Loosing the Paper

People produce trash and lots of it. I think we can agree there. In my quest to make less of an imprint in the trash of the world, I've decided we need to go paperless. He'll, we recycle glass and some plastic.  We hardly ever get take-out. Plastic bags are hard to come by because we use reusable bags I sewed up several a few years back...and some canvas totes. Additionally, the chemicals are just about out of here. I make homemade hand soap...just ask if you want the recipe!  We buy all organic body care stuff. About the only thing we haven't transitioned is the laundry soap. It's almost out anyhow (been ordering from Almay for years).  Soap Nuts or homemade detergent is next up.  Probably take out trash every two weeks, most goes to the compost or to recycling. 

Alright, so back to this paperless thing-- Paper Towels is what I'm talking about. Not TP...not ready for that, seriously...probably never. Yes, we're going to loose the paper towels for good. I've come to realize that besides little mans nighttime pull-ups, meat packaging, and junk mail, paper towels are what's filling up that trash can.  Of course were going to have a baby soon and I'd be down for the reusable diapers but I'm not the one who's home all day. One thing at a time!

So, here's what I did...

Napkins on the right for wiping hands and faces...light stuff. All sack flour fabric and those little baby rags. Both work very well.  Rags on the left for the big stuff. 

Here's where they go after they've been used (I find we can use napkins for several days before we have to "trash them"). Right to the bin and will later be washed and used again. 

In the process of doing all of this I did a fair share of sewing. I basically bought sack flour towels and cut them in half, thirds, fourths, etc. I then sewed up the cut edges so they wouldn't frey in the wash!  I used vibrant colors to for the fun of it. We've also got "fancy napkins" set aside for holidays and visitors. 

This has been going strong in our household for about 3 weeks now and they boys don't seem to have an issue with it. Very easy transition.  Washing has been easy too...I made so many that so I wouldn't have to do laundry but every other week. No bad smells either. 

One more thing- we still have a few roles of paper towels stashed away for those just in case. Big thing was bacon grease...and the ocasional dog pee incident. 

Charli

It's been a while

A lot has happened since the last time I posted. Well, really nothing much has happened...a lot of rain! My husband has been taking tons of photos with his new camera so if I get some time I'm add those on. Lets see...what have we done?  Went to Cancun Mexico (which was wonderful), worked in the garden a lot (and boy has it produced!), worked, bought Tristan a twin size bed, worked, knitted, worked, grew a bigger belly, worked, and worked. I'm sure there's more I'm missing but I can't recall.

Sunburns in Mexico.  Yes, we called ourselves daytime super heros!

Tristan picking produce from the garden at Wateree Rec Camp. (Not our garden I was referring too). 

Baby blanket...which reminds of the biggest news we've gotten. This little peanut is a baby girl. We are very excited!  

Strawberry picking time. We made a lot of freezer jam. Then we had a freezer incident in which we nearly lost all the freezer jam to a raw chicken.  We managed to save it all after switching out containers. Only time will tell if that batch is still good. 

Again, not from our garden. This was a giant zucchini from a friends farm.  

Here's a few shots of our garden. The beans went south from over watering but they have improved significantly. The tomatoes have gone crazy!  

Little yellow guys are Lemon Drop Tomatoes. I've already started canning those because we have so many. Okra is coming in, beans too, and picked our first bell pepper today too. Now just need to get a picture of our sunflowers!  

A blurry shot of my little superhero! 

And, of course, my husband with his fancy new camera!  

Ok, more pictures to come and maybe some of my growing belly!  Later for now.