After the Swiffer Mop and Before the Vinegar

After the vinegar!

So I’m cleaning my apartment for the in-laws’ holiday visit and my kitchen’s tile grout looks filthy.  I use my Swiffer mop and then scrub with Clorox (the new Green Works version available in stores) to no avail.  In desperation, I seek google’s sound advice.  The solution (literally)?  One part vinegar one part water or a little baking soda paste.  It sounds homey and environmentally friendly and inexpensive, but does it really work?  Just look at the before and after pictures above!

When picking out cleaning products I try to moderate between price and environmental efficacy, so I have an assortment of ‘green’ cleaning products in my apartment.  Some work, some don’t.  But what seems to be most puzzling as peruse my way through all of the cleaning products I own is why have cleaning products in the first place?  Nearly everything I clean, as I think about it, could be easily cleaned with three fully biodegradable, non-toxic household items: lemon juice, vinegar, and baking soda.  The Do-it-yourself website, has a new Going Green topic on its side menu, has a great article called How to Clean Green which lists several recipes for green cleaners. Here are two easy and useful examples:

Carpet Spot Remover
•Cornstarch or baking soda
•Club soda
Blot the spot and apply baking soda or cornstarch immediately. When dry, blot with club soda and vacuum.

Glass Cleaner
•1 cup rubbing alcohol (optional)
•1 cup water
•1 tablespoon vinegar
Combine in a spray bottle and wipe clean with a newspaper. Alcohol hastens evaporation to prevent streaking.

And now, what about everything else.  Hand, dish and laundry soap, for example, isn’t as easy to make from scratch.  I personally suggest buying these products, unless you’re exceptionally handy, crafty an organized. Here are a few of my personal favorites and professional suggestions:

•Method brand soaps, as cliche as they sound, are easy to buy anywhere, use biodegradable ingredients, do not test on animals, use recycled and recyclable packaging materials and make use of government issued carbon-credits for their employee’s transportation and manufacturing process.  Plus, they’re smell great and come in cool-looking bottles!
•I use Green Works dishwashing liquid (water lily scent). It carries the Design for the Environment (DfE) certification, meaning the EPA screens all the ingredients put into the product and markets with the Sierra Club to endorse the ideas of preserving and protecting the planet. You want to hear the kicker? Green Works was created by Clorox! Proof that you don’t have to be anti-institution in order to be an environmentalist.
•For my wood flooring, I use Murphy’s soap; its biodegradable, kosher, cheap, and the bottles are recyclable.

•And finally, I suggested ECOS All Natural Laundry Detergent.  Its HE compatible, smells great, has a soy-based built-in fabric softener, and is grey-water safe (meaning you could use the left over water for your vegetable garden).  All this and it was on sale at Kroger’s!

As for my kitchen cleaning, my in-laws arrive tomorrow and I’m feeling pleased with my greening and cleaning! Word to the wise, you may want to use these cleaning solutions barefoot – its more comfortable and the grime from your shoes won’t be washed onto your newly cleaned tile!  Happy green cleaning!

As I plan my own wedding, I have been keeping an eye on my eco footprint my event will have.  While planning a wedding one is presented with an almost impossible number of options, as I keep an environmental eye on my selections, the choices are no less diminished.  You can buy earth-friendly napkins, invitations, flowers and apparrel.  Here are a number of useful tips and resources:

1) The Dress: I bought by vintage wedding gown on Craigslist for $30!  The alterations are costing me about a $150, but $180 for a wedding dress is a steal AND I will be ’reusing’ a perfectly good dress, instead of buying a brand new one.   Further, when you’re done with the dress, make sure to sell it or give it away.

2) Invitations:  At Botanical Paperworks one can order invitations and other stationary that not only decomposes, but plant them in your front yard and soon flowers.  They are imbedded with wildflower seeds! If that’s not your style, Kinko’s prints invitations on a range of 30% to 100% recycled paper, which is also a money-saving option.  (note: wildflower seeds are also a better option in terms of throwing than rice, which is dangerous to birds and other creatures)

3) Disposables: Napkins, paper plates, even your forks and spoons, can now be recycled or composted.   Buy plastic cups that are number no. 1 or 2 plastic (or higher if you know your local recycling center will accept it) and place a well-labeled bin at your wedding reception.  Set out another bin can includes items that decompose.  In this bin, plastic cutlery, napkins and plates from a local Whole Foods or from Ecoproducts.com or from Nat-Ur Store can be thrown in.  This can then be created into mulch at your local landfill.  (note: buying mulch from your landfill is often VERY inexpensive and great for your community)

5) Dinner: In 2006, Back to Earth Organic Catering was labeled Top Trendsetter by Modern Bride Magazine, but while organic food is, naturally (wink), the most environmentally responsible choice for your reception it is often very pricey.  If you don’t have the budget for it, even after your $40 craigslist dress, choose a locally-owned restuarant and/or food for the reception. In some areas, Whole Foods does some catering.

Don’t forget to look into pesticide free flowers, a double-location for the ceremony and the reception (less driving), and cruelty-free diamonds, gold and silver. For further help, look here or here.  Best of luck with your next event!

The flavoured milk drinks are available in chocolate, strawberry and banana flavours and are sold in schools and colleges, as well as at 500 retail outlets across the UK.

On the heels of the international reports (also here) that organic food is better, Health Patio wishes we could serve all the “flavours” ourselves.

The backstory on the company was outed today by Steve Dube of Western Mail . Where a family farm may be prohibitively difficult to run physically as well as financially, a farm of families has met with great success with 3000 acres and 23 employees– a size that gives everyone a good standard of living and time off for holidays. The employees are mostly young families in the fertile countryside of this Wales (UK) community. The farm manager is newly returned from the United States, and it looks like Three Farms Milk co-operative – Llaeth Tair Fferm – faces the future with confidence.

In the spring of 2007 in London, look for these organic milk products as stars of the International Food and Drink Event- and read what the company says about itself:

Daioni (Welsh for goodness) is a range of flavoured organic milk drinks from a family run farm in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Produced from organic semiskimmed milk it is low in fat (98.4% fat free) and sugar (<4.5%). All the ingredients are Soil Association and Vegetarian Society approved and meet Government nutritional guidelines for schools drinks. There are no artificial additives or colourings. Packaged in a handy 250ml and 125ml TetraPaks, with straw attached and an ambient shelf life of at least ten months, Daioni is ideal for lunchboxes, vending machines or just as a healthy alternative drink.