Organic gardening is the way of growing vegetables and fruits with the use of things only found in nature.
Why would one want to indulge in organic gardening?

1.One can easily make compost from garden and kitchen waste. Though this is a bit more time-consuming than buying prepared chemical pesticides and fertilizers, it certainly helps to put garbage to good use and so saves the environment.

2. Organic farming does not use chemicals that may have an adverse affect on your health. This is especially important when growing vegetables. Chemical companies tell us that the chemicals we use are safe if used according to direction, but research shows that even tiny amounts of poisons absorbed through the skin can cause such things as cancer, especially in children.

On the average, a child ingests four to five times more cancer-causing pesticides from foods than an adult. This can lead to various diseases later on in the child’s life. With organic gardening, these incidents are lessened.

Remember, pesticides contain toxins that have only one purpose – to kill living things.

3. Less harm to the environment. Poisons are often washed into our waterways, causing death to the native fish and polluting their habitat.

4.Organic farming practices help prevent the loss of topsoil through erosion.
The Soil Conservation Service says that an estimated 30 – 32 billion tons of soil erodes from United States farmlands every year.

5. Cost savings. One does not need to buy costly chemical fertilizers and pesticides with organic gardening. Many organic recipes for the control of pest and disease come straight from the kitchen cupboard. Sometimes other plants can be grown as companions to the main crop. An example of this is the marigold, which helps to repel aphids from vegetables.
Mixing 1 tablespoon of liquid dishwashing soap and 1 cup of cooking oil can make a cheap garden pest spray. Put 3 tablespoons of this mixture in 1 quart of water and spray on plants.

6.A simple mulch of pine needles will help to suppress the growth of weeds as well as keeping the moisture in.

7.Organic gardening practices help to keep the environment safe for future generations.

5 Pieces of Equipment Gardeners Can’t Live Without
Gardening is fun and rewarding and may be considered a hobby, talent or both and sometimes it’s just luck. Gardening is not as easy as it looks and involves dedication, time and consistency and many trials and errors. There are many aspects to maintaining a healthy garden, but some aspects are more important than others. An individual who likes to garden can have the knowledge to produce the best garden in the world, but without the right equipment and materials it just wouldn’t be possible.

Below you will find a list of the top 5 pieces of equipment which gardeners simply cannot live without:

1. Trowel. A trowel is a shovel-like piece of equipment which is used to dig up dirt and set small plants. There are many styles to choose from and type of handle on your trowel will determine how well it works. Easy grip, non-slide and non-slip grips are the best form of handle to choose. These will be easier to use and will require less work than any other form of trowel.

A trowel with no grip will be difficult to use and could end up ruining your garden. Try one out in your hand first to ensure it feels comfortable. There’s nothing like having your hand cramp or the trowel slip while using it to dig in a beautiful, new plant.

2. Pitchfork. A pitchfork is a gardening tool which has 2-6 prongs and a long handle. The sizes of pitchforks vary, depending on what they are being used for. The space between each prong varies as well. Pitchforks are used to separate, lift and throw loose pieces of material such as dirt and leaves.

3. Spade. A gardening spade has a long, thick handle and a heavy flat blade. This tool is used to dig up and move pieces of dirt from one place to another. It can also be used to pack down dirt once the flower has been planted.

4. Pruning Shears. Pruning shears are tools which have a long handles and blades. This type of gardening equipment is used to allow gardeners to precisely prune rose bushes and other plants and unruly vines, etc. It can also be used to cut the grass at the edges of walkways and garden beds, in those hard to reach places. It is also used to trim the edges and remove dead leaves or wood on flowers.

There is no other piece of gardening equipment which can do the same job as pruning shears. Without the use of this piece of equipment, your garden will end up looking messy and disorganized. Always, always, always invest in good quality pruning shears. Good ones have a lifetime guarantee and low-end ones will make shrapnel of your heritage rose.

5. Wheelbarrow. A wheelbarrow is one of the larger pieces of garden equipment. It is a cart with a handle and at least one wheel which is designed for easy transportation of materials from one place to another. Purchasing a wheelbarrow will save you a lot of time and effort, especially if you are off to the compost heap, and will make for a pleasant gardening experience. Another option is the 4-wheeled gardening cart.

There are many pieces of gardening equipment which will make this hobby easier and more efficient, however the ones listed above are recognized as the most important. These pieces of equipment will likely last a very long time.

John Pawlett
http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/plus-points-for-organic-gardening-96240.html

Duration : 0:7:43

Technorati Tags: MoonFantasy bath and body, soap recipes, soapmaking, spa reicpes

Check out the many links in these two searches I did on those topics:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how+to+make+soap

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+make+soap

HTh,

Diane B.

Organic Pest Control

We’re all searching for ways to live in a more earth-friendly fashion. But when it comes to gardening, it’s difficult to find out how to kill or prevent garden pests in a safe way. Organic pest control has come a long way, and we’re lucky to have many more effective tools to resolve this problem.

Create Natural Barriers

Picking off grubs and other critters by hand is an easy way to reduce your pesky problem. You can also build many types of barrier environments which entrap the insects. Plugging holes is also fundatmental. Snails can be caught hiding in damp places under rocks and towards the base of plants with straplike foliage. Simply exploring your garden and adjacent areas for potential insect hideaways is one of the most useful forms of organic pest control.

Use Biological Control

Encourage predatory insects such as green lacewings and dragonflies to feed on aphids and other pests that attack your plants. You can do this by placing a shallow bowl of water in the garden. Beneficial insects such as dragonflies will hover around water. Bacterial insecticides such as B. thuringiensis could also be used against caterpillars.

Finding the Safest Repellents

How to kill or prevent garden pests? Organic pest control methods can be effective and the ingredients for most of the recipes can be found in your kitchen cupboard. If chemical repellents are truly necessary, try to use the least-toxic and apply using the manufacturers instructions. These include insecticide soaps, horticultural oils, dehydrating dust, etc.

Make It Yourself

Against Green Aphids and Mites – Mix 1 tablespoon of liquid soap and a cup of vegetable oil. Dilute a teaspoon of this liquid in a cup of water and spray on aphids and mites.

Against Cockroaches – Dusts of boric acid can be placed on cracks or entry points around your home. Bay leaves on pantry shelves can also help in deterring these critters.

Make sure that the chemicals you use are made specifically for the insects you are targeting.

When researching how to kill or prevent garden pests, there is a world of information on the internet. Organic pest control may seem more challenging at first, but once you spend a little time creating a beneficial environment, you will be happier living in a safe, natural garden where you and your plants can flourish without the risks of unsafe chemicals and pesticides.

Ron King
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/organic-pest-control-resolve-your-problem-naturally-369008.html

Part of the confusion lies in the fact that people use an abbreviation of "fluid ounce" when they refer to cups. You always hear people say, "There are 8 oz. in a cup". This is not necessarily correct. Cups have fluid ounces, not ounces. A cup of lead pellets and a cup of feathers both occupy 8 fluid ounces of volume. The lead will weigh a lot more than 8 ounces on a scale, the feathers will weigh a lot less than 8 ounces on a scale.

Here is another example:

8 oz of mini marshmallows = 4.54 cups
8 oz of flour = 1.81 cups
8 oz of sugar = 1.13 cups

As you can see, the weight of these ingredients are the same, yet their volumes are different. This is because of density differences. 8 oz does not always equal 1 cup. There are exceptions. "A pint is a pound the world around, for butter, eggs, milk and water". In other words, a cup of any of these ingredients will weigh about 8 ounces on a scale.

A lot of people are also confused about the term "dry measure". A dry measure is a measuring cup that is flat on top so that it can be leveled. A liquid measure is a measuring cup that has a spout on it. Both a 1 cup dry measure and a 1 cup liquid measure have exactly the same volume: 8 fluid ounces. A lot of people mistakenly believe a dry measure uses a different type of ounce. They will erroneously refer to it as a "dry ounce" or "solid ounce"…. or the will refer to liquid being measured in a cup as "liquid ounces".

Don’t let the term "fluid ounce" throw you off. Volume is the amount of space an ingredient occupies. So "fluid ounce" is simply a name for a unit of volume. It doesn’t matter if the ingredient in the cup is a dry ingredient or a liquid ingredient…. it is still fluid ounces.

Not all liquids have a density such that a cup of the liquid will weigh 8 ounces. A cup of water will vary in weight depending on the temperature of the water. A cup of alcohol will weigh less than 8 ounces on a scale. A cup of honey will weigh more than 8 ounces on a scale.

The soap recipe you posted is supposed to be weighed out… unless the author of the recipe really screwed up and meant fluid ounces.

Ingredients:

12 ounces of white glycerin or goats milk soap
2 tablespoons of calamine lotion
5 Vitamin E capsules
2 drops FDC Red #40
1/2 oz bubblegum FO

Instructions:

Melt either 12 oz of white glycerin or goats milk soap in a double boiler. Add 2 tablespoons of calamine lotion. Enhance the pinkish color by adding 2 drops red dye. Add 5 capsules of vitamin E. Add the bubblegum FO.
Pour into a round PVC mold. Cool completely, and slice into 3 bars.

Thanks!

I’ve never tried it but there is this olive oil soap I use and it’s made from scratch. 2ltr olive oil and 40g lye dissolved in room temperature water mix 2gether and pour in molds let air dry for 2 weeks and there u go. http://www.delcitysoap.com/soaprecipe.htm try this link or just search olive oil soap

Kitchen cabinets, furniture, perfume, even candles and air fresheners – they can all contribute to the air pollution in our homes.

Dr. Bernard Hamel, former Director for the Institute for Environmental Studies at Drexil University, estimates that the levels of potentially deadly toxins in the average American home may be five times greater than the level of toxic pollutants found in the dirtiest city air.

Indoor air pollution poses a far greater risk to our health than outdoor pollution. Exposure to tobacco smoke, structural materials, mold, and even simple household dust can make us sick.

Biological contaminants such as mold and mildew allow disease-carrying pollutants to reproduce and spread their spores throughout the air. Toxic chemicals found in air fresheners, as well as average cleaning and grooming supplies can also be hazardous when build-up occurs in poorly ventilated rooms. Even the glue that holds 90% of today’s furniture together contains formaldehyde, which may cause nausea, headaches, lethargy and breathing problems in some people.

Another concern is lead paint, asbestos and radon, which were used in most homes, built before the 1980’s. Odorless, colorless and tasteless, these are all substances that are impossible to detect without proper testing.

When trying to safeguard your home against indoor pollution, follow these simple tips:

-Use pump bottles for cleaning supplies instead of spray cans. They spray less fumes and are easier to direct.

-Add more ventilation, or simply open your doors and windows more often to help air out the indoor pollution.

-Hire environmental testers to check for things like radon, lead and asbestos.

-Use “green” cleaning products. They’re cheaper and easy to make. Try these recipes for some common household cleaning jobs:

All Purpose Cleaner:
-1 qt. warm water
-1 tsp. liquid hand soap
-1/4 tsp. lemon juice

Works well on floors, countertops, rugs and upholstery

Oven Cleaner:
Cover grime with baking soda. Spray with water until wet, keeping dry for 3-4 hours. Let sit overnight. In the morning wipe clean with clear water.

Furniture Polish:
-1 pt. mineral oil
-1 tsp. lemon juice

Caustic household cleaners and chemicals ma be the #1 source of acute human exposure to toxic substances, according to research done by the American Association of Poison Control Centers. They make us sick and they damage the environment. When you have to use a caustic substance around your home, remember two important tips:

-Know how to use them properly: Always use caustic chemicals and cleaners in a well-ventilated area. Use an air mask if possible.

-Know how to dispose of them properly: Improper disposal of household cleaners, paints and other chemicals is the main source of toxic pollution in the United States today.

Follow these tips when getting rid of your household chemicals:

-Never pour any hazard household substance down the drain.

-Keep original containers for ingredient lists and storage.

-Take lids off paint and let dry prior to disposing.

-Take all chemical containers to your local hazardous waste site for disposal.

Matthew Hick
http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/air-pollution-your-house-may-be-harming-your-family-131950.html