Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Earth Day and a Repost of My Green Family

Happy Earth Day

I thought I would post a bit of what our family does to stay healthy, and keep the Earth healthy. Well actually, I thought I would repost a post I did about a month ago.

My Green Family

There is a big emphasis on going Green right now. Is it just a fad or are people really starting to change? I hope people are starting to change. There are several things my family does to stay green.

1. I have switched from using plastic water bottles to using a reusable stainless steel container from Klean Kanteen. I love my new cup. It's easy to clean and refill with filtered water or water straight from the tap. I was drinking so many water bottles that my trash seemed to be only water bottles. I'm happy to say that we have less water bottles in the landfills now that I am using my Klean Kanteen.

2. We plant an organic garden every spring/summer. This is something my family has been doing for years. My niece is especially fond of working in the garden, looking for worms, and eating all of the strawberries.




3. Along with the garden, we have a compost pile that we use. The dirt created from the compost is used in the garden.


4. We bought bicycles last year and try to use them instead of cars whenever possible. I need to get a basket for my bike. This will help with the times I need to carry something and will make using my bike more feasible for those type of errands. Here's my bike: A Suede W from Giant. I love it. It is the most comfortable bike I have ever ridden.




5. We use organic cleaners to clean our house. We have been using Barefoot Home Essentials, which I like but we are starting to run out. We have just recently tried the new Green Works cleaners from Clorox. I would really like to try making my own. I should do a search for some recipes.



6. Bonus tip: In the summer, the girls have a small inflatable pool they play in. After a few days, we use the "grey" water from the pool to water the garden. This is accomplished with buckets and watering cans and lots of help from the 3 year old.



Things I would like to start implementing:

1. As I mentioned before, I would like to start making my own cleaners. I will have to go looking for a recipe unless someone can give me some tips.

2. Recycle the closet full of plastic bags. The closet is so full the door doesn't shut. We often reuse them but generally they sit in the closet multiplying.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi there! I was looking up reusable bag websites and somehow your blog came up...

I just wanted to let you know that I am new at making my own cleaners and so far am very satisfied. I picked up the book The Naturally Clean Home (author- Karyn Siegel-Maier) at B&N; most likely larger cities have this in their library. The book is FULL of great recipes for everything from detergent to all-purpose cleaner. Once you buy the stock of ingredients you can whip up basically any cleaner you need quickly.

What I love is that if you need something more specialized (a specific stain or use, for instance) you don't have to keep a zillion cans or bottles on hand... You can mix it up quickly and easily using the same basic ingredients.

I looked through several books before I finally forked out $12 to get this. It is so worth it. Everything smells and feels much better... plus you're not putting chemicals back into the earth! Even though it's a little cost up front (for a couple essential oils) I think it's worth it.

Let me know if you're curious about anything else. The book is awesome and totally worth your time and money!!