Earth and Body Friendly

‘Reduce, reuse and recycle’ is a mantra that almost anyone interested in helping the environment will know well. Recycling is all very well and good, but the process of recycling still uses resources. Reusing is a wonderful thing, as it negates the need to recycle. For me, though, I think reducing is the key.

I tend not to go to the shops. It’s probably, in part, a habit I developed from not having much disposable income, because when you go to the shops, you tend to spend money, even if you didn’t plan to. Having a five year old who is driven by every whim that takes him is another good reason to not go to the shops. The very design of shopping centres, especially the larger ones, are done in such a way as to make you spend money, and they are full of so many things that we simply don’t need.

Despite the fact that I’ve somehow collected so much ’stuff’ that I can’t find a place for it all in my new (smaller) house, I don’t actually have a lot of things that I don’t need. My son does. Most of them have been given to him for birthdays, for Christmas, or just to keep him amused on long car trips. The quality toys, built from materials that will last, I like. The junky ones—usually made from plastic—that break easily, or never work properly from the start, I’d prefer were never bought for him. Not only does buying those products support cheap labour and use up resources in an extremely wasteful way, but it almost always ends up in the bin, and therefore landfill, within weeks. (Or perhaps they should have been in the bin instead of being put into boxes to bring to my new place.) As well as collecting so much junk, it instills in him certain values that I don’t want him to have; mainly that of ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!’

And don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying that things for entertainment or amusement shouldn’t be purchased. Relaxation, ‘down time’, is just as important as shelter and food. ‘Play’ is a very important aspect of our lives which we require for our sanity.

From an environmental perspective, it makes sense to not buy so much. An easy way to start is by buying things in bulk where possible, or if not bulk, at least in larger jars or packets and avoiding single serves. It shocks me, on my rare trips to the supermarket, how much packaging is used for products all in the name of convenience. The other day, I came across a pack of eight pieces of sliced meat, served in four quite large plastic packages and then those four packages wrapped in more packaging to hold it all together. They were sold as ‘Sandwich Combo’s’ (including their incorrect use of the possessive apostrophe.) Are we really so useless that we can’t handle going to the deli to buy eight slices of meat, and then take one slice out of the fridge at a time to pack into a lunch? We’re being brainwashed into believing that convenience is what matters.

Convenience is being sold to us in huge amounts of packaging, making us believe that we can’t cope with doing things the ‘old fashioned’ way. It’s not only bad for the environment to buy such convenience, but it’s bad for our purses.

There’s so much we have that we don’t need. It clogs our air, our land, our houses, our lives, and our brains, stopping us from realising the value of people, instead of things. It makes us believe that we have to work harder and longer to pay for the all the things we think we need, causing us to lose focus on people and family. When you decide not to buy so much ’stuff’ you’re saving money and you’re enriching your life and the lives of those around you by instilling better values into your children and/or those who look to you as an example of a way to live.

If you’d like to have a great day out and have a chance to try the wonderful Nana May’s Magic Hands, I’ll be running my stall at the Festival of Sails in Redcliffe on Good Friday the 10th of April. It’s at Suttons Beach, about 45 minutes north of Brisbane.

From the website:
‘It celebrates the start of the Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race with great activities and entertainment running all day starting at 9am and running till 4pm. Most of the activities and entertainment are free which include a variety of live music, roving entertainment, a children’s beach and art activities and more than 150 arts, crafts and food stalls. Other activities include giant puppets, the Rainbow Activity Zone, free beach volleyball, water craft demonstrations, kite displays, camel rides and much more.’

Click here to see where it is on Google Maps.

Tomorrow the 28th of March at 8.30 pm your local time, is Earth Hour. To contribute to this ‘vote for the Earth’, all you have to do is turn off your lights for one hour, starting at 8.30 pm. Have your candles ready (preferably the more environmentally friendly soy wax candles rather than paraffin wax) and sit by candle light with your friends or family, enjoying helping out the environment by burning one less hour of carbon fuels.

It’s not just the act of having your lights off for one hour that’s helpful in a practical way, but it’s also symobolic of what we can do everyday, even in small ways, to help lighten our footprint on the Earth and it helps to create awareness amongst others who perhaps don’t tend think in such an environmentally friendly way.

Join in, check out the Earth Hour website and do what you can to spread the word for Earth Hour and for the environment!

I pointed out the Earth and Body Friendly newsletter when I was running the competition for the Envirosax bag, but I thought I’d mention it again. Subscribing to the newsletter means you’ll be automatically entered into occasional competitions and give-aways, as well as being kept up to date with other information that may not make it to the main Earth and Body Friendly pages.

It gives you a chance to look at past articles which you may have missed and read about possible future articles. It’s also a great reminder that you can be involved by commenting at the site or suggesting articles or products to review.

Spread the word about the newsletter to anyone you know who is interested in finding practical ways to tread more lightly on our Earth.

You can subscribe to the newsletter by using the subscribe form near the top right. It’s easy to do. I send out a newsletter once every month, give or take, so I promise I won’t be spamming your inbox to death.

There’s no denying that drinking fresh juice is good for you. And it’s big business. Just look at the many fresh juice shops opening up in shopping centres all over the place. But it’s not cheap to buy fresh juice. That said, it’s not even all that much cheaper to make your own if you’re using quality fruit and vegetables, but at least when you make your own, you know exactly what’s in it, and you have a better idea of the origin of your fresh juice.

Bottled juice doesn’t have much health left in it

Just look at the list of ingredients on almost any bottled juice to see that there’s far more than just juice in there. When making your own juice, you don’t need to add anything to extend the life of it to allow it to be shipped across the country or the world. And there’s no need to fortify it with added vitamins; they’re all still in there since it’s hasn’t been pasteurised to death. It’s fairly common knowlege that bottled juice has a high (even if it’s naturally high) sugar content, but with your own fresh juice, the still-present nutrients and enzymes balance out the natural sugars and add quite a measure of health.

Make your own juice

I recently bought myself the Compact multi purpose juicer and mincer. It’s a a good quality, low speed juicer (75-80 rpm) that uses a crushing action rather than a high speed spinning action (7,000-10,000 rpm). The makers of this juicer claim that the lower speed causes less heat, thus more of the natural enzymes in the juice are retained and the juice is healthier. The juice can be kept for longer, too. Fresh juice made with the high speed process needs to be consumed right away, whereas juice made at a lower speed will keep for up to 48 hours.

Ten machines in one

This juicer has more than one function. As well as extracting juice, it can make a great variety of foods including pasta, mince meat (especially good for making sausages if you so choose), and frozen desserts. As I’m not much of a cook, I haven’t ventured to make pasta or minced meat—although I would like to try mincing meat soon—but I have made some frozen desserts. This is done very easily by freezing cut up pieces of a solid type fruit such as banana, rockmelon, watermelon, etc, and then feeding it through the machine using the homogenising cone. This mashes the fruit into a smooth consistency leaving you with a dessert that is like sorbet or ice cream, but which contains nothing but real fruit.

When in action, the pulp, or the processed food, is extruded out the end of the machine in a manner that can be either quite disconcerting or amusing, depending on your level of maturity or your sense of humour.

The juicing or homogenising nozzles are set to number 1, 2, or 3 depending on what is being fed through the machine. The instruction book tells you which setting is best for what type of food you’re processing. It seems to control how tightly the contents are squeezed through the various cones. They fit quite snugly and it I’ve found it a little difficult to remove these nozzles when disassembling the parts for cleaning, since my hands are already either slimy from cutting up the fruit or vegetables, or wet from washing the stickiness off them! My solution has been to use one of those rubbery mesh things designed to give you a better grip when removing tight lids from jars.

Easy to use, easy to clean

The machine is supplied with a scrubbing brush that looks kind of like a very large toothbrush, sized to fit into the small pieces of the machine to clean it once you’ve finished your food processing. Mine has become scraggly quite quickly (just like an over used toothbrush) and I wondered to myself if I’ll be able to get a replacement brush one day if its bristles become too wild. I’ve found the machine easy enough (aside from the tight nozzles) to disassemble for cleaning. I’ve been using just water to clean the components, but then I’ve only put fruit and vegetables through it so far. The scrubbing brush, along with some soap, will definitely be useful for cleaning in the little nooks and crannies when processing oily foods such as coffee beans or meat.

In my box, there was an extra hopper (the thing attached to the top to help guide the food into the chute) and ‘pusher’. I assumed this is for dedicated use with different foods to avoid cross contamination, but the instruction book lists only one of each of these, so I wonder if I was just lucky. Aside from the drum and auger, there are four nozzles, two cones, two mincing templates and a completely separate drum assembly for meat. Various combinations of these allow you to prepare a great variety of foods and drinks.

Lots of recipes to try

The instruction book, while a little bit sparse on self-promotion, contains more than 50 recipes for juice, desserts, dressings, sauces, and even pasta, soups, and sausages. I’m quite keen to try some of these. My son loves hommous, so I’d like to buy some chick peas to try making it in this machine and see how it compares to the way I’ve made it in the past.

Preparing the food for processing is not such a speedy task. The pieces have to be relatively small, especially when compared to juicers that are advertised to take whole apples, so chopping up the fruit or vegetables can take quite a while, especially if you’re not fast with a knife. When you take into account the time for preparing the food, then cleaning the machine afterwards, it makes more sense to process quite a bit of juice in one session and then store it in the fridge. Since my little household contains only myself and my five year old, I don’t do this. But despite the preparation and clean up time, the end result of even one glass of juice each is still worth it.

What I love about it

• It’s easy to use, assemble and disassemble. Cleaning is also quite easy.
• The operation is fairly quiet.
• It’s versatile: it makes such a great variety of juices and foods.
• It’s healthier and cheaper than shop bought juice.
• No waste is created by buying something in a bottle.
• You can use up your fruit and vegetables quickly before they get too old.
• It’s safe enough to allow children to help.
• It’s actually quite fun to use. I’ve had friends ask to be the one to feed the fruit into the juicer.

Things I find not so great

• The nozzles are a little difficult to remove.
• The process of prepping the food to go into the machine can be laborious.
• My ‘pusher’ (or plunger, if you prefer) is not sealed completely air tight, so when I left it to soak in the sink one time, it filled up with water and I had to make two holes in the top end to let it drain. It wasn’t such a big deal, but it’s something to note if you don’t have time to clean up straight away and decide to let the components soak instead. Soak everything but the plunger.

The price of the juicer is absolutely worth it. Even the time it takes to prepare and process the food, then clean up again, is worth just one glass of wonderfully fresh and delicious juice. You’ll find yourself buying and consuming more fruit and vegetables and therefore less of the unhealthy options such as cordial and soft drinks.

I’m really pleased with my juicer, as is everyone who comes to visit me when I decide I have lots of fruit that I need to juice.

Visit: HEALTHSTART Life Products (Google for resellers)
RRP: AUD $269

Since working at the markets, and having my own stall situated right next to a second hand clothing stall, I’ve made it a goal to try to avoid buying  new clothes.

Second hand clothing is good for you and for the environment

Firstly, it’s a great way to reduce, reuse and recycle. You’ll save lots of money since you won’t be paying full price. Also, if you’re anything like me and don’t like to look the same as every second person on the street, you’re more likely to find clothing that is interesting and unique. One more good thing about buying second hand is that you’ll be less worried about hacking into it, or making adjustments, to really ‘make it your own’. There are also the ethical benefits since you’re not supporting an industry that is widely reported for keeping sweat shops in operation.

Here in Australia, the shops that sell second hand clothing and goods to help support and raise money for helping those in need are often referred to as ‘op shops’. I think ‘op’ is short for opportunity (I’m perfectly willing to be corrected if I’m wrong). In the past, I found that I’d never had much luck finding good second hand clothing. I’d see a friend wearing something gorgeous and I’d ask where they got it, hoping I could get one the same, but almost invariably, they’d tell me they got it from an op shop. To tell the truth, it made me quite jealous. I have one skirt that fits beautifully, which I found about 15 years ago d which is still a favourite. Until recently, that was the only good thing I’d found in all that time. You see, op shopping takes time. You can’t just look at a whole rack of almost identical clothing to decide if you like the style or colour. At op shops or second hand clothing stores there’s usually only one of each thing, so you have to look through the whole rack, one item at a time.

Shop with a recipient in mind

I think that shopping at op shops for children is the easiest. Children’s clothing is often a looser style, so you can choose something close enough and it’ll usually fit. Men’s clothing (unless he’s a particularly choosy man) is often also relatively easy since you usually have to deal only with short or long, tight or loose, and what colour he might like. Women’s clothing is more difficult as the fit can vary greatly with the many styles of clothing: short, long, fitted, loose, low cut, high cut, round neck, square neck, boat neck, etc - and then you have to take into account all the many lumps and bumps and curves we have in their many different shapes and sizes and how they’ll fit inside the many and varied options.

Be ready to find something awesome that wasn’t what you had in mind

It helps to not have too specific an idea of what you’re after when you go op shopping. Having an open mind about what you’ll find is essential. Sometimes you’ll find the golden bargain of an item that’s gorgeously retro, but these are often snapped up quickly by second hand clothing stores that run for profit. You can almost always find awesome clothing at these places, sometimes still with the original tags attached, but you might pay more than from an op shop.

You can find second hand clothing in many places

Local markets are also good places to look for second hand clothing. ‘Trash and treasure’ or flea markets will usually be cheaper than higher end markets located at the more expensive end of town, but a good variety of clothing can usually be found at both places. Be dressed to allow clothing to be tried on over your own clothing as most market stalls won’t have a change room. Close-fitting trousers and a tank top will mean you’ll get a better idea of the fit of the item you’re trying than if you have to fit them over a loose, blousey top and cargo pants with heaps of large pockets.

When shopping at markets, be ready with cash in smaller notes. Most stall holders, especially those selling second hand clothing, won’t have the option to pay with a card. More expensive second hand clothing stores are more likely to have a machine to take your card.

Bring along an enthusiastic friend

One of the most fun things about shopping for second hand clothing at op shops, markets, or second hand clothing stores is taking a friend with you to share in the joy of finding awesome clothing at bargain prices. You’ll almost never come across a pushy salesperson telling you how wonderful that maternity top looks on you when you know for certain that you look like a snot-green, beached whale. Having a good friend along for the ride will ensure that you get an honest opinion, especially if there’s no full length mirror available for you to take a good look at yourself.

Tips for successful op shopping

• Dress in ’skinny’ clothing that will allow you to try clothes on over the top of your own clothes.
• Have cash, in smaller notes, for paying for clothes at the markets.
• Decide before you go out exactly who you’re shopping for: youself, a child, your partner?
• Allow lots of time to look through the racks and to travel to more than once place.
• Take a friend for advice and feedback.

Generally-speaking, perhaps that last piece of advice is more useful for women, since many of us seem to have a reputation for enjoying shopping, but I’m sure there are plenty of men around who can use their ’straight in, get what I need and straight out again’ attitude to find just the right item of clothing.

I’ve moved. I’m in my new place! I’m still surrounded by boxes, and I’ve forgotten where it was that I found the cutlery the other day, but I’m very pleased to have finished all the cleaning that had to be done at the old place before I could hand back the keys.

I used my ENJO microfibre cloths to clean the whole of the old house, using almost only water. I did use some of the ENJO range of chemicals (more environmentally friendly, they say) such as the marble paste for the stainless steel sink and the oven door, as well as calcium remover for places such as around the taps in the kitchen and the bathroom.

Much to my shame (as I was running out of time and I think my bathroom glove needs replacing, because it wasn’t working as well as it used to) I did resort to a bottle of bathroom spray stuff for the sides of the bath. It was Windex Shower. Let me be clear, though, that I did not buy it. I’m pretty sure my ex-mother-in-law (the mother of my ex-husband. I’m really not sure what other title to give her since she’s not legally my mother-in-law anymore, yet I still have regular contact with her) put it into the cupboard for me when I moved into the place more than two years ago. It had been sitting there in the cupboard, not in use, that whole time. I only found it when I started packing.

Perhaps I’ll get into this particular topic in another article, but when I read the back of the bottle, I was horrified that it suggested you use this stuff every day in your bathroom and you don’t rinse it off. I can’t even imagine how bad that is for the environment and for your body to be exposed to that every single day.

I assumed it had soap-like stuff in it (although, now that I think of it, I’m not sure why I didn’t just use my ENJO Real Soap Plus. Let’s put it down to an extreme lack of sleep), so I decided that I may as well use it in the bath. It’s been at least five years since I’ve used anything like that. As soon as I sprayed it, I realised one of the reasons why I’ve never gone back to using that type of product ..

.. the smell was overpowering!

I don’t know how I ever put up with using chemicals as strong-smelling as that. I do remember that when I discovered ENJO, one of the things I loved about it was that I didn’t have to get into old clothing just to do some quick cleaning, lest my good clothes were accidentally bleached when I managed to splash it on myself. I also recall the joy I felt at not having to hold my breath while I sprayed foul-smelling, lung-burning chemicals around, then (literally) run out of the room again so that I could take a breath of fresh air. I also noted that I had to be careful when I got out of the bath after rubbing it around on the surface, that my feet were completely dry before I stepped out onto the carpet in the hall to avoid bleaching the carpet. There is a complete lack of those issues when using microfibre.

Despite my reticence to admitting that I even used that spray, it was an excellent reminder to me exactly why I love my ENJO microfibre gloves and cloths.

I’ve just read a notification that Envirosax have posted on their Facebook fan page about a competition to give away some kids’ bags. I thought I’d pass it on quickly in the midst of packing boxes for moving house. This is what they say:

Envirosax has got a 2 week giveaway running, starting today, where you have the chance to win one of 9 Envirosax Kids bags!

You can view the Envirosax Kids Range here.

The give away is being run by Envirosax and KIDSTYLEFILE.

Here’s what you have to do to be eligible to win:

1. Be or become a KidStyleFile Facebook Fan
2. AND be or become an Envirosax Facebook Fan
3. OR participate on the KidStyleFile Facebook Fan site by leaving a Fan photo or a comment.

That’s it - too easy!!

You can read the terms and conditions on their Facebook page notification once you’ve become a fan.

And now, for me, back to packing ..

Sorry to flake out on you all so soon into the birth of Earth and Body Friendly, but I’m moving house unexpectedly. I have to be out of this place by the 16th of March, so the next two weeks are going to be very full of packing, moving and cleaning.

So please excuse me while it goes rather quiet around here.

I’ll be back in full force once I’m in the new house.

This past week I worked in the city for four days. On two of those days, I caught public transport since I didn’t have to cart around a car full of equipment.

I do try to catch public transport when it’s practical, but the problem with a place like Brisbane is that the public transport system is rarely practical. This presents a problem. A public transport system will only be developed to a decent level when people are using it. If it’s not a good system, then not enough people are going to use it to make it worth their while to improve it. Maybe this is short sightedness on the part of the government, or maybe it’s our fault for not persisting in using the public transport, despite the impracticalities.

The further away you are from a city, the less practical it is

To be fair, public transport is fairly reasonable for those living close to the city. You can pretty much leave home at any time and be guaranteed a train or a bus within 15 to 20 minutes. A long time ago, I used to live in Taringa, about a ten minute drive to Brisbane city. In fact, I lived close enough to the train station that I could listen for the two minute warning for the next train before walking out my front door. These days, I live further from the city - a 35 to 40 minute drive. If this was Sydney or Melbourne that would be inner city living and trains and buses would run more regularly, but Brisbane has a much smaller population, which is part of the reason why our public transport simply doesn’t cut it in comparison.

I suppose it’s not really fair of me to compare our public transport to what’s available in larger cities. I can only assume that the government’s budget for public transport is proportionate to the size of the city, thus why larger cities with more people have greater funding available for better, and more frequent, public transport.

Public transport is great for avoiding peak hour

If I was working in the city every day, it would be worth catching a train or a bus. Driving in peak hour traffic is something I try very hard to avoid. Even with the huge lead time needed to catch public transport, you’ll still arrive at your destination much quicker and with much less stress than if you’re sitting in traffic. Needless to say, it’s also cheaper and much better for the environment than pumping all those petrol fumes into the atmosphere. Perhaps I should be factoring in that extra time to take public transport for any place I need to go and at any time, not just for peak hour.

But is it unreasonable of me to think that having to allow three hours to get to the other side of town by public transport—when it would take about 45 minutes by car—is too much? If I had a morning event to attend, I’d have to allow a whole day of travelling just for one small gathering. Surely I’m not alone in thinking it’s more hassle than it’s worth, despite the benefits. Maybe I should just be making a mental adjustment and doing it, despite the hassle of having a five year old child with me who would either fall asleep or get bored and be a complete handful. Going straight to the city isn’t such a big deal, but travelling anywhere else requires several changes of buses or trains, backtracking quite a bit, and long waits between services.

It’s the waiting that’s most frustrating

For me, it’s not the travelling on the train or the bus that bothers me, it’s the waiting around in between.  It would be impossible to link up every train and bus service to the next available service, but knowing that doesn’t make it any less frustrating that such a relatively large percentage of my time is spent waiting for public transport, rather than actually being on it.

I’m not really sure what can be done about this. There’s no doubt that taking public transport is a great way to be environmentally friendly. I suppose it’s a matter of the public supporting public transport by actually using it. But it’s a catch 22 when people won’t use the service because it’s such a hassle.

Alternative means of transport

As traffic gets heavier and heavier on the roads, I have no doubt that more people will turn to public transport. It’s inevitable that the services will be improved to cater for the extra patronage. Or maybe oil will run out before then and there’ll be cheaper and more environmentally sustainable options available for our travel.

Please do leave a comment with your thoughts or experiences.