6 Cool Things Eggshells Are Good For Posted on September 10th, 2009
Eggshells. One of nature’s greatest feats of protective packaging. One the package is opened and you’ve consumed the egg inside, though, what do you do with that shell?
Well, one of the things that makes eggshells so nearly perfect is their after market uses. Here’s half a dozen of the best ones that I use them for regularly:
1 – Compost them. This one is the most obvious and probably the second most common thing for the empty shells to end up becoming (next to just landfill). Eggshells are a rich source of calcium and mineral supplements to your compost. To speed up the breaking-down process, crush the shells.
Many old-timers would dry the shells thoroughly, saving the powder until they had a quantity of it, and then spread it over a field or pasture and let it “soak” into the soil. This ads rich calcium to the soil and plant life and makes for excellent grazing pasture once it’s been integrated into the soil.
2 – De-bitter your coffee. If you hate bitter morning coffee, you can use an eggshell to make it less so. Just put a chunk of an eggshell to the coffee grounds in most any kind of coffee maker (obviously, this doesn’t work with instant coffee). The shell absorbs some of the acids in coffee that make it bitter. Plus, when you’re done, the paper filter, grounds, and shell are perfect additions to your compost.
3 – Slug and snail barriers. Those who live in an area where snails and slugs are common garden or flower bed pests will love this one. Crushed eggshells are great barriers to keep those slimy ones out of your garden. Just crush the shells and create a thin barrier by spreading them in a line around your garden or flower beds. The sharp fragments deter the slimies.
4 – Natural source of calcium. You can’t eat eggshells directly, of course. Well, not without having to go in for major surgery to have the shards removed from your throat, anyway. You can, however, still get the benefits of these rich calcium sources. Eggshells will dissolve in apple cider vinegar (which is also very good for you) in a few days. Just put a shell into a glass or container of cider vinegar and leave it to dissolve. When it’s completely gone, drink the whole shebang in stages and reap the rewards of health!
5 – Arts and crafts. You can use eggshells for all kinds of cool arts and crafts. A common practice called “blowing out” the inside of the egg by puncturing a small hole in the bottom of the shell and using a coffee straw to “blow” the egg back through the hole leaves you with an intact shell, emptied and ready for use. These are often painted, decorated, or even used as molds for chocolate, Jell-O, and other treats.
6 – Seedling starters. If you crack your eggs high so that you have a tall “cup” left of the shell, these make for great seed starters that are natural, safe, and biodegradable. Take the shells and put them back into the egg carton, open side up. Fill with planting soil, put in the seeds, and wait. When the seedlings come up, you can easily remove the whole eggshell container to transplant. Rather than removing the plant and soil from the “pot,” you can just bust up the eggshell and put it into the ground with the plant and starter soil.
Those are some of my favorite uses for eggshells, nature’s most awesome product packaging. What are your uses for them? Let me know below!
Some Healthy Benefits of Olive Oil Posted on September 8th, 2009
I’ve mentioned olive oil in the past for a couple of uses: an earache remedy, for one, and as a way to relieve constipation for another. I thought it was time to get a little more in-depth with the thing that made every episode between Popeye and Brutus so contentious.
Olive oil can be used medicinally, as I’ve covered, for various personal care uses, in home improvement and cleaning, and more. It’s great stuff with some unique properties.
There are a lot of health benefits to consuming olive oil as-is, in your cooking, and more. There are people who say that olive oil can lower blood pressure, help with cholesterol, balance some blood sugar problems, and more. To see some of these in a more complete list, check out the Healing Food Reference where Mike Adams lists the health benefits of olive oil and how to find out more about the information behind those claims.
Know Your Oil
Before we look any deeper into the uses of olive oil, however, let’s look at what kinds of olive oil there are out there. Olive oil comes from olives, obviously, but it’s refined in many ways, depending on the region and type of oil preferred. What you’re looking for in medicinal or health use is olive oil that has had less processing. Avoid “extra virgin” and similar oils, as they have been heavily refined to get to just the “oil” without much of the “olive” left behind.
For these purposes, look for the thick, chunky sorts of oil. The ones with little floaties in them. Those leftover olives, unfiltered, are a sign that the stuff is pure. Most of these oils will need to be refrigerated after opening, another good sign.
Your olive oil doesn’t have to come from the Mediterranean to be great stuff, either. In fact, environmentally-speaking, it’s much nicer if it doesn’t (unless that’s where you live, of course). Most Americans can find great California and even Florida or Mexican oils that are much less expensive and traveled far fewer miles to find you. Buying organics goes without saying, if at all possible.
Here at our house, we buy olive oil by the gallon container, making it much cheaper per litre, but requiring more refrigerator space to store. It will keep for a very long time if the cap is kept on when not in use, though.
Great Medicinal Uses of Olive Oil
Outside of earaches and constipation, covered elsewhere, there are a lot of other uses for olive oil as a daily or periodic medicine to keep some problems at bay. While this won’t be a complete list, it will give you an idea, covering each major medicinal use.
Two caveats with ingested (eaten) olive oil: do not give it to young children and do not give it to small animals. Dosages are hard to gauge and it’s possible to give harmful diarrhea and other problems to smaller bodies. They aren’t likely to be fatal or even very serious, but they aren’t pleasant and are best avoided by using alternatives to olives.
For snoring, you can sip some olive oil to keep your throat lubricated by drinking a capful (or teaspoon) of it before bed time. Olive oil is a mild laxative, but most adults require at least a tablespoon or more to have this happen. This same remedy is also helpful for lightly sore throats and many opera singers have used olive oil as a throat lubricant to alleviate scratchiness after a performance. Pavarotti was said to do this, in fact.
Those with heart burn can use honey (preferred) to help get rid of the burn, but if you’re allergic to honey or have none available, olive oil also works well. Again, about a teaspoon swallowed in a gulp will soothe the burn and ache.
On human and animal hair, olive oil can do wonders. When rubbed into hair while showering, olive oil can quickly pull out tangles, give a special shine to hair, and make it much more mangeable and naturally sheen. Be sure to rinse it out thoroughly.
For cats and dogs, olive oil can be used to pull out “naps” in fur while gently brushing. Be sure to wipe most of it off when you’re done so the cat or dog doesn’t get the “runs” when licking it form themselves. Many pets will readily eat olive oil (not always a good thing).
If you have a rash, dry skin, or other and similar problem or are just wanting to ad a little shine and softness to your epidermis, olive oil is just the thing. Rub it in liberally, let it sit for a while, wipe off with a moist rag (to prevent it from smelling). The little that’s left behind will help retain moisture in the skin (olive oil has linoleic acid in it, an ingredient in many lotions). Just eating olive oil promotes healthy skin (Vitamin E).
For shaving, olive oil can help lubricate the blade and moisturize the skin, which helps make for a smoother cut and less abrasions from shaving too closely. It can also be used after shaving to soothe razor burn (as above).
Many other non-medicinal uses for olive oil also abound. As a lubricant for squeaky hinges, buckles, zippers, and so forth. I personally don’t recommend this as olive oil can “go bad” and begin to stink after a while, so I would only use the cheaper, “extra virgin” or other oils that are mostly oil and not much olive for this sort of thing.
Olive oil is also a great shiner for wooden furniture, but the same caveat applies. Leather is similar, but I much prefer more permanent softeners like saddle soap for leather as it does not cause any “rot.”
We use olive oil as a pan protectant, however. After scrubbing and rinsing pots and pans–especially copper, aluminum, and iron–a light coating of olive oil can keep rust and tarnish at bay. Make sure to wipe it with a damp cloth to clean before putting on a fire or hot stove again, however. The oil can “flame up,” but this isn’t too likely.
There are definitely a lot of uses for the great stuff. Olive oil is one of the kitchen essentials that no home should be without!
DIY – Water Aerator Cleaning for Better Flow and Less Water Waste Posted on August 27th, 2009
Whether you own your home, rent, lease, or are just living there, you have at least one sink with a faucet. Probably more than one. If the water where you live is relatively hard, you probably battle hard water buildup on your sink, in your tub, etc. Did you know that same buildup can slow down the water flow and even cause you to use more water?
Yep. I found this out.
Most likely, you either do most of the maintenance in your home yourself or you hire a handyman to do it. A lot of stuff, like what I’m about to show you, is so easy that paying someone to do it is just ridiculous.
Hard water buildup also affects the aerator on your faucet spouts. The aerator is the little screen that looks like the screens on your windows for keeping the bugs out. All it does is “break up” the water as it flows through, making it come out more uniformly by aerating it (breaking it up to add air).
This does several things: makes the water coming out less prone to splashing, creates a more even flow, and ads air to the water to improve its taste and texture while drinking. The problem is that the tiny little screen can get clogged. Especially if it has a “low flow” plug included in it.
Taking the aerator off is easy and you likely will be able to do it without any tools. Just grip the aerator cap and turn. Remember: righty tighty, lefty loosey.
Unscrew the aerator cap and remove it. Inside you will find an o-ring (to seal the cap to the spigot), a plastic insert with the screen and (if equipped) the low-flow plastic plug system. All of these come out into separate pieces, so do that now.
I tossed the low-flow system long ago in our sinks, as they are a lot more trouble than they’re worth. They plug up easily and don’t really “lower” the water amount coming out by enough to justify their existence. In some states, they’re mandatory for new construction, however.
What you’re likely to see, though, is a buildup of little white rocks in your screen. As shown here, where it’s gotten fairly bad, you can see that they are literally filling the screen capsule. This restricts water, causes uneven flow, and makes you use more water as you turn up the volume (ad more flow) to get the pressure you need to go through these rocks evenly. All around, that’s bad.
Cleaning these out a couple of times a year or so (more often if your water is particularly hard) is a great way to save water usage and make for happier sinks.
Those little rocks, by the way, are most likely almost all calcium. The whiter they are, the more likely that is. I usually throw them into the garden to ad that tiny bit of calcium back to the soil. Not that it’s a lot, but it’s better than just throwing it away, I guess.
Feeling a Little Backed Up? 3 Ways to Naturally Become Regular Again Posted on August 5th, 2009
Constipated? No matter what you’re doing, that backed up feeling makes it uncomfortable. I won’t describe the whole feeling to you, you already know what it’s like. No point in my describing the stuffed, uncomfortable, can’t sit flat, lower abdomen ache that is constipation.
I remember when I was a kid, maybe 7 or 8 years old, I got backed up really bad. I don’t remember the reason, but I recall it involved a large quantity of food the day before. Cheese, probably. That’s always been one of my weaknesses. Anyway, I had that over-stuffed feeling you get and was trying to figure out what to do. Without telling my parents, of course. I had a real fear of sickness, since my father was an anesthesiologist and everything he did to fix things seemed to involve needles.
So I told my friend Robby about it. He thought that maybe a horse ride would work. It didn’t. So we tried a few other things. Then someone (him or me, I don’t recall) got the idea that maybe punching me in the gut would work. It didn’t, but it hurt like hell. When I got home, I didn’t eat dinner so my mom knew something was wrong. I never missed meals. I broke down and told her what had happened.
The fix? The dreaded castor oil. Straight. No fancy drinks to pretty it up. Have you ever had castor oil? Nasty stuff. Demon snot probably tastes better. It worked, though. I remember my sisters pounding on the bathroom door trying to get ready for bed.
When most people get this way, they usually reach for an over-the-counter laxative. Maybe it’s the pink stuff or the nasty pills. These are likely to work, but at what cost? They’re fixing the constipation, sure, but what caused it to begin with?
Usually, it’s stress-related. Our jobs, our lives, our relationships, or something else is stressing us out and keeping our bowels uninterested in regular performance.
So the first step is to treat the root of the problem. Regular exercise, stress-relieving activities, and a well-balanced diet with lots of green vegetables and fiber are the key. Even with great diet and a relatively stress-free life, though, some of us are going to get plugged up occasionally.
Don’t worry, for those occasions, there are still natural alternatives to the drugs at the pharmacy!
Castor Oil
Your grandma’s old stand-by, castor oil, is one of these natural alternatives. I should know. Take a tablespoon full and stay near the bathroom. It can be mixed with tea or non-citric juice (citrus will react with the castor, giving you a stomach ache). It will take an hour or two to work in most cases. Contrary to what you’ve seen on the Little Rascals, it’s not a good idea to use this remedy on small children.
Flax and Linseed Oils
The fresh stuff is best. Use either in small quantities of a tablespoon or so. These can be taken directly, mixed with light tea, or with water. This takes a few hours to work, usually.
Olive Oil
This is a popular remedy and works for small children and adults. It’s extremely mild, but it can take some time to operate. Take a swig of olive oil (a couple of tablespoons) and let it do the rest. You can mix with just about any juice, tea, etc. if you wish.
Other Information
Of course, anyone who’s spent a day at the orchard picking and overstuffed with fruit knows that this can make you decidedly non-constipated. Fruits like apples, grapes, plums, prunes, etc. all do this. Probably not recommended, but it’s up to you.
In normal amounts, fruits like bananas (slightly over-ripe is best), apple juice, and of course prunes are all good things to ad to any of the above oils to solve the problem. A couple of prunes and a spoonful of castor oil can clear you right out. And quickly.
Most people with a good diet and regular exercise don’t have many problems with constipation. Of course, I’m not a doctor and if your constipation lasts longer than a day or so, you should seek medical help.
Amazing Benefits of Drinking Aloe Vera Gel/Juice Posted on August 1st, 2009
Today I would like to share a very healthy piece of information, those who know please don’t keep it only for yourself and forward to your friends, family and coworkers etc. Those who do not know please make yourself a favor and read this blog post about benefits of Aloe Vera gel or juice and start using it. Below are the benefits that you will have by only drinking 2 to 4 ounces Aloe Vera Gel/Jiuce everyday.
Benefits of Aloe Vera Gel/Juice
- Get all Daily Dose of Vitamins
Aloe Vera Gel/Juice includes A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C and E, Folic Acid and Niacin. Our body can’t store all these vitamins so we have to get them regularly through our diets. Just drink a daily dose of Aloe Vera Gel/Juice at the same time build up the defense system naturally against oxidative stress.
- Get Daily Dose of Minerals
These are the minerals found in the Aloe Vera Gel/Juice; Calcium, Sodium, Iron, Potassium, Chromium, Magnesium, Manganese, Copper and Zinc.
Click here to read the rest of this informative article!
