Lesley Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 Chocchick - there is a thread called Home Made Cleaning Products somewhere - well worth a read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cate in NZ Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 I agree with everything that you've all said, and started the green cleaning thing as an experiment, but with a certain amount of cynicism. But, in almost every case the green alternatives work as well, smell better, and make housework more pleasurable. In my work I am continually washing my hands, and found that my poor overwashed hands were suffering when I was using chemicals to clean at home. Now they're 100 times better That said I'm still stuck with Ariel for laundry, tried home-made alternatives, and even Ecover, but with filthy football kits only Ariel seems to do the trick. I'll keep looking for an alternative though. Buffie, I don't have any other answers to the hidden eggs dilemma, I find it a problem myself. All you can do is explain your beliefs to your friends, I think most would understand, but it's very easy to trip up as labelling can be so misleading, and if we, already motivated and observant can find it difficult, friends who aren't as motivated might not be as aware of the pitfalls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted February 16, 2006 Author Share Posted February 16, 2006 Thanks kateA. Missed the forum today so sorry if I've been missing your comments on other threads, busy working and the pug has taken over the computer. I can't find an alternative washing liquid as yet either!! BBx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxhen Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Well I can vouch for Ecover products - I have been using them for 18 years at least. There wasn;t the range of stuff that they do now then but I have used core products like cream cleaner, loo cleaner, clothes wash and washing up liquid for all that time. Later additions like their dishwasher tabs work well and their bin liners and spray cleaner (for kitchen sides) is good. I stick with them despite supermarket own makes and other environmental efforts simply becasue they started first and have a great track record. We are a no bleach household - I have never bought the stuff in twenty years plus. I hate all the noxious stuff that people put down their loos (and sinks) - Ecover loo cleaner does the job with a loo brush used regularly. Having been vegetarian for 25 years I made an agreement with my husbadn when we got together 15 years ago that he would have happy meat only - and so our realtionship with the Real Meat Company (they have website) began - and other sources of organic /happy meat. My three dogs have the BARF or raw meat diet for the last two years and all their meat and bones and chicken wings (sorry ) come from Real meat Company (our local shop from that company is not too far away) . I have a freezer permanently full of mince, kidneys, liver and bones just for my dogs- all from RMC. Hubbies meat is in other freezer! I have been trying to convert people for years - usually people say it is the cost - but as they find out the meat tastes so much nicer and goes further so cost is offset a bit. Also just have abit less meat. Gradually things are changing - but living with livestock - in this case hens ( I grew up on and around farms) certainly makes you very aware of animals needs. I became vegetarian because of what I saw. Happy meat couldn;t be found when I was a teenager. Now although it is more widely available I have lived (quite healthily I think) for so long without it I don;t want to eat it. Iain loves his real meat bacon and sausages - now with home laid eggs of course! H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted February 16, 2006 Author Share Posted February 16, 2006 Oh thanks helen, we live soo happily without meat but don't mind anyone liking it! After all these years there isn't any worry of choice but it's great having eggs from our girls. if thy don't lay we don't eat them BBx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxhen Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Yes - yuo can;t force people to be vegetarian can you! In any case if people's desire to eat meat goes hand in hand with a desire to challenge standard (factory farming as it almost entirely was 25 years ago) practices in farming then that has to be a good thing. All those years ago becoming vegetarian was the only route of protest really. In a similar way consumer choice FOR humanely reared meat now can and does make a huge difference to the way animals are reared for meat. Like you with the hidden eggs - we try to avoid them as much as we can. And as for meat - if we go out Iain will eat vegetarian unless he can know the source of the meat ie local lamb. He never has chicken when he goes out ever....Chickens are probably the worst treated of all commercially meat reared creatures now (where things are improving -albeit slowly - for other animals) and somehow seem never to feature as locally produced and free range as meat birds on menus in restaurants or pubs. As eggs yes, meat no. H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocchick Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Poor chickens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxhen Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Poor chickens indeed...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted February 17, 2006 Author Share Posted February 17, 2006 Yes and I can't believe I've just sprinkled some dry galbani italian cheese on my soup and it's got lysozyme in it from eggs and battery eggs at that! It's now going in the bin!!!! BBx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelfire Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 I am vegetarian too. I have been since I was 3. I have been looking at labels for so long with regards to "hidden" chemicals/eggs etc. so boring but no otheer way....... I have avoided a lot of vegetarian products also because of the battery eggs, You will be surprised how much eggs are used in products until you start looking. Thats why I am so enjoying having my lovely girls to lay such wonderful ones for us!! I am also an ecover girl, absolutely love the products. I chose to do this not only for the enviroment but for my families wellbeing too. Last year I started changing all my body/face/make-up products as well because of the amount of carcin0gens in them. I found some amazing replacements. Also did you realize that some ingredients that are moisturizing products are the same as brake fluid so extremely caustic!!!!!!!!!! Very shiny halo! (only because I polished it this morning!!!!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 I hope that you polished it with Ecover Angelfire! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocchick Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 I have started buying lush products for shampoo, cleanser etc. as they have natural ingredients and are made by hand. http://www.lush.co.uk/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelfire Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Of course clare!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxhen Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Hmm Lush sounds good...will investigate the website methinks...... I use Dermalogica face stuff as i get excema on my face if I am not careful (i am pretty sure there are no brake fluid equivalents in there - Alison the lady who I by it from would be horrified!) but i have used 'Faith in nature'shampoos and conditioners for years.( wwwfaithinnature.co.uk ) Ecover do the pump soap now and even shower gel - it just gets better and better! Were your parents vegetarian Angelfire? Three is very young! I wanted to start when I was 14 but my mother refused permission then at 16 I said I was doing it and that was that. She believed as did my family that it was a fad......(at 41 I am still in fad 'teenage strop'mode then ) H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelfire Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 maxhen, I had a look on dermalogicas's site but they only tell you the good stuff that is in it and not the full list of ingredients. The problems usually are in the base/carrier of products and how they preserve them. For a comparison go to www.greenpeople-organic-health.co.uk Any product you bring up will be accompanied by an extra tab where you can get a FULL list of ingredients.There is nothing bad in their products and nearly every ingredient is certified organic. (coincidently,green people was invented especially for a little girl that had eczema, have a look at ABOUT on that site).Although green people will not suit everyones skin there are other companies that are this aware about their ingredients. I use their shampoo/cond. if you post ingredients i will let you know what stuff is in it although I am no expert - just a bit like a dog with a bone about getting to the bottom of things!!! As to me being a vegetarian, well I was a bit of a strange child!! I didnt know it was called vegetarien then and just announced to my mother that I did not want to eat meat. My mother refused, so I use to put meat into a tissue and flush it down the loo!!! Mum found out eventually and gave in. Dog with a bone again - I dont give up easily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxhen Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Had a look a green people and have earmarked their site for future reference. Love the sound of their cleanse and moisterise products. Unfortuanelty still have lots of Dermalogica stuff to use up so I am not sure I want to know what else might be in it (it is not cheap!!!) so will get through that a bit more and try some greenpeople stuff (much less money too!!!!) before i run out. Bit funny my skin - and my face is very odd ( ) - all through teenage/twenties spots I tried just about every skin care product around - most were at best ineffective or worst left me with sore red patches. Also water can make me very itchy (ie shower, bath) all over...... Anyway thanks for advice. It seems your mother was a bit less formidable than mine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelfire Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelfire Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Thats what I did too. Much too expensive just to throw everything out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel (& Paul) Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 My three dogs have the BARF or raw meat diet for the last two years and all their meat and bones and chicken wings (sorry ) come from Real meat Company H Did you notice that small pause of silence on the phone the other day Helen when you asked if I had tried chicken wings for the dogs? Not necessarily the best question to ask of someone who spent quite some time wrestling a chicken out of a dogs mouth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel (& Paul) Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 I am polishing my halo with ecover as we speak We've just ordered half a lamb from a local farm that produces free range organic lamb which also has homeopathic treatment Cant wait to try it. The local free range organic chicken (sorry ) we had was lovely I tend to stick to fish or vegetarian if I am out unless I know it's happy meat and we are very careful with the egg in things situation now. and the good thing about gluten free pasta (yes there is something good about it!) is that it is normally egg free too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 A fair few pastas have no eggs if you notice mel, often you read 'egg' pasta on the label. Noodles people forget about too! Had a meal at friends and no eggs to be seen in anything BBx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxhen Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Sorry Mel......forget the chicken wings connection But nevertheless the dogs love them and they haven't made the connection between them and the girls.... I might ask you about the lamb source - will give you a ring. Iain loves lamb. yes - it is possible to get egg free pasta. The prolific use of eggs in so many foods is the main reaon why it is proving so hard to change the way egg producing hens are kept. There is a huge vested interest by thousands of food companies to keep egg production as cheap as possible. meat production is more transparent by comparison - meat products are all over hte place but not so much as eggs. So other sources of meat are getting comparativley better treatment than egg hens. I think they get away with meat hens being treated so badly too becasue they have brainwashed so much of the public to think hens are a sub species (being birds) so they can get away with battery farming..... I remember being in Safeways once about three or so years ago with my mother in law who loves a bargain. The announcement came over the tannoy: ‘Safeway own brand (eg battery hens eggs)eggs reduced to 6p for half a dozen. My mother in law, all the people ahead of us and behind gasped in astonishment and some dithered about losing their place in the queue and getting such a bargain. So I said loudly to the lady behind the checkout ‘Do you know how the eggs are so cheap?’ She didn’t. So I told her about the debeaking, the lack of feathers, the broken limbs from depleted calcium supplies in hens bodies from intense egg laying without bone strengthening exercise and natural hen activity, and inadequate quality food, the pecking from close confinement. She said. ‘Oh these things are very cruel but it is the way it is’. So I said ‘ well it is only the way it is because people are buying those eggs and products with them in – if you don’t buy them then they won’t produce them and they’ll have to improve the welfare of hens. Our choices make a difference and supermarkets have to take note’’ No- one left the queue. My mother in law looked distinctly uncomfortable at my outspokenness but she got over it. But we all know don;t we!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocchick Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Go Helen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelfire Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Well Done Maxhen!!! I wish I could be so articulate when I need it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 Good on you !!! BBx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
