Cooler Cleaning.

 This is what happens when you leave liquid inside a cooler and neglect it for a few months:

Mold, bacteria, stains... makes me want to vomit!

But here is the proof that my natural cleaner works!  All I used was my home made cleaning recipe with natural ingredients and ten minutes later, clean and ready to go!

Why should you make the switch?  Store bought household cleaners, even some of the "green" ones, contain many harmful chemicals that can affect your health.   Cleaners often contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other chemicals that contribute to chronic respiratory problems, allergic reactions and headaches.  You don't have to believe me, read this article from the American Lung Assocation, click here. 

The smell of bleach is often times related to a sense of clean because of the vast amount of historic uses.  Bleach has been used for decades to clean and disinfect, but its time to change! Bleach and other harmful chemicals is not the only way to keep your house clean.

I know I have posted the recipe on the blog before but here it is again with the places you can find the ingredients.   I don't measure so these are approximates and probably different than the last recipe I posted!  The mix does not have to be perfect.  The end result can be used everywhere on everything!  Although, I don't clean windows or mirrors with it as the baking soda leaves a residue.  So what should you use on your windows?  Water.  Nothing else.  It works.  Somebody (or some company) tricked us into believing we need a blue spray to clean our windows!

In a spray bottle add:

• 2 Tblsp Borax - Basically a mineral with a high pH (9.5) which increases the pH of the water it is in to make other cleaning supplies more effective.  The boron in borax inhibits metabolism in organisms and therefore kills unwanted pests and acts as a disinfectant.  Found in grocery stores, all purpose stores, ie: walmart, target.  Look in the laundry detergent section.
• 2 Tblsp vinegar - Because of it's high acidity it is effective at killing most mold and bacteria. 
• 2 Tblsp baking soda 
• 2 Tblsp All Natural Soap - I use Dr Bronners Lavender.  You can find these at all natural food stores but they also now have them at Target. 
• 10 drops of Tea Tree Oil - The big disinfectant!  Essential oils are found at natural food stores or health markets. 
• 10 drops of peppermint oil - I just like the smell.  I now associate peppermint with a clean house.
• Fill the rest with warm water and shake.  

Quick, simple, cheap and FUN!  You kind of feel like a mad scientist when you are mixing it all up.


Cooler and "cooler" cleaning!

My First Poppies Fest! 2012

Well March 31, 2012 was a crazy day.  The 2012 Poppies Fest on Castner Range was held at the Museum of Archaeology, chaired by yours truly.  The poppies themselves were in fantastic bloom and survived the harsh winds and cold front the week before.  Castner Range was in all of its glory that day with poppies blooming, unique craft vendors, educational exhibitors, children's activities, nature tours, nature talks, live music, yumtastic food and a vibe of protecting our mountains!  Thousands of El Pasoans, the Mayor, Congressman Reyes and lots of media came out to support the event and the mission of preservation. 

The Museum of Archaeology lies in the heart of Castner Range along the Transmountain Corridor, which is a road that travels through the Franklin Mountains in El Paso.  The road is the only road up and over the mountains and gives a traveler a beautiful view of the landscape while easily linking the East and West sides of El Paso.  The Transmountain corridor is in a heated battle between people who want to make the road wider and build, build, build, versus people who would like the area to remain in its natural state.  I am sure you know which side I am on.  The foothills provide much needed habitat for the unique and extremely high biodiversity that lies in the Chihuahuan desert.   Although, I am all for the improvement and building of El Paso, but there is plenty of underutilized space within city limits for growth.  There are many run down buildings, empty spaces within the city that could be revitalized and keep the growth centralized.  Centralized growth would allow for ease of public transportation or (an absurdity) walking from place to place.  Let's leave Transmountain wild and build our city at our city.  Keep it simple.

If you were not able to attend the event but would still like to support Poppies Fest and the preservation of the Franklin Mountains, "like" the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition!  They are working hard to preserve the natural beauty of our mountains and have recently collaborated with the Sierra Club to take on the "builders".   The best way to keep up with what is going on with the conservation issues surrounding the Franklin Mountains is to follow a friend's blog at elpasonaturally.blogspot.com, where you can find just how to make your voice heard!

As you can imagine I was running around most of the day, but I was able to snap a few pictures of the event. 

Setting up their educational exhibitor stations.

Tigua Drumming and Dancing - and of course people enjoying.

The friendship circle dance led by the Tiguas.

LOVE this pic.  Just warms your heart.  Boy scouts were in charge of making sure people correctly placed their trash and recyclables!

Heather and Takota (EPZ Golden Eagle) made a showing!

Ceiba and Friends performing. 

Nature Tours every hour!  Wish I went on one!

Even David made it out.  Checking out a tipi.

Border Patrol volunteers on hand ALL DAY!  They were awesome!

This day took an army to put together.  I am so thankful for the committee volunteering their time to make Poppies Fest a priority.  Lots of appreciation goes out to all of the volunteers (over 100 people), all collaborating organizations, sponsors, media that helped promote the event for FREE and everyone that attended!

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to be the event chair.  I am excited to work out some kinks for next year!  (PS: I know our biggest kink is the shuttle situation.  Many ideas have been tossed around and you can bet next year will be better!). 


Poppies! ... do you know why they are called poppies?  Because when they go to seed, their seeds "pop" off of them! 

The zoo has been a zoo!

The past two weeks at the zoo have literally been a zoo!  For the most part the weather has been great and it has been Spring Break!  Ahh, Spring Break, a time of relaxation and revitalization to push forward into a new year.  NO LONGER!  This spring break was an extremely busy yet creative time for me at the zoo. 

The first week of spring break we had our first ever Spring Break Camp from 9-12pm, Monday through Friday for kids ages 7-14.  It was a success.  Although I was crunched for time I loved coming up with activities for the kids to enjoy and at the same time be learning about wildlife and conservation.  The themed days were Nature Art, Geocaching, Nocturnal Animals, Backyard Wildlife and Tracks and Scat.  My two favorite activities for the kids was a home made nocturnal maze I built for them using materials we had at the zoo.  They were blindfolded and had to use their senses to navigate the maze.  The kids loved it but really loved leading each other through the maze.  My other favorite was chalk art, in which they were challenged to make their pavement box into an animal's habitat.  It took a while to set up but the kids enjoyed crawling around on the ground to create their masterpieces.  I am extremely thankful to the volunteers who helped me out during the week!  25 kids and no volunteers would have been horrible!  Luckily they also helped me break down and set up the zoo everyday. 

Nature Art: Chalk

Nocturnal Maze at the zoo!

Where are you?

To view all of the pictures from the camp thanks to Adrian Cisneros, take a look on the El Paso Zoo Facebook page here.  There are some really cute ones that will make you smile!

Most schools were off the second week in March but there were a decent amount that were off the third week.  For those kids and families we offered daily one hour workshops at 10am and 2pm everyday Monday through Friday.  There were families that joined us everyday and I grew close to them and looked forward to their arrival each day.  A one hour workshop was perfect to entice them with the activity for the day but also explore more that the zoo has to offer.  I loved the workshops.

One family thanked me for the week with this awesome potted plant! LOVE.

The second Saturday of my Spring Break was working at Kidspalooza!  Even without knowing what Kidspalooza is, it sounds like a madhouse... and it was!  The El Paso Zoological Society had a booth at the downtown El Paso children's event.  My station was making magical animal masks out of household materials (paper plates).  In my head the point was that you don't have to have all the supplies in the world to be creative and do a project with your kids.  There are tons of materials you can upcycle into beautiful works of art.  With 20,000 people attending Kidspalooza I don't think that message was passed along.  We probably had a few thousand come by our table and it was busy the entire day.  People were crazy about the masks but I don't think many of them thought, wow this is something I could do at home!  Throughout the day, I did manage to gather a few more emails for the email list at the zoo.  If you would like to know about upcoming programs or events or just see my dandy emails, sign up here.  No worries, I won't sell your emails and you will only receive about 1 per month unless there is so much going on I need to send 2!  Thank you to Renee, the Zoological society director, Darrel (volunteer), and the facilities guys that dropped off and picked up the tent and tables!

Our peaceful setup prior to the thousands of people!

My Spring Break continues... The 6th annual Poppies Festival on Castner Range is this upcoming weekend March 31st at the Museum of Archaeology!   The planning committee has been planning this event for months and this year the Mexican Gold Poppies are blooming!  I am the chairperson for this event and I have also never seen the poppies before so I am sooo excited for this Saturday!  The event is FREE and will include children's activities, about 30 unique art vendors and 30 educational exhibitors, live entertainment from local indian groups and musicians, a live wolf, nature talks, nature tours, food including local buffalo stew and so much more!  The event is 10-4 and parking is at the EPCC transmountain campus with shuttles provided.  

Spread the word about the Poppies Fest and join us to help preserve Castner Range.  The Museum of Archaeology is in the heart of Castner Range.  Castner Range is a former artillery range, owned by Fort Bliss, known for its cultural, geologic and unique biology.  Many consider Castner Range the crown jewel of the Franklin Mountains.  This is the reason I got involved in the event.  Often during my programs at the zoo urban sprawl comes up, and it is easy for people to picture urban sprawl happening around the world.  Many wild places are being destroyed for human use for homes, apartments, stores, roads, etc.  But what people don't realize is this is happening in our backyards.  The Franklin Mountains are part of El Paso but only the state park is preserved as a wild space.  The foothills of the mountains is being sought after by contractors to build houses, roads and more.  This area is extremely important for the rich biodiversity of the area.  If you want to learn more, come to the event!  The Franklin Mountains Wildnerness Coalition is a nonprofit dedicated to preserve the scenic beauty and wilderness character of the Franklin Mountains.  Even if you don't frequent hiking in the mountains, but just value being able to look up from downtown El Paso and see the mountains, come to the Poppies Fest! 

Castner range in all its glory!

Beautiful.

My Spring "Break" should really be called Spring Madness.  But the good kind: the fun, creative, exhausting Madness! 

Madness.