Some eco laundry options!

We just love these new Laundry Stain Sticks that we've added to our line of handmade soaps.  They work wonders on all kinds of stains, and being an active household with many indoor and outdoor projects always on the go (i.e. paint spills, food stains, etc) we were pleased to see this stain stick coming to many good uses.  We tried the stain stick out on our daughter's favourite handmade doll today.  The much-loved doll (Martha) has seen better days - she had pen and marker stains on her cloth face and arms.  We simply pre-scrubbed the stains on her with the stain stick soap, then added her into the washing machine for a regular cycle of laundry.  She came out almost as good as new - nearly unrecognizable!

If you want to venture into making your own laundry soap you can read about how to make a handmade laundry liquid soap on our post here.  We do still use this handmade laundry soap, but lately have been trying out an eco laundry ball (you get 365 washes with one ball) given to us by a friend.  This ball uses mineral-derived ceramic beads and magnets inside the ball to help clean, oxygenate the water and eliminate germs.  We are quite impressed!

Our Laundry Stain Sticks were featured in the March 2014 issue of Creating Vintage Charm magazine (see the page preview here)!  They look so great next to the washboard, metal wash tub, and wooden clothes pegs.

Quick post replies - regarding laundry and chickens

Thanks to everyone who has been posting comments - while I read them all, I am sorry that I am not always able to take time to comment personally. Here are a few replies to answer some recent questions (hope this is helpful):

Q/ when you "freeze dry" your laundry on the line outside in winter, how do you soften the diapers that are stiff and cold when they come indoors?

A/ Yes, we don't have a clothes dryer and hang dry our laundry all year round. We do freeze dry our sheets and towels outdoors in winter, but have a large wooden drying rack that we use indoors to dry our cloth baby diapers. As we have a wood stove going in the next room, we find the diapers dry quickly within a few hours. This indoor rack actually also helps to humidify our house which can get quite dry in winter because of the wood stove. To brighten them up we do hang them out for a few hours, but this is not necessary.

Q/ I am moving to the kw area in the near future and am wondering about the chicken bylaws?

A/ There are a wide range of bylaws on this topic in our area. Kitchener and Waterloo are two separate cities, and as such have different sets of bylaws. The City of Waterloo recently started a pilot project regarding urban chicken keeping. A Waterloo Hen Association was formed, and people had 60 days to register their hens and be part of this study. The discussion will be reopened by city council in 2011. The City of Kitchener bylaws are a little ambiguous on this topic - one part of the bylaw seems to say no (the class of birds chickens belong to are not allowed), while another part seems to be affirmative (they are allowed for "animal husbandry" purposes). City of Cambridge, also part of the kw area, has a grandfathered clause for some of the older properties that had chickens in earlier years. City of Guelph, nearby, does allow hens. As with all bylaws, it's best to be respectful of your neighbours because if they don't approve then bylaw or not, they can still complain and end your hopes of having hens. We suggest checking in with your neighbours before getting hens, keeping the pen clean and tidy, not keeping too many (and no roosters), and giving away some eggs to help build positive hen relations.