The Healthy Home

You’ve found one of my passions – a healthy environment! Given a choice my family would be “off the grid” and growing all of our own organic produce. I’ve even envisioned a wind turbine on our 14 acres. (it turned out to be not very practical but I’m still researching the concept!)

In the meantime, we do what we can. My gardens are organic and thanks to the horses we have compost that we use on the gardens and donate to friends. I’ve been a big proponent of organic food for many years   and am grateful that it’s easier to find these days! A nearby farmer raises beefalo and that’s all the red meat we eat. His cows are grass fed, outdoors, with no growth hormones or antibiotics and it’s awesome.

My daughter, her husband and I renovated several properties over the years we’ve shared living quarters. Each has provided an opportunity to push the boundaries of an environmentally friendly lifestyle. One was a passive solar 1950’s home that featured an unusual forced air /radiant heat system. In the next, a converted carriage house, we installed radiant heat with ceramic tile on the first floor. When your feet are warm, you’re warm!

When my grandson was four a doctor thought he might be developing asthma. At that point my daughter began extensive research on the possible causes of asthma. Some dramatic changes took place as a result of the information she gathered. During our next renovation we used AFM Safecoat paint, wool carpet with horsehair pad, real linoleum on the kitchen floor, and all safe cleaning products – the list goes on! Go to www.afmsafecoat.com, the American Formulating and Manufacturing site, for additional information on the environment healthy building and remodeling products they manufacture.  

Energy & Environmental Concepts, Inc. is the distributor in Michigan(and several surrounding states) that handles these products. They can answer most of your questions and will also do on site inspections. Call Steve Kopacki at 800-968-9998 or email him at sbkeec@aol.com

If you’re dedicated to helping to save the environment try a recipe from Natural Homes Magazine for things like laundry detergent, clothes soap, tub and sink scrubs and lots more! 

A wonderful resource for keeping your home healthy is the book Clean House, Clean Planet written by Karen Logan. It’s a compilation of recipes for non-toxic cleaning products and directions to “earth friendly” commercial products. Published by Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster. Look on Amazon.com for a copy! http://www.greenfeet.com/cleanhouscle.html

Also read Home Safe Home by Debra Dadd for more information on safe home products like mattresses, bedding, children's clothing, safe cleaning products and so on. This book alone will rock your world, litterally. http://www.dld123.com/homesafehome.html