Something I learned recently: most detergents contain ingredients based on petroleum. This includes most laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent, and fabric softener. Of course, the companies aren't required to list ingredients, so it's not like you'd notice easily. The other ingredients are also toxic and not bio-degradable. More info here.
So, here's the breakdown of alternatives:
Laundry detergent: There are non-petroleum brands out there. We use Seventh Generation, and I've found it to be pretty good. I haven't noticed any difference at least. Giant Eagle also carries it, so it's easy to get. Watch out though. Tide is marketing something called "Pure Essentials" that is still petroleum based. It sits next to Seventh Gen on the shelf. Clever marketing by Tide....
Fabric softener: From what I can tell, there are no alternatives here. Both sheets and liquid are made from petroleum. We just stopped using it entirely when the last bottle ran out. Honestly, I don't notice any major difference.
Dishwashing detergent: There are non-petroleum options. We tried them. Unfortunately, if you have really hard water, they don't work so well. They somehow left the dishes dirty. Apparently they work best with soft water. They probably would also work better if you pre-rinse, but we don't. So, we went back to the old stuff for now. I'm not totally happy about it, but one step at a time I suppose.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Petroleum-based chemicals in cleaners
Monday, July 28, 2008
Apartment composting
Let it be well understood that I have not tried any of the following mechanisms myself...
So, without your own happy compost pile, this seems like a pretty hard problem. From what I understand, throwing food scraps in the garbage does not allow them to degrade. They get put in a rather toxic dump where any insects can't really survive well, and there may not be enough oxygen or water to support the bacteria needed.
I've heard of two things you could try if you can't have a compost pile or a fancy compost bin:
In-ground composting
Under this method, you use a kitchen container (like this one) to store scraps for a few days. Then you go outside, anywhere, and dig a hole. Dump in your scraps, cover back over with dirt, and let it be. Bugs will do the rest.
This is supposed to be ideal for people with small yards, bad soil, or home associations that don't allow composting. It's also a great way to make the soil better with little work. If you're in a small apartment building, I bet you could just do this on the property and no one would care.
If raccoons become a problem, apparently covering over the space with a brick for a week works. Then you just move the brick each week when you dig the new hole.
Vermicomposting
This is worm-based composting. As in, you have a box, and you keep pet worms. You feed them all your food scraps and you provide them with a nice "bedding" material. If done properly, there isn't supposed to be any smell, and the resulting soil is extremely fertile and would be good for houseplants. More info about doing this in an apartment!
Honestly, I'd get too busy and forget about them. Maybe they aren't much work, but given how the litterbox smells right now, I don't think I could handle a box of worms...if someone tries this out, let me know! I'm curious whether this is actually doable and reasonable. Given the number of sites that turn up when I search for "worm bin", I suppose quite a few people are going for it, so maybe it's easier than I'm expecting.
Composting
Lizzi asked about composting. I'll post first about what we do, and then about some things I've heard you can do in an apartment situation. So here's my compost mechanism:
What do you mean you don't have a 120 gallon aquarium with a 5 pound garbage disposal with claws and a fondness for biting fingers?
Ok, in reality, Terabyte gets first pick of the veggie scraps, but the rest go into the compost pile. We have a little can in the kitchen which stores the scraps up for a few days, then we dump it outside. This is particularly handy in winter when we don't want to go outside everyday to add scraps.
You'll notice we're pretty lazy composters. No fancy rotating bins for us. No adding worms, no thermometers and water gauges. We dump stuff on, and fancy that, it composts. My neighbor seemed kinda surprised by this concept. :) Once in a while, we turn it, and when we water the garden, we add some water to the pile. Based on the size of our worms, we're doing ok.
To prevent it from smelling, we just add only veggie scraps and yard waste. As long as you don't add any meat or sauces or anything beyond plant matter, it's fine. There's a fair amount of dirt in there, and we turn it every couple of weeks to get the scraps to the inside of the pile and bring the dirt on the top.
We also try to keep a 50-50 mix of greens(fresh plant matter) to browns(dried leaves). Supposedly this is a good balance for soil, but I think it also prevents it from smelling.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Disappearing zucchini orzo
I got this recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I hate zucchini, but I love this dish and make it every week throughout summer.
3 large zucchini
12 oz. of orzo pasta
3 T. olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
several sprigs of oregano, minced
Parmesan cheese, shredded
- Grate zucchini and put in large pan with olive oil, garlic, and oregano. Put on high.
- Fill pot with water, put on high to boil.
- Continue to stir zucchini. Supposedly, you "saute until golden". In reality it turns into a mushy mess. Just keep stirring until most of the water is out.
- While zucchini cooks, add orzo to boiling water, cook and drain.
- Mix zucchini into orzo.
- Serve topped with parmesan cheese to taste.
Notes:
The zucchini is a pain to shred. I highly suggest using a food processor. I am a big fan of my grating attachment for my KitchenAid mixer, which does this in no time.
This dish is also super-cheap. The zucchini costs 75 cents for a large zucchini from the farmer's market. Continue reading ...
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Our house cleaners
Saul and I hired a cleaning company to do the basic house cleaning for us. (Hey, we're not cleaning 3 toilets and 4 bedrooms). They just do the basics every other week.
We used to have an eco-friendly company come, but they started charging a high price, so we switched to a normal cleaning company. I explained my issue with harsh cleaning chemicals and asked that they please use only the cleaners that I provide.
I don't know what it is with these people though. They can't just do as I ask. The guy who owns the place keeps asking about using a different floor cleaner because the one I provide isn't "disinfecting". I don't want it to be "disinfecting" dammit, I want it to remove the grease and grime! What I don't get is why he apparently feels compelled to discuss this. It really is as though he is as morally opposed to bacteria as I am to dumping ammonia on the floor.
Thinking of...he suggested that he use his own concoction which he "adds disinfectant too". I doubt he got an A in high school chem. Cause if he did, he might know that mixing bleach and ammonia causes chloramine gas.
Info on combining cleaners
Oh well, I might be firing them soon anyway since they haven't come for over almost four weeks.
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