We’re whittling away at Cheri’s list. Today we’re going to make our own earth friendly cleaning solution, because commercial cleaners are heavy on toxic chemicals, and consistently buying the eco-friendly brands is really darn expensive.

Our recipe today is for an all-purpose multi-surface cleaner:

Ingredients {makes a 1/2 gallon}:

1/2 cup white vinegar {not the apple-cider kind that is used for cooking}

1/4 cup baking soda {or 2 teaspoons borax}

1/2 gallon {2 liters} water

Steps:

Mix all three ingredients together and use for cleaning windows, mirrors, counter-tops, shower walls/floor, etc. {If using on natural surfaces such as wood, test on a small hidden area first!}

{Note: in the video I shortened the ingredients a little, to make 1 quart instead of 1/2 gallon, so that it would fit in the spray bottle I had on hand.}

Long term health concerns for humans, and major environmental pollution, are caused by the manufacture and disposal of commercial cleaning supplies, so if you have not purged your home of toxic cleaning products yet…well, whatcha waitin’ for?  Let’s vow to stop buying these products!!  It’s so easy to do when there are so many alternatives…

And yes, there are so many alternatives that I never knew about before! While doing my research for this post, I found the following list of ingredients that can be used in place of commercial cleaning products {they’re environmentally safe, but some of them can still cause skin/eye irritation and can be harmful if swallowed, so please handle them carefully and keep out of reach of children}:

• Baking Soda – cleans, deodorizes, softens water, scours.
• Soap – unscented soap in liquid form, flakes, powders or bars is biodegradable and will clean just about anything. Avoid using soaps which contain petroleum distillates.
• Lemon – one of the strongest food-acids, effective against most household bacteria.
• Borax – {sodium borate} cleans, deodorizes, disinfects, softens water, cleans wallpaper, painted walls and floors.
• White Vinegar – cuts grease, removes mildew, odors, some stains and wax build-up.
• Washing Soda – or SAL Soda is sodium carbonate decahydrate, a mineral. Washing soda cuts grease, removes stains, softens water, cleans wall, tiles, sinks and tubs.  Do not use on aluminum.
• 100 Proof Alcohol – an excellent disinfectant. Use in a solution with water.
• Cornstarch – can be used to clean windows, polish furniture, shampoo carpets and rugs.
• Citrus Solvent – cleans paint brushes, oil and grease, some stains.

Do you have any recipes for earth friendly household cleaning solutions?  Please share them in the comments, I’d love to try making some more!

Last week Cheri shared with us a list of things she is doing to reduce her impact on the environment.  I decided we would try each of the things on her list, and show you all how to do them as well.  First on the docket is how to make homemade laundry soap.

This is such a great thing to do, the main reason being because store-bought laundry detergents have scary ingredients, including quaternary ammonium sodium carbonate, sodium alkyl benzene sulfonate, sodium silicate, bleach, and some phosphates.  {The fact that my spell-checker thinks that half of those are not real words tells me that they certainly shouldn’t be going into our ground water by the gallons day after day.}  And buying the eco-friendly detergents is really expensive…so, let’s get right to it, shall we!

Ingredients:

2 cups finely grated soap {preferably Ivory or Ivory Snow}
1 cup washing soda
1 cup borax

Steps:

1. Mix well and store in an airtight container.

2. Use a 1/2 cup for a full load, less for smaller loads.

{Regarding High Efficiency (HE) and Front-Load Washers:  You may have been told you need to use “special soap” for your HE or front-load washing machine.  This is because they use less water, so they require soap that is less sudsy. The good news is, the homemade detergent in this recipe is VERY low suds. Just make sure you use the recommended amount of detergent.}

I received a really nice letter from a friend and reader, Cheri.  She shared with me some of the things her family does to decrease their daily impact on the environment.

All of the items on her list are easy to implement into our lives– there’s really no reason not to.  But because I know, from experience, that unless green lifestyle changes are easy as pie to implement, we ain’t gonna follow through with them, folks!

So, I have decided to not only share her list of great ideas, but to also do the things on the list.  Check back soon for a video series of me demonstrating the items on Cheri’s list, so that you can see how it’s all done, and hopefully also try it yourself.  I will begin to post the videos next week!

• I don’t use the hair dryer until my hair is mostly dry – then use it just for a minute for a final style.
• I make my own laundry detergent
• Dry our clothes on our drying rack
• Make my own salad dressing {reduces plastic bottles coming into the house}
• Recycle plastics, glass, tin, paper {reduced our outgoing garbage to a bag a month}
• Grow our own veggies, and batch cook – for example I’ll cook a big batch of rice/beans and freeze separate portions for later meals….and cook from scratch as much as possible.

• Take my stainless steel mug with me – if I need to stop and get a cup of something I’ll have them put it in my mug
• Mend clothes – I’ve even gone so far as to turn frayed collars on my husband’s shirts
• My dad only uses recycled paper in his printer – he gave me his schedule the other day printed on the back of an old bill – made me smile
• After I bring the water to a boil for pasta, I put the lid on the pot, shut off the heat and let the pasta cook – it only takes a minute or so longer.  If I am cooking something for a longer length of time (stew or soup) I put another lid on top of the lid that matches the pot.  The extra insulation conserves energy.
• After I boil the water for my morning tea {I don’t like to microwave water – I know – weird}, I  pour the remaining boiling water over my oatmeal and set it back on the burner {which has been turned off, but is still warm}.  In ten minutes my oatmeal is cooked.
• We use shopping bags I made for grocery shopping.  I plan to make some lunch bags too, out of fabric for those times we take a picnic lunch somewhere or travel.
• I wash and re-wash baggies.  Haven’t bought any in years.
• We are a one car family
• Instead of buying cleaning products {even Seventh Generation} – baking soda and vinegar will clean just about anything.
• I use a shampoo bar made by a friend of mine instead of commercial shampoo {which has tons of chemicals in it and comes in those pesky plastic bottles}
• And…{I’m inordinately proud of this one….} I use the dashboard of my car as a food dehydrator.  I bought a bushel of apples for $6 from a neighbor down the road and after I got tired of saucing and pie-ing them – I sliced them, dipped them in diluted lemon juice and put them on baking racks and spread them across the dash.  We get plenty of full sun here and they were dry in a little over a day.

Thank you so much for the inspiration, Cheri! {Check out Cheri’s encouraging and refreshing blog…she writes about gardening, simple living, family, and faith.}

I am so excited to share this great tutorial with you all! When Mama Mouse gave us one of these market bags for Christmas, I immediately got excited and asked her to share the pattern with us for the blog. She did a fantastic job explaining the steps. So, without further ado, here’s Mama Mouse with her Reusable Market Bag tutorial!:

Everyone on my list got a reusable market bag this past Christmas. I enjoyed making them, and the recipients seemed genuinely happy. I hope all the bags will be put to good use!

I began the project intending to repurpose nylon shower curtains into market bags, but couldn’t find any at our local thrift store that were lightweight enough so that the bag can be rolled very small, yet strong enough to withstand years of use. I instead opted for rip-stop nylon. It’s thin, durable, resists rips and is washable.

Here’s how to make your own reusable market bag. The pattern is a combination of several bags that I’ve used. Please read all the way through the instructions before starting.

Make a pattern: Using the diagram below, draw and cut out the 3 pattern pieces: main bag, upper bag lining, and tie. I used kraft paper that we have on hand but freezer paper, wrapping paper, newspaper, or even outdated fabric from your stash will work for this purpose.

Lay out pattern and cut fabric: You will need 1 yard of 60” wide, rip-stop nylon ( or 1 ¼ yard of 44/45” wide fabric).

Here’s the scoop on layout: If one adheres to accepted sewing methods, the pattern pieces should be laid on the fabric so that the vertical alignment of the bag is in line with the grain of the fabric (in other words, parallel to the lengthwise fold of fabric). I don’t follow ASM for this project when using rip-stop nylon because I don’t think it’s that critical, and I prefer that the bottom edge of the main bag be placed on the fold. (You’ll see why, later.) In order to keep the bottom edge on a fold while following accepted sewing methods, I will need to fold the fabric crosswise, requiring an extra 2/3-yard. I think that is wasteful and unnecessary.

Choose whatever layout suits your fancy, but be sure that in either case you fold the fabric right sides together.

CUT:

2 – 2” x 10” strips for ties

2 – upper lining pieces

1 – main bag piece, on fold (Note that you will cut 2 main bag pieces if you’re using the ASM layout, and will be sewing them together at a later time. Add 1/2″ to the bottom edge to allow for seam.)

Photo 2 illustrates the pattern layout for ASM. Remember to add ½” to the bottom of the main bag pattern piece as explained above.

Photo 3 shows the alternate layout, henceforth known as “My Way.” Be sure to place the bottom edge of the main bag piece on the fold of the fabric.

Sewing the bag (All seams are ½”)

Finish the bottom edge of lining. Do this by folding the raw edge under ¼”, then folding under again. Stitch close to folded edge. Repeat with other lining piece.

Sew lining to main bag piece. Lay lining on top of main bag, right sides of fabric facing each other, and sew along curved edges. Do NOT sew the sides of bag, or the top edge of handles. Repeat with other lining piece.

Clip curved edges, trim seam, and turn right side out. Clip fabric along curved edges just to seam line, being very careful not to snip thread. Do this about every ¼” or so. Trim seams to ¼”. Turn right side out. Repeat.

Prepare ties. Fold up about ¼” on one end of a 2” x 10” strip.  Now, fold strip in half, lengthwise, and crease the folded edge with your finger.  Open it up and fold both of the long edges to the crease, then fold one side over the other.

You will now have a piece that measures ½” x 9 ¾”.  Stitch close to edge along all three folded sides. The remaining end will be a raw edge – that’s fine because it will be sewn into the side seam of your bag during the next step. Repeat with other strip.

Sew side seams. Fold the main bag (now with lining attached) along the bottom edge, right sides together. You’ll already have a nice crease if you cut it out My Way. The lining should be on the outside, facing you.

(NOTE: If you used the ASM layout, you will have two main bag pieces instead of one. Sew the 2 pieces together at the bottom edge now, using a ½” seam.)

Pin along side seams. Lay the ties on top of each other, and slip them in between the fabric pieces, approximately 5 ½” down from the bag opening, aligning raw edges to raw edge of bag.  The ties will be perpendicular to the side edge.  Pin ties in place to secure.  Stitch both sides of bag, catching the ties on one side as you sew.

Reinforce stitching, and finish side seams. Sew both side seams again, just outside the previous seam line, and then finish the edge with a zig-zag stitch or something similar. (I use an overcast stitch, which finishes the raw edge and reinforces the seam at the same time.) It’s important to finish the seam in some fashion because rip-stop nylon frays very easily. Trim seam to edge of finishing stitch.

Hint: For a neater appearance, turn the top corners of the seam under before finishing.

Make “box bottom.”: If you’ve never made a box bottom before, this may seem a little daunting, but it’s really not difficult at all.

First, note that the bag is still inside out. Pull the 2 layers apart at a lower corner, and match the side seam stitching line to the bottom crease. (I poke a straight pin through the stitching line to see if it aligns with the crease.) Secure layers with a few pins. Measure 2” up from the bottom point, fold finished seam to left side, and stitch across (perpendicular to seam line).  Your stitch line will measure 4” across.  Reinforce and finish raw edges just as you did for the side seams. Repeat with other corner. Turn bag right side out.

Hint: Mark stitching line with a pen to assure a nice, straight seam line.

Top stitch 1/8″ from edge, all along top edges of bag, except for the unfinished handle ends. When stitching over seam lines, take care to fold the inside seam the same direction as it is at the bottom.

Sew handles together. First, be mindful to use the correct pair of handles – that is, those on the same side of bag, not one on each side of the side seam. Fold one handle end up about 1/4″ and the other under about 1/4″, creating 2 v-shaped “hooks” that will lock into each other. Pin, and sew through the layers as close to the edges as possible. Sew again to reinforce.

Now is a good time to sign your creation. Be proud of your sewing accomplishment, and the part you’ve played in reducing consumption of single-use bags!

To fold the bag into a compact, easy-to-take-along size, first tuck in the boxed bottom, which is easy because of the nice crease created by laying out the fabric on the fold. (a.k.a. My Way!) Fold the handles against the body of the bag. Fold the top quarter of the bag down to the center. Fold the bottom quarter up to meet the center. Now fold the bottom over the top, smoothing out air pockets. Fold this piece nearly in half, and then roll from the folded edge toward the ties.

Once completely rolled up, wrap the straps around the roll and tie with a bow.

Final Step: Use and enjoy your handmade market bag!

It’s that time of the year when the wind-chill likes to lurk somewhere around 25 degrees below zero in northern Minnesota.  It’s also that time of year when you hear yourself saying “why do I live here again?” a couple times a day.    

Perhaps because we’re indoors more in the winter, I have begun to notice all the little things that bug me about our house.  For example, the cabinet under our kitchen sink is full to the gills with half-empty (or half-full?) bottles of cleaning agents.  Windex, Febreze, Mr. Clean, etc.  The whole gang’s there.  

It seems that we have a nasty habit of buying a new bottle before the old one’s totally used up.

But our over-zealous purchasing of cleaning liquids isn’t the only issue here…

The really irksome part of it is that only half of the products in our cabinet are environmentally safe, let alone safe for humans to be absorbing.  It was only about a year ago that we started making an honest effort to buy only “green” household products, so many of the “not so green” ones are still sitting around, half-empty.

These “not so green” cleaners contain toxins that leech into our water system, getting ingested by wildlife and people.  {Read more about the effects of these chemicals on the environment here.}  The scariest chemicals are the ones that effect human and animal endocrine systems, because they imitate hormones and cause irreversible damage.

In reference to endocrine disrupting chemicals, the National Resources Defense Council’s website says,

Many animal species are showing signs of ill health due to exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. For example, fish in the Great Lakes…have numerous reproductive problems as well as abnormal swelling of the thyroid glands.”

In some cases, the fishes capacity to reproduce was eliminated, as they became feminized by the amount of estrogen-imitating chemicals in the water. {Read more about that here.}

Yesterday I put my foot down and decided it was time to rid our home of these awful products.  

I got a big surprise as I opened the cabinet door:  I looked at my bottle of Lysol toilet cleaner, expecting to see a nice long list of big words I can’t pronounce (i.e. ingredients).  But there was nothing but a big long list of cautionary alerts about not eating it or rubbing it into your eyes.  Hmmmmm!  

Turns out cleaning supply manufacturers are not required to list their ingredients on their bottles.  Some {like Febreze and Dawn} only list certain ingredients on the bottle, and conceal others.  {More about Dawn’s attempt to come across as a “green” product here.}

A few big questions were arising at this point, so I turned to the power of Google for some answers:

Which products contain harmful chemicals?

Too many.  The most common include commercial laundry detergent, especially those with added fragrances, dryer sheets and commercial fabric softener, drain cleaners, pesticides, herbicides, anti-bacterial ANYTHING, potpourri, air fresheners, incense.

 What are the “bad” chemicals, so I can avoid them in the future?

How do I dispose of these products?

Many communities hold special collection days or have special drop-off sites for harmful household products.  Contact your local trash service for help, call EARTH 911 (1-877-EARTH911), or visit www.earth911.org

In Duluth’s case, we have a hazardous waste disposal facility near our house, but we never knew it until a helpful neighbor told us about it!  Thanks neighbor!

Which products should I use instead?

Non-toxic, non-toxic, non-toxic.

Even “all-natural-plant-derived” ingredients can be toxic!  Do research before buying a new product.  Make sure that the super-duper-eco-licious cleaner actually holds up in court (uh, Google)- don’t just trust the commercials.

One brand I have investigated and have found to be as-good-as-it-gets: Seventh Generation.  It’s slightly more expensive than its toxin-infested cousins, but really, the cost of using those other products is much, much greater.

It’s a job that’s never started that takes the longest to finish.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

Do you exist in a pretty constant state of guilt and frustration about the fact that you live a life of consumption and waste?  Do you feel like no matter what you do, you’ll never be able to change your lifestyle drastically enough to significantly reduce your impact on the planet?  Yeah, well, join the club. 

Mike and I live in the city + we have full-time office jobs + we don’t have a lot of spare time= we usually get through daily life doing everything as quickly as possible= we consume a lot, and waste a lot.  Example:  Instead of packing my lunch in a reusable container every morning, I quickly throw it into a plastic baggie and run out the door.  The result of this behavior is a lot of plastic garbage, and a lot of stressful guilt…

So, about  a year ago, we resolved to never throw away a plastic bag until it had been used so many times it had holes in it.  We started washing out the baggies and sticking them right back into the “bag drawer” to be reused.  The result has been amazing– I can’t even remember the last time I’ve had to put ”Ziploc” on my shopping list.  I feel really, really good about the fact that we’ve pretty much eliminated the unnecessary waste of baggies from our lives, just by changing one itty-bitty behavior. 

I will be honest, though…plastic bags do not look cute sitting around all wet and crinkly on your kicthen counter.  We needed a good way to dry the bags…and we don’t have a clothes line outside in the winter months.  So, Mike came up with this really simple drying-rack {and it’s even cute enough to sit on your counter!}:

  Steps:

You will need:  wood glue, 5′ of dowel rod {for a more rustic look, use sticks/branches}, a hand saw, a brace {pictured} or an electric drill, a scrap of wood slightly larger than the finished size {11″ x 3″}.

1. Measure a board to be 3″ wide x 11″ long, and cut the board to those measurements.

2. Prepare the base: sand/plane the board until it is level and smooth, take off any rough edges.

3. Cut dowel rods to five 12″ long pieces.

4. Measure & mark the spots on the base board where your dowel holes will go.

5. Drill holes into the base at the marked spots.

6. Drip wood-glue into each of the holes, and insert the dowels.

7. Let the glue dry, and then you’re all done!  Start saving those baggies!

My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.”
 
-An excerpt from Robert Frost’s poem “After Apple Picking”

I spent this past weekend at my parent’s house in northern Wisconsin.  We cleared their cross-country ski trails of fallen tree branches in preparation for the winter. It felt great to breathe some fresh air and walk in the woods…as much as I love Duluth, I get homesick for the boonies sometimes.

While I was there, my mom was given an enormous basket of apples by some friends. We made an apple-pie and some German Apple Pancakes with them, but there were still apples left after that. My mom showed me how to peel and core the apples using the handy little contraption in the photos below…

This old-fashioned apple-peeler worked so well!  It sliced the apples into perfect spirals.  We packed the slices into plastic bags, sucked the air out of the bags using straws, and threw them in the freezer where they’ll sit until our next apple-pie craving.

My parents have a huge garden, which is fed by their huge compost pile.  Composting is something I have not been brave enough to try in the city yet.  I’m afraid it will attract pesky city critters like skunks.  But it is an excellent way to fortify your soil, and composting reduces the amount of waste each of us sends to the landfill.  In fact, up to 30% of the material we send to landfill is organic and could be composted at home.

…So I returned to Duluth resolving to figure out a way to safely compost in our backyard.  Expect a post about this endeavor in the near future.  And if you have any tips about urban compost piles, please share!

I’ll leave you today with my mom’s German Apple Pancake recipe, which is a great twist on regular old pancakes.  This recipe originally came from The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas, but has been modified over the years by my mom.  Gut essen!

German Apple Pancake:

Pancake:

3 large eggs

¾ cup milk

¾ cup flour

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ T. butter

½ c. thinly-sliced apples 

Filling:

1 lb. tart, fresh apples

¼ cup melted butter

¼ c. sugar

powdered cinnamon and nutmeg 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450º.  Beat together the eggs, milk, flour and salt until very smooth. Add the thinly-sliced apples. 

In a heavy 12-inch skillet, melt  about 1 ½ T. butter.  As soon as it is quite hot, pour in the batter and put the skillet in the oven.  After 15 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 350º and continue baking for another 10 minutes.  The pancake should be light brown and crisp. 

During the first 10 or 15 minutes of baking, the pancake may puff up in large bubbles.  If it does, pierce it all over with a fork. 

While the pancake is baking prepare the apple filling.  Peel and thinly slice a pound of apples.  Sauté them lightly in a ¼ cup of butter and add ¼  cup sugar.  Season to taste with cinnamon and nutmeg.  Cook about 8 to 10 minutes – the apples should be just tender, not too soft. 

When the pancake is ready, slide it onto a platter, pour the apple filling over one side, and fold the other side over.  (Or, just pour the filling over the top and cut the pancake in wedges to serve.) 

Serve at once, with plenty of warm (real) maple syrup.

Mike and I will be married in nine months.  Mike and I compliment each other perfectly.  What I lack, Mike has, and vice-versa.  For example, Mike is excellent at math.  This amazes me, because I am “not a math person” (that’s the nice way to say it).  Needless to say, Mike will be the one doing the taxes and paying our bills when we’re married.

And what strong suits will I be bringing to the marriage?  Well, while Mike does the taxes, I will take care of the cooking. I come from a long line of humans who live for one thing alone:  to eat good food.  We’re Italian, and we know what good cookin’ tastes like!

Through cooking, I’ve become more aware of where our food comes from, and I feel strongly that one of the most important itty-bitty changes we can make in our lives is to eat as close to home as possible, meaning buying the strawberries from the neighboring town verses the ones from two states away.

Sustainable Table is a website with some great information about why it is so important to buy locally grown food.  One of the statistics on their site especially hit home for me:

Between production and transportation, growing 10% more produce for local consumption would result in an annual savings ranging from 280,000 to 346,000 gallons of fuel.”

The tough part is that Duluth’s long winters make buying locally grown food possible for only about four months per year.  But there are some great CSA options in the area, so please check them out if you don’t already know about them.

We are lucky enough to have enough dirt around us to grow a little food ourselves.  Mike and I planted a little garden in our backyard last spring, and our tiny patch of dirt exploded with peppers, peas, lettuce, herbs, rhubarb, and more.  It was really fun to walk outside and pick ourselves a salad every night.

Recently, the arrival of cold weather meant we had to watch our beautiful crops whither away.  We had eaten almost everything, except for the herbs.  Large patches of basil and parsley still remained, and we wondered how we could preserve these plants for cooking with all winter long.

This is where having a “foodie” family comes in handy-  My mom came up with a great way to preserve herbs, so I thank her for the following tutorial.

Preserving Fresh Herbs:

1: Harvest the herbs (in this case, parsley).  Wash them, and remove the stems.

2: Tear the herbs into pieces.  I did this by hand instead of using a knife, because I wanted the pieces to stay relatively large.

3: Fill the cells of an empty ice tray with the pieces.  I really crammed the parsley in there, to get the most out of each cell.

4&5: Slowly fill each cell with water until the herbs are submerged.  If they start to float up, push them down with your finger.  Now that they are wet, the leaves will stick together and stay put.  When finished, put the tray in the freezer.

These beautiful little herb-cubes can be popped into any sauce or stew and the ice will melt to reveal perfectly fresh tasting parsley!  For basil, use the same technique but fill the cells with olive oil instead of water (water makes basil turn black.)

Happy cooking everyone!

May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, and those you love near you.”  – Irish Blessing

Sitting by the fire is one of the pleasures we enjoy most during the long Minnesota winters.  The earthy smell of the wood is comforting, the crackle and snap of it burning is soothing, and if we use it enough the gas bill goes down a little bit.  A year ago we splurged and bought ourselves a really efficient little stove.  I hooked up the chimney myself to save some money.  Climbing up onto our steeply sloped roof to put up the exterior part of the chimney was a little scary…If you try this yourself, make sure someone is home with you in case something goes wrong.

Today, in preparation for another long winter, Tonia and I brought a large stack of seasoned firewood inside the house, so that any remaining water will dry out before we use it.  I also needed to clean the chimney to rid it of any creosote that built up last winter.  Creosote is what causes chimney-fires to ignite…and we’re really not interested in having that happen!  After much deliberation, I figured out an easy way to clean the chimney without making an enormous mess.

For those of you heating with wood this winter, feel free to try my technique, or share your own way of doing this dirty job by leaving us a comment.

1: Gather supplies {ladder, duct tape, drop cloths, heavy-duty bag, chimney-brush} and disconnect the chimney from the stove.

2 & 3:  Tape the heavy-duty bag to the base of the chimney, but leave one side of the bag un-taped.  This opening is where you will insert the brush.

4: If your chimney brush is connected to its rod already, unscrew it so the brush head is separate.

5: Insert the brush head through the opening you left in the bag, and push the brush up into the chimney until it is lodged there.  Finish taping the bag securely to the base of the chimney now, so that no soot can escape.

6: Create a very small hole in the bottom of the bag, through which the rod of the brush can fit.  Slide the rod through this hole and connect it to the head of the brush, which should still be lodged up inside the chimney.  You can now begin pushing the brush further up into the chimney.  Hold the bag tightly around the rod as you push it, so that no soot escapes through the small hole.

{OPTIONAL:The exterior part of most chimneys has a cap.  You will feel your brush bump this cap when you push your brush all the way to the top of the chimney.  If you want, you can climb up and open this cap, which will make it easier for you to see into the chimney after cleaning , to make sure it is clean.  It will also be easier to feel whether or not you’ve cleaned the entire length of the chimney if you open the cap.}

{No Mikes were harmed in the openning of this chimney cap.}

7: Push the brush all the way up the chimney, until you feel it bump the cap {or pop up outside if you opened the cap.}  You may need to add a few rods in order to clean the entire length of the chimney.  I used four rods for mine.

It is helpful to have a second person to hand you the rods as you need them, and to take them from you as you detach them again on the way back down.

8: Pull the brush all the way back down, detaching rods as you go.  I used a damp rag to catch the small amount of soot that started to escape through the small hole in the bag.

Repeat steps 7 & 8.

9: Carefully pull the tape off from the base of the chimney.  Use the damp rag to catch any stray soot.  You can now look up the chimney, and it should look shiny and clean.

10: Take your brush, rag, and plastic bag out to the garbage and dispose of the soot-filled bag.

The section of chimney you detached in the beginning also needs to be cleaned.  Run your brush through it {do this part outside} until it looks shiny and clean.  Reattach it to your stove when finished.

Grab a good book, some tea, and go sit by the fire!

In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.”

-William Blake

The rain in Duluth has finally waned, making it possible to accomplish the winterizing tasks around the house that need doing.  I have been waiting patiently for the soggy leaves in our yard to dry out so they can be raked and spread over the garden and our perennials.

Since Mike and I are complete and utter gardening novices, I had to call upon the powers of Google to figure out the best methods for winterizing different plant varieties.  It seems the experts agree:  most plants will come back year after year, even in the hands of an inexperienced gardener, simply because they would rather live than die.  However, I spent $50 on my Hydrangea plants, so I’d like to follow through on doing whatever I can to guarantee they’ll pop right up next spring.

A couple helpful things I learned:

Leaves are great insulation for plants, and they decompose quickly so there shouldn’t be too much clean-up come spring.

Only cut back the flowers that are already dormant. Different plant varieties respond differently to frost, so some of your flowers may already be dormant after the first hard frost, while others will survive three or four frosts.

If you insulate your plants too early, you run the risk of tricking the plants into thinking it’s spring, and they will begin to grow again. This second-growth is bad for plants.  If you’re like me and you live in a part of the country where winter comes early and stays late, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with this.  This year we had our first hard frost in late Sept. and the temps have stayed nice and low ever since then.

And here comes the fun part- With the peace of mind that comes after an honest research session, I set forth to prepare my precious flower bed:

Apparently it is common to use plastic bags to line flower beds, but I didn’t like that idea {not only because it is not biodegradable, but also because plastic can suffocate plants.}

Burlap is inexpensive and easy to work with, so I chose to use it instead of plastic.  This would be a great way to reuse old burlap sacs you may have laying around.  I didn’t have any sacs, so I bought a roll of burlap from a garden supply store.

I laid a single layer of the burlap loosely across the entire bed.  The raked leaves get piled on top of that, nice and fluffy.  I tucked extra around the Hydrangeas.

A second layer of burlap, some rocks and wood to hold it all down, and I’m done!  I sure hope I have some beautiful flowers next spring to show for it!

{Depending on the climate you live in, methods will vary.  Please share your tips and ideas with us by leaving a comment.}