CONTEST!!!!!

That's right! It's a contest! Get your repurposing and upcycling creative juices flowing for this one!

But first, let's get real, what's the prize? Because there always should be a prize....

A SET OF 4 NAPKINS in any available fabric from my shop (SustainableHomestead.Etsy.com) **AND** A SET OF 2 PRODUCE BAGS!!! nice.

SEE THESE?

I'm starting to collect quite a few of these now that we live near a Trader Joes and hours away from our favorite roasters (who would let us reuse bags or just put the beans right into our glass container). I've washed them out and kept them. And spent some time trying to figure out the perfect use for them. For me, for someone else....whatever. I just don't want to add them to the landfill.

Here are the contest rules:

• Required First Entry: Describe a fantastic way to reuse these coffee cans in this post's comments! Get creative!
• Additional Entry: Share my blog on Facebook, then comment that you have done so.
• Additional Entry: Become a follower of my blog, then comment here that you have done so.
• Additional Entry: Become a fan of SustainableHomestead on Facebook, then comment here that you have done so.
• Additional Entry: Share my blog/this contest on twitter, your own blog, etc, then comment back here what you've done.

The details: Make sure I have a way to contact you. If I do not get a response from the winner within 48 hrs then another winner will be chosen. This contest will be done via random number generator BUT my favorite idea will be given 10 extra entries.

What does it matter?

I was recently told that something I was concerned about was trivial, that it was a waste of my time to think about. Really?

Changes don't usually happen with one huge step. Most people I know who consider themselves environmentally savy don't live off the grid, walk everywhere, etc. It isn't necessarily possible for everyone to go to that extreme. Instead, these families strive to think about every little part of their lives to see how they can reduce waste, reduce their dependency on fossil fuels, reduce their use of disposable items, and all that jazz. Sure, many grow their own produce, might have their own dairy cow, might ride their bike or walk as often as possible, might have solar panels... but the majority of change for the better is made up in the little things.

Every single one of us can make an impact. You can make it by what you choose to buy, by what you choose to not buy, by what you choose to throw away, by how you brush your teeth even.

Here are some mainstream companies that are trying, in very small ways, to be better. And even though I do not buy their products because of some ingredients they contain, I applaud their efforts to do SOMETHING. It shows that when we all do a little something, it adds up.

• Vaseline eliminated 110 tons of packaging per year. 110 tons!
• Suave Body Wash replaced its 9% recycled bottles with ones that are 26-29% recycled. This increases their recycled content from 139 tons to 426 tons every year.
• Dove Body Wash reduced plastic usage by 0.5 grams per bottle. This saves 122,000 pounds of plastic per year.

(I suggest going a step further... use bar soap instead of liquid. You'll not only save cash, but save even more plastic packaging!)

This is a simple reminder that change really IS in the little things. Your individual choices DO have a positive impact on cleaning up our planet and setting it right.

Time Really Does Fly

My baby is 3 today. How did this happen? I still vividly remember him like this. All scrunched up, so sweet and tiny. But he's such a big boy now, into fire trucks, legos, baking with mama, learning his letters, counting everything and anything, making up his own songs, playing elaborate pretend games with his big sister. What a great kid. Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

Plastic bags everywhere at the Farmers Market. Makes me cringe. Makes me want to live in California or wherever else they’re banned. Plastic produce bags filling their carts at Whole Foods. I find myself wanting to ask these people if they know that there are other ways of bringing home their foods! But I do try really hard to not be “one of those people” so I walk on and use my SustainableHomestead drawstring produce bags and nylon bulk food bags without confrontation. I was thrilled to see SO many people using reusables at Trader Joe’s though… and then my daughter and I walked to the organic produce section only to find these foods sitting in plastic trays, wrapped in plastic wrap. Bleh. No thanks. I explained to my daughter why I wasn’t going to buy any of it and we walked on. She’s almost 7 and getting great at spotting these things on her own. Sometimes I feel like such a little fish in a big, big pond though.

I miss my garden! But I have found a local company that delivers produce to your house and it's all locally sourced...even milk! Maybe that's my solution? What's yours?

Here is my beautiful, reusable rainbow!

I am so excited that SustainableHomestead is restocked in reusable sandwich/snack baggies!

Now to take a sewing break to plan my winter knitting...

2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

Yes! SustainableHomestead has been on ETSY for 2 years this week! To celebrate, upcycled hankies will sell for $2 a set with any other purchase. 1 week only.

Crafting Update

First of all, I have new fabrics for back to school shopping! Doggies with sweaters, pirate skulls, tropical ocean and cherries! I have plenty in stock, ready to ship. What a fun and easy way to spice up you or your kid's lunch boxes!

And here they are... my big boy's longies, felted and cut into coasters. I decided to mostly use the stripey parts. So far they work great! No regrets. I really enjoy seeing them and using them.

I've been a busy bee lately. I have had this hand batik fabric for several years, just waiting for the perfect project. It was so fun and quick to sew this tunic for my daughter.

I still have a new apron for me that's 1/2 finished and a big mess of nylon reusable baggies in progress. Wow, I really have had an eruption of craftiness lately! But, oh no, it doesn't stop with me. My kids have been making their own glittery play dough and my daughter is knitting!

Photography used to be my all-consuming addiction, I mean hobby. Back when I’d process my own black and white film, make a contact print, then painstakingly spend hours in my grandfather’s dark room making prints. I loved it. I’ve tried working up the courage to be more daring with digital. I want to. From here on I'm going to do my best to take more photographs, get faster at downloading them, and try out some new editing techniques. My grandfather ingrained it into me from an early age that a good photographer can get it perfect at the moment of capture if she takes her time and pays attention to the details. I guess that’s one thing that’s always bugged me about digital – the over-processing of photographs when just paying attention to the camera’s settings, lighting, and framing at the time the photograph was captured would have done the job. Well, I’m going to think a little less and take a little more. Hopefully I’ll start sharing more with you too. What’s your favorite trick or tip?

Speaking of...I have a few photos to share, but I need to download them first!

Treasures - What To Do?

More unpacking…. Discovered my remaining stash of longies for my little guy. Oh my. I have already picked out a few of the tiny ones to keep and treasure for always and have passed on others but now what do I do with these?

Big Duke “D” with stripey legs, shorties with an “R” on the booty, bear fetish with stripey legs and Christmas red and white stripey among others. When he was close to outgrowing these I just let him wear them hard…and they look it. Some were knit with mediocre wool that I happened to have in my stash. Sure, I might be able to wash them up and make them look great again… but do I want to give these treasured babyhood remnants away?

I am thinking that I might felt them and cut drink coasters out of them. I think I would like constant reminders of my little baby/toddler that is now a little guy. What do you think?

Reusable Cotton Baggie to the rescue!

Shock! I mean, I know that SustainableHomestead’s sandwich baggies are wonderful but I had no idea just how great a job they can do to keep snacks fresh! During our trips back and forth to close on a home and then a day later for our big move I packed various snacks and veggies in both cloth and nylon snack baggies and stashed them in my mom bag as well as the 2 backpacks we took with us. If you are a parent, you know the fear that hits you when you find a child’s food or beverage container that you KNOW is old. Ick, right? Yea, then you pray it’s not milk! 1 week+ after packing a cotton baggie with o’s I found them, sitting at the bottom of a backpack with a drawstring bag of emergency little cars. Not only had they NOT fallen out and gotten into every nook and cranny, but they were NOT stale! YES! IN COTTON! When I sold out of my nylon baggies and was out of fabric I tried to convince several people that the cotton ones are becoming my favorite because they work so well. Maybe you’ll believe me now. They’re lovely. If I knew where the video camera was right now (and if I had all the internet stuff set up yet) I’d let you hear the crunch for yourself. I’m not saying it’s going to happen every time because I usually do not try to leave snacks hanging out in baggies for 1+ weeks but…. You get the point. YAY for cotton!

Made in the USA!

I am excited to say that I have secured more fabric for my ripstop nylon food baggies! As usual, these are UNCOATED 100% nylon and now I have verification that all of this fabric is

MADE IN THE USA!

I am so excited and proud to say this.

This plus my many items made from reclaimed cottons make me feel really, really good about the items I make and sell. Now to just source some more organic cottons....

In celebration of the beautiful turquoise, blue, green, red and purples that I bought today I will make it possible for you to pre-order your back to school snack/sandwich baggies on my Etsy. In an effort to not overwhelm myself I did not order fabric in bolts, so get them while you can!

Pickles!

For the first time in my adult life I made pickles! I planted about 20 cucumber plants with the intent to can all the pickles that we will consume for the next year. Since we are preparing to move soon I instead learned how to make refrigerator pickles. We just do not have the time right now to dive into something that big. I also have volunteer dill in a flower bed that also needs to be used. It has been so much fun to see how far the wind and animals take seeds from the garden! I read every dill recipe I could find but then decided to created my own. Risky, I know. Well.... after a PAINFUL 24 hr wait to test them....

They are delish! The kids and I have a hard time keeping away from them. Right now I am just adding to it when it starts getting low again.

Yay Garden!

Summertime in the Mountains

Wow. It's real. This city-turned-mountain mama is moving...away from the mountains and back to a large city. It's hard to comprehend. I have grown and learned so much in the 3 years that we have lived here. I have cherished raising more and more of our own foods, getting to know local business owners and supporting them, rethinking all of our priorities, living outside as much as possible... I have met some of the most real and beautiful people up here. It's going to be really hard to leave. Don't get me wrong, our new adventure is right where we are supposed to be headed. I have no doubts that it will be a wonderful thing for us. But... these mountains are beautiful and the people who live in them are too.

As for my shop, I recently sent a large order of the sandwich baggies off to a shop in Maine and this depleted my fabric supply. I will only post in my shop things that are ready-made. I will have more lag time in the coming month to get things out the door but my shop will stay open. Look out because I'm likely to have a free shipping moving sale here soon :)

Sew, Mama, Sew

Somehow I missed their huge giveaway day. That was SO much fun last year. Bummer.

In other news I'm working on cleaning out my house for a yard sale. I love pricing things low so that they can have new life in another home. Such a good thing, instead of buying new and cheap at a big box store!

What's your coolest yard sale find?

Slowing down and enjoying the little things

Warm rainy spring days were always my favorite as a child. Now I'm really enjoying seeing my children enjoy and explore too.

Life has gotten so busy all of the sudden. The pressure to do more, be more speeding me up and wearing me down. Time to break out of that cycle and take cues from my 2 year old, who exudes joy every waking minute.

Rainy day? No problem! Just throw on your favorite fire fighter rain boots, grab some measuring spoons and head out the door!

A beautiful day...

Happy Mother's Day!

New Listings!

New items are being added every day! Check them out and tell me what you think!

Kitchen Ramblings

I love storing my dry goods in glass...and I love having them out in the open even more!

Spring Cleaning

It's that time of year again! How do you do it? What do you use? I've really been working on using simple cleaners lately. I had already switched to "natural" cleaners but I'd like to take it one step further. I like simplicity. If I can make it from my cupboard instead of having to buy each individual cleaner from the store - why not!

These are some of the things I've been using with fantastic success. Some came from my mother in law, my grandmother (who everyone says I'm just like) and from natural living websites/books.

baking soda paste. I use this for everything. Sometimes I keep it in an old parmesan cheese shaker container and other times I keep it in an old large yogurt container and use an old scoop from my Charlie's Soap powder. For a while I was washing my hair with it, diluted. I make a simple paste with baking soda and water to clean the stainless steel tea pot, to scour anything in the kitchen or bathrooms (not the faucets - I had a hard time getting it all off of our dark metal). I've heard it also works great with a bit of castile soap added in, but just the 2 ingredients work great for me. In a pinch you can use it to brush your teeth and sprinkle it on your carpet to help with odors.

distilled white vinegar. I also use this often. I buy it in a huge jug and usually have 1 in a bathroom and another in the kitchen. It works well as fabric softener in my front-loader washing machine. Lately I've used it in my dish washer as the rinse aid. The jury's still out on this one. I dilute it and damp mop my hardwood floors. It works great against soap scum, and to use when washing anything that had mold. I keep a spray bottle of diluted vinegar and microfiber towels handy for cleaning off kitchen counters and the table - it helps them have a nice shine. That is also how I clean my mirrors and windows. You can add some drops of your favorite essential oil but I usually do not.

baking soda + distilled white vinegar. Ahhh, the ultimate combo. I clean the drains in the house with this. First, I sprinkle baking soda over/in the drain, then pour some vinegar on it. It foams as it goes down and cleans drains really well. Drains are one of the dirtiest places in the house. I do the same thing to clean toilets and also the bathtub. It cleans well and then if I have areas I need to scrub, I use a bit more baking soda paste and some elbow grease. And it's fun to combine the 2!

It is so exciting to see how well these simple things work. There really is no need at all to buy 20 different cleaning bottles filled mostly with water and dye. I do NOT like to clean. But cleaning with things that I know will not irritate me or my family is a good thing.

What do you do? I'd love to hear. For now I'll get back to finishing my Spring cleaning and sewing projects for the shop.

And the winner is....

# 18: Amber M said...

We are trying very hard to not use one use bags at the grocery store anymore. I always keep at least one bag in my car. A whole lot of plastic has been saved!

Congrats! I'll get your upcycled napkins to you soon!

Thanks everyone for participating. It was fun to read what you're all up to.

thanks to random.org's random number generator. I was not skilled enough to post the actual results here and now I cannot remove the box below. It is late, my scissors are tired...so be it.

GIVEAWAY!

Happy Earth Day (almost)!!!!

To encourage you to make a change and in honor of the occasion I'm offering YOU a giveaway! 1 set of repurposed cloth lunchbox napkins! That's 4 napkins in your choice of fabrics from this collection. These napkins are great for ALL types of uses, not just lunch boxes. They're a great small size for the dinner table, for picnics, etc! They're approx. 7" square, double sided, and made from cotton fabric that I have reclaimed and repurposed.

Here's how you enter:

1. Post a comment about what you want to change (big or small) about your habits to reduce your environmental impact.

2. Post this giveaway on Facebook and post a separate comment here that you did so.

3. Become a follower of this blog and post a separate comment here that you did so.

4. Post on your blog about this giveaway and comment here with a link to your blog (I love reading other blogs!)

So that's up to 4 chances to win! I will decide with a random # generator and announce the winner here. I will happily ship within the USA and Canada.

Good Luck and Happy Earth Day!

A little note on the fridge

I found a note posted on the fridge yesterday. Pretty deep thinking for a 1st grader, and so applicable for Earth Month...

"Dear Dinosaurs,

We're sorry you're extinct. Maybe we will too someday

Love, L + R"

Wow, little girl...are you understanding climate change and pollution, etc already?

Dear Blog,

I am not meaning to ignore you.

The sun is shining. The snow has melted. A gentle breeze is blowing. I do not have to wear my thick wool socks every day. My seedlings need tending as I await the day when I can plant them outside. Oh yea, and I need to ready the raised beds and the ground plots too.

There are little people who demand to be outside every minute of the day and equally demand bubble blowing and chasing.

I am also not spending quality time constantly tending to my ETSY shop either. My sewing machines are feeling a little more neglected than usual. Have no fear, it's not just you.

The sunshine and it's warm rays are my Sirens. But I promise to not chase them too far. I'll be back. I'll be back....

Knitting

I never posted this photo. This was my last custom order from a "regular". Her little girl isn't so little anymore...these had LONG legs! I've had the best time knitting for her though! These were so cute.

I do want to get back to writing fun articles for this blog. However, I've had a recent knitting sprint. My last pair of woolies for my own baby. He's now totally potty trained. Where did my baby go? But wool makes great pants for a newly trained kiddo b/c a small accident will not necessitate an entire wardrobe change. They'll also help us, his parents, be brave during these first few diaper-free nights! Pretty hand paint wool shorties with elastic waist. I'll add a photo when I finish.

To celebrate this shift in our parenting (no more diapers to wash!!!) I will then start knitting my first large project for ME with some super nice wool. Yay!

What are you knitting right now?

Upcycled Hankies

are back! new ones in stock! I still have a few more designs that I'll list this week too. Here's a sneak peak!