Green Cleaning Part II

I have to admit that my natural housekeeping wasn't going so well until I found this book at the library:

organic housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck



The best thing about this book is the assumption is made right off the bat that housekeeping is not fun, even if the results are nice (and necessary to good health).  The second best thing is that the author goes into the science behind cleaning methods, which is reassuring.  Sometimes when I read "green cleaning" blogs I wonder if the writers have any clue about what they are actually recommending.  In particular I have found the kitchen, bathroom and laundry sections of this book helpful.  The most unexpected thing I've learned is that wooden cutting boards are actually preferable to plastic ones:

Cliver and Ak...found that all the wooden cutting boards killed bacteria, while all the plastic ones encouraged bacterial growth.  Wood fibers absorb and kill bacteria...While new, unscarred plastic boards can be successfully cleaned with hot water and detergent...used plastic boards cannot be successfully cleaned.  Vigorous scrubbing...does not remove or kill the bacteria that have lodged in knife scars on plastic boards; running contaminated plastic cutting boards though a dishwasher simply spread bacteria around...  (p. 119

My father, a horticulturalist, confirms that trees have antimicrobial properties.  Who knew?  This whole time I was avoiding using wooden spoons when cooking meat.  I think I'll be investing in some wooden cutting boards before too long.