February Update...New Soaps & More!

Happy Valentine's Day from Simply Natural Soaps & Sundries, Co!   No matter who it is that you want to celebrate on Valentine's Day...Be it your significant other, your kids, your mom, or just a special friend, we have the perfect bath time gift for them all!      *Bubble bars are the perfect gift for scented sudsy bath time fun! *Our Type Scented Perfume Oils are an excellent addition to any gift. *Bath Bombs create a soft, fizzy and relaxing experience. *Soapy Scribblers make a great gift for your littlest loves. *Grab a bar of BEER soap or a bar of CHISELED for the man in your life...or give a bottle of our all Natural Beard Oil or Aftershave. Don't think that February 14th is the only day that these gifts are worth giving!  We carry these all year round. In addition to the soaps we added last month (Oatmeal, Milk & Honey, Cucumber & Aloe, Simply Baby), the following are ready to go for our Spring Collection. COUNTRY GARDEN This fresh, romantic, floral fragrance is fantastic during the whole year! This fragrance begins with top notes of fresh green clover, and ivy with middle notes of romantic snapdragon, rose petals, and carnations; ending with base notes of white musk and fig leaves. BEER SOAP made with Guinness Beer.  This fragrance is a sexy fragrance that will have you screaming, "I want my man to smell like that"!  Spicy-sweet blend of French verbena and lemon, a green Florentine iris and violet leaves, and sublime notes of Mysore sandalwood and ambergris.   PEARBERRY This fragrance is a fruity fresh fragrance blend of ripened pear, raspberries, strawberries, and gooseberries, with slight musk undertones. **REMEMBER: Seasonal Soaps are available while supplies last! Don't wait too long to order yours, or you might just be waiting until next year! Chester Hills 32nd Annual Maple Festival Saturday March 11 from 9-3 Come visit us and other vendors at this annual event! Features a pancake breakfast, music, wagon rides, and of course sugaring! Where: Skyline Trail in old Chester Center

January Update...Savings & What's been in our Soap Pot!

Spring is just around the corner! If you are like us, you are still trying to recover from the holiday season....and here we are already talking about spring!  We are still offering the discount on our Winter Skin Care Kit....but we need to keep preparing for the warmer weather, flowers....and inevitable bugs!   We know many of you look forward to the spring and summer Farmer's Markets so that you can restock on your dwindling bath & body products supply....Don't forget that there are many other options for getting your favorite products over the winter months! You can find almost our entire line of products at  The Majestic Theater in West Springfield.  Our soap can be found at Pilgrim Candle and Hinkley Harvest in Westfield, Four Elements Salon & Spa in Southwick, The Bread Basket in Russell, Peace Haven Farm Project in Blandford & Visual Changes Salon in East Longmeadow MA. Do you know of a Salon or Store...or any other kind of retail spot where you think our products would fit right in?  Let us know by sending us a message.  If we are able to get our products in the location, we will send you a FREE  thank you gift! The rest of our winter will be spent restocking products that sold out over the holidays, stocking up for the oncoming market season, and testing out potential new products. We're always looking for your thoughts on products that you wish we made or scents you wish we carried.  Your feedback is so important to us! Due to an overwhelming amount of requests, we have FINALLY brought back our Oatmeal, Milk & Honey soap!  We gave it a new look, and made it with goats-milk instead of cows.  It will be on our website in just another week or so and ready for you to bring home to your shower! This next soap is usually hard to come by.  It's pretty popular, but we have always made it in small infrequent batches...but due to requests, there is a large batch just about ready to go!  One of the most mildest forms of soap you can use, a Bastille Bar. Comprised of 75% olive oil, this bar is extremely gentle and is great on all skin types, especially those that are brand new.....or have been around for quite sometime! It is infused with chamomile flowers and includes coconut milk. We scent it with a light mild fragrance that reminds us of precious newborn babies....and therefore, we call it, Simply Baby. Another favorite making a comeback is our Cucumber & Aloe Shave & Body Bar.  This bar is packed with extra Castor Oil to give it some serious sudsing power...it can replace shaving cream...and also makes a great body bar!   Stay tuned for our next update to see what our new or returning spring soaps will be!

Soapy Sampler  Variety of 6 Half Bars $8.00 Buy Now

Winter Skin Care Kit $25.00 Buy Now

All Natural Lip Balm $3.00 Buy Now

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The Skin Warrior Soap...

So following up my last post about herbs that are good for the skin....I decided to make a SERIOUSLY good bar of soap for problematic skin.  All of my natural handcrafted bars of soap are gentle on all skin types and moisturizing..and many already to provide additional botanicals to add an extra kick in the "good for the skin" department.  But I wanted to make the warrior of all soaps to be used for skin conditions.

Here is what (and why) I came up with....

Avocado Oil- Avocado oil has an extremely high Vitamin E content making it an amazing antioxidant.  It has a natural hydrating ability and is deeply absorbed by the squamous layer of skin. It acts as an emollient, providing soft and supple tissue and hence is a wonderful ingredient for anyone suffering from dry itchy skin.

Almond Oil- Almond oil is a natural rejuvenator that not only protects the skin from the sun and aging, but acts as a moisturizer, softening and smoothing the skin. Almond oil can also help relieve skin irritations such as itching and swelling.  This is great for people with conditions such as eczema and psoriasis which cause inflammation of the skin as well as itchiness and a rash.

Coconut Oil- A major ingredient in many soaps, Coconut oil is another great moisturizer.  It is extremely helpful to people with dry skin. In some Indian cultures, Coconut oil is a main ingredient in treating many skin conditions.

Shea Butter- Shea butter, yet another great moisturizer, is often used to treat skin conditions naturally. It is a good source of vitamins A & E which help strengthen and repair damage to your skin.

Olive Oil- Olive oil is known for being an extremely mild and gentle moisturizer. Many baby care products (natural) are comprised mainly of olive oil. Olive oil has been known for being able to relieve some of the discomfort from dry, itchy, inflamed skin conditions such as psoriasis or eczema.

Ground Oats- Oatmeal (oats) help to relieve dry itchy skin from conditions like eczema and poison ivy.  It is also a natural exfoliant which helps remove dead or flaky skin.

Honey- Honey is a humectant, something that attracts moisture and keeps it locked inside the skin.  Therefore, it acts as a great moisturizer helping to provide moisture to dry, irritated skin.  It is also an antioxidant and promotes wound healing.

Lavender Essential Oil- Lavender oil has great antiseptic and anti fungal properties. It is used to treat many skin conditions such as acne, psoriasis and eczema. It is even better when added to chamomile.

Eucalyptus Essential Oil- Eucalyptus oil is also a great antiseptic and anti fungal oil.

Tea Tree Essential Oil- My most favorite essential oil yet, this aromatic oil is amazing in almost any use! I could go into an entire blog on the benefits of tea tree oil. It has antiviral, antibacterial, anti fungal and antiseptic qualities.  It helps relieve and reduce dry flaky skin such as dandruff or psoriasis.

Calendula Petals- Calendula is great when used on dry or damaged skin. It has properties that are great at restoring skin.

Alfalfa Powder- Alfalfa Powder contains Vitamins C, D, E and K and is a great antioxidant.

So....I guess it's pretty safe to say that this soap will be LOADED with awesome ingredients to help combat those annoyingly irritating skin conditions!  I cannot WAIT to try it on my daughter's eczema or my psoriasis!

I will put it up on my website for sale as soon as it is done curing. (In about 4 weeks) So keep checking to purchase yours!  Order yours here!  And I hope you enjoy it as much as I think I will...and as much as I enjoyed making it!

The Dirty Little Secret about Deodorant...

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So Deodorant. We all know what it is...and I'd say probably 99% of us use it.  Why?  Well, originally it started off as a way to keep away the smell from sweating that was caused by dirt and bacteria.  But as times changed the newest and greatest thing was added to many deodorants..... ANTIPERSPIRANT.

I am certain that the majority of people purchase their Antiperspirant Deodorants with out even giving a seconds thought to what they are putting on their body and what this product is actually doing to them.

Let's take a look at the ingredients list on the back of a deodorant container...

So the main ingredient I want to talk about just so happens to be the #1 Active Ingredient in an Antiperspirant Deodorant: Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrex...now if that doesn't sound scary enough as it is....let's see what it does... Unfortunately Aluminum is found in many of the things we come in contact with during our daily lives such as in utensils, appliances, building materials and containers and is used in the production of glass, ceramics and rubber and is found in paints and fireworks..It is most harmful when used in products that are ingested or applied topically to the body.  It is used in products such as antacids, astringents, buffered aspirin, antiperspirants and food additives.  (1)

Aluminum is very poorly absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract...only 0.1% of intake actually being absorbed. (2) There have been studies that show that a high level of exposure to aluminum can cause neurological and lung damage.




Even though the effects of orally ingesting aluminum are so harmful, a study that was done on mice showed that when applied topically to the skin, aluminum was even more dangerous to the body. A study that was done in 2001 showed that one application or an aluminum based antiperspirant under the arm allowed the body to absorb the aluminum through the skin and the aluminum remained in the bloodstream 15 FIFTEEN days after the one application under the arm. (3) This means that by applying aluminum to your skin, you are allowing the aluminum to end up in your body, blood stream and your brain.




Aluminum was first recognized as a human neurotoxin in 1886. (4) A neurotoxin is something that causes damage to nerves or nerve tissue. Post-mortem analysis of Alzheimer’s infected brains has shown increased levels of aluminum compared to people that did not die from Alzheimer’s. The short term symptoms of aluminum toxicity include memory loss, learning difficulty, loss of coordination, disorientation, mental confusion, colic, heartburn, flatulence, and headaches.(5)




The reason aluminum is used in deodorant is because it serves in blocking the pores under your arms. Making it difficult to impossible for your body to release sweat through them. While many see sweating as something "gross" or to be avoided...sweating is actually a natural occurrence that is very important for your body to do in order to maintain temperature. Sweating allows the body to regulate its temperature. Sweating causes a decrease in core temperature through evaporative cooling at the skin surface. (6) By preventing your body from being able to naturally maintain its core temperature, you are disrupting the normal function of the body.




The main focus in a deodorant should be to prevent odor causing bacteria. NOT to prevent your body from actually sweating. Sweat is not gross, it is totally natural, and everyone does it.




There are many other chemicals and ingredients that can actually be irritants to the skin if not even more harmful.




You may not be one of the people who's skin is more irritated when using deodorant than not, and you may not notice any of the symptoms of aluminum toxicity..but why risk it for your body? After years of using these products on myself, I feel jipped for not learning sooner how awful they were. And I feel it is my responsibility to learn all of these things so that I can properly educate my daughter so that she does not also have to be dragged into the typical path that society walks down of polluting our bodies without even knowing we are doing it.




Do your body a favor and take a look at what you are putting in or on it. You deserve better. It is so easy to make many of your own products. I will continue posting blogs with recipes and videos showing you how to make things. And as I perfect my recipes I will list them on my website: www.SimplyNaturalSoaps.net for you to buy should you not have the time or energy to make them yourselves. There are so many resources out there making it easier and easier for you to have access to all natural products that will not harm your body!































1. “Definition of Aluminum.” MedicineNet.Com. 9 Jan. 2008 <http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=39609>.




2. Flaten, Trond P. “Aluminium as a Risk Factor in Alzheimer’s Disease, with Emphasis on Drinking Water.”Brain Research Bulletin 55 (2001): 187-196. 19 Jan. 2008http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03619230.




3. Flarend, R, T Bin, D Elmore, and S L. Hemb. “A Preliminary Study of the Dermal Absorption of Aluminium From Antiperspirants Using Aluminium-26.” Food and Chemical Toxicology 39 (2001): 163-168. 22 Jan. 2008 <http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchemtox>.




4. Jansson, Erik T. “Aluminum Exposure and Alzheimer’s Disease.” Journal of Alzheimer\’s Disease 3 (2001): 541-549. 9 Jan. 2008 <http://iospress.metapress.com/link.asp?id=wb0qym7m9212er2t>.

Also available at: http://www.deptplanetearth.com/pub/jad3jansson.html


5. “Heavy Metal Toxicity.” Life Extension. 17 Jan. 2008 <http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-156a.shtml#alum2>.

6. "Perspiration". Wikipedia. 29 Dec. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspiration>.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

Ok, I know, I know another blog about homemade laundry detergent.  It seems everywhere I turn someone is talking about it, writing about it, vlogging about it....so what's all the hype?

Well let's start with some of the reasons that I personally started looking into alternatives to conventional detergents....

1. PRICE:  It is INSANELY expensive to purchase conventional laundry detergent these days.  I cannot even believe the racket that these manufacturers are creating.  It's just plain nuts.  Why should someone spend on average $16 per bottle of laundry detergent that does anywhere from 36-48 loads of laundry? I can't even remember a bottle of detergent lasting that long, so I don't know what the count is based on.  I probably had to buy a new 100oz bottle every month to month and a half.

Photo Source

2. CHEMICALS:  This is the real monster in the closet and is the reason I want to spend the most time on.  Have you ever considered what exactly is in your conventional laundry detergent?  Did you know that laundry detergent manufacturers are not required to list out the ingredients used to make the detergent on the label?  Many of the chemicals used in your brand of choice are cancer-causing toxins.....and the people responsible for this do not even have to WARN you about it.  How ridiculous is that?  That we are not even allowed to be told what it is we are using on our family's laundry.
     In 2008, the University of Washington did a study on detergents and found that 99% of laundry detergents tested contained cancer-causing toxins, many of which were not on the label in the list of ingredients.  The most dangerous being nonylphenol ethoxylate. Nonylphenol Ethoxylates (NPE) are bad for the environment, bad for wildlife and bad for YOU.  Some of the problems that NPEs are noted for causing are: Endocrine (growth and development of tissues and organs) disruption, reproductive disorders such as decreased sperm counts in men, learning disabilities, birth defects, is known to mimic the hormone estrogen and is suspected in causing cancer as well. There have also been studies done that show this chemical to cause damage to heart and muscle function.  NPEs are a major chemical used in PESTICIDES!  It is so toxic that its use has been banned in Canada and all of Europe, but the United States continues to use it.  How nice of them.  
  Using conventional laundry detergent causes a layer of detergent to remain on your clothing once it has been washed.  This causes you to inhale the detergent as well as get the chemicals absorbed into your skin.  The chemical will not instantly kill you.  It causes damage over time and even just from small amounts of it. 
    The next toxin that can be found in all laundry detergents (that I am sure you will NOT find on the label) is formaldehyde.  This is used as a preservative in many things (such as some of the vaccines we give our children! Another discussion for another time)...things you may never have even considered it to be in.  I myself did not realize how many things it was in until I began doing research on vaccines for my daughter and on laundry detergent. The first thing I think of when I hear the word 'Formaldehyde' is the dead, horribly smelly frog that we had to dissect freshman year of high school.  12 years later, I can STILL remember the awful aroma it emitted.  Why in God's name would I want something like that going into MY body---which, by the way, just happens to still be alive!  Or worse--why would I want to knowingly use anything containing it on my daughter!?  The short answer is- I don't.  Formaldehyde has been known to have side effects such as skin, eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches and nausea and has even been linked as a possible contributor to some cancers, including leukemia.  Once of the main reasons that the detergent you purchase smells so strongly of 'fragrance' is because of more chemicals that are being used to cover up that hideous formaldehyde smell.  So when you inhale that pleasant smelling detergent, you may actually be inhaling trace amounts of formaldehyde or other dangerous toxins as well.
    Being a new mother as well as newly diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, I really wanted to inspect the products that my family was using on their bodies or ingesting in one form or another.  I strongly believe that my disease is environment caused.  I'm not saying by any means that "I have MS because I used to use Tide to wash my clothes". Absolutely not. But using Tide (or any other conventional detergent) may very well be a factor in the long list of crap we pollute our bodies with that has since attributed to my development of Multiple Sclerosis.  I decided that I wanted to avoid as many toxins as I possibly could help. I know it's not easy, and I know it is damn near impossible to avoid them completely. I focus mainly on my daughter. I do not use soaps or washes or shampoos on her. Babies just do not need it. I mainly use all natural or homemade lotions and treatments for her eczema or diaper rashes, or whatever else she may need. 

Anyway- those are the two main reasons that I have chosen to steer my family away from the habitual use of conventional laundry detergents such as the infamous Tide. Let's move onto what is actually in the detergent that I use and how I go about making it. :)

The recipe that I use contains 4 basic ingredients:
     -Water
     -Borax
     -Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
     -Bar of Soap (Preferably homemade or all natural, but something like Fels Naptha, Dr.       Bonners or Ivory would work as well.)

     I also use essential oils, typically Lavender and Orange, though you could use any scent that you would like.


     Let's look at Borax...  20 Mule Team Borax was established in 1891.  Borax or Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate is a naturally occurring mineral composed of sodium, boron, oxygen and water.  It consists of 99.5 percent pure naturally occurring borax. There are no synthetic, man-made chemicals in it at all.  No fragrance, dyes, bleach or other additives.  Even though it is all natural and has a low toxicity--do not think that it is nontoxic so be sure to still keep it out of reach of your children, pets and even your crazy mother in law who might think it's a box of bath salts. :)
     Borax helps to soften hard water and cleans and deodorizes many different surfaces.  In doing my research I found a poorly written article that claimed that borax was dangerous and not to use it.  The problem with the article is that they were labeling Borax as "sodium borate and boric acid"  Borax is sodium tetraborate--a completely different compound.  It is NOT the same as boric acid or sodium borate.  Boron is a mineral and salt that is mined straight from the ground.  Boric Acid--the compound that can actually be harmful--is created by mixing borax with another acid such as sulfuric or hydrochloric.  Borax is completely natural and does not cause cancer or build up in your body.

     Next up, Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda... Washing soda is NOT the same as baking soda.   Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, while washing soda is sodium carbonate.  You do not want to use baking soda in your laundry detergent.  Washing soda has a higher pH level than baking soda and therefore is a stronger compound to use for cleaning.   Washing soda is also great at softening water, it works as a bleach substitute by fighting stains, and also neutralizes odors.  It can also be used to treat stains such as oil, grease, wine or juice, lipstick and wax.

 Now onto the fun stuff!  The actual making of the laundry soap.  

First, I gathered up all of my materials & ingredients:

20 Mule Team Borax

Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

Bar of Soap (Fels Naptha)

Empty Laundry Detergent Bottle or Suitable Container

Essential Oils

5 Gallon Bucket---with lid

The next step is to grate the bar of soap.  I just use the largest side of a cheese grater.                                                                                        You could use a food processor if you wanted.  You want to grate the whole bar (or as much as you can without grating your fingers into the mix as well!)   

Once the soap is completely grated you will add it to a pot that contains 4 cups of water.  I usually set it over medium heat.  You just want to get it hot enough to melt the soap down.  Continually stir so it does not burn or clump together.                                                      

After melting the soap down, you will want to fill your 5 gallon bucket half full with hot water.  Measure out your Borax & Washing soda.  Pour the soap into the bucket of water & then add the Borax & Washing Soda.  Mix thoroughly.

My Little Mixing Helper

Once everything is mixed well, fill the bucket the rest of the way with water.  Put the cover on tightly.  Let the mix sit overnight to harden/gelatinise.  

The next day when you open the container, it will look like a heaping bucket of jello or cellulite (like you see on tv!) Generally I give it a good mix again (or let my little helper do it).  Then I will fill an emptied out conventional laundry detergent container halfway with the soap mixture.  Then fill it the rest of the way with water.  Add your essential oils (if you choose), Shake, and you are good to go!  The soap WILL be clumpier than you are used to.  This is normal and perfectly ok. You will probably want to shake the container each time you use it just to give it a good mix.  

Below is the complete recipe, Enjoy!!

4  Cups - hot tap water
1  Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap 

-Add soap to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium heat until soap is melted and dissolved.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until everything is dissolved and mixed together.  Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover tightly and let sit overnight to gelatinise.

-Mix again and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap mixture and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. I use Lavender and Orange

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- Approximately 1/2 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

Top Six Reasons to Live a Self-Sustainable Lifestyle

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The more you think about it,  I am sure you will be able to identify more and more reasons why living at least a mostly self-sustainable lifestyle would be beneficial to you and your family. I'm not talking about becoming "Grizzly Adams" or anything that extreme....Just taking control of YOUR life. Not letting corporate big wigs or governmental mind control run your life.

Here are the top 6 reasons I think that living a self-sustainable "off the grid" lifestyle is beneficial....

1. To give my daughter- and any future children a legacy for an independent lifestyle.  So that they do not have to run with the masses of other "sheep" in this country so incapable of thinking for themselves that it's easier to be completely miserable than to break out of the norm.  I want my children to be able to make their own decisions on how they want to live. Not be sucked into the cycle of doing "what everyone else does" just because it's the only thing you can do.
2. To become debt free.  Can you even imagine your life free of credit card debt, mortgages, car loans, school loans, etc.?  It really is hard to conceive that it is possible.  And I am not saying it's easy to get to that point.  It takes a lot of hard-work and dedication.  For the last 3 years my husband and I have been living credit card free.  In May we paid off our final car loan.  We rent instead of own our house (which is mainly because we intend to build our own home on our own land). But it also prevents us from getting stuck in one place in a house that we can never get rid of our recoup what we put into it.  I will have a ridiculous school loan until I am probably about 50 (another 25 years or so)...which is one of the bad decisions I made along the way from being pushed into living the "norm".  A 30 year loan for one semester of school is insanity.  No one should have to feel sucked into something so terrible.  I can't imagine where I would be if I had continued on with the same ridiculously overpriced school for a full 4 years.  Anyways, aside from that, we really have no "loans".  It does make things difficult sometimes--especially for me.  My husband is much more able to roll with the punches, but I have a harder time and worry a WHOLE lot.  Like, what happens when our 2001 Subaru with 210k miles on it decides it's had a good run and it decides to quit on us? Not getting into another car loan is tough because it means you have to have the cash to purchase another car (whatever it might be) in full.  But in the end, it is so worth it.  Not to have to worry about getting that $350 car payment in on time and working one day to the next just to save up enough money for those crazy loans is crazy.
3. To learn to be frugal.  This is a tough one for me.  It's one of those things that I completely agree with and understand and have been getting much better at...but I still need a little help.  As I look around our 2500sq ft house at all of the THINGS that fill the place up, I feel kind of spoiled almost.  We have a LOT, I mean a LOT of STUFF.  Not expensive stuff. Not brand new stuff....so I guess in a way we are much more frugal than some people, but we do surely have more than we need. I tend to keep everything. Which I guess is in part a method in frugalism? (yes, I made that word up)  If you already have it...why get rid of it...someday you may need it or may be able to re-purpose it for something later on.  All of that makes sense to some extent, but it sure is hard finding the space.  My daughter has probably more toys than any daycare around.  I honestly can't think of one thing to buy her for Christmas this year...but at the same time, I'd feel like a terrible mom if I don't do something! All of this is something that I think will change when we move on our own land.  I think moments with our family will become more valued than material things.  I don't spend a lot of money on big expensive things...I don't even own an Ipod or MP3 Player...or smartphone...or any other of the new-fangled technological devices out there that "everyone MUST have!" I have  4+ year old computer and a half broken cell phone (yes, it will eventually be upgraded) and an old CD player that plugs into the wall.  I don't feel like I need to spend thousands of dollars a year on the newest greatest device. I can get everything I need on my computer. Sure sometimes I think it would be nice to know what everyone was talking about when I hear things like "Instagram" and "Face Time" on a daily basis...but if I'm getting along fine without it right now, why do I need it?  It will be nice to move into our old place and "shed" some of our overstock of stuff.  I'm sure it will be hard for me as I have a tough time parting with things...but there has to be a limit. If I haven't used it and it hasn't seen the light of day in 5 years....chances are, someone else out there probably could have more use for it that a box in my basement.  I don't want my daughter to be without things, but I know that she loves the outdoors, and would much rather be out there exploring than inside playing with her 20 different Leap Frog toys she has now.  So even getting rid of some of these things will improve our lives, not make them worse.
4. To live Healthier & Grow your own food. This one is really important to me.  The way we live in modern society is just plain disgusting.  We have become such an unhealthy country  it's sad really.  To sit back and allow my daughter to fall into this life of wasting away to me means that I will have failed as a mother.  I myself have a "man-made" autoimmune disease- Multiple Sclerosis- I truly believe that I have this due to the way we live...I just happened to be one of the lucky ones that wore my body down so much and treated it so poorly that it decided to punish me for the rest of my life.  No one should have to suffer like that.  I truly think that living a healthier less polluted lifestyle will not only help my health and my illness but help prevent anything like this from happening to my daughter.  All of the preservatives and chemicals and other "crap" that we eat on a daily basis is really just awful.  It makes me sick just thinking about it. And I really think that unless you get out of the rat race and start growing your own food and really paying attention to what you allow your body to consume--you will never be able to reach an actual healthy lifestyle.  Even buying "organic" at the grocery store does not necessarily mean it is good for you. Seeing "All Natural" on a box does not even mean it really is ALL Natural. It's kind of depressing knowing that the food industry is allowed to trick us into thinking we are eating healthy because the package says so and we paid a TON more for it... This is probably one of the most exciting parts of the project for me. I cannot wait to feel less stressed and just feel better.  
5. To be the Master of our own Destiny. I think this is probably one of my husbands top reasons as well...but it is also important to me.  It is basically what we want for our kids, only we want it for us as well.  To be able to decide for ourselves what we do on a daily basis and why we do it. To not have media and corporate greed or the government or the general population of "sheep" cramming their rules and garbage down our throats on a daily basis. It will be so nice to be able to decide what our house looks like because we wanted it to look like that and because we built it ourselves...not because some law says it has to be built this way or because all the other "Jone's" have their like this.  To be able to work for ourselves and not to make someone else rich. Or to take a day off because we CAN. Without having to worry how we will still make this months ends meet because of that missed day of pay.  To be able to just sit back and take our time with things and not rush through them missing every important moment and not taking the time to enjoy our life.  It's awful that we are so rushed and stressed that we cannot spend the correct amount of quality time with our daughter that we would like to.  Even when I do take the time to be with her my mind is racing or I am so used to doing several things that I have to be reading or thinking or typing or something. I can't just BE.  I don't want to worry about everything, I want to enjoy life. And enjoy watching my daughter grow up (even though the growing up part makes me teary eyed) and enjoy my husband. Not be running a dance around each other everyday...not being able to spend time together--date night? What's that...I don't think we've been on an actual date in years.  We just need time to unwind and get away from the horribly doomed cycle that life has become.
6. Always Be Prepared. With the way this country seems to be headed--on all facets, who knows when the so called "shit" is going to hit the fan. Finally. For the last time. WWIII? Zombie Apocalypse? Civil War? Or just a plain old economic collapse?  Who knows. It could be anything. Or all of them.  We just don't know for sure. But either way, it doesn't look promising. We want our family to be prepared. To be able to feed ourselves and take care of ourselves as well as protect ourselves if the time of running out to WalMart to grab some milk and bread and flipping a switch to get electricity comes to an end.  To be so dependent on the things that we are is not healthy.  When the power goes out for a few days, due to a hurricane, people go nuts. Pulling knives and guns on other people, stealing, its pandemonium. And that is just due to a temporary break in the everyday "routine" of life.  People panic if their hot water doesn't work or they can't throw dinner in the microwave or their computer doesn't turn on.  (Heck, I'm not saying that to some extent I  don't panic when things like this happen).  We're so dependent on the way things are that when we get thrown the slightest curve ball, we go nuts.  Look at the show, The Walking Dead....now maybe it would never get to anything that extreme...but even still, what if something happened where people couldn't just do what they normally do.  I want to be prepared for that. At least the best that we can be.  We have to be, we owe it to our daughter.  Even if nothing ever happens (which seems unlikely). But even if it never does, it's still good to be prepared. Because it puts our daughter into this new lifestyle so that if long after I am gone something does finally happen--she will be prepared for HER children.  

Towns Without a Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance

Found this in our search and thought it might be helpful...

Towns without a Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance (4/5/12)

Municipality	County	RPC	2010 Population
Alexandria	Grafton	LRPC	1613
Canaan	Grafton	UVLSRPC	3909
Chatham	Carroll	NCC	337
Clarksville	Coos	NCC	265
Dalton	Coos	NCC	979
Ellsworth	Grafton	NCC	83
Errol	Coos	NCC	291
Grafton	Grafton	UVLSRPC	1340
Haverhill	Grafton	NCC	4497
Lempster	Sullivan	UVLSRPC	1154
Orford	Grafton	UVLSRPC	1237
Pittsburg	Coos	NCC	869
Rumney	Grafton	NCC	1480
Stark	Coos	NCC	556
Stewartstown	Coos	NCC	1004
Tamworth	Carroll	LRPC	2856
Warren	Grafton	NCC	904
Wentworth	Grafton	NCC	911
Woodstock	Grafton	NCC	1374

This was pretty interesting as well...

http://nextgenlife.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/2012_liberty_rating1.pdf

It’s a report card for every government representative with the grading based on how they voted relative to individual freedoms. 



-Keller

My Recipe for a Simpler Life...

Ok, so I was having trouble finding time to sit down and type something this morning...my daughter has been dragging me around the house hunting down her "antique" Treasure Trolls so she can line them all up and them make me wrap each one up in a blankie. I was thinking I would like to post about the basics of what I am looking for out of our "New Life"...nothing really specific, but the general outline of it....and I realized, I had posted something really similar on my other blog (My MS blog)...so here is an excerpt from it. Sorry, not something I wrote this morning, but still basically covers what I am looking for...



"My recipe for a perfect life would be to own a bunch of land somewhere, build my own homestead (ok, my husband would do that part) and live on the beautiful earth with my husband and children. We'd grow our own food and raise our own animals. Nothing huge, but maybe a cow or two and some chickens and a goat...who knows. I'd make all my own soaps and washes. I'd hang my clothes to dry in the beautiful clean air.. I wouldn't be cramped next to a million other houses taking forever to drive down the street because there is so many other people on the road. I'd enjoy the outdoors. We'd run through the open land and just laugh. A Simpler Life. Free of all the complications and garbage in today's society. Free from the daily grime of having the newest and best piece of technology or beauty product shoved down your throat....because there MUST be something wrong with you if you don't buy it. I hate that. I hate everything about the way we live today. I hate feeling like a sheep in the herd unable to make my own decisions or have my own ideas without messing up everything for everyone around me. The black sheep gets left behind. That's how I feel. And it's absolutely ridiculous that that is how things have gotten. That is not a life for my daughter. That does not express the values or the morals that I want her to grow up by, and live by. I want a simpler life. Not free of all civilization or modern conveniences...just free of all the crap. Free to live how I want without having to worry about working til I'm broken just to fork all the money over to someone else's wallet for doing half as much. I want to take the time to enjoy life and the things around it. Not feel like I am rushing through it to just make ends meet or get on to the next unimportant thing in the grand scheme of things. I want to be healthy. I don't think that our world is designed for people to be healthy. Everything we do or consume is designed for poor health. I don't necessarily believe that we are close to finding cures for many diseases....because it makes society more money to remain sick. If you can charge $1500 per month per person with MS for the rest of their life.....for the medication that they believe is helping them (and sure, maybe it is).....why would they want to come out with a cure that each person only takes once? It's sick that that is how I think...I know. But to me, it makes total sense. Not that that is what I think they should be doing...but I believe that is how corrupt our world has gotten. Money is all that matters. The bottom line is above all else. If someday I am given reason to rescind that theory, I will gladly do so. I pray for that day. But until now, I guess that is the one aspect where I truly am a glass half empty person.

 My goal at the end of this post: A healthier life. A happier life. A better life. A Simpler life."

And now,my daughter is pulling on my chair and dragging me away from the computer, so I guess that 5 minute copy-paste post is all I am allowed for now!

Here is the beginning model of the cabin we plan on building...

It's extremely time consuming (and a bit of a pain) to construct the model to scale and adding in all of the features. (Hard to see, but in the room with the white beams, there is a toilet, sink, bathtub...and next to that room, a flight of stairs.  And behind that, a closet that will contain all of our batteries, inverters and controllers.

About our Project

For approximately the last two years, a great deal of my time has been spent not just dreaming of building a healthier more responsible life for my family, but actually planning it.  The difficulty in that isn't the hard work it takes or the commitment or anything like that.  The difficulty is in the fact that the way of life I'm dreaming of doesn't fit the American mold.  In fact, it's not being done, (to this extent) at least based on my numerous internet searches which have many times come up empty no matter how I phrase the keywords.  The only relevant label you could put on the idea would be "Homesteading" but that doesn't come close to hitting the mark.  The only way I can summarize it is that my vision merges the utilization of technology, innovation and old time values, skills and knowledge to "reboot" the way we live our lives.  Before I get into any details on the how...let me explain the why!

The Why.

About two years ago, my wife Melissa and I were living in Rock Hill, SC.  We owned a small print shop and we were doing well.  The economy was horrible but we built our business around the idea that, like we do, people work hard for their money and are should get an honest price on the stuff they ordered from us without sacrificing quality or service.  For that reason we grew rapidly.  Things were good.  Some months later we found out we were going to have a baby!  It's an unbelievable feeling, I was on top of the world.  Everything went well with the pregnancy and 9 months later little Abigail Juliet was born.  After all of the craziness settled down we returned to our normal lives with no indication of the storm looming on the horizon.  After a couple months Melissa began to have some numbness and tingling in her arms.  She said that she had noticed it early on in her pregnancy so we kind of dismissed it as something due to the healing process.  In the days that followed it got worse, when finally one morning she got out of bed and could hardly make her legs move!  This was bad.  After going to the ER we still didn't know anything but they released her because whatever it was wasn't life threatening and they referred her to a neurologist.  We went to see the neurologist eager to get some answers.  Without much deliberation he told us that she has Multiple Sclerosis and it was the worst case he had ever seen in someone her age!  Then came the medical bills with no insurance and there went the savings...in about a week, every penny gone.  Every step we had gained in our business was in serious jeopardy, to make matters worse, we now had this little girl to take care of!  It was a scary time for us but things got better, sort of.  We ended up losing our business and home but the treatments were working and Melissa was regaining her strength.  We moved back home to MA penniless and ready for a new start.  In the meantime I started reading about the cause of MS and ways to naturally mitigate the symptoms and I discovered that the cause of MS is unknown.  The more I read the more I became convinced that MS is a man made disease and so are several other diseases.  The way we live our lives in this modern society could very well be killing us!  Think about it, the preservatives in EVERYTHING we eat, the pollution in the air, Fluoride (which is a toxic byproduct of metal production, look it up!) in our water and toothpaste, radio waves, microwaves the list is a mile long.  I read for hours and hours on the subject and I became dead set on finding a solution, not only for my wife but maybe for other people too!  That brings me to explaining how I intend on doing it.

The How:

Since I felt like the numerous pitfalls of modern society were a major contributing factor to my wife's illness the solution was clear.  Get back to basics.  Recapture some of the old ways of doing things but without living in a hut in the woods.  I didn't want to completely abandon society, just take the good and leave the bad.  Raise and grow your own food, heat your home, generate your own clean power, utilize herbs and nutrition to heal.  I also found out that, if done right, this lifestyle can be much more financially stable.  You can eliminate many of the expenses you would ordinarily incur in a typical living situation.  Obviously, you can't just stop working and retire early but you can certainly live off of a much smaller income.  In fact, there is a gentleman on YouTube who has reduced his household expenses to nearly $300 a year!  That figure doesn't include certain luxuries like internet and car insurance but it keeps him housed, warm and fed.  These are all things a quick YouTube search will reveal that people are doing, with success!  After like a million hours of research,  I began to formulate an ambitious plan. I tweaked the idea in ways I thought would add benefits to create something that, really, nobody else is doing.  I want to create a complete self sustaining living system that doesn't doom people to isolation like so many other alternative living ideas do mostly because of cost and bureaucratic red tape.  There were many challenges but I found out that if you are in the right place it all becomes possible, still tough but possible.  My research led me to New Hampshire as the option and since I live just an hour from there it made it even better in many ways.  I found out that many towns in NH have no or very lenient zoning and building codes.  This was perfect because the design for our home, while safe and practical, would not appease the powers that be in Massachusetts.  Since I was a building contractor for many years I knew I had the skills to design and build the perfect home to suit these goals.  The entire scope of my project is far too massive in detail to elaborate on in this site so I am creating a blog to store much of this information for my own use and anybody else who is interested to learn more about it.  That is another goal of mine.  My family and I have committed ourselves to laying the groundwork so that other people can benefit from our experiences.  I truly believe that we as a society have strayed onto a self destructive path and are just beginning to see the effects of that. 

-Keller