Did I just make vinegar?

Well, let me back up. I WANT to make vinegar. I clean with white vinegar all the time (which is not to say that I am cleaning all the time, it's just that when I clean there is a good chance vinegar is involved). Mixed with water, vinegar gets spots off of the counter and out of clothes, cleans sinks and windows, and removes calcium and boron deposits left by hard water. Mixed with tea tree oil, it cleans the toilet and kills mold. Since I actually tried this wonder a few years ago, I haven't bought anything but soap for cleaning. Along with baking soda, I don't need anything else. I love vinegar!!!

Since I attempt to be clean, we seem to go through a lot of plain white vinegar -- which is always packed in sturdy plastic containers. Plastic that never truly goes away. In my attempt to reduce packaging, I somehow zeroed in on vinegar bottles as my first obstacle to lighter living, vinegar making as my first hoped for triumph.

I think I made vinegar.

I followed the directions I found online by some guy who calls himself the Vinegar Man. I already love the Vinegar Man almost as much as I love vinegar. The directions were so easy I thought, "Heck, I can do it tonight."

Here's what I did.

• Found The Vinegar Man's website http://www.vinegarman.com/VinegarMaking.shtml
• Bought a can of frozen juice concentrate with no preservatives (I used apple juice).
• Mixed up the frozen apple juice.
• Measured out what I had left of a jar of Bragg's Apple Cider vinegar (good because it is a live culture).
  
• Poured the apple cider vinegar and an equal part of juice together in a stainless steel pan.
• Put the lidless pan in a warm spot (my oven which has a pilot light lit and is warm).
• Tested it 24 hours later, and it tasted like vinegar!

It's still been sitting there in the oven since last night. I'm a little nervous, is it really vinegar, was it that easy? I guess I'll pour it back into that giant plastic container and save a little for my next batch of vinegar in the old Bragg's bottle.

Could it be that easy?

Did I just make vinegar?

Packaging Project

Ha. After throwing an empty mustard container away (my husband goes through about 1 a month) while simultaneously reading Little House in the Big Woods to my daughter, I got curious about just how much packaging we use. I mean, it's basically paper, compostables and packaging waste we produce, right? (I try to take everything else to the thrift store).

Now I'm starting a month long project. Each week I'm going to gather all my packaging, take a picture, make a list of what's in there. I have a ton of packaging collected after just one day! Then I'm going to figure out what I can do to eliminate packaging in our life. I already figured out how to make vinegar, mustard and Joel's favorite cereal.