Homemade non-toxic cleaning

Homemade Dry Laundry Detergent Recipe:
1 4lb box Borax
1 4lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
3 bars of Felps-naptha soap
2 small containers of oxy clean (this is probably not considered non toxic, but for those who really have trouble with stains or yellowing, you may have to add this)

*You should be able to find all of these items at your grocery store in the laundry isle.

This detergent is fairly mild smelling, so if you love a strong scent, you may want to add a few drops of an essential oil like lavender to each load on the rinse cycle.

Start out by grating the bars of soap just like you would cheese. Don't worry it will dissolve, even if you wash with COLD water!
Toss all the ingredients into a large trash bag and carefully incorporate them all by gently flipping the bag.  Or you could line a 5 gal bucket with the trash bag and then stir all the ingredients.
Once it is all mixed, store however you like.  This is a picture, above, of mine.  I bought this tall glass container at TJ Maxx.  I keep a 2 Tbsp scoop in the container, and that is all it takes per load. 
Homemade Floor Cleaner:  (great for hardwoods!)
1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1 cup isopropyl alcohol
2-3 drops natural dish soap (I use Dr. Bronners)
10-15 drops essential oil (optional)
24 oz fine mist spray bottle

Add all ingredients to spray bottle and shake to combine.  Sweep/vacuum the floors, spray cleaner, wipe with a microfiber cloth with the grain of the wood.
Furniture Polish:
 1 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
mix into a spray bottle, spray wood and wipe clean with a cloth.  For wooden surfaces only!

Bathroom cleaner:
1 cup Borax
1/2 cup white vinegar
mix ingredients, scrub on bathroom surfaces, rinse away.

Kitchen cleaner:
1-2 drops Grapefruit Seed Extract
per ounce of water
Mix in a spray bottle, spray on surface, and wipe clean.

Dishwasher soap:
1 cup borax
1 cup baking soda
rinse dishes well, add distilled white vinegar to rinse agent spot, use heat cycle to disinfect.

For all other cleaning needs on surfaces, microfiber cloths and water do a wonderful job!  I found microfiber cloths in a 3 pack at the dollar tree for $1.

Anyone can grow a garden!

I live in a neighborhood outside city limits and on a street that dead ends.  So I kind of feel like I am out in the country a little, yet am close enough to town for all those trips I make in a day!  My neighbor usually grows a pretty big garden, so the 5 years I have lived here, I have just taken what he gives me.  This year I decided that we eat such a variety of vegetables that he does not grow, so maybe I should try and grow those.  Thank goodness for pinterest and all of the great ideas that are out there!
This pin was what I started with: planting my seed in egg shell halves and sprouting them inside first.   http://www.17apart.com/2012/01/how-to-plant-seeds-using-eggshells.html

Then today, I decided to move those seedling that have sprouted on out into my "palette" garden.  This idea came from here:http://www.hometalk.com/146502/our-palette-garden
even though they suggest standing it upright, I am going to keep mine flat on the ground! 

So what have I planted this spring?  Butternut squash, sugar snap peas, broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, Brussels sprouts, kale, lettuce, and spinach.  Those are all in the palette garden.  Then in pots going up my front porch steps are my herbs for cooking.  Basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary,& parsley.  I also have mint that grows around my flag pole and dill that is in the flower bed.  In another flower bed I planted chamomile and in the bed with my blueberry bushes, I planted asparagus.  My strawberries are doing well!  They have so many white buds on them already. 

So how does your garden grow?  I think even if you live in an apartment you could do the palette garden and plants in containers!    Leave me a comment with what all you're growing this year!  For more ideas, follow me on pinterest!  http://pinterest.com/liciajoy/

Spring...what we do around here!

These are pictures of our baby chicks, and butterflies.  Spring is new life, and is always a great time to teach this to children.  For Christmas my girls received a butterfly garden kit.  We sent off for our caterpillars in the mail and received a container with 5 and all the food they needed.  It was a great experiment to watch how fast those little suckers grew.  The miracle of forming the cocoon and how quickly the transformation of change takes place.  We fed them and observed for several days.  Then this week the weather was finally warm enough, so we released them!
The baby chicks are Buff orpingtons.  They are the friendliest breed of chickens, meaning they will come right to you.   I am totally stoked to raise these sweet little girls and enjoy some fresh farm eggs from our own backyard chickens.  Since we eat gluten free around here, recipes call for 3 or more eggs and that means we go through a LOT of eggs!  Hoping this will help me out in cost savings!
Yesterday we also started our seedling garden.  I saw a cool idea on pinterest of starting seeds in half egg shells and then you just plant the whole thing in the ground when ready.  We planted broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, bell peppers, butternut squash, sugar snap peas, lettuce, kale and spinach.  We also planted herbs, dill, oregano, basil, rosemary, parsley, thyme and chamomile.  We also planted asparagus in our flower bed, although we won't have a harvest the first year, maybe next.  I have a strawberry patch so I got in there and pulled all the weeds and noticed I have several blooms already!  The girls will be excited for fresh strawberries soon.
All that being said, how does your garden grow?  I am going to try growing some things in a pallet garden, also seen on pinterest.
I am also looking for plans to build a chicken tractor.  Any ideas are welcomed!  I need to get to building soon.  The weather here is getting warm and the chicks are growing fast!