Things to Check Out...

...because they are AWESOME!!!

1) Sherwin Williams ColorSnap app for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. This app takes a picture of anything, matches it, gives you a color palette of similar, contrasting or coordinating colors, then allows you to save your color palette. Very cool!

2)The Academy for Global Citizenship is probably the coolest elementary school I have seen or heard of. On the south side of Chicago. These kids learn about science, math, art, nutrition, etc by growing their own food and plants, plus so much more.

3) Pinterest.com. If you haven't checked this out already...GO NOW! You can look up just about anything and see a bunch of pictures and ideas that other people have "pinned" that are interested in the same thing. I think it is awesome for brainstorming and finding new interesting sites and such. Lots of DIY, vintage, and just plain pretty stuff.

4) EarthEats is a weekly podcast with a website about the latest in sustainable agriculture and local food. It has great recipes, resources and local and national food news. Their most recent episode was about summer grilling with some great herby drinks. Taking center stage?...Lavender lemonade, Sage Apple Infusion, and Sour Cherry Fizz! YUM!

Yeah. I think that's it for now! :)
OH...except, Thursday is my last full-time day at IWU! Then I get to spend 3 months with this little man. SO EXCITED! We're going to learn to read and swim and speak Spanish...and we're going to play a LOT!

All Natural Baby Safe Dryer Bags

SO...ever since I started using Soap Nuts for my laundry (read info here and here), I've been trying to figure out a way to get my clothes to smell lovely and fresh. There were some suggestions on adding some essential oils to the muslin bag that I put the soap nuts in, but that didn't really work. And I didn't want to use dryer sheets, because they just coat my clothes with chemicals that irritate our skin.
But then I saw these HUGE fusible tea bags on From Nature with Love, where they say one of the uses is dryer bags. What?! What a stinkin' good idea! So I bought some lavender, chamomile, and orange peel (all safe for babies) from the Bulk Herb Store, and started experimenting.
My first bags last for about 5 loads, then the tea bag gets too thin to hold it any more but the herbs are still fragrant, so I can use it then in my pillowcases or dresser drawers. :) Here's how I made them:

Gilmore Baby-Safe All-Natural Dryer Bags


1/2 c orange peel (cut)
1/2 c chamomile flowers (german)
3/4 c lavender buds
12 drops each orange, chamomile, and lavender essential oils
5 Large Tea bags


Shake all ingredients in a tupperware container with a lid.
Scoop approx. 6 tablespoons of the herb mix into each Tea bag.
Throw in the dryer with your laundry.


The laundry (and our laundry room) smell great! I'm trying to see how I can get the bags to last for more than 4-5 loads, because a busted dryer bag is not a good thing. For now though, I'm very happy with this solution.

TIP: If you're still using dryer sheets because of static cling, just throw 1/4-1/2 cup apple cider vinegar in with your clothes during the rinse cycle of the wash. It gets rid of static like a charm and the vinegar smell completely dissipates when the laundry is dry. So here's the laundry routine --> Wash: Soap Nuts (oxygen bleach for nasty stains), Rinse: Apple Cider Vinegar, & Dry: Herb Dryer Bags. All-natural, gets rid of all dirt, bacteria, fungi, and viruses, and keeps your clothing looking and smelling great!

Some Flab-Off Recipes - Coconut Pancakes & Nutty BBQ Meatballs

One thing that has been really fun about this Flab-Off is getting creative and trying new recipes. Monday morning we had flourless coconut pancakes. You can find the original recipe on Tropical Traditions...here. They have several other GREAT recipes! I used honey in place of the sugar and 1/2 plain yogurt, 1/2 milk instead of the heavy cream.
Yesterday for dinner we had lima beans, sweet potato chips (thinly slice a sweet potato, toss in 2 Tbsp. Coconut Oil, place in a single layer on a cookie sheet, top with red pepper, black pepper, garlic powder and salt, cook on 400 for 20 minutes), and BBQ Meatballs. And yes, I made the recipe up all on my own! Here's the thing. All of these recipes include ketchup and worchestershire sauce in their ingredients, which are chock full of corn syrup and sugar. SO...here's the flab-off recipe. Loved by mommy, daddy, and Elliot! This one's a winner for us. Hope you enjoy it too!

BBQ Meatballs

BBQ Sauce

1 cup tomato puree

2 Tbsp. honey

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

½ cup apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. ground mustard

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small onion, minced

Meatballs

1 lb ground beef (grass-fed)

½ cup milk

1 egg

2 stalks of celery, finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)

¼ cup pecans

¼ cup almonds

¼ cup ground flaxseed

¼ cup coconut

Combine BBQ Sauce ingredients in a large saucepan and mix together. Start simmering on low, while you prepare the meatballs.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ground beef, milk, egg and celery in a medium bowl.

Combine pecans, almonds, flaxseed, and coconut in a food processor and process until mixture is at least coarsely ground.

Knead nut mixture into beef mixture. Roll into small balls and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Combine meatballs with BBQ sauce in saucepan.

Cover and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Parabens & Phthalates

Don't those two words just make you cringe?
If they don't then you haven't been asking enough questions. I was going to do a post awhile back on each of these things, but the folks at Soapchix have done a more fantastic job than I could have, so I'm going to point you their way. Check out their post on the dangers of and differences between parabens & phthalates.
Basically, you need to be aware of these things for yourself, but also if you have children...or are going to have them in the future. Soapchix say that children absorb up to three times as much stuff through their skin as adults do. So even if you're not concerned about the estrogen and carcinogenic nature of parabens for yourself. Or you don't really care what phthalates do to you because you've been using products with them your entire life. Still be informed about what's going in to your little one's body.
In a nutshell, they're both in just about any store bought bath & body or cosmetic product. Parabens are used as a preservative, while phthalates are typically used as a binding agent. And while you might not find phthalates listed in the ingredients of some products, if it says "fragrance" the phthalates are there.
For some products and providers that I've found helpful, you can check out my posts on RMS and Simple Soapworks. Two other companies that I do use, but haven't done posts on are Aromaleigh and Chagrin Valley. Check them out! (I think I should totally be paid for advertising these puppies!)

CoHousing - The Logical Next Step?

For a girl that makes her own soap, is a dedicated member of her CSA, is stoked about her garden this year and desires a stronger connection with her community, this cohousing thing sounds pretty good.
If you haven't heard of it, you can read more about it here. But it's basically a collaborative housing where residents design and operate their community. Most of the cohousing communities are environmentally conscience, having community gardens and the like. And it seems that most of them are run by people with similar values and lifestyle preferences on issues like religion and education. The picture above is from a cohousing community in Nevada. There are currently NONE in Indiana. But there's nice one in Michigan called Newberry Place. The other thing is, all of the residences, finances, etc. are separate, so it doesn't feel like you're living in a commune or anything, but you all contribute to the operation of the community based on your skill set.
When I first heard about it I thought, "That sounds so cool! But it would probably never work." Guess what though? It is. Similar to CSAs, this sort of endeavor to intentionally restructure our lives is catching on throughout the US.
So....who wants to start the first one in Indiana with me?!

Coconut Milk Soap Recipe

Coconut Milk Soap

Makes 8-10 bars

3 oz lye

8 oz coconut milk

10 oz extra virgin olive oil 

7 extra virgin organic coconut oil

3 oz all natural shea butter

3 Vanilla Beans (chopped)

1/2 cup Oatmeal

Essential Oil Blend (2 parts lavender, 1 part patchouli)

**TIP: When working with milk, whether it be goat's milk or coconut milk, add the lye to the milk little by little so you don't scorch the milk as the lye reacts with it. If you scorch it, you're soap will smell like you did! So give it a little extra time.

Green Tea Soap Recipe

I've waited awhile to put this up, because I needed to make sure it would cure and turn into a good soap. And I personally think it's great! One of my friends made soap with red tea instead of water when she was making her lye solution. After reading how goat's milk soap is made, I figured I could do this recipe and the following one with coconut milk. I'm really excited about possibly making a soap where the lye solution is a hydrosol instead of another liquid. Wouldn't that be cool?!

Green Tea Soap Recipe
Makes 8-10 bars

3 oz lye

8 oz green tea

10  oz extra virgin olive oil

5 oz extra virgin organic coconut oil

5 oz palm oil

2 oz all natural jojoba oil

Green tea extract

Essential Oil Blend (5 parts rosemary, 2 parts tea tree, 2 parts spearmint)

For more info on soap making procedures, refer to this post.

Shampoo Bars

My newest soap making adventure was embarked on this weekend, when I decided to make shampoo bars. I learned a lot from my last soap making endeavor that helped this process immensely. And I believe my hubby is going to make me a big soap mold for my next soap project. Below is the recipe that I used. Refer to this post for tips and links on soap making procedures, but I have two more tips for you.
First, stir your lye solution a couple times as it is cooling to make sure the lye doesn't just stick to the sides of the container. Second, keep on mixing that sucker until you're sure it has traced. This batch took about 30 minutes of mixing...that's a long time. But it helps it harden up really nicely. It will look like soup, then a milkshake, then pudding. Wait for the pudding look.
This recipe made 20 bars. Here's the recipe:

Gilmore's Shampoo Bar Recipe


33 oz. Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil
10 oz. Pure Organic Jojoba Oil
16 oz. Distilled Water
6 oz. Lye 
.25 oz. Essential Oils (I used 6 parts tea tree, 3 parts spearmint, 1 part patchouli)

Trying Toothpaste - Homemade and Natural

So...at the Gilmore house we now make our own soap, deodorant, and laundry detergent. Next on the list, shampoo bars this weekend! But first, I think I'm going to try a homemade toothpaste.
Let's just say it, "The overabundance of fluoride that we ingest FREAKS me out!" So...:) I found several toothpaste recipes online and a way cool new blog (check out The Organic Sister).

Gilmore's Original Toothpaste Recipe:


3 T. Baking Soda
2 T. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
1 T. Hydrogen Peroxide
1 t. Salt
5 drops of Tea Tree Essential Oil
5 drops of Spearmint Essential Oil

Since I haven't used it yet, I'll have to get back to you and let you know how it goes. From what I've read about the ingredients, it should be a killer combo, but I'm no chemist so we'll see! At any rate, it has to be better than fluoride and sodium lauryl sulfate, wouldn't you think?

(Author's note: Tried this toothpaste the day after posting the recipe. Worked great!!! Pretty salty to the taste, which most people probably will not like, so you can eliminate the salt from the recipe if you think that would be a turn off for you.)

Meat!

A bit ago, Evan and I watched the movie, Food, Inc. It is a grrreat documentary about the food industry in America. With astonishing facts, that were sadly not that astonishing after reading about food and other products that we use on a regular basis. I have thoroughly enjoyed my community supported agriculture adventure through Victory Acres. So now that I have my produce supplier for about six months out of the year, I've been on a journey to find healthy local meat for my family.

I think I might have found one! Seven Sons Meat Company is a small beef and pork farm, run by a couple, their seven sons, and the sons' families. The cattle are born and raised as grass-fed cattle. They also have a partnership with a free-range poultry farm where you can get turkey and chicken. They have their own free-range eggs, and a partnership with a dairy farm that offers shares in raw milk. 

On their website, they mention that they have a store that's open pretty much all the time, so I thought, "Wow! What an operation!" Then we went grocery shopping on Sunday....our first stop was Seven Sons Meat Company Store.

I was not expecting this! It was a little shack in the middle of this farm, with no attendant. You went in, served yourself, and paid. Then went on your way. However, it was delightful! Very clean, exactly what we were looking for. So we signed up for half a cow! Wow! Actually, we're going in on it with our parents, so we get about an eighth of a cow, which is plenty for us.

(I love Elliot's face here)

I also love this way of life, because honestly, where can you go grocery shopping, get amazing, nutritious food and your son gets to play by pumpkins outside while you do? At Victory Acres, he watches the chickens and plays with the dog and picks green beans. I just get so much joy from discovering these places and watching my family enjoy them too!

Homemade Natural Soap!

Yes! It's true! I made soap....not just any soap, but soap I almost want to eat. (seriously!) If you'd like to try some, let me know. The bar above is for my friend Heather. :) It still has another week to cure before we can use it, but I think it will be just great.
If you'd like to try to make your own soap. There are a lot of great sites and books out there that are helpful. Little House in the Suburbs has some great links. At some points I will probably do an entry on diagnosing soap problem and the whole process. But for right now, here's the recipe that I used.

Gilmore's First Soap!

21.5  oz.=50% Extra Virgin Olive Oil
10.75  oz. = 25% Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil
6.45 oz. = 15% Organic Mango Butter
4.3 oz. = 10% OrganicGrapeseed Oil – 43 oz oils

6 oz lye

16 oz Distilled water

This recipe made about 15 bars, not quite 20 like I thought it would. Here are just a few quick tips. 

1) Your oils and lye solution need to be mixed when they are both between 95 and 98 degrees. For me, the oils cooled more quickly than the lye solution. This is great because the oils temperature can be altered more easily by placing it over heat or by placing the pot in some cold water.

2) Proper measurement is key. Measure by WEIGHT, not volume. So don't measure 16 liquid oz of water, but actually weigh 16 oz out on the scale. You can also convert your ounces to grams to make sure you don't mess this part up.

Happy soapmaking!

Trying Again

I've been reading more about soap making, and I think I figured out my problem. Well, I have a couple problems. #1 - I need to stick with a simple recipe. #2 - I need to make sure and measure everything in the same state (either solid or liquid). #3 - I need to get a good thermometer to read the temperature on my lye/soap nuts mixture.
I'm going to order my stuff and try one more time. I hope that it will be a success and I can post the tutorial and recipe for you all to enjoy. In the meantime, you can read some great info on how to make soap and such --> HERE! The Tomato Lady just posted some good tips and an olive oil soap recipe at Little House in the Suburbs as well.

Going Greener - Cloth Diapering & Homemade Wipes

The past several days have been an adventure! A diapering adventure. Lots of cloth, lots of oils, and lots of trials at leak prevention with cloth diapers. I think we've finally got it going! :) Elliot is now on about day 6 of cloth diapers. We started out alternating between cloth and disposable, and after we received our diaper covers things really started happening at the Gilmore house. We purchased the Bummis brand and are pretty satisfied with it, but I'm also going to try Thirsties covers, and the Gro Baby system for when we're out and about. If you're interested in cloth diapering the benefits are explained well at Sprouts Babywear and there are tons of reviews on products at The Diaper Pin.
In addition to cloth diapers, you can also use cloth wipes. I'm not quite to that point yet, but I did make my own wipes yesterday, and they are working splendidly! Here's how:

Homemade Wipes
Supplies
10 squares high quality paper towel
1/2 cup water
3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Organic Coconut oil
5 drops each of lavender, geranium, and tea tree organic essential oils

Instructions

1. Cut paper towel in half, then fold those pieces in half.
2. Stack cut & folded paper towel pieces on top of each other
3. Melt coconut oil, by microwaving in a Pyrex measuring cup for 30 sec.
4. Add water and essential oils 
5. Pour mixture over stack of paper towel, by pouring on all sides of the stack and allowing liquid to absorb through entire stack
6. Place in recycled wipes container, tupperware or another airtight container

These wipes have been GREAT at removing everything gently from my son's bum. And the oils are soothing, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral. They're also very safe in this diluted form.

So the adventure continues on, but I think I'm about convinced that cloth is the way to go. I'm already saving money and not having to deal with trash cans with stinky diapers piling up that will later go in a land fill.

Re - Paint Chips

Reduce - Reuse - Recycle!!! So from now on - for any of my posts that have to do with making something that has to do with the 3 aforementioned "R"s - I will be tagging it with a "Re." Not to be confused with a reply or in regards to.
Anyway, to kick this off. Check out the site that Heather highlighted on her blog. It's a slideshow that shows you 50 New Uses for Old Things.
Re-Nest. I love this website! Check out how they made pixelated artwork from paint chips! ACK! I want to do this so badly in my hallway with a huge picture of Elliot's face.

DIY Removable Wall Decal & Planters

SO...I love wall decals. You know, the vinyl ones that say things or make your walls look like a forest. Like the ones here. But they're pretty expensive. I've been using clear contact paper for a lot of different crafts, and I thought I might be able to make my own decals. One problem. I have clear contact paper. All the other contact paper I've seen are primary colors or weird patterns.
So I looked around online and found a place that said that you could paint contact paper if you did it with acrylic paint. After trying it, I'm sure that a regular wall paint would work as well.

Like it?

It's my first one, so I think I can do even better next time, but I like it a lot! Here's how I did it.

Just cut off a long piece of contact paper and paint it your desired color.

Then trace your design on the backside and cut it out.

Peel off the backing and stick wherever you want on your wall. If it's not just right, peel it off and try again. :)

I also worked on a project that I had been thinking about for awhile this weekend. I took my old formula canisters (yes, I saved some. I just thought, "seriously! I am throwing so many of these away! I'm sure I could do something cool with them. They're containers for crying out loud)...so I took them and nailed a few holes in them. Spray painted them with chalkboard paint and transplanted a few of  my plants that needed to come inside from the sun room since it's getting cold. I'm very please with the results!

Without chalk

With Chalk! :)

All-Natural, Homemade Laundry Detergent

Okay folks! It cleans dirt just as well as any other laundry detergent I've used, and it's dirt cheap (ranging from approx. 8-25 cents a load, depending on what you use).

So here's what you do. Get a container (tupperware, milk jug, whatever). Gather your supplies...

Supplies =

• Borax (in the laundry aisle, some people use 20 Mule. I used the stuff I ordered from Mountain Rose Herbs for my birthday)
• Washing Soda or Oxygen Bleach (Also, in the laundry aisle, you can find Arm & Hammer brand - like the baking soda. I am finding that oxygen bleach is a really great natural cleanser and it won't mess up your colors or make you dizzy like chlorine bleach does. The oxygen bleach is more expensive than the washing soda, but I had some for other household cleaning so I used it.)
• Grated bar soap (like Ivory, this is obviously not the all natural option) or Ground Soap Nuts (you can find these here and here and here)
• Favorite Essential Oils (I used grapefruit, sweet orange, and lavender)

Once you've got your supplies, you decide how much you want to make (I made about 2 cups). Then you measure out your supplies. 1 part borax, 1 part washing soda or oxygen bleach, 2 parts soap or ground soap nuts. Mix the dry ingredients until it's nice and powdery. Then add up to 10 drops of essential oils for scent.

(There are lots of recipes out there, but this one is pretty low-sudsing so it's good for both top and front load dryers.)

DONE! Now go do some laundry. It takes 2 Tablespoons to 1/4 of a cup per load depending on which ingredients you use. I have a fun little wooden scoop,

A New One

Found a new blog! EvaForeva shows you how to make these great recycleable fruit & veggie bags, and she has an awesome giveaway for a beautiful, big silk scarf! Check it out!

Worms & Weeds

Elliot helping me weed! I just had to stop and watch...he's so sweet!

I finally got my Red Wigglers yesterday! Woohoo! Who knew someone could get so excited about worms?! The funny thing is Red Wigglers are really popular fishing bait (so my hubs tells me) but I couldn't find them. I checked three different bait places. But then, guess where they were? Yes, that's right. 1/2 mile from my house in lil' ol' Upland. At the BP gas station there's a little fridge in the back with like 10-12 different kinds of live bait. (Seriously now?!) So I bought my little guys and excitedly brought them home with a rake and a weed eater/trimmer. I finished off my DIY Worm Composter, and Elliot and I weeded and raked while Ev mowed and trimmed. Our yard looks very nice and we LOVE being outside!!! It's so nice to actually have a space that we can be outside and that Elliot can safely crawl and stand around.

Below is a picture of the worms...just because I'm proud. However, I know some of you are squeemish (I actually was pretty jumpy opening the little containers of worms myself. I don't know how I'm ever going to separate them from the compost!), so I waited to put it at the end. You can choose to look if you'd like.

See...It's not that bad! :)

Wow! A Biotower...I'm Giddy!

This is one of those things that I look at and think, "Haha...Holy cow!...Haha" It makes me giddy and giggly. It's basically a little sustainable ecosystem in your house! Right now, my hubby tells me that this is a concept project and you can't buy one yet. Each of the layers feed into the next with bottom layer circling back up to the top and the entire thing producing excess oxygen into your home atmosphere....:) wow!

The picture was taken from Gizmodo. You can get more info from here.

DIY Worm Composter

I dare you to Google Shopping a worm compost bin! They range anywhere from $90-$600!!! Seriously now?! That's ridiculous. But I REALLY wanted one. So I did a little searching and found a tutorial on YouTube. I altered it a bit, and now present it to you! You won't need a starting kit and you'll be able to do it for around $20.

First, buy two plastic totes with lids. Make sure they are a dark color, since worms and light don't mix well.

I got these pretty green ones for $7.97 a piece a Lowe's.

Then get that drill out! You'll want to use an 1/8" bit or around that size. This way you allow for airflow and drainage without losing any soil or worms. Choose which bin you want to be on top. Drill 15-20 holes around the sides of the tub about 3/4 of the way up. I did seven on each long side and 3 on each short side.

Then drill holes 6-10 holes in the lid.

And do the same for the bottom. I put 8 on each.

Then in your bottom bin (the one without holes), set up two milk boxes, formula canisters, coffee cans, or whatever you have two of that are the same height and pretty sturdy. I used two old plastic trash bins.

Now set the top bin on the canisters. This will keep the top bin from getting stuck in the bottom one and will allow for airflow, so your stuff doesn't get stinky.

It's now time to start the layering! Something I didn't know until I started reading about this, is the importance of bedding. Bedding is torn up cardboard or shredded paper or a mixture of both that you can put in your compost bin, it cuts down on the smell and on any bugs. Cool huh? You can also include dry leaves in your bedding if it's fall-ish out.

So...Layer #1-Bedding! Put down a layer of bedding until it completely covers the bottom of the bin and you have a nice little mound of it.

Layer #2 -Throw in your food scraps. I know...EWWW gross! But I'd been saving these scraps for this purpose for the last couple weeks in a small composter under my sink.

When it comes to food scraps, here's the deal -->You can put as much fruit and veggie stuff in as you want, along with any tea bags or ground coffee (filter and all). You can also put in breads, onions, and citrus in moderation. But don't use meat or dairy products or anything with a lot of oil (salad with a bit of dressing should be fine, but don't throw in your favorite greasy pizza).

Layer #3 - Coffee grounds and a tad bit of dirt.

I was so excited to finally be able to use my Grounds for your Garden that I got for free at Starbucks. The pail at my Starbucks was always empty, so I figured "this stuff must be good for your garden!" Without knowing why it was, the first time I saw some in the pail, I grabbed a big bag.

Then I brought it home and I didn't know what to do with it. Everything I read said to add it to your compost or add it to your garden.

I just planted my garden and I didn't have a compost bin....yet! On top of the coffee grounds you want to add a sprinkling of dirt. The grit from the dirt helps the worms...I guess they have weird gizzards for it or something.

Then we start over again....bedding, food scraps, grounds & dirt. The grounds aren't completely necessary, and they can be mixed in with the food scraps, I just like separating them for the sake of smell when I'm making the thing.

You want your top layer to be bedding. They spray it down and get it nice and moist.

You can dump in your worms right away, or you can let the stuff sit for a week or two and give it chance to decompose a bit before you introduce the worms.

I've read a couple places that the best worms to get are Red Wigglers. You want to get about 100 to start with (about $5 most places). Then let the worms do their thing. In about 2 months you'll have 300 worms and a nice compost! Then you can separate the worms out, use the compost, and start a new bin or two.

Hope this helps you! I'm so excited about ours. With this and our recycling, it really cuts down on our waste and the garbage! Woohoo!

Isn't she beautiful? I think I'll call her Elfaba!