Non-Toxic Cleaning for the Home

...ch, hydrogen peroxide is non-toxic and safe for food prep surfaces. Can be used as a general purpose spray cleaner—we like spraying it on our tile counters because it lifts gunk out of grout. Can also be used to treat laundry stains. Because of the mild bleaching effect, be careful using it on delicate or dark colored fabrics. Rubbing alcohol aka Isopropyl alcohol (EWG B rated for slight risk of respiratory irritation) Drugstore bottles of rubbing...

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A Used Tire Hose Caddy

...You’ll end up with the half cut out tire you see above. But your work is not yet complete. Drill a bunch of drainage holes in the bottom of the tire, at least one hole every three inches. This is to keep water from pooling when it rains. Incidentally, used tires combined with water make the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes (more on the tragic global consequences caused by mosquitoes incubating in tires here). With a bunch of drainage holes y...

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A Used Tire Compost Bin

...sharp knife, but it’s much easier with an electric saber saw. We used a knife to cut a slit to get the saber saw started. Once both sidewalls are cut out you just stack your modified tires up, fill it with compost, put a cover on it (we used a piece of scrap aluminum), and fetch a beer. We’ll post another tire project soon....

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Moringa!

...arotene, Vitamin C, protein, iron and potassium. The leaves are cooked and used as spinach. In addition to being used fresh as a substitute for spinach, its leaves are commonly dried and crushed into a powder, and used in soups and sauces. The seeds may be crushed and used as a flocculant to purify water. The Moringa seeds yield 38–40% edible oil (called Ben oil, from the high concentration of behenic acid contained in the oil) that can be used in...

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A Homegrown Revolution manifesto by way of a short (true) story.

...ourselves. Meanwhile you can read about doing this, as well as many other uses for old tires in the informative archives of Backwoods Home Magazine. 3. Cargo bikes rule Later on in the day we decided to go pick up the tires using our handy cargo bike, the Xtracycle. We can’t say enough good things about this invention, though we should note that carrying large car tires on a bicycle looks completely insane. 4. The importance of bike safety At a s...

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