair were gone. I like to think of her getting the same pleasure I'd have had from it and wonder would she have washed it thoroughly with Murphy's Oil Soap, let it dry, sanded it to a silky smoothness, smoothed on golden oak stain and applied generous portions of wax! I hope so! I wonder why people throw out pleasing and thoroughly useful old chairs. Sometimes they need  a few repairs, but are otherwise quite serviceable. I have one I found on the corner a few years ago along with an old rocker that needed a number of repairs. The chair only needed washing, staining and waxing! I feel I've saved some trees from chopping, which is a great help to the environment.
     That's me for now! I have to take the little dog for a walk and wash some dishes! I'll post more later! It's a great day!

Cleaning up!

Cleaning up the world!

     I walk in the Golden Gate park everyday with my friend Jakob, a mini poodle! I've made it my job to pick up all the plastic debris I see left by humans! I do this so that it doesn't end up in the Pacific as part of the Pacific gyre! My collection includes all the cigaret filter tips that are tossed away! I don't mind people smoking, if that's what they want to do, I do mind that they throw the filters away, because these are toxic and fish think they are food, eat them and die! There's so much to collect! Plastic bags, plastic cutlery, plastic food containers, styrofoam containers, the list is endless. Most of the time I end up with a plastic shopping bag filled to capacity with the debris I find. I limit myself to plastic and some foil, because the paper products will deteriorate quite quickly and are not damaging to the environment, whereas the plastic will still be around for centuries.

     No one wants to take responsibility for  cleaning the amassed rubbish in the Pacific, which grows larger and larger by the minute! Some bright person needs to think of a way to do this that would make money. I heard about someone in Europe who developed a water vessel that sucked up garbage and turned it into fuel. They were using this system to clean up rubbish in the Atlantic. This needs to be done in the Pacific before the rubbish extends so far it fills the whole ocean. At the moment it's 90 feet deep and larger across than the whole United States! That is a whole, helluva lot of garbage.

     I often try to talk to people and ask them not to toss their garbage onto the street, while also telling them about the Pacific gyre to try to open their eyes to the problem. They often say the street is not the ocean and I ask them if they've ever heard of the wind! The street I live on extends all the way from the eastern to the western side of the top of the San Francisco peninsula. Ninety percent of it goes in a straight line, which means that it doesn't take much for the wind to blow a light plastic bag all the way from downtown San Francisco to the coast and out to sea. One day this beautiful ocean will be nothing, but garbage! I hate to think of all the children born today who will only have this picture I took of the Pacific to know what it was once like! 

Reading labels!

Label's meanings!

Hey, friends I just had this useful graphic sent to me on facebook and want to share it immediately! It helps you know the origin of the food you find in the stores! Here you go:

Isn't that useful!!! Now all we have to do is make a note of the numbers, tuck it into our wallets and off we go to the shop! I love these little helpers! Now we know to avoid the food with 5 digits starting with an 8! Let's bring down Monsanto! I've already been avoiding all the fruit proudly labeled 'gold', which means I haven't eaten a pineapple in years, because all those I come across have a 'gold' label and it seems the normal ones are in hiding! I'm off to walk the dogs now, but I'll post some more later! It's overcast and damp here, but I know some of you are really suffering from the heat!

Pallets and a couch!

Pallets and a couch!

     I got three pallets this week to make a vertical garden! I'm so excited! I've no idea when I'll find the time. I started trying to find pallets about four months ago when I had the time to devote to building the garden! Ah well, that's life! Meantime I've had two whole heads of garlic from the tub in my roof garden and am continually snipping bits off the scallions I planted several months ago! It's so nice to eat things you grew! 

     I got a 'new' couch today from my upstairs neighbour who's moving! I love reusing things! He didn't know what to do with it and was on the brink of throwing it away, when he asked if I'd like it! Well, we had quite a time moving it from his flat to mine, but we got it done and now it's sitting below my window! Very nice! I've just been watching the Olympic closing ceremonies - they had a video of John Lennon singing 'Imagine', which was lovely! I was sad to see they let loads of balloons loose! When will people realise what a threat this is to the environment? Sad, sad to think of the poor birds that will be killed and the ocean that will be polluted by them! Wake up, people it's not too late to save our beautiful planet!

     Well, this has been just a quick bit to let you know I'm still working on saving the planet and on writing this blog! I have a few things in the works and will post them this week! Keep on conserving and thinking of new ways to save our world for our children's children!

Save the garbage!

    Save the garbage, save the planet!

     Don't throw things away, instead follow these watch words for eco-friendly reduction of waste: reuse, repurpose, recycle and reduce.  Second to conserving water is disposing of garbage! We throw far too much into the garbage. The first thing you can do to reduce your garbage is start composting! The easiest way to do this is to get a compost tumbler. These units produce excellent compost, are easy to use and can be tucked out of sight into a corner of your garden. You can hide one behind an attractive fence or camouflage it with some pretty plants.
    The unit needs very little work and you only need to tumble it every few days. It devours all your kitchen scraps and doesn't emit an unappealing odor. If, in addition, you throw in some nice fat worms you'll shortly have a wonderful supply of these helpful animals to make your garden grow and thrive! Worms are available at your local bait shop and many nurseries carry them as well as various, beneficial insects 
    I've been using a compost tumbler in my roof garden for ten years and I love it! It produces the most nutrient rich, sweet smelling compost without any trouble! Advertising hyperbole says it produces within 14 days, but that could only be possible, if you added ALL your scraps in one batch! As I add my scraps day by day 14 days would only apply from the last day I added scraps. After all, it's a continuing process!

https://www.compostumbler.com/StoreFront/IAFDispatcher

    In case you want to shop around and get a different tumbler here is an article by Mother Earth News about their research into a variety of tumblers.

 www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/2003-04-01/Compost-Tumblers.aspx

    Solid waste or garbage is increasingly a problem for all societies. Finding space for the growing trash heaps we create is not the greatest problem. That worst problem lies in the greenhouse gas methane that is released as biodegradable waste degenerates. This gas traps heat and is linked to global warming. In addition nitrous oxide is released during waste transportation.  Local water supplies become contaminated by harmful chemicals leaching into the ground from decomposing trash. Cancer causing carcinogens are produced by old incinerators.
    Never burn trash! The smoke and ash from burning items like polystyrene, dyed paper, bleach and pressure treated wood contains harmful toxins.  According to figures from the EPA only 10 pounds of burning back yard trash can produce as much pollution as a commercial incinerator burning 400,000 pounds of trash.
     So you see, reducing your trash is one of the most useful things you can do to protect the environment. If you are fortunate enough to have a garbage recycling service as I do in San Francisco use it assiduously! Always put cans, bottles and paper into the correct container, put decomposable waste into the compost container and as little other trash as possible into the garbage container. Stop using plastic and paper shopping bags and start using canvas and other reusable bags. It won't take long to remember to take your bag along when you go shopping. Reuse the plastic bags for vegetables or, even better, get some cotton sacks and use them instead. Use cloth napkins and save the trees needed to make paper napkins and towels. Remember: the paper industry has encouraged paper use so they can increase their profits and all the reasons their ads trot out are unfounded. There's nothing better about using paper besides the money you pay for these products, which doesn't help you at all!
    There is so much to say on this subject that I could continue for days! I will save more for future posts and let you get started! It only takes a little time to lose old habits and start reducing your garbage. As time goes by you will think of more and more ways to do this! Get your whole family involved! Children love to learn and will help with the new way of doing things! Soon they'll be reminding you of the new approach to garbage in your household!

Water - use it wisely!

"Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink!"
                                Samuel Taylor Coleridge


    Yes, there is water everywhere on our beautiful planet, but 97% of our world's water is either salty or otherwise unfit to drink! Another 2% is inaccessible in icebergs and glaciers! That leaves only 1% and this tiny 1% is what we use to cover the agricultural, residential, industrial & personal needs of more than 7 billion people! Remember this the next time you turn on your faucet and let water run down the drain. Keep in mind, too, that many women in Africa spend most of their day walking many miles back and forth to collect barely enough water to keep their families alive, while, in the US, each of us uses about 50 gallons of water per day.  
    So you see that the first and best thing you can do to go green and improve our environment is conserve water, which will also reduce your water bill and save your household some money. Conserving water is easy, because there are only a few things you need do to get started!
   
In your bathroom:

    Put a bucket under the faucet in the bath. Every time you run the water for your bath or shower save the run off in the bucket. This will collect about three gallons or 12 Liters of this lovely, life giving stuff! You can use this water to flush your toilet or water your plants. Maybe you will think of other ways to use it. Better still have your plumber put an instant hot water valve on your boiler. This way there will be no run off!
    Don't leave the water running when you're brushing your teeth.  In fact, dentists recommend you not rinse your mouth after brushing so that the residual paste can continue to do its work on your mouth and teeth!
    Don't leave the water running when you wash your hands! Put in the stopper and catch the initial water you use to dampen your hands in the basin, then soap your hands and rinse them in this water. Once you've removed most of the soap pull the stopper and give them a final, quick rinse under the faucet. You'll have saved at least a gallon of water and your hands will be as clean as before!
    You can save a lot of water by not flushing every time! In San Francisco we have a saying: "yellow is mellow, brown goes down!" Certainly don't flush every time you toss something like a tissue into the pan! By the way, urine does not carry harmful bacteria, because it is sterile! There are many beneficial uses for urine: in ancient times and in some modern cultures, urine has been used for washing, mouthwash, or drinking.   Traditionally urine has been used in tanning leather.
    To make sure your cistern is not leaking put a few drops of dye into it. If there's a leak the water in the bowel will be discolored after a little while. Consider having a water saving toilet installed. If you can't afford a new toilet, fill a large bottle with water, fasten the top and put it into the cistern. This will reduce the amount of water used to flush.  
   
In your kitchen:

    When you wash dishes don't leave the water running. Instead, if you have a double sink, run  a few inches of water into the second one and use it to rinse your dishes. Keep in mind that the soap only needs to be removed from the eating surface of the dish or cup! If, like me, you have only a single sink keep a jug in the sink to catch water as you rinse and use this to water your plants! Use as little water as possible to wash your dishes and consider reusing the water several times. When it looks grungy use it to flush the toilet.
    Dishwashers use a lot of water, so use yours  wisely! This will not only reduce your water needs, it will also reduce your energy bills! If yours is old replace it with an Energy Star unit. These use far less water than older models. If you can't dash out and buy a new appliance, here are some tips to help reduce water and energy until you can:
    Only run full loads  (you'll save about 1,000 gallons of water per month) and don't rinse the dishes before loading! Use a fork or paper towel to dispose of pieces or bones in the compost container.
    Don't overload the dishwasher, don't use the pre-rinse cycle and you'll save 3 to 7 gallons of water.
    Regularly using the water saver cycle can save up to 30% of your usage.
    Clean the dishwasher regularly by checking the filter and removing trapped particles, wiping off the water jets and spray arm nozzles with an abrasive cloth or sponge.
    To save energy use the 'no heat' option and open the door after the final rinse and let the dishes air dry.

    Learn about Energy Star dishwashers
www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.showProductGroup&pgw_code=DW

In your garden:

    Make sure your sprinklers are watering only your garden not the street, the paths or the steps. Make sure the sprinkler is not leaking. Use native or, at least, drought tolerant plants whenever possible and don't plant a lawn unless it's native to your area. Don't over water, which is also bad for your plants. Don't use a hose to clean paths and driveways, use a broom or rake.  Water in the early morning to reduce evaporation. Collect rainwater to add to the water collected from your household.




   

More ways to save water:
www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_protect_water_supplies

 
www.wateruseitwisely.com/join-the-cause/index.php

    Here are some more water facts:
    •    Water regulates earth and body temperature and carries nutrients and oxygen to cells, it supports joints, protects organs and tissues and flushes away waste.
    •    Our bodies consist of 70% water.
    •    All life forms on our planet need water to live.
    •    Providing water in your home costs 1 cent for  every 5 gallons. Your water company will no doubt charge more than that!
    •    World water day is held on March 22 every year:

      www.timeanddate.com/holidays/un/world-water-day

About tanning and urine:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanning

Getting Started Going Green

    Congratulations! You've decided to go green and you want to know where to start! You've come to the right place! I have lots of ideas to get you going. Start with small steps and don't feel you have to do it all at once, unless, of course, that's how you like to do things! Going green is really about getting back to basics and simplifying your life. Most of all keep in mind that change is always difficult even when we embrace it. Change is strange and it's a bit scary. It's like diving into an unfamiliar universe with different rules than we're used to. We are discarding old, automatic habits and developing new ones. Be assured: very soon you'll  have adapted and will be happy about your achievement. When you feel overwhelmed take a deep breath, step back and recognize all the small changes you've made. Keeping focused on your goal will help you to keep going.
    I'll post links to take you to companies that are green, so that you can find all kinds of eco friendly products to help you run your household. I'll also provide links to sites with lots of information to help in your quest for knowledge in case you want to verify the ideas I'll be sharing! Going green is actually quite easy and only requires being aware of habits you've acquired by following old patterns of behavior. These habits have often come into our lives because we're all in a hurry! Most of all we're all in some way influenced by advertising. Keep in mind that companies that can afford millions of dollars for advertising want to make more money. No matter how often they tell us they want to help us what they really want is our money. Most of the time there are ways to do the same work and spend much less  money. Vinegar and baking soda are two cheap products that don't harm the environment and are better than specially designed, expensive  chemicals.
    I have lots of ideas for you and I hope you'll  feel free to tell me your own ideas.