Earth Day 2012

****Side note**** I will be placing a Wildtree Order on Saturday the 30th, if you order by than I will pay the shipping!!! Check out the catalog and email me (cjraynes @ gmail.com) with an order, then we can talk to get credit card info! Think about what you might need for Mother's Day or Memorial Day!  You can also order from my site.

I meant to have this post up Friday, but I struggled getting it finished since I was hibernating thanks to the snow. Justin and I had a talk, well actually I talked and Justin mildly listened, and I have come up with a few changes I would like our family to make.

We are actually a little behind on making these changes. 

It all started with watching Bea Johnson on the Today show earlier in the week.  I had begun to notice that we were flying through paper towels, trash bags, wasted food and napkins. I also noticed that I was spending more and more money on paper towels, trash bags, cleaning supplies, and processed food. We are lucky enough to live very close to the Bozeman Co-op where they have over 1,000 items in their bulk section, they carry an array of local foods and they are relatively inexpensive...hopefully soon I will have some pictures of the inside of the Co-op.

I was actually at the Co-op the other buying from the bulk bins. I was stuffing small amounts of flours and such into bags when it dawned on me that it would be easier for me and better for the environment if I had just brought my jars with me. After more consideration, and looking around the apartment I decided to make some changes.

Since changes take time and getting use to I plan to have all of these in affect by Earth Day 2012. We will be taking each change month by month, and figuring out if they are actually working for us. 

These changes are meant to be healthier for us (especially me and my inside problems), healthier for earth, and cost effective for our family. I whole heartedly sell  products that is free of preservatives, additives, MSG, HFCS and food dyes, and yet some of the foods in my home are laden with them. 

While I do look at labels I have often found myself more concerned about calories than eating "real" foods. I have really struggled the last few years with some intestinal problems, and I need it to come to an end- this means really eliminating gluten from my diet.  So when it comes to foods the things I would like to change are:

• Eating whole and real foods. By doing this the majority of grocery items will come from the Bulk Bins, including beans, flours, rice, pastas, tea, coffee and snacks. By eliminating the bags and bringing my jars I will eliminate the trash I bring home. Many of the items are also from local farmers, which will help our community. 
• Making our own bread, doughs, bagels, english muffins, (donuts), granola etc. By doing this I will more likely eat G-Free, Justin wont be eating junky breads for breakfast, we can eliminate white flour from our diets as well as the junk that is in store bought breads. I plan on premixing dough and freezing it as well breads and making it through out the week. The majority of the items needed to make these items can be found in the bulk section. 
• I want to experiment with making our own butter, almond milk, flavored coffee creamer, yogurt and cheeses. There is a local organic dairy just up the road where we can purchase milk and cheeses. 
• Since we are eating meats again regularly, I would like us to continue to purchase local meats. We have a butcher in town that sells local meats and so does the Co-op. 
• The farmers market will be opening soon (actually more like mid July), and I plan on checking it out for produce. I know Montana isn't known for its fresh oranges, so for the majority of the year we will need to purchase produce at the Co-op. I also want to start growing herbs (legal ones) in my apartment. We have great windows and window sills in the apartment. Plus having plants in the apartment is good for the air. I am also in the process of sewing (by hand...since I have no sewing machine) produce bags for purchasing and storing. 
• The Co-op has a compost bin, where we can drop off thrown out foods and veggie/fruit skins. The Co-op is less than a miles away so it should be pretty easy to make this work. 

Something Justin and are really behind on is using homemade cleaning products. We currently have a good amount of store bought cleaners so we are going to finish of those bottles, but when they are complete we are going to be switching over. After reading this blog post on KERF, I realized how much cheaper and better it is to create your own house cleaning products. Last year when Justin had MRSA I became obsessed with cleaning everything in bleach, but it isn't actually a necessity anymore. Justin's work is attached with an ACE hardware (the coolest Ace ever...they have a display of Kitchen Aid mixers in every color.....DROOL) and he gets a discount there, so we will be able to buy Mason Jars for the foods and cleaning supplies, but they also sell Dr. Bronner's products to create cleaning products. When is comes to cleaning products  we will be changing the following:

• We are switching over to homemade cleaning products such as All Purpose Cleaner, Dish Soap, Laundry Soap and Window Cleaner

Hello, my Name is Chelsea and I am a paper towel abuser. 

I have always been a paper towel over-user. This is nothing new. We ran out of paper towels last week, and we are no longer purchasing them. I spent sometime this weekend going through our kitchen towels and rags, and I have separated them in several different areas. 

• Firstly, I want NO rags cross contaminated between the Kitchen and bathroom/ body and cleaning. Therefore, the bathroom rags and washcloths (for the body) are in two different areas and are two different colors. The rags for the bathroom are in the hall closet and a different color then kitchen rags. 
• In the kitchen there is 3 different areas. Firstly, cloth napkins I chose smaller and softer rags as cloth napkins. Dish rags, are a different color and are bigger and sturdier. Kitchen cleaning rags are ratty and kept under the sink...they are obviously rags. 
• Toilet paper..........nothing is changing, we are still using toilet paper. 

I am hoping these changes will make us healthier and help us save money in the long run. Like I said, we will be making these changes slowly, by using what we have now before switching over completely. We sill also make sure these changes work for us and not force ourselves to do them. I also plan on Volunteering over at the Co-op, because it offers a discount and I can learn more about the products. 

I know alot of people have already made these changes, and I will be looking to them for advice. 

Kath over at KERF

Ashley at Edible Perspective 

Bobbi at NHerShoes

plus my cousin over at Huney Bunches Baking (she is an expert!)

If you have any recommendations PLEASE leave them for me!! I am for sure not an expert on all of this. 

****Don't forget to stop by and like my Wildtree Facebook page! When I get to 75 people we will do a giveaway!