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In honor of Earth Day, the Cape Kids Cast wanted to share a few ideas for things kids can do to help celebrate the Earth and little acts to make the Earth a better place! "We only have ONE Earth!" What are some of the ways you celebrate the Earth or acts of kindness you do to make it better? Cape Kids Cast ~ Real Kids, Real Talk! Email us info@capecodmoms.com for advertising and interviewing inquiries.
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We just heard some exciting news just in time for Earth Day from Stop & Shop Supermarket! Over the past year, the grocery retailer has been busy building one of the U.S.’ largest anaerobic digesters as part of the Stop & Shop Green Energy Facility. The Green Energy Facility converts inedible food (products which cannot be sold and is unable to be donated to regional food banks or local farms) to clean energy, which will be used to power the 1.1 million sq foot distribution center and provide up to 40% of the center’s energy needs, which equates to powering the facility for approximately 4 months out of the year. The launch of the Green Energy Facility is just one step towards their goal of achieving zero waste by 2020. The Green Energy Facility was created and is operated by Divert, Inc., a Massachusetts-based technology company devoted to creating a waste-free retail industry. A $400,000 grant was provided by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center for the creation of the facility.  Stop & Shop Takes the Lead with Environmental Initiatives In addition to the Stop & Shop Green Energy Facility, the company is proud to be an industry and community leader in responsible and sustainable retailing. Among many others, Stop & Shop is leading with the following environmental initiatives:
 Cape Cod Mommies is excited to be co-sponsoring June's Giveaway with Bum Boosa Bamboo Products ! Bumboosa ws founded by fellow Cape Cod Mom, Sonja Sheasley. A few years ago, Sonja took classes at the Sandwich Village Herb Shop (now closed) in an effort to make natural lotions for her children due to their sensitive skin. As many of you may know, baby wipes and the majority of mainstream baby products contain harmful chemicals. Many times these same products profess to be for "sensitive skin" or say they will clear up diaper rash. I have found those products to be very misleading, often times finding that those products actually further aggravated sensitive skin. I can usually be found on the weekend at local Farmer's Markets trying to track down homemade calendula oil or lotion to treat my son's excema and rashes. So I was thrilled when I had the amazing opportunity to try out the Bum Boosa products! Bum Boosa Products are eco-friendly anod not filled with ANY harsh chemicals! They get their bamboo from China but are made right here in the U.S.A. and I always think it is nice to support local business, especially a Cape Cod business! Right off the bat, I was drawn to the fabulous smelling wipes! A baby wipe that actually smells good even after it has wiped an atomic size mess up is a winner in my book. The smell of lavender and citrus is beyond pleasing. In fact, at a recent family cookout, I kept receiving compliments over my scent: "Wow, you smell fantastic! Is that lavender?" Imagine their surprise when I informed them it was actually my sons' baby wipes! I even gave a wipe to my son to play with and he was super excited by it. He kept smelling it in true yogi style saying, "Mama, ahhhhh". When I first opened the package of wipes, I thought it was smaller than a standard wipe, but I realized it was just folded and shaped differently. Oh Happy Day! Bum Boosa wipes still have the same surface area as standard wipes do! And I managed to make 2 packs of 80 ct wipes last me 3 weeks! Now that is bang for your buck!  I am also totally in love with Bum Boosa diaper cream! It is 100% natural and made from bamboo powder, oils and herbs! It is completely free of any preservatives, synthetic fragrances and dyes! This is a win-win and a little goes a long way! My son is so sensitive to so many products and foods that he often gets a diaper rash especially after citrus or tomatos. Since we started using a little bit of this cream, we have been rash free and smell fantastic!!!
To celebrate Summer, Bum Boosa has generously donated a swag bag for a Giveaway to go to ONE lucky Cape Cod Mom! The Eco Baby Gift Bag comes with (3) packages of their bamboo baby wipes, a 4 ounce bamboo diaper rash ointment, and a 10 ml bottle of pure grade lavender essential oil with suggested uses and safety information. This is valued at $39.99 and will be delivered free of charge to the winner. Bum Boosa will also be participating in the upcoming debut of the Cape Cod Mommies Discount Club (stay tuned for how you can save on Bum Boosa Products!) There are lots of ways to enter and you can enter multiple days! Goodluck and Happy Wiping! 
 I had seen a article about making your own laundry detergent and it got me thinking, Can I really do that? It sounded like a dream when it came to how much money I could save. But I have sensitive skin and so does my child, who has eczema too and this made me very hesitant. But after some research I found that there were several people who switched to homemade detergent because of their skin allergies. I decided to give it a try and so far, I am very happy with the results! Together all the ingredients cost me $7.46, which would make 3 batches of detergent. Ingredients: 1 Bar Fels Naptha or Ivory soap (I used Ivory) 1 cup Borax 1 Cup Washing Soda I found all of the above in the laundry detergent aisle at Walmart, except the Ivory. I found that in a 3 pack in the beauty aisle. Directions: Grate the bar of soap into fine pieces. I did not want to use my cheese grater (I had thoughts of future soap flavored quesadillas) so I used an old vegetable peeler. A zester would work also. The smaller the pieces the better they will dissolve in your washer. You can run your fingers gently through the soap pieces to break them up more. 
I mixed in the washing soda and Borax with the grated soap. But it was still a little too chunky for my liking, so I pulled out an old food processor that I never use and ground up the ingredients in small batches using short pulses. 
Now the mixture is a fine powder. I used a Tupperware container to store the mixture with a 1/2 tbsp scoop. The powder smells very strong like Ivory, but that may just be me because I am so used to everything having no scent at all. I was concerned that my clothes would smell like Ivory too, but they don't. You can add a few drops of essential oils if you want to add a smell but I'm not sure when you would add it - to the powder or to the wash. 
Here are the measurements I have used for my laundry:
Small: ½ tbsp Medium: 1tbsp Large: 2 tbsp I have a smaller stacked washer and dryer, not a full size side by side so I found that I needed to reduce the amount of detergent I used. For a medium load I used 1/2 tbsp and for a full load I used 1 tbsp. You can also make liquid detergent, I chose not to because it needs to be stored in a 5 gallon bucket (which you can get at Home Depot) but I don't have room for that. However, if you would like to try the liquid variety you can find several recipes HERE. I also found a recipe for washing cloth diapers in a comment. It seems that homemade detergent is okay for cloth diapers, but the grated soap type does not rinse well from the diapers. Here is a recipe that should work: Cloth Diaper Powdered Laundry Detergent: Mix it well and combine in a sealed container. Use 2 tablespoons for a small load, 1/4 cup for a large load. TipNut has put together a great FAQ list HERE. There are also over 200 comments where I found a bunch of useful info too. Here are a few tips from that list: If you cannot find the supplies in your local Target or Walmart, they are available online. I checked on Amazon.com and all are available there. The site also has a great article on using vinegar in your laundry as a fabric softener, color protector and more HERE. Good luck! If you do try out making your own detergent, let me know. I would love to hear how your experience went! |
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