How to Make Your Own Dish Detergent

Which of these liquids do you think is potentially harmful to your respiratory, ingumentary (skin) and immune systems? Duh?

So, it's pretty simple for me. In my opinion you should wash your dishes in water. Let me tell you why and then I promise, since I know you will not be easily convinced, I will give you a compromise.

I do not use detergent. There are numerous chemicals (man-made) that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt are unhealthy. PCMX, DEA, DCM and APE's are part of almost every dish detergent on the market. Yes, they are regulated and supposed to be in quantities that are "relatively safe". If that's enough to satisfy you, then keep doing what you're doing.  But, even if we could bathe in dish detergent without harming ourselves, we still cannot use it without decimating fish populations and adding to the environmental nightmare that is slowly sneaking up on us (most scientists say it is already upon us).

I wash my dishes in water, with my nature-made Pot Scrubber. Grease? Oil? No problem. I scrub the dish clean and then dry it. I know you can do it too. However, if you are convinced that you NEED detergent then let's compromise. Here is how you can make your own AND make enough to give to friends or even label and sell.

2 cups water
1-1 1/2 TBSP of Borax. (Borax is a naturally occuring sodium based product collected from lake deposits you can find it in the detergent aisle at the store. It comes in a box and so you will have WAAAY more than you need. So, why not package it for family and friends).
1-1 1/2 TBSP of castille bar soap (or use Ivory soap if you cannot find the castille bar soap). Shave the soap off the bar with a potato peeler or similar.
A dropper full (15-30 drops) of your favorite essential oil if desired for fragrance.

Boil water and add ingredients. Let it all dissolve and then sit and cool all day. It will gel and then it's ready to go.

Tip: When I am in the woods I use the river gravel and mud to wash the dishes and then rinse them. Yes, mud. After rinsed and dried they are perfectly clean. NO harmful residues, no sick fish, no selfish, greedy use of synthetic chemicals that can harm others or myself.

Pot Scrubber

Among other things, you did not need to buy that pot scrubber.

If you get out hiking like you should, or if you live in a place like I do-where mountains, lakes and trees abound-then you can easily find many of these. Pine cones are excellent pot scrubbers. When you are done, throw them back in the yard. Much better than the gross diseased scrubby thing you keep using over and over. Yuck!

They are NOT dirty. They are as safe and clean as picking organic produce from your own garden to make a salad.  Remember this when a piece of cone is in your water. There are hundreds of unhealthy chemicals in everything you buy to do certain tasks. A piece of pine cone is NOT one of them. Change the way you see the world and your world will change.

(Yes, your water will look yellowish and you might even see some dirt. Just finish the freaking task and dry your dish. Now, look at it. It's CLEAN. Did you hear me? Look me in the eye, IT"S FREAKING CLEAN. Now put it back in the cupboard and do something else and stop being a puppet of economic consumerism and corporate/media propaganda.) 

I use the Blue Spruce as a regular scrubber and a firmer and harder Ponderosa Pine cone for getting tough eggs or potatoes off my pan after cooking. Some pine cones are sharp and will not work without using a glove. I have so many options I just don't use them unless they work well and easily.

It's one more way to minimize, and it's fun to work with nature to simplify and energize your life.

Tip: Collect a bunch of cones that work for you and set them on the counter in a nice wooden bowl. They look cool and might even offer a scent of pine.

The Awake Diet

One of my Potato Mountains: Mashed potatoes 100 ways all named after mountains.

Diet is not always the first thing that enters a person's mind when thinking about the planet and the environment. But, diet is crucial to a person's health and to the balance of nature, including the climate we have known for thousands of years. As recent as 1998 when the United Nations Agriculture Department published their report, we have known that a change in diet that highlights whole foods and little or no meat, is necessary for slowing-or at that time perhaps stopping-the effects of global warming. The number of animals farmed for food is an activity that statistically has more than doubled the human population. Indeed, the animals raised for food are so great in number that it is the same as having 15 billion people on the planet instead of the 7.5 billion we now house. These animals are not pets or wildlife, they are animals being raised to slaughter needlessly and often violently-without compassion. 

John Kabat-Zinn (founder of the mindfulness based stress reduction clinic in MA) says that people who are physically and emotionally spent are usually people who are living life un-awakened. They have lost the ability to live life in a consistent awareness and with thought. Most of us live re-actively; controlled by schedules,radio shows, television, habits, routines and rituals. We don't have time or desire to be aware, to be selfless, to be awake.

In addition to the huge amount of methane that farmed animals add to the environment, the process of eating at the top of the food chain is taxing fresh water resources and fossil fuel supplies required to feed, transport, process, package and distribute. Few people have taken the time to understand how much it costs in natural resources to produce such a wasteful product. For those of use who value all of life, we are alamed at the conditions, pain, suffering and death that accompany this terrible habit. Yes, this human activity is also partly responsible for the declining habitat for wildlife, even as far from our daily lives as the penguin.

While we can face the challenge of global warming without ending this practice altogether, we can still lessen our dependence on meat and meat by-products. In the process of this lessening, we can also realize less obesity, heart disease and multiple other illness and diseases that cost governments and individuals billions of dollars each year. It is not just a good, moral and healthy idea, for the sake of the environment it is lessessary.

Taking one day a week to eat a vegan diet will challenge the average person and especially the cook at home but, the rewards are selflessness, health and a new creative twist in home cuisine. Try it, for everyone.

Float On

Greetings, especially to those who wander and wonder.

It's a hot day, your air conditioner in the car is not working. The kids are restless in the back seat. The diesel fumes permeate your vehicle. Horns are honking. Brakes are squeaking. Tires are squealing. Music is thumping. And, oh yes, it's one stoplight at a time. Turn, stop, go. Turn, stop go. This is life. In many ways it is all of life, not just on the road in a busy city.

Now, you are stepping into a comfortable raft on a gentle, flowing river. Slowly it winds through beautiful greenery. Wildflowers wave gracefully as you float by. You glance and catch the inquisitive eye of a squirrel on the bank with a nut in her mouth, looking at you. The sun warms you in the moments you escape the cool shade of the trees on a picture perfect cool, late summer day. You notice your breath is calm yet sure, your mind is alert, yet relaxed. Your senses are alive, but not stressed. Your spirit feels home and free. And, you are harmonizing with the melody of life. Your life is the river. You are connected. Your soul soars, your mind dances and your body breathes. A beautiful journey. And to think, it is largely a choice we make.

Are we puppets unable to control the hand that moves us as a species, as a society, as a culture? We like to think we are critical thinkers and independent intellectuals. I believe we are, or can be, the latter. To begin that journey we do not have to get angry and throw our hands in the air. I am convinced we need to only be silent. While the following acronym may have some general and external applications for all of humanity, it is more a place of the heart. An individual thing. And, consequently, if we all practiced it, it would change everything.

P: Perform acts of kindness. Make it a habit because that is the way you are, not just a random decision.

E: Embrace times of silence and solitude in natural places.

A: Avoid the unhealthy pursuit of wealth and power.

C: Consider the interests of others as equal or more important than your own.

E: Encourage non-violence in all of life and every situation.

Peace, friends.