Most of what I write about on this website is how to find nontoxic products for purchase. Because most readers are buying products rather than making them.

But I do want to mention that it is also possible to simply find nontoxic products or have them “fall out of the sky.”

Three times in the past month I’ve had nontoxic products just appear. So I just want to acknowledge that there are nontoxic products everywhere and they can be obtained by means other than buying them.

The first one appeared on the night I moved here to California. All my things were packed but we were moving into Larry’s room at his mom’s house, so a lot of his things from the past were there. My wool comforter from Shepherd’s Dream was in the storage locker, so we just unzipped Larry’s old sleeping bag and threw it on the bed. I have to say I love this old sleeping bag so much that I don’t even want to go get my comforter. It’s got a 100% cotton cover on the outside, a 100% cotton flannel lining and 100% cotton batting on the inside (we know this because it’s so old the lining is frayed and the stuffing is coming out). It’s toasty warm, makes me think of Larry as a little boy lying out under the trees and stars in this sleeping bag, and we can just toss it in the washer and dryer and it comes out all clean and warm. We are planning now to repair it and use it for our comforter. We’ll keep our wool comforter too because we sleep with the window open and it can get cold here.

Then I needed some winter clothes. I had been living in Florida for 15 years so my winter clothes consisted of three frayed flannel shirts. I bought two more flannel shirts a few weeks ago on sale at Macy’s. But then yesterday we started cleaning out Larry’s closet and we found seven flannel shirts that were practically new! And they were exactly the right size for me. Larry didn’t want to wear them because he likes to wear fitted shirts and he had lost weight and these were now too big. But I like to wear baggy shirts, so they were perfect for me. Now I have a whole pile of flannel shirts and I didn’t spend a penny.

Then, when we went to Goodwill to take in all the clothes from Larry’s closet we had discarded, at the very moment we drove up there was a woman there wanting to donate a red Le Creuset cooking pot. We have one and we love it and we were wanting more. But Goodwill didn’t want it! The woman was about to leave to take it somewhere else and Larry said, “Are you giving that away?” And the woman just handed it to him. This is a $300 pot.

So keep your eyes open. You never know what nontoxic products will cross your path.

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Question from Emily

Hi Debra,

Thank you for all the information you have worked hard to share with others. There’s so much helpful advice on your website and I have barely started to read through it!

I am in transition as far as a place to live and am looking for a holistic home.. and by that, I mean, a home that wasn’t built with toxic building materials, is not near power lines or towers/antennas, and where I don’t have to dread the neighbors’ wifi networks. I would especially like to find such a home in a peaceful country-like setting, near organic farms and perhaps in or near a community of like-minded people (eco communities, or farming communities).

The problem is that I don’t know where to start and how to even search for such a place.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you.

Debra’s Answer

I’ve been doing this for three decades, so yes, I have a few suggestions.

First look for the setting. This is extremely important. When I move, I always look for the setting first.

I’m looking for clean outdoor air. So that’s going to be in a rural area, or a city like San Francisco which is right on the Pacific Ocean and has a lot of wind. The Richmond and Sunset districts of San Francisco, Daly City and all the communities along the coast there, for example, are residential communities where there is no industry or commercial farming, so the air is very clean and the houses are old. I know that’s not what you are looking for, it’s just an example.

I’m currently living in a small town in Sonoma County, California that is a few miles inland from the Pacific Ocean but there is nothing but open space between the ocean and our town. So it’s very clean and we have organic farms and you would find like-minded people here. But it’s also extremely expensive and at the moment there is NO housing. I have the extreme good fortune to live here because my family lives here.

Before this I lived in Florida at the top of a hill overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. I had no view, but I had clean air. Even though it was in a suburban neighborhood and not a rural area, the air was clean.

Before that I lived in a forest in a rural area in Marin County, California.

I’ve also lived in other towns in Marin County and in the city of San Francisco.

For you, I would look for a rural area near open space near a body of water.

Then I would find an area not near high tension power lines, towers, antennas, etc. You can’t avoid power lines entirely unless you are off the grid.

Then I would start looking for the house made with nontoxic materials. And that’s a whole separate set of guidelines.

Start looking for the place and when you find it, ask me again about finding the house.

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