Back to the blog

I see that it’s been over 5 years since I posted on this blog, and much has changed. We moved from Toronto to an island near Kingston, ON three years ago to a much bigger place, but one green thing about it is that it has geothermal heating. When we moved the first thing we did was change all of the old school lightbulbs to CFLs and LEDs, and replaced all of the toilets to low flow dual flush.

I no longer try a new green challenge every week or month, but am constantly looking for ways to produce less waste and live greener.

Moving to the country has allowed me to have a garden and grow some food, which I’m slowly expanding on. The first year we moved in the middle of summer (2016), but in spring of 2017 my youngest and I started seeds indoors and were successful with herbs and lots of tomatoes. In 2018 more herbs and tomatoes and a few cucumbers, onions, lettuce and dark leafy greens. This year I tried some cauliflower (fail), broccoli (success!), eggplant (fail, but it was overshadowed by kale so will try again), peppers (fail), kale (success!), other dark leafies (success), a few onions (small, but they were delicious) and tons of tomatoes again. I am a terrible gardener, although I do love it. I keep saying I’ll devote 20-30 minutes to it each day (darn weeds) but in the end it is overrun each fall. I’ll keep trying and adding to the garden, though.

A week or so ago a little (amazing) coffee shop in Bath, called The Lodge, hosted Rose Refillery, a fledgling mobile green company that has pop-up refill stations (all purpose cleanser, shampoo, conditioner, Castile soap, hand soap, dish soap) at different locations each week (or so). Deanna is based in Stirling (north of Belleville) and attempts to get local products to sell. She also has cotton produce bags, makeup remover pads, and paper towel replacement.

Unfortunately it’s pretty pricey to refill at the refillery (I watered down some of my refills with distilled water to stretch them) which will be a problem for many. I pointed her to a dental floss that was about half the price of hers. Is she can make it affordable, it’s an amazing idea.

That’s it for now, but there will be posts to follow as there are some things I want to pass on that lower our waste (and recycling) output, which is much more apparent when you have to take that stuff to a dump on the regular. I only go once every 6 or 8 weeks, but it’s still lots of output.

Queen of Green

I just thought I’d pass on a link to David Suzuki’s Queen of Green’s Spring Breakup. It’s basically about toxic household cleaners and how there are other options. This week’s advice is on vinegar and homemade cleaners. There are handy recipe cards for download, which tell you what ingredients do various things like:

• Cut grease
• Deodorize
• Disinfect
• Fight mould & mildew
• Lift dirt
• Soften water
• Whiten

Happy clean and green housecleaning, folks!

Full Review!

Just updating the full review since the last time I did it was in 2009.

Why review? To let you know how it’s going, what’s easy, what’s not as easy, etc.

I figure a table with a 1(hard)/2(medium)/3(easy) star (*) system (x means failure and there is one n/a not applicable) with a comment might be easiest to peruse, but sorry about the scrolling…

#	Description	***	Comment
1	Mow lawn every week	*	I am always a slacker by the end of summer, but I just let it grow –  I don’t bother with the neighbour’s electric anymore.
2	Fill kettle a cup at a time	***	I have a counting strategy at the tap (3 is 1 cup, 6 is 2 cups, etc) but I’m still (year later) working on hubby
3	Bring home recycling & green bin	***	We mostly just carry reusable stuff so it’s a non-issue.
4	Read news online (cancelled paper subscription)	***	Works fine. Very rarely I crave a paper in hand. Plus I get news from more diverse sources now.
5	Buy produce at Farmer’s Market in season	***	I actually only get my honey at the farmer’s market now that we use a CSA. (It comes in glass and is local and very tasty!)
6	Packaging free take-out	***	Tiffin boxes have worked out very well. Restaurants love them and folks ask where to get them.
7	Fair trade chocolate	***	It’s worth it (for my conscience) & you can buy it in more & more places (& I found it bulk!)
8	Unplug chargers/plugs not in use	***	Habit took a few weeks to get into but I’m still doing well.
9	Walk to the bulk store instead of drive	*	Not since the bike accident…
10	No more bottled water	***	Good.
11	Buy second hand	***	This is easy, cheap, and all-around great!
12	No junk mail	**	I don’t know if greendimes made any difference whatsoever but a sign on your mailbox certainly does.
13	Fair trade coffee	***	We went a step further & roast our own green beans & I’ve never enjoyed my 1 cup/day more
14	Toilet train the oldest	***	Working on the youngest now…
15	Saving our plastic bags for when they are added to the recyclables	x	The city reneged on this idea so I have slowly been adding them to our (extra small) garbage once a month or so.
16	Using green cleaning products	***	Haven’t used caustic/toxic chemicals/bleach cleaners in many months! More info here.
17	Ride my used bike (vs driving)	***	Riding, walking, and using TTC.
18	Buy less!	***	Going down to one income helped with this but I’m very conscious of it now, unlike before.
19	No more nail polish	**	After the thumb surgery last year, I went out and got a mani/pedi… I needed the pampering. That’s the only time… honest!
20	Next car will be green/hybrid/efficient/electric	***	We’re not planning on buying a next car at this point.
21	Replace plastic food packaging & infant toys	***	I’ve managed to get many glass freezer friendly containers but it would be nice if they stacked better when empty. Also, the lids mostly suck, except Frigoverre.
22	No more delivery food	***	Done.
23	Don’t buy from Esso/Exxon	***	Easy. Even that time I got caught with the “extremely low gas” light on…
24	Use Gel-Free Tushies when need to use disposables	x	Not absorbent enough for overnight so we switched to Seventh Generation chlorine-free
25	Don’t shop at Wal-Mart	***	Easy. I don’t even consider it an option.
26	a) Use the car less than 2-3x/wk	***	We use the car 1-2 times a week. We live near transit, parks, groceries, libraries, etc.
26	b) Don’t turn the tap on full	***	This is a silly and difficult habit to break, but it’s working finally.
26	c) If it’s yellow, let it mellow…	x	We bought a dual flush instead. It smells better.
26	d) Turn out lights as I leave room	*	Easy, but I can’t change seem to the habits of the people I live with. The boys are getting good at it, though.
26	e) Navy showers	**	This is a summer-only change. I’ll be back to navy showers when it’s warm again.
26	f) No paper subscriptions	***	Always tempting, but I’m not going to.
26	g) Eat even less meat	*	We went pretty vegetarian for a while & my 3 year old (at the time) had a hard time with it. Meat 4 times/wk is average I think.
26	h) Amalgamate car trips	***	Done. Easy.
26	i) Don’t buy food in non-recyclable plastics (e.g. cherry tomatoes)	**	I do this, but it’s not always easy.
26	j) Cancel catalogues	*	When New Scientist expired we went for the new online only option. I have to talk to the ROM about this…
27	No T-Gel (coal tar) or Head & Shoulders (zinc pyrithione)	***	Found an alternative at The Big Carrot.
28	Use only recycled toilet paper	***	Ridiculously easy.
29	Use the kill-a-watt meter to see what’s sucking energy	*	We did it for a few things but dropped the ball on that one.
30	Use toothbrush with replaceable head	***	All 4 of us use these now.
31	Switch to LED night lights	***	They work great!
32	Fair trade organic loose leaf (low packaging) tea	***	We buy it by the kilo every few months.
33	No trash week	x	I bailed. Too much on my plate to worry about being all extremist.
34	Plant flowers that support the bee population	***	Next spring!
35	Don’t use microwave popcorn	n/a	No microwave, I make it in a pot the old fashioned way!
36	Vegetarian recipe exchange	***	Got some good recipes (email if interested) & everyone was happy to be involved
37	Use organic vegetable & fruit delivery service	***	Great service, but now that it’s nearly harvest time, we’re moving onto a CSA (see #51)
38	Write politicians about stopping the global warming nightmare that is the tar sands	**	Done. I should really do this sort of thing more often, though…
39	Go green for xmas	***	We pretty much bailed on the consumer-palooza that is Christmas for the past 2 years. They rocked.
40	Wash new clothes before wearing to rid them of formaldehyde finish	***	I very rarely buy new clothes, but when I do, I do this.
41	Refer to the “dirty dozen” list & buy organic for the top offenders	***	I have the full list in my phone and refer to it all the time.
42	Bought a hemp shower curtain	***	This shower curtain rocks. No complaints.
43	Don’t buy anything in styrofoam	***	Styro is recycled now in Toronto, but I’ve cut it out of my usage anyway.
44	Buy organic milk, mostly for the benefit of my little guys.	*	Whenever I can get it, I do.
45	Work towards creating less than 1 bag of trash/4 weeks	*	We’re at or just less than 1 full bag/4 weeks and holding steady.
46	Participate in Earth Hour	***	Easy. We should do it more often.
47	Make my own sour cream (since I’m already making my own yogurt)	*	This worked a couple of times (even with lower fat cream) then it stopped working. Still trying to get it right. My sister-in-law is doing it successfully and loves it.
48	Don’t even consider using biofuels (with the exception of used chip oil)	***	This is a ridiculous, yet government mandated, affair.
49	Buy naturally raised beef directly from local farmers	***	Love that beef from beefconnections.ca.
50	Properly dispose of expired meds at household hazardous waste	***	I missed my local Environment Days but have stashed the offenders to disposal at a later date.
51	Buy shares in local organic CSA for summer	***	Loving it.
52	Got an “green” yoga mat for my 3 year old	***	Love the new yoga mat I bought for my little guy but borrow when he’s in bed!
53	Turn off power bars for computer 2	***	Easy. Do it every night. Should have started a long time ago.
54	Use grey water for toilet flushing	*	This fell by the wayside around the accident when I couldn’t lift anything. Will try to get it going again.
55	Use a dry diaper pail	**	Not currently using cloth diapers but we use cloth wipes.
56	Community park clean-up	*	in 2008 but not 2009
57	DIY toothpaste	*	I used it for about a year and then bailed. May go back.
58	Summer savings	*	I stopped using the clothesline and my bike after the accident but we don’t use A/C and I still did navy showers…
59	Events without bottled water	**	I always push for this during our fundraising events. Last time I didn’t even have to push!
60	Dual flush toilet	***	Excellent.
61	Holiday solar LED lights	***	Excellent.
62	Gift free birthday party	**	Last year it went great. This year we don’t have a plan as of yet.
63	Late night laundry	***	Easy.
64	Knitting local and sewing.	**	I make hats for folks with yarn from Kingston, ON now. Have to get better at patching clothes (boys and the knees in jeans, I tell ya…)
65	Hankies	***	Haven’t bought a box of tissue in 6 months, although we do have one on hand for guests.
66	Recycled printing paper	***	Excellent.
67	Cloth napkins redux	***	We use them every day.
68	Re-purposed wood scraps	***	Good fun.

16. Get some beer… and some cleaning products

(Any True Romance fans out there?)

I’ve been using vinegar for my floors and many other cleaning needs for some time now, and I switched to Nellie’s All Natural Laundry Soda a month or so ago, but there are things like soap (we have a thing for liquid hand soap here) and stain remover (the Laundry Soda is great but for stains, you need to soak, which I don’t seem to have the time or the inclination for), and toilet bowl cleaner (I can’t get my head around just using vinegar and baking soda on the toilet) for which we need a green solution. So today I went up to Grassroots (because I read that you can get many bulk items there, including cleaning grade vinegar) in an attempt to get more green with my cleaning products.

It’s great! They sell a few different brands and much of it can be purchased in bulk (like the 25% acetic acid vinegar and cleaning grade baking soda) so I picked up some Nature Clean liquid soap, toilet bowl cleaner, and stain remover. I’m fully stocked on vinegar and baking soda but when I’m out, I know where to get it waste-free!

“What are the issues with conventional cleaning products?” you may ask. From cbc.ca:

“Many common household cleaners contain alcohol, ammonia, bleach, formaldehyde and lye, substances that can cause nausea, vomiting, inflammation and burning of the eyes and throat.

Environmentalists have linked these ingredients with neurological, liver and kidney damage, asthma and cancer.”

Then there’s the fact that most of this stuff (especially the bathroom cleanser) ends up in our water…

Nature clean talks a little bit about it here. They’re great because they offer full disclosure of ingredients, while most cleaning products hide behind the “trade secret” cloak.

As for the beer, that’ll have to be another day…