Eco Friendly Home

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Creating a more eco friendly home and world - just takes getting the word out to consumers. I've found that people across all walks of life really do care about these issues - they just haven't been informed. Offering solutions can be really transformative.

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Fact:

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Did you know that strangely enough household cleaners aren't required to be tested for toxicity and that the ingredients aren't required to be fully listed on the label? That's a problem not only for consumers but for scientists who are trying to figure out if those products are safe or not.

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Kick chemicals to the curb. Take steps to make your home healthier for yourself and the planet. Two harmful chemicals that we have given up in our home are chlorine bleach and ammonia. I had a hard time letting go of these products at first - especially bleach - but I have found that alternative products have come a long way and are readily available and affordable. And after all is said and done sometimes just having white vinegar, baking soda, and good old soap and water on hand will take care of most household jobs with ease.

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For more tips and info check out greenhome.com

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Quote - Anais Nin

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(Images courtesy of Jupiter Images)

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There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

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Anais Nin ~

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One Small Change - One Huge Result

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Home is where we can do a lot to reduce pollution and sustain the health of our planet and our own in the process.

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While recycling is up in this country Americans still throw a lot of trees away. It's really not necessary to flush ancient forests down the toilet - we have perfectly good alternatives.

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Fact : If each household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper with recycled paper - we could save 423,900 trees.

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That's pretty significant!! This goes for paper towels too. Pledge to make this small change today!!

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Check out "The National Resource Defense Council's" link for more information and a Shopper's Guide to Home Tissue Products.

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Missed My Own Blogging Anniversary

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I've been so busy I missed my own blogging anniversary on July 31st. It has been two years since that first post. When I was first inspired to begin barefoot in the orchard, I had no idea how many wonderful people I would come to know, or how many wonderful blogs I would read and love!! So...happy blogging birthday to me and in honor of that first post I will re-post -- Sacred Housework (below).

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Sacred Housework (First Post - July 31st 2007)

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I know your thinking – “What is so sacred about cleaning the toilet?” I fought the idea that I could hold these chores in such high regard from the very start. Of course when I began my career as a "homemaker" things were much easier. My husband and had I just moved in together and our tiny apartment housed no children and little to no furniture. The T.V. – which we bought on credit – sat on two cinder blocks atop a piece of plywood. The idea of mopping made me feel grown up and took all of 10 minutes. My husband and I shared tasks and it seemed to take no time at all to straighten things up. Now, cleaning up after a family of seven requires serious skills and timing. The words “Are there any clean towels!” can send shivers up my spine and a burst of resentment if I’m not careful. To some extent I’ve lowered my expectations but on the other hand I’ve raised them too. I am the keeper of our home. I carry this with great pride like carrying the Olympic Torch. Of course it helps that I only work this gig and believe me it is a seven day a week round the clock kind of schedule. I would not even attempt to work an outside job. Some years ago I was lucky enough to come across a book called Simple Abundance (http://www.simpleabundance.com/) and it changed everything for me. It taught me the value of being organized (which has saved my sanity numerous times let me tell you) this book really resonated with my “authentic self” pardon my lapse into the world of Sarah Ban Breathnach. Our homes are our shelter from the world. The place we come to escape the harshness of life. It’s a place where people greet you with warmth and are happy to see you coming through the door at the end of the day. Well… most days anyhow. This really does matter and I realize that my work here is my expression of love for those faces. If you believe that God is part of everything then it’s part of washing the dishes and sweeping the floor too. So it is sacred - even if the profoundness of it is only visible to me. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against women working outside the home. I am not one of those religious types either that think they are their husbands helpers. No, I am a serious feminist woman. I am proud of the fact that I kept my name (no man would give his up) and after all it’s who I’m known as in this world. What I am most proud of though is that I know the value of real family life and so does my husband. Maybe we don’t have all the monetary things we could have had if I would have been focused on bringing home more money and maybe we never would have taken on 3 more kids (although someone would have had to do this even if it was the State of California) but what we do have is sacred and I’ll clean that toilet over and over to keep that.

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Lovely Day

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I have special songs for all five of my kids. Occasionally I fire up iTunes and begin playing one - which always brings them running. Well to be honest, my two oldest sons don't quite respond the same way they use to, but the three younger ones do. They still think that they will live in our house forever, and never want to leave home, or mommy, but of course they will - and that is as it should be. My oldest son Benjamin just had his "bon voyage party" over the weekend, and next Friday I will pack him up and drive him to his new apartment a few hours away - where he will attend more college and do community service work in exchange for free room and board (what a deal). But where did all the time I thought we had left go? I am so proud of him and all his choices. I cannot even begin to express how talented and wonderful he is. I know he will go out into the world and make it a better place, but as the party wrapped I found myself feeling a little melancholy. So this morning I queued up my youngest son Andy's special song - It's Lovely Day, by Bill Withers - and turned it up as loud as I could. Within seconds he was in the kitchen, along with everyone else, and we danced the morning and my blues away. 1 down 4 more to go.

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Andy's Song

Beautiful Botanicals

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(Alexander von Humboldt )
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I've always had a thing for botanical prints and the collection by Alexander von Humbolt during his exploration of the America's have always been among my favorites.
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Alexander von Humboldt is widely respected as one of the founders of modern geography and biogeography. He was a great explorer and collected exhaustive data in the areas of geomagnetism, meteorology, climatology, geology, mineralogy, oceanography, zoology, botany, ethnography, physiology, and linguistics! His understanding of the link between living things and their environment proved a key inspiration for Darwin, who called him "the greatest travelling scientist who ever lived".

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In 1799 Humboldt started his South American expedition with French botanist Aimé Bonpland and during five years through present-day Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Mexico and documented some 4,300 species. He and Bonpland collected over 4,000 botanical specimens which they preserved through a variety of ingenious methods. He also made copious drawings of the plants he saw (more than 400 drawings, using graphite pencil or pen). When Humboldt returned home a team of engravers and colourists - selected by him - worked on the drawings, and because of the size and intricacy of the task, it took nearly 30 years for them to be published in their entirety -- a massive 34 volume work that remained unfinished at his death.

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Humboldt was born 1769 in Berlin, Germany – he died 1859.

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To coincide with the 150th anniversary of Humboldt’s death Prestel International is publishing a book entitiled - Alexander Von Humboldt: The Botanical Exploration of the Americas. I'm sure it would appeal to anyone who appreciates fine art and/or botanical illustration - like me!!

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(Above info - in part - courtesy of Botanical Illustration)

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Just a Yellow Bobbed Tailed Cat

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Peewee circa 1978

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Have you ever lost a pet that was very dear to your heart? One that no matter how many years had passed you still thought about and missed. I once had just such a pet/friend. He was a yellow bobbed tail cat named Peewee. You may have seen him mentioned in the "Barefoot In The Orchard" side bar.

When I was 8 years old my neighbors cat had kittens. Now, for quite a long time I had been asking for a dog. Each year, on my birthday, when I blew out the candles, this is what I wished for. I had it all planned - I would teach it lots of tricks, and it would greet me each day when I got home from school. I even had the name all picked out, but year after year - no dog. So when my neighbor (who was my mom's best friend) invited me over to see her new kittens I couldn't resist and immediately wanted one. I noticed that one of the kittens did not have a normal tail - just a little stub like you would see on a bobcat. I immediately went home and began begging for this cat. It took some convincing, but finally my parents said yes. When he was old enough I brought him home, and treated him like he was my new baby. I also treated him like he was a dog. I had checked out a book from the school library, and found that cats could be trained to do lots of things just like dogs. After just a little coaxing, and a lot of bologna, I had taught him several un-cat-like tricks and he did them all happily.

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16 years passed as we grew up together, but just as I was getting ready to begin my life as an adult, his came to an end. And still after all these years I think of him and our time together, and all the fun we had. How he followed me wherever I went, licked my nose (to my parents and family friends delight) and even waited for me each day at the mailbox to return from school. He was such a great friend and confidant - especially on those days when things weren't going so well. I guess he always knew just how much I loved him. So when I hear or know of someone with a close bond with their pet - I completely understand just how irreplaceable and loved that little friend is to them, and I am reminded of a certain chubby, cute, yellow bobbed tail cat named Peewee.

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V.W. Quote

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"Arrange whatever pieces come your way."

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Virginia Woolf ~

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I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!!

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