BLULOW (All About Living Green)

For pet owners who don’t compost, maybe you should consider recycling your fruit and vegetable peels for your dog.

The other day I was making a batch of carrot, apple, and raisin salad (the only way I can get a vegetable into my daughter). I used untold amounts of organic carrots. After thoroughly washing the carrots, I peeled off the outer skin and proceeded to make the salad.

I looked at the heap of perfectly healthy carrot skins and decided to recycle them by running the skins through the food processor so that I could mix some in with the dog’s food. Fido, being the dog that he is, thought he was having an early Thanksgiving meal. He lapped it up looking for more.

There was such a large amount of carrot skin that I put some of the chopped carrots in the freezer for a later date and some in the fridge for tomorrow’s meal.

Fido was happy and so was I. So, before you throw away certain fruit and vegetable skins, think about recycling them to mix it in your dog’s food. Recycling your peals not only helps to stretch a bag of dog food, but the fruits and vegetables are healthy for your dog and dogs love it.

Word of Caution:

Give Fido a little at a time. Their short digestive tracts can wreak havoc in your household if the food upsets their stomach.

We are so accustomed to adding a cleaning additive to our water in order to clean anything. Have you ever tried cleaning your windows with just water first?

Just for grins, fill a spray bottle with water. Use it to clean your windows before you attempt to use a cleaning additive (even if the additive is vinegar). You’ll be pleasantly surprised that water can take care of most ordinary dirt on windows.

Of course, there are times when water just won’t cut it. Then you can escalate your cleaning efforts by adding vinegar.

I found out several years ago as the owner of a dog who, for one reason or the other, liked to lick our sliding glass door windows. For the life of me I couldn’t figure this little quirk out. Anyway, I couldn’t use the usual window cleaner for fear of poisoning my beautifully odd pup.

I took water, put it on a paper towel and cleaned the windows. I was surprised that it did a great job. The long and the short of it is, try water first. Oh, and the pup…he gave up licking windows. Now he just chews anything that is within his reach.

I’m not quite sure, but the Bio Bag might be the solution to one of my composting problems.

If you’ve read any of the earlier posts on this blog you’ll know that I’m a proponent of composting, but have a few logistical issues to iron out. One such issue is collecting all of the lovely household waste.

I used to collect the waste in a lidded container. When it got full, I’d cart it out to the compost bin, open the lid and dump it out. The problem was I would get dizzy from holding my breath in an attempt to avoid the less than aromatic odor that opening the lid would release. Even the dog had to back up a tad when I opened the lid (this from the mutt who sleeps with his nose on his derriere).

Reading about the biodegradable bags raised a glimmer of hope. These bags are perfect for holding compostable household and yard waste. The beauty of Bio Bags is that once you fill it up, you don’t have to open it to dump the contents. The bag is biodegradable and will decompose on its own. What a great concept (Download their technical specs).

Bio Bags come in various sizes ranging from 2 gallons, 13 gallons to 33 gallons (with a few additional sizes in between). They even have kitty pan liner bio bags and doggie pick up the poop bio bags (not the technical name, but you understand what each bio bag does).

I’m starting small. I ordered the 3 gallon size bags. If they do well, maybe I’ll get the larger ones. After all living green is about making one small green step at a time. Today is a 3 gallon step…tomorrow who knows…

I managed to save money and trash over the holiday weekend by making my own coleslaw. My laziness almost sucked me into purchasing the bag of pre-cut cabbage and carrot to make coleslaw, but my frugal nerve got very irritated when I saw that it would cost $4 for a bag that wasn’t big enough to serve a half a person in my household. I would have to buy minimum 2 bags but more like 3 or 4.

Incensed about the price of the bagged coleslaw, I walked over to the cabbage display and bought a cabbage. The cabbage was .49 a pound and I bought one that was 2 ½ pounds (cost me all of $1.23). I picked up some banana peppers and an onion and went home to slice my cabbage and make my own coleslaw.

Not only did it cost less, but also tasted better and I didn’t have to worry about how to recycle the plastic bags the pre-cut coleslaw came in. I think that’s a win-win.

As I always say, it’s not easy living green, but it sure is rewarding.

In an earlier post I mentioned that in addition to my dish washing detergent I added baking soda to my dishwasher and my dishes came out sparkling clean. Well it seems that adding baking soda to the laundry detergent helps to boost the detergent’s cleaning power and the clothes also come out softer.

The baking soda has a water softening quality, which helps the laundry detergent to do its job better. It also helps the softener too. In my front-loading washing machine I add about a quarter of a cup of baking soda to the wash. Top loaders might require a larger dose

Because I’m frugal, I buy the store brand of baking soda that works just as well as Arm & Hammer but costs less. You should stock up on it when you can because there are so many other uses for baking soda.

Baking soda used as a paste solution (mixed with water) helps to soothe the itching caused by poison ivy and bug bites. It also does a great job on cleaning teeth. You won’t have the minty fresh taste like most toothpastes have, but you will have very clean teeth.

Because of its abrasive quality, you can use it to scrub messes. Back in the old days, we used to use Ajax to clean our bathtub. For those of you who miss the days of Ajax, you can substitute baking soda instead. It’s less toxic.

Here’s a link to 61 uses For Baking Soda. You’re sure to find some useful tips there.