Green home more and more.....

Fellow Blogger Gabriella from Montreal, Canada posted today about changing to be more eco-friendly (and she used one of my paintings on her blog too!~I love the internet!).
Check out her post and her awesome blog called "Green Home Today."

I have always been one interested in "healthy" alternatives... though I must confess that in the beginning  that meant eating yogurt covered raisins and eating at least one vegetable a day!
How times have changed....and I along with them.

I began using Stevia before it was available in the stores... I threw away our Teflon things about two years ago, we started using salt instead of chemicals in our above ground pool about three years ago, we buy raw milk from a local farmer, participate with a local CSA, use only natural cleansers etc...

So, as a complement to Gabriella's post I want to share this list of things we do in our home to make it  healthier and environmentally safe for our earth and for ourselves. I am going to randomly list the first 12 that come to mind:

1. Ditch the dishwasher and wash by hand when possible (our family is comprised of only 3 people, so we got rid of our dish washing machine completely.
2. Plant what you can..even an indoor herb garden is great!
3. I make our own vinegar from a Kombucha bacteria. This can be made into a sweet/sour healthy probiotic drink...or into a fresh vinegar for:

1.  salads
2. cleaning
3. I use it as a facial toner
4. drink as part of a alkalizing therapy

4. Line dry most clothes. Wash laundry in cold water instead of hot.
5. Use the oven only during cold weather
6. Buy only grass fed, free roaming/ cage free animal products (if possible, purchase raw dairy).
7. Clean stuck on food stuff (pans/pots) with baking soda or large salt crystals.
8. Use a push mower.
9. Lower the temperature on your hot water heater.
10. Use a rain barrel for watering plants (we are shopping for one now)
11. Use cloth instead of paper to clean your kitchen, dry dishes.
12. Unplug unused chargers and appliances.   

I also recommend composting...although we have had some problems with vermin...so we are still looking for the adequate contraption for this....

And finally-though much to our son's chagrin- don't buy new until you have browsed Craigslist or your local thrift store.... guess what I just found there? This awesome Swiss victorinox bag to carry my laptop in for only $5.- and it was brand new...tag and all! I call that a SCORE!

So you have other suggestions ... or have cool thrift store finds to share..please do!