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By Alyssa, January 11, 2010 5:23 pm

I’m going to go through with it this year.  I’m becoming a gardener. The concept of going into my backyard and picking green beans for dinner sounds delicious, but the whole “gardening” thing has me a bit overwhelmed.  I’ve decided to share my trials here as I try to get things to grow.  Here’s my super geeky gardening profile:

Name: Alyssa Aarhaus

Location: Denver, Colorado

Gardening Zone (wow, I already sound professional): between 5 and 6

Prior Experience:  Despite three moves and leaving it in the car for a few days, kept a house plant alive for seven years (Plant name: Epipremnum aureum… oh yeah, I just threw Latin out there).  Continues to keep basil, parsley, and oregano alive in planters on the kitchen window sill.  O.K., honestly, the basil’s looking a little weak sauce lately.

Gardening Goals: Grow a small raised bed garden in the back yard to teach the boys about vegetables. Hopefully grow enough cucumbers and tomatoes to can relish and stewed tomatoes in the fall.

Resources:  1. My Internet researching addiction 2. All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew and The Backyard Homestead edited by Carleen Madigan 3. Gardening friends that are patient enough to answer a barrage of ridiculous questions

Yes.  I’m a nerd, but I’m NOT a gardening nerd so we’ll see how it goes.  My first gardening discovery was the importance of seeds.  You can buy seeds from the supermarket, but better seeds produce better veggies. I went a little nuts and ordered the following recommended seed catalogs that should arrive in the mail within the next few weeks:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Burpee Seeds
Johnny’s Seeds
Park Seed Co.
Seeds of Change
Seed Savers
Stokes
Thompson and Morgan Seeds
Vesey’s Seeds

I told you I went overboard!  I also found Botanical Interests, a Colorado company, on Twitter and I’ve been reviewing their online catalog.  I haven’t decided if I will be purchasing hybrid seeds or heirloom seeds yet.  Hybrid seeds are professionally cultivated seeds, while heirloom seeds are from plants that have been passed down many generations.  You can’t save your hybrid plant’s seeds, but there are certain heirloom plants that provide seeds worth saving for the next gardening year.  I’ll report back when seed shopping begins.

Until then, I’ve got to convince Hubby of our essential need for a outdoor 55-gallon drum composter.  I mean, I’ve got to convince Hubby to buy the drum, build the composter, and, oh by the way, build the wood frame for my garden bed.  Wish me luck!

Comments (8)

By Alyssa, January 8, 2010 11:57 pm

If your first response to this post’s title was “Ewwwwhhhhh,” raise your hand.  When a friend asked me if I was going to use washable diapers, my response was exactly that.  Of course, my view of cloth diapers was somewhat jaded at the time.  At eleven years old, I was considered mature enough to change my youngest brother’s washable diapers.  Several times a day, I wielded two-inch safety pins near my brother’s abdomen trying fasten that darn white cloth and struggled to pull his plastic bloomers up.

Cloth diapers have come a long way since my childhood.  It took my friend throwing a “diaper shower” for me to do the research.  The plastic bloomers have been replaced by a micro-fibered diaper shell that attaches to itself with snaps or Velcro (No more pins!) and the liners are either biodegradable or washable depending upon the brand.  After seeing a few friends use them and realizing I would save money (You’ll see this cheapskate… ahem, frugal theme throughout my posts), I decided to find a brand to use.  Here are my results after comparing a few:

BRAND	PRICE*	PROS	CONS
Blueberry Blueberry	$32.95	Diaper shell is a one-size-fits-all snap system with a variety of shell colors and patterns. Snaps are more durable when laundering. Includes a micro-terry/hemp combo insert.	Way too expensive for me, but top of the line when it comes to cloth diapers. Snap system can be confusing for care-givers unfamiliar with cloth diapers.
gDiapers gDiapers	$16.99**	Great compromise between disposable and cloth diapers as the shells fit either disposable, biodegradable inserts or cloth inserts.  Shells come in a variety of colors and patterns.	Expensive as new shells must be purchased as baby grows and shells are sold separately from liners (Liner packs cost $12-50 depending on type). Velcro tabs may wear down with laundering and scratched the skin of my friend’s baby.
Fuzzy Bunz Fuzzy Bunz	$17.95	Diaper shell is a one-size-fits-all snap system with a variety of shell colors. Snaps are more durable when laundering. Includes a terry cloth insert.	Expensive as new shells must be purchased as baby grows. Snap system can be confusing for care-givers unfamiliar with cloth diapers. Every friend of mine that used these said they leaked horribly.
Happy Heiny Happy Heiny	$18.95	Diaper shell is a one-size-fits-all Velcro and snap system with a variety of shell colors and patterns. Includes two microfiber inserts, one large and one small.	Velcro tabs may wear down with laundering. Every friend of mine that used these said they also leaked.
BumGenius BumGenius	$17.95	Diaper shell is a one-size-fits-all Velcro and snap system with a variety of shell colors. Includes two microfiber inserts, one large and one small.	Velcro tabs may wear down with laundering.
* Prices found on diapers.com
**Shell Only

After reviewing my options, I decided to purchase BumGenius 3.0 diapers.  I’ve been using them for over a year and still love them.  Zeke’s slight diaper rash disappeared immediately when I made the switch from disposables and the small insert with the larger insert works perfectly overnight.  I didn’t think about their ease of use until dropping him off at the church nursery a few times.  Some of the snap diapers literally come with an instruction manual, but my diapers are as simple as disposables.  My Velcro fastening tabs do look a little worn at this point, but they are still functioning so I’m not complaining.

My reason for switching to cloth diapers wasn’t the environment, but my budget.  Sure, disposable diapers only cost about $.30 each, but at an average of six diapers a day for a year, that’s $657 out of my pocket! After shopping around for a deal on my cloth diapers and receiving a few as gifts (Thanks, Grandma!), my total cloth diaper expense was $150 and Zeke can use them until he potty trains.  I wish I hadn’t waited until he was 3 months old to make the change because according to my calculations (10 diapers a day cuz newborns poop a lot), three months of disposable diapers cost me over $270.  I know if we have any more kids, I will be requesting a diaper shower to boost my current supply.

Feel free to ask me your questions, as I’ve probably researched them. Here are some additional notes I couldn’t fit into the post:

-Most diapers require laundering with perfume-free, dye-free detergent and washing with an extra rinse cycle.  I find my homemade detergent and our front-load washer’s “sanitize cycle” works beautifully.

-Cloth diaper micro-fiber shells do not work as well at deterring waste if diaper rash ointments are used.  If you do use an ointment, place a cotton rag in between baby’s bottom and the diaper shell.

-Disposable diapers sit in landfills for over 500 years.  Yikes!  Using cloth diapers gave me the relief that my great-great-great-great-great grandchildren won’t have to deal with my kiddos dirty diapers during their lifetime.  Hubby, on the other hand, feels no guilt when buying a pack of disposables for camping trips.  I guess 30 diapers in the landfill is better than the 2,200 we would use in a year.

-If one of you brainiacs comes after me for an incorrect budget analysis after calculating the water and electricity cost for each load of cloth diapers I wash, well… you may find yourself with a load of baby poo on your front porch.  Just sayin.

Comments (6)

By Alyssa, January 6, 2010 3:52 pm

Unfortunately, I have to start this post with a disclaimer.  Colorado, like 12 other states, has pretty strict food disparagement laws that hinder me from saying specific things about my beef preferences.  I could honestly serve jail time for disparaging or wounding the reputation of industrialized beef (Don’t believe me?  Google COLO. REV. STAT. ANN. [Criminal] Sect. 35-31-101).  So, I’m not going there.  I guess freedom of speech is o.k. until big corporations lose money.

Anyhoo, enough of the legal stuff, let’s talk about beef.  I love beef.  No really, L.O.V.E. beef.  Carnivore defined right here.  I grew up in Idaho and was lucky enough to eat beef right off the pasture from animals that my brothers named “Beefy” and “Steak.”  When I joined the military and started living in cities, I wasn’t impressed with the beef selection in the commissary or grocery store.  I didn’t have time to research my options while moving every three years, so it wasn’t until I settled in Denver that I discovered amazing beef again.

I recently purchased about a quarter of a cow this fall.  Well, really I bought the whole cow and split it with three other families.  After considering a few beef providers, I decided with the other families to buy beef from Touchstone Angus Farm.  Brad and Cathy James, the owners, raise their antibiotic-free, grass-fed cattle on a ranch near Lusk, Wyoming.  Their meat is not certified organic, but this certification wasn’t a big deal to me as I’m finding “organic” doesn’t mean better.  After purchasing the cow, it was processed by a small family-owned business in Elizabeth, Colorado.  One of our families drove down to pick up the meat in Elizabeth and we separated it right here in my family room.

Where's the Beef? It's the white packaging piled all over.

Each family received a little over 80 pounds of hamburger, roasts, and steak. My share cost $285 or about $3.55 a pound.  I compared this price to the grocery store and found that although grocery hamburger was cheaper, I was getting a deal on the roasts and steaks.  Of course, the first thing I cooked up was the steak. I used a salt, pepper, onion salt, and fresh garlic rub on two porterhouse cuts and fired up the grill.  Umm… gotta pause here.  1. I’m starting to drool and 2. I can still taste that smoky, savory goodness.  One bite and I was back home again, sorry to good old Beefy and Steak, but the meat was even better.

There are many reasons besides the untouchable flavor that I chose to buy a grass-fed cow for my family. I think it is a decision you have to research yourself.  If you’d like more information about my personal choice, come on over to the house.  I’ll grill up some T-bones, mash some taters, and fill you in on my reasoning. Until then, here are some links and resources I used:

Touchstone Angus Beef
Brad and Cathy James
Address: 440 Petz Road / P.O. Box 165, Lusk WY 82225
Phone: (307) 340-1456
E-mail: bjames1957@aol.com

DVD:
Food Inc. (LOVE this movie… watched it four times and it’s still not old)

Websites:
EatWild.com
LocalHarvest.org

Books:
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Oh, there is one negative to buying your own cow.  You end up with this stuff in your freezer because no one else will take it home.  Mmmmm… liver.

The Leftovers: Oxtail, Liver and Tongue

Comments (18)

By Alyssa, November 16, 2009 11:21 am

It’s been a month since I first posted my HE Laundry Recipe (click here if you missed the original post) and I’m convinced I’ll never go back to store-bought detergent!  My clothes smell better and are so much softer than they ever were before.  I had some questions from the last post and figured it was about time I answered them.  Hope these are the details you were looking for!

1.  Is Borax safe?  Borax is a cleaner that has positives and negatives just like any other cleaner.  It is a boosting agent for your laundry and not only conditions the water but also deodorizes the clothes.  Borax should not be inhaled or ingested!  I was thinking about using it on our carpets, but after investigating I decided it just wasn’t a good idea for my asthmatic hubby.  Same goes for shaking up the contents of your homemade detergent around your kiddos.  I don’t like them to be around when I’m messing with bleach and use the same procautions with borax.

2.  Can vinegar be used as a fabric softener?  I have to preempt this question with the fact that my clothes rarely need to be softened with the new homemade detergent.  Seriously, the detergent makes my clothes so soft!  I’ve heard from one person that regular vinegar use ruined their HE washer, however the majority of the information I found with vinegar and HE washers was positive.  Because I don’t feel every load needs the softening, I’m only using vinegar on my rag/towel/washcloth loads as they tend to smell mildewy after a while and the vinegar removes any bacterial residue (Thanks for the tip, Paula!). Also, the dryer completely takes away the vinegar scent. Can’t even tell that I’ve used it.

3.  How often do you use dryer sheets?  I rarely use dryer sheets unless I’m washing clothes made from synthetic materials.  Natural materials come out so soft with the detergent there isn’t a need for dryer sheets.  The seldom times I do use them, I reuse and reuse and reuse, usually until they are flimsy and unscented.  No reason to use them once as they perform well multiple times.

4.  What is Mrs. Stewart’s liquid bluing?  Mrs. Stewart’s liquid bluing “potion” is so much better for white/light colored loads than bleach.  I have no idea how it does it, but the clothes come out brighter and whiter.  Only word of precaution, a little bit goes a long way.  The label instructions indicate only a few drops are needed per load and ONLY A FEW DROPS ARE NEEDED.  Don’t do what I did squirting the bottle for five or ten seconds and end up with white sheets with blue streaks.  Oops!

5.  Why Fels-Naptha bars?  I love these bars so much I bought a pack of 24 from Amazon.  They smell wonderful and work so well on stains, especially as a pretreatment.  Wet down the stain, rub the bar over it and, BAM, your stain is gone.  I used this method to completely erase beet juice from little Zeke’s white onesie (Yes, my one-year-old LOVES beets).  I use washable diapers (Bumgenius are the bomb) and have seen a total turn-around in their smell and cleanliness after using the Fels-Naptha laundry detergent recipe. Man, I could gush about these things forever.  Anyone find any other fun uses for them?

Please comment if you have any other questions.  I’d love to research them for you.  I have to also mention how much money this stuff is saving us.  I’ve been using the recipe since the middle of September and have only made three batches.  Three batches for about $6 is pretty good considering my daily diaper washing and three guys and a dog at home.  Hopefully, you are saving money too!  I look forward to your comments.

Brands I used

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By Alyssa, October 8, 2009 9:16 pm

Brands I used

*** UPDATE HERE ***

I’m a closet hippie or so I’m told.  Who knew this Army girl had earth-lovin’ tendencies?  My latest project was homemade laundry detergent.  It all started when an Army friend visited and told me all about how her homemade laundry detergent cleaned her clothes better than any name brand detergent.  Did I mention she constantly washes the clothes of her marathoning hubby (think sweat) and her three boys (think dirt)? Her description also included easy and cheap… I was in.

There are hundreds of homemade laundry detergent recipes on the internet. I know… I think I looked at almost all of them.  I opted for a powdered formula instead of a gel because I didn’t have a five-gallon bucket, nor did I really know what I would do with a five-gallon bucket of laundry goo next to my washer.  I also looked specifically for low-sudsing recipes as I have a HE front-loading washing machine.  Here is the recipe I used:

3 Cups Fels-Naptha Bar granules (1 cup equals about 2/3 of a bar)

3 Cups Borax

3 Cups Washing Soda

Mix together and store.  Use 2 Tablespoons per load (1/2 Cup for regular washers).

Chopped up Fels-Naptha Bar

You probably just thought, Fels-huh?  Believe it or not, I found all of the necessary items in the laundry aisle of my local King Soopers.  The borax and washing soda came in powder form and the Fels-Naptha bars were ridiculously easy to grind up.  The bars break apart with very little pressure (I used a butter knife) and grind into tiny granules with a few pulses of a food processor.  I dumped the three ingredients together in an old plastic bin (first used as a dishwasher tab container) and shook the closed container to mix everything.

Final Product

Best part of homemade detergent?  Two tablespoons seriously makes all of my clothes, even the huge loads, SO CLEAN!  Next best part?  Fels-Naptha bars smell fabulous.  Even the kid at the King Soopers checkout said, “Wow, those smell awesome” when ringing everything up.  The bars were $1.30 a piece and the borax and washing soda came out to about 40 cents a cup.  If you can’t find the ingredients at your grocery store, I know they are also available on Amazon.  The hippie in me loves that the detergent is phosphate free and and the mama in me thinks it’s an added plus that the formula is mild on my boys’ sensitive skin.  Did I mention that this stuff really cleans?

Send me your questions as I spent way too much time during toddler naps researching laundry products. Besides a great detergent recipe, I also found out that Mrs. Stewart’s Concentrated Liquid Bluing (small blue bottle also in the laundry aisle) works way better than bleach on light-colored loads and plain old vinegar can replace store-bought fabric softeners.  I’m a huge fan of Mrs. Stewart now and haven’t tried the vinegar trick, but I’ll let you know how it goes.

Well, I’m off to my next hippie project, reusable t-shirt grocery bags.  We’ll see if hubby’s old shirts stand up to the test!