Plants are pretty darn powerful, and pretty darn useful. The everyday plant varieties that grow around us provide all kinds of benefits that can help savvy people live a little more abundantly and self-sufficiently:
- Keep your home naturally cool by growing plants that cool the air around them. The snake plant, aloe vera, Boston fern and bamboo palm are all popular choices.
- Use White Pine needles to make soda pop. Using just water, sugar and needles from the White Pine (be sure to use White Pine needles, other types can be toxic!), you can make your own healthy, delicious soda at home!
- Take Ivy for a spin. English Ivy contains a lot of saponin, which is a natural detergent that foams when agitated with water. DiscipliningTheHome on Instagram shows you in detail how to make laundry soap out of ivy leaves, but the basics are pretty straightforward: just add a handful of shredded leaves into a mesh bag and drop that into the washing machine on top of your clothes.
- Use flowers to flavour your food. No pepper? No problem. Nasturtium flowers provide a nice “peppery pop” according to Farmer Lee Jones on Instagram. And by the way, the entire plant is edible! Here are ten ways to use nasturtiums.
- Make chalk out of crushed eggshells. This easy non-toxic chalk recipe uses crushed eggshells, flour, and natural powders like beetroot and turmeric for colour.