EcoXperience.com» Kim http://ecoxperience.com The Ultimate Green Buyer's Guide | EcoXperience.com Sun, 08 Jan 2012 07:00:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 The Urban Farming Guys: Laundry Detergent for 20 Cents a Gallon http://ecoxperience.com/the-urban-farming-guys-laundry-detergent-for-20-cents-a-gallon/ http://ecoxperience.com/the-urban-farming-guys-laundry-detergent-for-20-cents-a-gallon/#comments Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:17:53 +0000 Kim http://ecoxperience.com/?p=1256
Ok, so I was on Facebook perusing the status updates and a friend shared a link to The Urban Farming Guys website. I loved everything about The Urban Farming Guys purpose and passion for what they are doing. They seem like a great group of families trying to get back to where their food comes from, and turn around a struggling inner city neighborhood at the same time. I watched their video on how to make homemade laundry detergent and I was hooked. We are a family of 5 now so our laundry workload has increased and I thought I’d try it out. I decided when I was done with my $12 a bottle eco-friendly laundry soap I would make up a batch of detergent. It really was easy to make. Since we have an HE washer I cut the recipe in half and made a little less than 5 gallons. I used the Dr. Bronners Castile soap instead of Fells Naptha, but everything else was the same. We’ve got some sensitive skin issues in our house so I was a little afraid of the lye soap. So far we’ve been using it for over a month and it works great! I might make it a little more concentrated next time, but I love it.

Check out The Urban Farming Guys for instructions on how to make eco-friendly laundry detergent and other great green home ideas.

]]> http://ecoxperience.com/the-urban-farming-guys-laundry-detergent-for-20-cents-a-gallon/feed/ 2 Reel Mower – Gas Free Lawn Care http://ecoxperience.com/reel-mower-gas-free-lawn-care/ http://ecoxperience.com/reel-mower-gas-free-lawn-care/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:02:00 +0000 Kim http://ecoxperience.com/?p=50 Well summer is now in full swing and we have decided to give green lawn care a try. We’ve used corn gluten as weed control and other all natural products in our yard and garden. Now we are giving the old fashioned push mower a try. Some of our neighbors have gas and man-powered reel mowers already and we wanted to try it out. Jon always wanted to be able to mow the grass and not wake up our kids while they nap.

I really like our new reel mower we purchased from ecomowers.com They had a great deal on our model and offered free shipping. We purchased a Sun Lawn LMM 40 reel mower since it was one of the few mowers that can tackle bermuda grass. It weighs about 17 lbs. so I can carry it no problem, has nearly a 16″ cutting swath, and mows the grass as low as 0.4 ” to 2.2″ high. There is an optional grass catcher attachment you can get and collect your clippings for composting. I really like how easy it is to push and Matthew loves holding the lower handle and pushing it too. I love that I can now mow the lawn and not have to wait for Jon to do it. Sometimes he travels for work and I am forced to do the the yard work. I can not operate the gas powered mower, but with our new reel mower it’s a breeze. The only problem we have had is that we use pine bark mulch in our landscaping and that will stop the blade from spinning so you have to keep your lawn mulch free. Another issue is an unlevel lawn can also stop the blades. We sanded our lawn for the first time this spring and that seems to help with the uneven lawn. I think if we sand again next spring our mowing will be smooth sailing.

]]> http://ecoxperience.com/reel-mower-gas-free-lawn-care/feed/ 0 Birth Defects and Pesticides http://ecoxperience.com/birth-defects-and-pesticides/ http://ecoxperience.com/birth-defects-and-pesticides/#comments Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:59:00 +0000 Kim http://ecoxperience.com/?p=49 Since it is finally Spring here in GA I’ve been working outside a lot with our boys. They have been great little helpers pulling weeds and planting in our garden. This year we tried corn gluten as a pre-emergent weed control and fertilizer. I’m not sure it did a great job as far as weeds, but it definitely made our rye grass look great.
Anyway, I was cruising Web MD the other day and I saw this article that really made me think. This is the time of year when everyone is putting down their lawn chemicals for weeds and farmers are getting their crops ready. Many people have heard the correlation of birth defects, cancer etc. with people living on or near farms using traditional agriculture methods (chemical herbicides/pesticides). There is a new study out that says that it isn’t just people in rural areas that are exposed to the chemicals. Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) sampled water in streams that feed nearly 50% of the nations drinking supply. The NAWQA found that pesticides were in their highest concentrations during the months of April through July. It was also determined that women who conceived during these months were 3% more likely to have a child with a birth defect, pregnancy complications or miscarriage. The babies conceived during this time were at a higher risk of a wide range of birth defects including Down syndrome, cleft palate, and spina bifida. The author of the study also said that 3% could also be a gross underestimation due to inconsistent recording of birth defects from state to state. I know what you are thinking. This is just another wacky study out there to make everyone be afraid and it doesn’t really mean anything. The following quote from professor Paul D. Winchester, MD, is what really made me take this study more seriously: “This study does not prove that pesticides cause birth defects, but we set out to show that they did not and we were not reassured.” Something to think about for sure. Click the title of this post if you want to see the article on the study.

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