Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

So often a topic strays off the original post,, with interesting and useful results. Unfortunately some - let us say - overzealous posters and mods close the thread on grounds of "off topic", particularly if the discussion does not go their way.

I can foresee this happening to the thread about weedkillers ("Knockout weedkillers") and therefore to forestall closure of a vital topic, I am starting a thread in which I hope people will post their experiences, advice and information about everyday items which can be dangerous for the user, other people, animals or the environment. For many such items which are often very expensive to the benefit of large corporation, there are simple everyday alternatives. Recipes for many of these can be found on the Internet if you know where to look.

Among the suggestions so far in various other threads are:

1. The use of vinegar as a cleaning product together with olive oil and vinegars and oils in shampoos and "beauty "products.

2. The use of salt as a weedkiller , together with a warning to be careful as it can easily kill of wanted as well as unwanted plants. NB I forget to menton that salt also kills snails. Do not use slug bait as it is poisonous to mammels and even those of us who do not want stray animals in our gardens, want poisoned strays even less!

3, A recipe for making cider vinegar, which is not apparently available in the TRNC and has many health properties.

I hope people willl take advantage of this thread to put forward other warning and suggestions.

PS Keith CAley: I think it would be very useful to put the warning you posted on Knockout Weedkiller thread here, if you agree would you be kind enough to copy it to this thread.

PPS Mods I needed to put this on both the Menus and gardening forums, but dont know how. If you decide to transfer could you put it on both please.

Great idea for a thread RR.

Ammonia.
One item that I sometimes use is ammonia. It was originally bought for the purpose of making a home made After Bite.
It does have other uses, some ideas on this link. http://www.readersdigest.ca/home-garden ... /view-all/ Whilst there are good ideas for it's use in this article, there are no warnings given, which I think is highly irresponsible.

It is scary stuff though, and should not be breathed in or sniffed, preferably use outside or in a well ventilated room. Always use a face mask when using, and do not ever mix it with bleach. Some info http://enviromed.ca/index.php?id_cms=28&controller=cms and https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental ... eneral.htm

I have it stored outside in the shed, well wrapped up and marked as highly dangerous.

Want clean, soft and smooth hands? Olive oil and salt mixed and rubbed in then wash your hands.

Banana peels are useful for a variety of things. Have already mentioned on the vinegar thread, but useful for a plant fertilizer, cleaning leather and various other things. Great to be able to use something that you would normally throw in the bin for a useful purpose, and save some money too.
http://www.medicaldaily.com/health-bene ... uit-296454

Toothpaste is great for taking the itch out of an insect bite. (The white stuff, not gel toothpaste). Bicarb of soda and vinegar work too, just find the toothpaste easier and it's already made up.

Bicarb is also useful when mixed with some oil for a hand or face scrub. More gentle than salt for the face. Oatmeal is another good one for a facial scrub, mixed with a little oil.

Bio soap powder is good for burnt pans. Put some in the pan, add boiling water and simmer for 5 mins. Leave overnight if possible and should lift off very easily. Also good for oven and bbq racks if you have a big enough receptacle to put them in. Obviously not possible to simmer on the hob though.
It's also really good for cleaning gold jewellery, a 5 minute simmer, then rinse, dry and buff up. Be very cautious with gemstone jewellery though, I just stick to plain gold items. Brings them up gleaming.

Alphamike, please where did you get your ammonia? thank you

Sukicat wrote:Alphamike, please where did you get your ammonia? thank you

At a pharmacy in Catalkoy, quite a few years ago now. Expect that any pharmacy will stock it, or get it in for you.

I got a bottle of ammonia from the Chemist in Lapta village - he was a little surprised, but did manage to fish out a rather dusty bottle!

Handy for quickly lowering pool Chlorine level after 'Shock' treatment.

Dont throw away egg shells: they are an essential source of calcium, and can be crushed and either scattered on dog food, or added to compost or straight into the garden soil where they may also help to deter pests.

I also put the water in which eggs have been boiled and water in which veg has been boiled onto the dogs' food as it contains trace elements of vitamins

I have been using rice water as a facial toner,leaves your skin smoother and brighter..... leave a spoonful of uncooked rice in cold water to soak for an hour and keep in the fridge, use cotton wool to wipe face and neck lovely and refreshing in the morning. I make fresh every 4 days.

http://viz.co.uk/category/top-tips/

sorry.

Much as I love butter, I object to paying the same for the spreadable stuff with it's cheaper ingredients, as I do for the solid block, so for a good while now, I've been making my own with a block of butter and some sunflower oil. There are other reasons, but won't go into all that now.

Recipes on the internet talk about sticks or cups, so after a bit of trial and error, as in too hard or too soft, I've come up with:-
200g block of butter at room temperature
150 ml of sunflower oil (you might need to use a little less in summer, as it goes too soft really quickly in the heat)

You can either do this in a food processor or blender, or using a hand blender with whisk attachment.

Put butter and oil into processor or blender and blitz for a couple of mins until the mixture is smooth. It is very free flowing. Pour into a container with lid and pop into the fridge, where it will harden up, but still be soft enough to spread easily.

I tried doing in a bowl with a hand blender with a blade.....it was not a good idea, as the butter just clogged up the blade, and it was a right nuisance to clean it. Using the whisk attachment was a whole lot better, albeit a bit messy with splashing. (It's easier when it's warmer, when the butter gets nice and soft at room temp). At one point it looks really lumpy, but keep going and it goes nice and smooth. Pour into Tupperware type dish, put lid on and stick in the fridge.

I did use olive oil originally, and I liked it, but sunflower oil is cheaper and it doesn't add any extra flavours that you might not want. Tried with extra virgin olive oil, but it was too strong, and a waste of good olive oil and of good butter....better kept separate in my opinion.
Internet recipes suggest using other oils, such as grapeseed, but we're a bit limited here.