Coloring Easter Eggs

 

Coloring Easter Eggs Naturally: Create a New Easter Tradion

I heard about Coloring Easter Eggs naturally years ago, but the rumors scared me away.  I should have known better than to believe everything I hear, but reading things like, “If you dye your eggs with chopped beets, your eggs will taste like beets,” is clearly not a motivator.  Beet flavored eggs?

Then a few years later I saw natural dying instructions from Martha Stewart (who would never eat eggs tasting of beets, I reasoned).   I decided to give it a try.  I have dyed eggs naturally ever since and even experimented with different color “recipes” for the best look.  It is really quite easy and you don’t even need a food processor for chopping.

In fact, coloring eggs naturally isn’t much harder than using commercial dyes and the whole family can get involved.  Below you will find the the basic instructions and variations for coloring Easter Eggs Pink, Blue, Yellow, and every combination those colors combine to make..

Instructions for Coloring Easter Eggs

Coloring Easter Eggs Pink

• Slice one beet and discard the ends
• Place the slices in a small saucepan and cover shallowly with water.
• Bring the water to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
• Let cool then strain liquid into a coffee cup.
• Add 1 T of vinegar.
• Place a hard cooked egg into the dye and let it sit until colored.

Coloring Easter Eggs Blue

Blue dye can be made the same way except you use a small to medium red cabbage instead of a beet. Quarter the cabbage, discard the core, cover with water and boil for 30 minutes, then strain.

Coloring Easter Eggs Yellow

Yellow can be made by boiling a teaspoon of turmeric for a few minutes then straining through a paper towel.

Addition Color Options

Once you have pink, yellow and blue, you can make any color you want.  Simply color an egg then re-dip it in a second color to make a new one.  A yellow egg placed briefly in blue will turn green.  Add a pink egg to blue dye to turn it purple, and so on.

Note: With this natural process, some variation is normal.  This year everything worked perfectly but one year my pink beet dye turned our eggs brown.  We had fun anyway!

No matter what, my eggs have always tasted great.  And it feels good to have a green Easter–in more ways than one!

Coloring Easter Eggs Naturally, Come back and share your experience?

 

Homemade Furniture Polish

Homemade Furniture Polish

This homemade furniture polish recipe is so simple you’ll wonder why you haven’t always been caring for your wood this way!
It is made with two simple ingredients I am willing to bet you already have on hand. Olive Oil & Lemon Juice.

Traditional wood polishes have a lemon scent, but one look at the ingredients and you may reconsider spraying it in your home. Household cleaners are a leading cause of Indoor Air Pollution.

This homemade furniture polish recipe will leave you with nothing but a natural lemon fresh scent and well conditioned wood.

Homemade Furniture Polish Recipe

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice – or about the juice from one lemon

If using fresh lemons – remove the seeds and squeeze into the olive oil
Combine both ingredients in a small dish.
Use a clean rag to disperse the polish evenly around your wood.

A Simple Way to Care For Your Wood

It’s worth noting this homemade furniture polish works best on wood that needs to be conditioned. If you have furniture that is finished with a shellac – dust with a damp cloth… no polish required.

Done. It’s that simple to make your own homemade furniture polish.

Benefits of LED Lighting

LED Lighting ~ even in the summer

 

I don’t know about your home, but in mine the debate over the benefits of LED lighting is often a topic of interest. After watching this fun video, I knew I had to share it here:

Benefits of LED Lighting

 

Some other things the LED Lighting Mavens would like you to know:

This is a guest post by LED Mavens – A company specializing in green lighting for home.

LED lights have been around since the 1960′s. Until recent times, they were usually just seen in items such as alarm clocks and battery level indicators in our video cameras. LED lamps were unfathomable until about eighteen years ago when the technology of LED had a major breakthrough. Since that technological feat, LED light has evolved rather quickly and is being adapted for uses in many things, such as for illuminating pools and also for reading lights. The use of LED light will result in major energy savings. This may completely alter the way we think about lighting.

Previously, LED’s have not been used as sources of light because they didn’t produce white light. The only available LED colors were red, green and yellow. In 1993, Nichia Chemical of Japan changed that. Nichia Chemical began to blue LED’s. When they combined the blue with red and green, this produced white light. This forever changed the technology of LED lighting. Consequently, LED technology has been swift.

The Department of Energy states that LED lighting could cut national energy consumption for lighting down to 29% by the year 2025. U.S. household savings on electric bills until then is estimated to be $125 billion.
Although the savings are massive, LED’s also have many other advantages. LED’s last up to 50,000 hours. That is 50 times longer than a 60 watt light bulb lasts. This would compare to approximately six years longer if kept running on a constant basis. That is impressive, however, that is just for indoor illumination. Some outdoor lights are designed to last even longer. Outdoor lights can last as long as 100,000 to 150,000 hours. This makes LED lighting an excellent choice for businesses that find changing light bulbs difficult or expensive. For instance, hotels with large swimming pools and businesses where traditional lighting is placed very high benefit greatly by switching to LED’s.

LED’s are becoming much more prominent in mainstream America. Usually, we see them on street lights, car headlights, traffic lights, flashlights, and, of course, in light bulbs. LED lighting is currently being used in broadcast television and in motion pictures as well. One single light has the ability to generate an assortment of colors, disregarding the use for filters, and coupled with the low operation costs, LED’s are becoming the new standard in the film industry. Not only do LED’s cost less to operate, they also emit less heat, so actors and film crews find LED lighting a much cooler alternative to work with.

By changing light bulbs to low energy LED’s, one half ton of carbon dioxide will be out of the atmosphere through one life cycle. Changing that one light bulb to an LED bulb will also keep the sulfur oxide and nuclear waste to minimum levels in landfills and in the environment. If consumers switched out one traditional light bulb for an LED light bulb in every home throughout the United States, the environmental concerns being debated in recent years can begin to be addressed around the United States as well as globally.

Understandably, LED lighting is being touted as the best long-term solution for our homes and for many of our outdoor lighting needs. LED lighting has environmental benefits and energy efficiency which certainly make LED’s a worthwhile effort.

Have you made the switch to LED lighting – what are your thoughts?

Eco Friendly Pet Shampoo Recipe

 

 

 

 

 

 

When our black lab, Bear, showed up at the back door full of mud the first thing I did was go in search of an eco friendly pet shampoo recipe. Sure my husband was ready to grab the nearest fido cleanser he could get his hands on but I wasn’t going to allow any chemicals on our furry friend.

 

 

Naturally, I made the phone call to Tania:

Do you have a pet shampoo recipe you recommend?

 

You know she did!

Pure Natural Diva’s Eco Friendly Pet Shampoo Recipe:

2 Cups Water
2 Teaspoons of Unscented Castile Soap
2 Tablespoons Aloe Vera Gel
2 Tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Vegetable Glycerin or Vegetable Oil
Lavender or Lemongrass Essential Oil

{mix & store in a handy bottle}

While many of you may be thinking:

“sure April, but I don’t have the time to mix my own pet shampoo recipe“,

don’t worry ~ I did a simple Amazon search for “eco friendly pet shampoo” and found:

• Vermont Soap Organics Pet Shampoo
• Earthbath All Natural Shampoo
• Organically Correct Dog & Cat Protein Shampoo

Now if I can just convince someone to take on the chore of using the pet shampoo recipe! Bear sure does love his showers though, especially as the weather changes!

Everyone has their own preference but I am curious:

What is your favorite Pet Shampoo Recipe?

Green Spring Cleaning

 

Eco-friendly green spring cleaning this season

Spring cleaning is all about clearing the air, banishing those last traces of the dismal winter months, welcoming back the sunlight, celebrating the return of the birds, the flowers and of course, all the beautiful green. Spring brings the return of green leaves on the trees and green grass in the fields. Extend that crisp airy green feeling into your home by forgoing traditional chemical-based cleansers and digging into your pantry or refrigerator for all the green spring cleaning tools you need- white vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice.

Great Green Spring Cleaning; Ways to Use Vinegar

White vinegar isn’t just for making salad dressing, it’s also a miracle tool for a myriad of cleaning tasks. The 1001 Uses for White Vinegar site suggests running it through your coffee maker to clean out all those nasty deposits; saturate a towel and wipe down that nasty, accumulated dust on top of your refrigerator, or pour it in a bowl and let it sit overnight to absorb odors in the air.

• To make your windows really sparkle, spray them with white vinegar and wipe down with balled-up newspapers. Don’t worry, the ink wont bleed onto the window pane.
• Add half a cup to your wash cycle to prevent lint from sticking to clothes or add it to the rinse cycle to fluff those wool sweaters.
• Banish fruit flies by leaving a bowl (preferably one you’re not going to use for food) of undiluted vinegar out on the counter or wherever else they appear.
• Unclog a drain by pouring 1 cup baking soda and 1 cup vinegar into it, let it sit for a few minutes, then flush with hot water. Halve the recipe and use it to deodorize your garbage disposal.
• Use undiluted vinegar in a spray bottle to slaughter germs in your toilet, sink and tub in the bathroom.
• Combine with Four Thieves Mix, let steep for 2-4 weeks in a sunny spot and use as a whole-house disinfectant. Bonus- this mixture was used during the Plague years to ward off infection, so you’re covered if the Black Death ever makes a comeback!

Green Spring Cleaning: Ways to Use Baking Soda

Baking soda is also useful for a plethora of spring cleaning tasks. Leave an open box in the fridge or sprinkle in the bottom of the garbage can to eliminate unpleasant odors. Sprinkle some on a damp cloth and use it to clean surfaces, or toss some on the carpet before vacuuming. Baking soda is also a great silver cleaner; make a paste by adding three parts baking soda to one part water, then rub it on your tarnished silver to bring back that shine.

Green Spring Cleaning: Ways to Use Lemons

Lemons and lemon juice require a little more care when using, as they can stain or bleach out certain materials.

• Combine equal parts lemon juice and water in a spray bottle to make a great eco-friendly all-purpose spray, but be sure to test on a small, inconspicuous spot before using.
• Shine your chrome or brass fixtures by mixing lemon juice with baking soda to form a paste, rub onto the fixture, rinse, then wipe with a soft cloth.
• Mix two parts olive oil with one part lemon juice to make an eco-friendly furniture polish.

Before you head off to buff and shine your home with these simple green spring cleaning ingredients, check out this great recipe for hardwood floor cleaner from Tania. I hope you enjoy green spring cleaning the eco-friendly way! For those, like me, who aren’t fans of cleaning, at least it only comes once a year.

Do you have any green spring cleaning tips to share?

Going Soy Free

 

My Journey to Going Soy Free

I’ve been at my computer all day trying to write a witty post that held the ultimate list of things to do to transform yourself into an Eco Diva. Five tips for this, 7 steps to that. Every attempt fell flat. It wasn’t portraying what I want in terms Eco-Diva -ness. Being an Eco-Diva is more than a collection of checklists and tips. It’s more than 4 steps to a better kitchen or 7 ways to improve your cleaning or eating or yard or whatever. Lists are great but…True divas immerse themselves in their passion. Why would it be any different for an Eco-Diva? Being green means you’ve made a philosophical shift. You’ve decided that the status quo of the way you and your family walk through this life must change. Once you’ve made that decision, the actions permeate in all areas of your life.

My transformational eco-moment came when my, then 5 month old, daughter was diagnosed with a soy allergy. Since she was breastfed, that meant I had to be soy free. How hard could that be? No tofu or soy sauce, right? Take a moment to go to your cupboard and look at the labels of every cracker, granola bar, salad dressing, cake mix, frozen meal, and everything else in a package and you will see things like soy lecithin, soy protein, soybean oil. It was everywhere. This suddenly made us incredibly aware of what we were eating mindlessly.

Would going soy free be hard for you?

 

We quickly realized that soy tended to also be accompanied by all the other additives and preservatives. Suddenly we weren’t consuming any of those chemicals. But we also had very little in our pantry. What was left to eat? We found ourselves jet propelled into the arena of whole foods. If we wanted bread, we had to make it. If we wanted a pizza, we had to make it. If we wanted salad dressing…well, you get the idea.

We became so attuned to labels and questioning our food, it was a natural leap to start wondering about our ingredients. Where did the wheat come from that we were using to bake our bread? We live in the wheat belt of Canada and were shocked to discover our flour wasn’t local. So we went directly to some farmers and asked how to get the grain we saw in the field near our house into our kitchen. We spent time at the farmers’ market and learned about organic vegetables. We began freezing them for the winter, and then canning them, too. Once we realized how much time and energy went into producing a jar of tomatoes, we addressed many energy leaks in our own life and recognized the need to grow way more of our own food. We starting reading books and changing our habits like unplugging the coffee pot instead of leaving it plugged in (unplug it to truly stop the power supply).

 

And so it went… suddenly, we were making most of our food from scratch with ingredients whose source we could identify. We’d supported our local farmers but also turned our lawn into our own garden. We’d sourced humane, antibiotic-free meat directly from the farms. We then ate less meat. We rid our home of cleaners and other toxic materials. We started composting. We stopped getting plastic bags at the store. We turned the computers off. We turned the water heater down. We got a programmable thermostat.

We had BECOME green. Being eco-smart is at the core of our family, our daily living, our philosophy. Our world needs you to be eco-smart too. Our health and our earth’s health can wait no longer for ‘someone else’ to do something. We must each take saving the world into our own hands. Do you have to be as hard core as me in your quest for Eco-Diva -ness? No, an Eco-Diva takes action with purpose and passion.  Choose something to do, to green your patch of the world, then choose another and then another and proudly proclaim yourself an Eco-Diva.

Jodi Lee

As a human ecologist by trade and and eco-warrior by passion, Jodi is determined to protect her patch of the world. She believes we can all participate in creating a more sustainable, healthy, and beautiful world one green step at a time.

 

Share your Journey to Going Soy Free

Better Back to School – Tips For a Greener School Year

It’s that time of year again.

Parents everywhere are preparing to send their children back to school. In the US they are expected to spend 18 Billion dollars on back to school, an average of 563.49 per family with school aged children. Buying power like this can be influential. If parents make greener purchases, manufacturer’s will respond.

Some green these choices may be cost a little more, but many will actually save you money! Our children watch everything we do, so making green choices is a teaching opportunity too.

LUNCHES

*Be sure to label your water bottles – they are pricier – so you’ll want a chance at getting them back if they get left behind!

School lunches are the second largest source of school waste (first is office paper) – 2.7 Billion juice boxes alone.  If every family in the US sent their child with a waste free lunch, we would save 3.5 Billion Pounds of trash from going to our landfills or being incinerated.

The good news is that this is an area where you will save money, on average, almost $250 per year per child. If you work on one thing this back to school, make it your goal to send your child to school with waste free lunches. For more information check out www.wastefreelunches.org. Vow to stop buying prepackaged lunches and individual sized “convenience” packaging. I know it’s a little easier, but the alternative doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You just need a system.

Tips:

* Prepare lunches the night before, so you aren’t in a rush during the morning.
* Buy reusable beverage containers and fill with water, milk or juice (it really is best to skip the juice).
* Buy healthy snacks in larger packages and use reusable containers to send them in lunches – I keep a stack of containers in the pantry next to the items to be packed so they can be gathered together quickly.
* Wash and prepare fruit and vegetable snacks once for the whole week, then just pull what you need into a container when preparing lunches.
* Use insulated metal containers for leftover pastas, soups or other warm lunches – bonus using leftovers reduces waste saving money and the children get a warm lunch too.
* Use sandwich containers for… uh… oh yeah… Sandwiches. They don’t have to go in plastic wrap!
* Read my posts on plastics so that you understand the numbers and can choose carefully or better yet, avoid entirely. Safest way to use plastics, understanding the plastic numbering system.

Look for a great selection of everything you need to pack waste free lunches at www.reuseablebags.com.

As a bonus – lunches can be much healthier when you pack them yourself and avoid prepackaged options – you don’t even want to know all the %*# they put in pre-packaged food!

Note – we only use plastic for dry snacks & sandwiches – not for items that need to be reheated.

If I could do it again I would select stainless steel containers!

SCHOOL SUPPLIES

* When shopping for paper products look beyond the recycle symbol – Ideally you want a product that contains 100% post consumer waste.
* Avoid Binders and other products made with PVC’s.
* Look for products made with recycled material, scissors, pencils, notebooks – these days it’s all available.

Buy School Supplies from eco friendly companies like:

Treesmart – they make both Plain and colored Pencils with 100% recycled newsprint they also make pens and rulers out of recycled content, shipping is included in their pricing.

Sustainable Group – they make school and office supplies out of 100% post consumer content and have a great corporate ethics – their back to school kit is $39.99 with shipping.

Product review and Giveaway coming soon from both Treesmart & Sustainable Group!

Avoid products that look cool on the surface, but dig a little deeper and the romance ends. Products like Smencils that are made of recycled newspaper, but are scented (scents are largely unregulated and can contain toxins) and the pencils are packaged in plastic tubes creating more waste.

Coming Soon:
Better Back to School – Clothing and Shoes

Earth Day Money Saving Eco Friendly Tips

For Earth Day – I decided to put together a few of my favorite green money saving tips.

You’ve switched out your florescent light bulbs, sealed your drafty windows and bought energy efficient appliances when you updated your kitchen.  What else can you do?  Well the truth is there are countless things you can do.

Paperless Paper Towels

Create a paperless paper towel system – it costs very little to set up and will save many dollars over the course of a year!

Foaming Hand Soap

Make your own foaming hand soap – with hand soap ringing in at $3-5 per bottle – it doesn’t take long for this to pay off – readers will benefit by having a triclosan free hand wash – not using, disposing, transporting and manufacturing of about 50 containers per year and they will save about $180 a year.  Multiply that by the size of your community and you get the idea of the impact this small step would have if every family did this!

Waste Free Lunches

Pack Waste Free Lunches – Send your children to school with waste free lunches and if this seems overwhelming for you to go waste free for your own lunches, take baby steps.  Start with a goal of 2 lunches per week and build from there!

Bonus – BYOB

Bring Your Own Bottle – If you aren’t already doing this – why not?  It’s easy, good for the environment and you’ll save money too!  Don’t like the stainless – try glass.  They are heavier to carry, but extremely durable (think – bounce off concrete) and dishwasher safe.

I selected these things because they require very little investment, and have a quick payback.  Once you get in the habit you’ll be saving a little green and living a little greener.

Nothing on this list is monumental – they are all little things.  Little things that added together and multiplied can grow into a meaningful difference.

Bottled Water: Save Real Green

I’ve already written an article on why using a water filter is one of your best options for safe drinking water.  You may not be worried about the environmental impact of bottled water, that daily 60 million wattle bottles end up landfills – you’re just thirsty and want a drink of water. Let me appeal to the bottom line.

In this economy people are watching their budgets.

Let’s examine how much an average family of 4 is likely to spend annually on drinking water:
$ 200 – Using a water filtration system.
$ 520 – Home water cooler delivery.
$ 528 – 2 Gallon Jugs
$ 1755 – Drinking 3 bottles of water a day at a cost of .40 per bottle, 4 person family.

There are many cost variations. Clearly the brand you buy, how much you pay per bottle, how many bottles you drink each day… all of these factors will impact your annual cost. Use this link figure out how much your family is actually spending, this link also provided me figures that I used for the above calculations.

If you rent don’t despair, there are many portable water filtration systems available in the marketplace.

In some ways it is less convenient to use stainless steel, you have to keep the bottles clean, round them up, fill them up… but I’ve never been a fan of lugging heavy flats of water!

An average family of 4 can save $1555 per year eliminating bottled water. Add the dollar savings to the environmental impact of bottling plants, trucking, refrigeration, not to mention disposing of billions of bottles a year and perhaps you will reconsider grabbing that next plastic bottle of water.

CLICK HERE to see the great selection of stainless steel water bottles available at Amazon.

Drowning In Junk Mail

 

 

 

Is You Mailbox Full Of Junk Mail?

We  all get so much junk mail! It’s such a waste – ending up right directly in the recycling in our home.

How Many Trees Does It take to Produce Junk Mail

Did you know It takes 53 million trees to make the 19 billion catalogs that are sent every year?

Don’t despair – with a few simple steps stem the flow of junk mail to your mailbox and get OFF the dreaded mailing lists that are causing the flow.

It will take about 15 minutes to fill out a few online forms.  These simple steps will  reduce the paper invasion to your home and help stop junk mail!

When filling out the forms – Don’t forget to remove both yourself and your spouse or significant other.

Direct Marketing Association

The Direct Marketing Association will put your name on a “do not mail” list, which all its members must cross-reference before sending you a solicitation. This site represents marketers, so they will get you to jump through a hoop or two. In addition for companies that you have done business with, you will need to contact them directly.

If you are worried about missing special offers, you can always open an email account just for “junk mail”.

Another tip for special offers -  google a vendor before completing a purchase – often you’ll find all there current special offers.

https://www.dmachoice.org

Consumer Credit Reporting Industry

The Consumer Credit Reporting Industry will remove your name from the mailing lists that credit card companies use to send out offers. You will have to provide your SS information, so I went to a few sites that I trusted before I was comfortable proceeding – you can’t be too careful.

https://www.optoutprescreen.com

Phone Books

If you aren’t using them – why receive them. They are bulking take up space and use a lot of paper.

This organization will contact all phone book companies in your area and remove you from their lists!

YellowPagesGoesGreen.org

Or the number for individual companies using the following information:

AT&T  1-866-329-7118

Superpages 1-800-888-8448

Yellow book has made it easy – go to http://corporate.yellowbook.com/products/print-directory-options-opt-out/

When calling to cancel your phone book be sure to tell them they don’t need to call you annually to confirm you still don’t want the phone book! They actually said if they call and don’t reach you, they will resume regular delivery! But after a short conversation the representative was able to set it up so that we receive no phone calls and no phone books. Beautiful!

Online Bill Pay

You can also set up many of your bills to be paperless and to pay them online – if you’re worried about missing an important bill you can always set up an email account to be used exclusively for bills.

If there is a “Stop Junk Mail” resource we have missed, please let us know!

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