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I love those Biore strips that pull out all the gunk and sebum from your nose, chin, and forehead. But I hate how expensive they are. I recently paid $7.00 for a small box.

I tried to make my own version, first trying packing tape. It’s a weak substitute. It pulled off some hair, but didn’t get deep into the pores.

My latest try has been very successful - an Elmer’s Glue Facial. First, I steam open my pores for about 10 minutes with a sinkful of boiling water and a towel draped over my head. Next, I wash my face well, then dry. Next, I smear about two tablespoons of Elmer’s glue all over my forehead, cheeks, and chin, applying it as I would a commercial facial mask. Wait about 15 minutes until it dries, then peel off! Rinse well.

It will pull out a lot of the sebum (maybe some hairs too) and leave your skin feeling extremely smooth and soft. It doesn’t hurt any more than a regular peel-off facial mask, and hurts far less than the Biore strips.

I’d say the Biore strips still work better, but at about 50 cents a bottle, Elmer’s glue is a great cheap substitute.

My skin is fairly sensitive, but I did not react to the Elmer’s Glue at all. However, you may want to test it out on a smaller patch of skin first. Honestly, I have no idea of the chemicals in Elmer’s glue, as it is a secret. For my next expermient, I will try this facial with some homemade glue with simple ingredients.

My banana plants, although showing new growth everyday, have brown spots on their leaves. Apparently they don’t like the chlorine that is in our city water. They like rainwater best, but we’ve been short on rain here in South Texas… until yesterday. The skies opened up and it poured.

About 15 minutes after the rain started, I told the kids “Quick, put the watering can under the gutter!” I figured I could save the rainwater for the next time I needed to water the banana plants. I hoped the 15 minute delay allowed the grime, squirrel and bird poop to wash out of the gutters, giving a cleaner water.

Well, the kids love the rain, so they happily obliged. When the watering can filled up in mere minutes, they were having fun, so they went on a search for every bucket and empty container they could find. An hour later, when the rain finally stopped, I had 5 dutch-oven style kettles, 3 large plastic totes, 3 buckets, 1 watering can, and 2 kitchen pitchers full of fresh rain water. A bit more than I was needing for the bananas, but considering that less than 1% of our water on Earth is used for drinking, I’ll put it to use.

I can’t store it for too long. I’m worried about mosquitos in these open containers of standing water. I put the lids on the plastic totes and left them where they are. They are too heavy for me to move. The water in these totes should water our garden for a few weeks, with much left over to wash our cars. The open containers — kettles, soup pots, buckets — were pulled into the garage to offer some protection from bugs.

How to use all of this water? So far, I mopped the floor with it, washed the windows, and cleaned the bathtub and shower. Then I used this dirty cleaning water to flush the toilets. Flushing the toilet is normally just a waste of good drinking water.

I heard that rainwater makes your skin soft, so I filtered out a large bowl of rainwater with two sieves filled with cheesecloth. Worried about nasty things I couldn’t see in the water, I then boiled it. I let it cool to room temperature then used it to wash my face. I didn’t notice softer skin, but I didn’t wake up with insects crawling around my face under my skin either. Note — to be on the safe side, we will NOT be using this rainwater to drink or for washing dishes.

All in all, I feel pretty good about it. The kids had a blast and were occupied for an hour or more, I’m saving money on my water bills this week, and I didn’t let a natural resource go to waste. And my banana plants should reap the benefits next week when they dry out again. Maybe they’ll even reward me by giving me some nice bananas to eat.

A bigger, better step for us is to install a REAL rainwater barrel collection system — one with hoses for feeding our washing machine, watering our garden, flushing the toilet, etc. I believe the money spent on this type of system would be quickly given back in city water savings.

What uses have you found for rainwater?

I’m really proud of my kids — ages 8 and 7 — because they are totally into environmentalism. They keep me on my toes by yelling at me if I throw out a plastic container instead of putting it into the recycle bin. They know the mantra “Reduce Reuse Recycle” by heart and use it often. Today is Earth Day, and my son is excited to share with his 3rd grade class how we compost our kitchen scraps in our worm farm located in our garage.

To celebrate Earth Day tonight, we’re eating a meal that was obtained no more than 50 miles from our house. If you watch “Wasted” or other new environmental shows on television, you’ll know that these days the big push is to get people to start buying more local produce instead of imported fruits and vegetables. This imported produce used up a lot of gasoline to get to you, and it has probably been treated, sprayed, waxed with God Knows What to keep it appearing fresh.

Most of the meal I will make from stuff that is growing in my backyard. We recently moved to South Texas, and I am excited to have a (somewhat) thriving vegetable garden in April. I also have lots of weeds… many of which I plan to pull out today and add to our meal.

These include purslane, dandelions, and chickweed. Years ago, my Dad admitted to me that he kept his yard free of dandelions by eating them. At first I thought that was a bit eccentric and offered to buy him some groceries. However, after living for many years in Buffalo, where steak and dandelion pizza is a popular menu item, and Italians pick cardoons by the railroad tracks to fry up with their eggs, I realized he was on to something. Weeds are only weeds if you don’t want them. Many weeds are actually a delicacy and many are highly nutritious.

Take purslane, also known as “pussweed”. It grows everywhere, tastes pretty darn good, and is a great source of Omega 3 fatty acids. If you follow nutritional news, you’ll know that’s one of the things nutritionists are now telling us to eat more of. In fact, in Europe purslane seeds are sold as a common garden vegetable.

Epicurious lists 6 recipes for purslane. This recipe for - grilled zucchini salad with purslane - looks like a winner. This site has more information on purslane, including photos and more recipes.
Purslane leaves are crunchy yet succulent, and are sweetly tangy. Best thing is you can practically pull the whole plant out of the ground and it will be back growing strongly in a week or so. Before eating, squeeze a stem. If white milky fluid comes out, it might be a poisonous plant, so don’t eat it. Actually, here I’m going to make the disclaimer that I’m not responsible if after reading this blog you go out and start pulling and eating weeds and die of a horrible disease like Chris McCandless in “Into The Wild”.

Another reminder to only eat weeds from lawns and gardens that haven’t been chemically treated with pesticides, etc. Also, never pull them from near a road or driveway because they might be contaminated with garbage from the cars /exhaust.

Most people know about eating dandelion leaves. They are a common ingredient in the Spring Salad mixes available bagged at most grocery stores. Make sure to eat the greens young, as they turn bitter the larger and older they get. The flowers are also edible and are commonly used to make dandelion wine. I’ve heard that the roots are edible as well and can be boiled and mashed like potatoes.

So here’s our menu:

I’d love to hear what “low footprint” meals you are making, from your backyards and local sources!