Kay Swartz

Very glad that you are keen to go this route, much better in the long run for you and the environment.

Everybody is different so as you are finding what works best for you a few other things you can try would be:

Plain lemon juice (just about half a lemon in warm water),

Aloe vera gel (filleted from the leaf like you would prepare a fish then whirr it in a blender with water until a frothy, even, viscous liquid), or

Rye flour (made into a thin paste more like gruel with warm water).

All of these just massage well into wet scalp and rinse thoroughly with warm water. Lemon is the easiest to rinse out, aloe the most de-frizzing, and rye the "fluffiest" clean.

We freeze lemon juice in bulk from our lemon tree as well not only for cooking but also because it works terrifically as a shampoo but when you want to wash your hair in the morning you don't usually have time to juice a half a lemon first. Then, you put a couple of ice cubes in a glass, fill it with hot water, and then bring it into the shower. Then just massage the cup of lemon water well through your scalp and rinse with very warm water.

Love the practicality of this thread!

We have done cloth with all four of ours.

I find wool covers harder to keep clean, taking longer to dry and where the wool sometimes touches their skin it seems to irritate our babies so I prefer the "Thirsties" PUL covers. They can have the extra leg elastic which keeps them from leaking really well when you don't have sumo-babies and very adjustable sizing so they fit for a long time with the different snaps.

When we started we used "Snappies" to hold them together but then realised that the cover works just as well so haven't used them since baby #1.

My favourite are terry-towelling pre-folds which I have made from old towels. They take longer to dry than muslin but last much longer and dry much faster than all-in-ones.

I just cut the rectangles from old towels and an extra layer for the middle third then overlocked them before sewing the layer on the middle.

I also like the ease of cleaning these. We got a kitchen sink sprayer and hooked it up to the other valve on the toilet so that when we need to clean out a poo we just turn on the valve and spray them out before transferring them to the diaper pail. We wash every other day.

I have several sizes of diapers because although we train ours at 18 months and don't need them after that, I find that their increasing size and output mean that they have very different soaking needs from birth to 18 mo so I think I have 2 or 3 sizes  so that I am not washing more than needed either because most of it is clean or because it is not holding enough depending on age.

We haven't done EC with any of ours but find they are ready by 18 months and we don't let them sit in wet diapers so they are always good at telling us when they are wet from the start. We do intensive potty training and take several days where that is the focus, never going back to diapers even at night and they get it after that first week.

It depends on the personality of the child though how diligent they are at staying dry after the novelty wears off! Still, washing and drying a cute pair of undies is much easier than diapers.

Oh, and for wipes we just use smaller overlocked squares of towels which we wet and wring out just before using--they work far better than disposable wipes!

Faye Streiff wrote:Hull less  buckwheat is easy, grows in poorer soil, but have to harvest a few every day because it does not ripen evenly.  I use that to make lasagna noodles with no other flour.

Faye, would you be willing to share your recipe for buckwheat lasagna noodles?

Yes! I am experimenting with this right now. I made crackers with this recipe https://foragerchef.com/dock-seed-flour/ and we really liked them. They are quite tasty with butter and I am eager to try them with brie...

I did not winnow, though I wonder about the phytate content, just whirred the seeds in the blender after letting the hoards of little spiders crawl away.

Yes! I am experimenting with this right now. I have not winnowed it,  though I wonder about the phytates, but have made crackers with this recipe https://foragerchef.com/dock-seed-flour/ and we really liked them. Tasty with butter and I am eager to try them with brie...
I just whirred the seeds in the blender after letting the hoards of spiders crawl away.

Dear Pearl,

I am so sorry to hear about your wonderful mother--she sounds like someone we would have all liked to know! I just prayed for you, as requested, asking that the God of all comfort would comfort you in your pain and be near to you in the days ahead.

Thank you for sharing with us so vulnerably and giving us a glimpse of what it means to be a good mom.

Xoxo,
Kay Swartz

We have 21:
2 apple (different varieties)
1 apricot
1 nectarine
2 fejoa
1 pomegranate
2 fig
1 loquat
2 cherry plum
1 lemon
1 peach
2 finger lime
3 orange (different varieties)
2 cumquat (different varieties)

A good variety ensures something is producing for us even when conditions and pests vary.

Yes, I would love more, but we live in a residential area and I don't know where to fit any at the moment because I need room for all of the veggies!

We don't spend zero but do spend very little extra even with four young children and lots of presents under the tree. This year total on presents for my children and husband I spent $22.50. Here is how:

- We plan ahead and look for deals on ingredients we need for special foods.

- We have set up gift expectations for our children so that they know they will get one main gift from us which will be some kind of "experience" usually something we do as a family together. We also always give them a nice new Christmas button down shirt or a dress which we make for them from material sourced for free somehow(salvaged from a larger discarded garment, offcuts or material someone never got around to using and have away--actually quite common). They love these things!

- We also give them a very full stocking stuffed with gifts that I have made in the lead up or found looking on sites where people give things away for free, such as:
- homemade: cookies, candies, flavoured popcorn, etc.
- books
- little toys (people are ALWAYS getting rid of these last two, you just have to be thinking in advance for Christmas!)
- handmade: doll clothes, embroidered kerchiefs, pouches, bookmarks, hair bows, mini notebooks, crayons, crochet little animals, Christmas tree ornaments, lip balm, craft kits, garden seed kits, etc.

- We also do a little advent gift each day in the lead up and it is very tiny, maybe a little sweet or a figurine, something with their initial on it, etc.

With children in my experience it just needs to FEEL special, and be presented well. I mean, how different really is a new little box of LEGO from the Legos that they already have? But if it is packaged nicely, new to them and they can look forward to something that they can build with it that they might not have thought of building before--it's exciting!

So, if I make little cookies gift wrapped just for them to eat whenever they want and sew a mini notebook together and label it "Secret Invention Ideas" and wrap it up, suddenly the paper that was there in the study all along becomes "cool". And those things that we source from what others are discarding just need to be new to them and gift wrapped.

It does take more planning, creativity and work in the lead up but I enjoy it and also like the investment in what we are, hopefully, modelling for our children.

Yes, our neighbourhood Buy Nothing Facebook group is fantastic! We have been involved for about 6 years with this group and have gotten to know many of our neighbours this way.
We can usually find random things we need: jars for canning, bedsheets, flyscreen tools, work lights, garden supplies, seeds, suitcases, spare parts, paint, shoes--you name it!
Neighbours also give away excess produce or plants and things like that.
We love the opportunity to pass on our excess and help someone out or declutter regularly and after a while when you have built some relationships you end up finding it even more useful because you have people who will let you borrow their trailer or mulcher or let you use their washing machine when yours breaks or give the gift of knowledge and help you sort out a problem/tell you where to find something or offer to help fix something.
If course the reverse is true and we have now many people in our area whom we know and trust because of experience with them through this group--I would highly recommend it!