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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

I think these are really good points.
I had two bottles and a box of automatic dishwashing detergent to use up
or give away when the dishwasher died. Of course, I also had a bottle of
Dawn on the sink for washing large pots and such.  If you have never
done this, you should.  Hand wash some dishes using Dawn, then handwash
more dishes using whatever automatic detergent you use.  The detergents
are very different, and I find that the surfactants in automatic
dishwashing detergent are stronger than in the milder dish soap.  Both
are made with petrochemicals, not animal fats, so I don't know which
one, if any of them, are better or worse for your health or for the
environment.  Both claim to be biodegradable, but without further
research, which I don't intend to do, who can say.  I do know that they
use Dawn, not Electrosol/Cascade/Sunlight to clean up birds after oil
spills. Is it just good marketing or is there a substantial reason
behind that?

At any rate, I gave away the unopened containers of automatic
dishwashing detergents, but I kept the open one, diluted it even,  just
for those stuck on, hard to clean pans.  I won't buy it again, but I
won't waste what I have either.

In my current kitchen, there is room for two to work, but more than two
is a crowd at the counter.  Even though my house has an open design, it
just doesn't feel like quality time with the family.  In my dream house,
I would have a kitchen so large that the entire family or neighborhood
would have workspace and could hang out in the kitchen, form an assembly
line for washing or canning or whatever...now that is quality time.

Bev


roxann wrote:
> Hi Bev,
>
> In my new house, even though there is room, I don't have a 
> dishwasher. The reason I did consider getting one is because I think 
> it may use less water than washing by hand. But then the detergents 
> that I'd have to use in it are not so friendly to the environment and
>  our septic still leaches too fast to be effective at filtering all 
> the phosphates that might get in there. I try to use no-phos laundry 
> det, too, and most make it without now. With all four of us here, the
>  dishes are still manageable by hand and when I'm alone after they 
> grow up, I don't think I'll make many dirty either. The only time 
> it's really nice is when you have company and eat large meals. But 
> then we usually wash, dry, and put away in assembly line fashion and 
> the time spent doing it is quality together time for the women or 
> whoever is helping do it.

--
Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the ocean's depths, MY son is
protecting your freedom on the USS Key West, currently deployed
somewhere in the Pacific and/or Indian Ocean.  Go Navy!
EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia, USA