Compost can be used as a fertilizer for your plants and garden with no risk of burning like with synthetic fertilizers. It also contains many beneficial microorganisms that keep away plant disease.

There are two types of home composting, Hot Composting and Cold Composting. Cold composting takes very little effort but will take much more time to produce compost. Hot composting requires more effort but will produce compost much quicker. Here is guide for the two:

Cold Composting

What you will need:

• A large bin or hole in your yard
• Worms (if you are digging a hole in your yard you wont need to buy many)
• Dried yard trimmings (leaves, small pieces of wood)
• Paper or egg cartons (and egg shells!)
• A little healthy nutrient dense soil
• Food Waste (can be added as you produce)

Food Waste:

Stick to leafy greens and produce with low acidity:

• Banana peels
• Chard, Kale, Cabbage, Lettuce, Spinach, etc
• Carrots, beets, and other roots

Avoid high acidic produce:

• Lemons
• Oranges
• Onions
• Garlic
• Leeks

Instructions:

1. Prep your bin or dig your hole. 
2. Add yard trimmings and paper to the bottom on the bin.
3. Then add your nutrient dense soil and worms. 
4. Add food scraps as you acquire them.
5. Mix the compost pile whenever or never. 
6. It will take 6 months to a year to get completed compost

Hot Composting

What you will need:

• A large bin or hole in your yard
• Worms
• Dried yard trimmings (leaves, small pieces of wood)
• Paper or egg cartons (and egg shells!)
• A little healthy nutrient dense soil
• Food Waste (can be added as you produce)
• Water

Food Waste:

Stick to leafy greens and produce with low acidity:

• Banana peels
• Chard, Kale, Cabbage, Lettuce, Spinach, etc
• Carrots, beets, and other roots

Avoid high acidic produce:

• Lemons
• Oranges
• Onions
• Garlic
• Leeks

Your pile should maintain 1 part food waste and 2 parts dried yard trimmings. A healthy pile will 141F to 155F. This temperature will kill all weed seeds and disease pathogens.

Instructions:

1. Prep your bin or dig your hole. 
2. Add yard trimmings and paper to the bottom on the bin.
3. Then add your nutrient dense soil and worms. 
4. Add food scraps as you acquire them.
5. Mix the compost pile 2-4 times a week. Check the temperature during each mix.
6. It should stay damp, add water if needed.  
7. It will take at least a few weeks to make compost.
8. Use it in your garden and mix it in with soil when repotting indoor plants!

Written By Madison Suoja, Education and Outreach Specialist

Throughout the month of May, we celebrate Fair Trade products and the partnerships that produce them. In-store we will have signage for our staff’s favorite Fair Trade Certified items, and we will update this list throughout May with any new favorites that we find!

What is Fair Trade?

Fair Trade is both a philosophy and a business model. It keeps small farmers and artisans an active part of the marketplace by fairly compensating them for their work, and through various labeling systems allows consumers to shop in a way that aligns with their values.

It also:

Raises the incomes of small-scale farmers, farmworkers, and artisans

Equitably distributes the economic gains, opportunities, and risks associated with the production and sale of these goods

Supports democratically owned and controlled organizations

Promotes labor rights and the right of workers to organize

Promotes safe and sustainable farming methods and working conditions

“Matr Boomie makes such cute accessories that you can feel good about buying because you know that you are supporting a good cause. They pay the artisans that they work with very well and reinvest a portion of the profits back into their communities.”

Karla, Wellness and General Merchandise Manager

“I love the rich flavor of this tea, it has notes of bergamot just like a proper earl grey should!”

Derlina, Front-end Supervisor

“Dr. Bronner’s coconut oil is an amazing product because of how versatile it is! I use it in baking, to make my own toothpaste, and as a lotion during Spring and Summer to help keep mosquitoes away!⁠”

Madison, Education and Outreach Coordinator

“Divine uses only Fair Trade Certified chocolate from farms owned by their farmers, so you can feel good about indulging in these bars. The white chocolate strawberry and milk chocolate toffee are my favorites.”

Matt, Bulk Department

 

“Coffee is what keeps me going and I love that I can support the farmers that produce it by buying from conscious companies such as Equal Exchange and Pachamama.”

Rocio, Operations and Facilities Manager

“A high-quality olive oil is great for entertaining or using in special meals, I like this one for its flavors of almond and spices. La Riojana is an Argentinian farmer-owned co-op that is the biggest exporter of Fair Trade wine in the world.”

Roberto, Front-end Supervisor

There are many things that we could all do in our homes to be a little more environmentally friendly. Ditching products that come in single-use plastic or contain harmful chemicals is a great first step. A total rehaul of your cleaning supplies and routine is not only overwhelming but unnecessary. After all, it would be wasteful to throw out functional cleaning supplies only to replace them with better versions. This guide is meant to help those who are interested in transitioning to more natural products and less wasteful solutions for taking care of their homes. We hope that you find some of these tips helpful!

There are a lot of simple swaps that many of us can make:

• Use what you have. It can be very tempting to buy new eco-friendly cleaning products. But if what you currently have is still functional, we urge you to use it until it no longer works in order to stem waste.
• Avoid single-use materials. Instead of buying paper towels, use reusable cleaning cloths. You might not even need to buy cloths as you likely have old clothes or towels lying around that you can cut up and use as rags instead of throwing out. 
• Repurpose whatever you can think of. Instead of tossing out an old toothbrush, keep it for cleaning nooks and crannies. 

Conventional cleaning products can contain a myriad of ingredients that are irritating to the skin, eyes, and throat. Unfortunately right now, irritating products such as bleach are the most reliable at keeping you safe from bacteria that can get you sick. It is important to be adequately sanitizing surfaces that things from outside your home have come in contact with to prevent the spread of disease. But for everyday cleaning in many parts of your home using such strong products is unnecessary. Gentler solutions are suitable for areas where there isn’t a  concern about outside contaminants.

Below we have outlined two cleaning products that are two simple to assemble yourself and will hopefully bring extra joy to your cleaning routine!

Simple All-purpose Cleaning Spray

We promise that this cleaning spray will have you saying goodbye to the mists that you usually purchase to clean surfaces in your home. This recipe will keep your surfaces clear of toxic compounds and save you the guilt of buying single-use plastics. 

Ingredients:

• Water
• Distilled white vinegar
• The essential oil of your choice(optional- we love using lemon, lavender, or eucalyptus)
• Spray bottle(preferably glass, but if you have an empty plastic one lying around you can repurpose it for this spray)

Assembly:

1. Fill a spray bottle halfway with water
2. Fill the remaining half of the bottle with distilled white vinegar
3. Add in about 20 drops of essential oil of your choice to give the solution a pleasing scent
4. Shake well to combine ingredients

Instructions on how to use:

• Shake and spray on any surface of your choice!(You do not want to use this on granite or marble as vinegar can damage these surfaces)

Toilet Cleaning Fizzers

Unlike conventional toilet bowl cleaners, these fizzy toilet bowl cleaners are made with non-toxic ingredients and easy for you to assemble yourself. While these little fizzers are doing their thing in the bowl they are releasing their active ingredients, which work to neutralize odors, disinfect, and remove stains. 

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup baking soda
• ½ cup citric acid 
• 25 drops essential oil of your choice(we love using lemon, orange, or eucalyptus)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of water
• 1 orange or lemon zested (optional- will make these look more appealing and won’t clog your toilet*)
• You will need a silicone mold of some sort to press the mixture into to give these fizzers shape

*It’s a good idea to always zest fruit before juicing it even if you don’t need a zest for the recipe you are following. If you save zest in the freezer then you will always have it on hand when you do need it and you will waste fewer parts of the fruit!

Assembly:

1. Combine citric acid, baking soda and orange/lemon zest in a large bowl, mixing them well.
2. Add the oil you have chosen to the dry ingredients. Stir well to combine, adding more if you’d like a stronger scent.
3. Add water a little bit at a time, mixing with your fingers until it holds together when squeezed but isn’t soaked. You want it to be just damp. Don’t add the water all at once, this will cause your mixture to fizz right away and make a mess. 
4. Press the mixture into the mold of your choice firmly*. Make sure to press out all the air and compact it together nicely. It might bubble up a bit – if this is the case, consider adding it back to the bowl and putting in more dry ingredients. If it’s too dry, add a bit more water to it.
5. Place your mold into the freezer and let the toilet fizzers harden, this part only takes about two hours but you can leave them longer if you want to be sure that they’ve set. Store them in an airtight container such as a mason jar.

*If you do not have, or do not want to use, a mold you can keep this mixture as a powder in an airtight container and use it that way. 

Instructions on how to use:

• Drop a fizzer into your toilet bowl and let sit for five minutes. Once enough time has passed scrub and flush the bowl.