Homemade Strawberry Jam and Syrup

My two younger boys and I spent the morning at an organic u-pick strawberry farm a couple weeks ago. The boys were amazingly good and even helped, so I kept picking and picking. Tip for any parents who want to take their kids strawberry picking: Bring a wagon, put a bucket of strawberries in it, and let them have at it.

We ended up with five 5-lb buckets plus I threw in an extra 5-lb box to make a total of 30 pounds of strawberries.


We ate one bucket, made one and a half into jam, made half of one into syrup, froze two, and dried the last 5 pounds.

First Son helped by eating strawberries.

I didn't plan very well in advance, so we picked up some packages of low-sugar pectin and some canning jar lids at the grocery store on the way home one day. Next time, I'd like to use Pomona Pectin because I've heard good things about it, and I'd like to give these reusable canning lids a try.

Strawberry Jam Cost Summary

To make 8 pint jars of jam, I spent...

• $21 on strawberries
• $7.50 on low-sugar pectin
• $1.44 on lids
• $1.44 on sugar

Total = $3.92 per jar

Jam in the same size jar costs $5 from my farmers market, and the Whole Foods brand is $4.50 (adjusting for jar size). So it ends up being a money saver, but not a crazy amount of savings.

If I had prepared in advance, I could have gotten cheaper pectin and lids, but it definitely saves to use the low-sugar pectin. For local readers, the strawberries from Vollmer Farm are AMAZING, but my friend Lina told me about Whitted Bowers Farm, where the strawberries are a little bit cheaper. All in all, I think I could get the price down next year to about $3.25 a jar.

I'm hoping these cost summaries aren't turning anyone off of preserving their own food, because I am enjoying it. But I think it's also interesting to see whether or not it's really saving money, rather than just assuming it is because I want it to.

I'll tell you something else...Dehydrating foods is not cost effective AT ALL because we eat them so fast!

____________________

You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the last challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays. Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook!

Read more...

Homemade Applesauce

Organic apples were on sale at Kroger about a month ago for $1/lb, making them cheaper than I've ever seen organic apples and even cheaper than most conventional apples. So I bought 50 pounds.

I bought a Victorio strainer, a water bath canner, and a dehydrator off of Craigslist a few months ago, and this was my first time using them.

Third Son helped by eating apples.

Second Son helped by cutting apples with a special knife that my sister bought for him. I started out cutting and coring the apples, but after the first batch, I discovered that my strainer would remove all of the skin and seeds for me. Best Craigslist purchase ever!

Third Son took a stab at cutting.

The water bath canner was not the best Craigslist purchase ever. It doesn't seem big enough for quart jars (the jars are only covered by 1/2 inch or so of water instead of the 1 to 2 inches in the instructions), which is really weird since I bought about 50 quart jars from the same lady I bought the canner from. The processing still seemed to work anyway - judging by the ol' pressing on the lid test.

I used the instructions from Pick Your Own, and I do believe that for my first attempt at canning, the applesauce turned out pretty well.

Cost Summary

We used about 35 pounds of the apples for applesauce (the rest were dried) and got 10 quart jars worth. I think I could have gotten a little more than that if I had realized at first that I didn't need to cut and core the apples. I already had the jars and didn't need to buy new lids because the Craigslist lady gave me some for free. This puts my cost per jar at $3.50.

I'm actually not sure how much a jar of organic applesauce costs because I rarely buy it, but $3.50 still seems quite high to me. A little Google searching indicates that a lot of people buy conventional apples for $20 a bushel, or less than $0.50 a pound. Wowza!

Anyone know where I can find organic apples for cheaper than $1 per pound for next year's canning?

____________________

You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the last challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays. Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook!

Read more...

Wrapping Up My DIY Audit

The house we owned in Maryland was built in the early eighties, so by the time we moved in, it was more than twenty years old. Houses last much longer than twenty years, but oh man, that house felt so old. The baseboards were all pulling away from the wall, there were cracks in the walls and ceiling, and every month it seemed like something else broke. When we moved, my husband and I swore that we would never own an old house ever again.

It's probably not the most eco-friendly thing to say, but after doing my DIY audit the past few months, I stand by that statement. The house we're living in now is approximately five years old and well-constructed, and that has made my job so simple.

Locating Air Leaks

Last month, I sealed the air leaks on all of my electrical outlets - so simple but makes a big impact. A couple people told me I should also put childproof plugs in all of the outlets, and that's on my list of things to do...if I can figure out where I stored them.

To finish up the "locating air leaks" step of the U.S. Department of Energy's DIY audit, I crawled around my house examining the baseboards, windows and doors for any cracks or possible air leaks. In the whole house, I only found one spot where there was a space between the baseboard and the wall (is it worth buying caulk for that one little spot?), and the weather stripping on the back door might need replacing. I also know because I recently cleaned behind the stove that there's a very large gap between the flooring and the drywall with no baseboard. As renters, I'm not sure how we'd fix that.

The biggest air leak in our house is the attic hatch/pull-down stairs. Eventually, I'd really love to add an insulated cover there, but we're not quite ready to make that investment yet.

Insulation

As renters, there's little we can do in this category, but I can say that the house does seem to be well-insulated with thick blankets of insulation in both the attic and crawlspace with no obvious gaps.

Heating/Cooling Equipment

Again as renters, we're kind of stuck with what we've got, but we can make sure we change our filter regularly. I also plan to go out later this week and trim the bush that hides the air conditioning unit.

Lighting

We've already switched our bulbs to CFLs where possible, so not much left to do in this category.

So this is it for us:

• Add childproof plugs to the outlets.
  
• Caulk the small gap between the baseboard and the wall.
• Insulate the attic hatch.
• Change the air filter.
• Trim the bush by the air conditioning unit.

Pretty simple and straightforward.

How'd your audit go?

____________________

You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the last challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays. Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook!

Read more...

Let Them Eat Cake...From Scratch

Second Son had a birthday recently, and this is the cake I made for him:


Frugal bloggers often repeat the message that you can save money on groceries by cooking from scratch. From my own experience, I can tell you that's true...sometimes. But sometimes, from-scratch food is more expensive. For example, I can get a box of macaroni and cheese for something like $0.35 at Aldi, and recently I even bought Annie's organic mac and cheese for $0.50 a box at Kroger. There's no way I could come close to making organic mac and cheese from scratch for $0.50. Does boxed mac and cheese taste as good as homemade? Absolutely not...but it works in a pinch.

I think that's the big take-home message: If you're short on time or don't need gourmet flavor every night, stick with a box or jar or can. If you want to make really good tasting food for less than it costs to buy already prepared really good tasting food, cook from scratch.

That's totally the lesson I've learned about birthday cakes. A boxed cake mix and a tub of frosting costs about $3.50, or less if you buy them on sale. But I really don't like cake mix. I mean really, really don't. For most of my life, I skipped the cake on my birthday and went with pie. And then we lived in the DC suburbs and discovered this amazing bakery called Cake Love. Holy schmoly! That's some good (expensive) cake!

So when comparing the cost of making a cake from scratch, I'm less concerned with the cost of a box mix that I don't enjoy and more concerned with the cost of a really good cake from a bakery.

The first step is finding a good basic recipe. Here's the one I use:

Basic Yellow Cake
from McCall's Cooking School

2 1/2 c. sifted all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

• Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two round 9 inch cake pans or one 9X13 rectangular pan.
  
• Sift flour with baking powder and salt.
  
• In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Continue beating 2 minutes.
• At low speed, beat in flour mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour.
• Add vanilla. Beat just until smooth.
• Pour the batter into prepared pans. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed with finger.
• Cook in pans on wire racks 10 minutes.
• Remove from pans. Cook completely before frosting.

With a basic frosting recipe, this cake costs about $8 when made with all organic ingredients. With conventional ingredients, it would only cost a little more than making a cake with a boxed mix and a tub of frosting but would taste much better.

To make my son's cake, I followed these steps:

Orange-Pineapple Praline Cake

1 c. orange juice
grated orange peel
1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple
1 c. coconut
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. coarsely chopped pecans
1/4 c. melted butter
2 c. heavy cream
maraschino cherries

• Using basic yellow cake recipe, replace milk with 1 c. orange juice. Stir grated orange peel into the batter.
• Turn 1/4 of the cake batter into each pan. Using a spoon, spread each with 1/2 c. crushed pineapple.
• Spoon remaining batter evenly over the pineapple.
• Place cake pans on center rack in oven and back for about 30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently touched with fingertip.
• Mix coconut, brown sugar, pecans, and melted butter.
• At the end of the baking time, remove layers from the oven. Spoon praline mixture onto the surface of one layer; return it to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes.
• Let second layer cool slightly in pan and then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Remove praline layer from the oven; cool slightly. Move to wire rack to cool completely.
• Beat cream at high speed until stiff peaks hold when beaters are lifted. Place plain cake layer on a platter; spread with half the cream and remaining pineapple.
  
• Add the praline-topped layer; frost sides with remaining cream, piping rosettes on top. Garnish with maraschino cherries.
  

The total cost of the cake I made for my son was around $14, about the same as a cake from my local grocery store bakery, but mine is made from organic ingredients. A Cake Love cake of the same size costs about $50. How does it compare in taste? I'd give Cake Love a 10, mine an 8...and a cake mix a 2. That's worth it to me.

What do you prefer? Cake mix or cake from scratch?

*Note that all costs are estimates based on prices in my area and that I use organic ingredients whenever possible. Your costs may vary.

____________________

You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the last challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays. Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook!

Read more...

Step One of My DIY Energy Audit

Step one of the U.S. Department of Energy's DIY audit is "locating air leaks:"

First, make a list of obvious air leaks (drafts). The potential energy savings from reducing drafts in a home may range from 5% to 30% per year, and the home is generally much more comfortable afterward. Check for indoor air leaks, such as gaps along the baseboard or edge of the flooring and at junctures of the walls and ceiling. Check to see if air can flow through these places:

Electrical outlets

Switch plates

Window frames

Baseboards

Weather stripping around doors

Fireplace dampers

Attic hatches

Wall- or window-mounted air conditioners

I'm starting today with my electrical outlets and switch plates, specifically the ones on exterior walls of my house. Sealing the air leaks on these is so simple. You start with a pack of electric outlet and switch sealers from your local hardware store. (Or if you're truly DIY, you can make your own outlet sealers with styrofoam meat trays.)

To install, simply screw off the outlet cover.

Press the pre-cut sealer in position around the outlets or light switch, and screw the cover back on.


Repeat with all of the outlets and light switches on your exterior walls, and voila! With just a few minutes of your time, you've reduced drafts in your home and knocked a little bit off of your electricity bill.

When we bought our house in Maryland, the home inspector told us that people lose more energy through their outlets than through their windows. I don't know if that's really true or not, but it's worth the couple bucks investment if it is!


One final reminder to my Triangle readers!

Dig In is tomorrow, and I will be there helping out with the booth for the Raleigh Community Gardeners. I'll also be at the Planet Earth Celebration in Raleigh from 3 to 5 manning a booth for the Advocates for Health in Action. If you're going to be at either of those events, let's connect!

____________________

You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the last challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays. Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook!

Read more...

Post-Easter Eggs Dyed Naturally

Every year after Easter, I promise myself that next year I'll try the natural method for dying eggs, and every Easter without fail, I break that promise to myself. For one thing, the natural method (using plants to make a dye instead of food coloring or a store bought kit) is more time-consuming, and Easter is already a busy time of year. But for another thing, being the conscious shopper that I am, I couldn't bring myself to waste perfectly good beets and spinach and blueberries on egg dye.

So this year like usual, we went with our old standby...a Paas egg-dying kit, which hasn't changed in 25 years. Seriously. It's exactly the same every year that I've bought one, and exactly the same as I remember from when I was little. Ah, nostalgia...If only it didn't contain those pesky artificial colors.

Then yesterday, I was making veggie broth out of my vegetable scraps - carrot and potato peels, celery leaves, onion pieces - and at the same time, I was preparing some beets to cook for dinner, and it occurred to me...Instead of wasting perfectly good beets on egg dye, maybe I could use the beet peels and stems. Instead of the food part, I could use the waste part.

Here's what we did:

Step 1: Fill a pot with a quart of water, 2 Tbsp. of vinegar, and beet scraps. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 or 30 minutes. Then remove and compost beet scraps.

Step 2: Prepare eggs. We were having scrambled eggs for dinner, so I used the method where you poke a small hole in each end of the eggshell and blow out the eggs into a separate bowl. Then clean the shells well. The advantage of this method is that you don't have to keep the dyed eggs refrigerated, and you can keep them as long as you want. The disadvantage is that they float in the water, unlike hardboiled eggs. This turned out to be a bigger problem than expected...On the other hand, the disadvantage of hardboiling the eggs is that your eggs take on a strange taste, depending on what you used to dye it (or so I've read).

Step 3: Submerge the eggs into the dye and let sit until desired color is achieved. At first, we tried 5 minutes, but the eggs turned such a light pink, you could barely tell they were dyed at all. I decided to let them sit in the dye overnight, but like I said, our eggs weren't sinking. We couldn't sit around all night holding the eggs in the dye, so I put a small plate on top of all the eggs to hold them down.

Step 4: Remove eggs and enjoy. When we woke up in the morning, our white eggs had turned into brown eggs. Not red like beets. A slightly pink, dirty looking brown!


Will we ever dye eggs naturally again?

It was kind of a failed project, in the sense that we ended up with ugly eggs instead of beautiful Easter eggs. On the other hand, it was a fun failed project - one that both kids and grown-ups enjoyed - and I got a little extra use out of my beet scraps and eggshells that were headed for the trash. So yes, I'd do it again, but next time..

• I would use hardboiled eggs.
• I would let the eggs sit in the water for less time.

Hmmm...I wonder what other food scraps I could use to entertain my children...

Have you ever tried the natural egg-dying method? How'd it go for you?

____________________

You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the last challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays. Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook!

Read more...

Love Love Kiss Kiss Blah Blah Blah

I'm over at the Green Phone Booth today with some recipes for a DIY eco-friendly facial:

My husband is not only the man of my dreams but was in fact my very first real boyfriend. Which means that until we met, I spent many a Valentine's Day nursing a pint of Ben and Jerry's all by my lonesome. Back then it seemed like Valentine's Day was specifically designed to remind me how much I sucked. Not to mention all that pink and red and hearts and plush toys. Gag me!

Eating an entire box of chocolates while wallowing in self pity may have made me feel better momentarily, but it probably wasn't the healthiest option. So for any Valentine's hating readers out there, here's another suggestion: Host a home spa.

Read more...

____________________

You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the last challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays.

Like what you see? Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook! You can also find me over at The Green Phone Booth.

Read more...

Recipes for Homemade Household Cleaners

:: Here are the recipes I use for glass cleaner, all-purpose cleaner, floor cleaner, and wood furniture duster from Better Basics for the Home. And here's the recipe I use for Febreze.

:: Care2 provides a step-by-step guide to creating your own non-toxic cleaning kit, including a creamy soft scrubber, window cleaner, oven cleaner, all-purpose spray, furniture polish, vinegar deodorizer, and mold killers.

:: You can find recipes for laundry detergent at The Simple Dollar and Make it From Scratch and homemade HE laundry detergent at Condo Blues.

:: At the Green Phone Booth, Greeen Sheeep has a recipe for dishwasher detergent.

Need a Reason to Care?




Who else cares about household cleaners?

:: The Environmental Working Group is the go-to source for information about chemicals, toxicity, and health.

:: If you believe in ingredient disclosure and toxic chemical policy reform, check out the Million Baby Crawl and push for the passage of the Kid Safe Chemicals Act.

:: Healthy Child, Healthy World is a great resource for information about kids and chemicals, such as this article on the The Top Ten Products You Don't Need.

:: Jennifer Taggart is the Smart Mama who writes about keeping your homes safe from harmful chemicals.

:: Fake Plastic Fish wrote an in-depth post about the many uses of baking soda.

:: Wisebread lists 254 uses for vinegar...and counting.

:: Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living is the definitive resource for homemade non-toxic cleaning supplies, beauty supplies, and more.

Why do you care?

____________________

You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the latest challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays here.

Like what you see? Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook! You can also find me over at The Green Phone Booth.

Read more...

How to Afford Switching to Cloth Bags

I knew that I should be using cloth bags a long time before I finally switched. Regular readers of my blog know that this was the story of my life for years: I knew that what I was doing was hurting the planet, but the alternative cost too much. So I stuck with what I'd always done.

Back then, the only cloth bags I'd ever seen cost a fortune. $5 per canvas bag meant $40 to $50 for enough bags to go grocery shopping. Or double that for a collection of those cool European style string bags. It didn't matter how much I wanted to go green...I couldn't afford it. Or could I?

Then and now, there are plenty of low-cost options for people who want to switch to cloth:

• The ubiquitous recycled plastic cloth bag. You can find these at any grocery store, in every color imaginable, with every logo you could desire, and they only cost $1. If you shop at a grocery store that rewards you for bringing your own bag, you'll make up the investment pretty quickly. These are the bags I went with when I finally made the switch several years ago, and I've been happy with them. But they aren't the perfect bag - they're not as strong as other fabrics, and they're still made of plastic that will end up in the landfill eventually.

• Free canvas tote bags. Long before those recycled plastic bags were the big thing, every event passed out free company-logoed canvas bags. I'm sure you've still got a few stuffed in the back of some closet somewhere. Condo Blues has a great post explaining why she likes the swag canvas bags.

• Make your own bags out of thrifted sheets or pillowcases. Depending on the fabric you use, these could be very cheap.

• Crochet a string bag. I love the look of string bags, and it's nice to be able to see what's in the bag. If you're a knitter, here's a knitted string bag pattern for ya.

• Turn your old t-shirts into tote bags.

• Make your own produce bags. I have a tutorial over at The Green Phone Booth about how to make cloth produce bags out of an old shower curtain.

What kind of cloth bags do you use?

____________________

You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the latest challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays.

Like what you see? Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook! You can also find me over at The Green Phone Booth.

• This post was shared at Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family, Festival of Frugality #215 at Pragmatic Environmentalism, and Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom
  

Read more...

How to...DIY

Here's a list of the Make Your Own posts that I've written:

Food from Scratch

• Basic Yellow Cake
  
• Bread
• Granola
  
• Pitas
• Pizza Crust
• Tortillas
  
• Yogurt

Household Cleaners

• All-Purpose Window Cleaner
• All-Purpose Cleaner
• Basic Floor Cleaner
• Deodorizer (like Febreze)
  
• Wood Furniture Duster

Personal Care Products

• Avocado Mask
• Body Lotion
• Facial Moisturizer
  
• Facial Soap
• Sea Salt Scrub
• Toner
  

Miscellaneous

• Easter Eggs Dyed Naturally
  
• Handkerchiefs
  
• How to Unclog Your Sink
• Produce Bags
  
• Worm Bin

And always remember, Do It Yourself, But Do What You Enjoy!

Read more...

Make Your Own: Flour Tortillas from Scratch (and a question about wheat)

Although most of our grocery purchases are organic or local nowadays, I've still been buying our favorite brand of cheap flour tortillas. We like the small size, the taste, and the convenience - burritos are my "I don't have time to cook tonight" meal. But I don't like the questionable/processed ingredients or the plastic packaging.

I've looked at Whole Foods for tortillas, but all I could find were some gluten-free things, and frankly, I'm not getting the whole gluten-free fad. I have no need for a gluten-free diet, and although I know many people (including Oprah) who are buying gluten-free products even though they haven't been put on a gluten-free diet by their doctors, I don't really understand why. Maybe someone wants to leave a comment explaining it to me. :)

Anyway, I'm mostly still sticking with our old reliable tortilla brand, but occasionally I make tortillas from scratch. They are sooooo yummy, healthier, and there's no plastic packaging involved.

Flour Tortillas

MAKES 8 tortillas
COST: $0.15 per tortilla

1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. water

• Combine the flour and salt.
  
• Cut in the butter.
  
• Gradually add the water.
• Refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours. (The recipe I have says to do this , but I have to admit that I never have. As I said, burritos are my quick meal, and refrigerating for 24 hours would make them completely not quick.)
• Divide the dough into 8 to 12 pieces, depending on how big you like your tortillas.
• Roll each piece very thin.
• Cook on a hot griddle for about 20 seconds on each side.
  

And hurray, hurray, I finally got around to looking up that wheat farmer my friend told me about forever ago. I went and picked up some wheat from them last week - brought my own five pound buckets - so if I can get into the swing of grinding my own wheat, that's one step closer to zero waste!

Question though - does anyone know anything about soft wheat? I bought two buckets of hard wheat, and one of soft. Hard wheat is what most of us are used to, but the soft wheat is supposed to be good for things that don't rise like cookies and pancakes. But I always do half white half wheat in all my baked goods. Could I substitute the soft wheat for the white flour, eliminating the need for all-purpose flour?

Read more...

Make Your Own: Worm Bin

We set up our worm bin today! I'm not sure who was more excited - me or the boys!


The following are the steps I followed to set up my worm bin, and I'm too excited to wait to share them, but I'm adding a warning that you should probably wait to see if I kill off all my worms before trying this yourself.

STEP 1: Read Worms Eat My Garbage.

STEP 2: Obtain a container. I used an 18 gallon plastic container with a lid, but Mary Appelhof (author of Worms Eat My Garbage) says that a shallow container would be better. The size of container you will need depends on how much food waste your family produces a day. Appelhof recommends that you "plan on one square foot of surface for each pound of garbage per week."

STEP 3: Drill ventilation holes in the sides and lid. A friend of mine put this container together for me as part of a class for the Raleigh Community Gardens Meetup Group, and she used special grommets to fill in the holes, but you could also just use some wire mesh.

STEP 4: Obtain worms. You need red wigglers, which are available at bait shops. The goal is a worm to garbage ration of 2:1 (2 pounds of worms for every pound of food waste your household produces a day), but because worms multiply, you can start with less if the worms seem too pricey. We bought a pound of worms for $17. The sales clerk asked us if we were setting up a compost bin "because fishermen never ask for worms by the pound."

STEP 5: Prepare bedding. We used eight pounds of shredded newspaper for our size of container. You need three pounds of bedding per cubic foot volume of the bin. Appelhof implied that newspaper was the best type of bedding, though you could also use a mixture of newspaper, leaves, manure, and wood chips. Avoid newspaper with colored print.

STEP 6: Wet the bedding. For plastic containers, you need to add water equal to two times the weight of the bedding. So for our container, we added 16 pounds of water. If your container is made of another material besides plastic, add water equal to three times the weight of the bedding. (Plastic bins tend to accumulate more water over time.)

STEP 7: Add one or two handfuls of soil. Mix well.

STEP 8: Add the worms on top of the bedding. Leave the lights on in the room, and the worms will move into the bedding within an hour. If any are left on the surface, remove them.

STEP 9: Feed your worms by digging a hole big enough for the amount of food you're going to add. Put the food in the hole and cover with bedding. If you're using a plastic container, add dry shredded bedding to the surface every two or three weeks.

What can you feed your worms?

• vegetables
• fruits
• coffee grinds
• tea leaves
• pulvarized egg shells

Do not feed them too much citrus, meat, bones, feces, and preferably no dairy.


Cost: $10 for the bin + $17 for the worms + FREE newspaper obtained from friends = $27


I'm thinking we're going to need another bin or two for the amount of food waste we produce, but I'm going to experiment with this one for now and see how it goes. Wish us luck!


Related Posts:

• Make Your Own: Body Lotion
• Profiles of the Green and Frugal: Advocates for Health in Action
• Holy Cow! I Unclogged My Own P-Trap
  

Read more...

Make Your Own: Homemade Febreze

I have a five-year-old bottle of Febreze that's starting to get on the low side. Obviously judging by how long I've had it, I don't use Febreze often. But let's face it. There are just some times when you need a quick and easy way to cover up a smell. (Like when your potty training child has an accident and you have guests coming over any minute. I know I'm not the only one who's been there...)

I decided to try making my own Febreze mainly because the ingredients list on the back of the bottle is awfully cryptic: water, alcohol, odor eliminator derived from corn, fragrance. "Odor eliminator derived from corn?" What does that mean? And what kind of fragrance? Natural? Synthetic? I have this thing about only using products when I can identify the ingredients.

I tried googling for homemade deodorizers, but most of the recipes I found involved fabric softener, which I haven't bought since back when I was battling Second Son's eczema (and we haven't missed it). I think you can probably find some eco-friendly fabric softeners, so if you're interested in that recipe, here's a link.

I think a greener solution would be this recipe from my favorite resource, Better Basics for the Home:

8 drops lavendar oil
4 drops each bergamot and clove oil
2 drops oil of peppermint
1/2 cup vodka
1/2 cup distilled water

Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle and shake well. Spritz into the air four or five times in areas you feel need freshening, being careful to avoid your eyes when spraying.

Other Resources

:: Best Green Home Tips uses the same recipe but with alternate essential oil combinations.

:: Darla Shine's Happy Housewives Club has a recipe with the simple combination of lemon juice, baking soda, and water.

:: About My Planet provides a number of suggestions for naturally eliminating odors, including making your own potpourri.


Photo by KitAy

This post was included in the Make It From Scratch Carnival on August 25 at It's Frugal Being Green.

Read more...

Book Review: The Creative Family

The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections

by Amanda Blake Soule

Rating: **1/2


Synopsis:

Amanda Blake Soule never considered herself creative. That is, until she was pregnant with her first child, and she got bit by the knitting bug. Suddenly, she found herself consumed with the passion to create. After her son was born, her creative desire was fueled by the natural creativity she observed in her child - the inherent creativity found in all children. Soule found that her own creativity and the creativity of her children fed into each other. She asserts:

Being creative (in whatever capacity) is important: important to me, because I feel myself to be a more complete person when my creativity is expressed; important to my children, who witness adults growing, sharing, and learning creatively; and important to my family, who grow and connect by creating together.

Soule began sharing her family's creative spirit on her blog, SouleMama, where she posts photos of her family and their projects, particularly sewing and knitting.

In The Creative Family, she continues to share ideas and projects from her own family in four categories: gathering (provide good quality materials in an accessible and inspiring location), playing (encourage opportunities for imaginative play and set aside times to be creative), living (find inspiration in nature and family rituals), and connecting (creatively celebrate family traditions and holidays).

These four sections are peppered with projects to stretch your family's creativity, including making a child's pants out of the sleeves of an old adult's shirt; teaching your child simple embroidery, sewing, and knitting; building homes for fairies; and sewing birthday crowns and garlands.

My Opinion

We drove the 1200 miles to Kentucky and back again this week, and I zoomed through this book on the long car ride. When I finished, my opinion of it was a casual shrug. It was okay. It wasn't the best parenting/education type of book I'd ever read, few of Soule's ideas were original or inspiring, and I had some criticisms. But overall, it was an okay book.

Then I visited her blog, and my opinion dropped down another half a star. The photos on her blog are gorgeous. Where were those photos in the book! And her sewing and crafting ideas on the blog are original and inspiring. Where are those ideas in the book?

I can only guess that she wrote the book before her photography improved and that she was targeting it at a beginner audience. Also, when she wrote the book, she had three children under five years old - meaning she was actually fairly inexperienced at creative living and parenting.

That last factor is probably the main reason I wasn't thrilled with this book - although I don't exercise my own creativity as much as I could, my children are already very creative. They are amazingly talented artists, they have a band called The Banders and have written some of their own songs, and they are developing a series of comic books starring their imaginary heroes Crack-a-Man and Gogog.

I don't need someone to tell me how to encourage imagination in a five-year-old. What I would like (and what I was hoping to get from this book) is someone who can show me how to preserve their natural creativity as they grow older.

Having said that, Soule did provide a few ideas that have stuck with me:

• Soule comes from the school of parenting that prefers natural, homemade toys to the plastic, electronic kind most children play with nowadays. However, her reason surprised me. Besides the common belief that simple toys encourage more imaginative play, Soule believes that providing your children with toys made from natural materials is another way to encourage a connection to the earth. She encourages letting your children play with wooden toys, fabric toys (or just fabric, yarn, and string), and "found" items such as rocks, shells, acorns, and pinecones. She also encourages using natural materials (like wool and cotton as opposed to polyester) in your children's art and sewing for the same reason.
  

• I enjoyed some of Soule's ideas for developing a child's love of nature by bringing nature into the home. We've long had a rule in our family - "no rocks or sticks in the house!" But Soule encourages her children to bring rocks and sticks into the house and even sets aside a table for them to display their rocks and shells and leaves. She also puts a "seasons tree" on the table - an empty branch from which they hang various ornaments depending on the season.

• Another intriguing idea from this book is the concept of craftivism, or activism in social justice or environmentalism through crafting. For example, sewing blankets or knitting caps for children in need. I'm not a crafty enough person to want to be a craftivist, but it's an interesting idea.

• Finally, I think this book is worth picking up just for the resources section. Besides providing a great list of other books about crafting and creating with children, she also includes a list of websites where you can find natural art supplies and materials.

As a final note, if you're really looking for ideas for creative projects to do with your kids, I think the best resources on that subject are any of the books by MaryAnn F. Kohl. My favorites are Preschool Art and Making Make Believe.

Up next on my reading list...Common Wealth by Jeffrey Sachs.


Related Posts:

• Do It Yourself, But Do What You Enjoy
• Make Your Own: Sea Salt Scrub
• Book Review: Children's Books
  

Read more...

The Easiest Yummiest Granola Recipe Ever

This post is part of Thrifty Green Thursday at the Green Baby Guide.

My family eats granola for breakfast a couple times a week. We also have muffins a couple times, oatmeal at least once, and cold cereal (the really bad for you kind) on the weekends.

By my calculations, cold cereal is actually the cheapest of all of our breakfast options. I know that's counter-intuitive. Cereal has a reputation for being super expensive, and everybody says making food from scratch is cheap. But I never buy cereal unless it's less than $2 a box, even if that means we only get the not as good store brand kind. Some people I know use coupons and never pay more than $0.50 a box.

So why do we eat granola instead of cold cereal if it means paying more? Let me count the ways...

1. It's healthier. Granola contains 4 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein per serving compared to 1 or 2 grams of each in a typical box of cereal. Not to mention that granola contains no partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, artificial flavors, or food dyes.
2. I can obtain some of the ingredients locally, particularly honey.
   
3. It's made with simple ingredients that I can keep in my food storage rotation.

The following recipe is a simplification of a number of granola recipes that I've seen. I keep the recipe simple so my picky kids can customize it to their own tastes. One person can add a banana, another raisins and peanuts, another can have theirs plain...everyone's happy!

Easiest Yummiest Granola Ever

SERVINGS: 10
APPROXIMATE COST: $0.40/serving

2/3 cup honey
1 Tbsp. molasses
1/3 cup oil
5 cups oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 tsp. cinnamon

• Mix honey, molasses, and oil in a saucepan. Heat until melted and mixed.
• Combine oats, wheat germ, and cinnamon on a large baking pan.
• Pour honey mixture over dry mixture and mix well.
• Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Stir and cook for about 5 more minutes.
• Let cool before eating.
  

You can also replace the oil with apple juice, but it makes the granola chewier.

How do you like your granola?

Read more...

Holy Cow! I Unclogged My Own P-Trap!

Remember that post where I said I wasn't interested in learning any plumbing skills?

Well, apparently what I meant to say was that I wasn't interested in learning any plumbing skills unless I was seriously annoyed at my drain and my husband wasn't home to fix it.

Since we're in an apartment, the easy thing to do would have been to call the landlord. Afterall, that's the main advantage of living in an apartment, right? You don't have to fix your own problems...But they wouldn't have gotten to it until who knows when, and that just wasn't going to work for the bathroom sink used by my three boys since nothing was going down.

Concerned that one of the boys would leave the water running too long and I'd end up with a flood in the bathroom, I decided to tackle the problem.

STEP ONE: Find the plunger.

Hmmm, I think we left it in Maryland.

STEP TWO: Try unclogging the drain without harsh chemicals.

I went with the old vinegar and baking soda trick. I got a pretty nifty volcano, but the sink still wasn't draining.

STEP THREE: Unclog by hand.

By this time I was ready for extreme measures, so I went to the Internet. In detailed instruction, here is how to unclog your bathroom sink by hand.

In less detailed instruction, here is how I did it. And I'm pretty sure I didn't mess anything up.

1. Remove everything from under your sink and change into scrubby clothes. This is a dirty job.
2. Grab a bucket and some rags. Put the bucket under the pipes under the sink.
   
3. Turn off the water using the water shut-off valves.
   
4. Unscrew the pieces of the P-trap, the curved part of the drain. The pieces are surprisingly easy to unscrew by hand. Lay each piece on a rag to the side.
5. The instructions I read said you should stuff a rag into the pipe that disappears into the wall to avoid inhaling any methane. This seemed like a smart idea, so I made sure I did that.
6. Once all the pieces of the P-trap are removed, you should be able to identify where your clog is.
7. Using a long screwdriver, force a paper towel through the pieces of pipe to remove any clogs and other nasties.
8. Reassemble the P-trap, making sure you screw everything together snugly.
9. Test your work by turning on the pipes.

And voila! Thirty minutes of easy work, no harsh chemicals (or if you skip the baking soda/vinegar step, no chemicals at all), and you have a workable sink again.

Now I've got to figure out how to make sure it doesn't get clogged again. Any suggestions?

Read more...

Do It Yourself, But Do What You Enjoy

There's the implication on many eco-blogs that "do it yourself" and "homemade" is the answer to all environmental conundrums. They talk about do it yourself projects with a sense of deep satisfaction, as if learning to make your own cheese will lead to life contentment.

I enjoy do it yourself projects. I really, really do. I like the feeling of independence and pride I get from making my own, and I like the savings. But there are actually very few things I do myself. And there are many things that I could do myself, but I choose not to.

For example:

• The other day I made my own tortillas. I enjoyed it, like I always enjoy cooking from scratch. But will I do it on a regular basis? Uh, uh. Not a chance. Even though buying tortillas means excess plastic waste. Even though there are probably some suspect ingredients in my preferred brand of tortillas. The thing is, we eat a lot of burritos around here because they are so exceptionally convenient. I can get burritos on the table in ten minutes if I use store bought tortillas. I'm already making my own bread, muffins, pitas, and granola. Homemade tortillas just don't fit into my schedule.
• I buy Charlie's Soap laundry detergent powder and Seventh Generation dishwasher powder. In theory, I could make my own, but I choose not to. When I've crunched the numbers, the savings have been minimal, and both of those products work well for me. Plus, I'm supporting two companies whose values I appreciate, and I'm sending a message to the economic market that I want to see more companies and products like Charlie's Soap and Seventh Generation.
• I would like to learn some basic carpentry skills, but I have absolutely no interest in learning plumbing or electrical wiring. Even if it meant I would save money that I could then spend on locally made organic cotton jeans, those are just not skills that I want to acquire.
• The Mitchum anti-perspirant that my super-sweaty husband prefers does not rate too bad on Skin Deep. I would prefer that he use a cheap homemade version, or even a brand made by a company I like. But he sweats a lot, and Mitchum keeps him from stinking. Plus, I can get it at Kroger, so it's convenient.

When Clorox first came out with their GreenWorks line of cleaners, I was annoyed that people would choose to support Clorox rather than spend the two minutes it takes to mix up some baking soda, borax, and water. But since then, I've come to realize that I can't expect everyone to make the exact same choices I do.

The average person is not going to do most things themselves. The average person is not going to start shopping at Whole Foods or another health foods store. And the average person is not going to plop down more money for a Seventh Generation product when they can buy Clorox GreenWorks at their local Walmart.

This is not a race to see who can singlehandedly save the planet through their self-sufficiency. This is not even a race to see who can be the most green. We're all in this together, and unless we all make it to the other side, none of us win.

So my point is, be as green as you possibly can, but do it your way. Be conscious about your choices, but be green in a way that makes you happy. Do it yourself, but do what you enjoy.

Read more...

Make Your Own: Sea Salt Scrub

A friend of mine gave me a jar of some fancy sea salt scrub after Third Son was born, and I looooved how silky smooth my skin felt when I used it. But I did not love the price tag (about $20 for a 16 oz. container).

The homemade version is significantly cheaper than the kind my friend gave me, but it's still not super cheap (about $5 by my calculations for 1 cup sea salt plus 1/2 cup olive oil). This is more of an indulge yourself kind of recipe, and would also make great gifts.


The basic recipe is 2 parts sea salt to 1 part oil plus 20-30 drops of essential oil. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Store in a glass jar with a lid.

To use, scoop a small amount into your hand and gently rub onto your body. Rinse in the shower or bath.

Use whatever kind of oil is best for your skin type. Some good choices are olive oil, grapeseed oil, and almond oil. The essential oils are mostly for scent, so use whatever combination you like. Lavender is a good choice because of its relaxing quality.

Here are some sample formulations:

Body Polish recipes from Eden Foods

Salt and Sugar Scrubs

Read more...

Make Your Own: Pitas and Pizza Crust

My bread recipe makes four loaves at a time. I like using a large recipe because I can keep my freezer stocked with bread, so there's rarely a time that we don't have bread in the house. But some weeks, the freezer's already full, so I only make a couple loaves and use the rest of the dough to make pitas or pizza crust.

Pitas

Homemade pitas taste sooooo much better than store bought, and it's pretty cool to open the oven and see the dough all poofed up. I'm not an expert pita maker, but I have about a 90% success rate for each batch. Besides, even the failed pitas (the ones that didn't puff up and don't have a pocket) taste really good.

After the first rise, divide one or two loaves into 12 pieces each and let them rest for 15 minutes while the oven preheats to 475 degrees. Roll each piece into a circle less than 1/4 inch thick. Don't roll too hard or the pitas won't puff up. Place on a baking sheet and bake for three minutes on the bottom rack of the oven.



Pizza Crust

Pizza is an easy option for dinner on the day I'm making bread. I follow my bread recipe exactly, but after the second rise, I roll one of the loaves out onto a pizza pan and bake it for about 10 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven while the rest of the bread is cooking. Then I take it out of the oven, add pizza toppings, and slide it back into the oven for about 10 more minutes.

This method makes a very thick crust. If you prefer a thinner crust, you could just use less dough - maybe dividing one of the loaves in half and using the halves to make two crusts. I haven't tried this, though, because I like my homemade pizza dough thick.

Read more...

Make Your Own: Body Lotion

I have very dry sensitive skin, so winter for me is the season of constantly putting on lotion. This recipe is the best homemade lotion I've found for my skin. It soaks into the skin and makes my hands feel moisturized instead of coated with oil like other homemade lotions I've tried. And the best part is the cost! It's made from all organic ingredients but only cost me a couple dollars to make.

Basic Glycerin Lotion Formula
(from Better Basics for the Home)

1/2 c. distilled water
1/2 c. organic aloe vera gel
2 tsp. vegetable glycerin
2 tsp. organic avocado oil
10-20 drops essential oil of your choice

Combine the ingredients in a bowl, and mix with a hand mixer or whisk. Dab some on your fingers and massage into your skin.

Read more...