Natural Laundry Detergent - I mean REALLY natural!

Ever heard of Soap Nuts?

Neither had I. But I recently ordered some through EcoMart.

They're actually nuts from a tree (Sapindus Mukorossi) that grows in the Himalayas. They come in a little unbleached muslin bag. They smell sweet and pleasant. And here's the kicker - they contain natural saponins - a soap-like substance - that works just like laundry detergent to get your clothes clean - without man-made chemicals or excessive packaging.

All you do is take 4 or 5 nuts, put them inside a small bag that comes along with them, and toss them into your washing machine. The warm water activates the saponins, and the clothes come out fresh and sweet-smelling. (If you want to wash with cold water you can soak the nuts in warm water for about 10 minutes beforehand, then throw the bag of nuts and soak water in along with your load.)

To be honest, I was skeptical at first. But they really work well - and you can even use the same nuts over and over again - about 10 times before you have to change nuts.

I was so impressed that I've decided to sign on as an EcoMart affiliate. After speaking with the CEO I feel strongly that it's a company I feel good about supporting. And it's one more way to make a living while making a real difference.

You can find out more about Soap Nuts here - just click where it says "EcoMart" near the bottom. They're in the Eco Household category.

New blog!

Since I'm focused more and more on Green marketing, I'm branching out into a new blog, The Green Inkwell. It'll be mostly about promoting Green business, but I may throw in some Green living tips as well.

I'm also managing the company blog for our solar installation company, Performance Energy, Inc. Here's the link: http://performanceenergyinc.com/blog/. Feel free to swing by!

Gas calculator

I had to fill my tank today and noticed that the price of gas is trending up again. Curious, I looked up historical charts for gas futures, and found that prices do tend to peak in the summer.

I also found an interesting gas calculator site. It has a couple different applications. You can plug in the price of a barrel of oil to see what that means to you at the pump in dollars and cents. And you can figure out exactly how much a more fuel-efficient car would save you in fuel costs.

There is also supposed to be an application to track your MPG and cost per mile, but I couldn't get it to work.

Get Nettled

"Ouch!" - or is that "yum?"

Maybe it's a little of both.

Where I live in central Wisconsin, the nettles have poked their sharp little dark green noses up out of the ground.

Despite their nasty sting, nettles are my absolutely favorite wild plant. I met a man once who had grown up in Nazi-era Germany. He said he owed his life to nettles. After the war his family had very little to eat- but the abundant nettle patches near his home kept them from starvation. Since hearing his story I have held a deep respect for nettles.

But the more I learn about them, the more my respect grows. Did you know that nettles:

• Are full of iron, vitamin A and a slew of other vitamins and minerals and are used as a nutitional supplement for animals and people alike
• Have anti-inflammatory properties
• Are great for your garden
  
• Yield not one but two natural dyes - green from the leaves and yellow from the roots
• Have been used like hemp and linen to make clothing for over two thousand years?

This last point is especially intriguing, considering how dependent we are on cotton and how wretched cotton production is for the environment. Even organic cotton is hard on the soil and requires an obscene amount of water. Nettles, on the other hand, grow like the weeds they are with little or no irrigation, herbicides, pesticides or artificial fertilizer.

And they're tasty, too!

Pick the leafy tops in the spring when the plants are young (be sure to wear gloves!) Take them home, wash them, drop them in a covered pot with just a little water, and simmer until tender. Cooking neutralizes the sting. Look for a second crop after the weather turns cool and rainy in the fall.

Nettles are delicious eaten with butter, salt and pepper; in casseroles, soups, or omelets - wherever you might enjoy spinach. You can also steep the dried leaves for a nutritious tea.

Next time you come across a patch of nettles, don't just dismiss them as vicious weeds. Give 'em a try. You may find they grow on you!

If a Tree Falls in the City

Let me tell you about the art opening I went to last night.

It was no ordinary exhibit.

Sure, the gallery was oozing with pretentiousness, as befits an art reception in a small town that wants to be big.

And the art, although certainly beautiful, was not unusual.

It was the printed material, and a dropped phrase here and there, which gave away the secret of the show.

Every item on display - over 170 of them by 50 local artists ranging from large tables to a little bookmark adorned with a tiny jewel-like burl of wood - was crafted out of wood from the same butternut tree. A tree that might otherwise have gone to waste.

The Butternut Project is the brainchild of woodworker and treecycler Mark Duginske. Its culmination, the exhibit entitled "If a Tree Falls in the City," on display at Wausau's Center for the Visual Arts through June 14th, serves a purpose beyond those of showcasing local talent and preserving the beautiful wood of an aged butternut tree. It shines a spotlight on an environmental practice whose time has come: the recycling of urban trees.

Here is what Mark has to say about urban wood:

With the combination of the economic stress and environmental awareness, Americans are now focusing on the improved use of local resources including urban trees. Urban trees for many years have been considered waste. Because of nails, cement and metal the traditional log buyers and sawmills avoid urban trees. without a reliable market for the urban trees, municipalities carried them to local landfills and dumped them as waste.

Dumping trees into landfills is not only wasteful of both wood and space, it's increasingly becoming illegal in many states, including Wisconsin. Many urban trees are hauled off to be made into paper. But most of them are beautiful old hardwoods which could be put to better use.

Any one of the items in the show is far more beautiful than your typical stick of furniture from the mall. What if we were to stop shipping in stuff from across the globe and start thinking about making good use of the resources close at hand?

Likely we'd use fewer resources and have sturdier, more beautiful things.

And maybe we'd appreciate them more, having witnessed what goes into their making.

The Butternut Project is one of a number of ongoing creative endeavors using the recycled trees from Wausau and the Marathon County Park system. If you are interested in recycled lumber or products made from recycled wood. or have creative ideas for future events, educational programs or other activities utilizing recycled wood, please let me know and I will pass your comments on to Mark Duginske.

Click the link for more information on harvesting urban timber.

Eat Beans for the Earth (And Save a Little Money, Too!)

I'm not a vegetarian (at least not any more.) But if you are, good for you! Modern methods of meat production contribute to massive groundwater contamination and greenhouse gas formation in the form of methane from animal waste. Plus we burn an obscene amount of diesel to produce grain and soybeans for animals, when we could support ten times as many humans per acre if everyone just ate plants.

So I'm trying to make it a point to eat vegetarian more often. Here's a dish I came up with that everyone seems to like. At home we just call it "casserole," but I'll give it a fancier name here to make it sound more enticing:

Texas Chili Pie

Soak a bunch of beans (Any kind of chili bean, black bean, pinto or kidney bean works well.) Two cups of dry beans work pretty well for one casserole's worth. (I once made the mistake of letting my son put the beans on to soak in a 16-quart stock pot. He loves casserole and piled in so many beans that by they time they swelled up with water they knocked the top off the pot. Needless to say we ate beans for what seemed like weeks.)

Anyway, drain the beans the next day and boil them up until they're soft. Then make chili out of them.

I'm purposely keeping this vague for two reasons. One, that's the way I cook. Two, a lot of people have their own favorite chili recipe. If you do, use it! If you don't, don't worry. Just saute an onion or so and some green pepper and garlic, spice to taste (chili powder, cumin, oregano, jalapenos, habaneros if you're brave, or what have you.) Don't forget the salt or it'll be disappointing. Throw in some frozen corn kernels if you like. Add a big can of tomato paste and enough water to make it seem like chili, and you're good to go.

Pour the stuff into a casserole or roasting pan and top it with corn bread. (If you don't know how to make this look it up.) Pop it in the oven at 350 for half an hour until the top is golden brown. Then take it out and enjoy!

It's good with a big tossed salad and fresh fruit. (And I wouldn't know, but I suspect a good cold beer might just be the ticket, too!)

Give it a try, and let me know what you think!


P.S. It's cheap and filling, too.

P.P.S. Now you know why I've never written a cookbook!

How I Saved 14 Minutes by Taking my Bike Instead of the Car

I rode my bike to work today. It took a little longer than driving, but it saved me time, anyway.

It takes me exactly seven minutes to get from home to work by car. (That's assuming I don't catch more than my share of red lights.) Riding the bike takes me about 18 minutes. So you'd think commuting by bike would take an extra 22 minutes, right?

But in reality, it saved me 14 minutes - allowing me just enough time to log in this blog post without screwing up my schedule for the day.

You see, I've got this thing about exercise. If I don't get enough you don't want to be around me. So I try to get in to the Y several times a week to work out. And guess what? A typical workout takes about 30 minutes, plus time to get in and out of the building. About the same amount of time as my bike ride.

So by skipping the Y and gonzoing up and down Grand Avenue both ways on my bike I get in the same amount of workout time - without having to park my rear end in the car for 14 minutes.

Cool, huh?

(By the way, if you don't work out regularly you can still save time commuting by bike. But in your case, don't measure it in minutes but in years - bonus years tacked on to the end of your life for giving your body what it needs!)