• 1.  Avoid putting onion skins, banana peels or tea bags down the disposal.  Stringy or fibrous matter such as these can wrap themselves around the blades and moving parts instead of being obliterated and cleared away.

2.  Avoid putting potato peels and cooked rice down the disposal.  Very small amounts are okay but larger amounts turn into glue in your drain, as the starch gets ground up, sit in your pipes to harden or cause a blockage if not enough water pushes it all the way to the water treatment plant.

3.  To cover the “multitude of sins” committed against your disposal while you’re not watching, use a natural, non-toxic drain maintainer such as Natural Choices Oxy-Drain (a personal favorite) weekly.  The combination of natural enzymes and oxygen bleach clear away grease, grime and organic matter and leave the drain fresh and clear.

Dear Laurie,
I just tried using coconut oil in my dry hair, inspired by reader comments on an article we have on the site about repairing your hair with olive oil. I’ve used olive oil in the past, too, with mixed results.

I love using coconut oil for baking, and had some handy, so last night I slathered quite a lot on my hair, wrapped it in a towel, and went about my life for a few hours before washing the coconut out thoroughly with shampoo. I followed the washing with a conditioner, like usual.

I couldn’t be happier with how soft my hair feels today. I am so happy with it, in fact, that I am going to have my hair trimmed to cut off all the split ends and have a fresh start, and have a routine of treating my hair with coconut oil at least once a week.

Well, let’s just say I put a stop to that. “WAIT!” I cried. She looked at me questioningly. She had thought that, because she was in a health food store, every product must be completely green. COMMON MISCONCEPTION!!!!! Common misconception that is very wrong. Very wrong indeed. Many products in health food stores still carry such things as parabens and fragrances–you have to search hard for truly green products. I walked my friend through the process of scouring the aisles for the truly green.

What I realized from this encounter, though, is that no matter how much I may be getting my friends, readers, and peers to think green and want to be green, they don’t always understand what goes into being green. It is not just walking into the health food store. The problem is that they have not done all of the research that I have done. They do not know offhand which ingredients are bad and which are good–which is completely understandable. Not everyone has 20 years of being told that they can’t use that shampoo because it has parabens in it. Most people are just learning!

So, what do I advise those of you who are just learning and need an easy way to tell what is OK and what is not? I advise you to go to this lovely website called Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database. It’s a miracle worker. You literally type in the product, company, or ingredient name into the search, and the item shows up with a hazard score–how toxic it is–from 1 to 10, 0-2 being low hazard, 3-6 moderate hazard, and 7-10 high hazard. If you click on the product, it will give you detailed information about links between it and such things as cancer, reproductive and developmental toxicity, and endocrine disruption.

I just utilized Skin Deep and was shocked to see that a couple of things I had thought were fine were a 6 on the hazard scale (although I was pleased to see that my shampoo is a 2)! Even for the chemically experienced, this site is a lifesaver. So never fear! Now there is an easy way for you to check out what you’re using. It’s quite eye opening, indeed. And my friends who are not so green? Well, I just played Skin Deep with them, too … and I thought my 6’s were bad!

Note to self: Throw away the 6’s and find a new moisturizer.

Lily Berthold-Bond grew up in a chemical-free zone and has struggled her whole life to understand and accept this non-commercial lifestyle. Now a junior at Tufts University, she has embraced her green life and hopes to share its possibilities with the rest of her generation. This blog first appeared on Care2.

There has been a lot of news coverage about plastics and epoxies containing BPA in recent years, focusing especially on its presence in baby products such as bottles, nipples, and toys. The New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof wrote an informative overview of BPA in Chemicals in Our Food, and Bodies, and the suspected health problems those 92 percent of us share who have been found to have BPA in our urine. Kristof discussed how the lining in food cans contains BPA, among other sources.

In early 2010, the Food and Drug Administration voiced “some concern” about BPA ‘s safety on the brain, behavior and prostate gland in fetuses, infants and young children. BPA has also been linked to breast and prostate cancer, heart disease, and reproductive and sexual problems.

What does a synthetic estrogen do once it enters the body? Synthetic estrogens are part of a group of chemicals called endocrine disrupters. Basically what happens when you are exposed to an endocrine disruptor is that the body is expecting a natural hormone, such as estrogen, at a receptor site in the body, and takes in the chemical mimic of the hormone and begins to use it as it would the natural thing. Screech. Suddenly the body’s hormonal process malfunctions because in fact the “hormone” was a plastic, and couldn’t function in the much more complex way that the natural hormone would.

When Sally called her dentist, one of his first questions to her was why hadn’t the bonding bothered her as much the last time he used it eight or so years earlier? As synchronicity would have it, within a few weeks of the bonding Sally read about a new study that showed that “women in menopause are more prone to the BPA-associated health effects of inflammation and oxidative stress than either men or women who are still menstruating.”

It took seven months of back and forth with Sally’s dentist to come up with a solution. During that time, Sally gained 10 pounds and felt out of hormonal balance. A so-called BPA-free alternative bonding material that her dentist ordered arrived only to be revealed in the fine print that the material contained BPA, sealed in with polyurethane. Her dentist was reluctant to use something that could be as bad or worse.

Read the rest on Huffingon Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/annie-b-bond/toxic-teeth—-bpa-dental_b_481326.html

Anyone can start seeds early under grow lights or outdoors in cold frames, no matter how far north. My father also used outdoor cold frames, and would make them using old windows positioned over a simple rectangular frame that was higher on one side so that the window cold slant towards the sun.

Once you have the seeds and light source, how to start seeds?

Seed Starting Mix
Note that you want seed starter and not potting soil. Potting soil can cake, making it hard for new seedling shoots to break through. Simple peat moss without any added nutrients will do. When the seedlings have sprouted, transplant.

Here is a soil-less seedling mix adapted from Four-Season Harvest, by Eliot Coleman.

Ingredients
Three 8-quart buckets each peat moss and compost
2 cups organic fertilizer
one 8-quart bucket perlite

Combine in a big garbage can, and thoroughly blend.

Germinating Seeds

Soak seeds for a few hours in warm water before planting.
Try to maintain the soil at a temperature of 70F

–Adapted from Better Basics for the Home, by Annie B. Bond (Three Rivers Press, 1999).

The first key to protecting wool is to make sure that it is clean before it is packed away.  If possible,  freeze  for two days or air in the sun for a few hours before packing. You want to make sure that all moth eggs are dead; freezing or even putting clothes in a dryer on high heat for 15 minutes, should kill them.

The second key is to do your best to repel moths from finding and feeding on the clothes. Even if Grandma used moth balls, avoid them, as they are recognized carcinogens and highly neurotoxic.  (The fumes are also very hard to remove from a home; airing contaminated clothes and chests  in the sun is your best bet.) You can easily go natural instead with this herbal moth ball solution that is used by weavers to protect their skeins of wool.

Ingredients

2 ounces each dried rosemary and mint

1 ounce each dried thyme and ginseng

8 ounces whole cloves

Muslin tea bags, available in most health food stores and herbalist supply stores (or make your own sachets)

Note: Other herbs that repel clothing moths include lavender, lemon, cedar, and sassafras.

Directions

Combine herbs and spices in a bowl. Spoon fill sachet/muslin tea bags, and draw closed. Set the “natural moth balls” in chests of drawers or cedar chests where woolens are stored.

–Adapted from Better Basics for the Home (Three Rivers Press, 1999), by Annie B. Bond

In Buddhism, meditations using light are considered an especially effective means of releasing the grasping qualities of tight minds, and this is the basis of all healing.

Tibetans know about the healing energy of light firsthand, because visualizing light has been used effectively for many centuries to ease mental problems and suffering as well as physical sickness.

You can visualize light in three alternative ways, according to your needs and preferences:

1. See light without being restricted to visualizing a particular color; in other words, the light could be clear or white.
2. See light as multiple colors, like a rainbow.
3. See light as a particular color, such as red for warmth, blue for openness, or yellow for strength.

–Adapted from Boundless Healing, by Tulku Thondup (Shambhala, 2001).

We are finally adding a second permanent dog to our ever-changing pack. This Saturday I will be picking up our new eight week old Australian Cattle Dog puppy. After much deliberation we have decided on the name Mick, a good strong Aussie name. That is of course assuming we don’t realize at the last minute that he actually looks more like a Will, Cash or Body (other names we have been tossing around).

Taking a new puppy from their eighth week through their twelfth week is a daunting task for any new owner and I find myself feeling the same anxiety, anticipation and excitement that I go through on a daily basis with my clients. In this stage, known as the fourth stage of the critical period, the work suddenly changes hands from the mother dog to the new owner. I am responsible for my puppy trusting the world around him. The process is different for every puppy because they each have their own unique personality and temperament.

On my first visit to meet my little male I was looking at temperament first and foremost. When I held him down on his back I was looking for him to wiggle for a moment, lick my hand and relax with gentle acceptance. When I blew in his face I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t growl or nip at me. I also wanted to watch him with his litter mates and make sure he hadn’t already picked up any bullying or cowing tendencies. He passed with flying colors.

If any of you are in the market for a puppy remember to perform some version of a temperament test. Matching the right puppy with the right owners is one of the most important parts of the whole process.

Besides my glowing temperament review of my soon-to-be pup there is one little behavior quark that I noticed right off the bat. He is BY FAR the most vocal of the bunch. His number one goal in life is to be held and cuddled and if he isn’t getting that then he lets you know! A definite case of “he wants, what he wants, when he wants it,” a saying that I use all the time in lessons to describe demanding behavior.

He will learn quickly that in our household he will get ignored and eventually corrected for demanding barking whereas sitting politely and quietly will get him lots of yummy affection, belly rubs, and ear scratches. This is operant conditioning at its simplest. Operant conditioning is simply the use of consequences to modify a voluntary (operant) behavior. I will keep you posted on how quickly he learns this lesson.

On a side note…Millie has found her new forever family! They made it official last Friday. I’ll miss that sweet girl.

-by Annie Bailey, co-owner of FabDogz, professional dog trainer and behaviorist, member of the APDT and lover of all dogs! All questions and comments are greatly appreciated!! annie [at] fabdogz [dot] com

Ingredients
3/4 pound Swiss chard
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon minced fresh sage
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 cups Arborio rice
6 cups soup stock
2 tablespoons dry white wine
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Parmesan cheese

Serves 4 to 6

Wash the swish card. Discard the stems and cut the leaves into strips. Place in a large pot, cover tigtly with a lid, and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the leaves have cooked down and are tender. You don’t need oil. Remove from the heat, drain in a colander, and set aside.

Heat the oil in a medium-size pot. Add the garlic, onoins, and herbs. Cook over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently. When the onions begin to look transparent, stir in the rice. (Do not rinse the rice beforehand. Its starch is essential for creaminess.) Cook the rice for a couple of minutes, then stir in the Swiss chard. Continue cooking over high heat for another 2 minutes.

In the meantime, bring the soup stock to a simmer. Add 2 cups of stock to the rice or enough to just cover it, reduce the heat, and let it simmer gently, stirring every once in a while. When the broth has become absorbed by the rice, add more stock to just cover. Again, let this simmer gently until it has become absorbed by the rice. Continue this process for 15 minutes, until the rice is al dente and the risotto is creamy.

Five minutes before the risotto is done, stir in the white wine. Season to taste, and continue to cook 2 or 3 minutes. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve with freshly grated Paremsan cheese on the side.

Adapted from A Taste of Heaven and Earth, by Bettina Vitell (HarperCollins, 1993).

–Anonymous