Ground Meat

We haven't boughten ground beef in about a year. We do get ground buffalo on occasion but because buff is handled and processed differently from beef (or so I've been led to understand) buff is considerably safer in its ground form. Ground beef, on the other hand, is a scary amalgamation of bits and pieces from many different animals, frequently including parts of the spinal column, where mad cow disease lurks. About this time last year, Ranger Daddy came home and made me promise we wouldn't buy anymore ground beef because overnight at work he'd heard a program about what is in ground beef. He's had a few restaurant burgers since then and the occasional bison burger but he really hasn't had his beloved burgers in a year. Until yesterday. Yesterday, we did what foodies all over the country have already done: We bought a meat grinder. Now in our case, we didn't buy an overpriced brand new one because the design of hand cranked meat grinders is virtually unchanged from a hundred years ago. We bought a 1890's model from an antique shop for $10. :=D Unlike some we've seen, this one is completely rust free and the mechanism works perfectly. We know because we tested it out on a couple pounds of just purchased beef shoulder after Yeled went to bed last night. I have freshly ground, burger shapes in the freezer now. You know, fresh ground meat somehow smells better than its pre-packaged counterparts.

Museli

Yes, I know this stuff has a bad rap but keep in mind, enterprising business people have tried to to take a cheap, simple breakfast and double its price by putting it in a box. I am convinced granola and museli are two breakfast cereals that can only be properly made from scratch at home. Otherwise, they take on the taste of cardboard.

In any case, my mix consists of the following:

6 cups rolled oats (old fashioned please, not quick)
2 cups each any or all of the following rolled wheat, barley, rye, or spelt
2 cups dried fruit
1 cup nuts

Put it all in a big jar and shake it up.

To serve, start the night before. For each adult, soak 1/2 cup of the dry mix in 1 cup of water. In the morning, spoon into bowls and top with fresh fruit and/or veggies. (The program I saw this on suggested topping with apples and carrots.)

For 12 cups worth of dry mix, I spent all of $8 and this jar will feed the two adults and one baby in this house at least 12 breakfasts. A half cup of soaked grains is a really big serving so I may cut down the serving size a bit and add some toast or an egg on the side.

Cold Begone

If you wake up feeling a cold coming on, scratchy throat etc, drink one of the following remedies as soon as possible.  Make it again the following day, if you continue to feel "beginning of a cold" symptoms.  But you probably won't need to.

Citrus Blast

Equal parts citrus juice (we use lemon in this house, a friend uses OJ, the point is straight up citrus juice, the fresher the better) and honey, with 1/4 to 1 teaspoon ground ginger, according to taste.  You can also use a few slices of fresh ginger if you prefer.  Put the juice, honey, and ginger in a mug and top off with the hottest water you can stand.  I've kept two colds from going nuclear this winter and successfully avoided getting Yeled's cold over the past couple days with this drink.  Also got Yeled's cold to heal up faster by getting just the slightest amount into him yesterday afternoon.

Garlic Tea

 I haven't tried this one yet but it sounds promising.  Like the citrus drink, make it as soon as possible after feeling the first symptoms of a cold.  You're far less likely to need this one more than one morning but if people in your house are already sick, drink it several days in a row to prevent yourself from getting it.

Smash 3 or 4 small garlic cloves, peel, and put in a mug.  Add lemon and honey to taste.  Top off with the hottest water you can stand.  Drink the water, then chew and eat the garlic.  I'm told that by the time you get to the bottom of the mug, the garlic has partially cooked and has the mellower taste of cooked garlic instead of the sharp raw taste.  With honey involved, I'm not sure you can go wrong!

Salt Gargle

If you lack the ingredients to put together either of the above drinks (last two colds I had, would you believe I didn't have garlic in the house?????) there is always the tried and true saltwater gargle:  Gargle the hottest, saltiest water you can stand several times over the course of the first day you feel symptoms.  I've never used this one, mainly because I always gag instead of gargle, but numerous friends swear by it.

New Manufacturing Regulations

I am, as you're probably well aware by now, a huge proponent of shopping used.  Thrift stores, junk shops, pawn shops, and garage sales:  If they have what I want, I'm buying it.  Over the past few years, we've suffered through a scary number of issues dealing with lead and other dangerous chemicals being found in children's toys and clothing, most of those incidents dealing with toys/clothing manufactured overseas.  This past fall, Congress did something about it, though without consulting manufacturing industry experts and without the hearings and testimony that normally accompany sweeping changes in policy.  I call it "see, we're doing something," without taking the time to make that "something" practical and effective.

The resulting new regulations, which are scheduled to go into effect on 1 February 2009 are broad, vague, and outrageously expensive.  They require rigorous testing of ANYTHING that a child 12 years or younger might come in contact with.  They also dramatically reduce the tolerance of lead in these items.   The current allowable standard for lead is 600 ppm.  Come 1 February, the new standard will be *90* ppm.  This, in and of itself is a good thing.  There is a lot of lead floating around and lead does cause developmental delays in young children.  Reducing their exposure is an excellent public health strategy.  

However, the new regulations are *not* retroactive at this time.  This means anything made prior to 1 February 2009 cannot be sold legally because it hasn't undergone the new test procedures.  Further, they apply to items manufactured overseas AND domestically, at all levels of production, from work at home moms to huge corporations.  

The new regulations require testing of absolutely anything a child 12 and younger might come in contact with.  This includes obvious items like children's clothing and toys.  But it also includes buttons, snaps, and zippers.  It includes things like pianos.

Third, the new regulations do not allow for third party testing; defined in the following way.  A sewing factory cannot take the manufacturer of purchased fabric at their word that the fabric tests within the allowable limits.  The sewing factory has to test the fabric themselves.  They also have to test all notions (snaps, buttons, zippers, interfacing, elastic, bows, lace, etc) themselves.  I suspect this is out of fear that at each stop along the way, a manufactured item could pick up lead from the environment.

Finally, the testing required by these new regulations is insanely expensive.  An example I came across last night is that it costs a clothing manufacturer $30,000 to test lead in ten pieces of clothing in three different colors (30 pieces all together).  And that's just for lead.  The other chemicals that have to be tested for are 3 times as expensive!

these regs affect me on a somewhat personal level.  My parents run two businesses.  The Strip Shop, which does furniture refinishing and barely runs in the black and Neff's Piano Shop, which sells a full range of pianos from low costs used pianos to high end imports and keeps them in business.  If these new regulations actually go into, and stay in, effect, my parents will have to test every piano they buy direct from the factory and they will no longer be able to sell used pianos because the used ones were not manufactured with the new tolerances in mind.  The expense of testing alone will probably put the shop out of business.  Even if they can afford that testing, they'll lose a large percentage of their market because not everyone can afford the expensive pianos they showcase in the front window.

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would say the new regulations were brought in precisely to force people to buy from large corporations instead of bypassing the system to buy at garage sales (illegal if one wishes to stringently enforce the code), through WAHM's (how many WAHM's can afford the testing?), and thrift shops (selling clothes and toys made before the new regs went into effect, oh my!).  Since the corporations directly or indirectly support both major political parties, it would be in the best interest of the government to boost the profit of these corporations to ensure that the parties get further monetary support.

Please please please contact your representatives in office and explain to them why these regs are a very bad idea!

Steamer

A steamer, in coffeehouse parlance, is basically hot milk with or without flavoring added to it.  A steamer generally requires the use of a steam wand, which is attached to an espresso machine.  Now an inexpensive espresso machine can be had for under fifty bucks and will make you coffee, espresso, all manner of coffee drinks, and steamers.  But maybe you don't like coffee, already own a coffee machine and are unwilling to buy a new one, or you just don't want to buy any appliances right now.  I understand.  I've devoted great thought to the following recipe, meaning I thought it up on the fly one night and it worked and now I'm all proud of myself.

Heat up some water.  You don't want it to boil but you do want little bubbles forming along the sides and bottom.  Put dry milk powder in a mug.  You need 3 tablespoons of powder for 1 cup of water so adjust accordingly to the size of your mug.  Add any flavoring you desire.  The coffeehouse standard is 1 oz (2 Tablespoons) flavoring for 12 ounces of liquid.  I find this too sweet and generally use about 1 Tablespoon flavoring for 12 oz mugs.  My favorite flavoring is honey.  Molasses and sorghum syrup are yummy also.  If you use homemade syrup or coffeehouse syrups (Torani et al) make sure the flavoring goes in BEFORE the hot water.  Many of these syrups curdle if added after the liquid.  Okay, you've got powdered milk and flavoring in your mug.  Now add the hot water, stir and enjoy.  If you've had a coffeehouse steamer, you'll be amazed at the similarity to the real thing.  If you've never had, you're getting something as good or better for pennies on the dollar.

Bonus Tip of the week:  If you drink milk, big tins of powder can be infinitely cheaper than liquid milk.  However, it depends on what you buy, what your family likes, and where you shop.  Here in the US, about the only option available is skim dry milk, packaged by the name brands as well as generics.  Problem is, skim milk is not suitable for young children, which Yeled is.  But, go to a decent sized Hispanic grocery store and you will find NIDO (a Nestle subsidiary if you care about the on going Nestle boycott) and the interesting thing about Nido is that it is dry WHOLE milk.  At Rancho Liborio, the giant (reusable*****) tin costs $12.99 and makes 14 quarts.  Three and a half gallons of liquid whole milk cost around $16 so I'm easily saving three bucks.  Mixed up, it tastes just like liquid whole milk and doesn't have that dreadful reconsituited milk taste you get with the skim version.

Double Bonus Tip:  Cook with your milk instead of drinking it.  Milk goes MUCH further cooked into food than it does chugged down by the glass.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Since late fall, I've been collecting seed catalogues, with plans to grow a balcony vegetable bonanza this upcoming summer.  I just got my latest catalogue this week and I literally cannot put it down.  I've put in my order but I still flip through the thing at least twice a day.

This is Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  It's an *incredible* catalogue.  They have heirloom varieties from all over the world, and I mean that in the most literal sense of the phrase.  They have varieties that aren't even being grown in their native countries any more!  And even if heirloom, rare garden species aren't your thing, this catalogue is well worth getting (it's free) for the photographs alone.  The owner of Baker Creek is also a stunningly competent amateur photographer and his work is liberally sprinkled throughout the pages.

I don't agree with their politics but I'm also not a huge fan of modern hybrid garden seed.  I'm very thankful for companies like Baker Creek who are keeping non hybrid seed in circulation.

Bay Rum Procedure

Bay Rum is, of course, *the* classic men's after shave.  It's one of very few that Ranger Daddy likes and now I know how to make it.  Yay!  I have never been so excited to go to a liqueur store and buy cheap spirit.  Here's how it works.

1)  Buy a big bag of bay leaves.  Hint:  Asian food stores sell big bags of these for small bucks.

2)  Break up the leaves and put them in a jar that has a tight lid.  Add any other aromatics you like.  Whole vanilla bean and citrus rind are excellent choices.

3)  Pour enough cheap dark rum into the jar to cover all the stuff.  Screw on the lid and put in a cool dark spot for thirty days.  Mark the date on the calendar and DO NOT TOUCH until the appointed day.

5)  Spend the next month looking for fancy pretty bottles (best are ones with narrow necks) to pour your finished product into.

6)  On the appointed day, pour the rum through a strainer and into a second jar (or through strainer, into a funnel, and into fancy bottles).  Discard the aromatics.  Seal the bottles tightly and place strategically where you'll remember (or your husband will) to use after shaving.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

A Shaving Light Bulb Moment

Ranger Daddy and I had a mutual light bulb moment yesterday.  Over the course of the next month or so (during which our current stockpile of safety razors will run out) we are going to invest in the equipment necessary for each of us to have, and know how to use, straight razor.  Making the decision was easy.  It's fairly obvious that safety razors toss an awful lot of garbage into the trash, even if two adults each use just one per week.

Finding reasonably priced straight razors was a bit of a challenge though.  It took us about ninety minutes with Google last night to find anything decently priced.  It seems that shaving with a straight blade has become something reserved for the upper reaches of wealth and comfort.  For the first hour of our search, the cheapest blade we could find was about $100!  Then we happened upon the brands Krieger and Zeepak.  Both of these companies feature perfectly competent blades running between $13 and $30 dollars.  FYI, the fancy shaving sites such as Classic Shave have nothing but scorn for these cheap blades in their discussion forums.  The derogatory comments smacked of elitism when I saw them last night.  Keep in mind that a razor blade, like a good watch, can only be perfected so far.  At a certain point, you're paying for the finish and detailing, not the blade itself.  One how-to page we read said you shouldn't pay more than $30 for your first blade.  Once you master the learning curve, you can upgrade if you like but start cheap.  

Zeepak also has a complete starter kit (two blades, strop, stone, mug, soap, and brush) for $100.  We're going to get the kit.  We need two blades, minimum, and of course don't have any of the sharpening tools.  We do have a mug and brush (Ranger Daddy has been using soap and brush for going on three years now) but our brush, courtesy of Urban Cowboy, is cheap and falling apart.

So there you have it; yet another way to save big bucks in a small way.  Switch from safety razors to either an electric (Ranger Daddy likes electrics but I hate them with a passion and we need something both of us will like) or a good old fashioned straight blade.

Furniture Polish

I have a couple older wood pieces around the place - a late 50's HiFi set, a similarly aged night table, a somewhat newer, solid oak dinning set.  All of them are used and all have clearly been dying for lack of a good, rehydrating polish.  But my parents run a furniture refinishing shop and I know from growing up around that business that your average over the counter furniture polish is a very bad idea, especially if you have any plans at all to refinish in the future.  All of these older pieces are going to get refinished at some point.  The problem with most commercial polish is that most of them contain silicone to keep dust away.  Silicone gets into the grain of the wood, forever to remain.  You can strip a piece all you want, it will look clean to the eye, but the instant you put new lacquer/varnish/shellac/polyurethane on it, you'll get these oily spots called fish eyes in the trade all over the place.  It isn't pretty and there's literally no way to fix it.

So I've opted for no polish at all rather than risk fish eyes on my solid wood pieces in the future.  Until two days ago when I just happened to stumble upon the easiest furniture polish recipe ever.  I mixed up a batch immediately and gloried in the results.  My good wood furniture looks absolutely beautiful.

The recipe is, 3 parts any oil you happen to have around (I used olive oil but seriously, any vegetable based oil will work) to 1 part lemon juice.  You can put it in a spray bottle, remembering to shake before using, or you can put it in a little jar and upend it over your dusting rag (this was my option since I didn't have any spare spray bottles lying around).  It goes on super easy, absorbs into the wood within a couple minutes, and there are no harsh fumes or artificial scents to foul the air.  I absolutely love this stuff

Practicing Frugality

I'm not sure why this is.  According the the Yahoo article I just read, our nation is in turmoil.  Yet my husband has a good paying job with tremendous job security, we're living within our means, and we're going to try and get a land contract on a nice little house in a decent working class neighborhood in the next few weeks.  I personally do not feel like we're in turmoil.  I actually feel pretty secure.

Here's how we do it:  

1)  One vehicle that we don't have payments on, and which is old enough we don't need to carry full coverage insurance on it.  Liability insurance alone is $56/mo.

2)  Basic cable service plus internet service.  I would love to ditch the cable tv but can't quite justify it on account of Ba'al's mental health.

3)  Our grocery budget is under $150/mo for three adults and one baby.  I shop the bargain grocery stores first, use ethnic stores for "unusual" ingredients, and buy dry goods in bulk.

4)  Everything possible, I make at home.  I can clean my house in its entirety, wash dishes, do laundry, and keep our bodies clean with cornstarch, baking soda, vinegar, and a few other basic household things I buy anyway.

5)  We buy almost nothing prepared.  95% of meals in this house are made completely from scratch, including the bread.

6)  We eat out twice a month and usually for lunch.  Lunch menus are *always* cheaper.

7)  The last movie we went to was in August, at the budget theater where a ticket is $1.50.

Yes it's stingy.  But we like it this way and we feel pretty confident about surviving and living well while doing it.

Cheap Yogurt !

This procedure comes to you courtesy of a crockpotting mom here on blogger.  I tried it yesterday and sampled the results this morning.  AWESOME yogurt for much less than cups of the stuff cost and much healthier too since this isn't laced with sugar, gelatin, and G*D knows what else.  

Pour half a gallon (8 cups) of milk into a crockpot.  A 2 quart will work but having some room to stir, a three or four quart crock, will work better.  Turn your crock to it's lowest setting, cover the milk, and leave along for 2 1/2 hours.

Turn off the crock.  Leave the milk covered.  Don't touch for three hours.

Now that the milk is warmish, scoop out 2 cups.  Mix in 1/2 cup store bought PLAIN yogurt that has "active cultures" listed in the ingredients.  I used the Great Value brand from Wal-Mart with no trouble at all.

Pour the milk/yogurt mixture into the crock.  Add up to 1 cup of powdered milk.  If you're using whole milk to start, you don't really need to add powder.  But use powdered milk if anything less than whole milk, and use the full cup of powder if you started with powdered milk or skim milk!

Now wrap the whole crock up, base and all, in a thick bath towel.  Leave it alone.  Forget about it.  Hopefully you're doing this part in early evening and you can leave it on the counter until morning.  That's best.  The longer the milk is left undisturbed, the thicker your end product will be.  After 8 to 14 hours, unwrap your crock and check on the results.  The milk should have thickened up (texture will depend on how much fat and protein are in the milk you used) and taste tangy.

You can serve it toped with honey or fruit or you can stir fruit in.  Growing up on homemade yogurt, I opt for the topping it with something option.  Mixing stuff in tends to break the protein chains and make the yogurt runny.  This is also the perfect yogurt to use in Middle Eastern and Indian cooking and it makes a rich substitute for milk in baking.  I used mine for the milk in biscuits this morning and my word!  They are they best biscuits I've every had.

New Discount Grocery in Town!

We have a new scratch and dent grocery in town and this one is close enough to where we live to actually make going there practical.  I am so excited about Extreme Bargains!  They advertise prices up to 70% off  regular grocery store prices.  Unlike Bargain Mart, which we have to drive twenty minutes to get to and which has a generous selection of sauces, dressings, and spices and very little else, EB had pasta, pasta sauce, flour, sugar, goat milk (!!!), and a wide variety of other items I would like to buy more regularly but usually don't have the grocery dollars to get.  I spent way more than necessary on our first visit but I won't have to spend much on groceries when Ba'al gets paid this week.  So we're all happy.

I've also finally gotten a sewing machine.  My last one got left behind in Wisconsin when we moved here from there almost a year and a half ago.  I did not get a new one.  I do not like the modern plastic machines that have to go to a trained professional for such simple things as a lube job and cleaning.  No, instead I went to a pawn shop and bought a 1960's model that's insanely heavy but can be lubed and cleaned by someone with few mechanical skills (moi) and then operated without spending hours hunched over a manual first (like the last machine I had which my dear Ba'al thought he was doing a good thing by buying me a brand new model).  That one ended up in the shop a month after purchasing because cleaning fabric fuzz under the foot plate was decidedly not a do it yourself project.  So we're very happy around here with the Dressmaker model S-3000 purchased for $60 (pawn shops are as good or better than thrift stores for electronics).  That price is about half what the same machine goes for on ebay so I think I got a pretty good deal.  

The same day, we got a gently used Philips DVD player from the same pawn shop.  Y'all know what that means?  Means that when we got to pay our cable bill this week, we're also taking in the cable box for the TV!  We are going to become a one service (internet) household, using the DVD player and the 'net to do all of our TV watching.  I have to put together a TV lineup this week so we know what shows to download for our viewing pleasure and what days to look for them.

Deodorant

Not only have I sworn off the shampoo bottle, I've also sworn off the deodorant stick.  I've even gotten Ba'al onto homemade deodorant.  It was easy to make, it's easy to use, and it smells ever so nice.

Mix equal parts cornstarch and baking soda.  Add a few drops of essential oils or some crushed herbs if you like (I used dried, crushed thyme, basil, and rosemary).  Mix all that together.  Then add a couple tablespoons of coconut oil or shortening.  All the recipes I've read say to use coconut oil and I'm sure it's very nice.  But the day I ran out of deodorant, I didn't have money to go out and get coconut oil so I used shortening and it worked just fine.  Both are solid to liquid fats that your skin absorbs just fine.  You want enough to make a nice thick paste:  Start with about a tablespoon and a half and add in increments from there.  Store in a pretty jar or an old deodorant stick.  Use by putting a small amount on your fingertips and rubbing in.  Within a few minutes it absorbs completely with no white marks to be seen.

What is a luxury?

I've been on a mission to cut grocery costs.  With three adults in our house now, it's a fight to keep costs down.  Cause you know, the more I can cut corners, the more I can sock away in our savings account.  A few days ago, I came across hillbilly housewife.  The site has all sorts of information on how to cut costs in the grocery budget and still feed your family filling, interesting meals.  Of particular interest are her forty-five dollar and $70 dollar a week meal plans.  I used the $45/wk shopping list this past week and got everything I didn't already have for $29, using Save a Lot.  It's a lot of food and will keep my men happy for the next couple weeks.

One of the talking points on the site deals specifically with the issue of using margarine instead of butter, though the same point applies to a lot of other foodie choices as well.  So she says that when you have to cut costs and make your dollar stretch as far as possible, it's best to go with the cheapest option available.  Yes, I can hear you saying but what about my health?  What about my family's health?  What about this, what about that?  The reason you're shopping on perhaps $50 or less a week is because you're short on money or want to save money.  So you make sacrifices now to reach some other goal.  The argument about margarine vs. butter is one of luxury economics.  When you can afford to make the choice, you choose the option that's more expensive, better tasting, and arguably better for you.  

Margarine gained in popularity during the Depression years when city people couldn't afford to buy butter.  It's time to return to that mindset.  I would love to have boughten two pounds of butter and a quart of olive oil.  Instead, I got two pounds of margarine and a quart of veggie oil.  I haven't boughten vegetable oil in *years.*  But I needed to make my grocery budget stretch and I didn't happen to have a coupon for olive oil and even if I had, it probably wouldn't have taken enough off to make olive oil comparable to vegetable oil.

Because I Can't Say it Anywhere Else . . .

First, hi everybody.  I just got back from an experiment in how much we can live without.  We cut our cable TV and internet service for a few weeks.  Decision:  Cable TV we can live without.  Internet, we can't live without.  So, I have returned.

Second, I'm going to stray from my personal determination to not get personal in this blog.  This is going to be the one time I get political here.  I can't say this anywhere else because my pregnancy group is determined to remain drama-free.  The same goes for the groups I belong to on Cafemom.  So this is the only place I can get this out.  After today, back to no politics or other personal issues.

I did not vote for Obama.  I did not vote for him because I don't agree with his politics.  I'm trying to forget about the election right now because the whole thing makes me mad.  I took a mandatory civics class my senior year of high school.  It was a run up to the election year and my teacher took great pains to instruct us in the electoral process.  He also took great pains with the intent of the framers of the constitution.  I walked out of that POD (principles of democracy) class with a profound respect for our nation's constitution and the thought the framers put into that document, to ensure that no branch of the government became too powerful.

So.  What makes me mad is not that Obama won.  Yes, I'm disappointed that my candidate didn't win.  I'm not mad that someone else won.  What I'm mad about is that not only did a Democrat win the White House but also the Democrats swept the House and Senate.  The reason this is bad is because of the checks and balances written into the constitution.  The Congress checks the power of the White House and the Judiciary.  But with the Democrats in control of the White House and Congress, they can do whatever they want for as long as they control two out of three.  Even if we only have a Democratic president for four years, the effect of his choices for the Supreme Court (four will retire in the next couple years), and the effect of any and all laws pushed through during Obama's time will affect us for twenty years or more.  I am dead certain that when one party can do what they desire without any check on their power, this is not a good thing.

Now I'm a strange one here.  I am very "green," and for all intents and purposes aligned with the environmental goals of the Democratic party.  But I am also basically conservative.  I don't think one party, or one branch, should have that much power.  So I'm not mad because a black man won the presidency.  I'm proud of my country for being able to look past race.  I'm mad because one party can effectively dictate its policies to the rest of the country.  I don't think that's a good thing.

No 'Poo

I recently joined several groups on Cafemom about homemaking, self sustainability, and so on.  A common thread on all of them is going no 'poo, i.e. ditching the shampoo bottle.

A few months ago, I was looking at shampoo bars as a way of cutting down on the amount of packaging coming into the house.  Well, I'm still going to be getting the bars because I have two adult males in the house, one of whom will refuse straight out and the other of whom will most likely roll his eyes and tease me about it for a few weeks.  And then give it a try himself.

I have had the worst dandruff since I was a teenager.  The sort of dandruff that does not go away no matter what I do.  And strangely enough, it's the sort of dandruff that actually seems to get worse with regular frequent washings.  In reading the afore mentioned threads, it seems that many people who think they have dandruff are having an allergic reaction to chemicals in shampoo.  The cure, of course, is to ditch the bottle (or bar, although the bars tend to have fewer harsh chemicals in them).

One of the things I learned early about curly hair is to wash it as infrequently as possible.  Apparently, this is the hardest thing for people making the switch.  Using the following formula, hair should only need to be washed about once a week.  The way shampoos are constructed, they basically train your scalp to "need" washing every day or two.  So the "detox" often makes people go mad, nearly, because hair gets greasy, seemingly faster than usual.  But after about a month, it gets so much better.

So the formula is:  1/2 T baking soda dissolved into a cup of water.  1/2 T vinegar (white or apple cider) mixed into a second cup of water.  Get your hair wet.  Pour over the baking soda solution.  Rinse.  Pour over the vinegar solution.  Rinse again.  Hair can be rinsed in clear water as often as needed in between washings.  My hair is soft, shiny, the plaques of dandruff on my scalp are already (!) gone, and I don't have any of the itching that normally accompanies washing my hair.  This only needs to be done about once a week.

Clean Green

I've pretty much stopped buying chemical based cleaners.  I'm working through the remains of what I've got on hand but that's it.  Instead, I'm mostly using baking soda, kosher salt, vinegar, and borax.

My basic cleaner is vinegar and water.  I mix it up by the quart - 4 cups of water, 1 cup of vinegar.  It cleans, well, just about everything.  I use it on glass, chrome, mirrors, counters, the stove - everything.  

To conquer soap scum, add 1/2 C kosher salt to the basic cleaner and mix to dissolve.  Or spray on straight vinegar, let sit for a few minutes, and scrub clean.  Or scrub with baking soda or kosher salt in hand, then clean with the basic cleaner.  Some people have good results putting kosher salt on a cut lemon and scrubbing.  Which works best seems to depend on how hard or soft your water is.  Some experimenting may be in order.  Keep in mind none of these will clean as quickly, with as little elbow grease as, say Scrubbing Bubbles.  But they're A LOT better for the environment.

For the floor, dishes, and in the dishwasher, I use a mixture of 1 C borax, 1 C baking soda, and 1/4 C citric acid.  Essential oils can be added for scent too but I'm not using any at the moment.  About 2 T per wash cycle.

To clean out the dishwasher, I put baking soda in the detergent cup and fill the rinse cup (where Jet Dry or something similar would normally go) with vinegar.  Heck, I use vinegar for the rinse all the time.

Oh, and non-gel toothpaste polishes silver beautifully.

Fat Soluble

Fat is good.  Natural fats produced by animals and plants are good and necessary.  They soften skin, they make hair shiny, and they signal fullness to our brains.  Now, another important reason to make sure fats are included in meals:

Vegetables have fat soluble nutrients in them.  This means fats are needed for the body to make use of certain nutrients.  If you don't have fat, you don't get the full benefit of these veggies.  So it's easy to say that in order to reduce calories, we'll cut out the butter or olive oil or salad dressing on our veggies.  However, this fact about fat soluble nutrients shows how it is possible for a person to be the slender picture of health and malnourished, missing out on many important nutrients for want of a little fat.  

Now, obviously, you can't go overboard, especially with saturated animal fats.  But dressing your salad or veggies with olive oil, oil and vinegar, or a modest serving of butter won't kill you.  In the long run, you'll do your body good.

Worth While

Yes, it really is worth while to run around obsessively turning off/unplugging appliances not currently in use.  A recent study showed that the average family could trim 20% from their monthly electric bill by turning off lights when not in use and unplugging out of use small appliances.  Basically, anything with a "vampire light" that glows when the appliance is not being used is still sucking energy.  If you unplug, no energy, electric usage goes down.  So stop making excuses and just do it!  If you have lots of small appliances, put things on power strips.  That way, you have just a few switches to flip instead of lots of cords to pull.  

The Boy With a Drum

There once was a boy 

With a little toy drum . . . . .

They all marched along 

With a rat a tat tat

The boy with his drum 

And the big friendly cat

And the horse and the cow

And the mouse and the dog

And the duck and the chicken

And the pig and the frog . . . . 

I've been reciting this story/poem to Yeled whenever he has trouble settling down to sleep.  The story is charming and sweet and has a irresistible rhythm that never fails to put Yeled sleep.  It struck me, a few nights ago, reciting for about the 200th time in as many weeks, that the story mirrors closely the ideas of self sufficiency and responsible small scale farming.  My Complete Book of Self Sufficiency that I quoted a few days ago repeatedly makes the point that nature abhors monoculture.  He talks about having small numbers of many different animals, rotating a variety of crops, and growing different crops together or several different types of trees.  He recommends having cows, a horse, sheep, goats, a couple species of poultry, and pigs.  Well, pigs are out of question for us but we want to have a little of everything else.

Given the publishing date on my copy of The Boy With a Drum, I doubt the author was simply writing a charming story introducing g children.  The more times I recite the thing, the more convinced I am that the author is mirroring the experience of small farmers everywhere, raising a variety of animals and crops that suite the land.

The more times one plants the same crop on the same piece of land, the more likely that crop is to eventually fall prey to disease.  Rotation and variety are the keys to not only keeping the land healthy but ensuring that crops and animals remain disease free.  The focus of modern commercial farms on just one or two market-oriented animals or crops is one of the primary reason why our farm land is struggling.  I want to grow and raise lots of different things to rehab the land and keep it healthy.