We asked this question in 2011, after we'd begun rooting our life on a Salish Sea Island, "What if the world we know became Fragrance Free in 2023?" One step, one person, one place at a time we made a change ... and then another.
I was in town early this morning. The shops were just opening, and I had met a friend for a brief but momentous few minutes. She was on the island to deliver something I need but can't find on the island; she was here to find something she can't find where she lives now. The details of the gift-giving I'll reserve and share instead the process of gift-giving that adds to life in the process of being 'freed-up.' The island is at its autumn premium today cool and clear skies and a moon still full bright in the window at 6 AM. Harvests of beautiful food ... yellow pears with cheeks of pinkish rouge, green apples that melt into a froth when topped over a bed of chopped red cabbage, green beans still snappy and delicious when steamed and the promise of acorn squash baked with butter and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Earth's gifts to the gardener and farmer who has invested time, handwork and the generous conversations that only a cultivator with heart knows how to give.
We have a home where planting, poultry-raising, laughter and the slow yet steady process of healing happens. The small gardens here in the woods have gifted me with the affirmation: you can do this! In the days and nights that pass, the moon, Hina, teaches me that there are different ways to count time and through those lessons my thinking and my beliefs change. A birthday approaches, and my personal inventory and harvest of one more Earth year lived account for the good and better feelings lighting up my life. Trials called upon my internal resources and drew from me the strength needed to care well for myself and those I love. Those are gifts that sometimes don't arrive unless there are no other options. From awful, something better comes and it amazes. Celebrate the amazing, large and small!
I prepare to give myself a gift that will require a six month to one year commitment. It is a gift of believing I can re-train my brain, and it is a gift that I believe will lead to feeling better and better. For these months, my blogs may be inactive. I'm not sure what I will want to write during the next months, we'll see. The healing journey is alive and blessed with the belief that better is good, better is possible. I've bought my birthday present a little early but it feels like it's coming right on time.
Happy harvest-time and blessings for a time of gifts that make a difference in all the best possible ways.
Fall is coming. The evening temperatures are cooling, there was moisture on the winds when I woke and stretched my sleepy body that was cold from the inside out as well as the outside in. Season change is something I make with effort, still hoping the cold will stay far enough away to keep wearing short-sleeves and sleep with the windows open at night. My garden is still growing and I promise the beans 'There will be plenty of time (warm weather) to lengthen yourselves into thick long fruit!" Tending and enjoying the daily joy of abundance from seeds that we have buried into dark, rich soil is in a very real way, the tending of joy and abundance that has been waiting for me after a journey of contrast. One full year of increasing abundance is giving me the 'dare-power' to dream and allow bigger abundance. I know the small, slow and steady effort turns pie-in-the-sky into pie-in-my-belly, and yet there is that voice that says 'And you are encouraged to dream of more.'
So after a few hours of sitting with myself after a morning of satisfying work and good writing I felt a longing. Not quite 'bored' I sought to distract myself. It worked. Here I am back to the woods and at the keys, searching for a way to express the daring it takes to dream BIG again, dream a new, and deliberately. What would I have in this dream that moves beyond illness as a focus, and includes the goodness of a reassembled life, with more and better as the destination. Let's try this:
when winter parks, i cannot have enough warm, dry, socks!
this winter, a just-right-for-us washing machine will be a dream long come true!!
this shower head of hot running water will be happening for us this winter, in our own bath house in the woods!
a face to face writers group gathering(something like this, with folk of all ages)
in a setting perfect for me is part of my dream coming true!
as I heal and grow better and better,
Waimanalo Beach is where Pete and I will be swimming and playing again in my dream coming true!
Big, better, better. As I dream, believing it is on the way, I allow space for lots of socks, a hot shower, a just right for us washer, and swims in Waimanalo Beach. OOOOOOh, I feel the warmth of those socks, gathering face-to-face with fragrance-free folk who love to write, that shower and the vibration of the gently swishing wash of clothes as we prepare to enjoy swimming and playing in Waimanalo Beach.
Are you making space for winter and beyond dreams coming true?
My Ma loved parties. Some of my earliest memories of being with her at luau (Hawaiian parties with all the traditional food ... kalua pig, lomi lomi salmon, quid luau ...) always included Ma picking up any extra portions of coconut cake, kalua pig wrapped in napkins and tucked into her purse. Always a generous sized purse. I miss Ma, and yesterday it was her memory and her spirit that filled me with verve. It was garden party day the Field-to-Table Harvest Feast at South Wihidbey Tilth. I was so looking forward to it. What's to worry? Well, it's an old, old habit -- worry, and with the slow yet steady progress of healing from chemical injury, the worry warts grow unless intervention takes place. The divine intervention of Ma's party lovin' spirit was the intervention I needed. I'd been cautioned about the wood smoke blowing at the Feast preparations yesterday. Prescott had called and said, "The smoke's pretty brisk and it's blowing right into the restrooms." Pete and I clean those restrooms with our Freed-up fragrance-free routine. The obvious choice was to not come early to do the cleaning and our friend offered this, "Here's what you do. Have Pete drive all the way back to where the forest begins. Hold your nose to get past the smoke. Park there!" Okay, that sounded like a solution. I could still make that party. Ma showed up before we left, her beaming party-loving face calming and reassuring.
We arrived after most of the set-up and preparations were done, found space just where Prescott had suggested. The smoke from the fire pit was indeed rising and blowing. But, the grounds of South Whidbey Tilth are large enough for me to avoid the bulk of the smoke. The tall bamboo poles with long billowing flags served as wind-and-smoke indicators making my avoidance plan easier. One picnic table at the top of the gardens was empty and perfect for us. I laid out our basket with plates and dinnerware, and sat myself down to watch.
The talented fairy spirit Talia Marcus was the event's entertainment. She wandered the party with her bow and violin, a minstral playing sounds for the tiny tot who will dance and play music of her own before long; music to celebrate the crew of folk tending the lamb turning on the spit for our dinner; music for dinner; music for enjoyment. My Ma, and Pete and I relaxed and enjoyed the festivities. People we see every Sunday for the Farmers' Market were there and many others who are unfamiliar to me but part of the Tilth were there. Honoring the long-time farmers was part of the purpose for this annual thank you to the community. Speeches (short and well-directed) identified and commended each of these food providers. Crowns of honor were bestowed: a garland of tomato vines, another of garlic, a third made from garden gloves, a fourth a ring of wine bottle corks and the fifth, oh forgive me Molly Petersons, my memory fades. I remember the speech on your behalf ... a thank-you for being an example of great work done as "life after social work." Ah ... now it comes--your crown was made from seed packets. A lively and successful raffle engaged us all after our bellies were well-filled with harvest and drink. Winners we were, as Pete's name was called for two of the prizes making it doubly fun.
We may all be in the process of healing from any number of human ailment and many of the ailments could have been prevented, if .... If only we were perfect, omnipocent (all-seeing). But, we are not. I continue to be less reactive to chemicals and triggers and love having time and place to enjoy a garden party. We had to wash and shampoo the remnants of wood smoke from ourselves after the celebration. Fortunately I have recovered enough well-being to manage that. The lamb, the salmon, the tables filled with food and desserts were truly a harvest feast. To be part of it all, that was a harvest.
Earlier in the month (July, 2011) The Canary Report posted an article about Antibacterial Soap. The month has moved along, and I pasted the article here until I had time to frame the 'evidence' and 'experience' described by guest blogger Rob Dunn. Dunn's article "Scientists Discover That Antimicrobial Wipes and Soap May Make You (and society) Sicker" appears in Scientific America.
Susie Collins' The Canary Report is one of the Internet's go-to sites for the global community living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. She posted the article on antibacterial soap with this lead sentence:
"Just about nothing gets most people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity sick faster than exposure to antibacterial soaps."
I'm one of those people who would get sicker if I am exposed to antibacterial soap. Sitting at the key this morning, considering what to say, I'm reminded about the conversation I had with my friend and neighbor. She's writing a book (she's an anthropologist and a nurse). I asked her how her book was coming, and she said, "Good." She's writing every morning. The hard part of it is putting in what other people have to say about the topic. "Can't just pretend you made every thing up yourself." There you go, I said to myself. So, what's to say about this antibacterial soap that combines what others say, and what I have to say.
THE RESEARCH. When I started getting sick, I had suspicions about what was happening and used the best part of my intuition and researching skill to ferret out 'causes.' I know more, but know I know not everything. The Internet allows access to information: if I have Internet I can search. But, with time and experience I search more discerningly, and direct my energy differently.
The case for NOT USING antibacterial soap is laid out well in Dunn's article, and if you've come this far, maybe you are ready to read what's in antibacterial soap, and what those ingredients actually do to your body and the 'germs' aimed at annihilation.
THE EXPERIENCE. Pete and I are on alert for the hand wipes, sanitizers and squirt bottles of antibacterial soap. I mask up in public spaces: the library, food market, restrooms, bank knowing the exposure is typical.
Our one public success regarding the use of soap and hand-washing OTHER THAN antibacterial is the 'Good News' process we began on Mothers' Day at South Whidbey Tilthe. Pete and I have been cleaning the two restrooms for three months now, and people who have read the article I wrote in our South Whidbey Tilth Newsletter "The Good News Koan: Clean the Restrooms" come up to me and say, "Are you these guys?" "Thanks for the article." "Thank you. That is such a good attitude." These are the things that make choosing and doing things differently the good news.
OUR NEWEST EXPERIENCE: The septic guys from SEPTIC ALERT! were here last week to check out the septic tank. I was off the land when I heard the truck pull in, unsure of what an inspection involved, best to find out later. I was thinking I would have time and energy to render a detailed account of the inspection, but at this point it's enough to say this:
Pete found the septic guy very "knowledgable and articulate." The guy 'really knows his stuff.' The tank is in good shape, doing what it needs to do to maintain and break down the waste from the main house, including toilet, baths, dish washer, hand washing, and one clothes washer. The inspection involved checking the activity of microbial breakdown ... the organic composting of all our sh*t and chemicals, supplements, prescription drugs, soaps, and product end up in the septic tank.
Here's the part that got to Pete:
Prescription drugs like antibiotics (and others I can't remember) really create havoc in the septic tanks. Nothing breaks down and everything in the tank sits there, clogging it up
"What about baking soda and vinegar," Pete asked. "Oh, that's some of the best stuff!" The septic guy said. I think Pete could've kissed the dude, but he only kisses me!
Wow, don't you love it when unexpected gifts show up ... in unexpected places.
THE CHOICE: I launched and maintain this blog because it's something I can do. Influence? Who can really know. If you are reading this maybe something here will give you a nudge to move in the direction of fragrance and chemical freed-upness. The research and the experiences are there to make informed choice. Got a septic tank? It could have surprising tales to tell you.
Go do it. Try Freed-up Practices and see for yourself.
A mask is an article normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance or entertainment. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes. They are usually worn on the face, although they may also be positioned for effect elsewhere on the wearer's body, so in parts of Australia giant totem masks cover the body, whilst Inuit women use finger masks during storytelling and dancing.[1]-
-From Wikipedia
Summer in our town is either slow, or tentative. Seated on a wooden bench under an umbrella, the sun and the breeze were great company. The thermos of de-caf coffee had warmed my belly and my complimentary breakfast of herb-spinkled eggs sat in there as well. Slowly, I am able to be in conversation with new folks. My I Can Breathe Maskdangles off my ear like an appendage I slip quickly in to place if a scent triggers the put-in-place motion. Today Pete and I had finished breakfast and a newly-made friend was quickly approaching. She came to the bench across the table and sat. We bantered with the don't remember your name thing for a few seconds, giggled at the social gamesmanship of it, and then had a good and neighborly chat about summer, sun, 'home', and then eventually the mask.
It's important, I think, to get a feel for how conversations from behind masks or conversations that start with the mask dangling to the mask in-place invite. Rewound a few years, thick fear and defensiveness made masked conversations not only difficult but triggering experiences. With illness bred from being safe only when avoiding, staying put to converse for any reason let alone about the illness or with a trigger (scented source) is risky business. More often then not, I left the scene before conversation could sprout: flee, not fight; flight then write. Even when this masked one was able to converse, the brain chemistry and the memory needed to be calmed and refreshed before a place of ease returned. This post is not about the science of masked conversation, though I weave in and out of the effects on a being's chemistry. What is helpful to me, and perhaps to those who read, is the slow flowing comfort with social intercourse from behind a mask.
Picture this: the mask I currently wear is 'decorative', black and green lace over a tan mask with carbon filter. With my practice of living with PLAN BE, I have come to know the illness and the conditions for being in the public eye with a mask. It has been seven years.
Some of my hesitancy has passed: I know I must wear it to remain comfortable. I know what happens when I am without the mask, and know it's not necessary to tell the story of it all. Trust must grow before a story is exchanged.
The choice to buy and wear that lace mask was the Venus-in-me the love of pretty things that said, "Here's something pretty you can wear." And, the thing that has happened for me behind that lacey mask is ... people approach the mask and say weird and wonderful new-to-me things:
'that's the coolest protective mask I've ever seen!'
'cool mask!'
'very decorative.'
I say, "Thanks, I think so too."
"I've heard about [chemical sensitities] but never knew ..."
With my mask dangling, I say, "Yes, what you say is sometimes true. But it is unique for each of us ..."
I am more known to people at this Sunday morning setting. There is some understanding and comfort with my ways of being, and I more comfortable with the limits I set. People tell me about their experience with inciting episodes; an event triggers a change in a loved one and ripples out; because I clean the restroom I hear of others who might be like me, but not cleaning a public restroom. Masks have been a source of protection, decoration, entertainment and ritual shape-shifting and in the everyday life of someone who heals from the affects of others' choices all those reasons for the mask play a part.
Seasons of change are true for us all, tentative or late I suppose it only matters if you are counting on the change to plant your nature. Otherwise, grow anyway.
This blog began with a very real shift: Plan BE made it possible for me to believe it was time to begin feeling better. Earth Day was my point of reckoning ... from here I launched new beginnings. I told myself new stories and re-entered my community believing I could be part of it. I filled this new blog with examples of the new stories and success to Plan BE. I have felt better and better for three months.
Last week-end I tried to do more than I could manage without tipping the new beliefs into territory filled with old triggers of over-load. Freeing up myself from years of old experiences is still a process, successes build new foundations in increments, but there are no teams of elves laying in the corner-stones and fill overnight. Walking into a department store, and staying in there (with my mask) for thirty minutes is a legion feat; riding through banks of Scotch Broom lined highways where newly sprayed Round-up edges are evidenced with the inimitable dead-brown tint; and then visiting friends in their new and wonderful for them kitchen set off the set-back. Topping it all off, my long-additive choice to comfort myself with wheat (bread/toast/cookies) finally laid me back.
Recovery and healing from the effects of multiple chemical sensitivities is a multiple and unique journey. My experience with the process re-introduces the methods of coping emotionally and physically with symptoms: first, do I recognize the triggers; then, how do I respond(or react, each verb is different); do I give myself the compassionate gift of 'time' to accept what is happening. I'm hear to put the process down so I remember that this set-back was not gracefully accepted. I resist, and want this to be over so I can get back to the better-and-better feeling life I was having.
"There's no rushing the river." Life if it is a river will flow or trickle with seasons. All around us the forest has grown from hibernation to shoulder-high Bracken and boisterous berry bushes filled with bell-shaped blossoms and airports of bees. I want to feel better now, but it will need to be in increments, sequentially-accessed by going through re-entry. Count the blessings, and the goodness and use it as mortar in the foundation re-laid so far: two days without wheat makes a difference (I go through with-drawal like an alcoholic freshly sober); Round-up doesn't clear quickly (I know that) I am weak and my nervous system quivers from head to toe; avoidance is still a necessary coping and healing strategy.
We were at MK's celebration yesterday. Her beautiful photography was receiving the praise and attention it deserved. Masked and present outside the home-office where the party gathered I sipped a glass of raspberry seltzer and felt part of the celebration. How long had it been since I'd help a real glass of anything at a party? Long enough ago that I don't remember. Two of the guests stopped to ask about the mask. Both of them aware of chemical sensitivities they shared of other experiences with someone they know who lives with the condition. "Until you know someone, you just think ...'ah, come on!!" one of the guests said. A big old diesel truck drove past, but not until it had stopped at the STOP sign while I stood on the porch outside the front door chatting with a friend. It was just minutes too long, that truck, that chat in the same place.
Managing set-backs is a sequential access experience. We have often described our life living in tiny spaces with multiple sensitivities using that description. Seems it remains so still.
How is being in a line amazing? Measurement is funny and we all do it. "In this country, you always talk about things in the past based on a year. We (in England) say "I was x-years old when ..." Measurement by the moon or by the spoonful we all do it. There's a spot just yards from my writing tray, a nice renewed for me TV tray that holds a renewed for us laptop. That spot outside, just yards from this Quonset is being dug up and blocked up for a new tiny space soon to be a bath house. Separate and small, a shower stall that might in time and opportunity morph into a Japanese style soaking tub will bring us from a pan of wash water to a shower of running, hot water. Measurements we all do it. I'm thinking "That will be amazing."
So, back to why is being in a line amazing. Earlier this week I was in town, standing in a line. I put my feet in my boots in a line with a bunch of other people aiming at ordering and purchasing something to eat. While standing, in a public space, with people I saw someone I know.
"Hi,' I said when I saw he was done talking with the woman with things in her hands.
"Oh, hi." We don't know each other very well, but in this small town when you know someone you become congenial ... friendly. The man asked how things were going 'out there' familiar as he is with where and somewhat how we live.
"Great!" There was time enough to move the conversation into bits of detail while in line. By the time it was my turn to order I saw that the only goodie I'd like was gone. Something registered in me, while I experienced what I later described as a wrinkle ... Madeline L'Engle is right about the way time can do that.
I turned to my neighbor and said, "You go ahead, that raspberry-almond scone is not there." To my surprise he said, "Well, how about that over on the end, that looks yummy." "Cinnamon roll. Hmmm.... no I don't think so."
"I'd be happy to buy you something."
"No, thank-you." Time measured forward. It was but a few seconds. I sensed something special had happened there. I touched the friendly man on the elbow and said, "Nice seeing you," or something like it. I walked out the door and the feeling somewhere between sadness and awesome tried to describe itself to me.
Later that day I wrote an email to my neighbor thanking him for the genuine kindness of his offer. I described as best I could the wrinkle that happened when I turned down his offer, and said in some future time, we will be in a line and when he makes that offer again I will say, "Thank you, I'd love one of those raspberry-almond scones." Being in a line, amazing.
Mokihana C.
Author's Note: This post originated as a piece of writing done on the on-line creative writing group I conjured up during the months, not long ago, when I was lonely for the rooms and gatherings that were once common-place for me. I am a writer. I have loved the company of others, and loved being in the company of other writers. Life changed, I needed a PLAN BE, but didn't know to call it that.
I wrote this this weekend, and am thrilled with the fun of being able to spread a story through the many voices of blogging: I'm absolutely sold on this write-and-publish venue.
Earlier in the week, my friend Eileen joined her choir for a gathering of song for Memorial Day. I heard about the event through my husband Pete. Eileen and MK share their land with us, and during the year we have been here she has become an understanding advocate for those who live with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. The process of becoming aware of this condition-illness does not easily move to acceptance for those living with or observing the condition-illness. Time and willingness are two factors that must couple, and even that combination will be affected by circumstance. The third-part of the process of change: action can be a long time coming. We know from experience the journey through awareness, acceptance and action. The years of healing from MCS has brought us to today, and this is the good news.
The following (edited to exclude a full-name) email was sent to the members in Eileen's choir just the other day.
"I want to say something about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). I knew little about it until Pete and Mokihana moved onto our land. (You all know Pete. He brought the risers to UU for us and took them back. Now he's repairing them so we can use them again with safety.) At first I was skeptical about MCS. It was difficult to make sense out of Mokihana's responses to the threat of chemical contact. It seemed inconsistent.
Scents and fragrances are indicators of chemicals in the air. Individual responses can include itching, respiratory response, hives, feeling like you have the flu, fatigue, and a host of other problems that can last for days. The way I was able to make sense of Moki's responses to chemicals is that it is about being safe. To learn more about Multiple Chemical Sensitivities check out Mokihana's blog Fragrance Free in 23. Mokihana was able to attend our Spring concert by standing at the back door of the church. She was so happy to be able to hear us.
If you are willing, I invite you to consider creating our choir as a safe space for folks with chemical sensitivities. A number of folks in the choir besides R react to fragrances. Drier sheets, perfume, hair products even essential oils can trigger reactions in those with chemical sensitivites. Personally, I'm not sure that the fragrance that set off R's reaction was on one of us but in the practice room. I caught the fragrance and started coughing when we walked into the room and I was one of the first ones in there and I am fragrance free. One of the things that makes a huge difference to MCS folks is having a community that will stand with them, trust that the illness is real, and give up as many fragrances as possible. If you are not able to give them up. Then it helps if they are told ahead of time when you are wearing a fragrance, or if you detect a fragrance in a room so it doesn't take them by surprise. MCS is unique to each individual and each day is different from every other. Stress and fatigue, the intensity of the fragrance, the environment, the occasion all have an effect upon how the reaction will unfold. Thanks for allowing me to share my experience learning to trust and appreciate my new friend Mokihana and being open to understanding how I can support her and other folks with MCS."
Eileen
Mahalo Eileen for your trust, and your letter(email)
Love,
Mokihana
"I have seven active blogs," I told her.
"Why?" She asked.
I thought about my answer for a couple seconds, and said, "I've been a writer most of my adult life, and I love to write. There's so much to write, slightly different voices, same life." There wasn't much discourse from that point between us, though the question was asked by others in different ways. Madeline L'Engle wrote, 'But I cannot write just when I feel like it, or I will have nothing to write with. Like the violin, I must be tuned and practiced on constantly."
A couple people asked what happened to our 'old' blog, and I said the story had been told for three years, and it was time to stop telling that story.
"Do you think others have followed in your footsteps?" One friend asked.
"I'm not sure about that, though at least one couple is building a tiny home, and is in touch with us."
The friend said she had been to our our blog a lot. I said she would be welcomed to see the archived posts; we could invite her to read them if she asked.
Pete and I were gathered with a group of people who live with different manifestations of an illness diagnosed as Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. We met these folks three years ago when my physical symptoms were the most difficult to understand, and support for this unravelling came from this group. We garnered ideas, listened to the stories each shared and enjoyed the company of fragrance-free companions. We so appreciate the experiences we heard back then. We have often been, and continue to live a distance away from this Seattle-based group. Our trek from South Whidbey is made with consciousness and preparedness. The pollens are in sky-high infusion in mid-May, so my decision to travel is done with Plan Be, once again.
BElieve I can do it. My desire for the company of these folks is strong. We haven't seen these friends for nine months.
BE positive. Knowing what I see as a good-thing and a step toward good-feeling (joyful company, catching up, sharing), I focus on the good and step away from resistence and feelings that distract.
BE prepared. We travel with an oxygen tank, face mask, homeopathic remedies, glass jug of filtered water, and know to keep talking to each other as we pace our way from the woods to the city. We plan the two hours journey into the city with ease and fun built-in: ice cream cone for me, a good and healthy lunch even before the late afternoon potluck.
The weather was mild and allowed a pleasant few hours with our friends. The stories and the voices were multiple, but focused mainly around the illness. A new supplement for one woman aides her to sleep; another friend rests peacefully on a blanket laid on the grass beside our picnic table enjoying the sleep she hasn't been able to get as she wades through a multiple-month challenge of in-her-home invasion; bone-building physical stretches shared just before our 'good-byes' attracts the interest of three of us; a successful search for a new home is a victory shared.
In one afternoon gathering the voices of experiences are multiple, and each voice and story fueled by a personal decision based on wanting to 'feel good.' The varied choices and the progress toward good as diverse as is the dozen or so folk who came to the park that spring afternoon. As Pete and I headed home, we recounted our adventure. Though it was rush-hour our path along the alternative highway north was easier, fewer banks of the pollen that is most difficult for me made the journey a most down-stream experience. We had napped earlier, sunning ourselves in the car as we waited for our friends to arrive. So we had refreshed enough ... pacing ourselves to allow the good into our flow. We could not share the driving because I needed to use the oxygen from time-to-time, I need to remember to thank Pete and appreciate him more often.
When we got home, we both were glad we adventured, but even more glad to be home. What a nice feeling to know 'glad to be home.' Back in the Quonset I stowed away the food and supplies we'd purchased from the city. JOTS was still out and away in the woods. Pete was off tending to the ducks and chickens. When I peeked out the door, I saw him sitting at the nearly built wooden table now so comfortably a part of the orchard. He and Eileen were chatting. I turned on the c.d. player, checked to see that the sounds I wanted to hear were there, shut the lid on the player, pressed the PLAY arrow button and listened to the other part of my PLAN BE. I am newly training myself to turn down-stream for my good news and good feelings.
"Be easy about this. Be playful about it. Don't work so hard at it. Let your dominant intent to be to feel good, and if you don't feel good, then let your dominant intent be to feel relief. Feel your way through it. If you think your way through it, you can get off on all kinds of tangents. If you feel your way through it, you can come quickly to your Core Energy, and when you do that only good can then flow to you."
--- Abraham
Excerpted from the workshop in Rye, NY on Sunday, October 12th, 1997
My choosing gets better with practice. I listened to my c.d. and turned to the sink, and the bottles that needed to be refilled with filtered water. I knew this choice to drive into Seattle was done on an 'Ole Moon when rest was the best choice. I took a risk, and now I feel the price for extending beyond my reserves. Before the tape was finished Pete came back, we traded places in front of the laptop.
"Would you keep an eye on the bottle? I need to go into the vardo for a lie-down."
"Sure," Pete said.
"I can turn that tape off," I said before leaving the Quonset.
"No, that's okay, I'll listen."
I walked across the gravel path to the vardo steps, opened up the vardo saying a silent hello of appreciation, changed into my robe, straightened up the covers a bit and climbed in. Rested from one more adventure in this life,I noted the different choices made by others on their path. I recognized the contrasting examples as research for my bettering-life.Those 'Ole Moons of the Hawaiian Moon Calendar are there for good reason, and when I push my will again the wobble of those resting moons, there are consequences. My Plan BE, reminds me that I choose to tell a different story and keep deciding consciously. It takes practice. My new story is newly sprouted, cultivating a soul takes care. I'll remember that, and it's my own dear soul over which I can care...mine alone. Does it take 7 blogs to tell my story? A choir is multiple voices, I like the sound of that. Here's a video of virtual voices ... a 6 minute 'different musical story'... ready?
It's a beautiful spring day in the woods, sunny with a breeze that sends the tower of hundred foot firs into a graceful movement of olapa (picture the most graceful of hula dancers). Pete is in Seattle leaving truck and car in the gravel lot just around the corner from the vardo. I have not left the woods in two days. Something happened to me when I asked Pete the other day, "What did that cost to fill the Subaru?" "$30" was his answer. When he drives Bernadette the beast truck it costs a lot more, and the old girl needs a new carburator, so the emissions are no way near low-impact.
When we were living on the road, the option to leave Bernadette and Scout (the truck and the car) in place wasn't yet our see-it-do-it reality. We needed both truck and car to move ourselves and chattel again and again. But, in our dreams and in our imaginings there was a place to settling in; accessible to public transportation and services we needed. The desire was amassing. The years of driving both truck and car hither and yon was the crack in time between believing and allowing. We were learning things, learning what we didn't want, and still the dream of what we did want and why we wanted it was alive and well.
Our first winter honed down my resistence to believing this could be the place. One week at a time, one experience at a time, I relaxed into now. Now, I feel what it's like to be comfortable. Now I know I can survive and then flourish even without a car to drive during the coldest, darkest times of winter. With no resistence, my relexes and habit of struggling eased. The habit eased some more. Four months later, when I could be in the Subaru, I didn't want to be in it. I'd become comfortable with the company of the woods, the quiet and with me. The folks at STAR Store couldn't see the difference in me, though I was a daily shopper before the winter hiatus. Pete felt the difference most because he took on the shopping tasks.
It takes time and pacing to come into alignment with your dreams. FREED-up from beliefs that no longer fit the version of our lives today, Pete's been on a bike, a ferry, on foot, on a bus, and on a train to get from South Whidbey to Beacon Hill in Seattle. I've walked the trails with JOTS, watered the peas, and will make rhubard sauce and left-overs for supper. I'm telling people, "We are thriving on the Island." The change in my story surprises them. Delighted for us, one of those friends asked, "How did it happen? Was it emotional or physical?" I told her "It was both." "Which came first?" I tell her about my winter with no car and the slowed down, freed-up release that has allowed me to believe differently, and to choose better-feeling thoughts.
That's my hybid-trike!
I catch myself slipping on old habits and old thoughts. But, here's the good news ... I catch myself sooner than later when it's easier to turn my attention down-stream where the good is. What's down stream from here? Well ... see that hy-brid trike? It's down-stream with my name on it.
This sign is posted in the two restrooms at South Whidbey Tilth. For the second Sunday in a row, no chemicals or fragrances are used to prepare public restrooms in our neighborhood. I swept, mopped, wiped and swished out the bowls with white vinegar, baking soda and squirts of Planet dishsoap. An important job? Oh, yes. How good this feels to be part of the solution. How did it happen? Plan 'BE' ... Believe it could be, Be positive and without resistence, Be prepared for what it takes to allow it.
It was raining, the ground soggy. Our favorite neighborhood gathering place The Sunday Farmers' Market at the Tilth was happening soon. Prescott stopped for a moment, and introduced me to a man who was there before the market's opening, "This is Mokihana, she's taken over the bathroom clean-up." "That's an important job," the man said. Yes, it is ... and what a success it is. Later in the day, Pete returned to the Tilth to help clean-up. I was back in the forest making soup and relaxing. While he was there Pete stopped Prescott, "Thanks so much for letting Mokihana take care of the bathrooms. It's making a difference for at least one more person." (One of our friends who lives with MCS had a chance to use that restroom ... a big positive step!)
We are living here in South Whidbey, Washington becoming part of a community that makes room for others in meaningful ways. In the year since we're settled into the forest with Eileen, MK, the nine ducks, three chickens, two dogs, three cats, hundreds of trees, and countless huckleberry and wild blueberry bushes, the vibrational reality of good/hope/abundance has lined us up to believe and allow health and happiness. The journey has been so worth the experience. Knowing what we don't want, the opposite experiences are now moving in as replacement. "Mokihana, you get anything on my menu for your work," Ed said as I spread the table cloth over one of the wooden tables. "Thanks, Ed." What a deal! My work: bringing fragrance-free practices and product to a public space in my neighborhood is another example of BEing and BEcoming the vibrational good-win in my real life. The unfolding was easy, there was no stuggle only a being present with no resistence with the solution.
Looking forward to more good, it feels wonderful to post "...the first one!" and know the second, third, fourth, next is in the making ... somewhere! Got a plan that needs BEcoming? Would you like to be our next? We'd love to work together and add to our list of successfull Freed-up spaces in our neighborhood.
Thanks and Congratulations to South Whidbey Tilth for being 'the first one!'
We've volunteered to supply and maintain the Freed-upClean-up practices in the two restrooms at South Whidbey Tilth. The Farmers' Market is now officially happening, Sundays from 11:30 AM -3:30 PM. Local organic farmers, vendors and educational tables and booths and a delicious choice of meals are being served up at our favorite neighborhood market. We'll have our Freed-up Clean-up practices of using Planet Ultra Unscented Dishsoap as the handwashing liquid in place, Sunday, May 8th ... what a great MOTHER'S DAY GIFT to mothers there!
Pete and I arrived and planted ourselves on this island, a year ago (April, 2010). South Whidbey Tilth Farmers' Market (held on Saturday) became our one and only safe-enough-for-us event. We had been long on the road to the present life-of-more-and-better feelings. It was the once a week experiences at the 'Tilth' that made my 'PLAN BE' a vibrating reality ... one that was, but was not yet, see-able.
FRAGRANCE FREE IN 23 Frees-up the Tilth Restrooms May, 8, 2011
PLANET Ultra Dishsoap
will be the freed-up, no harm, no fragrance
HAND SOAP
in dispensers found in both So Whidbey Tilth restrooms
We'll Maintain & Clean
the restrooms using
BAKING SODA
WHITE VINEGAR
&
PLANET Ultra Dishsoap
(just a dash)
LINK HERE http://www.planetinc.com/udl.htm to read THE SIMPLE & HARMLESS ingredients used in Planet Ultra Dishsoap. This site includes more uses for this product. We, Pete and I are not paid for naming this product; we use this product ... the only 'product' other than baking soda and vinegar(s) to wash our everything and ourselves. There are other un-scented and chemical harmless or less harmfull product to be bought. The EWG Website can give you lots of info and then, choose. We use Planet because it does no harm to us, we tolerate it well; and it's doing no harm to Earth.
See you Sundays at our first FRAGRANCE FREE IN 23 Freed-up COMMUNITY Site!!
Happy Mother's Day, Mothers and Mother Earth.
Do you have a Community Site wanting to be our next Freed-up Site? Contact us, it costs but a jot, and counts for so much.
Fragrance Free in 23 the blog and the mission, was birthed in time for Earth Day 2011 and our very first outing and educational table at the Bayview Earth Day, So. Whidbey Island. The first two posts to "FF23" lay the groundwork for us and those two 'stories' remain the bones upon which we flesh our venture forward.
TAKE FIVE is the simple to remember ditty we began and continue to sing ... a way to change the momentum in our old beliefs and thinking about being human and being humans who don't harm. So, this is a check-in point. Covering ground again, we look at:
STEP 1
NOTICE what you do with what you have, and why you do it.
This is all about you: what you do; what you have, and why. Everybody has stuff and that's where we had to start when life as we'd known it washed away like drawings in the sand. Our lessons have been tough, but they have honed us good and plenty, over and over again.
This is THE step to FREED-UPness. Take whatever time you need, but do make time to NOTICE and record what you discover. Our experience has been ... don't act on what you find at this point. Just notice. It's very much like the process of effective change-making found in wise traditions across the Earth: AWARE, ACCEPT then ACT.
What DO YOU DO? God, I do a lot of things. Answering that question would take ... well, more time than I have.
Just take 5 minutes. What do you do with any 5 minutes in your day; the first 5 minutes of your day.
What DO YOU HAVE? Geez, whaddaya mean, what do I have?
Just that!
Like I said already ...
Just take 5 minutes, maybe those same 5 minutes of noticing what you do ... notice what you're doing with WHAT YOU HAVE.
WhyDO YOU DO IT? I'm starting to get the picture.
The TAKE FIVE approach to Fragrance Free in 23(Two Thousand Twenty Three) begins with slowing down long enough to NOTICE what we do. Hawaiians have an exquisite word for that, KULEANA. Roughly translated it means "responsibility". Seems to us, as we continue to live one Freed-up Day on this glorious Planet Earth: our KULEANA starts with knowing the answers to those three questions.
What if you started or spent 5 minutes (or more) to SHAMPOO YOUR HAIR ...
Here's an article written a few years ago by Bill Bunn from Calgary, Alberta. He asked the question "What's really in your shampoo?"
The article starts this way:
"There are two types of ingredients in shampoo. One type cleans your hair. The other type strokes your emotions. I'm holding a bottle of Pantene Pro V, one of the world's most popular shampoos. Of the 22 ingredients in this bottle of shampoo, three clean hair. The rest are in the bottle not for the hair, but for the psychology of the person using the shampoo. At least two-thirds of this bottle, by volume, was put there just to make me feel good..."
May is a month of many manifestations: May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii ... garlands of flowers everywhere. May Day is also Laborer's Day ... thank the gods for people who know how to handle a shovel ... a hammer, a pick. May Day is also May Day and May Pole Dancing. Our Freed-up Lives of living fragrance free has taught us a lot about some things, and a little about a lot of things. We know there's a connection between manufactured chemicals and fragrances concocted and not at all good for us, the critters or Earth. May is also MCS (Multiple Chemical Awareness Month) all over the Earth, and in the state we now call home --- Washington. So, we are conscious of the slowly moving effort to educate, as we do with this blog about being human without harming.
Here's a bunch of 4th Graders doing a choreographed version of the May Pole Dance.
So, multiple reasons to celebrate and dance around a May Pole on May 1st! A short drive out of the woods where we live is one of the gardens where we love to be: be planting dirt-hills seeded with squash soon; be with neighbors who sell their vegetables and goodies (cookies and home-made delightful things and some not-too-great-for-me scented things); be enjoying the lovely sun, and company of others. At the So Whidbey Tilth where the wind and open space allows me plenty of room to navigate the not-too-great-for-me scented things and people, there was a MAY POLE. That MAY POLE made from a recently alive alder was hung with 12 colorful ribbons. In my fondest, and newest plan "Be" I was dancing in that May Pole Dance. Before I was cast into the role of old dear woman with many, many chemical sensitivities, I have been a child-at-heart who loved to be at glee. I have had a life as a clown, taught and told stories to wee children, and love dancing unconsciously losing all cause for resistence in the process.
This Noon at the So Whidbey Tilth, my plan "Be" continued to be the best possible example of living more and more in a down-stream flow of believing before I see it reality. The twelve volunteer May Pole Dancers surrounded the alder May Pole, children and not so young stood ready for instruction. Not yet among them, I was none the less, in bliss, in the sunshine with my honey, Pete. At the very last minute the gal in charge of the 'art installation' looked at me, and said, "You!" "Would you help him!" It was not really a question ... it was my plan "Be" kickin' in. Him was a tiny dark-haired, gray-sweatshirted boy in need of a guide person. I was perfectly suited for the volunteer position. We were given 2 minutes of instructions, and then we moved to the music of tin whistles, and string instruments played by a wonderful group of neighboring musicians.
15 minutes of over and under, which took a while to get synchronized, became a jolly, joyful, all colors of love and fun-time. The ribbons at first wobbled, and our attention was mostly a query of consciousness ... apparent in our intense faces. But, gradually, with each over and under of the ribbons, our consciousness lost itself in the fun of the dance and we were in the vibe. May Pole Vibe! I could smell the not-so-great-for-me fragrances, but they were not as powerful as the unself-conscious plan "Be" that was guiding both the wee boy in gray and old dear with the colorful cap.
I have waited 58 years for this May Pole Dance, and guess what? It was worth the wait! May your Plan "Be" include a May Pole Dance with your neighbors sometime, and maybe, year after year those May Pole Dances become fragrance free by 2023.
Wonderful, positive steps are now part of our 'visible' reality ... that "I can see it, they can see it" reality that we humans often mistake for the ONLY reality. The New Moon in Aries, the sign and potent energy new moon of new beginnings and new stories is half-way through its month-long cycle of action Jackson. I've taken to deciding to choose better-feeling thoughts consciously and consistently. Deciding that I could believe the Earth Day Celebration was some thing I COULD do is a wowser example of 'Believe it BEFORE you see it!" We have been on a long journey of swhirling and disconnected reality and more than enough suffering. Other blogs, now at rest, have filled with those stories. They served us by finding out in oh so many ways what we did not want. Today, I am in a different place and appreciation and believing is fueling our good news. Our good news today will gear us for the expanded good we can't yet see.
So ... this post is Plan "Be" Part II ... BELIEVE it BEFORE you see it.
Where is she going with this? (I often wonder myself)
First, to believe it before yah see it. Start with what I do see as BEAUTIFUL, 'AS I DREAMED IT COULD and IS' stuff.
A GOOD dentist appointment HAPPENED. Yeh, anyone can relate to that statement! Who loves dentists? Well, folks with MCS often can't do dentists. I haven't been to a dentist I could afford; in an office that was not impossible to breathe in; with a chair-side manner that spoke "kind and caring" for many years. Yesterday I met, sat in a chair and was engaged with a young dentist and his assistant who spoke that "kind and caring" language. I can afford to pay for some of the treatment I need, with due diligence and wise decisions. THIS IS A VERY MAJOR 'Beautiful' thing. I will need to decide the next steps and dates for work, and I get to have options, I believed it before I met young Kenneth Killpack DDS and his assistant Tom, and front desk woman Angela. Now, it's happening.
MASSAGE. I had my first massage of the year. Another MAJOR 'Beautiful' thing. I met "M" last summer. Over the months Pete and I have gotten to know her more and more. Pete does fix'ems for "M" and in return, there is $ and trades ... like this massage. "M's" home is a mostly-benign alternative to 'usual' structure and her willingness to make adustments to the conditions I need to stay in her presence and her home add to the 'BEAUTIFUL' thing experience. A long, slow and loving chat and massage (while she used my organic coconut oil) added to my "Plan 'BE'" ... I believed I could get a massage. Armed as I was with my own sheet, air-out yoga mat and my mask ... I was able to be massaged and cared for withOUT using any of my arm-full of 'Be Prepared' stuff.
DINNER INVITATION FOR EASTER. This is another big step in my Plan 'Be" Part II. Easter Sunday Dinner is something we haven't celebrated or expected to be 'able' to enjoy for many years. Things are changing. We're been invited. Pete and I talked about it. We accepted. We're going to do some more talking and preparing for the inside-event, and then the next experience in our Plan "Be" will unfold.
BE-4 TIME(this expression is something I haven't heard in my head for a very long time. But, in Hawaii, my grandpa and the elders often talked about 'before time', times they remember and that we young kids couldn't see)
... My Journey here to a place where positive healing experiences happen more often began (and continues) with knowing what I don't want. Here is a short, but potent piece of a letter written by a woman living with MCS. I received it through the grapevine and offer it as a gift of education. A beginning for some, a continuation for others. BELIEVE IT BEFORE you see it! Becoming Fragrance Free in 2023 will mean attending to this kind of education from folks living with the affects of a world that's not FF. 'TAKING 5' Steps in your own dear life will include Noticing things like this kind of request from a friend, or a friend yet to be. Read this and see where it fits into your journey:
B R writes
...which leads me to my final point about this: most folks with MCS are in a constant struggle to navigate our daily lives. if we are able to go out, we face a continuous barrage of life-threatening chemical exposures. because MCS affects not only our bodies but our cognitive abilities and emotions, we often cannot express or identify that we are being made sick by one particular product someone is using. so if we do take the time to let you know that something you’re doing is making us sick, please respect that and don’t make us tell you twice, or g-d forbid, more than twice. it’s incredibly painful for us to find that people who purport to be our friends or allies, who express the desire to be near us, do not take our basic needs seriously and even cause us harm after we have expressed that there is a problem. if you are struggling with a solution, please let us know so we can help you resolve it, or if that’s not possible, so we can stay a safe distance from you until you get it resolved...
Thank you JT and DP and DR for extending the grapevine :)))
Here we are decked out in winter gear for our first ever EARTH DAY 'Clean Green' time. Our funky, fun FRAGRANCE FREE IN 23 Table featured the Clean Green stuff of our simple life here on Whidbey Island:
A very worn and used-for-many-reasons shower curtain backdrop
Well-off-gassed colored construction paper cut-out in letters
Clothes line
Wooden clothes pins for pegging up the TAKE 5 STEPS
Straight pins for holding the letters on the shower curtain in place
The funky 5-finger hands for TAKE 5 (steps toward Fragrance Free) came from a pulled out of the recycle pile
Our TWO BASIC CLEANERS: baking soda and two kinds of vinegar sat on the table along with
The Reverse Osmosis Water Filter we tote everywhere we've lived
Years of being a teacher working on a shoe string; and a tall man handy with string & tools pulled things together for EARTH DAY, 2011
We ...
Never sat down.
Met some great people.
Made new friends, and I met folks Pete has been talking about for months.
Weathered drizzles, wind and cold.
Managed the drift of a community not yet fully fragrance free.
Life is ... a journey
Many thanks to Prescott who is among many things our South Whidbey Tilth friend for the photos. So fun to be part of the neighborhood, part of Whidbey and part of the great big beautiful Earth.
We love this place PLANET EARTH! Mokihana and Pete
It's EARTH DAY CELEBRATION Saturday on Whidbey Island and the April showers and fog are here. It's still early here on Whidbey and there's a chance the showers and fog will clear enough to set up our FRAGRANCE FREE IN23 Table outside. This table is our first venture BACK into the public with our 'Freedup Life'. My recent history has included the Dance of Avoidance as the one action to refuel from years of survival mode. Nearly a year of recovery in the woods of South Whidbey has really made believers out of us: healing is believING!
BE POSITIVE
I spent the last few days getting ready for this celebration: FUN STUFF and involvement. This blog was launched, a visit to the celebration sight gave us an idea and a visual scene of 'YEAH, THIS COULD HAPPEN HERE.'
BE PREPARED
Life happens and we co-create it. I believe both of these beliefs. What I know about being out in the public is I have no control over what others wear, how they ouclean themselves or their clothes. We also know that the inside venue is a building diffiult for me to experience. No blame! I just know in past experience that I have diffiulty breathing in the old Bayview Hall. Can't breathe? Can't be.
So ... our PLAN "Be" is to have this post for you in case we (my family ... Pete and me) cannot be at the celebration. Instead of us in the flesh, there is supposed to be a bunch of postcards with our blogspot address to get you HERE.
If we happen not to be at the Bayview EARTH DAY Celebration we'll be HERE ... That's us outside our QUONSET IN THE WOODS.
If we miss you at the EARTH DAY CELEBRATION ... don't let that stop you from TAKING 5 Steps to FRAGRANCE FREEDupness IN 23. Read on from this post and check out the rest of this blog.
Believing, Being Positive, and Being Prepared it ought to be Earth Day Everyday. It's all right.
Three years ago the world we knew became a place without safety. Life as we'd known it was quickly being erased by choices made by people we loved, people we didn't know and people we used to be. More important than all the choices other people were making, our choices and beliefs would need re-honing. We were living in our faithful green Subaru, and all definitions and beliefs had to be reassembled. We have survived, and now begin a new journey and story of healing and well-being. We have learned a few things, let go of even more things, beliefs and attitudes, and share some of our daily practices here at Fragrance Free in 23, on Earth Day, 2011. We think it's a perfect time to offer what we're found and you can choose which of these offerings vibrate to your beliefs about 'home'... YOUR home and OUR home EARTH! What is this blog?
Here's a place to take notice of what you do at home now, and open up your beliefs and actions to move incrementally to a FRAGRANCE FREE, CLEAN LIVING, FREED-UP 2023. We'll lay out the things we do in our life of healing from the affects of MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivities), and offer resources that work for us. WE INVITE You, viewers and readers, to ADD your stories, experiences and love for Earth practices here, too. Use the COMMENT tab at the end of each post to grow these '(at least!) 23 Ways we love Planet Earth.'
It will take practice to get from here to there. Change takes time, and when we began conceiving this blog in early January, 2011 the image of our twin hanai mo'opuna (spirit-connected grandbabies) inspired me to look toward their future. If by 2023, more and more choices and decisions were influenced by a fragrance-free attitude what a wonderfully different and freed-up world those teen aged mo'opuna would know!
Here's a snip from a report that makes a case for being FRAGRANCE FREED-UP. See what you think
Change in beliefs and thoughts take time, 2023 is a decade away. Much will need to be done, education and community change will take time and commitment.
"...Today a wide range of products are sold using the same general theme as the Marlboro ads: life is better; and your clothes, body and house are cleaner, fresher, more desirable if they smell nice. However, the invisible and unlabeled ingredients that make you or your house cleaner, fresher, or more desirable are not listed on any product label. A recent analysis of 6 top selling laundry products and air fresheners found "nearly 100 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were emitted from the products and five of the products as the average non-smoker was to the risks of second-hand smoke. When ignorance is replaced with knowledge, a large segment of the population will respond with a demand for clean and safe air in the workplace. In the United States and Canada, an increasing number of clinics, schools, public buildings and meetings, buses and workplaces have declared their institutions fragrance-free: a paradigm shift is beginning...
An April 16th, 2011 Earth Day Celebration and opportunity to share information with folks in our Whidbey Island, WA community fuels the timing of this blog. We hope there is something here to aid your love of this Planet, our home. Add your own '23 or however many' lists and actions. Let us know if there is some way we can help.
My email address is mokihanacalizarATgmailDOTcom make connect. We'd love to hear from you!
The simplicity of 5 ... let's take the steps to '23'
5 at a time
We'll leave 5 ideas, experiences and practices that work for us or work for others who we know. These Freed-up Practices will give you things to consider, chew on and implement or adapt to meet your current vibe ... that place where sense and well-being match. Take what you like, leave the rest or leave it for another day. Some of these Freed-up Practices (most of 'em really) will ask to be patiently tried, lived with and amended before it and you are a match. Ho'omanawanui
Follow us here and add your comments along the way.
1. NOTICE what you do with what you have, and why you do it.
This is all about you: what you do; what you have, and why. Everybody has stuff and that's where we had to start when life as we'd known it washed away like drawings in the sand. Our lessons have been tough, but they have honed us good and plenty, over and over again.
This is THE step to FREED-UPness. Take whatever time you need, but do make time to NOTICE and record what you discover. Our experience has been ... don't act on what you find at this point. Just notice. It's very much like the process of effective change-making found in wise traditions across the Earth: AWARE, ACCEPT then ACT.
2. TWO SIMPLE & CHEAP Cleaners: BAKING SODA & VINEGAR
While you're noticing what you do, why you do it, and what you do it with ... here are two simple, non-toxic, scent free cleaners that work for the Earth and Earth's beings. Baking Soda & Vinegar, the awesome duo we use for almost everything.
Baking Soda
Here's a link to a VERY COOL article about " BAKING SODA"printed at Blogher.com. Blogger Beth Terry starts with this: (Read the whole article, it's worth it!)
"What's so great about baking soda?
1) It's cheap. On Safeway.com, a 1 lb box is $1.40. But I save money and packaging by buying it from the bulk bin at my local natural foods store, filling up my own reusable cloth bag. That way, it's only 89¢/lb! 2) It's simple. One of the ways I try to protect my health and that of the planet is to buy products that contain the lowest number of different ingredients possible. Baking soda is just about as simple as you can get.
3) It's non-toxic. Need I say more?
4) The packaging is plastic-free. With my method, there's no plastic at all. Otherwise, it comes in a biodegradable/recyclable cardboard box. 5) It's versatile. Baking soda has over a hundred uses and can substitute for many other more expensive products.
Vinegar
A few Simple Need to Knows About Vinegar:
There are Two (Basic) Types & Many, MANY uses for each.
1. White Distilled Vinegar can be used for cleaning, scrubbing, washing nearly everything and your body as well.
Here are just a few of the things you can do with white distilled vinegar (link above for a whole website of vinegar stuff)
To shine chrome sink fixtures that have a lime buildup, use a paste made of 2 tablespoons salt and 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar.
Make your own scouring cleanser by combining 1/4 cup baking soda with 1 tablespoon liquid detergent. Add just enough white distilled vinegar to give it a thick but creamy texture.
Clean counter tops and make them smell sweet again with a cloth soaked in undiluted white distilled vinegar.
Clean and deodorize a drain by pouring in 1 cup baking soda, then one cup hot white distilled vinegar. Let this sit for 5 minutes or so, then run hot water down the drain.
Deodorize the garbage disposal by pouring in 1/2 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup hot white distilled vinegar. Let sit for 5 minutes then run hot water down the disposal.
NOTICE THIS: when you are buying white distilled vinegar READ THE LABEL. Some brands include petrochemicals in the processing ... it's not every bottle, but they're out there. Buyer we educated!
2. Apple Cider Vinegar
We use apple cider vinegar just the way we'd use white vinegar WITH THESE ADDED considerations:
Buy organic, because we use it on the food we eat
Use apple cider vinegar diluted for washing food/fruit/veggies
If you wash windows with apple cider vinegar it will streak more than white
Two Fingers is all Paul McCartney needed to play this tune WHILE he WHISTLED (I love this man!) when his baby was born ...
3. WATER, we ain't much without it
We've been in a lot of places in America and the Hawaiian Islands. The water in the taps are a toxic zone. Don't drink it, wash with it, play in it. Plastic bottled water is only a dit away from tap, so try this instead:
INVEST if you can afford it, in a portable or whole system WATER FILTRATION system. We've packed up our portable filters and taken them where ever we'd been. When there was more money, we NOTICED what we did, why we did it, and with what we did those things. We NOTICED filtered water was important to maintaining well-being.
4. PRODUCTS you might not need anymore
If you're NOTICING, you have probably come to the place where at least one product could go. This is a place where AWARENESS leads to ACCEPTING. It's a big step between Awareness and Accepting, and there's room for celebration here. Recognize the movement and say YEAH! OR Yeah?
5. RE:-using, -ducing, -cycling in new ways
Now you're ready to ACT.
Re-use those food jars, fill 'em with bulk nut butter, seeds, nuts, grains Re-duce the packaged stuff you usually buy Re-cycle as a last ACT rather than a first reaction ... it does take a lot of energy to turn a recyled jelly jar into a new jelly jar. Why do it?
There you go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Take 5 at a time and you're one your way to a FREED-UP Life.
Over time the sidebar of this blog will include links and resources for more information and experiences. If you know there's something/some information that's worked for you give us a shout, email us and we'll be happy to share the wealth.
