Day 31 of our Green Year: Lovin' Lemons

We now enter our second month of Our Green Year and things are going strong. We have had some wonderful feedback from our readers, who have suggested some great ideas that we will be incorporating into our future blogs. As well, today we were interviewed by our local paper, The Trail Daily Times, who are doing a story on Our Green Year.

For today, we have decided to show the great environmental side of lemons, much like we did with vinegar, to show some of the great things it can do and to help prevent chemicals and other harmful substances from getting into our air, water and earth. It is important to note that when you use chemical cleaners, you are breathing the fumes into your body and it can stay there. Going natural is the best way. Here are some great tips:

• Take equal parts lemon and water and you have a great air freshener.
• Pour lemon juice on places where you have ants and they will stay away.
• Forget about cleaners with harmful chemicals in them, just mix equal parts lemon juice and water and you have an all-purpose cleaner. You can also mix it with vinegar and the lemon juice will mask the smell of the vinegar.
• If you need to clean chrome or copper, just mix lemon juice with baking soda and wipe away the blemishes on the copper or chrome with a towel.
• Use hot lemon juice with baking soda to clean drains.
• If you want to kill the germs on your chopping board, sprinkle lemon juice on it and wash it off.
• Lemon juice works great for cleaning glass and mirrors, as well as serving as a great furniture polish.
• On top of this, if you mix it with equal parts water, then you have a natural mouth wash, and it can also be used to disinfect wounds.

There are many uses for lemon juice in your home, and we are only scratching the surface. However, it is important to use natural products like this instead of chemicals because then you are not contributing to waste or putting chemicals into the environment.

As well, if you implement any of the solutions we have offered in Our Green Year, from the solar cooking to this, send us some photos. We will put them up on our website. Remember, this is not just our green year, it is everyone's green year and we are all in this together. E-mail pictures to crwbaird@gmail.com

Also, today I baked some dandelion leaves in the solar cooker and made some coffee out of it and I gotta say...mmmmm it is surprisingly good, and healthy. See how we made it in our tutorial section later this week.

Day 28 of our Green Year: Dandelion Tea

Now I know what a lot of you must be thinking. How is drinking Dandelion tea a way to go green?
Well, first of all we aren't going out to our yard and ripping them out of the lawn (from the roots), we are not preventing them from seeding and we certainly are not using herbicide to kill them. So, why not use something from the Earth to get something beneficial in your body?

The truth is that Dandelions are far from a weed, they are one of the best plants you can have for your body and they have been cultivated for literally thousands of years. Just a few of the benefits of Dandelion tea include:

• They are a source of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C and E
• They are rich in calcium, chromium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, selenium, silicon and zinc
• They are a laxative, cholertic, tonic antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory
• It is one of the best herbs you can have for gall, spleen and liver problems, and it can relieve symptoms of menstruation in women.
• They keep the liver at peak efficiency and they can purify and build blood when ingested and will even cleanse and regenerate cells. They help the pancreas and they absorb toxins in the bowel.
• Some even say it can help relieve diabetes when consumed as a tea or food on a regular basis.

So, we have decided to use it in tea instead of getting rid of it with herbicide or ripping it out by the roots.
To make dandelion tea, just follow these easy steps:

1. Pick five or six dandelions
2. Cut off the stems
3. Wash the heads slightly
4. Place the the heads in a cup
5. Pour boiling water on them
6. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes
7. Enjoy!

That is all there is too it! Tea from your yard, free and very healthy!

If you are not into tea, then you can use young dandelion leaves in salad, you can steam them or you can add them to stir-fries.

You can even use the roots of the dandelion to make non-caffeine coffee by waiting until the plants are nine to twelve months old (growing inside). Then you roast them in the oven until they are a coffee colour, grind them and use them!

It is a plant we think of as a weed that actually has many uses and can be very green and beneficial to you. Give it a try and let us know what you think! Send us photos of you with your dandelion tea and we will post them on the blog!