Mama Duck

Don't let this seemingly smiling face fool you.

Mama Duck has it in for me. Of course she is going to be protective of her ducklings, but I never considered myself a threat. I like ducks.

The first incident occurred after a goatling escape. One of the little girls saw her chance and made a dash through the open gate.

I honestly did not see any ducks or ducklings around when I made a grab for her. But Mama Duck was suddenly there. I stood up with a little goat in my arms just in time to see Mama flying straight into my face. Muscovies have claws on their webbed feet and I got a huge scratch on my wrist.

The second incident was a day or so later. It was morning chore time, and Mama Duck and her babies were sitting in the middle of the path to the goat shed. I was a little leery of her after what had happened before, so I stopped to consider entering the shed from another direction. Mama got up and moved her brood off to the left. I stepped to the right to make a curving detour around her and her brood. Within seconds she was hissing and flying for my face. I fended her off with my sandal, but made it safely to the barn.

So now if Mama Duck is anywhere in the vicinity of where I need to go, I stop about fifteen feet away and wave her to another direction, saying, "Shoo! Shoo!" She herds her ducklings off away from me, but we both keep an eye on one another all the same.

How are Mama Buff's ducklings doing? They are getting big and venturing out on their own as a little group. She still calls them if she finds a treat, and if something scares them they run to her for protection. Other than that they are pretty much on their own.

In other poultry news...

One of my Black Australorps hatched three chicks. This lays to rest the question of whether or not 'Lorps go broody and make good mothers. They do. In fact, I have another 'Lorp hen on a nest, so we'll see what she produces. Also I have two more ducks on nests, so we may be overrun with barnyard birds soon!

Mama Duck  © August 2016 by Leigh

at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

ISO Locally Available Greywater Safe Products

Continued from part 2, "Analyzing My Current 
Cleaners: How Greywater Friendly Are They?"

My goal for the last phase of my research was to look around and see what greywater safe products my local stores carry. All in all, I'm not totally dissatisfied with the most of the products I already use, but I wanted to see what else was available. Maybe I could do better.

Why did I want products I could buy locally? Why not simply order off the internet? For several reasons. One is because shipping has become exorbitant. It often nearly doubles the cost of a heavy item (which I don't understand since fuel prices are currently down). In addition, my state charges either a sales or use tax on shipping. Even with free shipping, however, I don't like juggling the time factor between when to order more and will I get it in time, I don't want to deal with all that packaging, and I don't want to deal with "out of stock."

Unfortunately many of these products are more expensive than conventional products, so affordability is important too. To me, part of being self-sufficient means being less dependent on money and the consumer system. Most of us agree there is no such thing as total self-sufficiency, so as Dan and I approach retirement age (but not necessarily retirement) we are looking at living with lower income and less money. Low price then becomes important.

What about the old "it's worth paying more to save the environment" argument? I don't buy it. It's a manipulative statement because it implies 1) that I can really afford the product but am too stingy to pay for it, and 2) since I'm not willing to pay more to save the environment, then I'm a crumb. I say, if manufacturers are really concerned about the environment, then they should make the products affordable enough so everyone can use them; not just the affluent.

I listed a lot of categories in my last post, but for this exercise I focused mostly on laundry, dishwashing, and shampoo. While the selection of so-called natural products has increased, I've also learned how the term "natural" has different meanings. Plant-based surfactants, for example. Sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate is avoided by many health purists and a no-no on greywater product lists. But what is it? It's an anionic plant-based surfactant, derived from coconut or palm, so some manufacturers include it in their "natural" products. The process of making it, however, is anything but natural and there are numerous health concerns regarding its use. (See Dr. Mercola's article here.) Unfortunately it's a ubiquitous product found in almost all liquid soaps and detergents, toothpaste, shaving creams, mouth washes, and in a number of cosmetics. So if a label used descriptive terms instead of actual ingredients, I dug a little deeper.

Laundry

Locally sourced alternatives: I found Ecos Liquid Laundry Detergent on at Walmart, far cheaper than on Amazon or other online sources. Ecos makes the cut on almost every greywater recommendation list I've seen, and the only one who puts "greywater and septic tank safe" on the label. What does it contain? "Thoughtfully sourced ingredients."

• water
• cocamidoproply betaine (coconut-derived surfactant)
• sodium coco sulfate (coconut-derived surfactant)
• cocamidoproplylamine ixide (coconut-derived surfactant)
• phenoxyethanol (preservative)
• methlisothiazolinone (preservative)
• equisetum hiemale (horsetail plant)

Cost per load:

• From Walmart (rollback price), $0.07 per load. 
• From Amazon (assuming free shipping) $0.18 per load.

Bleach

I mentioned in my last post that I don't use bleach, but I've learned that hydrogen peroxide based bleaches (oxy types) are considered fairly safe. The homemade version is easy and inexpensive:

• 2 parts water
• 1 part hydrogen peroxide
• 1 part baking soda

It can be poured or sprayed on stains before laundering.

Dishwashing

Most greywater sites agree that liquid castile soap is greywater safe, with Dr. Bronner's as the most recommended (probably because it's the most well known). I'm still looking for a store around here that sells it.

Shampoo

It was interesting to learn that shampoo has only been around since the 1930s. Also that at their most basic ingredient level, shampoo and dishwashing liquid are about identical. Finding a greywater safe shampoo is a tough one, because there must be a zillion choices in almost every store, many of them claiming to be "natural." I haven't seen many brands recommended as greywater safe. This site recommends Aubrey Organics and Avalon, also some Burt's Bees products. Other sites recommend Dr. Bronner's as shampoo as well as body soap. I've found none of them at local stores and online they are expensive.

Some of you have had good success with No Poo. Others claim it ruined their hair. This site lists a dozen different No Poo methods plus has links to DIY shampoos. You'll also find a link there which discusses different types of hair and why there is not a universal No Poo method. My hair is so dry that it never gets oily (seriously!), so I'm finding that the "Scritch and Preen" and "Water Only" methods work well for me. Can't get more greywater friendly and economical than that!

Conclusions

Realistically, there are no perfect products. Which ones to choose will depend primarily on one's goals, so the choices will be different for everyone. Dan and I want to use our greywater in combination with rainwater for food growing. In looking at products I would like to decrease the amount of sodium we put down the drain, because much of our soil is already too high in sodium. It seems I can't avoid sodium altogether, but if I can choose lower sodium products, they will be further diluted before they reach any plants.

Here are a few more things to think about:

1) Many of us practice what we consider to be organic gardening. Unfortunately there are different definitions of "organic" and these are changing all the time. The legal definition of organic food was designed for commercial growers, and there is quite some rigmarole to obtain certification to sell one's food products with an organic label. Small sellers will often say "grown with organic methods" to be safe from raising governmental ire. In regards to utilizing greywater for organic food growing, I doubt any cleaning products would pass muster under any definition of organic gardening. Those of us who want to use greywater to grow food for home consumption, may want to consider how our cleaning products fall under our personal organic growing guidelines.

2) If you have a septic system, then no matter what products are used, they are still being leached into the soil.

3) I used cloth diapers when my kids were babies. This presents a different challenge to laundry greywater because diaper wash water usually contains feces, which would make it blackwater. The possible presence of feces in greywater is why it's forbidden in some places. For a situation like this a diverter valve on the washing machine is necessary, so that dirty diaper water can go where the rest of one's blackwater goes.

This concludes my rather lengthy and overly-analytical series on greywater. In the end, what goes into our greywater and what we choose to do with it will be a matter of what we're personally comfortable with.

Some links I want to hang on to:

• Guide to Greywater-Compatible Cleaning Products at Ecology Center
• What are the best and cheapest grey water safe shampoos and conditioners? at Quora
• Greywater Soaps at H2OME
• Soap & Detergent Info at Rainwater Harvesting 
• graywater with dish soap (an interesting forum thread) at permaculture forums (an interesting forum thread)

ISO Locally Available Greywater Safe Products

 © Aug. 2016 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Analyzing My Current Cleaners: How Greywater Friendly Are They?

Continued from part 1 "Of Soap, 
Detergent, & Greywater"

My recent greywater research is part of a homestead greywater feasibility study and focuses on two things: analyzing the greywater safeness of the products I currently use, and looking for locally available, affordable alternatives if needed. In this post I'll share what I've learned about the products I use. I try to be conscientious about what I use, so I was hoping they'd also be safe for greywater usage.

I focused on my three main concerns: pH, sodium, and boron (although read part one to see why I'm only nominally concerned about pH and boron.) There may be other problems with these products, for example health and environmental concerns, but in context this post only focuses on those three because of how they effect my greywater.

The biggest problem with analyzing cleaning products is ingredient labels, or rather lack of. Very few manufacturers give a detailed list of actual ingredients. Mostly they use advertising terms instead, things like "natural," "biodegradable" or "phosphate free." They rarely tell what's actually in the product. Thanks to the internet, I found much of this information online.

Following is a list of the products I use, their ingredients, anything else I learned about them, cost per use if applicable, and any concerns I have.

Laundry. I use either homemade laundry detergent or Charlie's Liquid Laundry Detergent. I don't use laundry softeners, stain removers (other than rubbing the stain with a bar of soap), or bleach.

Homemade laundry detergent: 

• washing soda (sodium carbonate)
• borax (boron)
• and either Fels-Naptha laundry bar or Zote bar soap
• Fels-Naptha 
• sodium tallowate (beef tallow), sodium cocoate (coconut oil), sodium palmatate kernalate (palm kernel oil), and/or sodium palmate (palm oil)
• water
• talc
• dipentene coconut acid, palm acid, and/or palm acid
• peg-6 methyl ether
• glycerine
• sodium chloride (salt)
• pentasodium pentetate and/or tetrasodium etdronate
• titanium oxide (whitener)
• tricloroban (antibacterial agent)
• fragrance
• acid orange 24 and yellow 73
• or Zote 
• Sodium tallowate
• Sodium cocoate
• Fragrance (citronella oil)
• Optical brighteners
• Dye (pink and blue bars only)

Cost per load: about $0.10.

Laundry water pH - I'm out at the moment so I don't know. Probably basic because based on what I read, liquid soaps and detergents tend to be neutral, solid soaps (bars and powders) are alkaline.

Concerns: Even without knowing exactly what all these chemicals are, I see "sodium" popping up everywhere, plus the boron. The whiteners, antibacterials, and coloring agents in the bar soaps are also a concern. If I do continue to make homemade laundry powder, I'll likely switch to homemade soap.

Charlie's Liquid Laundry Detergent

• Water
• Sodium carbonate (washing soda)
• C12-15, Pareth-2 (biodegradable vegetable and mineral sourced surfactants)

Cost per load: for the 1-gallon size, less than $0.13

Laundry water pH - 7 (neutral), although the straight product is highly alkaline.

Concerns: The sodium of course. Also, there is some argument around the internet about the C12-15, Pareth-2. These are used in some Seventh Generation products which might lend a sense of credibility, but, on the other hand, Seventh Generation products are not considered greywater safe. I would like to further investigate the criticism over the surfactants.

Dishwashing. I've been using old-fashioned non-concentrated, Simply Clean original scent Dawn. Dawn is made by Procter & Gamble, who boast that "Dawn helps save wildlife," because it is used to safely bath animals rescued from oil spills. (Click that link for more information.) Sounds good, but does being safe to bath animals mean Dawn is safe to feed plants?

Finding an ingredient list was not easy. The only thing the label tells me is that it contains biodegradable surfactants and no phosphates. I finally tracked down a P&G MSDS for Dawn Simply Clean Original and discovered it contains this:

• Sulfuric acid
• mono-C10-16-alkyl esters
• Amine oxides
• C10-16-alkyldimethyl Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl)
• alpha-sulfo-omega-hydroxy-
• C10-16-alkyl ethers
• sodium salts

The hazard warning on that safety sheet is that it can cause eye irritation.

pH - neutral

Cost per use - I haven't tried to figure that one out

Concerns: although the amount of sodium appears to be small, my biggest question is whether these chemicals are petroleum based (as are many synthetic chemicals).

Cleaning. I use vinegar, dish soap, elbow grease, hydrogen peroxide, and a DIY scrubbing powder that I've really liked. Unfortunately it contains equal parts of:

• table salt (sodium chloride)
• washing soda (sodium carbonate)
• borax (boron)

All huge no-nos! While small amounts of the washing soda and borax may not be too bad, pouring table salt on my garden doesn't seem like a good idea. The other scrubbing powder I keep on hand is Bon Ami Powder Cleanser. It contains:

• Limestone
• Feldspar
• Surfactant from coconut and corn oil
• Soda ash (washing soda or sodium carbonate)
• Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)

Concerns: Soda ash and baking soda are listed last on the label, so at least I know they contain less sodium than my homemade scrubbing powder.

Bath Soap. I've used Ivory bar soap for a long time, recently found Clearly Natural bar soap, and also use some homemade soaps.

Ivory 

• sodium tallowate (beef tallow) and/or sodium palmate (palm oil)
• water
• sodium palm kernelate (palm kernel oil), and/or sodium cocoate (coconut oil)
• fragrance (in the aloe scented bars)
• sodium chloride (salt)
• glycerin
• coconut acid
• palm kernel acid
• tallow acid
• palm acid
• citric acid
• sodium citrate
• tetrasodium (water softener)
• aloe barbadensis leaf extract

Clearly Natural Soap

• Glycerine
• sodium stearate and sodium oleate (saponified coconut, palm and/or palm kernel)
• decyl glucoside (vegetable-derived surfactants)
• propanediol and sorbital (humectants)
• sodium citrate
• Fragranced versions contain a blend of natural aromas and essential oils

Homemade soaps - These basically contain fat and lye, which undergo a chemical process called saponification to make what we know as soap. According to the Caveman Chemist (interesting article here) saponification produces fatty acids, the names of which are all sodium somethingorotherate. The bottom line is that homemade soaps contain sodium and are alkaline (although aging the bars has something to do with how alkaline).

Concerns: are the same as for everything else, but honestly, I don't think I'm doing terrible bad on this one.

Shampoo - I just buy the junky stuff for dry hair because it's cheap. Ditto for conditioner. Shocking, I know.

Miscellaneous - Then there are all the little things that go down the drain, which may or may not be of concern. I'm not listing all of them, but am discovering that once I started analyzing this way, I realized that anything that goes on our bodies, ends up getting washed off.

• Body care: Things like facial care, salves, and lotions. I have very dry skin so I like to keep lotion around. I make some of my own but also buy Burt's Bees products (of which some are considered greywater safe by the experts).
• Deodorant: Yeah, even that gets washed off with a residue going down the drain. I've been using a deodorant stone for years. These are made of mineral salts (back to the salt again), although the synthetic ones are not pure.
• Toothpaste: Another one I wouldn't have thought of. My current toothpaste is also homemade. I got the recipe from this website: 
• 1/4 cup eggshell powder (I use shells from hard boiled eggs, drying thoroughly)
• 2 tbsp coconut oil (which is liquid in summer and solid in winter)
• 1 tbsp baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
• a few drops of essential oil if desired (usually peppermint)

All in all, I'd have to say I don't think I'm doing too badly. One thing I'm learning is that there are no perfect cleaning products.

Interested in seeing what's in the products you use? You can either try to track them down with numerous searches like I did, or try these sites (which I discovered after all my research).

• CPID - Consumer Product Information Database
• USHHS Household Products Database

They don't contain some of the newer natural products that are out, but they're a good starting point for doing your own research.

In my next post I'll share what products I can buy locally that are more greywater friendly. Click here to read it.

Analyzing My Current Cleaners: How Greywater Friendly Are They?

 © July 2016 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/