SteppingSoftly.com

7 Foods So Unsafe Even Farmers Won’t Eat Them – Planet Green.

Filed under: Cooking/Baking, Gardening, Homesteading, Making Home on June 23rd, 2010 | No Comments »

Since I don’t know who my readers are, I am going to cater this post to those who have no idea how to ’step softly.’  This list is just a start to the many, many ways that you can make a difference.  I will try to blog about these individually . . . uh . . . later.

• Air dry your laundry on a clothesline

• Bake your own bread

• Buy as much organic food as you can

• Eat a vegetarian diet

• Compost all food and yard waste

• Don’t use paper anything, including paper towels, napkins, tissues and if you’re ready– toilet paper

• Use cloth everything, diapers, wipes, tissues, for cleaning, etc

• Use cloth shopping bags

• Eat local and buy local

• Grow food organically—in your own garden

• Keep your thermostat low in the winter and high in the summer

• Recycle everything, or as much as you can

• Use 100% recycled toilet paper, or cloth (see above)

• Use a DivaCup or cloth mama pads

• Use low-flow shower heads

• Use natural yard care practices

• Use a Kleen Kanteen instead of bottled water

• Take one of these to the coffee shop

• Don’t buy disposable items, or single-use items

• Look for less packaging on the things you buy

• Buy more in bulk to reduce packaging

• Store food items in glass containers.  Get rid of your plastic

• Use every side of a piece of paper before you recycle it

• Don’t get a receipt from something you purchase unless you absolutely need it

• Use homemade natural cleaners

• Decrease your amount of garbage

• Use hand dryers in public restrooms instead of paper towels

• Rinse/reuse plastic bags and aluminum foil

• Use glass jars for storing food in fridge and for bulk items

• De-clutter and donate continually.  If you buy something new, get rid of something

• Don’t buy anything new.  Shop at thrift stores

• Use all natural body care products

• Replaced your Teflon stainless steel or cast iron

• Wash only full loads of laundry and wash on cold

This is not an exhaustive list by any means.  These are just ones that I could come up with off the top of my head.  Most of these can be undertaken pretty easily.

Filed under: Bath and Body, Cloth Diapering, Gardening, Green Cleaning, Green Living, Homesteading, Making Home on March 14th, 2010 | No Comments »

Okay, so male readers (I don’t think I even have any male readers) no need to continue any further.  I’m warning you . . .

I love my Diva Cup.  My Diva what?  The Diva Cup is a soft, silicone “cup” that is a menstrual alternative to tampons and pads.  It is extremely comfortable, easy to clean and very reliable.  It saves me tons on tampons, pads and pantiliners.  It is latex, chlorine, dye, BPA, phthalate and coloring free.  Did I mention that you can wear it for 12 hours?  Yippee!

If you are looking for an alternative in menstrual products and want to make less impact on the environment–look no further!  Check out these statistics from Diva Cup’s site.

Women, on average, experience a lifetime menstruation span of 41 years (11-52). From use of disposable feminine hygiene, an estimated 12 billion sanitary pads and 7 billion tampons are dumped into the North American environment each year (1998). More than 170,000 tampon applicators were collected along U.S. coastal areas between 1998 and 1999. Our revolutionary, reusable product is a modern, viable alternative to disposable tampons and pads.

Most tampons and pads contain surfactants, adhesives and additives. In addition, most pads contain polyethylene plastic whose production is a pollutant. Also, dioxin, a known carcinogen, is a by-product of the bleaching process of tampons containing rayon. In landfills, many of these substances can leach into the environment (groundwater, streams and lakes) causing serious pollution and health concerns.

Before making the switch to the Diva Cup a year and a half ago, I was already using Natracare’s applicator-free tampons.  They worked great, but I wanted something different.  I wanted to stop putting my chlorine-free, certified organic, 100% cotton , plastic free tampons into the landfill.  I felt like I was making a difference–but I could do more.  I switched to the Diva Cup and haven’t looked back.

The Diva Cup leaks very little.  If it is adjusted and inserted correctly, there is NO leakage.  A lot of women don’t even use backup at all.  I do choose to occasionally use some handmade mama cloth pantiliners that I purchased off Etsy.  They are organic hemp/undyed cotton, so soft and very comfortable.

You may be thinking, “That’s gross!”  Well . . . at first it is a little messy . . . I do admit that.  There is a learning curve, but it is easy to master after a few cycles.  Don’t give up!  Also, there is no odor involved with a Diva Cup.  Supposedly the odor comes from when your period is exposed to air.  Since the Diva Cup is worn inside your body, that doesn’t happen.

Have I convinced you yet?  Are you going to make the switch?

Filed under: Bath and Body, Green Living on March 13th, 2010 | No Comments »

For Christmas I got Chris this two-tiered tiffin from To-GoWare.  It was one of those selfish gifts that was really for me too.  If you’re not familiar with tiffin boxes, they originate in India.  We keep ours in the back of the van and when we go out to eat we bring it with us to put our leftovers in.  It even comes with a tiny little container for things like salsa and guacamole.

You ask, “so what’s wrong with Styrofoam?”  Studies show that styrene mimics estrogen in the body and can therefore disrupt normal hormone functions, possibly contributing to thyroid problems, menstrual irregularities, and other hormone-related problems, as well as breast cancer and prostate cancer. The estrogenicity of styrene is thought to be comparable to that of Bisphenol A (BPA), another potent estrogen mimic from the world of plastics.

Long-term exposure to small quantities of styrene is also suspected of causing:

* low platelet counts or hemoglobin values;
* chromosomal and lymphatic abnormalities;
* neurotoxic effects due to accumulation of styrene in the tissues of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, resulting in fatigue, nervousness, difficulty sleeping, and other acute or chronic health problems associated with the nervous system.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer lists styrene as a possible human carcinogen, though this conclusion is primarily based on studies of workers in styrene-related chemical plants. The Vallombrosa Consensus Statement on Environmental Contaminants and Human Fertility Compromise includes styrene on its list of contaminants of possible concern, noting that even weak estrogen mimics can combine with other such chemicals to have negative effects even when the chemicals are individually present at levels that would have no impact. On the positive side, a 2005 expert panel convened by the National Institutes of Health concluded that there is negligible concern for developmental toxicity in embryos and babies.

(Source:  http://www.grinningplanet.com/2008/04-08/foam-cups-polystyrene-cups-article.htm)

So, no more styrofoam boxes (excuse me, polystyrene) for us.  Now, if I had just gotten the 3-tired one . . .

Filed under: Conservation, Green Living on February 27th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

I’ve always had this thing for African Violets.  When I first went off to college one of the several plants that I took with me was an African Violet.  My Momma had never been able to keep them alive for very long, but for some reason I always had a knack for them.  And the way I took care of mine was against what all the directions say.  I would leave it sitting in water and I would water it from the top!  That’s a big no-no in the African Violet world.

After getting married I started collecting them and had gotten up to about nine before we left for our travels around the country.  One of the things that we had to farm out to our family was my plants.  And I just knew that when I came back they would all be dead.

I was mostly right.  Only two or three of my violets had survived my Momma’s house.  And they were in pretty bad shape.  But thankfully, I was able to revive the ones that weren’t deceased and bring them back to a prettier life.

I now have gotten my violet collection up to seven.  They are a lot of different colors and varieties.  I like the variegated ones and frilly-edged ones all the same.  All of them are blooming at the moment.

So, the jury is still out on whether or not I just happen to have a green thumb when it comes to African Violets or, if I have just been blessed to have good lighted windows for my violets.  Whatever the case may be African Violets are something that I love.

Filed under: Gardening, Making Home on February 9th, 2010 | No Comments »

So, we got our seeds in the mail.  Yay!  We are looking forward to this years garden.  We plan to make it even bigger this year.  Some of the seeds that I got from Seed Savers Exchange, so far, are:

• Garden Huckleberry
• Early Snowball Cauliflower
• Golden Bantam Corn
• Clemson Spineless Okra
• Blacktail Mountain Watermelon
• Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherry
• Scarlet Nantes Carrot
• Calabresse Broccoli
• Cilantro
• Green Tomatillo
• Dwarf Gray Sugar Pea
• Golden Zucchini Squash
• Black Beauty Zucchini Squash
• Seed Savers Lettuce Mixture
• Dr. Wyches Yellow Tomato
• Kellogg’s Breakfast Tomato
• Red Brandywine Tomato
• Trucker’s Favorite Tomato
• Black Krim Tomato
• Martino’s Roma Tomato

And I couldn’t pass up getting in some Benary’s Giant Zinnia and Prairie Black-Eyed Susan seeds.  Love, love, love me some flowers.  Especially old fashioned ones.

There are lots more vegetables that we want to plant, but we will just get a few plants of each of those, such as different varieties of peppers and cherry tomatoes.  I also want to get more varieties of regular tomato seeds as well.  Six varieties just isn’t enough!  Every year we’ve also had volunteer cantaloupe pop up everywhere and I look forward to those too.  Our neighbor, who we share the garden with, is getting strawberries, sweet potatoes, pole beans and a host of other veggies as well.  I sure hope that we can keep up!

Filed under: Gardening, Homesteading, Making Home on February 8th, 2010 | No Comments »

So, a lot of you may have already heard about Lisa Leonard Designs.  If you haven’t, then this post is for you.   I can’t remember where I first heard about her fabulous jewelry because several blogs that I follow had already spoken of her.  I had perused her website and picked out a few necklaces that I loved.  It wasn’t until after Christmas when I had some “clothes cash” that I decided to make my purchase.  Plus–I had a coupon for quite a bit off

Anybody who knows me, knows that I am not particularly a jewelry person.  I just don’t wear it that often.  So, when I do wear something I want it to be very special and mean something to my heart.  I have several necklaces that I got when my Granny died.  I have a hemp necklace that a fellow VW bus person made and one that my past employer made out of glass beads.  I wear those a lot.  But, when I saw the Mama necklace, I knew that it would mean even more to me.

I love the fact that every piece is handmade (which I try to buy mostly).  They are hand-cut, hammered, antiqued and polished.  And they are sterling silver.  So, the mama piece was perfect for me.  Plus, I could customize it to say momma.  That’s my name, don’t wear it out.  (I don’t know how I got to spelling momma like that.  I just always have and I always will.)

Well, long story short, my momma necklace came today.  It is perfect.  I will treasure it.  It says, “hand holder | dream soother| love giver”  It will remind me everyday to cherish my children because they are a gift from God.  It will remind me of my role in their lives.

Filed under: Uncategorized on February 1st, 2010 | No Comments »

Okay, I know that it’s been since September since I wrote anything.  This is the way that I feel about this.  Everything I want to write about , simply, has already been written about.  So, I may just change the content of my blog.  Or I may just write about it anyway.  Bear with me as I figure this one out.

Plus, I just can’t find the time anymore to write.  Who else is with me?  I haven’t gotten myself into a habit yet.  I need to just pick a day of the week and  . . . do it.  Here’s to doing it.  Err, writing it . . .

Filed under: About Me on January 18th, 2010 | No Comments »

So, my most recent adventure has been no poo-ing.  I must say that I love the no poo do.  No, I’m not talking about poo poo, I’m talking about not using shampoo.  Or conditioner for that matter.  When people don’t use shampoo, it is often called “No Poo.”  I started this some time ago and have noticed little difference, except for the better.  I have naturally wavy hair that has to have conditioner, so I was a little concerned about that in the beginning.  But . . . I’m willing to try anything!  Using this method has actually made my curls more defined and less frizzy.  Wow.  Amazing.  Incredible.

The method that I am using is pretty universal, I guess.  I take a few teaspoons of baking soda in a jar and mix it with warm water from the shower.  Just enough to dissolve the baking soda.  Then I pour it over my scalp and scrub it in.  Really, the only part of your hair that really needs washing is the scalp anyway.  Then I have my squirt bottle pre-filled 1/4 with apple cidar vinegar.  I fill it all the way up with warm water and squirt it on, making sure to get it all the way to the ends of my hair where it needs the most conditioning.  Then, I rinse well.  When I get out, sure, I can still smell the vinegar, but by the morning when my hair is mostly dry–I don’t smell it at all.  In fact, my husband doesn’t even know that I am doing this.  He has never mentioned that he smells vinegar in the hair, or that it smells funny.  Some people add a drop of two of lavender essential oil, or some other favorite oil.  It is supposed to mask the vinegar smell completely, but since I sort of like (or should I say don’t mind) the vinegar smell, I’ve never done that.

The oil in hair, known as sebum, is a protective sheath of esters and fatty acids that give your hair shine and bounce and protect it against damage.  When we wash our hair everyday we are washing that sebum right down the drain.  Then our hair follicles go into “hyper-drive” trying to produce more.  This brings on the “But I have oily hair.  This will never work for me.”  So, when you stop washing your sebum down the drain every morning, your hair follicle begin to produce less. Incidentally, sebum contains antimicrobial properties that ward off scalp infections as well. Eventually, I hope to be able to stop using baking soda at all.

The hair product industry has done an excellent job of making us think that in order to have fresh, clean hair you have to have a lather of soapy suds.  So silly!  That’s nonsense.  I heard somewhere that shampoo is marketed more towards your fingers than your hair!  A long time ago, people used to use regular soap and before that they probably rinsed their hair a few times a year.  This beauty routine is just my style– simple, cheap and fast!

Eventually, after your hair has been devoid of all it’s sebum, it begins to be dry and frizzy.  So, what’s a girl to do?  Reach for the bottle of conditioner.  Conditioner is much newer than shampoo.  It coats your hair with esters and gives it back SOME shine.  Of course, conditioner isn’t meant for your hair either, so it begins to build up until you hair is flat–again.    So, then what?  It’s time to shampoo!  I used to use Neutrogena to get the “build-up out.”  I always called it “my shampoo has stopped working again, need to get the build up out.”  It’s just a vicious cycle!

So, you ask, why would you want to do this?

• shampoo is expensive AND it comes in plastic containers
• shampoo contains chemicals that can irritate and dry out your scalp and hair
• the chemicals in shampoo can be hazardous to your health.  Your skin is the largest organ in your body.  Whatever gets put on your skin gets absorbed into your body, into your bloodstream and into your organs, as has been proven by many studies. Essentially, whatever is toxic to put in your mouth is toxic on your skin as well.
• why would you need shampoo/conditioner when your own body produces oil to naturally condition your hair and keep it healthy? Using shampoo daily upsets the natural balance and causes you to produce more oil than necessary to compensate.

So, are you ready to try “no poo?”

Filed under: Bath and Body, Green Living on September 18th, 2009 | No Comments »

Well, you may wonder exactly how I got this way.  If you’ve known me for a long time you may call me different.  I have been called a hippie numerous times.  I have been called weird.  I have been called a tree hugger.  That one comes from one of my closest friends.  She’s kidding.  I think.  I love these titles actually.

I’ve always considered myself to be somewhat “eco-conscious.”  My Dad had a few copies of Mother Earth News when I was younger and I loved to look through them.  He worked for the National Park Service and used to talk about recycling.  We never did it at home, but I knew that I wanted to when I got out on my own.  Sometime around 2003 or so, I was introduced to natural cleaning products and ideas.  And, like most things, once you get started down an alternative path–you’re there.  There is no going back.  I began questioning things.  I’ve always questioned how things work and their effect.  This was no different.  I started reading a lot.  Two books that helped me in my “slippery slope” were this one and this one.  The last one is co-authored by the president of Seventh Generation.  I’m not pushing that company or anything.  I do like, and use, some of their products though.  In that book they mentioned the first book.  Both were excellent in opening my eyes.

After that . . . I really don’t remember.  I began to think about things more.  I questioned things.  Is this normal?  What is normal?  I found Mothering Magazine.  I became more interested in natural baby products.  I read up on water births, midwifes, vaccines, etc.  I dove right into the alternative minded views on just about everything:  what we eat, what we wear, what we buy, etc.  It has been fun and I am continuously learning each and everyday.

Recently, someone close to me expressed concern that all this “earth/green” stuff  was becoming too important to me.  It was suggested that it was becoming the most important thing to me.  This person thought that the most important thing to me must be Jesus Christ.  Well, what this person doesn’t realize, or get is that my interest in living a more earth-friendly lifestyle is part of my faith.   Someone who explains this the best is Sara over at Walk Slowly, Live Wildly.

My interest in living a more earth-friendly lifestyle is rooted in my faith. I believe that those who follow Jesus should be the most outspoken environmentalists there are! Christians talk so much about being good stewards of their money, their time, or their body…but being a good steward of the earth He has entrusted to us is just as important. God cannot be pleased when he sees excessive waste, excessive chemicals being poured out into the waters, and excessively nonchalant attitudes among His people. You don’t have to be a radical tree hugger to take care of creation. It’s just part of stewardship.

So, as I continue down this slippery slope I have also drug a few others with me.  It overjoys me to see and hear Chris talking with friends and family members about how to reduce, reuse or recycle.  It literally fills my heart with pride to hear him speak with conviction about waste and plastics that we are polluting our children with.  I also have a few friends and family members that have come to me when they have questions on how they, too, can put forth more effort.  And futhermore, everytime we drive by McDonald’s, Wendy’s or whichever fast food restaurant, Bryce always yells out “Yuck!  That’s bad for you food!”  I’ve taught him well

Filed under: About Me, Cloth Diapering, Green Cleaning, Green Living, Waterbirthing on August 7th, 2009 | 2 Comments »