Visited the Tare Market - 38th St and 28th Ave Mpls. Wonderful shop! They even have donated (and sterilized) containers if you don't have 'just the right' one of your own. Watch peanut butter being made!!
Since the pdf didn't 'take,' following is the document prepared by Barb: Ditching the Plastic
“Everything is interwoven, and the web is holy; none of its parts are unconnected. They are composed harmoniously, and together they compose the world. One world, made up of all things. One divinity, present in them all.” ― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
My goal:
For all of us to begin to start seeing plastic in our everyday lives and making alternative choices to try to lessen our impact on our earth.
Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot (and only in that order) – Bea Johnson ZeroWasteHome
9. Sponges from Blueland are made from plants. I make sure they are clean by running them through the dishwasher and they can be composted.
10. Powdered dish soap from Blueland. Dish soap – must get used to the idea that suds do not make clean dishes,
“Since our products are 100% all-natural, it does not produce many suds. Suds are a side effect from a lot of chemicals reacting in the other commercial dish soaps, which our products do not contain. We're working on making it sudsier, though. For sudsing, we recommend putting it directly on the sponge for maximum grease-cutting ability. Thesponge opens up theformula to create an incredibly effective foamingandgrease-cuttingliquid.”- CleanCult
11. Dishwasher soap - tablets from Blueland and make your own
15. Buying meat – go directly to the butcher and have them wrap meat in paper instead of Styrofoam and plastic.
16. Buy baking/cooking staples from Tare Market. You must take your own containers. Peanut butter, flour, sugar, spices, pasta, rice, nuts, chocolate chips, vanilla, dried fruit, beans, grains, oatmeal, cereal, vinegar, honey, oil, maple syrup, coffee, tea, snacks, etc.
17. Good quality water bottles, hot cups and metal straws
Laundry
18. Laundry soap - CleanCult and Blueland make a good tablet form which I use for traveling. Make my own.
A recipe for laundry soap
Homemade Eco-Friendly Laundry Soap
This recipe makes 2 gallons of laundry soap for about 75 cents. Plan on having something to store it in. I use large juice bottles or gallon milk jugs.
You’ll need:
***1/3 bar Fels Naphtha Soap (check either laundry soaps or bath soaps, Coast to Coast Hardware)
***½ cup Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda (not baking soda)
***½ cup Borax
Grate the Fels Naphtha soap. Heat 3 pints of water and add the grated soap. Stir and heat until dissolved. Stir in washing soda and Borax. Stir. Continue cooking for 15 minutes. It will be the consistency of thin, hot honey. Remove from heat.
In a large bucket (3 to 5 gallons), put in 1 quart hot water, then add the soap. Mix well. Add 5 ½ quarts of cold water. Mix. Set aside for 24 hours. The mix will eventually thicken. Use: Shake before using. Use ¼ to ½ cup, even for big loads. This soap will not suds. The only scent is the Fels Naphtha which is gone in the dryer.
19. Wool dryer balls help eliminate static, so you don’t have to use dryer sheets.
20. Lint from the dryer is compostable. (also dirt from your vacuum cleaner)
This seems a timely "competition," based on our recent meeting presenter, Barbara Waswoem, and her insights into this very subject! Note that the TARE Market and Ridwell, two organizations she shared with us, are sponsors of the Challenge. I've (tried to) attached the handout from that presentation, as shared by Fern. If it works, great!
