Garden Week 2

Garden Week 2

Can you see the deer?

On Mother's Day, we planted our garden, a new tradition that we started last year. Except this year's garden is a much better attempt than ever before! We've come a long way from the small container garden we had on our Chicago condo balcony! Aaron built a raised bed and we filled it with rich top soil earlier in the month. We grew many plants from seed and then last weekend picked up some starter plants too. Last weekend, we put the seedlings and starters in the new bed. I have big plans for our garden yields including salsa, pepper sauces, homemade stocks with amazing herbs, and lots of salads!

What's Growing in the Berkey Garden? 

From seed: a variety of 12 kitchen herbs, spinach, zucchini, cucumber, carrots, and romaine lettuce. Our cucumber plants was damaged by the recent storms so I started another two more to be safe. The romaine lettuce was obliterated from the heavy rain storms too. I started more seeds today, but we may need to get some starter plants. Our beets haven't even sprouted. The carrots are tiny, but are doing really well in the garden. Aaron shielded them with a bit of straw. My basil sprouted, but it's not looking good so we'll see what happens. The sage looks great.

From starter plants: strawberries, mint, rosemary, several varieties of peppers (Jalapeno, Poblano, and Bell), 2 varieties of tomatoes (early girl and roma), butternut squash, green beans, and cauliflower. The green beans are already climbing on the trellis.

We have deer that live in our woods. They walk right up to our front porch or anywhere that we have succulent plants. Here's a picture of one that I scared off from the front porch when it was getting close to the lilies. Aaron put netting around the entire raised bed so it's about 5 feet high. The deer are supposed to be held off because they don't like the netting on their face. I hope it works! Last year, they ate our garden like a big salad bowl! On top of last year's drought, we had barely any yield. But this year, I'm excited for food we'll be able to grow.

Compost is piling up!

We're composting now too. We have a large compost bin with yard clippings, coffee grounds, used tea leaves, droopy fresh cut flowers, rinsed and crushed egg shells, and all the cuttings leftover from cooking. The bugs are going to town! We have a compost container under the kitchen sink and I take it out to the compost bin about every 4-5 days. It's covered so it doesn't smell. We're using biodegradable compost bags for our container under the sink, but they are for commercial composting so I'm not throwing those in our bin.

This weekend, I'm going to do some weeding. I'll keep you all updated!

The Berkey's are Food Composting and Gardening!

This is our 3rd Spring in our house. The first one was when Ava was born and Aaron was a maniac cleaning up the yard since for so many years no one lived on this property. Our house is newly built on a plot land from the 50's. Last year, we tried to garden, but the drought and inadequate deer protection gave us a piddly harvest. This year is our first attempt at a real garden.

Aaron built a large garden bed in the side of the backyard and we filled it with loads and loads of top soil! A couple weeks ago, I planted some seeds and they've sprouted in our sun room.

Aaron bought some deer fencing that will protect our garden up to 5 feet high. Those suckers even eat our pine trees so we're not taking any chances. We love living with the deer n our yard because they're beautiful, but they eat everything except daffodils. Apparently the fence is really irritating to their face if they try to eat the leaves near it.

We're growing carrots, cucumbers, beets, spinach, lettuce and a ton of culinary herbs. And in May we'll get starter plants for tomatoes, bell peppers, and jalapenos. I'm planning to can salsa for the winter months.

I'm excited that we're finally food composting, which will help our garden next year. Since we're on a septic system, I never put food scraps down the drain anyway. Now we collect food scraps and coffee grounds in a biodegradable bag inside a large plastic container under the sink. When I'm cooking, I put it on the counter and use it for food waste like Rachel Ray's Garbage Bowl idea. Aaron bought a large compost bin for the backyard, which now sits by our brush pile far away from the house. We'll throw yard clippings, leaves, straw and the food waste in the bin. Aaron says the worms and bugs will find their way to compost. I found this do's and don'ts sheet on composting that was really informative!

I'll post updates as the garden flourishes!

Homemade, All-Natural Deodorant

It was very easy to mix with a spoon in this small bowl.

We recently had an interesting thread discussion in my La Leche League Facebook group about using deodorant without aluminum, which can be especially harmful for women since it's linked to cancer. When I was pregnant, I was diligent about using all natural deodorant, but then I got lazy. Most of the ones that I tried had to be reapplied very often. If you use a traditional commercial deodorant, it's also combined with an antiperspirant to reduce sweating. I had best success when I applied a crystal stick (antiperspirant) first, and then the natural deodorant. One of the moms shared a "recipe" to make your own deodorant. In fact, she's been making it for several years for herself, husband and even her family members. So, I decided to give it a try!

I mixed this batch of deodorant this afternoon. It has three major ingredients: equal parts baking soda, arrowroot starch, and coconut oil. I've started to use coconut oil for more than just cooking. Because of it's in a solid state and contains antibacterial and healing properties, you can use it on a baby's bum to fight diaper rash or on a cut or scrape.

Store the deodorant in a wide, small glass jar that will be easy to put your hand into to apply. The blog post that I found has a tutorial for putting your homemade deodorant in your commercial container.

Baking soda can irritate your skin if you use a lot of it so it's recommended to use a thin layer. I'm going to experiment with using the crystal stick first and then applying a very thin layer of the deodorant to see how it works for me.

Since Aaron is going to try it as well, I decided to add a neutral scent using Tea Tree Oil. We have that oil on hand because we use it on our dog as a natural mosquito repellant. It smells fantastic!

After my shower tonight, I applied the deodorant mix and it rubs into your skin very easily. I'll let you know how we like it!

Here's the link to the original post with the recipe and tutorial. I also posted it to my Pinterest "For the Home" board. Have you tried your own deodorant?

UPDATE: May 6, 2012
I don't think I can ever go back to commercial deodorant! I LOVE this stuff. It rubs into your skin so well without the annoying white flakes from commercial deodorant. It works for both me and Aaron and no funky body odor to report! Aaron was skeptical, but he was really impressed. We went on a hike and I sweat like crazy, but I wasn't smelly at all! That never would have happened with my old Secret. The one thing to watch in the warmer weather is the coconut oil will melt to liquid at 76 degrees. So you can put in the refrigerator and then bring it to room temperature before you apply it. Coming out of the fridge it's rock hard. You should try it!

Got Cloth Diaper Stink? Time to Strip!

Check out the clean diapers! I stripped the cloth prefolds and my all-in-one diapers.

Last week, I had enough of the diaper funk! One of Ava's caregivers has mentioned recently that Ava's diaper is very foul after it's wet. And last week she had a diaper rash, though probably unrelated, but who knows! After doing some reading on the cloth diaper websites, I felt it was time to strip the diapers of the build-up. Cloth diapers get build-up from a number of factors such as diaper creams/oils touching it directly or residue from detergent. In our case, we have a HE washing machine and hard well water. I suspect that our diapers have a build-up from the hard water more than anything. We struggle with residue in our coffee maker and kitchen. Recently, I bought cloth diaper fleece liners in case Ava needed barrier cream for a diaper rash to help protect the absorbancy of the cloth. Usually when we're home and Ava has a sensitive bottom, I add baking soda to her bath water and it really helps. Going diaper free for awhile helps too!

We do the basic fold (in thirds) inside the Bummis diaper covers.

The stuffed diaper. I send them like this to daycare.

We switched over to cloth diapers when Ava was about a year old and it's been awesome! We've saved so much money and it's really cool to save the environment's resources. The laundry duties isn't bad since we have a brand new appliances and the laundry room is on the second floor. Ava likes to help too!

I've never had to strip them until now. Some people strip them as often as every week or once a month. I plan to wait until they get build-up again.

I asked my Facebook Land for some suggestions. Lots of moms jumped in with advice of the methods that worked for them. I found a couple of sources that said the same thing that really seemed to work for my friends. So last night after daycare, I did a marathon of diaper washing! This morning, I finished with one more cycle of rinsing and drying. They smell great! Right out of the wash, the cloth diapers never smelled dirty. It was just after the first pee that the diaper smelled funky.



Diaper Stripping Method (cloth inserts and all-in-ones):

• Step 1: Wash diapers normally (cold rinse, then detergent wash with extra rinse). On my machine, we use the whitest whites cycle. I removed my diaper pail liner, cloth wipes, and covers from the wash to dry at this stage.
• Step 2: Optional to remove oil residue. Wash diapers with some dish detergent (Dawn). For HE machines, use 1 tsp. I did this on my whitest whites cycle.
• Step 3: Bleach on whitest whites (hot wash + extra cold rinse). Yep! Bleach. It's old fashioned, but it works and you do lots of extra rinses afterwards.
• Step 4: Rinse 3-4 times until there are no more suds. I used the Rinse Drain and Spin setting.
• Step 5: Dry diapers.

Drying diapers in the sun will also help disinfect funk, but I live in Indiana and it's winter. Ok, and I need to install a clothing line! :) I think Aaron would call us Amish if we did. He grew up in the Amish country and they line dry their laundry all year long.

It would be easier to do this on the weekend or a day that you're at home. But, I spread it out over Friday night and Saturday morning because I worked in the office yesterday. While we had the cloth diapers in the wash, we used a few disposable diapers left over from our trip to Portland. When we travel by plane, we switch to disposables. But if we're visiting my in-laws or traveling by car, we launder the diapers before/after the weekend or ask nicely to use their washer and dryer.

Resources:

• Great blog post with instructions from myfirstbaby.com. 
• I loved this video from the Mama Natural Blog. Her husband, Mike, runs through a tutorial of how they strip their diapers, which is the same method from myfirstbaby.com.

PS... I love that Mike is doing the diaper wash in the video. I need to show this video to Mr. Berkey to see if he's inspired to do diaper laundry! 

Cloth Diaper Plunge

Last month, we took the cloth diapering plunge! We love it! I wanted to do it from the beginning, but I my daycare provider told me that I couldn't. Then after witnessing the mounds of diapers in the last year go in the trash, I realized that even if we did the cloth diapers at home, it would still be better. To be sure, I asked the daycare director to confirm and to my surprise, they allow cloth diapers and she apologized that I was told the wrong information when I started. I wish I had asked her instead of the caregivers from the beginning. That sealed the deal! Aaron and I are always looking for ways that we can recycle, re-use, and reduce our waste so he was on board.

I called my friend, Jill, who sells cloth diapers as part of her natural parenting business. I love her hilarious blog post when her family made the big switch to cloth diapers when their daughter, was the same age as Ava is now. Like Jill, I was a bit hesitant at first handling the poopy diapers, but it turns out that now that I'm a mom I seem to be immune to tackling clean-ups of all kinds related to my daughter. Maybe it's that sweet smile and loving snuggle that makes me forget that I have snot, drool, or throw-up all over my shirt.

Exclusively breastfed baby poop is even easier. You can toss the entire diaper right in the wash because it's water soluable. Now that Ava is eating solid food, I have to do a swish in the toilet for her bowel movements. Aaron's idea is the best. We put the diaper in the water as we flush and the gush of the water is good enough to take care of the clean up.

We got two different organic cotton styles from Bummis to try them and see what we like best before making an investment. Jill told me that I'd like different diapers for different occasions and I agree. We have the covers with the cloth prefolds inside, which are great for home and the all-in-ones are easy for on the go since there is no fiddling. And the diapers are so cute! Lady bugs, flowers, stars...how can you resist?

We still have disposable diapers to use up so we're going to finish them at daycare. At home we use cloth diapers. I take a wet sack to daycare, which they use for her soiled cloth diaper from her first diaper change at daycare. My daycare gave me a list of cloth diapering guidelines. Basically, I have to provide a clean diaper, including the cover for each diaper change. So eventually I'll need to add a lot more covers to current stash of 3. One of the La Leche League moms has lent us a bunch of prefolds and some covers. For now, we're the only cloth diapering family, but I suspect that I'm starting a trend. Another breastfeeding mom at my daycare asked me about it this week.

Cleaning the diapers isn't bad at all! I got an antibacterial cloth diaper pail liner, which I wash with the diapers. They should be washed every 2-3 days so we do the diaper wash 3 days a week. There's little folding involved so it's no big deal! Before you use the diapers for the first time, you need to wash/dry them 3-8 times to help boost the absorbancy. When you're washing soiled diapers, you run a cold rinse cycle and then a hot, extra rinse cycle with soap. On my HE washer, the whitest white cycle is perfect. You can't use commercial laundry detergents because they decrease the absorbancy. I use a couple tablespoons of the Rockin Green and it works like a charm! Remember not to use a fabric softener. For drying cycles, sometimes it takes more than one cycle, but I can add a towel to help bulk up the dryer. My dryer seems to work better with more in it. So far, they've been coming out really clean and even fresh smelling.

Besides the eco-friendly and cost-savings benefits, many of cloth diapering friends believed potty training was smoother because they could feel the wetness in their diaper. The toddler feeling a wet diaper can start to realize what's happening easier.

The one downside to cloth diapering is now Ava's tush is so much bigger and some of the clothes she has are too small. Disposable diapers are trimmer under pants. I have to account for that when we're getting her dressed. The LLL moms warned me that onesies can be too tight for cloth diapers and may cause leaks. They suggested to dress Ava in regular shirts and the baby leg warmers are fun when we're home!

Our next adventure is food composting at home. Aaron is going to create a container system for the yard that we can use for the composting. Since we have a lot of land, it won't be too smelly - we hope!

Cloth diaper resources:

• Washing info
• Cloth diaper FAQ
  

Product Review: Eco-Friendly Baby and Toddler Tableware

Last month, I got a sampling of these adorable and very functional eco-friendly, BPA-free baby and toddler tableware from Dandelion. We had been using the metal spoons with the plastic coating on the tip and it's such a big difference since we switched these these spoons, which are made from a renewable resource - corn!

The yellow tableware is ultra modern and hip by design, but also ergonomic. The infant spoons (in the middle) are a perfect fit for tiny mouths and the curve of the tip holds soups really well. They are lightweight, which is nice because I think the metal option might to be dangerous if your child likes to play with the spoon as a toy, which mine does! I take her spoon to daycare and our caregiver loved them so much she asked me for the website so she could buy some for a gift. A 6-pack of spoons costs $6.99, which s pretty good.

Ava isn't ready for the plates or the toddler fork and spoon, but the chubby style will fit nicely in small hands that are learning to use utensils.

The only downside is that the tableware is not dishwasher safe. We follow the instructions to wash with warm soapy water and let air dry. With all the dish washing we do by hand, it's not a problem for us, but you have to be careful not too put them in by mistake.

We haven't used the divided plates yet, but they are going to be great when Ava starts using plates and the toddler utensils. At 13-months, she's at the stage that everything hits the floor so we serve her a few items on her tray and let her experiment. Everything is lightweight enough so if your baby threw it, it wouldn't harm anything.

Give it a try! I think they are a nice gift item for a new baby or 1st birthday for the eco-friendly parents out there.