everything is better when it’s homemade…

Well, mostly.

In this case, I am talking about all those “products” we consume on a regular basis that we can easily make ourselves.

The marketing person who managed to convince an entire nation that the poison on a shelf of a grocery store was worth the cost of their paycheck and health is an evil genius.  This person also managed to convince everyone that making your own soap was akin to rocket science (plus it was much too demanding of their precious time). $$

I have been thinking a lot lately about reducing my consumption (and waste) while still trying to maintain my family life and job.  Our household is actually pretty frugal with most things.  We each buy a new pair of jeans about once every two years ( the baby abstains), and we make a lot of stuff ourselves.  The sewing machine is my new friend.  Thrifting is our idea of a shopping spree, and I cook almost everything entirely from scratch.  We don’t watch T.V., and rarely leave our home. (we sound like a thrill a minute, eh?)  We have a compost pit and we are starting a huge veggie garden that will hopefully provide most of our food during summer,  autumn, winter and spring.

But, we still have a very long way to go.  My husband and I have no idea how much shit we actually waste everyday.  For instance, I never thought before about the consequences of  purchasing conventional organic toiletries.  Ugh… it’s a scary thought, really.  And, like many people, buying organic toiletries was a huge step forward for us.

So, I am taking it upon myself to reduce the number of “essentials” we purchase from the store.

To make deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, soap, dishwasher detergent, body lotion, toothpaste, laundry soap, glass cleaner and hard surface cleaner, one just needs a handful of ingredients.

• baking soda
• hydrogen peroxide
• vinegar
• corn starch
• lye
• borax
• washing powder
• cocoa butter
• shea butter
• essential oils
• coconut oil
• olive oil

So far, in our household, we have replaced toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner and dishwashing detergent.  It is stupid easy, and it works way better than the stuff they are selling in the stores.  Plus, it’s vegan…

For Toothpaste- 1/2 cup baking soda + 1/4 cup hydrogen peroxide + some (maybe 1 tsp?) stevia + some peppermint or anise oil.  Mix and store in plastic container.

For Dishwashing Soap- 1 cup borax + 1 cup washing soda.  Mix and use 1 tbsp for pre-wash, and 1 tbsp for main wash.  Use 4 tbsp vinegar for rinsing agent.

For Shampoo- Take about 1-2 tbsp baking soda and mix with water to make paste.  Massage into scalp.  Rinse.

For Conditioner- Mix 1 cup vinegar with about 3 cups water and essential oil of choice. Pour a little over hair and rinse.

For All Purpose Cleaner- Mix 1 part vinegar to 2 parts water.  Pour into spray bottle and use like Windex.

Kitchen and Bath Cleaner- Just use baking soda like you would use Ajax or Comet.  No creepy blue tinge and it doesn’t smell like it is killing you.

See, easy so far, eh?

I also found a great link to making your own deodorant- which I will be doing as soon as I get my hands on some cocoa butter.

veganism and feminism

I have been happy to see the comparison of veganism and feminism popping up all over the place lately.  And, by “all over the place” I mean among other blogs and twitter.  I choose to abstain from many modes of information (television, newspapers [virtual or tactile] and magazines) because of the nauseating amount of sexism they contain… so for now, I’m a little sheltered.

Anyways, check out these links if you haven’t seen them yet.  From some of my very favorite vegan/feminist minds:

The Voracious Vegan -Internationsl Women’s Day

My Face is on Fire- Joint Statement by a Group of Abolitionist Vegan Feminists

Vegan Feminist Agitator- Vegan Feminism Integration

unschool

Most of us who work at home would never dream of sending our dog friends off to play and learn with a strange human (who we pay) for 8 hours while we are at home perfectly capable of providing this experience to our dogs ourselves.

Why is this?  Because we love our dogs, we know our dogs best, they feel comfortable around us, we are their humans, and because that would suck majorly for the dog.

Now, throw 28 other dogs into that situation- still with that same one human stranger.  And, add a rule that all of the dogs have to remain still most of the day… no running! no jumping! no barking!

The thought to me is simply appalling.  Yet, as I write this, my own son is at school, doing just that ( with other kids, not dogs).

I send my son off to school everyday in the hopes that he will learn something, and continue to learn something until he graduates.  But I have never questioned why I do this.  Well, not until recently.

What has my son learned in the last three years that he could not have learned elsewhere: by the internet, by friends, by tutors, by lessons, by books?  I thought long and hard about this question and my conclusion is: he has learned less than he could have been learning in the last three years.  I wonder if other parents thought long and hard about this, what conclusion they would come to?

A friend of mine recently turned me on to “unschooling”.  And, with further investigating on the subject, I re-stumbled upon a pinky show episode I had watched a while back.  And from there I researched a little about Ivan Illich and John Holt.  It suddenly all seemed to make a bit more sense.

So, should we buy our children’s education, if  we have the available resources and interest to DIY?

Sounds pretty “green“  to me.

Keep Fueling the Fire, Huff Po

I’ll  begin this rant by saying, I don’t usually look at the Huffington Post.  I used to, until I was banned from leaving comments. Yeah, the moderators at Huff Po actually prevent any computer with my IP address from interfering with their comment section.  Lame.  Let me add that this was the first time I had even attempted to leave a comment on any site.

What’s even lamer is that the (3!) comments that I left, that apparently got me banned, did not include profanity… did not have any cruel remarks, toward HuffPo, or any of it’s readers… did not even break the “politeness” realm.  Nope, I simply asked a question about television, (reworded and submitted some time apart) to the other people leaving comments.

I asked why these many people (who were clearly disappointed by the actions of the subjects in the article) seem to idolize the persons in the article (who happened to be celebrities).  I guess I was trying to see if anyone would agree that television is a problem [start a conversation] in a very open-minded and honestly curious way.  My first 2 comments were not approved.  I tried again later, still clinging to the point… but on a different and related, article.  This time, I thought long and hard about how NOT to offend anyone- even though I don’t believe I had before.  Something along the lines of  “…why do we all idolize these particular people on television?”

Can’t do that on Huffington Post.  Which is weird, because you can sling around sexist and racist remarks all day long in the comments section,  make extremely disturbing comments about pedophilia – and hell, even daring rude remarks about HuffPo themselves… but Heaven forbid you question the powers that be T.V.

I guess I should have known better, given that most of their content is celebrity scandals ( I’m including politicians and businesspersons here), and NSFW photos of any famous woman you can imagine… all with previews of it’s goodies on the home page.  The “Living” section is full of articles that teach women how to be tolerant rather than miserable.  The “Green” section  promotes being a “sometimes” vegetarian, while showing a slideshow of PETA’s latest girls in bikinis.  Somehow, I don’t think this liberal “newspaper” was made for people like me.

But, alas, HuffPo worked it’s way into ruining my morning cup of coffee… again.

I wound up on the website via a tweet from an established vegan Etsy-er, and ended up clicking on the “home” page.

And, to no surprise of mine, HuffPo has highlighted the very first “sex” robot.  A freakish female doll who was created entirely for one  to… well, you get it.  It appears to be modeled after a Caucasian brunette… with a smallish frame.  A commenter writes:

When asked why his design resembles Julie Kavner circa “Rhoda,” Hines responded: “We did extensive surveys and found that a young Julie Kavner is the physical ideal for most men. Who knew? We haven’t secured her cooperation on doing a voice, yet, but there’s a lot of Marge Simpson’s voice in the public domain. That could work.”

What the fuck?!  Okay, enough already.

If I am even going to humor this elevated sex doll idea, let me say this:  Women like sex too.  And many men enjoy having sex with women who are not Caucasian, or brunette.  And, this certainly leaves out homosexual men’s wants.  I’m not too sure how a homosexual woman might enjoy this thing… as it apparently “just lays there”.  Reading through the article and the comments, almost no-one seemed to mention any of these points, or care.

The objectification of women just took one more giant leap forward.

if you want it.

This is my first, of many, posts.  I have been blogging elsewhere, but about vegan food.  Although, food is really the basis of this whole “eating animals” argument.., I think it goes beyond that.  Gary Francione, a Professor at Rutgers School of Law, and his many colleagues, have really got my brain cranking.  And, as the banner reads, I do want it.  So here I am.

In the many posts to follow, I hope to explore not only speciesism, but also sexism, heterosexism, racism, ableism, and  any other derogatory “ism” that may convey one type of human being more entitled to life than any other animal.  Like many who are thinking about the issues at hand, I have a lot to be pissed off about.  Right now, I am working for non-human animals… because, this has just really got to stop.

Join me in my endeavor… and for the love of pigs, please put one of these banners up.

Thank You.