Happy Earth Day! What is your Earth Day Resolution? I hope you've already switched to greener cleaners and started drinking better milk, and now you're ready for something new! There are many ways you could change your habits to reduce your environmental impact. Let's talk about the stuff you use to clean and care for … Continue reading Go Green in 2017: Clean Up Your Hygiene Routine!
thriftiness
Why we had Banana Bread and Black Bean Soup for Easter dinner
We've never established a traditional Easter dinner for our family. Partly it's because we don't eat lamb or ham, but the biggest reason is that for the past 15 years I've been heavily involved in the Easter celebrations at church. The Easter Vigil service is late Saturday night, followed by a festive reception, and then … Continue reading Why we had Banana Bread and Black Bean Soup for Easter dinner
Darwinian Gardening
I'm writing a 3-part series on composting over at Kitchen Stewardship; here's how to get started with my composting system using 3 ordinary flowerpots, and I also mention two FREE composting systems my family members have used. Here, I'm explaining my general approach to the garden I nourish with my compost. The idea and the … Continue reading Darwinian Gardening
Public Transit and Convenient Commuting
It's getting harder and harder for me to believe that the majority of Americans who work outside the home commute by car. I understand that many small towns and suburban and rural areas have no public transit at all, and that many cities have inadequate public transit providing infrequent service to just a few neighborhoods. … Continue reading Public Transit and Convenient Commuting
DIY Vegan Bacon from Potato Peels!
Smoky, salty, greasy, crispy! Nobody will think it actually is bacon, but it fits that culinary niche better than anything else you can make out of garbage in 5 minutes!
How to Approach Life Planning to Secure Your Children’s Futures
This is a guest post by Jackie Waters. Ms. Waters believes balance and diligence can help you achieve a beautiful, clean home. She runs hyper-tidy.com, providing advice on being...Hyper Tidy! If you’re not an attorney, accountant, or financial planner, you may have anxiety about life planning and making the right decisions to secure your children’s … Continue reading How to Approach Life Planning to Secure Your Children’s Futures
How to make it from scratch instead of a package: Chipotle Simmer Sauce
My son Nicholas is 12 years old and often tells us about meals and snacks he enjoyed in his friends' homes. Last month, when we were shopping at Target, he pointed out a package of sauce that was the exact type his friend's mother had used on the delicious fajitas. I told him I wasn't … Continue reading How to make it from scratch instead of a package: Chipotle Simmer Sauce
Go Green in 2017: How to Clean
Tired of spraying your home with carcinogens and neurotoxins? Here's our complete guide to cleaning a typical Earth dwelling.
4 Easy Homemade Sauces for Instinctive Cooking
Are you good at following recipes but wish you had the knack for just throwing together a meal from ingredients you happen to have? The way I got started on developing that knack was to learn to make a basic sauce from scratch. Over at Kitchen Stewardship, I explain how to learn 4 sauces and … Continue reading 4 Easy Homemade Sauces for Instinctive Cooking
Make a Soap Saver: neat, clean bar soap with no waste!
Use every bit of soap with no gooey mess in the soap dish! Easy to make at a cost of $1 or less! Use up all those little soaps from hotels, and repurpose your old scrubby-puff, too!
Has Your Favorite Soap Been Banned?
The United States Food & Drug Administration banned 19 antibacterial chemicals from hand soaps and body washes. By September 1, 2017, manufacturers need to reformulate their products or remove the products from the market. If you've been using an antibacterial soap, you may not be able to get it anymore. Don't despair! The reason for … Continue reading Has Your Favorite Soap Been Banned?
Houses Built from Plastic Water Bottles!
This guy in Panama is building a village of houses whose walls are insulated with empty plastic beverage bottles! Click through to watch the video. This is a really great idea for making use of garbage, reducing construction costs, and building well-insulated homes that will require less energy to cool or heat. BUT! This is … Continue reading Houses Built from Plastic Water Bottles!
Peek Into My Pantry!
This rare glimpse into an actual Earthling habitat shows you what foods we keep on hand and how we organize them! Get all the details in my article at Kitchen Stewardship! Exclusively in The Earthling's Handbook, play "Find the differences between these two photos!" The one on the left was taken first, but then I … Continue reading Peek Into My Pantry!
Drowning in Veggies? 5 Steps for Using a CSA Farm Share
It’s dinnertime on a Wednesday, and you’ve just been handed 10 pounds of fresh, organic, locally-grown, assorted vegetables! You’re eager to get some of them onto your family’s plates tonight and make sure you use every bit as wisely as you can before next week—when another load of vegetables will arrive—and you never know what … Continue reading Drowning in Veggies? 5 Steps for Using a CSA Farm Share
HVAC Hacks: Energy-Saving Improvements You Can Make Yourself
HVAC=Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning--the system of ducts that brings hot and/or cold air to the rooms of a building. The advice here applies to systems that deliver only heat or only AC, as well as those that do both. This is a guest post by Ryan Martin at Home Improvement Leads, who connects quality contractors … Continue reading HVAC Hacks: Energy-Saving Improvements You Can Make Yourself
3 Super-Simple Homemade Frosting Recipes
I've seen many recipes for cake frosting that require separating eggs, using ingredients unfamiliar to many people (like cream of tartar), cooking for 7 minutes whisking constantly, using a double boiler, or some other complicated technique. It's no wonder that so many people have the idea that homemade frosting is very difficult to make! Even … Continue reading 3 Super-Simple Homemade Frosting Recipes
That Time We Ate Million-year-old Dust
This is a story my cousin Tiffany recalled during a recent family gathering when my mom asked us what we remembered from the summer my parents were away a lot, leaving me and my brother and cousins to fend for ourselves. As soon as she mentioned the dust, I remembered that picnic too, and we … Continue reading That Time We Ate Million-year-old Dust
Did you find Jesus anything to eat?
Eleven days ago, I launched a challenge to my readers to prevent food waste in some way, big or small, and report back after Easter. Now it's the Tuesday after Easter, and I haven't heard from anyone yet. Did you accept my challenge? Tell me about it in the comments, or link to your own … Continue reading Did you find Jesus anything to eat?
Have you anything to eat? a food-waste prevention challenge!
According to the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus was resurrected from the dead and appeared to his disciples, he said, "Have you anything here to eat?" He must have been really hungry after being dead for three days! In that spirit, as Easter approaches, I'm challenging all of you--Christians and everybody else--to do what you … Continue reading Have you anything to eat? a food-waste prevention challenge!
Seeking the Greatest Sliced Bread
Like many families, we don't bake our own bread. We make quick breads sometimes, like Raisin Bran Bread, but baking with yeast is not something that any of us finds soothing or fun or worth the time. We really appreciate the convenience of buying bread that's already neatly sliced and ready to use! The only … Continue reading Seeking the Greatest Sliced Bread
The Earthling's Handbook 