Time Magazine Asks: Who Needs Organic Food?

by on August 30, 2010
in health, nutrition, & food · 16 Comments

Last week’s issue of Time magazine featured a special health checkup devoted to the questions and debates surrounding the organic food movement. I though it was a very interesting read; the author of the primary article, Jeffery Kluger, raised many of the same questions that have been raised by readers here at Simple Organic, such as:

What are the benefits of eating organic food?  Is it worth the money?  Why should I make the extra effort of going to the farmers’ market when I can get it all at the supermarket?

As is often the case, there are no easy answers to these questions, and Kluger offered no pat solutions or tidy sums.  Here are a few of the points he made, and some of my thoughts on the matter.
[Read more...]

Sunday Links: Adios, August

by on August 29, 2010
in links · 2 Comments

• From Kitchen Stewardship: Packing a Lunch: Healthy Food to Go
• From The EcoDiva: Discover the Hidden Talents of Olive Oil
• From Deliciously Organic: Hashed Browns (including an excellent article on fats!)
• From Big Green Purse: Salmonella eggs make a strong argument for local, organic farms
• From Clean: How to Make Elderberry Tincture
• From Nature Moms Blog: Glass Water Bottles
• From Gidget Goes Home: Wardrobe ReFashion: The Pledge

DIY: Draft Dodger and Some Energy Efficiency Talk

by on August 27, 2010
in repurposing · 13 Comments

Written by contributor Eren Hays San Pedro of Vintage Chica.

For some of you up North, the weather is already beginning to cool off.  The last few evenings here in Virginia have felt measurable cooler than the unbearably humid 90′s of last week.

And for those of you down South, autumn and cooler weather is on the way.  I promise!

Canning those last few tomatoes, dreaming about new knitting patterns… preparations for days spent inside are being made.  And we shouldn’t be forgetting preparations for our homes.  According to the U.S. Department of Energy, one third of our home energy use goes to heating our homes.

And although I dream about living in an extremely energy efficient home one day with passive solar design and a green roof, we live in a very non-energy efficient house with the original builder’s grade windows.

Last year, I remember sitting in my favorite chair and feeling a distinct draft coming from the window next to me. And after doing some research online we found that we had a few options.

[Read more...]

Simple Routines for Homemade Green Cleaners

by on August 25, 2010
in home & garden · 24 Comments

Written by contributor Katie Kimball of Kitchen Stewardship.

Busy time of year?

Things can get crazy with back-to-school lists, end-of-summer lists, shopping lists, and other to-do lists that seem to pile up on any flat surface (in my house, at least).

There’s always so much I want to do for my family, and sometimes I just get overwhelmed and can’t possibly add “one more thing!” to the list. Know the feeling?

If you’ve been tempted to move to greener cleaners but just can’t take the plunge because you’re worried about the time it will take, let me ease your anxiety.

You don’t have to set aside a time to “make” homemade cleaners or even think of putting it on your list, anymore than you would write “open new bottle of Windex” on your to-do list. You wouldn’t. You’d simply grab one from the linen closet when your Windex bottle ran dry, or add it to your grocery list.

It’s all the same with homemade cleaners, if you keep it simple. [Read more...]

Easy Recipes for Natural Homemade Cleaners

by on August 23, 2010
in home & garden · 26 Comments

This Wednesday, Katie Kimball will share some of her easy routines for green & natural cleaning, so it seemed like a good time to re-run this post; it was originally published on February 19, 2010.

If you do a search for “natural homemade cleaners”, you will find about a gazillion results out there. So why am I trying to reinvent the wheel?

In a word, simplicity.

Contrary to what the cleaning aisle at the supermarket might say, you don’t need a lot of different specialty products to get your home clean. And when you look up homemade cleaners online, a lot of recipes call for many different ingredients for different types of cleaners. But it doesn’t have to be that complicated. With just a few basic items, you can do the vast majority of your household cleaning, save money, and keep your home free of the toxins found in many store-bought cleaning products.

White vinegar, lemon juice, and baking soda are about to become your new best friend.

Here are a few recipes that will help you do most of your everyday cleaning.
[Read more...]

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