True Man, Composte

Well it's definately been a while since I have been on here, but it has been a very busy spring and summer, and things are only now settling down. Plus, now that I have a house, well, trying to make it eco healthier and strong has been challenge. But my new eco lust object, I want a composter.

I've been doing yard work and decided I sincerely need one of these. The other day as I ripped up a flower garden, pulling all the weeds and old mulch out, I cringed and almost cried over throwing that all in the trash pick up when I know what it would be doing for me if I had a composter. It would be decomposing and creating nutrient rich mulch for my Spring plants. Now it is just sitting in a landfill, probably not getting any light or air in order to even break down. That is a waste of good nutrients, plus I now have to buy mulch and compost for my plants. And worst of all, so incredibly non environmental friendly.

So I've been looking for a composter that won't look like an eye sore in my back yard. Funny, this is pretty difficult. Someone needs to get to work on making pretty composters so that they don't have to be hidden because your HOA thinks that their looks will bring down property values. My other criteria are: ease of use to help compost deteriorate, size, and of course, price.

Here are some I found and my thoughts.

Enviro Cycle Composter:

Price:$139 on sale at CompostBins.com

Size: 25.5W x 20.25D x 30.5H inches

Ease of Use: The reviews say this is the easiest and best composter.

Attractiveness: Not bad since it is small

Personal Thoughts: It is a bit small, but then I'm not really growing a huge garden anyway. It is easy to use. You can simply turn it on little rollers and when you want to use it somewhere else, you can roll it off the stand and roll it across the yard. It also collects "liquid" compost to spray on your plants, which is a very nice feature.

Wibo 110

Price: $80 on sale at Compostermart.com

Size: 30"L x 30"W x 34"H (holds 110 gallons)

Ease of Use: Moderate

Attractiveness: Looks like a step stool

Personal thoughts: Even though all the side doors come off, you still have to shovel out the compost. There is no mobility, and you have to aerate it yourself. However, it holds a lot of compost for the price. It is small, and it isn't bad looking. It's also is easy to assemble.

Rotating Bio Orb Composter

Price: $169 at Cleanairgardening.com
Size:36" in diameter (hold 13 cubic feet)

Easy of use: Easy

Attractiveness: Not bad

Personal thoughts: It doesn't look bad, and the price sn't bad either. IT looks simple enough to use since you just roll it around. The instructions say that it is held together by a joint in the middle, so assembly shold be easy. There are no reviews on it though.

Ecomposter 11 Cubic feet with Base:

Price: $249 on sale at CompostBins.com

Size: 32L x 32W inches (hold 11 Cubic feet of compost)

Ease of Use: Relatively easy

Attractiveness: Not bad, but looks like the Death Star

Personal Thoughts: The reviews say this is an easy composter, but it is terrible to assemble. Some people on reviews at other sites said it took them three hours to assemble it! Also another review said that it leaked. It does hold a lot of compost, and all you have to do is turn it to help it decompose matter, and you can take it off the stand and roll it around. But I bet it's heavy when full, so that doesn't make it too easy for a weak chic like me. The price is a bit higher than I want to pay as well.

So that is some I've found, and some I'll keep in mind. Don't know which one I'll get eventually, but fall is coming with all it's leaves on the ground and the composter would definately get used soon. Hmmm, decisions decisions.

Time to Wake Up!!

So it finally hits the limelight again. Took it long enough. What am I talking about? The headlines touting the carcinogentic ingredients that are in baby bath products. Why are people so shocked about this? Environmentalist and natural beauty experts have been screaming this for years. It hits the news stands now? Silly people.

Even sillier is tht baby products aren't the only ones with these ingredients (formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane). Adult products have them too. They are preservatives and foaming agents. Stories about that haven't come out with that yet since the watch group that did the study with only popular baby products (L'Oreal, American Girl, Johnson and Johnson, Sesame Street, etc). But would adults act so strongly if they knew what was in thier products? Maybe not. But, oh, for the children, of course they will.

Forgive the fact that I find this funny. It isn't that the findings are humorous, it is the people's reaction to such news that I find funny. They are so surprised, so shocked. Well, here it is wonderful public, Johnson and Johnson doesn't care about what is in the products, they barely care if they work. What they care about is that you BUY them and they make a profit. Time to wake up, general public. Look at what is really causing the cancer and disease we didn't have years ago. And even better, look at what you can do about it. Boycott their products, demand better, healthier ingredients. When they lose profit, they begin to listen. Make that the bigger lesson here.

For a link to the main story, go here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/03/13/DI2009031301426.html

A Fabulous Eco Face

I've been meaning to write about this, but I had to really test it out for awhile to see the results.

I have a new skin care regime for my face that i use and it has saved me through the cold snow, the brisk 30 wind chills, and even this nice change to 80 degrees. And it is eco-friendly.

My exfoliant is a simple small loofah. I got one that is surrounded by bamboo terry cloth.

My soap is the Seattle Rainwater soap I got for x-mas, but when I run out of that I will simply use castille soap. These soaps are nice and gentle to the skin. They cleanse without completely pealing away the good oils for your face, the oils that keep dryness at bay. So they leave the skin so wondefully soft and clean. Besides, if you can't use a soap on your face, why are you using it anywhere else on you?

The I spritz myself with a witch hazel. I use a simple spray bottle with a diffuser type spritz. You can find some rose water if your face is more sensitive. But these make for wonderful astringents. Simply spritz and let it dry for a minute. It also makes fora great skin pick me up on a hot day.

My main moisturizer is pure grapeseed oil mixed with a bit of vitamin E oil. Since grapeseed oil is very emoilient as well as very light it makes a wonderful facial oil. It might even be anti-oxidant. In fact it is already in a lot of facial products. Aura Cacia makes a premade mix of the two oils that cost about $7. The biggest trick to putting this on (i rub it in with my fingers after putting a little less than a dime size portion in my hand) is to let it set for a minute on your face, then blot off the excess with a hand towel.

I use this night and day and it has made my skin fabulous. I don't break out unless I forget to do it one night, it is simple, and it is eco friendly. I couldn't believe how easy it is to have soft, non-greasy, normal skin. Try it for a week or two. You might really begin to notice a difference. It also works well in getting make up removed. Who knew?

Just a quote I wanted to share:

"Man has always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much ... the wheel, New Tork, wars, and so on, whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons."
-- Douglas Adam, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

The Beauty of Nature

I sitting here with honey on my face. I kid you not. Infact when I blink my eyelashes ar getting stuck in it, hahaha. Why am I sweet and sticky? The other day I made a toner from witch hazel and green tea. I don't think my skin liked it. I'm not sure why. Maybe the witch hazel with alchol wasn't a good idea. I don't know. I'm trying it with just green tea today. Oh, there was some grape seed extract as a persevative, maybe my skin doesn't like that? Test, test, test.

So anyway, my skin was itchy, red, tight, horrible all day, enough so that people commented on it. I tried a soothing exfoliant of yogurt and pureed cucumber, but it didn't like that either. Then a mask of banana, honey, and cucumber. A little luck there. So now I'm pulling out the big guns and using just plain honey for 20 minutes. It can't be bad for it. Maybe it will work. I've never tried it before, so why not? (Oh, all of the above was organic.)

I did have one accomplishment this weekend. I made a wonderful sugar scrub. It works well and doesn't get the tub nasty. i'll have to send some out to you folks.

I ran out of conditioner and I wasn't thrilled to find out my Avalon Organics wasn't as organic as it should be, so I hunted for a new shampoo and conditioner. I was caught between salon style John Masters Organics and hippie style Aubrey Organics. JMO was $20 a bottle for 8 oz. AO was $12 for 12 oz. JMO wasn't completely organic. AO is about as natural as you can get other than just using spring water from a mountain deep in the Rockies or Alps. i chose the Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Moisturizing shampoo and conditioner. The jury is still out on this one, but I can say that it didn't do anything bad to my hair. It only didn't do anything fantastic either. However, it does make my hair shiny and soft, and that is a pretty decent thing. And it does smell pretty nice -- honeysukly, or maybe dish detergent, you decide. I like it so far, I think. Last night I wasn't sure about it. Today it isn't bad.

i also changed my facial care this past week (although didn't have anything bad until this morning). I ditched my Burt's Bees and instead am using plain natural bar soap as a cleanser, witch hazel as a toner, and grapeseed oil as a moisturizer. Well, as mentioned above the toner changed... But still my face has been nice and soft. I don't know what happened today. Anyway, I'm saving a boat load of cash and I'm still being natural, so I'm good for it until my skin decides otherwise.

I also changed my deodorant to Desert Essence Tea Tree. Then while I was massaging, I came up with a recipe I might try later for deodorant. I'm not sure if I like the powerful smell of Tea Tree, so I also use my Tom's of Maine lavender deodorant on top of it to cover the smell. So far so good, but honestly I'm just not sure about these. Tom's works fine as long as i don't shave. But I kind of like shaving. I'll play until I get annoyed.



What did I do to be eco-friendly today?
Slathered in natural beauty...

The Cost of Paper

I"m tired. There, I got that out.

Anyway, finished reading Organic Beauty Magazine and loved it. Not to shabby I must say. Flip through it if you find a copy.

I'm bummed I can't find the coveted Physician's Formula Organics Mascara. I don't think anyone carries it.

This past week I bought a standard sized cloth box from Target and used it as a trash can for all my paper in my office. Just paper -- nothing else. In one week I generated 2 lbs. of scrap paper (technically 1 lb 15.7 oz. I know, I weighed it). It made me think. I work in a small office of about40 people. If we all generated 2 lbs of paper a week, that is close to 100 pounds a week. 400 lbs in one month. 2000 lbs or 1 ton of paper in 5 months. 2 tons in one year. That is the wieght of a small compact car. And we are one company of 40 employees. Imagine what larger companies contribute to the paper that isn't recycled. Scary thought.

And that is just paper. What about all the other trash? Even scarier thought.

Hmmm.




What did I do to be eco-friendly today?

I cleaned my shower drain with a bubbling mix of apple vinegar and baking soda. Try it, it works. I was skeptical at first, but, oh it works nicely with no chemical smell to it.

Tell Her About It

Here's a small thought. If you are being green, trying to be green, or reveling in the smugness of being green (admit it, you are), then your job for today is to educate someone else about it today. Bring it into conversation any way you can. Don't be preachy, just speak it. And talk about something other than recycling. You know there is so much more to do than just freaking recycle. Talk about eco eating, eco body products, eco office products, ethical shopping, composting, just something. Make the other people think for a moment. Tell them that the FDA only removes harmful chemicals after a plethora of complaints, so who is to say their shampoo really is good for them? Tell them that their $6 shirt was probably made by some poor person who probably got only 2 cents for a day's wages and some other town was polluted by fertilizer for the cotton that grew the material, and even better it will fall apart after 6 washes. Say that you have decided that eating local farm food is helping keep over crowded residential areas popping up in the country, which makes for less traffic on back roads, and less hassle. Even invite them to share some of your compost to make their roses prettier than their neighbors.

Just educate someone today on being green. Tell them something that isn't cliche. Speak out about the less talked about green things in the world. Get them thinking. If everyone started thinking about it, then true change can really happen. The cosmetic industry is answering, so are the car companies, and even fashion. If we speak, we will be heard. So, start talking.

What did I do to be eco-friendly today?
Talked the talk, and walked the walk, eco groovin' all the way.

P.S. If you need some mood music for your head today, check out this song....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4jKF4LWViE

You can't go wrong with a line of "Water spirit feeling springing 'round my head, makes me glad I'm not dead..."