How is Mayo Made?

We developed the following recipe through trial and error, focusing on taste and consistency. Organic ingredients are always preferable. The availability of organic lemons is inconsistent where we live, so when we can get them, we freeze the juice in tablespoon measurements. (Although freezing doesn’t negatively affect the final product, you must remember to bring the juice to room temperature before using it in homemade mayonnaise.) We prefer to use pink Himalayan salt. Plain white vinegar tastes good in this recipe, but flavored vinegar will taste even better. We always use chive blossom vinegar, with delicious results. You could try basil- or dill-flavored vinegar, depending on your preferences.

You shouldn’t alter the basic ingredients of this recipe, but do feel free to experiment with different flavor profiles; for example, by adding a pinch of ground cayenne, by increasing the amount of paprika, or by replacing some of the mustard with garlic powder. If you plan to use your homemade mayo in a salad dressing cake, you’ll want to make a less savory mayonnaise by eliminating or reducing the Tabasco and paprika.

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons ground yellow mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika
• 6 dashes Tabasco sauce
• 2 cups sunflower oil
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon water

1. All ingredients should be at room temperature.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the olive oil, eggs, sugar, salt, mustard, paprika, and Tabasco until combined. With the processor running, slowly drizzle in 1 cup of the sunflower oil in a thin stream. Turn off the processor and pour in the vinegar, lemon juice, and water.
3. Turn the processor back on, and after the acids and water are just blended in (after a few seconds), add the remaining cup of oil.
   Place the homemade mayo into a storage jar, refrigerate, and happily eat!

Leah Smith
Nashville, Michigan

Talking About Tamanu

Years ago, I worked for a major beauty product company. We constantly tested ingredients for our highly priced skin-care items. That’s when I fell in love with tamanu oil, from the nut of the tamanu tree (Calophyllum inophyllum). Studies have shown its countless benefits, including anti-inflammatory properties and even wound-healing abilities. Our company, of course, found it too simple to use. I still have friends who spend hundreds of dollars on skin-care products while they can’t believe the results I get with just tamanu oil. You can buy it online if you can’t find it at a local store.

Laura Saba
Wayzata, Minnesota

Christmas in the Coop

I like to let my poultry run free in the winter garden, but hawks are a deadly problem. Protective nets have been cumbersome to use, so I began experimenting by stringing up tinsel garlands. I hoped the reflected sunlight would confuse the birds of prey overhead while protecting my flock below.

Two winters have now passed without an attack, and I haven’t even spotted a hawk watching from the surrounding trees. Garlands are available for half-price after the holiday, will last a few years, and aren’t as messy as dealing with netting. Of course, my grandchildren love that I decorated my garden. My neighbors don’t comment!

Joann Hahn
Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania

Credit Where It’s Due

I’ve discovered a great way to reuse plastic credit cards. After I wring out my artist paint tubes as much as possible, I cut up the cards into small strips to use as paint and epoxy spatulas. The shapes can be customized to fit into the tubes to get out the last bit of paint, or they can be used to mix up epoxies. When I cut up the credit cards, I make sure to destroy the number and chip, and then throw those away just to be safe.

Lisa Grossman
Lawrence, Kansas

Canine Comfort

When my dog was younger, he’d chew up expensive dog beds. Then, I found a crib mattress free at a garage sale and put a fitted sheet over it. He loves it! And I like how a fitted sheet makes the mattress look great but is also easy to wash.

Kathy Dreher
Bemidji, Minnesota

Ring-Free Woodwork

If you’re a plant lover like me, you may struggle to find a way of preventing moisture from houseplants from damaging your furniture, woodwork, and floors. Now, I use the base of my plant pots as a template for cutting out moisture-blocking circles from old poly mailers. They’re 100 percent free, because I recycle shipping mailers used by big-box stores, thereby giving plastic packaging a second life rather than throwing it away. These mailers also make great cage liners for birds, reptiles, and other pets that don’t shred their bedding.

I hope this tip helps other readers, and keeps more plastic out of our landfills.

Mindy Bizzell
Astoria, Oregon

DIY Fire Starter In a Roll

At our house, we have no shortage of dryer lint and empty cardboard rolls from toilet paper and paper towels. I decided to repurpose this debris into fire starters for our outdoor campfires. Every time I clean out the dryer lint trap, I stuff the lint inside an empty cardboard roll, really packing it in. These homemade fire starters help get the kindling going.

Dana Carrera
Summerville, South Carolina

DIY Fire Starter In a Box

Seems like we’re all inundated with tissue paper and loads of boxes at this time of year. I have a fireplace and like to repurpose these items as fire starters. For example, I’ll take up a small cardboard delivery box, about 12 by 16 inches, and fill it with tissue, wrapping paper, napkins, ribbons, sacks, and more – always non-shiny paper or cardboard. Sometimes I’ll add pieces of old, partially burned candles to the box. I also collect little sticks from the ground, since I live in the country and have lots of them. I make sure not to use anything metallic or with wires, such as some ribbons, in my homemade fire starters. Large cardboard boxes can also be torn into smaller pieces and used in the same way.

Our society wastes so much. Using these homemade fire starters helps with garbage disposal, meaning I have less trash to carry to the curb. Anything that’s safe to burn, I repurpose it for starting fire in my fireplace.

Dawn Hodges
Bellville, Texas

Beauty Inside and Out

To personalize small photo albums, I remove the original store inserts from the clear plastic covers, front and back, and then replace them with colorful used greeting cards. In this way, their contents are marked as photos of birthdays, Christmas, and other festive events, and they’re easy to find.

Irene Boren
Paris, Illinois

Her Hair Harvest

Yesterday was the fifth time I’ve harvested my curls. My practice is to let my hair grow long and, after enjoying long curls and the compliments they bring, treat them as the resource they are – ripe for harvest. I cut them off to donate, knowing they can serve others and will once again grow back to play a role in, and bear witness to, another few years of my life.

Having recently completed a permaculture design certificate course, I’m energized to share this personal practice and to inspire others to think about how we can embody lifestyles of regeneration and beneficial succession.

Yesterday’s cut didn’t come easily to me. I get attached to my long hair. At each cutting, I take a moment to express my gratitude and awe. I think about the hair of my ancestors and of people who’ve recently lost theirs, particularly children, who may benefit from my own locks. It feels sacred.

I’ve donated locks to a variety of places. This harvest will likely go to the nonprofit organization Children With Hair Loss (https://ChildrenHairLossNeeds.org ). I’ve also donated hair for a boom on a bioremediating floating sculpture. Human hair can play a critical role in mycoremediation and cleaning up oil spills too.

I sure hope my new ‘do inspires us all to think a bit more about harvesting – not only our hair, but any other bodily or society byproduct that can be put to good use. Mama Earth is pretty amazing, especially when we work with her!

Chana Widawski
New York, New York

Promoting Sorghum

Grain sorghum is so versatile in my kitchen that I’ve come to think of it as rice-meets-quinoa. It cooks up like rice, but triples in volume. It can also be ground into a delicious gluten-free flour!

Much like sugar cane, the stalks of grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor ) are rich in a high-sugar juice that can be processed into syrup. When mature, sorghum plants look similar to corn – tall, with long, broad leaves that alternate up the sturdy bamboo-like stalks. Unlike corn, though, which produces an ear or two off the side of the stalk, sorghum produces its seed in a tight, cone-shaped cluster at the top of the plant. These seed heads look a bit like a sumac crown to me, especially the red variety. If you can grow corn, you can grow grain sorghum – but first check with your local extension service to make sure it’s not considered invasive in your area.

Grain sorghum produces easy-to-harvest grain. The seed heads snap off the plant quickly, and the seeds are relatively easy to break loose from the head. The seeds are already dry at the time of harvest, so minimal processing is required. Since you don’t need to grind them prior to cooking, they’re ready to consume immediately after harvest.

To process sorghum, we simply roll the dry seed heads over 1/4-inch screen mesh into a collecting vessel. No threshing is needed, but we do like to winnow the seed to get rid of the stems and other plant detritus.

Karen White
Rose, Oklahoma

Keep Those Memories Fresh

I really like my old cookie jars, but over the years, their lids have cracked and broken. Recently, I discovered a way to make the jars serviceable again. I simply cut a silicone lid for pots and pans to the right size for the top of each jar. The jars now have perfect functional lids again, and the silicone seals wonderfully over vessels I use for storing flour and sugar. This makes accessing the contents super easy, and I can retain containers with lots of memories.

Gail Leone
Cedar, Michigan

Plants Need Light

While working on downsizing at our home, we uncovered a vintage but electrically dangerous metal lamp. Instead of taking the lamp to the landfill, we removed all the wiring, took the saucer-like shade off the top, and spray-painted the metal brown.

We repurposed the saucer-like shade into the large planter you see at the bottom. A plastic tomato container serves as the top planter. Finally, we added a piece of wood on the middle shelf to hold a 6-inch flowerpot.

This kept our old lamp and the plastic tomato container out of the landfill. Now, it provides curb appeal along with hostas and coleus plants.

Leediafastje Bailey
Shelton, Washington

Low-Impact Parties

My lifelong habit of sustainable living began when I was a sociology major at North Dakota State University and enrolled in an ecology course. On the first Earth Day, I passed out information on the streets of Fargo about composting, recycling, and reusing. To the best of my ability, I continue these practices today.

One example is my collection of plates, glasses, cups, bowls, and silverware that I’ve gathered from garage sales and thrift shops. It’s stored in a stackable plastic tower on my side porch during the warm season. (The silverware is always covered.) This has been my alternative to using disposable paper and plastic products at potlucks and family gatherings for many years. More utensils are stored in the basement, because I have enough for 60 place settings.

People appreciate eating on real plates and not paper and plastic. I post signs explaining to my guests how to clean their plates (by collecting and separating the meat scraps from the vegetables and bread) and then put them in tubs filled with warm, soapy water to get them ready to wash later. I try to plan for success as best I can, and I hope to inspire others to do the same.

Deanna White
Ypsilanti, Michigan

Washroom Remodel

I’ve always loved old styles over new, so I decided to feature my favorite décor when I recently remodeled my farmhouse bathroom.

As you can see in the photo, the new sink is set into the top of an old wringer washing machine. The washer had been posted on a local swap and shop website, and the owner was only about 30 miles from my home – an easy trip. The machine was in excellent condition, but needed something to support the sink, because the original tub was too big. My neighbor works with steel, so he fashioned the turquoise ring around the top. It’s perfect for the room.

The walls were lath and plaster, and my neighbor and I gutted it down to the studs. He put up the pine boards, and we sanded it between several coats of varnish. I also stripped the house’s original oak floors and then varnished them.

Thanks to my neighbor, who thinks outside the box and made my dream come true! I love my new old bathroom.

Mary Robinette
Lake Park, Minnesota