Friday, July 30, 2010
Daily Cleaning Challenge - July 30
Friday is Rest Day for us. Well, as much as I'm ever willing to rest. Do a quick morning tidy on the house and get it presentable enough for company/weekend. Then spend the afternoon relaxing - perhaps with some good friends and some knitting needles!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Daily Cleaning Challenge - July 29
Thursday is the bedroom day! Tidy up those bedrooms, and don't forget to do the floors! Put away any laundry that is hanging out.
Trash to Treasure - Composting
We have worked very hard at lowering the amount of garbage we throw out every week. As a family of four, we have thrown out 1 kitchen sized trash bag per week for about 2 years now. One of the secrets to our success in this area is composting. By composting, you can literally turn your trash into treasure!
To get started, you will need a location for your compost. There are several fancy bin style composters on the market, and I know several people who are quite happy with theirs. The prices range all over the map, depending on many factors. I am in no way capable of rating them, because I have never used one. If you are interested in keeping your composter in the garage or basement, then you will most likely want to look into some type of bin. My preferred method is to place the compost outside. We've had several different setups at different houses. At our first house, there was a bin already built in the raised bed garden. It was salvaged wood, I believe, in the shape of a rectangle, about 3.5 feet long and 2 feet wide. It was about 1.5 feet tall and had a hinged lid with a hole cut in the top. The hole made it easy to drop food in and the hinged lid made maintenance and removal easier. The enclosed structure kept the compost hotter which speeds the composing process. Most sources say to make your space at least 3 by 3 by 3, but our first bin worked just fine. Our second house, we used a plastic outdoor trash can. We poked holes in the lid and down the sides to allow air to flow. We cut a hole in the front of the can at the bottom that looked like a mouse door. This one worked fairly efficiently too. At our third house, we had 4 posts in a square with plastic garden netting around it to hold everything in. At this house, we just have a heap in the yard. The heap in the yard has been the cheapest and my favorite method so far.
Once you have a location, you will need to add your compost material. It is generally considered best to put a layer of sticks and twigs at the bottom of the pile to allow air to flow through from the bottom. Next, you want to add yard waste and food waste. You want an approximate ratio of 2/3 yard waste to 1/3 food waste.
Yard waste is grass clippings, leaves, weeds, dead heads from flowers, plant stalks from vegetation that is done producing for the year, and that general type of thing. You want to avoid adding things like poison ivy, which can still add the oils to your compost and give you poison ivy for years to come. You also want to avoid diseased and chemically treated matter. If you have a fungus attacking your plants, you don't want to add it to your compost which you will use to fertilize more things next year. Likewise, if you add chemically treated matter, the chemicals will leach into your compost. Even if you aren't concerned with gardening organically, the chemicals can alter the bacteria growing in your compost pile and stop the composting action. You can also add animal bedding, manure, paper, natural fiber cloth or dryer lint, saw dust and small twigs under this category.
Food waste is simply food that you don't eat. The peels and ends of vegetables that are cut off when preparing them, spoiled raw fruits and vegetables, and even leftover steamed or roasted veggies that don't get eaten in time are great additions. You want to avoid fats, oils and dairy products. Other than that, food is fair game. Egg shells are great for the compost. Grains are fine, if you aren't using them for some reason. Pretty much anything that you are going to throw away can be examined for the compost pile. If it doesn't have fats, oils or dairy, go for it!
Now you just need to maintain the pile! It needs to be stirred occasionally, with a shovel or a pitchfork. The more often you turn it, up to once a day, the faster it will compost. If you neglect this step altogether, it will continue to compost, just more slowly. You need to make certain that your compost doesn't dry out too much. If it is a heap, it is easy to keep it fairly damp as the rain will wet it for you and the compost itself will hold it in. If you have a bin or a box, you will need to add water regularly to keep it damp - not drenched. If you notice bugs or a bad smell, you don't have enough yard waste to food, or else you just need to stir it up a bit more. The inside of your heap should be hot. If you are stirring regularly, you may notice that snow will melt on top of your heap. If the inside is cool, your ratios are off somehow. See if you can figure out what is missing - yard waste, food waste or water. For the most part, it is a pretty low maintenance process. You can work at it a lot and it will go faster or you can mostly ignore it when you aren't tossing some scraps in and it will compost slower.
You can add in some fun things to make it go faster or slower, if you are just itching for something to do. You can get compost worms, which eat the compost and turn it into dirt faster within their own systems. It is amazing how much compost a small group of worms can make in just a few months! The worms are specific, though. You want red wrigglers or tiger worms. These are two different names for the same worms. Night crawlers are not the same thing. I have had great success with getting my worms from freecycle. You can also add compost starter, which will sort of jump start the process by adding in good bacteria to your compost. This is not a necessary step, though, as your compost will make its own good bacteria in time. The starter just makes the process faster.
Depending on your bin or heap, how big it is, and what all you've put into it, you will have compost in a few months to a year. You will know it is compost when it stops looking like yard waste and food waste and instead looks like dark, fluffy, good smelling dirt. When it is black, it is good dirt and it is ready to use.
And once you've got the compost, what do you do with it? You can use it to amend the soil in flower beds and gardens to make it good for growing plants in. You can use it to fertilize your lawn. You can use it to mulch around plants and trees. You can put it in a cloth bag and submerge the bag in a bucket of water for a few days to let the nutrients pass into the water, then use this water to water your plants (including houseplants) as compost tea. You can give it away to friends and family as great fertilizer. You can put it on freecycle, if you can't come up with something else to do with it!
I'd love to see pictures and hear stories about your composting experiences! Do you have a bin that you can rate for us? Did you build your own bin? What great tips do you have for composting?
To get started, you will need a location for your compost. There are several fancy bin style composters on the market, and I know several people who are quite happy with theirs. The prices range all over the map, depending on many factors. I am in no way capable of rating them, because I have never used one. If you are interested in keeping your composter in the garage or basement, then you will most likely want to look into some type of bin. My preferred method is to place the compost outside. We've had several different setups at different houses. At our first house, there was a bin already built in the raised bed garden. It was salvaged wood, I believe, in the shape of a rectangle, about 3.5 feet long and 2 feet wide. It was about 1.5 feet tall and had a hinged lid with a hole cut in the top. The hole made it easy to drop food in and the hinged lid made maintenance and removal easier. The enclosed structure kept the compost hotter which speeds the composing process. Most sources say to make your space at least 3 by 3 by 3, but our first bin worked just fine. Our second house, we used a plastic outdoor trash can. We poked holes in the lid and down the sides to allow air to flow. We cut a hole in the front of the can at the bottom that looked like a mouse door. This one worked fairly efficiently too. At our third house, we had 4 posts in a square with plastic garden netting around it to hold everything in. At this house, we just have a heap in the yard. The heap in the yard has been the cheapest and my favorite method so far.
Once you have a location, you will need to add your compost material. It is generally considered best to put a layer of sticks and twigs at the bottom of the pile to allow air to flow through from the bottom. Next, you want to add yard waste and food waste. You want an approximate ratio of 2/3 yard waste to 1/3 food waste.
Yard waste is grass clippings, leaves, weeds, dead heads from flowers, plant stalks from vegetation that is done producing for the year, and that general type of thing. You want to avoid adding things like poison ivy, which can still add the oils to your compost and give you poison ivy for years to come. You also want to avoid diseased and chemically treated matter. If you have a fungus attacking your plants, you don't want to add it to your compost which you will use to fertilize more things next year. Likewise, if you add chemically treated matter, the chemicals will leach into your compost. Even if you aren't concerned with gardening organically, the chemicals can alter the bacteria growing in your compost pile and stop the composting action. You can also add animal bedding, manure, paper, natural fiber cloth or dryer lint, saw dust and small twigs under this category.
Food waste is simply food that you don't eat. The peels and ends of vegetables that are cut off when preparing them, spoiled raw fruits and vegetables, and even leftover steamed or roasted veggies that don't get eaten in time are great additions. You want to avoid fats, oils and dairy products. Other than that, food is fair game. Egg shells are great for the compost. Grains are fine, if you aren't using them for some reason. Pretty much anything that you are going to throw away can be examined for the compost pile. If it doesn't have fats, oils or dairy, go for it!
Now you just need to maintain the pile! It needs to be stirred occasionally, with a shovel or a pitchfork. The more often you turn it, up to once a day, the faster it will compost. If you neglect this step altogether, it will continue to compost, just more slowly. You need to make certain that your compost doesn't dry out too much. If it is a heap, it is easy to keep it fairly damp as the rain will wet it for you and the compost itself will hold it in. If you have a bin or a box, you will need to add water regularly to keep it damp - not drenched. If you notice bugs or a bad smell, you don't have enough yard waste to food, or else you just need to stir it up a bit more. The inside of your heap should be hot. If you are stirring regularly, you may notice that snow will melt on top of your heap. If the inside is cool, your ratios are off somehow. See if you can figure out what is missing - yard waste, food waste or water. For the most part, it is a pretty low maintenance process. You can work at it a lot and it will go faster or you can mostly ignore it when you aren't tossing some scraps in and it will compost slower.
You can add in some fun things to make it go faster or slower, if you are just itching for something to do. You can get compost worms, which eat the compost and turn it into dirt faster within their own systems. It is amazing how much compost a small group of worms can make in just a few months! The worms are specific, though. You want red wrigglers or tiger worms. These are two different names for the same worms. Night crawlers are not the same thing. I have had great success with getting my worms from freecycle. You can also add compost starter, which will sort of jump start the process by adding in good bacteria to your compost. This is not a necessary step, though, as your compost will make its own good bacteria in time. The starter just makes the process faster.
Depending on your bin or heap, how big it is, and what all you've put into it, you will have compost in a few months to a year. You will know it is compost when it stops looking like yard waste and food waste and instead looks like dark, fluffy, good smelling dirt. When it is black, it is good dirt and it is ready to use.
And once you've got the compost, what do you do with it? You can use it to amend the soil in flower beds and gardens to make it good for growing plants in. You can use it to fertilize your lawn. You can use it to mulch around plants and trees. You can put it in a cloth bag and submerge the bag in a bucket of water for a few days to let the nutrients pass into the water, then use this water to water your plants (including houseplants) as compost tea. You can give it away to friends and family as great fertilizer. You can put it on freecycle, if you can't come up with something else to do with it!
I'd love to see pictures and hear stories about your composting experiences! Do you have a bin that you can rate for us? Did you build your own bin? What great tips do you have for composting?
Daily Cleaning Challenge - July 28
Wednesday is desk day. If you have bills, paperwork, blogging, whatever. Today is desk work day!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Daily Cleaning Challenge - July 27
Tuesday is Kitchen and Dining Room Day. I know this is a day late. :) Catch up if you want to.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Daily Cleaning Challenge - July 26
The new format for the daily cleaning challenge! Having assigned cleaning for each day of the week has always been more successful for me than trying to keep up with what comes up as it comes. So that is how I am going to format the Daily Cleaning Challenge, with a special mission for that area added in.
Monday is bathroom and living room day from now on. Clean those bathrooms! Try to get them all, but start with the dirtiest. That way, if you can't get them all done today at least you've got the worst offender. Tidy up and dust the living room and other other main living areas. Put all of that weekend clutter away and start the week off right!
The special mission is to get the clean laundry put away.
Monday is bathroom and living room day from now on. Clean those bathrooms! Try to get them all, but start with the dirtiest. That way, if you can't get them all done today at least you've got the worst offender. Tidy up and dust the living room and other other main living areas. Put all of that weekend clutter away and start the week off right!
The special mission is to get the clean laundry put away.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Independence Days Part 4: Giving Them The Tools
There is a funny little cabinet in our kitchen. It sits on the dining room side of our peninsula counter. There is duct work inside the peninsula and a large cabinet on the kitchen side, so this cabinet is all of 7.25 inches deep. It is long, and only has the bottom shelf. It is right where the kids can reach it. So, the possibilities of what to keep in this cabinet have been rather daunting for the past year. For a while, we kept Beanie's craft supplies in it. There was a child lock on it that she could work but the Bug couldn't. So that worked out for a while, but the craft supplies were always all over the table, with shredded paper all over the floor. It was a situation that made me crazy often. We finally got our basement all cleaned up and set up the way I want, and we have a great craft area down there now. We took all of the craft supplies but paper and crayons to the basement. Then the funny cabinet sat empty for a month or so again. And then, inspiration struck!
The kids are ecstatic about it! I've always believed that the kids should have their own real dishes. If they are old enough to eat, they are old enough to have the tools, I believe. The tools vary with age, but I have always tried to give them appropriate tools.
When they are first starting out with purees, they get baby spoons. For the Bug, he got one and I got one. He would often try to take mine and so he would end up with two while I had one. The Bean, being my true lover of food, figured out that it went in faster if I was working the spoon, so she was happy to leave it alone and let me poke it in over and over again. We find quaint little demitasse spoons at estate sales, garage sales, flea markets, thrift stores and the like. All metal and the correct size and shape for little mouths. Plus, they tend to be smaller renditions of real spoons which makes them a little more functional than the ones made for children that don't have deep enough bowls to hold the food in well.
When they move on to finger foods, a good high chair tray with green peas, lima beans, or maybe some diced steamed carrots spread over it. All they need is a pincer grasp and they are off! The Bug did not actually start eating until he could feed himself. He refused to condescend to letting me poke spoonfuls of blended foods into his mouth. He actually did not progress to the spoons until he discovered applesauce, a few months into his eating experience. This is exactly why he required two spoons to my one. He didn't want me to be feeding him, but he REALLY wanted that applesauce!
Once they get a little more control, they are ready for a bowl and a spoon of their own. The wooden bowls we find at estate sales very easily. Again, no plastic. They are heavy enough to not tip at the slightest bang, yet light enough for the kids to lift themselves. They don't break easily if dropped. Care is very easy; just wipe out under running water. Use minimal soap and never soak them. Do not put them in the dishwasher. Hand over the demitasse spoon and let the little one figure out how to aim for the mouth. Or perhaps place the bowl on the high chair tray and both of you have a spoon - take turns aiming for the little mouth.
A bit after they've got the spoon down, they are ready for a fork. After all, you can't scoop everything! We get pickle or olive forks from, you may have guessed, estate sales, thrift shops, garage sales, and places like that. They are little narrow forks with actual tines that are sharp enough to spear a piece of food. The wide ones with the plastic handles that are marketed for children tend to have dull, wide tines that can't actually spear, and are typically too wide to fit in our children's mouths. The pickle forks work fabulously!
And when they are handy enough to need a fork, they probably need a plate to go with it! Nothing like marking up the high chair tray or table with a fork, eh? We got the enamel coated metal ones that you can see in the picture from Nova Natural a few years back. They have held up well, but when the Bug dropped the matching cup on the floor about a year ago, it chipped the finish and I've worried about the plates ever since. Our other favorites are some pottery ones made by Bybee Pottery in Middletown, KY. We prefer the 6 inch dessert plates. They are in the dishwasher right now, so not in the picture. They are a nice, heavy weight pottery plate. The kids don't lift them often. They don't chip easily. They don't scoot around like a thinner plate would, so the kids have a little more control over them. And they have a delightful little rim that holds the food in instead of letting it pop over onto the table.
They do like to have a drink of their own, too. We start out with Born Free training cups and have loved them for years. The plastic is BPA free. The design is easy to handle. The kids have gone from using the handles to being able to hold the cup without them. They last for years, with the exception of the spouts. The spouts have to be replaced periodically. But, the benefits of these cups are worth reading about on their website. We have recently retired all of our Born Free cups in favor of the Bybee mugs you can see in the picture.
Most recently, we have added in the butter knife or the cheese spreader (a less sharp, more kid sized option) for spreading butter (or buttery spread if you are off dairy as we are) or cutting up pancakes.
I think it is so important for them to have the right tools, and get to have the experience themselves. It is so empowering to them to be able to take care of their most basic bodily needs themselves. Every time that we take power away from children, we tell them that they can't handle it themselves. Every time that we tell children they can't handle things themselves, they lose a bit of their ability to believe that they are effective beings. Take a deep breath, decide that cleaning up the mess won't be that big of a deal, and let them get into it! I taught the dog the command, "Come clean up my floor."
And the newest development, in their independence; I gave them their dishes. I put them where they could reach them. I allowed them to have charge of those precious pottery plates and mugs. I gave up my ideas about orderliness to allow them to have access to their own tools. And they couldn't be happier about it! We've gone through several mugs each day instead of 2. We've used a few extra sets of silverware. They have to rearrange the cabinet a few times a day. There are both spoons and forks in the slots of the silverware sorter. But their joy in being able to get out a bowl by themselves is unsurpassed. Again, I will deal with the mess so that they can have the experience. Without the experience, they can't grow and bloom.
When they are first starting out with purees, they get baby spoons. For the Bug, he got one and I got one. He would often try to take mine and so he would end up with two while I had one. The Bean, being my true lover of food, figured out that it went in faster if I was working the spoon, so she was happy to leave it alone and let me poke it in over and over again. We find quaint little demitasse spoons at estate sales, garage sales, flea markets, thrift stores and the like. All metal and the correct size and shape for little mouths. Plus, they tend to be smaller renditions of real spoons which makes them a little more functional than the ones made for children that don't have deep enough bowls to hold the food in well.
When they move on to finger foods, a good high chair tray with green peas, lima beans, or maybe some diced steamed carrots spread over it. All they need is a pincer grasp and they are off! The Bug did not actually start eating until he could feed himself. He refused to condescend to letting me poke spoonfuls of blended foods into his mouth. He actually did not progress to the spoons until he discovered applesauce, a few months into his eating experience. This is exactly why he required two spoons to my one. He didn't want me to be feeding him, but he REALLY wanted that applesauce!
Once they get a little more control, they are ready for a bowl and a spoon of their own. The wooden bowls we find at estate sales very easily. Again, no plastic. They are heavy enough to not tip at the slightest bang, yet light enough for the kids to lift themselves. They don't break easily if dropped. Care is very easy; just wipe out under running water. Use minimal soap and never soak them. Do not put them in the dishwasher. Hand over the demitasse spoon and let the little one figure out how to aim for the mouth. Or perhaps place the bowl on the high chair tray and both of you have a spoon - take turns aiming for the little mouth.
A bit after they've got the spoon down, they are ready for a fork. After all, you can't scoop everything! We get pickle or olive forks from, you may have guessed, estate sales, thrift shops, garage sales, and places like that. They are little narrow forks with actual tines that are sharp enough to spear a piece of food. The wide ones with the plastic handles that are marketed for children tend to have dull, wide tines that can't actually spear, and are typically too wide to fit in our children's mouths. The pickle forks work fabulously!
And when they are handy enough to need a fork, they probably need a plate to go with it! Nothing like marking up the high chair tray or table with a fork, eh? We got the enamel coated metal ones that you can see in the picture from Nova Natural a few years back. They have held up well, but when the Bug dropped the matching cup on the floor about a year ago, it chipped the finish and I've worried about the plates ever since. Our other favorites are some pottery ones made by Bybee Pottery in Middletown, KY. We prefer the 6 inch dessert plates. They are in the dishwasher right now, so not in the picture. They are a nice, heavy weight pottery plate. The kids don't lift them often. They don't chip easily. They don't scoot around like a thinner plate would, so the kids have a little more control over them. And they have a delightful little rim that holds the food in instead of letting it pop over onto the table.
They do like to have a drink of their own, too. We start out with Born Free training cups and have loved them for years. The plastic is BPA free. The design is easy to handle. The kids have gone from using the handles to being able to hold the cup without them. They last for years, with the exception of the spouts. The spouts have to be replaced periodically. But, the benefits of these cups are worth reading about on their website. We have recently retired all of our Born Free cups in favor of the Bybee mugs you can see in the picture.
Most recently, we have added in the butter knife or the cheese spreader (a less sharp, more kid sized option) for spreading butter (or buttery spread if you are off dairy as we are) or cutting up pancakes.
I think it is so important for them to have the right tools, and get to have the experience themselves. It is so empowering to them to be able to take care of their most basic bodily needs themselves. Every time that we take power away from children, we tell them that they can't handle it themselves. Every time that we tell children they can't handle things themselves, they lose a bit of their ability to believe that they are effective beings. Take a deep breath, decide that cleaning up the mess won't be that big of a deal, and let them get into it! I taught the dog the command, "Come clean up my floor."
And the newest development, in their independence; I gave them their dishes. I put them where they could reach them. I allowed them to have charge of those precious pottery plates and mugs. I gave up my ideas about orderliness to allow them to have access to their own tools. And they couldn't be happier about it! We've gone through several mugs each day instead of 2. We've used a few extra sets of silverware. They have to rearrange the cabinet a few times a day. There are both spoons and forks in the slots of the silverware sorter. But their joy in being able to get out a bowl by themselves is unsurpassed. Again, I will deal with the mess so that they can have the experience. Without the experience, they can't grow and bloom.
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