Question from Debra

I’ve been reading about the problems with commercial pet food and how it can harm our pets. I have 3 dogs and 3 cats. What are your recommendations for a safe alternative to commercial pet foods? I don’t know which brands I can trust any more. I would like to be able to make some home made food and treats for my pets also. If anyone has any recipes I’d be happy to try them.

Debra’s Answer

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Question from KJ

I looked through your website, but I could not find one recommending a cleaner to remove soap scum and hard water deposits (i.e. regular shower cleaning.)

I have been using a mixutre of vinegar and Ecover Dish soap, and this worked extremely well. However, it damages chrome fixtures, and it seems to corrode tile grout.

What do you recommend?

Debra’s Answer

This has been asked and answered at Q&A: Removing Hard Water Stains, however, I’m answering it again so I can rave about the Spot-X product mentioned there. It is THE product for removing hard water stains. It is completely nontoxic–it’s made from ground sea shells. We have large clear glass shower doors and it keeps them clear and sparkling. We just rub it on and the hard water deposits come right off. Go to the other post and scroll down the page to find it.

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Question from LLM

greetings: I am interested to know more about plastic storage. I am inundated with plastic storage bags, Glad brand, mostly. I am confused about freezing food. I am switching to glass gradually for storage, but the freezing has me mystified. Should it be freezer paper; glass does not seem an option for the freezer because of the size of meat cuts to freeze. I am gradually buying more cast iron cookware which I like best of all anyway, and I always was a little leery of teflon coatings. Your website is fascinating. I am 71 years old, so obviously have avoided most of the toxic pitfalls, but it is never too late to do the right thing. Am going to order your book, as it will be easier to look up a question. Would appreciate your advice about the freezing question, though–I’m not sure all my questions will be in the book! Thanks, LLM from Iowa.

Debra’s Answer

Plastic food storage bags are made from polyethylene, which is considered to be a “safe” plastic. Freezer paper is heavy kraft paper coated with polyethylene, which acts as a barrier to moisture and air. So either way, plastic is involved.

From a disposal viewpoint, the polyethylene bags would be better. They can be reused many times, and recycled, because they are pure polyethylene. The plastic would have to be removed from the freezer paper, making it difficult to recycle the plastic and difficult for the paper to biodegrade.

I’d go with the plastic bags.

Another thing..heat leaches plasticizers and freezing slows leaching. Polyethylene is not known to leach, but this is just another reason why freezing in food-grade plastic bags is not a health concern.

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Question from Monica

This crossed my desk this morning – another reason to buy LOCAL!

From NewsInferno.com

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Question from Ruth Anne Faust

Wondering if anyone knows of a “chemically safe, non-toxic” port-a-crib?

Thanks for your help!

Ruth Anne

Debra’s Answer

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Question from Alison

I was wondering if some of the new steam dryers really work in removing odors from clothes. I have some clothes that I can’t wear due to smells they’ve picked up. I was thinking about purchasing a dryer to use the steam feature to remove smells,but am not sure if they work that well.

Debra’s Answer

I don’t have any experience with this. Readers?

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Question from EC

Dear Debra, i love using pine nuts in many of my recipes. However, they all seem to come from china. What’s up with that ? Can’t we produce them here in the usa? Where would i be able to find them if so?

Debra’s Answer

Pine nuts can be grown in the USA and are. Pine nuts are native to China, labor is inexpensive, and Americans want cheap prices, so that’s why you see so many Chinese pine nuts here.

Pinon Penny which sells New Mexico pinon nuts and jumbo soft shelled Nevada pinyon pine nuts. This site also has a lot of information about pine nuts. These same varieties are also sold at Liston Pine Nuts.

Mediterranean pine nuts are a different variety, popular in Italy. These are sold online at Nuts Online.

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Question from kellylynn

I was recently looking at some animal rescue groups websites and have noticed that all of the ones I looked at they note that they microship all of the animals that they have up for adoption.

My knee jerk reaction is that this is NOT good. I just don’t see the need to insert a foreign object into my pet so that I can track it. I do understand how it helps when a pet gets lost, but… As an electrical engineer I understand RF and the like and I know first hand how it can affect a person, but this is an animal and biology MAY be a bit different. Also I know that the chip is not ON at all times. As a car accident survivor I know first hand how a body fights against foreign objects beneath the skin, mine was painful but this may not be.

I talked to someone I know at one facility and questioned her on this. And she brought up ‘no clinical evidence has been found for this to be an issue’. But did note that ‘anything we inject can cause cancer’ and that there are ‘bigger risks’ out there.

I still am not sure that I agree. My problem is that when I want to get another pet I would like to do so through a shelter and it seems they all microchip now. Do you know anything about microchipping? Are there any studies you have that review this?

Debra’s Answer

I want to add a personal story and comment to this, now that I am reading your comments.

My husband and I have had one or more cats for most of our 21 years together. For much of this time, we lived in a rural area in Northern California, in a forest. We let our cats roam as they wanted. We never chipped them and we never even put a collar on them with an ID tag.

We had several litters of kittens (which all went to good homes) and in one of the litters there was a black cat and a very white cream cat. They were so cute, and when they curled up together they looked like a Chinese yin/yang symbol, so we had to keep them. The white male we named Merlin, and the black female we named Meemer (where that name came from, I don’t recall).

One day, when they were grown, Merlin disappeared. We weren’t worried, because we had had cats go off alone from time to time and they always came back. Two weeks later, there was a knock on the door. It was our neighbor down the street. She had our Merlin in her arms. She said that her cat had died two weeks before and shortly thereafter, Merlin came to her. She knew she should have returned him before, but he had been such a comfort to her. She was now returning him to us.

We were so moved by this story that we offered Merlin to her to keep, and she was overjoyed. We had other cats. She had none. Merlin obviously chose to be with her and we could visit him any time. As much as we loved him, we respected his choice and let him go.

In response to the comments that animals should be chipped so they can be found, I like the comment that suggested a tattoo. I’m always wanting things to be most natural. If animals needed chips for themselves, I think Nature would have provided them. Personally, I wouldn’t do it. And while I understand the loss of a pet, I think there are way too many dangerous technological “solutions.” I’d rather love my pets and have them be healthy and happy than give them a risk that may not be necessary.

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Question from KJ

I just realized something and wanted to share. I purchased down comforters that have down proofing and is “dry clean only.”

I washed it anyway a few times (before 1st use, and a few times after my daughter’s accident), and the down feathers started to come out a little. I do not mind that, but it seems like the down proofing is something that comes off after washing, i.e. chemical that is applied.

When I googled “down proofing”, it sure enough returned some chemical compound that is sprayed, typically something you purchase to apply to your down jacket, etc.

Anyway, I wanted to caution others who may be considering purchasing down comforters.

By the way, I have older down comforters which are dry clean only, and I have washed them numerous times, and you really do you lose a lot of feathers. If that actually eliminates the checmicals (which I do not know), then washing is really worth it.

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Question from Mary

I’m making drapes for my bedroom and am trouble deciding on an appropriate lining fabric. I’m considering organic barier cloth, but that seems expensive choice, and I’m not sure it would hold up in the sun or how it will lay.

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