Non-Toxic Cleaning for the Home

...u can also use cheap vodka in the same way. It comes pre-diluted — vodka is 40% alcohol and 60% water. What does it do? Alcohol is best used to clean shiny surfaces like chrome, steel, mirrors and glass, as well as eye glasses and electronic screens. It dissolves inks —and also some kinds of paint, so be careful with using it on things like remote control buttons or glossy paint finishes. It is also a strong disinfectant, so it’s particularly good...

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Essential System #9 – Hydration

...es, the water heater and the tank of the toilet (not the bowl). To use the water in the water heater turn off the gas or electricity that heats the water. Shut off the main water supply and open a hot water faucet somewhere in the house. You should be able to drain the water out of the heater using the heater’s drain faucet. You can also get some water out of the pipes by closing the incoming water valve and opening the highest faucet in the house...

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Urban Homestead Trademarks Cancelled!

After six years of legal wrangling, “urban homestead” and “urban homesteading” belong to us all. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has cancelled the trademarks thanks to the hard work of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the law firm of Winston & Strawn. Here’s the press release from the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Urban Homesteaders Win Cancellation of Bogus Trademarks Global Community Had Faced Baseless Legal Claims and Content Remo...

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Water Conservation

...g what we call BOC, or boring old conservation. So before delving into greywater and rainwater harvesting it’s time to assess where your household is in terms of water consumption and see if that level can be reduced. It’s generally far easier and less expensive to conserve resources than it is to resort to the latest techno-eco-gadgetry. So let’s count down the major sources of domestic water use (according to percentages calculated by the Americ...

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What laundry detergent should I use for greywater applications?

...possible to reuse that water, but you need to do so very carefully. Diaper water is blackwater, not greywater, and needs to be handled in specific ways Perhaps we’ll do a separate post on that later.) Finally, during periods of heavy rain you may just prefer not to send any more water to the garden, and this allows you to make that choice. A few words about other greywater applications: If you’re using greywater from your shower, most soaps and sh...

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