By Jamie Ervin •
October 23, 2008
Often times the easiest way to lessen the impact on our Earth and our wallets is simply to use LESS. The third part to our series on being green when budgets are tight.
Use the correct amount of product. For laundry soap, this is usually 2 ounces or about HALF the cap. Many of us naturally fill the cap, isn’t that what it’s for? Shampoo and conditioner usually require only a teaspoon or two. Better yet, if you can, switch to a shampoo bar. Store your soap out of the water spray, otherwise it will be shrinking while not in use. Ration your children’s shampoo and body wash supply by giving them small portions (use a shot glass size container) of products at bath time.
By Valerie Taylor •
August 26, 2008
I’m eating a lot of oat groats these days. I found a source for locally-grown oat groats, but the minimum order was 25 pounds. Oat groats are the least processed of all edible forms of oats, so they store a very long time (some sources are giving them 30 years under the right conditions.) So even though I’d never tasted them before, I decided to give them a try. I figured any minimally-processed food was a good addition to our diet, and even if it took us years to use them up, it’d be okay. And in the meantime if the apocalypse arrived, there’d be something to eat. Win-win-win.
Oh. My. God. This is what oats taste like. I like good old-fashioned oatmeal just fine — I’ve eaten it for years, still happy to eat it if that’s what’s on the table. When I discovered pinhead oats and stone ground oatmeal, though, I realized just how much regular oatmeal had lost in the process of being…well, processed. (Don’t speak to me of instant oatmeal. That’s not a food.) So it comes as no surprise that getting closer to the whole grain results in an even more interesting taste and texture.
Even so, oat groats were a revelation.
Often times the easiest way to lessen the impact on our Earth and our wallets is simply to use LESS. The third part to our series on being green when budgets are tight.
