Natu Collective: How Livia incorporated grandma’s habits in her household

When Natu asked me to tell a couple of the things I do to help nature while living in an urban city I kept ending up with the same question: how/where is this produced? For me, the big change is to be aware of the origin of everything one consumes beside focusing on non-biodegradable waste.

The keys to engage in this new era are just two: research and organization.

Look up (research) the origin of products and food you buy. You will probably not buy a can of tomatoes grown in China, labeled in Italy and sold at Whole Foods just because you see “Bio” or “Organic” on it. Good chances are, with a simple research, you will realize how easy is to buy fresh local tomatoes and wait 15 minutes to have a chunky delicious sauce of your own!

And then we get to key #2: organization. Having specific reusable bags (fruits, vegetables, dairy, dry items) make your life easier and save time at the supermarket packing your food and unpacking it at home – without dealing with the garbage! It is so refreshing to say “I don’t buy this… nor that…  neither those…”

No packaging is perfect, paper is fine, glass or metal are fair. Plastic can be the worst product if you are not sure how to discard it – and if it will really be recycled.

Another example of how I applied the concept research and organization to my household is buy creating my own “toilet wipes”. After a quick research about emollients and baby wipes, I decided to add a few drops of essential oil in a bottle of water. You can reuse an old spray bottle (I use glass!) around the house. The result is an emollient water that you spray on toilet paper before wiping your kids (or yourself, why not?). It smells the way you like and is a small example of how to turn your intern key on. I call it “Po Wasser” – in German, literally “Bum water”.

The same applies to so many homemade cleaning and beauty products – you can create cheaper and such unique products, while reducing the packaging footprint and picking the raw materials you like. Moreover, they last several months!

For sure there are some products we love and will still use! No problem! The idea is to do as much as you CAN do.

Livia’s green tricks

• Homemade toilet wipe
• Homemade deodorant
• Body and face oils: no lotion beats its moisturizing properties
• Vegetable stock
• Vegetable paste: vegetables left from stock are smashed and frozen. They add an extra flavor to soups and sauces.
• Homemade tomato sauce and pesto are always a “Joker” in my fridge.