Renew your home’s spirit with Green Spring Cleaning!

Spring, the season of renewal and rebirth, is in full gear!  Flowers are blooming, butterflies are emerging, and love is in the air! Nature is truly looking it’s best and beckoning us to come play.  However, the grime and dust that has built up since the winter months is staring us directly in the face at home. Dust bunnies of guilt!  To get out and truly enjoy the beautiful spring weather bring some renewal and rejuvenation to your home by conducting a green spring cleaning!  With a clean and organized home you can truly enjoy the season by starting fresh and green clean. By going green with your cleaning you can save money, improve your indoor air quality and thereby improve your health, and help to protect the environment:

The Green Cleaning Triumvirate: with these 3 natural cleaners all your household needs will be covered for a very low cost!

1) Baking Soda: an all around wonder cleaner and deodorizer that can be used for a multitude of home tasks from cleaning carpet to removing stains on almost anything! It can be used to clean in the kitchen, bathroom, and all around the house.  Plus, baking soda is super cheap and never spoils! So get yourself a box of this magic stuff. Check out some great uses for cleaning with baking soda here.

2) Borax: a natural mineral based cleaner that can be used in a variety of ways around the home. Borax can be used as an abrasive for cleaning surfaces and grout, boosting laundry cleaning, to deter bugs and pests in the home (including fleas!) , and more. Check out some uses for borax here.

3) Vinegar: White distilled vinegar can be used for numerous household tasks from cleaning chrome fixtures, to getting rid of pests, disinfecting, removing lime deposits, cleaning out coffeemakers, and more!  Check out all the great uses of vinegar here.

To continue your spring cleaning journey here are some great ideas to clean and de-clutter your home the green way!

1) Clean your pipes! After a long winter your home’s pipes may need a bit of a cleaning.  To de-clog drains and pipes and to give them their seasonal cleanse use this eco-friendly recipe: Pour 1 cup of baking soda down drain followed by 1 cup of hot vinegar.  Wait 5 minutes then pour 2 quarts of hot water down drain.  To declog your disposal use the same recipe but half the amounts.

2) Get rid of old and unwanted clothes by hosting a clothing swap with friends!  A clothing swap is a great way to hang with friends, get rid of that bag of clothes you have been meaning to donate, and get some hip “new” threads for yourself.  You will feel renewed with your new recycled look :).

Scoobie Snack!

So Nate and I have finally made the plunge and commitment to adopt a dog. I am more than thrilled. We are big advocates of home-cooking for ourselves, so we have also always been intrigued by making our own dog food. I know we can definitely add more lovin’ to our homemade batches than the store bought. Plus, we are hoping that it is an economical option. From the recipes I have researched, it seems like some of our items can come from the bulk section in our local grocer. There are a slew of recipes on the internet and in raw cookbooks. This is just a basic breakdown. It is noted that dogs need 40% protein, 30% carbohydrates and 30% starch. Protein can be eggs, beef, chicken, turkey, fish or pork. Starch can be rice, pastas, potatoes, oatmeal and anything else you may think of, while carbohydrates are vegetables.

After researching some articles, I was led to www.bornfreeusa.org. This website is not for the faint at heart. They delve into the gruesome details of what is put into commercially made pet food. This shows why so many pets develop tumors and cancers, among other illnesses. Just to give you a taste, the pet food industry is an extension of the human food and agriculture industries. The slaughterhouses have found a way to make a profit on their waste, which is considered “unfit for human consumption.” Some of these unfit ingredients include intestines, heads, hooves, udders, and the possibility of diseases and cancerous animal parts. Rancid meat and oils exist in pet foods. Tons of bacteria exists and is never cooked out during the processing of making pet food. Sometimes, the processing of the food, brings out more bacteria than it kills. However, the pet food market has been swimming in $15 billion annually in profit. Close to all pet food brands are dominated by a bigger entity. Nestle owns Purina, and more. Del Monte owns Meowmix, Kibbles n’ Bits ad much more. Masterfoods bought out Mars which owned Pedigree, Sheba and more. Proctor and Gamble purchased Iams Company. Colgate-Palmolive bought Hill’s Science Diet. Private labelers who make food for Wal-Mart and Krogers are just as grotesque. They have been involved in may recalls in pet food that has killed and sickened many animals. Some of these big names are sometimes no different from each other; literally. Some have joined together to buy their ingredients in bulk, one company processes everything, because it cheaper and they slap a couple of different names on the packaging. It does not sound any different from the many issues we as humans face in our society and in our government, however, we sometimes do not look into the other products or aspects these corporations are thriving on.

What began as a simple curiosity into making dog food, turned into a world of eye opening. Sometimes things that we think we know, but once the gritty details are revealed, it tends to have a whole new impact. Therefore, I think Nate and I will stick to making homemade dog food. I do believe there are some good brands at the natural grocery stores that are aware and humane, but I think it will be fun to make our own. If you want more facts just visit www.bornfreeusa.org and they will tell you what labeling on the packaging means for you to better determine what is best for your pet.

If you already have a pet and would like to change their diet, just remember to incorporate it slowly. Start lessening what you already feed them and incorporate some homemade goodness.

Enjoy.

Meet the New Urban Eco Nester!

Please welcome Kasi Schnell to the Urban Eco Nest!  This lady bird is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to sustainability and green living and will be a co-nester on this blog.  Check out her biography on the Nesters Page and look out for her posts!

Clean, Green Hygiene: Natural Personal Care

When transitioning to the “Greener” side of the fence, the bathroom is an important step towards small scale sustainability.  Here are a few ways to green up your bathroom and your health on the personal care product side:

Many personal care products out there contain some nasty chemicals, even some that claim to be natural!  These chemicals can soak into the skin, the body’s largest organ, and then when we shower or wash they go down the drain into our public water supply.  Hmmm…something about this does not seem good to me.  The scary thing is we do not know the effects of these chemicals on the body yet.  Anytime you look at the ingredient list on a personal care product and you can not pronounce half the words this is probably a product to avoid.  Your body, health, and not to mention the planet, will thank you!

Urban ECO Nest’s Top 5 Eco Friendly and Natural Personal Care Products:

1. Tom’s of Maine Deodorant: Tom’s makes my favorite deodorant out there!  They smell great and last a long time.  Plus they are aluminum and paraben free, which means less chemicals soaking into one of the most sensitive areas of your body or washing down your shower.

2. Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps: These fair trade soaps are made with a combination of all natural oils and will leave your skin feeling smooth, your waste water fresher, and can even be bought in bulk at many natural food grocers which will make your wallet and the Earth a little happier.

3. Nature’s Gate Organics Shampoo: These luxurious shampoos have the best scents and last forever!  They are paraben free and Nature’s Gate does not test on animals which will make your animal friends cheerful as you suds up.

4. JASON Sea Fresh Toothpaste: My favorite Natural toothpaste by far.  Leaves your mouth feeling fresh, and since it fluoride free your worries will wash down the drain instead of some nasty chemicals.

5. Dessert Essence Thoroughly Clean Face Wash: This tea tree infused face wash will leave your skin feeling invigorated!  It is synthetic free and can be bought in bulk at some natural food stores.