Garden Ritual Time Again!

 There's something about the dirt in our bottom land, the rich, earthy smell of newly plowed ground.  Even our lab-a-like Eddie knows there's something down in that dirt, as he roams between the furrows and around the edges.  Is he looking for the movement of a lizard or field mouse or is it the soft padding underneath his pads that stirs his soul?

I know why the yearly ritual stirs mine: the smell of the ground, the potatoes that will be sprouting eventually, the rattle snake green beans to come, the tomatoes, the tomatoes, the salsa. 

Eddie walking through the rattlesnake green beans last year.

Be Flexy and MOVE: Good Info for Happy Work?

Get Flexy and Keep it Movin'  to Be Happy in the Workplace. Is this what the author Katheryn Schrieber means?  Man, we got to get going at Be Kind.  We are rubbing elbows with Sean T and his Insanity workout...but we got to diversify, obviously.

Schrieber Advises:

Give a new image of flexibility--looks painful.

Get flexy. Less rigid work schedules help retain team members — especially folks who prefer to hold down a job and have adequate time to spend with family. Workers who can produce on their own clocks and outside the office also tend to be more efficient and call in sick less often than their office-bound counterparts. (Plus people whose day jobs don’t jibe well with their home lives are three times as likely to quit.)

Movin in Slow Mo Takes Control...

 Here's some impressive  Youtube "Movin" by Marquese to the tune of Adele (Marquese became a writing warm up bell ringer to get my morning writing students energized or awake). This is worth the advertisement you might have to endure. My ad was for a commercial liquid soap--not mine.)

Scheiber advises:

Keep it movin’. Employees who fill their morning routines, lunch breaks, or happy hours with physical activity tend to be more engaged and energetic on the job than those who stay glued to their chairs. Getting a move on throughout the workday improves overall cardiovascular health, provides a healthy distraction from stressful office situations, and can even enhance workers’ capacity to tolerate physiological stress. Company gym membership, anyone?

If you'd like the full article, here's the link.  Does Tony or Sean T have a Dubstep workout DVD?  

Be Kind and WARHORSE Natural Soap. Simple and Essential.

 

Does clothes  make the man, or woman?  Of course, we all know it doesn't hurt to look good, to make a solid first impression, but what really counts is what's inside. And what's inside our colorful, logo-laden bottles is soap.

Yes, that's right we make a true soap.  That's it.  Basic soap.  Plain, ole soap.  Just Soap.  That's it, ya'll. Dang good soap with natural glycerin and natural oils.  Funny how we're finding that simple is better, that our great grandmother's soap might have been as good as it gets (visit our website to learn about HOW we make it, sort of a cross between a chef and a malt brewer).

 

Here's how the FDA defines and regulates soap (it's pretty clear that soap doesn't get that much attention because it's so simple).

 

 Soap

February 1979; Updated February 3, 1995
Ordinary soap is solely made up of fats and an alkali. In the past, people made their own soap from animal fats and wood ashes.
Today there are very few true soaps in the traditional sense on the market. You might recognize these soaps as products marketed with characteristics such as "pure." "True" soaps are regulated by the Consumer Protection Agency, not FDA, and do not require ingredient labeling.

Most body cleansers on the market today are actually synthetic detergent products and come under the jurisdiction of FDA.
If a cosmetic claim is made on the label of a "true" soap or cleanser, such as moisturizing or deodorizing, the product must meet all FDA requirements for a cosmetic, and the label must list all ingredients. If a drug claim is made on a cleanser or soap, such as antibacterial, antiperspirant, or anti acne, the product is a drug, and the label must list all active ingredients, as is required for all drug products.

 

 Like many true soaps, our be kind cleansers and WARHORSE cleaners are natural SOAP.   We might call it "cleanser" or "body wash,"  but it's just beautiful, simple soap with no dyes, no synthetic suds, no "fillers."  Just like our favorite dish--simple, natural ingredients make the best dishes (unless it's the prefabricated box of mac and cheese with the powder and bad after taste that I do eat every once in a while).

But, with increasing cultural need to over complicate, over sell, over hype, over compensate, over kill most everything, SOAP has been seen as boring...

Here's our soaps undressed, out of the bottle, up close and being "experienced." 

This batch's main ingredients: soybean and canola, and our sustainable process makes a kick-butt degreaser.

Hand "goop" with pumice and Lemon oil for some customers with dirty jobs.

Hickory, NC provided the main ingredient for this batch.

A happy customer this Friday, with her just delivered mint cleanser.

Glycerin-rich hand scrub in a jelly jar.

Lemon Pudding? Nope, canola, sunflower, sweet amond, and Dead Sea minerals soap--creamy and soft.

 

Variation in color and texture is normal, just like nature.

WARHORSE All Purpose--leaves skin soft and silky. No fumes or itchy skin.

 

Sorry, sorry to bore you, but that's what we do at Be Kind Solutions Inc. --make soaps using natural oils, ingredients that you might find in your food pantry--soybean, canola, sunflower, olive, oils, sweet almond and castor oils, sea salts, maybe some apple cider vinegar. We may add some essential oils like lavender, mint, lemon, citronella, eucalyptus to enhance the benefits of our soaps... yep, that's pretty much it. 

 

Here's a question I get asked about our soaps:

Is your soap antibacterial?

No, not if you mean do we add alcohol or triclosan to make it antibacterial.  In fact,

FDA Panel: No Advantage to Antibacterial Soap Advisory Panel Says Regular Soap and Water Just as Effective in Preventing Illness. 

 

 

That's all folks, just soap, but an experience you may never have tried if you've only had the fake stuff with sulfates, artificial colors, fillers, and synthetics.

P.S.   Be Kind and WARHORSE soaps are sort of like the difference between a box of Hamburger Helper with that powdered packet and a pot of homemade chicken and dumplings.

 

A young man (who recently moved out of his parents' house) trying out his grandmother's chicken and dumpling recipe. 

The Color of Green: Eco Friendly Products, Friendly Education, Friendly Collaboration

                                                              GREEN LOVE

 It's Not That Easy Being Green?   It may seem tough, because being green might mean being stereotyped--weak and green, expensive and green, boring and green.  Just listen.  Kermit is feeling a bit down, as he "spends each day the color of the leaves...seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things."  But it doesn't take long long for Kermit to change his tune, " ...but green is the color of spring... green can be cool and friendly-like and green can be big like an ocean or important like a river...."

Overuse, carelessness, distortion of his favorite color.  Has "Green" become cliche, meaningless, sort of like the way we often use "Love" ?  Green products, green cars, green clothes.  I love you, too.  I love cold pizza.  I love colored Sharpie pens.  Really?

 Doesn't GREEN mean doing the best we can to protect our natural resources and educating ourselves on how to protect our resources and our future? How to grow viable, meaningful thinkers? Doesn't LOVE mean how we love our kids, friends, pets?   Surely,  the Beatles' song (last blog post) about love has more depth than how I feel about my little, faded blue 1981 Chevy Luv truck (Gosh, I love that truck, not just for the dented and scratched metal or stumbling of the engine but the great gas mileage, the physics professor who owned it for 26 years, for who rides in it with me because he or she has to sit  pretty close so there's some potential for conversation, and I love it because of what it helps me do). 

Eddie rides amidst reclaimed vinegar bottle boxes.  Sunday morning ritual.

 Important like a river. Why dig a new well when you have a river?  Ken Krogue, entrepreneur and contributor to Forbes, just published his article about critical marketing and the "Divert a River rule"--fill a need that already exists, use what's already there.

Just this morning, I was searching on how to approach my next step...of letting the impatiently-waiting WARHORSE out of his small pasture and into a bigger one.  Our natural degreasers and products provide a solution for a need that already exists--plant based products that can do some kick butt cleaning.  Pet and people cleansers that use natural ingredients and NC green energy. Ok, our green process is working...but the work is just beginning.  Now, I'm feeling like the Kevin Costner movie, Field of Dreams--"If you build it, they will come."  If we make our lovely, green products, will they sell? What's our marketing plan?

 Don't dig a well, shape the river.  This strategy can help the WARHORSE and be kind figure out our next step--how to market and get our local products out into distant pastures while overhead, cash flow, accounts receivables, flu season, fatigue, washing clothes, and -what-to-do-next tries to chip away at our momentum.  Shape a river--develop collaborative relationships where established experience and knowledge can be shared with others.

Well, we be GREEN by making healthy business decisions working with other companies, universities, and organizations who are trying to do something similar.  We embrace the other 'Naturally Aggressive: Fiercely Kind' WARHORSES who want to leave the world better than we found it, who want to revitalize education, who see a need and want to fill it.  And we keep collaborating with talented, creative, experienced people in our local communities. We remember, "This is business and it is personal." And we eat our green, leafy vegetables. 

Green and Love do not have to be ordinary words we use carelessly. They can really mean something, something important like a river.

All You Need is Love, Love...

So the Beatles knew that LOVE is all we need--even in business?  Here's the song if you've missed it somehow.

So when the is in the angst of which circulation pump to buy on ebay, of waiting on a biofuel grant for our high school, of how to create a job for a loan laden-NC State-agriculture science-graduate, all I need is LOVE?  Of course, it is.

Victor Hwang, co owner of T2VC and author of a book about building innovative ecosystems called The Rainforest, deconstructs that yes, the solid foundation for an innovative business begins with LOVE.  Here's his article that gives evidence-supported logic: Innovative Ecosystems need LOVE

An Innovative Ride...

It's been over 5 years since my former student Elizabeth Russell wowed me and her senior graduation project community judges by drinking a "shot" of the canola-derived biofuel that she made with her Uncle Bob.  Her "shot" lit a spark that has fueled my growing passion for self-reliance and learning.

A desire to learn, the willingness to embrace new ideas, Polk County students and teacher support, and a local set of patrons with a desire to help, has led Be Kind Solutions to its new manufacturing home.  Oh yes, the students are now out of my backyard shop and in our school's biofuel class or coming to the WARHORSE shop--where agriculture meets innovation.

This stainless steel tank is the prettiest thing I own.

My husband can now have his work spaces back, the tractor goes back in the covered bay, and some new-used pumps and a bigger tank will cut down on all the heavy lifting and moving of our WARHORSE soap barrels.

repurposed 550 gallon stainless steel tank

A new, pretty Armstrong 2d 1050 circulation pump

Now, we will make our pet and people products in bigger batches, planning to grow our green production, sales, and educational projects.

We have "grown" our WARHORSE team as well--my sister Amanda, who knows the products inside and out, is coming on board full time in the near future; Jody Durham, who knows manufacturing and production, has been on the WARHORSE ride for almost a year, and of course, my husband Carl will still be moving vegetable glycerin, natural oils, and soaps around, but with a forklift now.  Learning to drive that forklift is on my To-Do List this week.

My sister Amanda is whipping up a new recipe for hand cleaner with pumice.  Gibbs Welding guys been trying it out with great results.

Jody risks his safety for the perfect photograph while watching a soybean crop harvest in Newton, NC. Jody is a strong force on the WARHORSE and Be Kind team. He brings loads of manufacturing and quality control experience to our new production facility, and we benefit from his creative and artistic experience as well.  Many of the pics you see on our website are from his lens.  All of the pics on our blog and website are authentic and relevant.

We have launched our new pet shampoo and horse shampoo, after several years of customer feedback and veterinarian evaluations. 

Thanks everyone who tested and gave feedback to our new all natural pet and horse shampoo products, especially Red Oak Farms, Bonnie Brae Vet. Hospital, and Univ. of Georgia Vet. School.

My former Polk County High student Jacob Hrobak completed a biofuels graduation project last year.  He also helped Polk establish its bioufels science course by working with Appalachian State and our Polk teachers. Jacob is now an Industrial Engineering student at NC State University. He recently visited the new WARHORSE shop in Landrum.  We hope to offer him and other students internship opportunities in science and engineering.

 Even though it's a new year and a new start for Be Kind and WARHORSE, things won't change that much.  We will still work and learn from our old friends, and collaborate with our new additions to the WARHORSE family--Advantage West, Appalachian State and Catawba Biodiesel and Research EcoComplex, Clemson University Bio Systems, New Earth Fabricators, to name a few. The WARHORSE was born with the help of many. More people and projects are on the journey, and we shall see where this ride takes us.

Thanks everyone.
Tawana Weicker
Be Kind Solutions

Polk County High's 5 Year Journey to Biofuels Science Research

2007. Polk Co. High senior Elizabeth Russell decided to explore sustainability and bioufels in her English IV and UNC-G  English 111 course.  Her genuine passion for her project created a spark that began Polk's biofuel journey. 

WLOS Video Story: Student Inspiration to others...

 2010. Video of AP Chem teacher, Mr. Zalevski decides he's ready to explore biofuel chemistry with his class. He's got the biofuels research bug too!  Polk Co.

3 years ago, Cody Owens, a senior at RS Central High School, completes a titration test at Weicker's shop.

               2 years ago, Polk Co. team researches high school curriculum with Dr. Taylor at App. State

Next, Appalachian State University student Zack Hobbs explains his work with the university's biofuel program.

Last year, Polk County Commissioners, teachers Weicker and Zaleveski, and Polk Co. Schools Supt. Bill Miller visit Clemson to learn meet David Thornton, Director of Biofuels and Bio systems Research.

Polk Co. High visits Piedmont Biofuels production facility in Pittsboro, NC.  WOW. Enzymatic reactor research.

January-July 2012. Polk Co. High science teachers design a biofuels chemistry and bio systems course, get approval from NC Dept. of Public Instruction.  Students have registered and begin course Spring 2012, taught by AP Chem teacher Mr. Zaleveski and Biology teacher Kim Mirasola.  Jennifer Allsbrook, Science Dept. Head, along with help from Weicker, NC Biotechnology Center, Appalachian State, Clemson University, and Piedmont Biofuels collaborated on science grants to gain funding for the course and our mobile education unit.

August, 2011. Polk Co. senior Matthew Walker explains biofuel titrations and fatty acids conversion to fellow senior Jacob Hrobak, as he completes his senior graduation biofuels project with Weicker.   Approximately 17 area high school and college students have explored internships with biofuels chemistry and sustainability.  Matthew is a premed student at UNC-A and Jacob is a chem major at NC State Univ.

October 2012. Senior Mason Umlauf, assisted by biology teacher Kim Mirasola, performs a titration test prior to producing the school's first batch of biodiesel from sunflower oil.

October 2012. The biodiesel process is demonstrated from start to finish. From left, Clemson University’s David Thornton holds the sunflowers from which seeds were taken. Kim Mirasola shows off the oil obtained from the sunflower seeds. Sergey Zalevskiy holds the meal byproduct and the biodiesel itself, and Tawana Weicker holds the glycerin, a byproduct that she uses to make natural cleaning products.

October 2012. Senior Mason Umlauf rests against Polk County High School’s mobile biodiesel wagon that has all the equipment necessary for turning natural oils from the school’s cafeteria and farm into biodiesel.

November, 2012. The exploration still continues: Be Kind Solutions visited the Appalachian State Catawba Eco-Complex in Newton, NC.  Harvest day for their research soybean crop, which will be pressed for oil and then turned into biofuels and Be Kind products.

Catawba Eco-Complex Outreach Facility Director Jeremy Ferrel explains their research with oil feedstocks.  Be Kind will be collaborating with Appalachian State Eco-Complex, Clemson on high school and Be Kind research and development.  We're lucky to have these resources so close to home.  Our students will be visiting this innovative and high-tech research facility.

Jody Durham goes with Be Kind to photograph the harvest.  Jody has joined the Be Kind team.  He's a WARHORSE for sure.  Gettin' a little too close to that combine?