She's no dirty hippie-type; makes her own deodorant to prove it

I don’t know of many ways to spend free time that are more fun than getting together with friends to talk and eat and make something earthy and useful. I’m way into do-it-yourself type things--I like to sew and bake and grow a garden and all that. I’ve found that usually the people that like to do these sorts of things are also the type that would like to make their own body care concoctions. Such as deodorant.
Yes, deodorant. Recently, I threw an ‘I’m not a dirty hippie’ party and myself and ten other women made our own deodorant. A novel idea, isn’t it? Who has ever heard of such a thing? Some of my friends jokingly call me a ‘revolutionary’, I guess because I’m drawn to the unusual, interesting paths of adventure, and this was one such thing!

We had fun choosing our scents and adding them to the really easy recipe (See my blog). Each guest took home a jar that will last for months probably, with no wasteful stick containers to go into the landfill like with conventional deodorant products. There are also no harmful ingredients (like aluminum or parabens--yuck), plus this homemade deodorant really works!

Sipping some Indiana brewed beer and sampling homemade cupcakes and cookies and oh, flipping through the beautiful Seeds of Change seed catalog that my gardening friend brought to share and the laughing and talking, it was perfect. We had such a great time that we decided to make this a monthly event, getting together each month to make something different and useful. I love it. If you have friends that might enjoy something like this, I encourage you to host your own ‘I’m not a dirty hippie’ party (see my blog for ideas). Enjoy and tell me about it!

Find the deodorant recipe here.

See this post for a great little book.

'I'm not a Dirty Hippie' party ideas/tips:
::You can choose one or two items to make.  It might be good to make up a batch ahead of time if you've never made it and have time.  Choose something fairly simple.
::Assemble labels and jars for the concoctions, be sure to have enough containers for everyone, as well as ingredients to make the recipe(s).  Northstar is an excellent source for ingredients, essential oils, etc., as well as jars.  You can also recycle baby food jars or anything you have on hand.
::Ask each guest to bring a snack food to make it easy on you and fun to see what people bring. 
::Ask for a one dollar (or more--depends on what you make) donation to cover your costs of ingredients and jars, etc. 
::You can ask guests to bring their own containers, too.  Or essential oils if you don't have any.  You could create a 'community pool' of ingredients and oils for making different items.  It might also be good to collect measuring cups/spoons/other implements to use exclusively for concoction making.  Thrift stores are great for this.
::Consider making this a monthly gathering and do something different each time.  The possibilities are endless!  Plus it's great for not only gathering as women, but making something useful.
::Encourage friends to invite friends.  The more the merrier, plus you'll meet new women.
::Use real dishes and cloth napkins and recycle all you can to be Earth friendly, of course!
::enjoy!!

DYF (do yourself a favor) and DIY (do it yourself) November 17, 2009

Make your place

I’ve got a sweet and sassy book that I am loving right now. I just got this book by Raleigh Briggs in my hands recently and am so glad I did. Do yourself a favor and get this DIY book (DIY stands for Do It Yourself for the uninitiated). Contact Jane at The Wild (gotothewild.com) to get yourself a copy. It's $7--seriously--for a total wealth of information that is engaging and easy to understand. Topics cover Health & First Aid (making tinctures! salves, how to treat headaches, depression, colds, etc.) to Non Toxic Cleaning and Body Care, to Gardening.

I was sold on this book before I even read the Intro and reading the Intro when I got it made me love it even more:

."..no part of the process was trivial or mundane. Creating and using something homemade never is. I came to realize that my skepticism abouth the importance of these acts was based on a cultural belief that the domestic sphere is somehow less important than the public sphere. Which, of course, is such a load of crap. (amen, sister!) If we DIY only the elective, recreational parts of our lives-or only what other people can see-then how much of our lives are we really reclaiming?

...DIY is for everybody! Gardening, homemaking, healing: these are all such basic aspects of human life on this planet, and they are important for just that reason.

...to me, DIY is not a show of prowess, or even a hobby, rather, it is a necessary step towards living our lives on our own terms. ...we cannot depend on a market-informed cultural consciousness to enlighten us--we have to do it ourselves." (ding ding ding!!)

--raleigh briggs

Yes, DIY is worth it in so many ways.