It's not easy being green, or is it?

Sometimes it's about paying attention to our actions, sometimes it's just about saving money. It's even better when it's both.


I live in a big house. Not exactly a suburban McMansion because it's much better planned out than that but it's still a lot of square footage. So we do lots of little things to keep costs down. Thermal drapes, efficient light bulbs, and keeping unused rooms doors closed are just a few things that keep our electric, heating and cooling under control. There is radiant heat and a whole house fan the former not quite as efficient as it was when we first started building as propane costs rose. Still for a 4 thousand square foot house, our electric bill is rarely over $150 and thats with seven people living here and a water pump that also uses electricity.

It irks me that I pay sewer and water taxes when there is no such thing in my area. I have a well and septic. You can then imagine that we are very conscientious about what goes down the drain. This is partly what led me to using natural dyes on my yarn. I don't want harsh things in my water table. This has also led me to making my own laundry soap and household cleaner. It's amazing what vinegar and borax can accomplish and with a little essential oil it smells lot nicer too.

So I want to pass on the laundry soap recipe website and tell you that not only is it a nice clean but it costs a lot less too. Living 30 minutes from a market also means that if you're out there is no quick trip to the store. Making your own means that when you're out you just whip up some more. I will add that I use a liquid Castile soap. My kids have very sensitive skin and Castile is nicer than soap. I remember when C was just a baby and getting a bath in the kitchen sink, a bar of Dove slipped off the edge and into his bath water. His whole body broke out in red itchy blotches. I am not a fan of the Lever company.

http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm

From the same site here is a multiple purpose spray cleaner. The author lists another recipe but I am uncomfortable using ammonia both for it's potential volatile nature and the smell is awful.

All-Purpose Cleaner 

2T vinegar

1 t Borax

Hot water

a few drops of a mild dish detergent

10 drops of essential oil, optional 

In a 16 spray bottle put vinegar, borax and  hot water.  Swish around until borax has dissolved.  Add the drops of dish detergent and fill the rest of the bottle with water.  Add the essential oil (I like using orange or lavender). 

I use baking soda for scrubbing.

I wanted to pass this on. I want to add my voice to all the others out there that are saying no to harsh chemicals, no to spending big money on brand names, and no to adding more crap into our water table. I just need to get the dirt off my farm clothes and I don't need fancy labels, I don't need it to be colored or smell like the great outdoors. It just needs to clean the red dirt out of my clothes.

And one last thing: anything bleach can do peroxide can do. One will kill you if you ingest it and one will not. One is toxic and in some countries is a controlled substance the other turns to water in the sun.

Here Comes The Fall

The leaves are changing, and we've had our first good storm opening the door for all the rest and leaving us with nice wet ground for future burn days. That was the first thing I did after the storm was get rid of the back burn pile. The front one will take a little more effort. It has grown large enough over the summer that I will need to use the skid-loader to pull it apart into smaller bits.

The colder weather has turned everyone's thoughts to keeping warm and the requests for alpaca socks and gloves have started. I must disappoint because I have neither. I have hats, and shawls but no gloves and no socks. I can tell you where to get them!

On the same line with keeping warm is the need for fire wood. The storm spurred everyone into action on the hill and I hear chainsaws around every bend. We are no exception. A good friend loaned us a log splitter and after one intense weekend all the logs that my dad had spent time bucking up were turned into about 6 cords of wood, both oak and pine with extra for next year as well. When they logged, down the hill from us, the logging company brought us all kinds of lovely oak. That was last year and so this year we are truly blessed and it will continue to bless us into next year as well.
Stormy weather? Bring it on!

Last weekend was also the last farmers market in Garden Valley till next year. I will miss all the people that comprise the market and the regular community that congregates there. This last week I brought two alpacas to visit as well. I was surprised at how many of the regular people that I had talked to numerous times seemed to see me in a new light with the critters there. Suddenly my spinning took on whole new meaning. I came away with three new orders. A nice way to end the summer. It is actually what brought me back to the computer to update the blog, my fingers needed to do something different after knitting all day. The boys I brought were very well behaved and both kids and adults were enamored with them.

Some weeks ago a new alpaca came to live with us. "Danarious" or just Danny. He is a young rose gray Suri and I am in love. He is very well handled and easily approachable. His coloring is something special and next springs shearing just cannot come soon enough as far as my spinning wheel is concerned. He fits in nicely with the rest of the herd.

The rest of the goings on here are very standard for this time of year. It's time to wind down the garden, clean up the summer things in preparation for snow, time to think about snow tires and stock up on gas for the generator. This year I'm going to try a cover crop over the garden. I have some winter cereal rye that is supposed to do well in cold climates and help create an insulation layer when it snows to promote good bacteria growth for good soil in the spring. I've never done this before so it will be an interesting experiment. I'm not sure when to start it or if I'm already too late. There are still things to be harvested from the garden and even then I want the chickens to come through and clean up before I put down new seed. For now it has warmed up a bit and I will continue to pull zucchini and tomatoes out until they give up as well. It is probably only a matter of weeks before the first frost. Stay tuned and I'll tell you how it's working. If all goes well, I will have rye for my chickens to snack on. Healthy for them, healthy eggs for me.