I Think One Of The Things I Want To Start Learning In 2018 Is How To Make Clothes. How Do You Start Doing

Fall Arrangement Flowers

DIY Laundry Detergent

GUYS, THIS WORKED. YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW EXCITED I AM.

My first homesteading project was a roaring success! I know this probably means I’m doomed for failure in the future (ever the optimist, I am), but YAY for now.

!!

Okay, done squealing. Here’s what happened:

I used this recipe from Budget101.com. I had several detergent recipes pinned, but I’m partial to a liquid/non-powder detergent. Especially when said liquid is concentrated (you only need to use one tablespoon per load here).

I did this on Sunday as a weekend project with my mom, and was 90% convinced I was going to have a nasty, sudsy mess all over her stove. But instead, we made THESE:

Aren’t they gorgeous?

But I’m getting ahead of myself again.

Alright.

Ready?

Here’s what you need: 

1 cup Borax

1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

1 bar Fels Naptha 

4 cups water

2 1-quart Mason jars

Total cost for 128 loads of laundry: $1.76

Grate the bar of Fels Naptha using a cheese grater (yes, really). It’s super soft, and shouldn’t be too difficult. It will take about five or ten minutes, depending on your pressure and attention span.

Put the 4 cups of water in a LARGE pot (big enough to take on all the ingredients, plus room for a bit of foam) and set it to high, waiting for a boil.

Measure out the Borax and Washing Soda, mix together well in a bowl. 

Once the water begins to boil, add the grated Fels Naptha gently, and reduce the heat to medium. Stir constantly until the soap is completely dissolved, about 10-15 minutes. Be careful not to let this boil over, or you will end up with the sudsy mess I was anticipating. This is the extent of foam you should see:

Once the Fels Naptha has melted, remove the pot from the heat and add the blended Borax and Washing Soda. It’s essential you stir constantly here as well, lest you end up with an icky, grainy detergent that could leave residue on your clothes. Stir for about 5 minutes, or until you no longer feel graininess on the bottom of your pot.

Next, pour the detergent equally into your two Mason jars. Add water until the liquid reaches the “shoulders” of the jar (the rounded part near the top). There should be about 1.5 - 2 inches of air space at the top of the jar.

Put the lids on your jars and set them upside down. Leave them like this for 4-5 hours, so they can do their separation thang. Have a Netflix marathon, make a four-course dinner, go for a run, whatever. Just DON’T TOUCH THE JARS until those 4-5 hours are up!

When you come back, they’ll look like this:

Kinda nasty, eh? Just wait – your detergent is about to become oh-so-beautiful.

Grab a mixing bowl and your hand mixer, and empty out the contents of both jars into the bowl. Make sure you scrape the sides of the jar to get all the detergent out. Now whip it! Whip it good!

…until your detergent is light and fluffy.

Ta-da! Transfer back into your (rinsed and dried) jars, and you’re done!

To use, simply add one tablespoon of detergent per load of laundry. Add it directly in with the clothes, no matter what your machine says. Take a spoonful, and put it under the running water, allowing the detergent to run off the spoon onto your dirty clothes. Close the machine up and you’re done! 

Notes: Since the soaps are already dissolved in this detergent, it won’t leave any residue on your clothes like other DIY detergents can. Also, at $1.76 for 128 loads of laundry, this one is a real money saver!

Happy Laundering,

Becca, The Semi-Homesteader

Solarpunk winters

As we observe the winter solstice, my thoughts have turned to how solarpunks approach winter. As the days turn dark and cold, how does a society dependent on the sun continue to prosper? Finland If…

[Shameless self-promotion]

As we observe the winter solstice, my thoughts have turned to how solarpunks approach winter. As the days turn dark and cold, how does a society dependent on the sun continue to prosper?

Keep reading

“Every worm, every insect, every animal is working for the ecological wellbeing of the planet. Only we humans, who claim to be the most intelligent species here, are not doing that.”

—

— Sadhguru (via

nonconformist-vegan

)

Facts.

(via rawveganrawmacita)

wip 👀

Repair Cafés

Repair Cafés are free meeting places and they’re all about repairing things (together). In the place where a Repair Café is located, you’ll find tools and materials to help you make any repairs you need. On clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery, appliances, toys, et cetera. You’ll also find expert volunteers, with repair skills in all kinds of fields.

Visitors bring their broken items from home. Together with the specialists they start making their repairs in the Repair Café. It’s an ongoing learning process. If you have nothing to repair, you can enjoy a cup of tea or coffee. Or you can lend a hand with someone else’s repair job. You can also get inspired at the reading table – by leafing through books on repairs and DIY.

There are over 1.500 Repair Cafés worldwide. Visit one in your area or start one yourself!

Read more…

Stunning Conceptual Scarves Mimic the Wings of Birds

Melbourne-based fashion designer Roza Khamitova continuously creates a collection of conceptual scarves, which are inspired by the anatomy of the bird. When each piece is worn as a shawl, it creates the illusion of having enormous beautiful feathers and bird wings.

The stunning illustrations on Khamitova’s pieces are hand-painted and digitally printed on non-toxic and a primarily cotton recyclable material, which is itch-free. You can find more designs and colors of her creations at her Etsy shop called Shovava. 

Actually you know what. Just don’t mow. Get rid of your lawnmower. Turn your whole yard into a wildflower field or an edible garden. Lawns are the invention of the upper class to show wealth through wasted plots of grass that is meticulously tended for no reason other than to be grass. It’s literally an empty plot of land they kept because they had so much money they didn’t need it to grow food. Not using a yard as just a yard is an act of rebellion.

One of the main industries still supporting lawns is chemical pest control companies, and they’re also responsible for the insecticides that crashed the bird populations in the 40s and 50s as well as a lot of what’s killing bees and butterflies now. The herbicides they produce specifically targets “bad” plants like dandelions, buttercups, and clovers, which are plants bees rely on for early spring feeding. Grass is just grass; it would be great for feeding small mammals if people would let it grow more than three inches, but they won’t.

So, yeah. Kill lawnmower culture. Plant some native flowers. Grow some vegetables and fruit trees. Put out bird feeders and bee sugar spots and homes for both. Be kind to bugs and birds and rabbits and opossums and whoever else might wander by. Make your neighborhood a lot more beautiful.

Humans delayed the onset of the Sahara desert by 500 years

Humans did not accelerate the decline of the ‘Green Sahara’ and may have managed to hold back the onset of the Sahara desert by around 500 years, according to new research led by UCL.

The study by a team of geographers and archaeologists from UCL and King’s College London, published in Nature Communications, suggests that early pastoralists in North Africa combined detailed knowledge of the environment with newly domesticated species to deal with the long-term drying trend.

It is thought that early pastoralists in North Africa developed intricate ways to efficiently manage sparse vegetation and relatively dry and low fertility soils.

Dr. Chris Brierley (UCL Geography), lead author, said: “The possibility that humans could have had a stabilizing influence on the environment has significant implications. We contest the common narrative that past human-environment interactions must always be one of over-exploitation and degradation. Read more.

We used old windows to make a small greenhouse by the wall of the house. It works great, and it feels great to make them useful!