Natural/Green/Organic families

[blessed2fosteradopt]

Can you share your best tips, favorite websites, recipes, etc.? My family and I are beginning to incorporate a more natural, organic lifestyle but are in the very beginning stages and have a lot to learn. I have been reading the Maker's Diet, juicing and just joined an organic co-op (for fruits and vegetables). I am interested in anything you have to share from beauty products, cleaning supplies, food, clothing, raw dairy, coconut oil and its uses and so on.

 

Thank you!

 

Blessings,

 

Lisa

[LaxMom]

For us, the bottom line is looking at ingredients lists and deciding what we are willing to live with, if that makes sense, then sort of mentally assigning "good / better / best" to things. The degree of processing for the product weighs heavily in that.

 

So, for instance, whole dairy from grass fed cows is good, organic is better, raw is best. (Our dairy farm is organic certified, but I wouldn't get excited about getting a gallon of their "non organic" milk, as the cows all graze the same fields, it's just that some of them may, on occasion, get hay that isn't certified.) Nature's Best bread is good (pretty normal ingredients, no HFCS), homemade is better (no preservatives at all, even natural ones), homemade from freshly milled grains would be best (better nutritional profile), but I don't have a grain mill, so we "settle" for better but harbor aspirations.

 

Buying from people we can develop a relationship with is a really important thing - when we started with our produce CSA, they were using organic practices, but not certified, and still waiting for the fields to be free of residues. We were fine with that. Likewise, we buy eggs from an Amish farmer who makes no claim to organic, but we know how his hens live and what he feeds them.

 

Nearly everything in the house can be cleaned - and cleaned well - with vinegar, baking soda, and some natural soap here and there, including your people. I use some "commercial" products (a combination of Desert Essence Age Reversal face wash and Avalon Organics vitamin C cream seems to work best for me) but endeavour to make my own at some point. Cosmetics themselves can be difficult, since everyone has their own body chemistry and sensitivities. Just checking out the ingredients and ruling out ones that have the most offensive list can be a start.

 

We have cut down our paper product use significantly by using blue, microfiber detailing towels (from Sam's club) in lieu of paper towels, cloth napkins (either purchased or made from old clothes), using a baking sheet with a cooling rack on top to drain bacon, etc.

 

We carry bags with us when we shop, and have invested in reusable lunch boxes, water bottles, and sandwich wraps (sorry, had to link - I LOVE these things).

 

We do little things to conserve, like filling the tub with only a few inches of water for the kids' baths, and using a handheld, low flow shower head with a turn-off (actuall, it just trickles) feature when we're washing them.

 

It's a continuum, really. We started with replacing products with natural / organic options, and then started constantly looking for ways to improve. It doesn't happen overnight but, like all lifestyle changes, the more mindful you become, the more opportunities for improvement you see.

 

(Oh, and in case I haven't made your eyes fall out of your head yet, I use coconut oil for sauteeing, in some baked goods, as hair product, and as an after-shower moisturizer.)

 

I'll have to think on links and resources... most of it is so ingranied at this point that I can't rattle them off as easily as I used to. :001_smile:

[Maria/ME]

Wow! Thanks,MyCrazyHouse, for showing those sandwich pajama's...we are trying to cut down on all the plastic used in this house, and sandwich bag alternatives are really hard to find without breaking the bank!

 

I would have to concur with all that MyCrazyHouse said. I wouldn't consider us an organic/green family but we are trying in baby steps to progress towards better living for health and environment.

 

We like the Built brand of lunch sacks. Those seem to really do the trick wonderfully! Sturdy, insulating yet completely washable. Pricey at first, but in the long run a great choice. We use stainless steel drinking containers and they go everywhere with us. We refill where we can instead of buying bottles of water. I carry and make bags to use and reuse (we take old t's and stitch together the bottom hem. Then we cut the arms off and cut a larger neck. Instant handles! You can get more creative and make a pocket, or line them, or decorate,too!)

 

We don't do dairy so I can't help you there, but we juice alot and try to follow a high raw food diet (somewhere I wrote about that if you are interested you can do a search, I think it was on a thread about getting off meds?) In terms of beauty products I know that there are many people on this site who probably make their own! However, I use some Weleda and some Aubrey facial cleansing products when I need to. Meanwhile, I use a mineral based foundation in the winter, and next to nothing in the summer. I had to experiement a bit with make up to find what I liked. That was actually kind of expensive...but I use fewer products and have narrowed it down. Mostly mineral based. Bare Minerals for example, I liked. I have a ton of sites, too, if you are interested. For soaps and so forth, I buy local home made brands, or Jason soaps. Or whatever might be on sale! I like goat soaps as olive oil soaps tend to be a bit drying for me. Maybe I need to experiment with brands.

 

I use coconut oil in various raw recipes. Mostly raw treats. But I know many people who use it for a facial moisturizer. I found it too greasy for me.

 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head...it isn't much...there are sites where you can make your own laundry and dish detergent, too! Very inexpensive and it really works! And never underestimate vinegar!

[mcconnellboys]

I think Angela covered all this very well. We do what we can with what we have readily available in our area.

 

For me, that means shopping more from our local food coop, and shopping more from local producers both there and through farmers' markets, u-pick farms, CSA's, etc. as we can.

 

I shop for foods that have the fewest preservatives and the least amount of processing, if that' practicable for me (I don't like to waste money and product to spoilage because it didn't get used in time due to our busy schedule).

 

Everyone in the family has a kleen canteen type water bottle for their usage. We do still have tons of plastic water bottles that we've been given over the years, too, but I'm slowly trying to weed out their usage, particularly during warmer weather months.

 

My guys like beef, and there's not much available from our local coop, which tends toward the vegetarian, but I can get grain fed beef that's antibiotic free at a local grocer and I shop the quick sale section to get deals on it.

 

At my coop, I'm shopping more and more from the bulk food bins, saving my own containers and taking them to refill with a large variety of organic products, some locally produced.

 

Because I have auto-immune problems, I'm using almost exclusively organic health and beauty aid products now, also mostly from my coop. Some are locally produced. Because rules for these items are not yet as stringent as for food, you do have to look for companies that have pledged to actually keep their ingredients list clean - not all do that and my coop has carried products that were not really what I'd call "clean" (free of chemicals that might compromise the auto-immune system).

 

For cleaning, I've used washable microfiber cloths for years. We also save old, raggy washclothes and use those (also old hand towels and towels) for chores around the house and yard (washing cars, pet beds or clean ups, there are tons of uses). Because I LOVE the smell of the Method cleaning products sold by Target (and others), I tend to use those for baths and for air fresheners. I have been experimenting with my own vinegar/lavendar product, but I don't have it perfected yet, LOL....

 

I switched over last fall to using a hydrogen peroxide product instead of Clorox II for my laundry. I can't tolerate dryer sheets, so have never used those.

 

That's all I can think of right now! You do what you can and as some things become routine, I think you'll find that you can expand and do more - at least that's what has been happening for me.

 

Good luck in your green makeover!

[Jill]

Check out some of these references if you haven't already:

 

http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php

 

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/

 

http://www.scienceforsale.com/

 

http://www.michaelpollan.com/write.php

[LaxMom]

I think - because I obviously was quite abbreviated in my original reply, lol - that the mindset change debate comes down to whether you start on the big use items or the little use items, or some of each and meet in the middle. If you start with big items - for instance I drink a lot of coffee - you get the most impact when you switch to organic, fair trade versions. If you start on the little used things (I can't think of something... ketchup? Probably not, since most people I know are very specific about that preference) then the change doesn't feel like such a large adjustment.

 

I also decided from the very beginning that I would not sacrifice quality. As it turns out, that was a pretty laughable declaration, since most items are higher quality just as a byproduct of their lack of processing. There are some things, though, that I have had to ease into. I refuse to suffer ghastly toilet paper. If that's my one sin against the environment, I will live with it. (Though I have recently switched to Seventh Generation 1-ply and am not hating it.)

 

I also absolutely despise the taste of the "healthy" mayonnaise brands. I'm very persnickety about mayo, for some reason, and I really dislike anything that isn't my "normal" brand. Ok, so, irony or ironies, I just made some mayonnaise, for the first time ever. It's fabulous. And it took me a whopping 20 minutes because I broke the emulsion, so had to wait for more yolks to come to room temp to fix it. Now, don't I feel silly for not having made the mayo all along.

 

Ok, so for some helpful links and whatnot:

United Natural Foods - this is the distributor of the buying club I belong to. They supply an awful lot of the smaller natural foods / health food stores. Contact them to see if there is a buying club in your area. The items have to be ordered in bulk, but that gets split among the club members. I know they have recently put a rule in place that you can't start a buying club if there's a retail outlet within 50 miles, but that may not apply to many people.

 

Quail Cove Farms - also set up for buying clubs, where one person acts as hostess for the delivery. I know there is a minimum here (I think $50) and their offerings are not as extensive as UNFI, but it may be a good way to start and find other like-minded folks to start a buying club.

 

Local Harvest - has a great listing of the farmers markets, CSAs, u-picks and whatnot in any given area.

 

Eat Wild - has great information on the environmental impact of pastured animal products, as well as local resources.

 

Life Less Plastic - makes you think, and I've found a number of areas for inspiration in her account of her journey.

 

Mother Earth News - I get the weekly email newsletter. Good source for DIY projects, as well as tips.

 

There are a number of natural living discussion groups out there, such as the forum on Mothering.com, or the Long Hair Community. Vegsource has boards, but I have some kid of weird mental block that makes it difficult for me to navigate them.

 

Then, there are the books:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

The Omnivore's Dilemma

In Defense of Food

Nourishing Traditions

 

All of these, and others, have influenced the way I look at how my choices impact the world, as well as how they impact our bodies.

[Heather in OK]

For us, the bottom line is looking at ingredients lists and deciding what we are willing to live with, if that makes sense, then sort of mentally assigning "good / better / best" to things. The degree of processing for the product weighs heavily in that.

This is us too. Especially when there are six of us I have to make choices based on $ as well. I have to decide which things I absolutely buy organic, which things I buy natural, and which I'll ignore (for lack of a better word) the label.

 

Things I do not compromise on are food colorings. I will not buy foods with any artificial colorings. I also keep an eye out for preservatives (BHT, etc.). And I'm trying to eliminate HCFS as much as I can.

 

I'm also making changes as I go along. Trying to do several changes at once can be overwhelming!

 

I get my laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent from a friend of mine who started a business, Jenny's Simply Clean. Her stuff is amazing!!! It's similar to the recipes you can find online but it's easier for me to pay her (and support her Mama-made business) to make it.

 

I carry my own grocery bags.

 

We did belong to a local dairy co-op but I'm just way to busy now to be able to commit to making the trip when it's my turn. So instead I buy milk from Braums which is rBGH free.

 

One of my goals (those small changes) is to try to start purchasing produce from local farmer's markets. Again, making the time is hard for me since they are all across town from my house. We do have a couple small produce places near us but they aren't 100% local like the farmer's market is.

 

I just made some mayonnaise, for the first time ever. It's fabulous.

Yum! I would love to know more about making mayo!

[Alphabetika]

I love buying body/skin care products from Etsy.com. Etsy is a marketplace for people who make their own products, from artistic products to body care to, well, anything handmade. So, if you were to go to Etsy.com and enter something like "organic soap" in the search box, you would come up with all sorts of different vendors who make and sell their own soap usign organic ingredients. And when you buy from them, you're buying directly from the artist/maker, so you're supporting "the little gal" at the same time as you're benefitting yourself. My experience has been that Etsy sellers love to talk about their products, so they can often help you choose something that fits what you're going for.

 

I love it!

[LaxMom]

Yum! I would love to know more about making mayo!

I used a recipe similar to this. Except I used 1/2 tsp dijon instead of mustard powder, a mixture of canola and olive oils, and a mixture of lemon juice and vinegar. I used a wide-mouth pint jar and an immersion blender, which just exactly fits inside the jar... the bowl & mixer method would be easier, as it gets a bit difficult to work the whole jar thing when the mayo gets thick.

[Firefly]

Wow, you've received a lot of excellent advice in this thread! I just wanted to echo some of my favorites that have been mentioned already:

 

almost anything by Michael Pollan

Animal Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Mother Earth News

localharvest.com

as well as: Grit Magazine

 

Let me say first we are NOT perfect with it! But we aspire to as much as we can. In a nutshell: we try to eat as locally and organically as possible; we buy fair trade for things like coffee and chocolate; we grow some of our own food (vegetables & fruit, and we also have chickens for eggs-- and fertilizer, bees for honey-- and wax, which I make candles and some beauty products with); I make my own cleaning products and detergents; I am into herbal medicine so I make a lot of my own salves, teas, etc. We compost, recycle, and use reusable bags. We don't use herbicides, pesticides or synthetic fertilizer in the lawn/garden.

 

I do this not only because I love the feeling of satisfaction I get from providing for myself and my family, but because I feel good about the food we eat/the things we put on our skin or come into contact with. I can feel good about the kids walking across the lawn barefoot, helping me clean a bathroom, or picking fresh raspberries or cherry tomatoes to pop right in their mouths-- I love that. Not to mention that I hope we are being good stewards of the Earth. It's very gratifying!

 

That said, this transition didn't happen over night. Things happened very gradually as we first transitioned certain food items (processed and/ or HFC were the first to go), then local meats and dairy, then organic veggies etc etc. It doesn't happen overnight; it is a process, so have fun with it!

Edited April 19, 2009 by Firefly
typos!

[mom4him]

Can you share your best tips, favorite websites, recipes, etc.? My family and I are beginning to incorporate a more natural, organic lifestyle but are in the very beginning stages and have a lot to learn. I have been reading the Maker's Diet, juicing and just joined an organic co-op (for fruits and vegetables). I am interested in anything you have to share from beauty products, cleaning supplies, food, clothing, raw dairy, coconut oil and its uses and so on.

 

Thank you!

 

Blessings,

 

Lisa

I love your 'blessed2fosteradopt' title. We foster/adopted our two youngest.

You have a good start by joining a food co-op. You might want to look at more than one if available. I have one that I order from once a month and the truck delivers once a month to a near by town and I also belong to one that is incorporated in with a health food store. Some of the things that I use the truck delivery one doesn't handle and yet I get a lot of my fresh produce from it.

I have found a gal that milks goats and we get product from her, another couple that I get eggs from and a locker plant that handles non antibiotic/hormon raised animals. We get our meats mainly from them.

My main 3 cleaning supplies are white vinegar, baking soda and hydrogen prox. I purchase my dishwasher tabs from health food store and use Country save for laundry with baking soda as helper. I clean my bathroom with these three ingredient. I also like products made by Bioclean and Life Tree.

Cleaning our our home from the chemicals(this includes candles and air freshners) has made a world of difference in our son.

I purchase only 100% pure cotton though it isn't generally organic because of cost. I NEVER perchase something to go onto our beds that isn't natural fabrics.

I guess that is about all for a short snops of what we do.