Homemade Candles
February 3, 2020Like my friend Sandy used to say, I am turning into a pyromaniac in my old age. I love candles! Nothing compares to the soft and soothing lighting emanating from a freshly lit candle, particularly during the cold and dark winter months. I have been buying my candles from Ikea but while the price has…
Homemade Vanilla
November 24, 2019Like I always say, mostly everything that you buy, you can make yourself. When I ran out of vanilla for baking, I decided to investigate how I could make it myself. I was surprised to discover that vanilla consists of two simple ingredients: vanilla beans and alcohol. The majority of the vanilla beans sold today…
Trying to Make Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar
July 2, 2019Once you get into zero waste/reducing your waste, you realize that everything that you buy, you can probably make yourself. Sometimes it can be something easy to accomplish, and sometimes not. After taking my food waste class, I have become extremely aware of what I put into compost. While composting is a “good” thing, not…
Making Homemade Nutella
February 24, 2019When my daughters told me that they wanted Nutella crepes, I understood. Nutella, the Italian chocolate hazelnut spread, is delicious. Although Nutella comes mostly in plastic bottles, I was able to find it in a glass jar with a plastic cap: However, like my mustard experiment, I figured that there had to be a way…
Making Luscious Lip Balm
November 5, 2018As fall is upon us and bringing drier weather, my need for lip balm has increased. Unfortunately, much like deodorants, the packaging for lip balms is pretty discouraging: It consists of a lot of plastic and very little lip balm. In reviewing the commercial formulations, I learn that lip balm is typically made of petroleum…
On the Edge (of BO): Experiments with Natural Deodorants
September 24, 2018Being zero waste is not without its sacrifices. Most of the time, it involves precious personal time spent making something from scratch: think my husband’s granola, toothpaste, mustard, cleaning products, yogurt. In my mind, it is a worthwhile investment to help reduce the plastic and garbage in the world. I can’t just tell people to…
Adding Spice to my Reduce our Waste Life
September 9, 2018Did you know that most of the world’s mustard comes from Canada and that 80% of it is made in Saskatchewan? Being Canadian, of course, we are sure not to brag about the quality of our mustard. While the French and others have tried to grow mustard seed, our dry and sunny Prairie climate is…
A Sticky Situation: Making Strawberry Jam
July 26, 2018Nothing captures the essence of summer fruit like jam. When I was growing up, we had a large garden in our backyard and we grew strawberries. I have many happy memories of my mother making strawberry jam, however, I never seemed to have (or be able to find) the time to make it myself. As…
Getting Started on the Zero Waste Life
February 26, 2018I hope that those of you reading this blog are starting to think about how you can get started on the zero waste-ish lifestyle. If you want to learn more about this, there are lots of good websites that can provide guidance in addition to this one: I like the blog by Kathryn Kellogg (Going…
Making my own toothpaste
February 13, 2018With Valentine’s Day upon us, having fresh breath is critical but I still want to reduce my packaging (of course). This week, I decided to try to make my own toothpaste. I found lots of recipes on line with varying levels of complexity. I want something simple to make so that I will continue to…