Make It Yourself: Sandwich Bag Dryer

Regardless of what I do we always seem to have plastic sandwich bags.  I'd really like to break our habit of using them and although we have cut back we still end up needing one every now and then.  One thing that helps is washing the ones we do use for dry goods or non-meat products and reusing them.  This way they are at least getting more than one use before being thrown away and we buy them less often.  I didn't have a way to dry them so the dirty ones were stacking up in the sink.  I looked into purchasing a dryer like this one but most of the reviews I read said that eventually the wood will mold or rot because of the water, most are made in China and they can be pricey - some over $20.00 with shipping.  Then I came across this video by Michelle Kaufman - eco home designer.  I had to try it for myself.  I'm happy to say that it works!  I haven't been throwing bags away and have been cleaning and reusing the ones I have.

Supplies:

Wire - I used 16 Gauge Steel Galvanized Wire but Michelles Kaufman used wire coat hangers
Pliers
A few small flower pots
Seeds or plants to go in your pots

Directions:

Start by taking about 1 foot of your wire.  You can either just fold over one end to make a small circle, being sure to tuck in your cut end, or you can get crafty and make a design on the end - I made little flowers.

Next, stick these in your flower pots.

That's it!  After washing a bag, just place it upside down over your metal wire.  The water will drip down into the flower pot and eventually dry.

The cost breakdown:

So, is it worth it to make your own sandwich bag dryer or buy one at the store?

Pliers - free (almost all households have these - if not, just use your hands)
Flower pots / flowers - If you don't have any small pots you can usually buy these at any garden or superstore for less then 2 dollars.  I was able to get individual plants at Ace Hardware for $1.00 a piece which included enough dirt so I didn't have to buy that.  So I estimate that if you got 4 pots at $1.50 each and 4 flowers at $1.00 total this would cost about $10.00
Wire - You can use wire coat hangers if you have them - that's free.  If not, buy a galvanized wire (so it won't rust).  I was able to find this online for $5.49 but you can also buy this at many home improvement stores.

Total the most you would spend on this is $15.49 and depending on how big your flower pots are you should be able to fit about 2-3 wires in each pot leaving you with about 8-12 arms for drying bags.  I used flower pots and flowers I already had so really I only had to buy the wire, but like I mentioned you could just use an old coat hanger and then you wouldn't have to purchase anything.

VS.

Gaiam Countertop Plastic Bag Dryer which is $17.71 on Amazon.


The bottom line: if you bought everything from scratch you may only save a few dollars, however I think that the flower pot idea is more appealing - I have four pots with bag dryer wire in them sitting in my kitchen window and I just love how it looks.  You could even make them more useful by growing herbs to cook with in them.  Also, we have been trying to purchase things made in the USA or avoid buying something made in another country together so being able to make it is really nice.  Again, if you have a few flower pots and a coat hanger you get away with not purchasing anything and then you'd save almost $20.00.  Just another thing you can make yourself!

Make It Yourself: Drain De-Clogger

We have 3 cats and 2 humans in this house and drains seem to clog overnight here.  In our last apartment we had a septic tank so I had to find a more natural way to unclog sink drains then with the store bought chemicals.  I'm not sure where I got this recipe but it works.  I've used it for over 2 years now to unclog sink drains and haven't had to buy any of the store stuff which is nice since that stuff is hard on septic systems and pipes and probably shouldn't be allowed in the water system at all anyway.

Ingredients:

Baking soda
White vinegar
Boiling water


Directions:

1. If unclogging a bathroom sink, take the stopper out.  Make sure all the water is drained from the sink.

2. Fill the drain with baking soda.  I usually use about 1/4 to 1/2 a small box to do this.  Shove it down the drain if you have to using a long spoon.  Really pack it in.

3. After baking soda is packed in drain, dump 1/2-3/4 of a cup of vinegar in the sink.  It will start to foam up and eat the baking soda.  Allow the vinegar to 'bubble' and foam its way down the drain.  Be patient - this can take awhile.

4. When you don't hear the bubbling anymore, flush the sink with a kettle full of boiling water.  It will take a minute but your drain should run smoothly after the boiling water is gone.  Run your sink and test it out.

Note:  Sometimes for a bad clog, I will repeat steps 2 and 3 twice before adding the boiling water.


The cost breakdown:

1 gallon of white vinegar - $1.99
16 oz box of baking soda - $1.00
Boiling water - free

If I estimate high by saying that I'll use 8 oz of baking soda and 1 cup of vinegar per drain de-clog that costs about $0.62 per application.

VS.

Draino Foam Clog Remover - $7.50

These prices are based on our local supermarket and don't included taxes, but if you use homemade drain clog remover as opposed to the store bought you could save almost $7.00 per application.  That's a lot!

Be sure to join us next week were I'll be shifting gears from cleaning supplies to food items that you can make yourself!

Make It Yourself: Automatic Dishwasher Detergent

I promise that not all the make-it-yourself topics will be about detergents but having just recently tried this and think it's wonderful I thought it was a must for Make It Yourself Month.

In the three years that my husband and I have been married we have never had a dishwasher.  When we moved into our new house here in Tennessee it had a dishwasher!  It was like 'ta-da!'  I've done a lot of research on washing dishes by hand verses washing dishes in the dishwasher and which is better and I found evidence for both.  I guess it really depends on the machine you have and the person washing the dishes.  Our new dishwasher is nice though because it is energy rated and comes with a pamphlet telling you how many gallons per cycle it uses in water.  Compared to what I estimate I use washing dishes by hand, we opted for using the dishwasher for the most part.  Problem is the detergent.  I don't trust the regular store bought stuff just like I don't like laundry detergent.  The scents, colors and chemicals... no thanks.  And the brands that sell 'better' detergents with no scents or colors are often really expensive.  So I found a simple recipe for homemade automatic dishwasher detergent and it seems to work great so far.

Ingredients:

Borax
Washing soda


Directions:

Mix equal parts borax and washing soda in a container with a lid (i.e. 1 cup of each).  Use two large spoonfuls in the detergent container in your dishwasher per load approximately 2 tablespoons.  Run your cycle as normal.


The cost breakdown:

Based on our local grocery store:  a 76oz box of Borax is approximately $4.30, a 55oz box of washing soda is approximately $2.99 and a 45oz box of Seventh Generation Automatic Washing Detergent is $8.99.  That means that if I made 2 cups of my homemade detergent it would cost approximately $0.88 and 2 cups of the Seventh Generation detergent would cost about $3.20.  I use the same amount of detergent when I'm doing dishes in my machine for both homemade and the store bought so that's a savings of over $2.00 per 2 cups of detergent!

Thanks to my new best friends, borax and washing soda, I now can clean my dishes in my dishwasher cheaper and hopefully it helps the water system a little bit by not adding chemicals and whatever else is in the store bought stuff.  This is great too because if you already make the homemade laundry detergent, you have everything you need to make it!

Make It Yourself: Laundry Detergent

I posted this a year ago but I so strongly think everyone should make their own laundry detergent that I'm going to post it again:

I haven't bought laundry detergent for over two years and it's been wonderful - not shelling out cash for the expensive store bought laundry detergent that seems to last about 4 loads or having to wash our clothes in chemicals that is suppose to smell like something nice but instead makes me nauseous.  Instead we make our own detergent.  We got the recipe at The Simple Dollar and haven't looked back.  I love it because 1) It's way cheaper then buying the store bought stuff - they figure about $0.03 a load and 2) Because you control what goes in it.  After using our own stuff for over two years now, I highly recommend it.

Recipe:

• 1 bar of soap
• Borax  - can be found in a box in the detergent isle
• Washing Soda (I use Arm & Hammer) - can be found in a box in the detergent isle
• 5 gallon bucket
• 3 gallons of water plus 4 cups
• Cheese grater or food processor

1.  Shave your bar of soap with the cheese grater or food processor until you have a nice pile of soap.  You can use any soap - we've used left over bars from the tub, Zote's Laundry Soap, Levers 2000, and many more - they all work great, however I tend to like Zote's Soap because it's the best bang for your buck.  It's nice to be able to make your own detergent because you can choose to use soaps that are made from goats milk or soap that have little additives like sent and color.

2.  Boil 4 cups of water in a large pan.

3.  Add your soap shavings to the pan and stir them until they melt.

4.  Turn your heat off and add 1 cup of washing soda to the water and 1/2 cup of borax.  Stir.

5.  Add 3 gallons of hot water to your 5 gallon bucket.

6.  Add your pan of soapy water to the five gallon bucket and give it a stir.

7.  Cover and let sit for 48 hours.

8.  Your soapy water will turn into a gel of sorts and this is your new detergent!  I use 1 cup for every load of laundry.

It's better for your wallet, the water, the environment, and your clothes.  Combined with our own detergent we also use  Nellie's PVC Free Dryer balls instead of dryer sheets.  They last two years and cut down on drying time when I can't dry clothes outside.   They also don't add chemicals to your freshly cleaned clothes. I've also been adding about 1 cup of white vinegar to some loads during the rinse cycle.  The vinegar acts as a natural fabric softener for larger items to wash like sheets and also dissolves pet hair.  I can swear that I notice a difference in cat hair with loads that I wash with vinegar and those that I don't, but my mom also tried this and couldn't tell... either way, your clothes won't smell like vinegar so you don't have to worry about that.

Making your own laundry detergent is fun - now go make some yourself!

All this March: Make It Yourself!

All this March on Off The Map I'll be celebrating making things yourself.  It's a goal of mine this year, make more, buy less.  A lot the times what you can make yourself is more earth friendly, better for you and saves money.  I'm so excited to be sharing some of the items I make as well as having a few guest bloggers share their own recipes for items they make instead of buy.  Please come back every Tuesday and Thursday throughout March to see what you can make instead of buy!

Twenty-eleven

Last year a lot happened in our lives.  We moved across country from New Mexico to Tennessee, we bought our first house and we started our little farm.  We still feel really lucky for everything that happened and fell into place for us.  And while 2010 was a good year I'm looking forward to 2011.  This year I have a few resolutions or goals to work on.  

1. Have a garden.  We've already made some preparations to have a garden.  We dug up a large space in our front yard tilled the dirt and added mushroom compost this past fall.  We'd love to add raised beds there with a small fence surrounding them but at the very least we'll be able to throw some seeds down this spring and hopefully have a few vegetable plants.  I'd love to have at least tomatoes, beans, lettuce, and peppers.  I can't wait for seed catalogs to start arriving - I love to look through them and plan.

2. Raise a pig.  We have enough acreage to have a few more animals and we've recently been talking about getting a pig to raise for meat.  While the thought of raising a cute little piglet just to later eat him/her breaks my heart, I don't generally think twice about it when I buy pork at the store and I have no idea where it came from, if it was treated humanely or what it ate.  I think that if you are going to eat meat, it's best to raise it yourself, treat it well and feed it right and then it will feed you well.  So, come this summer we may find ourselves looking for a pig to raise.

3. Remodel the loft.  We have a nice little loft over our garage and recently we've been talking about remodeling it.  Perhaps this is a good year to get the ball rolling.

4. Add gutters.  Believe it or not our house didn't have any gutters when we moved in.  It hasn't really been an issue but we know it's something we need to fix.  It will make our house look nicer, protect the siding of the house more and once up I can then start working on a rain barrel system for our garden.  I've also seen a gutter system hooked up to a chicken waterier and I'd like to look into to something like that for the coop. 

5. Landscape.  We have several seeds in the freezer right now that will be ready to plant this spring including persimmons and witch hazel.  I'd like to get these planted in pots and hopefully when they are big enough plant them around our property.  I'd also like to start working on a pollination garden by the barn.  We currently have a bat box over there and this summer I'll add my hummingbird feeders.  I'd love to plant some native honeysuckle and other butterfly and hummingbird friendly plants.  Also, this past fall I planted almost 100 bulbs up by our mailbox and I am so excited to see what it all looks like this spring. 

6. Read more.  I know this may seem silly to most readers who can and will read a book in a day, but I have a goal of reading one book a month this year.  I really need to get into the habit of reading more.  It's good for your brain and good for your soul.  We don't have TV (although we do have instant Netflix) so I should have plenty of time to accomplish this goal.  I have several books in mind to start with including a few we got for Christmas.

7. Eat local - more.  For some reason we are always pleasantly shocked when we go to a locally owned restaurant.  "Wow, this is really good... Wow, this is made with local ingredients.... Wow, I've never had anything like this" But yet, we haven't made it a habit to go to local restaurants and more often we end up at a chain and we leave disappointed with our choice.  So this year I want to make it more of a habit to support local restaurants that are good to their employees and use local ingredients.  For New Years we were in Asheville, NC seeing the Avett Brothers and we ate at the Early Girl Eatery.  It was awesome.  It's a local restaurant that uses local ingredients and supports local farming.  They serve what's in season and we left really loving Asheville's slogan, "Buy Local.  Put your money where your heart is."  So with this in mind this year when we order pizza it won't be from a chain and when we go out we'll try and find a cute little place that is locally owned and operated.

8. Make more, buy less. Going along with number one on my list, I'd like to make it a goal to make more of what we need and buy less.  I've been pretty good about this with food.  I make all of our yogurt, chicken stock, some potato chips, some of our bread (I'm hoping to make all of it this year, although I've run into a few problems), granola, and thanks to Santa we'll be making most of our pasta this year.  We also have eggs from our chickens.  I also make our laundry detergent.  I've made some of our socks, hats and scarves.  And of course I make 99% of the cards we send out for holidays, birthday's and special occasions.  This is usually the economical way to go: make what you need and not buy it.  It's also usually healthier and better for the environment.  So, along with what we already do this year I'd like to add a few things to the list.  A few to tackle:  make butter, make some of our cheese, make suet for my birds, get better at making bread, of course grow more of our food and can it this summer, and try again (maybe) to make our ice cream (we tried to make ice cream last year and it was expensive and didn't work).  Also, Lewie would like to go trout fishing and hopefully we'll get a freezer full of local fish to eat this year instead of buying it and we plan on getting some mushroom logs going so we don't have to buy as many of those and can harvest our own.

9. Paint our ceiling.  When we moved into our house I spent two weeks painting the entire inside.  The only thing I didn't get to was the ceiling.  It is in desperate need of a good paint job.  There are several different kinds of paint on it and it bothers me.  Hopefully this year I can finish the job.

10. Take a bee class. The University of Tennessee offers a bee course every spring to become a Beemaster.  I would LOVE to take this.  We would really like to have bees someday.  Probably not this year, but hopefully sometime in the future.  Honey bees have been dying in alarming rates and more bee keepers are needed to help farmers pollinate their crops - 1/3 of all food gets pollinated by a bee.  We'd love to have bees to help pollinate our garden and we'd love to have their honey.  Local honey and bee pollen is good for allergies so we use honey in our coffee and tea and I try to cook with it too.  We support honey bees and I hope to take the Beemasters course to learn more about bees, how to raise them and how to help with the bees that are disappearing.

So, that's a small (although large) list of things I'd like to pay attention too, think about, and do this year.  I'm looking forward to 2011 and all the new things we'll experience and all the new adventures we'll have.

How to: Make reusable Christmas wrapping paper

This size is perfect for gift cards and closes with a button

My mom started this when I was growing up: making reusable Christmas bags for presents.  It is the eco-friendly way to celebrate Christmas gift exchanges, it is economical in the long run, and it involves being crafty which is always a plus.  You don't have to buy Christmas wrapping paper, then mess with cutting and taping or the time to wrap them.  Simply make a few bags throughout each month and by next Christmas you'll have enough bags for the whole family that will last you forever.  This is a great time of year to get holiday fabrics to stock up on material too.

My mom made super fancy ones with wonderful sewn on edges and drawstrings:

My mom's super fancy reusable bags

I'm not as crafty however so mine have tended to be more simple like just two pieces of fabric sewn together on the sides and bottom with the top being the selvage edge (that way you don't have to finish it), tied together with a pretty string:

 I did make a few that are simply large pockets.  Cut the fabric in a large rectangle.  Fold the bottom of the rectangle 2/3 the way up.  Sew the sides.  Fold over the top and add Velcro or a button to close.  With these I was able to experiment with a few decorative stitches that I never get to use like my mountain stitch which looks like mountains with snow on top - prefect for Christmas!

Mountain stitch!

2010 Christmas Card

Last year we opted for a photo Christmas card but this year I wanted to do something more homemade, more eco friendly and plus I didn't have a good photo to use.  I was also given a crafty new cartridge from Cricut: Christmas Cards!  So I set up an assembly line and pumped out 25 Christmas cards.  They are made from 100% cardstock that was made in the USA and you can recycle or compost it.  No lead, no shiny paper, and they were pretty inexpensive to make.

Supplies:

Cardstock in 5 different colors ( I used cardstock from S.E.I. called Simple Sets: Savory - red, green, yellow, brown, and off-white)
Cricut machine or access to one like at a scrapbooking store
Craft glue
Cricut cartridges: Christmas Cards, Winterlace and Wild Card
Cards and envelopes (I used  Halcraft Large Ivory which comes in a 40 pack and is made in the USA)


Instructions:

First, using the Christmas Card cartidge I cut out the bird card in my various colors.  I cut these at 4 1/2 inches using the paper saver and as many as could fit on the mat.  You'll notice that when you cut all these out you're left with a cut that says, "Peace".  I didn't use these but hung on to them for next years cards.

Once you have all your bird pieces cut out, switch to the Winterlace cartidge.  Cut twice as many snowflakes than you did birds so you have two for each card.  I cut half snwflke3 and half accent5 at 3/4" in my off-white.

Switch your cartridge for the last time to Wild Card.  Using your green cardstock cut one phrase ornament at 4 1/4".  This will give you your "Merry Christmas" for the inside so only print one per card.

After you have all your pieces it's time to put them together.  Put them together as follows:

Then, glue these parts along with the snowflakes to the front:

And the inside like this:

I used a printer and just Word to print the "Love, Lewie & Danielle" before I glued anything on.  I also added a message to the back asking everyone to recycle or compost the card:

And that's it!  I put them in the envelopes, addressed them and posted a new pretty Evergreen stamp on them and they are ready to go:

I love a homemade Christmas!

Ash Tree Organics on Etsy!

Finally, Ash Tree Organics, the company my husband and I own and operate, is up and running on Etsy.  I've been selling mainly through our own website, but I thought I needed to embrace the online community of handmade goods so Ash Tree Organics is now on Etsy.  We love making, buying, selling and giving handmade goods.  Take the handmade pledge this season and give handmade items for the holidays!  As a 'thank you' to my blog readers, from now until Tuesday November 30, 2010 enter the code "OFFTHEMAPETSY" for 10% your order from my Etsy shop!  Thanks for reading and enjoy!

New from Ash Tree Organics!

I am so excited to announce this:

If you can't read the picture:

Introducing our new Ash Tree Organics Wine Bags!

They are offered in six different colors, including a 100% organic cotton.  They are perfect for protecting your wine on its way home from the store, as a gift with wine or even to dress up wine at the table.  Visit www.ashtreeorganics.com today to check them out.

As always, we also have reusable grocery bags, aprons, placemats and napkins.

Please remember Ash Tree Organics for green gifts this holiday season.  

Thank you for your continued support!

Best, 

Danielle & Lewie

Cafe BellaLuca

I wasn't planning on writing any posts about specific restaurants when I started this blog but after our dinner at Cafe BellaLuca in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, I find it hard not to.  I would just like to bring attention to the fact that this place has it together.  Above is the house greens salad I ordered - all organic - a nice bed of nutritional greens (not your average house salad of iceberg), a few onions, cucumbers, sprouts and topped with a sun-dried roasted tomato.  Delicious.  I was also a fan of the 100% compostable straw that I had with my lemon water.  Made from corn.  Not plastic.

Even their take away boxes were made of compostable pressed corn product.  Not styrofoam.  I loved this!  Not only was it good food but I felt less guilty about taking it with me knowing it wasn't going to sit in a landfill for hundreds of years.  Here's a picture of the wonderful meal I had (Littleneck Clams & PEI Mussels in Herb Garlic White Wine Sauce):

I know that there are other restaurants nationwide doing little things like this too and it makes me happy.  Hopefully more will follow suit.  It's time to make a change - no more plastic and no more styrofoam - just good, organic and local food!  Thanks Cafe BellaLuca!

3D Easter Cards

I started making our own cards last May.  One reason was because greeting cards are expensive, they never really say or look as I want, and a lot of them are printed in China with unknown chemicals and dyes.  I received a Cricut machine as a birthday present last year and making our own greeting cards with it has become a fun craft project I look forward to as every new holiday comes.  This year I tried my hand at Easter cards.  I have to say that paired with a nice printed envelope and matching stamp, they came out pretty cute.  Here's how I did it:

Need:
Cricut Machine or access to one such as in a scrapbooking store
Cartridge - Wild Card
Cartridge - Easter 2010

Plenty of card stock paper [blue, white, tan, brown, green, light purple, dark purple]
Craft glue
Brown felt tip fine marker
Foam tape

Directions:

With your Cricut cartridge Wild Card cut out the card "Stitched" to the desired size.  Once cut out, take out Wild Card and put in Easter.  Then measure the opening of your "Stitched" card.  With the Easter cartridge in, cut out one "Lamb" layer in a darker color like brown or black.  Make sure to make your lamb smaller then your card opening.  After you create the lamb layer, cut out the "Lamb" in a white or cream, same size as your layer.  You can then finish your lamb by cutting out the lamb's face with the last layer, again in a darker color card stock like brown or black.

Lastly with the Easter cartridge cut out one grass in a green, again no bigger then your card opening.  Start by gluing your lamb to the lamb layer and then the lamb's face on top of that.  Let dry.  Using a blue card stock cut a square a little bit bigger then the card opening and glue it on the inside so it shows through the front.  Glue your grass to the front of the blue square.  Cut a small piece of foam tape and stick it to the back of your lamb.  Peel the other side of the foam tape off and stick it to the blue square.  Tada!  You have a nice lamb Easter card.  I used the Easter cartridge to make the Happy Easter on the inside to but you could always leave it blank.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I haven't bought laundry detergent for a year and it's been wonderful - not shelling out cash for the expensive store bought laundry detergent that doesn't last long or having to wash our clothes in the chemical wash that is suppose to smell like something but instead makes me nauseous.  Instead we've been making our own detergent.  We got the recipe at The Simple Dollar and haven't looked back.  I love it because it's way cheaper then buying the store bought stuff - they figure about $0.03 a load - and because you control what goes in it.  After using our own stuff for a year now, I highly recommend it.


Recipe:

• 1 bar of soap
• Borax
• Washing Soda (I use Arm & Hammer)
• 5 gallon bucket
• 3 gallons of water plus 4 cups
• Cheese grater


1.  Shave your bar of soap with the cheese grater until you have a nice pile of soap.  You can use any soap - we've used left over bars from the tub, Zote's Laundry Soap, Levers 2000, and many more - they all work great, however I tend to like Zote's Soap because it's the best bang for your buck.  It's nice to be able to make your own detergent because you can choose to use soaps that are made from goats milk or soap that has little additives like sent and color.

2.  Boil 4 cups of water in a large pan.

3.  Add your soap shavings to the pan and stir them until they melt.

4.  Turn your heat off and add 1 cup of washing soda to the water and 1/2 cup of borax.  Stir.

5.  Add 3 gallons of hot water to your 5 gallon bucket.

6.  Add your pan of soapy water to the five gallon bucket and give it a stir.

7.  Cover and let sit for 48 hours.

8.  Your soapy water will turn into a gel of sorts and this is your new detergent!  I use 1 cup for every load of laundry.

It's better for your wallet, the water, the environment, and your clothes.  Combined with our own detergent we also use Nellie's PVC Free Dryer Balls instead of dryer sheets.  They last two years and cut down on drying time when I can't dry clothes outside.   They also don't add chemicals to your freshly cleaned clothes. Making your own laundry detergent is fun!

Spinning 101

Yesterday was my first spinning class.  Since moving to New Mexico I have become very interesting in fibers of all kinds and feel like I'm in the right place to learn more about them.  There are fiber guilds all over the state and many people that have been weaving, spinning and knitting for decades.  I was lucky enough to be introduced to one of these people: JoAnn.  Yesterday was my first spinning class with her.  She has been spinning for over 30 years and holds an intense one-on-one class for those ready to learn to spin.

Spinning school consists of eight, four hour one-on-one sessions.  Yesterday was day one.  She is a wealth of information and has an extensive fiber library.  I was able to see and touch cultivated worm silk, tussan wild worm silk including unprocessed cocoons, alpaca fleece, wool, spun copper, soy silk, flax, mohair and many more neat fibers.  Like my teacher, I find wool the most interesting - there are over 900 breeds of sheep and each breed has different wool as well as each flock in those breeds as well as each sheep in that flock - every fleece is different from another, no two sheep are the same.   What I also find interesting is cotton.  Did you know that cotton comes in over 40 colors naturally including blue?  My husband and I try to be as environmentally friendly as possibly and try to strive for self sustainability so the thought of having our own sheep and goats and growing our own cotton for spinning some day makes me very excited.

This is the basic:  learning to make thread and yarn.  Being able to control the dyes used in our clothing is so important to me.  We have both been reading Living Downstream by Sandra Steingraber and realizing the importance of small things like this.  According to her book, "Elevated cancer rates are also found among painters, welders, asbestos workers, plastics manufactures, dye and fabric makers, firefighters, miners, printers, and radiation workers."  This is another reason why I use organic unbleached cotton in my items for Ash Tree Organics.  The chemicals used to dye clothing these days are carcinogenic.  Raising our own sheep and growing our own cotton is just the next step for us.  It's our way of getting one step closer to being off the map.  Besides wool and mohair,  sheep and goats are good for making milk, soap, and cheese.  It's a long way off, but for now Spinning School is teaching me a whole new world about wool and fibers and I can't wait to start showing you what I make.  My homework assignment is to spin the pink fiber (pictured above) onto my spindle before the next class.  Wish me luck!