...where I check in on my eco-friendliness :)

Last March I blogged about ways in which this so called eco-friendly mama is, well...eco-friendly. In that same post, I also wrote about ways in which I was hoping to improve upon my eco-friendliness.
Here is my update on whether I achieved these "goals" and my plans for them this coming year!

1. Composting - I will start this in the spring. I already have the countertop compost pail. I will be ordering my outside compost bin from the city in which I live. I successfully started a compost bin. I have a large outdoor compost placed next to our garage and I have a small countertop pail for the kitchen. Things have slowed down a bit now that it is colder outside but I still throw food scraps in the bin. Unfortunately our newspaper (we only get the Sunday paper) uses way too much colored ink, so I am unable to compost the paper :(. I do have a bale of hay that I throw in every once in a while to add dry ingredients! This past fall when I stirred the compost I did notice that I have a thin layer of composted dirt on the very bottom! I plan on continuing to compost in 2011!

2. Installing a rain barrel. Again, I will be ordering it from the city in which I live. Not going to lie...I never got around to buying a rain barrel and installing it. BUT, my husband now works for the city and has very easy access to obtaining the rain barrel from the city's program...so in 2011, it will get done. I am adding that to his honey-do list!

3. Replacing all my plastic food storage with glass food storage containers. Done. I do have a complaint though about the lids...they are still plastic and they are horrible! They warp in the dishwasher or in the microwave (even though they claim to be microwave and dishwasher safe), so now I have issues with the lids fitting correctly. When I have extra cash lying around, I may invest in something else...not sure what though.

4. Joining a CSA (produce) for the summer/fall. Done. We enjoyed 26 weeks of fresh, local farm produce. It was fun to try out vegetables that I had always been afraid to try (rhubarb) and some that I had never even heard of (garlic scapes). While the CSA was well worth it, this coming year I have decided to not participate in the CSA again. For several reasons - 1. Even though we split our CSA with another family, we still managed to have way more produce than we could eat in one week. Often times, when we were picking up our new box, we still had produce sitting at home from the previous week that hadn't been eaten yet. Unfortunately this caused some of our produce to go bad before we could use it or give it away. I did try freezing as much as I could, but not everything was freezeable. 2. While it was nice to try out new produce, there was still stuff we received in the box that even after trying, we just didn't enjoy...and we would get it repeatedly for the next several weeks (greens, anyone?)
So what will I do in 2011? I am going to buy our produce at local farmer's markets. I have easy access to 3 farmer's markets that all occur on a different day of the week, which will allow me to purchase produce in small batches and as needed (so nothing should go bad sitting on the counter at home while waiting to be eaten). I plan on spending the same per week that our CSA cost us ($12.50 per week). Two of the Farmer's Markets are within walking distance (one is actually in the parking lot at work!). Additionally, now that I know what produce we do and don't like, I will be able to buy exactly what we need and in the quantities we need it. I can skip the produce we didn't like. After this next year, I will then make a decision about whether I want to stick with shopping the local markets, or go back to a CSA plan.

5. Purchasing more of our meat products from local farmers. We purchased a lamb last year from one of my husbands co-workers, but that was it. We do also receive a fair amount of beef and pork from my parents, who purchase a cow and pig from a local and have it butchered. We won't be buying another lamb this year, as my husband no longer has his "lamb connection", but I am looking into buying chicken locally (since we will still be getting pork and beef from my parents from time to time). I still have some research to do in this area though. Oh, and we are looking into finding a place where we can get fresh eggs!

Well, that's about it! Not too shabby! Anything I am missing and should incorporate into this coming year?
What are you doing in 2011 to become more earth-friendly?

...with the cloth wipes solution.

In addition to using cloth diapers, I also use cloth wipes. I purchased some really cute cloth wipes from Etsy. They are rectangular in shape, and fit perfectly into one of those travel wipes containers. I keep them dry inside the container and have a small squirt bottle that I fill with my own homemade wipes solution to clean off the baby's bum.
When it's time for a diaper change, I grab one wipe, wet it using the solution, clean off baby's bum and toss the dirty wipe into the wetbag along with the dirty diaper. No need to look around for a trash can to throw a disposable wipe into!
There are many different wipe solution recipes available. I found a great website that listed a recipe for anyone's needs! Some are very basic, others have many ingredients.
Take a look for yourself!

...with the homemade dishwasher soap.

The one thing I love about becoming more "green", is that it also saves me money!
I recently noticed I was running low on soap for the dishwasher. Instead of scouring the ads for dishwasher soap coupons, I instead looked online for recipes to make my own soap. Not only is it eco-friendly, but it is also much cheaper!
There are several recipes out there for dishwasher soap. I chose the simplest one I could find...I figured I'd start with this, and if it didn't meet my needs than I would try another recipe later. So far, this recipe has done the trick!
Here's what I am using:
1 cup of washing soda (made by Arm and Hammer....you can use baking soda too)
1 cup of borax (buy this in the laundry detergent aisle)

Mix thoroughly. Put in a recycled jar (I used an old candle jar!) to store.
Use 2 tablespoons per load.
Use vinegar in the rinse compartment as a rinse aid to help prevent residue buildup.

Voila! That's it. Easy. Green. Cheap!

...with the eco-friendly mama

The other day at work a co-worker asked me "how are you green?". She was curious as to how I am eco-friendly in my everyday life. I immediately thought of the most obvious ways I am eco-friendly and shared them with her. Later as I sat back and thought more about her question I decided I should make a list here and share it with you all. Now, many of these aren't difficult or earth shattering, and I'm certainly not the first and only person to do them! Maybe some of the things I do might inspire you to make small changes in your life as well!

Here are 10 things I currently do:

1. I use "reusable" grocery bags/totes for grocery shopping etc. (See, I told you it wasn't earth shattering!)

2. I recycle paper, glass, aluminum and plastic (it's part of the city's waste management program in which I live)

3. I cloth diaper my daughter and I use cloth wipes.

4. I make my own cloth diaper detergent using borax, washing soda and oxy-clean.

5. I make my own all purpose cleaner for cleaning the house/dusting/etc.

6. I make my own dishwasher soap.

7. I use dryer balls instead of dryer sheets in the dryer.

8. In the summer months, I hang dry our clothes, instead of using the dryer.

9. I replaced all of our light bulbs with CFL bulbs.

10. I use "unpaper" towels instead of papertowels (roller linen!).

Here are a few things I am in the process of doing:

1. Composting - I will start this in the spring. I already have the countertop compost pail. I will be ordering my outside compost bin from the city in which I live.

2. Installing a rain barrel. Again, I will be ordering it from the city in which I live.

3. Replacing all my plastic food storage with glass food storage containers.

4. Joining a CSA (produce) for the summer/fall.

5. Purchasing more of our meat products from local farmers.