Green your Clean Series! Laundry room

Let's get real. Cleaning is one of those things either you love or you don't. I do not like to clean but I hate a mess. What a predicament?? I really want to challenge you (and myself) to look at the products you use around the house to clean and to try something new.

Lets start off this Green your Clean series in the laundry room.

Confession time... I used to be a fabric softener-aholic (yes that is a word). I used several dryer sheets and liquid softener! I had no idea what horrible toxins I was absorbing by putting on my (and my family) clothes daily. The chemicals found in fabric softeners are known neurotoxins, hormone disruptors, allergens, asthmagens and carcinogenic. Just Google it... no lie. You will be a bit overwhelmed. Needless to say, I stopped several years ago and went green. Lets talk about options.

Option 1: Vinegar

Several years ago, I went cold turkey. I changed over to using vinegar in my rinse cycle. In my old washing machine I would add it at the end or use my old dryer ball (until I decided to give that old thing up too). Then I got a machine that had a fabric softner dispenser so it was a no brainer. Pour my vinegar right in there- easy peasy.  Super cheap and soft clothes. Its been about five years now and I have not had any problem with static. Honestly, I can no longer stand the smell of laundry softener. I went through some old bins of clothes last summer that were from way back in my softner days and I just about choked on the smell.

Option 2: Wool dryer balls

Another option is to use wool dryer balls. They help speed up the dry time, soften, decrease static and can also be used with essential oils to add a scent to your laundry. 

I recently made some and was amazed at how easy it was! I have been leaving them in my dryer to help speed up the process (save energy). My clothes have certainly been drying faster.

You need to buy the kind of wool that is not made for washing so it will felt. No blends. I used two skeins of roving wool to make six balls. Super simple. You wind them into tight balls. Once you get the size you want, cut the yarn and tuck in the end.

Then you place them into old pantyhose and tie them off. Put them in with the wash and dryer for a few loads. Then remove them from the pantyhose. They should be felted. (You should  not be able to pull the strings apart.)

They are so cute and simple! If you want to add scent just add 3-4 drops of essential oil right onto each ball. You can add more or less depending on the level of scent you desire. Lavender or purification are great ones to start out with but the possibilities are endless.




Option 3: Home made dryer sheets

This one is the newest of the three I am trying out. My cousin has been using these for awhile and highly recommended them. I quite honestly love the smell! Seriously, it is so simple to make your own dryer sheets.

I had several receiving blankets in the donation pile. So I decided to use one for this project. You can also use old flannel sheets or t-shirts.  I cut them into squares. But generally dryer sheet size around 6x6 is good. Nothing fancy, just chop chop.








Stuff the pieces of fabric into a mason jar. In a separate bowl mix one cup of vinegar and 20-30 drops of Young Living essential oils then pour over fabric. Make sure oil mixture is evenly distributed over fabric, then shake to distribute.


Add a cloth or two to your dryer load, then throw them back in the jar. You can reuse them as much as you want!

So there you have it... three easy ways you can green your clean today! Try one out and let me know what you think! I will be back with more ways to clean up the toxins soon.

Blessings!

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Spring Inspection of the hives!

Going into winter I had three hives. If you recall from my post last fall, I was hopeful, but they were all in different stages and there are so many factors that come into play over our long winter months here in Minnesota.

Throughout late fall and early winter I would go up the hill at least once a month to just check and see if there was any signs of activity at the entrances. In February, I was very surprised to find Alveare (left) the shortest of the three still alive. I peeked inside Panj as well. Both hive's bee cluster were in their top box, which generally means they ate all their stores already. I set up mountain camp feeding on Alveare and Panj since they were the lowest on food. I left Kosnica knowing they should have had tons of food. They were active out front but I did not see bees on the top of the hive.

Going into March I checked Panj and Alveare two more times on how the feeding was going and if there was need for more. I added to Panj as they were eating it up really fast. They were definitely more active outdoors even when it was colder than the other hives. They would be flying outside even when I saw nothing with the others. Must be the Russian bloodlines. We had some up and down weather and checking the outside of the hives it appeared that Kosnica was most likely dead. I peeked inside and saw no movement. Late March I suspected that a cold snap may had also taken Alveare as I saw no movement and heard nothing when I knocked outside. Today I went in to look....

The above photo is from today's inspection the first day in April.

You can see Alveare (left) is shorter than the other hives. They had only two boxes going into winter and they were not full. It should have been a recipe for disaster. Upon opening them up today, they still had lots of feed on top and were very much alive! They are raising brood (babies) and taking in beautiful yellow pollen. My weakest hive going into winter made it!!! I am amazed at their resiliency.

On the other hand my Russians, Panj (middle) had eaten all the feed I had given them. More than twice as much as Alveare. They were raising brood and filling in the extra space for more! In the picture below is some of the burr comb I removed that they were building. It had eggs in it. You can see the little white dots. Those are bee eggs. Another thing to note is their hive was so clean. When I went to clean the bottom board there was barely anything there to clean up. These bees are really good bees.

Kosnica (farthest away, on the right) had a third deep box FULL of honey going into winter.  They should have had enough food to last them until March/April easily. There was activity outside the hive but from my recent visits and outside observations, I was suspecting it was bees from other hives robbing the honey from inside. Upon opening the hive there was virtually no bees inside. The top box still was full of honey, easily eighty to one hundred pounds. It was tough to lift. I checked all the way down. No cluster. They were dead. Most of the bees were on the bottom board. I am suspecting moisture as a reason they may have perished. I had the bottom entrance open to the smallest opening and it should have been the three inch opening. They most likely did not get the ventilation they needed to be able to remove the moisture even with the moisture board on top.

It is sad to loose a hive but I am super happy to have the other two doing so well. I will be dividing the colonies in about a month from two to four. This will be a new venture and I will be happy to share when it happens.

That's the buzz!

Blessings!

If you enjoyed this post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Google+, Twitter or Facebook.