Make your own laundry powder with Natural Harry!

Harriet Birrell is an authentic and inspiring young woman on a mission to show people how easy (and fulfilling!) it can be to reduce waste and live a cleaner, tox-free life. Based on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula, Harriet started her food journey serving organic smoothies and raw desserts from a caravan on a bush block at Barwon Heads. This culminated in her first book, Natural Harry, the success of which led to Whole (driven by her equally passionate mission to celebrate the abundance of whole, colourful plant foods and recipes). When she is not cooking, or surfing, or tending her veggie patch with dog Fred by her side, she is busy working on her blog, hosting workshops and creating content designed to make people think.

Today, we have a recipe for homemade washing powder from Harriet’s latest book, Home by Natural Harry, for you to try!

Laundry Powder

This recipe is beautifully simple to make and use, not to mention economical! It is well worth the small amount of effort it takes to make a batch every now and then. Plus, I think a jar of any shape and size beats a brightly coloured branded box or thick plastic bottle on the laundry shelf. Don’t you agree?

Makes: 675 g (1½ lb/2½ cups)
Prep time: 2 minutes
Equipment: natural rubber gloves + large, lidded glass jar

Ingredients

250 g (9 oz/1 cup) washing soda
150 g (5½ oz/½ cup) salt
125 g (4½ oz/½ cup) citric acid
90 g (3 oz/½ cup) bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
60 g (2 oz/¼ cup) Epsom salts
20 drops tea-tree essential oil
20 drops lavender essential oil

Method

Pull on gloves to protect your hands from the washing soda. Add all ingredients to a large glass jar, close the lid and shake really well to combine.

To use

Use 2 tablespoons per average load of washing.

-This is an edited extract from Home by Natural Harry by Harriet Birrell, published by Hardie Grant Books $34.99 and available now from Booktopia.

Home by Natural Harry

DIY recipes for a tox-free, zero-waste life

by Harriet Birrell

Home by Natural Harry is a compendium of DIY recipes, tips, tricks and hacks for a calm, resourceful and tox-free existence.

Home by Natural Harry considers every room of the house (stain remover in the laundry, shower cleaner in the bathroom, dishwashing liquid in the kitchen) and presents alternatives to store-bought cleaning products, as well as a comprehensive chapter on body care (from toothpaste to shampoo to...

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