a tisket…a tasket…a green and yellow basket…

And then something about sending a letter to someone I love, and losing the thing…and now that I think about it…I don’t think I have ever seen a green and yellow basket…except maybe at Easter.

Anyway, this week I am pondering some more green organizing solutions going on here at the house. (Last week I wrote about organizing with wood.)  Along our journey away from plastic bins, buckets, and boxes, I’ve begun collecting…slowly…baskets. Thrifting one here, rescuing one there, and now, I am even considering making one myself.

Back in the old days, when this blogger was in third grade, and her teacher lived in a teepee, I tried to make my first basket. It was made of raffia and pine needles. (We did a lot in third grade that wasn’t on your main-stream-grade-school syllabus. Plucking a chicken for the boarding students’ dinner and making pine needle baskets were among the off-beat curriculum requirements.) I kind of remember this being a difficult task. Pine needles breaking. Pine pitch on my fingers. My fingers turning black. And never finishing that first basket attempt.

Beside that assignment I never paid baskets much attention when I was a kid. We’d used a deep wire basket hung high up on a nail near the ceiling where the air is warm for ripening fruits. And another round squat wire basket with handles was for collecting fresh eggs from our chicken coop. And now I can’t think of a single other basket we used back then. (I phoned my mom about this lack of basket use in our home, and she informed me ,that she didn’t much like baskets and that kids broke them. That was why we didn’t use many.)

When I entered college and read one of the winter seminars was entitled “Underwater Basket Weaving,” I just laughed. And I started to reach for the plastic. I couldn’t imagine how you’d weave a basket while swimming around under water. When one of my friends took that class, I figured out that only the basket is underwater. Not the weaver.

Fast forward to today. I am finding that baskets that are made of natural materials are difficult to find. Books about making baskets are easy to find. And so are basket making supplies. So maybe when I get up the guts to try making one again, I’ll choose a simple pattern, locate some pruning shears, and give it a go. Until then, I am sticking to uncovering the few and far between hidden treasures at my local thrift shops.

Even in scarce times we are using natural baskets more and more in this house.

This basket bin organizes all those odds and ends that need to be near the telephone. (Because they just don’t have elsewhere to go.)

This old top-hinged picnic basket tucks away my knitting projects and yarn stash.

This is the pre-school green wire grocery shopping basket.

This lovely basket was rescued from our toy-pile and put to work organizing wash clothes in the bathroom.

I believe these were desk filing trays in their former life. Now they beautifully organize my pantry and chest freezer stuffs.

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If you do run into a basket on your next trip yard-saling, thrifting, or sifting through your grandmother’s basement, here are a couple of things to consider before you bring that baby home with you.

• Avoid mildew and mold. Avoid anything with spotty black stuff on it, and avoid the ones that smell musty.
• It must have a sturdy construction. Avoid baskets with missing parts, handles that are frayed, or parts that stick out. You wouldn’t want your farmer’s market beets to roll through the parking lot because your basket busted.
• Eye varied shapes, sizes, and colors. Since you can store tiny kerchiefs in a small basket, as well as a down comforter in one much larger, vary the shape and size of the baskets on your thrift store shopping list.
• Lids are nice. I like ones that close and pretend that the cluttered contents on the inside mean nothing to the serene brown cane exterior.

Baskets made of natural materials can provide sturdy, hide-away organizing. And metal baskets can withstand freezer temperatures as well as the humidity of a steamy bathroom. So, do away with the plastic bins and reach for a basket. Maybe if we continue to use baskets at home my kids will have more fond memories of baskets then I do.

For more ideas about how to make One Small Change to your lifestyle, and read what others are doing to live more sustainably, visit Hip Mountain Mama’s challenge blog!

If you’ve been following along for a bit here in the space, you might remember Suzy from Hip Mountain Mama challenge to other bloggers and those endeavoring to live greener to make One Small Change. The challenge ended in April, but those who began this movement decided to continue on and are still making One Small Change every month to live more sustainably.

September as a pivotal month of change. A change of seasons, a change of schedule, and a change of weather. So I decided this month to be the time to jump back in and share the One Small Change our family is undertaking to live greener. I love organizing my home, so this month I plan to collect and create some greener organizing solutions, and of course share them all here with you.

There is just so much plastic a girl can take I tell you! This blog, Organizing-Life began with my passion for all things in its place. I organized everything really. And all in plastic containers. They are cheap, simple, modular, interchangeable, uniform, and plentiful. Now, as a girl going green, I am thinking about what else can I use to organize our belongings that isn’t going to leach BPAs, phthalates, and other toxins. What do you use to organize your home you ask? Why, natural materials of course! Remember stone, wood, glass, paper, and metal? Ahh, to bring a bit of the earth into our home would be a relief.

This month I plan to share a few of the ways we incorporate organizing solutions made of natural materials into our home. It isn’t easy. I feel like I am on a safari sometimes hunting down organizing containers made of anything other than plastic. I am usually astounded at the prices of these beautifully crafted organizers. Think outside the box, get creative, and thrifty, and make do. And really, it works to help make the home a bit greener.

The first switch we are endeavoring is to get rid of our plastic bowls. I found these very dirty, but very sturdy, wooden bowls the other week at the thrift store. With a little bit of elbow grease, these were revived into working condition and are now part of our collection. In fact, they are the perfect size for popcorn.

• Sand them down. Use coarse sandpaper for wood first (like a #60) and then a fine sandpaper to smooth things out (like #150.)
• Rinse to get rid of the dust, wipe, and let them air dry completely.
• Let them be or seal them with linseed oil and beeswax. (Melt a 1:1 ratio, cool, and wipe on with a clean rag. Wipe off excess with another clean rag and let the piece dry completely. This concoction is food safe.)
• Hand wash these babies. Don’t try to put them through the dishwasher because they’ll dry out and crack.

Where to find it:

• Yard sales, Craigs List, Freecycle, Ebay, rummage sales, thrift stores, your parent’s attic.

How to use it:

• Knick knack drawer
• At the dinner table
• Fill with stones, acorns and pine cones and use as a table centerpiece
• Jewelry catcher on the dresser

We have a lot of plastic bowls. And we are slowly replacing them all with wood, glass, and metal. For food stuffs, it is a small way to keep the plastic out of your food. For the rest of your home, well, wooden bowls are a nice way to bring a bit of the outdoors inside. And we just like to limit the number of plastics we touch daily. (If that is even possible?) The fish Nemo’s friend Dori comes to mind. “Keep on swimming, keep on swimming.” We are just endeavoring to do the best we can in this world made of plastic.

Up next, plastic vs. baskets.

P/S Can I also submit this as an additional Small or rather Large Change? My husband just took a new position with the Department of Energy managing government loan guarantees for renewable energy projects across the country. I am pretty darn proud of him as I too believe that renewable energy sources will pave the way for our continued future energy consumption. As a former poli-sci undergrad, I am a bit taken aback that now we are part of that bureaucratic system. Yikes! All for a good cause perhaps.

P/P/S

Take a peek at what others are doing to live a bit greener at the One Small Change Blog!

P/P/P/S

Can I do that many P’s? For a much better tutorial about how to restore your wooden treasures, visit The Magic Onions blog here.

I decided to jump on then bandwagon and I don’t think I am going to go back.

I decided to go the more natural route a couple months ago. There are so many chemicals in commercial bath and beauty products it makes my head swim thinking about it. And many of them are toxic. If you don’t want to take my word for it, you know the site I always point to, the Cosmetics Database. Go look at what is in your shampoo.

Anyway, since my gluten-full days of yore, I’ve had dry, brittle, dull hair. With flakes. It didn’t look good. I wore it up, back, in a bun just to “hide it.” I figure some of this was my bodily nutrition, (the foods you eat can certainly help your hair look better) and some of it was my beauty routine.

Now, using budget friendly, eco-sensitive, simple baking soda and apple cider vinegar to cleanse and condition my hair, it feels soft, supple, and it shines brilliantly. Not kidding.

I’ve heard this method isn’t for everyone. Some love it, some hate it. But I am a believer and I hold firm. If you’d like to check it out, here are a few of the hundreds of places to visit.

Hip Mountain Mama-Tree Hugging Tuesday No Poo Method

Simple Mom, How to Clean Your Hair Without Shampoo

Babyslime Shampoo Info

Green Phone Booth, No Poo Convert

Building Ordinary No Poo Day 15

Now, I wonder if in the Rodgers and Hammerstein play, South Pacific, the leading lady would have been able to “wash that man right out of [her] hair” with baking soda and vinegar. Doesn’t sound that romantic does it? Maybe we’ll just go for the commercial suds shampoo there.

This year I decided to wrap our gifts in a more sustainable wrapper. A cloth wrapper actually. It is like creating a gigantic napkin out of the pretty printed fabric of your choice. Roll up the edges, and press. Edge stitch. (If you need a napkin sewing refresher, I posted a tutorial here.) Fold the corners around your gift and secure them with a bit of ribbon, or seam binding tape. (I knotted the ends so they wouldn’t unravel.) Presto, quick and easy, and sustainable way to wrap gifts.

When the gifts have been revealed, fold up the fabric (I know you try and save the paper too, so this is the same thing, just less expensive) into a bundle and put it in a small sack for the next time you need to wrap that little surprise.  There is nothing to throw away, and just think of all the beautiful printed fabric choices out there! Infinite I tell you. *Here is to a greener kind of gift giving.*

P/S I don’t think I got one good photo of the gifts all wrapped in their pretty fabric prints. But you get the idea. Ripping off the wrapping, the anticipation, the wonderment, and supreme excitement…*oh wow*! Next time my shutter finger will have to be a bit quicker.

Growing up my parents were always going a bit “greener.” We composted, gardened organic, ate local, bought in bulk, and recycled. I didn’t realize then that living “greener” would make me want to choose a more sustainable lifestyle as an adult. Fast forward to today. Life is a bit more complicated in the dense suburbs. (I just looked this up on Wiki, our suburb measures approximately 3,400 people per square mile. The town where I grew up is approximately 45 people per square mile. I sensed some over-crowding.) And we aren’t able to do all the same green things I did as a kid. Nevertheless, involving the kids in our “green” endeavors is perhaps the best way to show them how to take care of our small planet.

When we were in New Hampshire visiting my parents this past weekend I insisted on taking the kids to “da dump.” I remember this waste transfer station to be this extraordinary place of wonder to a child. We’d pull up into this old shed of sorts. Everyone would get out of the car and guys in jean overalls would help us dump our buckets of tin cans, glass bottles, news papers, and trash bags into their respective spots. Occasionally, we’d have to roll tires to the tire pile. I remember old license plates, antiqued washboards, LPs, and ceramics hung up high on the walls, forever watching the unwanted items come and go. It smelled like stale beer, (or maybe that was our brown glass bucket) and rain water. And it was always an exciting place to visit on Saturdays with Dad.

Da Dump, as it is affectionately called by the locals has changed quite a bit. Now run by volunteers, the town has adopted a Pay As You Throw policy. Trash bags are about $2 each and to minimize the amount you throw there is a place to recycle almost everything there.  My parents (Dad works and Mom stays at home most days) and one dog usually fill a trash bag every three weeks.

Motor oil, cooking oil, papers and cardboard, construction waste, glass, tin, plastics, old windows, mercury light  bulbs, textiles and gently used items can all be recycled. (Some items require a disposal fee which covers the cost to transport it to wherever it is made into something new.) I ran around taking pictures and the kids explored the bails of aluminum cans, old reflectors, and new treasures in the “swap shop.” What kid wouldn’t like a place where there is the opportunity to take home a new game.

The kids already know we recycle #5 plastic containers. And now they have explored how others are recycling and “going green.”

Okay, I love my freezer. If you have been reading this blog for a bit, you probably think I use my freezer like a piggy bank–which I kind of do. It is kind of like my bank for saving leftovers, saving fresh produce, and stashing dishes made-ahead of time which otherwise would be bound for the trash. Reading TipNut.com’s zucchini bread recipes in my Reader, reminded me of another freezer-saver favorite from my childhood: frozen bananas.

My mom would beat out any other sugar police out there, so we stuck to healthy everything with no refined sugar. One of my favorite snacks as a kid was a frozen bananas dipped in yogurt and coconut. In my home, we always have ripe bananas the kids aren’t going to eat, and because I don’t eat them anymore, they head for the trash. But, with this money and time-saving healthy tip, we can start saving our banana money in the freezer! Here is how I make them and some other variations:

1. Select moderately ripe bananas, peel, take off those stringies, and slice in half width-wise.
2. Push a clean round popsicle stick through the cut side of the banana about 1/2 way up the banana. (You can cut a 1/4″ dowel from the hardware store with a kitchen shears into 6″ lengths.)
3. Coat with desired topping.
4. If topping is drippy like melted chocolate: Place banana flat on baking sheet lined with waxed paper, lightly cover with plastic wrap and freeze flat for 4 hours. Then roll each individual frozen banana in waxed paper, twisting ends, and place in Ziploc freezer bag. Label the bag, and place in the freezer for a sweet and yummy frozen snack.
5. If topping is dry like toasted coconut: Roll each individual frozen banana in waxed paper, twising ends, and place in Ziploc freezer bag. Label the bag, and place in the freezer for a quick, refreshing money-saving snack.

Suggested toppings:

1. Plain yogurt and toasted coconut or granola
2. Fruit flavored yogurt and mini chocolate chips or chopped nuts
3. Peanut butter – can get messy
4. Melted chocolate (white chocolate is yummy)
5. Berry or fruit puree
6. Caramel (melt caramels, or make your own, place bananas on baking sheet lined with waxed paper and drizzle caramel on with a fork.)

I hope these inspire a chilly snack to cool off your summer days! For more Save Your Money in Your Freezer posts visit here and here. For a printable Save Your $$ In Your Freezer download it here.

Saturday we needed to pick up our meat order. Back in March we ordered almost 200 pounds of grass-fed beef and pork from a local farmer. Since driving an hour to the butcher and then driving another hour to come home right away didn’t seem like fun, we decided to take a side trip and visit the farm and pick the first peaches of the season.

Hollin Farm in Delaplane, Virginia is a wonderful farm. The Hollin family raises beef and pork, as well as tends their peach orchard, berry bushes and vegetable gardens. They sell their grass-fed meats in bulk, and their produce is all pick-your-own.

The landscape view was tremendously beautiful.

We are going to have to return another time for the blackberries…sadly, they weren’t quite ripe…the bushes were taller than I am! Blackberry jam…yumm.

The kids had such fun touching those peaches hanging on each tree. Really an entirely different experience than seeing them stacked in the grocery store, or sliding out of a can. I asked Tyler what was on the trees and he exclaimed, “PEACHES! I LOVE PEACHES!”

We ended up picking two bags full. That is about how long a toddler’s attention will last. We gave one bag to my in-laws with a disclaimer that the toddler-touched-fruit could be a bit bruised. Little Miss liked to drag her bag along the ground after her as she romped around the orchard.

We stopped in Stephens City at the butcher, Gore Meats. This family business has been working for generations butchering and preparing meats for sale. We get to pick up our order neatly packaged and labeled, and frozen.

After loading up three Igloo coolers we were on our way.

As parents we really enjoyed sharing with our children where their food comes from. My son must think that the behind the grocery store doors is where food magically appears. He and my daughter were both amazed that food does indeed grow on trees. The peaches were juicy enough for even my most picky eater to enjoy.

P.S. I didn’t get to take a picture of the steaks we grilled for the 4th. I believe we will be doing more grilling in the coming weeks and I’ll leave a note here on the blog about how our meats turned out. As for the Independence day rib steaks, second to none! Happy belated 4th everyone.

So was I successful?

Mostly.

Here is what I was aiming to replace.

• toothpaste, mouthwash
• shampoo, conditioner, body wash, facial cleanser
• shaving cream
• body lotion, body oil, moisturizer,
• facial moisturizer, toner, and lip balm

I ended up making and trying all the items I use except mouthwash. I ended up liking and now continue to use:

• shampoo
• body wash
• body lotion, body oil
• facial moisturizer and toner
• lip balm

I couldn’t give up my commercial natural conditioner, toothpaste, and facial cleanser.

My husband…well, he would rather stick to the commercial stuff for now, though I did purchase for him a more natural brand of hair gel, shaving cream, and body wash.

The kids now use homemade shampoo/bodywash, and body oil. But they still use commercial tooth-gel sometimes. The rest of the time they use simply xylitol. (More explanation about this one below.)

As a guide I used my favorite book Organic Body Care Recipes by Stephanie Tourles which I have mentioned here a thousand times. But I was able to adapt and develop a few of my own recipes which I intend to share with you here.

So, without further adeu…

Minty Body Wash

• 8oz unscented liquid castile soap
• 10 drops peppermint essential oil
• 2 drop tea tree oil
• 1t jojoba base oil

Pour all ingredients into a pump or squeeze bottle and shake vigorously. No refrigeration necessary, but best if used within 1 year.

Floral Clean Shampoo

• 1 C distilled water
• 1T calendula flowers
• 1T nettle
• 2t comfrey roots
• 2t orange peel
• 10 drops lavender essential oil
• 5 drops calendula essential oil
• 1/2 t jojoba oil
• 1/4 C natural shampoo

In a small saucepan bring water to boil. Remove pan from heat and add calendula flowers, nettle, comfrey, orange peel, and rosemary and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain liquid through a double cheese cloth lined stainless steel sieve  into a medium bowl.

Add essential oils and jojoba base oil and stir to blend. Add shampoo and stir. Pour shampoo mixture into a plastic squeeze bottle.

Refrigerate and use within 4 weeks. I like to decant a small portion I can use in a week’s time and leave it in my shower. I refill it each week.

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The toothpaste I tried is actually a tooth powder made of xylitol and baking soda. I didn’t love the sweet tastes of xylitol. But for the kids I omitted the baking soda and just dip their brushes in Xylitol. This can be swallowed in small amounts, so I just stick their damp toothbrushes into a small tub of the xylitol powder and just stick it on in their little mouths. If you haven’t tried xylitol, it tastes sweet.

For more small changes you can make to make your lifestyle a little greener, click on over to the Hip Mountain Mama’s One Small Change blog! Here is to being green.

Getting rid of extra, unused, unnecessary stuff is difficult. How is it that accumulating things is so easy?

I’ve been spring cleaning. (Is it still spring? Am I a little late?) Some may think I am nesting. Others may think I have reverted to my frenetic, anxiety-ridden, organized ways. As I see it, when we move to a less congested part of the country, I don’t want to bring all this STUFF with us. I only want to take the stuff that is useful and the stuff that we love. So, shouldn’t that imply we need to get rid of the rest?

Or, putting it differently, we are finding a better afterlife for those items we once loved, (or just never loved) or don’t need anymore (like those baking cookbooks.)

We could certainly fill trash bags with unwanted pillow covers, costume jewelry, and plastic candle holders and set them out by the curb for the trash pick up. Or we could be a little green and find these usable items a new home that is not a landfill.

Post It

Post your unwanted stuff on Craig’s List, Freecycle, ebay (though I have never done this), community classified ads, or yard sale it. If you have an item and want to work to get a bit of cash for it, besides Freecycle, these are all great ways to get rid of your unwanted stuff. But when I mean “work” to earn that cash, I mean sifting through tens of e-mail inquiries, meeting up with your prospective buyer, or shipping your item, and then being prepared for a no-payment deal. But, hey, you are keeping things out of the landfills and getting the item out of your home.

Donate It to Charity :: 501(c) (3)s and beyond…

Give your unwanteds to the Salvation Army, Good Will, Purple Heart, thrift stores, consignment stores, doctors’ and dentists’ offices, libraries, churches, schools, crisis shelters, food banks, and community centers. There are probably a huge number more charities you can think of I haven’t listed here. I volunteered to teach inner-city adults basic computer skills and the charity ByteBack did accept computer donations way back then. Take a gander and look at idealist.org for a good cause near you.

Oh, call or e-mail your prospective charity before dropping by with your next donation, just to make sure they are still accepting “stuff.”

Recycle It

Recycling can be confusing sometimes. Well it is confusing for me a lot of the time. What can you recycle, what can’t you recycle? And where do you recycle any of it?

First go to your municipal website and look at trash collection, recycling, solid waste, and waste management. My county site says what can be recycled, what needs to be tossed in the trash, and where to go to recycle special items like motor oil, appliances, and hazardous waste.

Also, remember to query the company where you purchased your now-broken-camera-lens or no-longer-working-VCR, and see if they are accepting old items to be refurbished, or dismantled for parts.

Keep on the look out for recycling bins at grocery stores for those #5 plastic containers and #4 grocery bags. And be keen for other recycling or up-cycling opportunities.

Finding new homes for our unwanted stuff takes time and energy. But we feel a little greener not tossing everything in the landfill. Do you have any other ways you give your extras a second life?

I have a few recipes that work well, and am experimenting with the ones that don’t work well. Like this one.

An example of an emulsification gone bad.

An example that ended up in the trash. This was supposed to be a creamy smooth, pale yellow calendula cream.

I am now off to the kitchen to try a new experimental concoction. I hope to share my recipes and results with you at the end of the month. For a little further reading about other bloggers making One Small Change in their lives to help preserve our Earth click on over to the blog!