LOOK UNDER THE SINK

Photo: Our house (the second from the left in sunshine) in Buncrana Co.Donegal

Now that we are spending more time in the house, it would be a great idea to have a look under your sink. Firstly you could make sure that all of the pipes are dry and that there are no wet patches that could cause the house to start smelling of damp. Next have a look at products that are potentially harmful. Almost everyone in the western world has a cupboard full of poisons under their kitchen sink. Sprays, oven cleaner, waxes and polishes. The place is full of chemicals that display the words poison, danger, warning, or caution. Small amounts of the poisons drift from, and leak out of bottles and spray bottles, which then waft around the kitchen. Household poisonings are one of the highest threats to the health of children. Next time you are at the shop look for safer versions of the products. Try the health shop. Replace all hazardous products with safer versions in the future. The kitchen will then have no chemicals wafting into your household, which is a safer environment for the kids.

GO A BIT FURTHER

As you are in the kitchen try to reduce your use of non renewable resources; avoid products with potentially harmful ingredients such as sponges with antibacterial ingredients; reuse old shirts as rags. Use cloth rags instead of paper towels to save trees. And save money! Look at your purchase of mops, paper towels, sponges, buckets and vacuums with an eye towards their durability, health and environmental impact. If you must use paper towels buy recycled, unbleached paper. Try to buy reusable mops and rags instead of paper ones.

ANTIBACTERIAL SPRAY

New research is proving that the old folk recipes using herbs and essential oils to kill germs, such as those used by 14th century doctors during the Black Plague were based on good science. Many essential oils, such as the oils of lavender and thyme, are more antiseptic than phenol, the industry standard. Research is also showing that antibacterial plant oils may not cause drug resistance as could be the case with common chemical disinfectants. The essential oil-based spray, below, leaves a lovely, clean scent. It is a good choice to use for misting your cutting board after use although I just use tea tree and water myself.


Lavender Antibacterial Spray
1 cup water
20 drops pure essential oil of lavender
Pour the water into a spray bottle. Add the lavender essential oil and shake to blend. Spray on the surface and let set for at least 15 minutes, or don’t rinse at all.
Makes: 1 cup spray
Shelf Life: Indefinite

Helpful Hint:
Look for small, coloured (and recycled!) spray bottles at the local hardware store or charity shop.

Caution
Make sure you never get essential oils near your eyes, or to put them directly on your skin.

Make certain to use only clean spray bottles, and ones that have never contained toxic poisons.

Note that homemade herbal antibacterial sprays are not registered disinfectants.

Household, environmental

COKE USES

Ian

What else can I use Coke for as I have some cans left over from a party and I don’t drink the stuff Thanks E M.by e-mail

One of the active ingredients in Coca Cola is phosphoric acid. This is very caustic. Pure phosphoric acid can eat through metal, and dissolve concrete! Rumours say that Coke distributors have used it over the years to clean the engines of their delivery lorries, and it also works to help scrub road grime from your windscreen. Here are some other things you could try to get rid of your unwanted stock. (Again the usual disclaimers apply-you are on your own!)

Pour a can of Coke into the toilet bowl. Let it sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china. It should work equally well for sinks and baths

Apply a cloth soaked in Coke to a rusted bolt for several minutes to free it up.

Empty a can of Coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains.

Environmental,household.

BLUEBERRIES

Blueberries look as though they should grow in tropical climates; the prices in the shops reflect this. You might be surprised to learn that our damp climate and acid soil is just what these plants need to flourish. The fruit is very closely related to the Irish bilberry you might have picked when out for a walk in the hills. Blueberries have been grown commercially since 1992 in Co. Offaly.

Blueberries require light, free-draining acidic soils, with plenty of rich, organic matter if they are to thrive. The soil should have a pH of between 4 and 5.5, similar to the requirements of rhododendrons and camellias. It is possible to lower the pH levels of your soil with sulphur chips or dust. However, they will need to be added three weeks before planting to take effect. Monitor the soil's pH every few years, because it may be necessary to add acid. If you do not have suitable soil, simply grow blueberries in a pot containing acidic soil, giving the plants a high potash feed (such as tomato feed) occasionally during the growing season. See if you can find someone with an established bush and take some cuttings. If you want named varieties such as chandelier or earliblue. Companies such as Thompson and Morgan sell the plants. They are expensive but you will soon recoup your investment. (click on title for link)

Growing tips

Plant two different varieties of blueberries to ensure cross-pollination. A single blueberry plant will produce fruit, but the yields will be higher and the fruits bigger if more than one plant is grown.

Blueberries require a position in full sun or light shade.

Plant blueberries in the dormant season leaving about 1.5m (5ft) gaps between them.

Mulch with a layer of acidic peat, wood chippings or pine needles.

Water the plants in well.

There are quite a few varieties to choose from so get the best for your site. Other types include:

'Bluetta'

'Bluetta' is a fairly tasty and vigorous, compact variety, with a spreading habit, producing a medium-sized, light blue berry.

'Patriot'

This blueberry is a high-yielding, vigorous, hardy variety with medium to large blue berries and excellent flavour.

'Bluecrop'

This variety has large, light blue berries with good flavour. It is slightly aromatic and has excellent orange and copper leaves in autumn.

'Herbert'
Many people say that 'Herbert' is the tastiest variety of blueberry. It produces large berries and has moderate vigour.

Horticultural.

AIR CONDITIONING

Photo: Straw bale house with natural wood interiors make for a cool house, eliminating the need for air conditioning.

There are some things that I never thought I would have reason to write about. Earthquakes and droughts aren’t a regular occurrence in Inishowen, thank goodness! Another topic that isn’t mentioned much is the need to cool our houses down. I had a letter this week from a woman called Bernie who has been considering getting some air conditioning fitted. Generally speaking we don’t really need air conditioning in our homes and it is usually businesses -big offices, shops and commercial premises that would consider it. After saying that, my mother had the devices fitted to her living room and bedroom and it has made her life a lot more comfortable in the height of summer (she does live in the midlands in England though!). You can pay a lot of money for the units but there are some portable ones you can get from the DIY shops that are all right for a small room and are reasonably priced.

AIR CONDITIONERS

An air conditioner is basically a refrigerator without the insulated box. It uses the evaporation of a refrigerant, like Freon gas, to provide cooling. There has been an outcry recently about these units adding to the global warming problem we hear about. In Ireland we usually use far less electricity in summer than we do in winter. The same cannot be said about the United States. Air conditioners alone use up to 1/6th of U.S. electricity and, on hot summer days, consume 43% of the U.S. peak power load. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, heating and cooling systems in the U.S. emit over a half billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, adding to global warming. They also generate about 24% of the nations' sulfur dioxide, a chief ingredient in acid rain.


Here are suggestions for free, or low-cost, ways to cool your home with less impact on the environment and your energy bill should you ever decide that it is just too hot in the house!


Blocking the Heat:


The most effective ways to block heat from entering your home are insulation, reflective barriers and shading.


Reflective Barriers:

An important consideration in passive cooling is house colour. Dark-colored home exteriors absorb 70% to 90% of the radiant energy from the sun that strikes the home's surfaces.


hading is the simplest, most effective way to cool your home and reduce energy consumption. Up to 40% of the costs of cooling can be saved by shading techniques such as landscaping with trees and shrubs, and closing the curtains and blinds.


REMOVING INTERIOR HEAT


Thermal Chimney:


If there is any breeze, open the lowest windows on the side from where the breeze is coming. Leave interior doors open, and open the upstairs windows on the opposite side of the house. The warm air in your house will draw upwards and out the upper window, an effect called 'thermal siphoning'. This is most effective when the inside temperature is higher than the outside temperature.


Roof Vents:


Ventilating your attic greatly reduces the amount of accumulated heat which otherwise radiates down into your house.


Ridge Vent:


For even more effective attic ventilation, a continuous ventilation system, Coolvent, can be installed along the ridge, beneath the ridge shingles.


Ceiling Fans:


Ceiling fans are efficient and use little electricity, less than 1/10th the wattage of air conditioners. Ceiling fans can also be used with the air conditioner. This represents a savings of 30% of air conditioning costs and energy consumption.



NATURAL AIR CONDITIONING


There was a technique used or invented by the Romans a long time ago. A natural form of air conditioning / ventilation was used roughly as follows:



A trench 6 to 12 feet deep and 100 to 200 yards long was dug leading from the "house" in a straight line away from the house.


Into this trench a large diameter pipe (these days corrugated drainage pipe 2 or 3 feet diameter) was laid, with holes drilled into the bottom to drain water that condensed inside the pipe. The trench was then covered over.


At the far end a 90-degree elbow was attached and more pipe added so that it reached above ground and the end covered with some sort of wire mesh attached to keep out unwanted things such as rodents, etc., and then another elbow could be added at this end to shield against rain.



The house end of the pipe entered the property and was the source of incoming air.


The key to making this work is to add a convection chimney like I mentioned earlier.


On the outside, two intersecting sides of the chimney; are painted flat black, and then faced south to get the sun.


How it works: the sun heats up the chimney causing the air inside to rise, thus drawing air through the cool pipe. The pipe cools the air drawn from the outside to the temperature of the earth at the depth at which it is buried (which is virtually constant year around at this depth). Of course, without the sun to warm the chimney the system wont be very effective. Get a towel and go for a dip in the sea if you get too hot!



Environmental

HEALTHY GRINDERS

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I recently got hold of a book that deals with pollutants in the house. I only read the first few chapters, but decided that the whole world should hear about this. So off I went into town to research all the labels from the cleaning and personal care products on the supermarket shelves. I stood in the cleaning isle of the local supermarket and caught a couple of familiar faces buying products that had potentially harmful skin irritants in their ingredients. What can I say other than I apologise for scare mongering these people. I was fully aware that every time I took my eyes off of them, they were slowly walking backwards to the door to escape my ramblings. At the time this made no difference, I had a point to make and I was going to make it…sorry.

TEETH

I was looking through a copy of A Handbook for the Brownies by Lord Baden-Powell dated around 1930 (I have to get my ideas from somewhere!). There was an article about teeth that I would like to share with you.

“A man came to be recruited for the army. He was examined for his strength, height and eyesight. These were fine but when it came to his teeth he was refused. He went away astonished and thought that the army wanted to not only kill people but eat them too. The truth was that he was no use as a soldier as he couldn’t bite a hard biscuit or chew meat, as his teeth were bad.
Unless a girl can chew her food well the good does not come out of it in her stomach to go to make blood, which is necessary for health. So whatever you do, try to keep your teeth sound and strong. There is no part of you that poisonous germs attack more readily than your teeth. Your teeth will rot away and will have to be pulled out. Attack those germs with a toothbrush and get the germs out of their hiding places between and behind the teeth. Rinse out with lots of water so the germs don’t burrow in and destroy those grinders.”

Timeless words eh?toothpaste,children,plaque,

TOOTH PASTE

If you use fluoride toothpaste then only use a tiny amount. For children, just put on a smear. Try diluting it with boiled water to make it go further. The plaque is removed from the teeth by the rubbing action with the brush, not the toothpaste .

If you can get fluoride free toothpaste from the health shop, then so much the better. Tell children not to swallow toothpaste.

There are homemade alternatives that can be put together easily. Here are a couple of suggestions to get your biscuit muncers all cleaned up and ready for action

Simple toothpaste: This can be made with bicarbonate of soda, vegetable glycerin and essential oil of peppermint, lemon or fennel. Mix 1 part liquid to 2 parts bicarb. Add a few drops of the oil and shake well. Only make a small amount and store it in a jar or small pump dispenser.

Simple mouthwash: Mix a couple of drops of peppermint oil or sage tincture in a cup of water. Rinse and spit!

Raw carrots after a meal (or at any time are great for teeth. Having carrot sticks in a cup of water on the kitchen table for a healthy (and sweet) snack for children is useful. Visiting friends are often surprised when their kids eat them.

Never brush your teeth after eating an apple as you are rubbing acid into your teeth, which strips the enamel. Its best to rinse your mouth with water after eating apples. Nuts or cheese wouldn’t be a bad supper for after the teeth have been brushed, but its better to brush your teeth last thing at night and after breakfast in the morning.

Before I go I would like to finish off with a poem. This again was from my Brownie Handbook.

Daily Health Rules
Only feed on wholesome fare;
Through your nostrils breathe fresh air;
Clean yourself inside and out;
Twist and bend and run about.

Please keep all household products well away from children.

Household

DIVIDING PERENNIALS

Photo: Perennials benefit by division.

Photo: Aubrieta kitte.

Photo: Daphne mezereum rubra.

Many herbaceous plants can be divided and by doing so you can have lots of new plants. Plants with fibrous or roots can easily be lifted and divided, but plants with fleshy or rhizomatous roots need to lifted and divided by using a sharp knife.

Dividing fleshy rooted plants.

Dig up the plant and with a sharp knife separate the woody crowns. Make sure that each new piece has strong roots and several bud growths. Again if its an old big clump that's been in the ground for several years or more then throw away the centre part. Plants with fleshy Crowns include: Delphiniums / Lupins / Astilbe / Hosta.

Fibrous rooted plants

Dig the plant out of the ground and place two garden forks or hand forks back to back and then lever their handles together. This pulls the plant apart and untangles the roots. You will need to repeat this technique several times to end up with small divisions of the main clump. A golden rule is usually to throw away the centre part of the main clump and keep and replant the outer parts of the plant. The centre of the clump is the older part and becomes woody.Plants with fibrous roots include: Artemisia, Asters, Golden Rod, Herbaceous Campanulas, Herbaceous Geraniums, Meadowsweet, Perennial Spiraea, Perennial Sunflowers and Yarrow.

Dividing rhizomes.

Dig up and select young outer pieces. Use a sharp knife to separate the rhizomes. Select pieces that have at least one or two fans of leaves from the outside of the clump and discard the centre rhizomes. Plants with rhizome roots include: Flag Iris, Lily of the valley and Orris Root.

Horticultural