eco Archives - Lulastic and the Hippyshake

Homemade Beeswax Wraps

13 January, 2016

Here is my favourite little craft of the last few years – homemade beeswax wraps.

You know what I hate? Cling Film. (Here in NZ they call it Glad Wrap. As if that horrible cloying stuff has ever made a soul glad!!)

I partly hate it because it hates me – cling film started it when it refused to ever stick to itself so all my sandwiches look as if they are wrapped in scraggly, flappy bits of plastic. Oh wait! That *is* what cling film is!

It is the stuff that our great – great – great – great – great- grandchildren will discover on their archeological digs and think, with baffled expressions on their faces, scanning the barren, scorched land around them, “THIS was the reason for the demise of our beautiful earth! My great – great- great- great- great- Nana was a total plonker!” They will write articles in the National Geographic about how we used up the world’s most precious resource wrapping up old bits of cheese.

Crumbs, didn’t know I was such a hater. Feel much better for that.

You’ll be pleased (because I was sounding like it was giving me high blood pressure, eh?) to know I discovered an alternative to Cling Film. It is an eco, recycled, reuseable version made with bees wax and fabric. Introducing homemade beeswax wraps!

All you need for these homemade beeswax wraps is some scraps of fabric and beeswax. (Buy beeswax from either your local farmers market, your local honey bee place or here at iherb – ships globally) I did six different sizes ranging from 30cm x 30cm to 15cm x 15 cm. I wanted some large enough to go over baking dishes to then go in the fridge and I wanted some I could sew into little snack packs.

How to make homemade beeswax wraps

1- Cut your fabric (ideally with pinking shears so it doesn’t fray) You can cut afterwards as well – it doesn’t fray then as it has been waxed.

2- Shave on a small amount of bees wax – sprinkle this as evenly as possible over the whole thing. Work sparingly as a little goes a long way.

3- Place on to some tin foil in a medium- hot oven for 5 or so minutes, until wax has melted. 190°C would be good.

4- Bring it out and look at it in the light. You should be able to see any patches without wax on- sprinkle a bit on those areas and pop back in oven.

5- TADA! Done! You can use these beeswax wraps in replace of cling film and you can wash and dry it and use it again!

How to use your homemade beeswax wraps

Use your beeswax wraps as you would tinfoil or cling film (or glad wrap)- wrap up your sandwiches! If you fold the wrap around a simple shape and place in a lunchbox it will hold together. but if you are gonna chuck it straight in your bag you will need to secure with string. (Like the old days of brown paper bagged lunches tied with string!)

You can also use it to cover plates or bowls – again use a string or rubber band to hold it in place over the dish.

Turn your beeswax wraps into beeswax pockets:

I took two of my homemade beeswax wraps and folded them in half and sewed a seam down the side. I left one side open so snacks could be popped in. It can then be folded over and secured with a band or a clip. PERFECT.

How to make homemade beeswax wraps

After use simply wipe down your beeswax wraps and dry them well. You can use a mid eco dishwashing liquid on them too. Store them in a clean place were they are unlikely to get dust on them. After a lot of use they will stop holding their shape and might look a little scummy, with creases. I suggest to whipping up some more.

I am in love with this easy, peasy alternative to cling film and will never again wrangle with that nasty stuff and the great-grandkids won’t be calling ME the plonker. Yay homemade beeswax wraps!

PS – Post includes my affiliate link for iherb – buy all your organic and wellness good with my link and it helps me out too!

Green things

My little tin is full of Eco Make Up from Dr Hauschka

10 January, 2014

For most of my life my combined cheapskate-ness and desire to tread gently on the earth has led my philosophy towards Make Up to be “None at all unless it is second-hand.” So all of my make-up has been primarily and kindly donated from my mum and sister’s dregs. (I know, I know, I am TOO glamourous.)

A bit before Christmas though I decided to attempt a chemical-free life in 2014 and knew this would have to extend to my face. I threw out my secondhand mascara and went online to search out an eco make up range.

I came across Dr Hauschka and was delighted when he agreed to send me a parcel of goods to check out.

They are passionate about the environment and creating luxury beauty products for people who want more than the average toxic sludge.

I received a Rouge Compact, a Translucent Powder Compact, a Volumising Mascara and some Foundation. And it is POSH and LOVELY and I feel like a grown up!

I don’t usually wear loads, and if I do put stuff on my skin it is normally on certain areas like my chin – it seems to be getting patchy and dark the older I get?- which is probably really totally against the Laws of Make Up.

It all smells nicely, applies smoothly, and I feel great in it. I’d go for the waterproof mascara next time (but I have been crying a lot recently.) It is pricier than the cheapo ranges out there, however it is REALLY important to me that it isn’t full of toxic nasties.

If you are looking for environmentally friendly make-up, made wholly from natural products Dr Hauschka is your man.

Family Travel

The desert hippy who laid a golden poo

5 December, 2013

“I’m doing a seminar in menstrual activism this afternoon, if you want to come?”

Hold on. Menstrual? Activism?

“Um. Oh. I, er…”

I am not very often taken aback. Especially when it comes to bodily functions and protest. These are, like, two of my fave things, y’know?

We were in the middle of the Spanish desert, in the barren landscape of the Deep South, staying in a tiny oasis – an alive, green, eco community bustling with hippies. At least once an hour someone said something completely absurd and completely accurate.

“Excrement is GOLD, worth more than money!” (This statement was accompanied by a handful of “humanure” shoved under my surprised, and therefore unfortunately gaping, nostrils.)

This was Sunseed, a group of people devoted to living sustainably, off grid, who were slowly restoring one of the desert’s many “lost villages”. The project began as a way of developing technologies that harness the earth’s power and an attempt to thrive in a pretty hostile land. It continues to do that, hosting volunteers from around the world who will hopefully return home bubbling with ideas about solar energy, converting waste into, er, gold for the garden, and generally living in peace with their environment.

We pooed into compost bins, built walls with local clay, harvested pumpkins and every vegetable under the sun to eat, prepared olives for jarring, showered with the river water heated by the sun, ate every meal together, talked a lot about menstruation. IT WAS SO FLIPPING INSPIRING! .

We spent the spare hours wandering around the desert, poking about in ruins, buildings long abandoned by villagers unable to survive in such a dry land. We watched a whole family of turtles sunbathing by the local river and tracked some wild pigs along the gorge. Tim and I spent whole afternoons discussing the eco-house we will build when we get to New Zealand.

(I know; this is the MILLIONTH thing we have seen on this trip and decided we are going to do it. You’ve got to dream big, right? So far it seems that we are going back to New Zealand to create an imaginative kid’s festival celebrating the wilderness, run a Forest School, on a bit of land where we are building our own house out of clay, with a compost loo, in an intentional community full of families loving each other and eating together, whilst building a vineyard, an avocado orchard and running a Centre for Peaceful Adult-Child Relationships. Hmmm. It’s all compatible. We just need that cloning technology to hurry the heck up. Or YOU could join in, if you like? Come on, it’ll be WELL fun!)

I bloody love hippies. I love being in an environment where people are so passionate and it was a JOY being amongst other people for whom it makes complete sense to not wash their hair, rather than being the weird one. I didn’t get to the seminar on menstrual activism but I read a brilliant book on it that evening and am completely convinced! (It’s going to be a whole other post: WHAT A TREAT FOR YOU!)

It was just five little days amongst our kind new friends at of Sunseed but it was like stepping in to new pair of boots; it kind of got us ready for a new home and life in New Zealand. It hasn’t felt that real, the whole “moving to NZ lalala” thing, but imagining the kind of eco-lifestyle we will nurture over there got us well excited. As long as I don’t think too hard about the family and friends we will be leaving in England. *Heaving sob*

We are on the very last leg of our European roadtrip, just five more days. We have passed through the snowy peaks around Granada, and we are now in sunny, warm Seville. We had to say another farewell to Betty a couple of days ago – can you actually believe it?- as she blew another head gasket and required £700 to fix her up that we just don’t have. If we hadn’t already spent £2000 on her pesky innards this trip alone we might have considered it but we decided to get her towed home for a DIY job over Christmas. It was a bit stressful but we are having a cool time zipping around in a rental car courtesy of our insurance, so it could be a lot worse. *Frank Spencer voice* Oooh, Bettty.

Parenting

How to be an Eco Parent

2 October, 2013

Third in the How to be a _____ Parent series, is Kat from the beautiful and inspiring blog, Eco Empire. Let her inspire you with her tips for nurturing a nature loving family….

I didn’t suddenly decide to become an eco-parent – it just made sense to take care of the environment our children are inheriting. My belief is that even the little things can make a big difference so I try to encourage people to start small but dream big. I started small by looking at the products I was bringing into my home and then I started to dream big – like being self-sustaining with chickens and fruit trees and maybe even bees!

One of the strangest misconceptions about being an eco-parent would be that we make things harder for ourselves. I’ve actually had someone tell me “yeah but I just can’t be bothered recycling” (I thought they were joking, but sadly they weren’t). What you need to know is that being eco conscious does not mean compromising on the good stuff, it just means making informed decisions. I rarely do anything without stopping and thinking how it may affect the environment. The good news is by being eco conscious you often make decisions that are not only better for the environment but better for your family’s health, wellness and bank balance!

Some simple rules to live by:
• Always consider an item’s origins. Whether it be the clothes your kids wear, or the fruit they’re eating – think about where it was made, how it was made, how far it’s come. I try to buy local and ethical products.
• Always read the label. Whether it be that jar of sauce or your laundry liquid, get to know what’s good and what’s bad and be warned about deceptive labelling making out a product is organic or eco-friendly (when it’s not). It’s amazing what kind of toxic and unhealthy ingredients are in well-known products. These are not just bad for the environment, but unhealthy for your family too!
• Ask ‘what are my options’? Don’t just assume that you HAVE to buy or do something. There are always more environmentally friendly options out there. If you’re ever unsure just Google ‘eco-friendly _____’ – there are so many wonderful resources out there for you to find.
• Start small. Don’t overwhelm yourself all at once. Perhaps try to do one new eco thing a week or even month. I’m still learning and growing.

Here are ten of the easiest eco things I’ve done as a parent that you can do too.

1. Buy second-hand. Kids’ needs grow quickly, so buying everything brand new is often unnecessary and expensive. I buy boxes of second-hand clothes and toys from the local online classifieds or Ebay. Markets and Op Shops are a great place to go too. Most of the things I’ve bought look near new! The kids certainly don’t care that it’s second-hand.
2. Use natural products. Whilst you might eat naturally (wholesome food with no artificial or toxic ingredients) people often forget about what goes on (or makes contact with) their skin – such as bath soap, laundry liquid, kitchen spray and wipe, even medicine. There are so many toxic products that not only damage our ecosystem, but aren’t good for your health either! If you can’t afford to buy eco products, you can possibly make them for next to nothing.
3. Grow your own. Grow fruit, vegetables and if you’re lucky get your own chickens. It’s a great way to ensure you are eating organically and it’s such a great activity to do with the kids and teach them where food comes from. My son is a big fan of picking mint leaves and chewing on them as a snack!
4. Visit the local farmers’ market every weekend as a family ritual. Especially if you can’t grow your own food, you can buy them from local farmers. The markets usually sell fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs as well as breads, plants and homemade jams and preserves. It’s really a great way to do some food shopping disguised as a great family outing!
5. Begin a love affair with nature. It won’t be hard to convince most kids to enjoy the outdoors, in fact as a newborn my son was often only consoled by going outside (I’m talking the instant we walked outside he would stop crying). By teaching them to be kind to animals and respect nature they will become natural mini eco warriors and nature will become their playground. My son can play in our yard for hours with little to no toys.
6. Join a toy library. Usually not-for-profit organisations run by local parents, they offer annual memberships which let you borrow toys (much like a book library) for a set number of weeks. By the time my son is sick of a toy it’s time to return it for something new!
7. Use cloth nappies. Disposable nappies are an environmental disaster taking decades to break down in landfill. There is a big misconception that cloth nappies are hard work, but they’re not! I personally wash (and by wash, I mean put them in a washing machine) my nappies daily so it’s just part of my daily routine and that way it only takes maybe 15 minutes out of my day. That’s not a lot when it means saving thousands of nappies from heading to landfill (not to mention saving you lots of money).
8. DIY and homemade. From recipes to toys, before you buy think about whether you could make it instead. One of my son’s favourite toys as a young baby was a fabric ‘book’ I put together from fabric scraps. He also goes crazy for my homemade dehydrator raw crackers – and the best part is I know exactly what’s in them.
9. Create new traditions. Holidays such as Christmas and Easter (also Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and even birthdays) has turned into a consumerist, commercialised nightmare. I’ve watched kids get absolutely spoiled with gifts only to be happier playing with an empty cardboard box. Come up with new traditions for your family – I’ve always loved the “Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read” gift giving philosophy, and for holidays like Easter simply making chocolate Easter eggs together is an affordable fun family activity.
10. Read. I’ve borrowed books from the library and even bought a few, but there is SO much great inspiration and information on the internet. I follow a pile of great blogs written by people, just like me, learning and sharing how they live their lives in a sustainable and eco conscious way. Pinterest is another great resource for ideas. Expand your knowledge!
As a mother I feel like I have been given the most important job in the world. Everything I say and do could shape the person he will become! Talk about pressure! But I think teaching him how to love and care for the environment automatically provides a fun and imaginative childhood, implanting amazing moral and ethical values for life. I think if people aren’t already convinced to ‘go green’ before having kids, holding a newborn baby in your arms and knowing that you’re daily living has an impact on that tiny baby’s future, can be the light bulb moment!

Thrifty

Thrifty Beauty – Twelve uses from two essential ingredients

18 March, 2013

Hot on the heels of The Guardian’s 50 best beauty products, I trot, bearing news of great frugal joy. You don’t need 50 products, and in fact, you needn’t spend more than £10 all up. For here are THE two essential ingredients, that individually and paired can be everything you need. It is a magical combination that will massively reduce your beauty/ health bill AND eliminate a whole load of toxins from your life. In the name of everything eco and thrifty let me introduce you to coconut oil and bicarbonate of soda.

Now, I may well be the last person you should heed when it comes to beauty advice. When I first became aware of “beauty” as a “thing” age ten, I promptly shaved my eyebrows off to try and get involved. Then there was that time in my late teens when I had dreadlocks that I dyed so much that one day they just fell right out of my head. And then last week I spent a whole evening out with a bright red chilli tucked between my two front teeth (CHEERS for that, husband. Hehe.) However, when it comes to questioning those hoodwinky pharmaceuticals, saving money and opting for natural alternatives – and getting away- with it I am a WHIZZ.

Coconut oil is naturally antibacterial and antifungal as it contains lots of lush caprylic, lauric and myristic acids. Yet it is also deeply nourishing and moisturising. It is SO good that you can eat it by the spoonful, replacing other cooking oils with it.

Bicarbonate of soda is also antibacterial yet has a texture that means you can use it as an alternative to other exfoliating type products. Here are twelve ways I use the two, both solo and together.

Deodorant When I get out of the shower I just swipe a layer of coconut oil and then a dusting of bicarb under my armpits. If you want something less drying just swipe a little coconut oil under there instead. If you want to unleash the full power of both of them, mix them together and let it set in a bowl which you can then up turn to make a perfect deoderant like dome.

Exfoliater Once a week I dab my fingers into some bicarb and gently rub it over my face. It is a perfect scrub, not too harsh but leaves my skin looking fresh.

Moisturiser I don’t really use any products super regularly as I tend to think our bodies should be mostly left to do their thing, to regulate their own oils. But when my face feels a bit dry I simply rub coconut oil into my face at night time and by the morning it is rejuvenated!

Make Up Remover NOTHING swipes mascara from your eye bags like coconut oil! And it feels so nice!

Toothpaste Mix equal parts of bicarb with coconut oil for a quick and super effective toothpaste. (Add a mint oil if you want it to taste nicer!)

Tooth Whitener And for a natural tooth whitener – I mean this GENUINELY works amazingly, getting rid of a tea stain I had taken for a keeper- simply rub bicarb on your teeth and hold an electric toothbrush onto the stain. I haven’t charged my electric toothbrush for yonks (even though it was my 2012 New Years Resolution) so i just used a flannel and it worked fairly well. Don’t do this regularly though. Just a big night out treat, okay?

Shampoo and Dry Shampoo You probably don’t know, as I really hardly EVER mention it (PAHAHAHA) but I have been shampoo free for about 15 months. Bicarb is my total go-to. Mixing a spoon of it in half a cup of water and pouring on my wet hair, leaving for 5 minutes and massaging out, makes my hair squeaky clean. In a running out the door- greasy head emergency (of which I don’t have too many anymore) a sprinkle on the scalp and a good brush through rivals spray on dry shampoo anyday.

Conditioner Every time I clean my hair with bicarb I run half a teaspoon of coconut oil through the ends as it dries. Since I have begun doing this my hair feels in brilliant condition. Ramona isn’t a big fan of hairbrushing so she often develops a dreadlock on the back of her head (what kind of mama allows this, eh?!) I rub a bit of coconut oil through it, wait for an hour or so and brush it out easy peasy. It doesn’t even need to get wet.

Lip Care Coconut Oil makes a lush lip balm, and sometimes I use bicarb as a little lip scrub before putting the coconut oil on too. (I once tried to make a tinted lip balm with coconut oil and food colouring. It, er, doesn’t work, okay? It will just mess your face up.)

Thrush Buster Coconut oil is a great treatment for oral thrush, which is super common in breastfeeding babies – mum and nursee can pass it back and forth. We had it when Ramona was 10 months old and I just gave her a few small teaspoons of coconut oil a day, and used it on my nipples and it effectively killed of the bacteria. (You also need to do other things like cut out sugar and up the probiotics in your diet.)

Nipple relief and wound healer Remember those early, painful breastfeeding days? Coconut oil on the nipples is a complete winner. Because of all of its germ fighting and soothing properties it is great on cuts and scratches too.

Nappy cream Coconut Oil is the only thing we use when Ramona has a sore bum nowadays and we will rely on it with the newborn too. An IMMENSELY thrifty option for nappy rash cream. These are the ways that coconut oil and bicarb have become pretty much the only two essentials I have in my beauty box. But if you liked the sound of these than do check out the million other uses out there – this post by the awesome Hybrid Rasta Mama is epic! So yeah, dudes! Head over to Ethical Superstore and buy them both in bulk right away!

What are your thrifty beauty tips and tricks?