The Sanctuary — Reclaiming Your Home as a Sacred, Toxin-Free Haven

Maggie (00:09)
Is your house killing you? Is it responsible for half or possibly all of your health issues? Welcome to Web & Folk Revival, where we are deeply rooted and wildly intentional. I'm Maggie.

Meara (00:26)
And I'm Mira. And today, as we talk about reclaiming our space, we want to make this easy for you. So Maggie and myself have put together an Amazon affiliate page with all of our favorite third party tested toxin free cleaners that we actually use in our homes. We're not just here to talk about the problems. If you're a DIYer, we also have a recipe PDF available for download on our Facebook and community pages, along with specific notes on how to use them.

You can find all those links right now at womenfolkrevival.com or head on over to our Facebook page.

Maggie (01:03)
So last week we spoke about your homing a sanctuary and we started with finding the rhythm of the home. What are we discussing this week, Mira?

Meara (01:16)
Well, this week we're discussing the toxins in our home. We're also going to talk about ancestral cooking, organization, and bringing in the wild. ⁓ When we approach these tasks with intention, ⁓ choosing what we allow to enter our air and what touches our surface, ⁓ housekeeping stops.

Well, if you want to call it housekeeping, home tending stops becoming a chore and it becomes more of a form of protection because it's our sanctuary, right? It's about transforming the house into a place of rest by removing the toxic chaos that don't belong there. This is creative and deeply personal to me. So whether you're a full-time homemaker or working 52 hours a week,

When you manage your home with intention, you are then performing ⁓ spiritual practice. You're essentially building the foundation of your family's well-being.

Maggie (02:24)
Exactly. So should we start with organization?

Meara (02:32)
We are starting with ancestral cooking.

Maggie (02:34)
Sorry about that, it's not sure cooking.

Meara (02:36)
We are.

It's one of our primary ways that we can nurture our family through the kitchen. ⁓ A lot of times cooking is seen as being a burden, ⁓ but in reality it's a form of care. It's being able to provide nutrients and whole food meals that sustain our body and soul.

Maggie (02:55)
Hmm.

knowing exactly where your food comes from. Knowing that there are no hidden ingredients in there like insects, which they are starting to do now. That's a big one. So yeah, so I've definitely struggled with cooking ⁓ and it's definitely

Meara (03:08)
Yes, the source.

Maggie (03:29)
You know, it's kind of a two parter because one, you have the knowledge of food and ingredients. And the second one is just time management and building those new habits of of cooking, you know, using the stove, using utensils and not just relying on the microwave and frozen packaged meals.

Meara (03:55)
Yeah, we've been told the microwave is a time saver, but it's one of those modern conveniences that disrupts the natural quality of our food. ⁓ you know, cooking on the stove and like you said, trying to be able to get into that rhythm of ⁓ taking the time to figure out how to manage a stove over a fast paced way. That's time management and that's huge. And that's a lot of things that ⁓ in modern society people don't have.

Maggie (04:21)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (04:25)
or they think I just don't have time for it. I'm just gonna pop it in and maybe tomorrow I'll start, maybe tomorrow I start. But you know, the moment you start practicing cooking with the stove and being intentional about it, it comes second nature. And it's just as, it's not as fast as the microwave, but it doesn't cook your food. know? Whenever possible, we return to the stove, the oven, and the slow simmering pot. I mean, it changes the atmosphere of the house completely.

Maggie (04:41)
it does.

Meara (04:55)
when that smell fills the air. ⁓ My daughter, she doesn't live with us, she's an adult now. ⁓ When I watch my grandbaby, she'll come over, she'll pick her up and she'll say, it always smells like a, ⁓ it always smells like a Middle Eastern store because we use South Asian spices and recipes and she just loves that smell so it's the aroma and then she wants to hang around a lot longer than.

necessary, you know, no, I'm just kidding. But, yeah. So it really, it really brings you back to that, that comfort zone, you know, wanting to get comfortable and stay and, and the atmosphere is just completely different. feel like, and I grew up in TV dinners, you know, I was the only child. My mom never cooked meals. It was just me, her and my dad.

So she would always just throw in a TV dinner. She worked full time. So I was used to the plastic, plastic box food. Now if that's what you're doing now because you don't have a choice, I mean, I get it, but you can always start small. There's always ways around things. I've been.

Maggie (06:06)
You know, my

mom always cooked. We always had home cooked meals. And it just blows my mind that that didn't naturally carry on for me right away. It took many years for me to come back to that. So even growing up in that atmosphere,

Meara (06:20)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (06:31)
You know, society has that strong pull and it's very easy for you to get sucked away in and to the ease and you know, the access to everything. Easy isn't always best. Most times it's the worst thing for you.

Meara (06:36)
Yup, true does.

It's... it's not.

It really is.

Maggie (06:52)
⁓ I will say too for women who, because it is a struggle in the beginning if you feel like you don't have time, if you don't have the skills. It helped me out a lot using a pressure cooker. I have done and I love South Asian food as well.

Meara (07:07)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (07:15)
That is really time consuming, especially when you are newer to food. So using the pressure cooker for for all of that was. You know, it was it was and then you have your slow cookers as well. You pop ingredients in the morning, you let it slow cook throughout the day and by evening time you have a home cooked meal. So there are ways there are ways to get there.

Meara (07:21)
Yeah.

It's a game changer.

you

Yeah, you do. My husband makes...

My husband makes soup in the slow cooker and then we use the meat for other stuff. He'll like simmer the bones and put all these spices and stuff. And the Instapot or the pressure cooker that we have, we use that as well, not as often, but like you said, it takes time and he's the cook of the house now. So it, he'll start at three o'clock and we won't eat until six because it just takes that much time to prep. And there's days where he's just like, I want this, I want this chicken biryani.

Maggie (08:08)
you

Meara (08:14)
but I'm not gonna sit here and cook it, so he'll just throw everything in the Instapot and it's ready sooner than later. It's still good, but there's, like you said, there's ways around it for sure.

Maggie (08:20)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it's definitely at least you're still using all natural ingredients. And yes, that time has so much to do with flavor and letting things simmer and and soak. And there's there's a difference there. But, you know, again, you're still using wholesome ingredients and you're still getting, you know, a quality meal.

Meara (08:52)
You are? Well, with that being said, we're not expecting you to go out there and cook a whole South Asian meal in one day, for starters. I mean, just, just, just, yeah. yeah, she was challenged and she took it on and won. ⁓ but, you know, well, no.

Maggie (08:58)
No. And I'll see you once you. That's what I did.

because I had you. Because I constantly texted you and kept asking

you questions and you guided me along.

Meara (09:15)
I did, but you did it. You did it all by yourself. It was awesome. The pictures were, they looked so good. I just wanted to go to your house and eat all the food up. Yeah. So step away from the ramen, step away from the canned soup, and maybe just try your own. It doesn't have to be anything special. You could just boil water and add spices, and that can be your soup. Maybe what I do, my chicken noodle soup, all we do, all I do is put it in a pot, let it boil for a few hours until it's cooked, take the chicken out.

Maggie (09:22)
That was so good.

Mm-hmm.

Meara (09:45)
pull the chicken off, throw the chicken back in the pot. The water that's in the pot is already the broth because the whole chicken cooked in there. Just throw in your extras and maybe throw in a little bit of noodles and you have chicken noodle soup. It's as easy as that. It really does not require any time and effort. That's probably one of the easiest meals I can do. Just like, what is for dinner? Just throw in a frozen chicken, boil it to death and make a soup out of it.

Maggie (10:12)
Yeah. All

right. So let's move on, Mary, because we have a lot to discuss this episode.

Meara (10:16)
Yes,

yes we do. All right, we need to talk about organization. It's about having a place for everything so your house functions efficiently, but we do have to prioritize functionality over aesthetics. Our homes should be a lived in space, not a museum or a magazine ad, which I know you said you've done in the past. Yes, and when we try to maintain a perfect look, we create stress.

Maggie (10:37)
Mm-hmm. I have done.

chaos.

Meara (10:46)
Right? yeah. But when we create that functional environment, you know, that allows for mess, the mess of life, the homeschooling, the mud from the garden, the projects on the table, we're allowing our children and our families to be creative. ⁓ Organization is the tool that supports the life that's happening inside of your home. You know? ⁓ So.

Yeah, we had a lot of mud today in our home from being outside.

Maggie (11:18)
Yes, we

have to. ⁓ We really do every day, even on bad weather days. And that's fine. And that's the kind of ⁓ dirt and uncleanliness that I am OK with having in my home. ⁓ really, I really dislike cold weather, but I really.

Meara (11:25)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (11:42)
dislike not being able to be outside. So the more I have of that in the house, the better I feel. ⁓ One thing that we struggle with immensely in this house is organization. And that's mainly because we just don't have, ⁓ we don't have the storage that we need. We don't have a system where everything has its place.

We are constantly looking at what we have saying, what can we get rid of? What can we get rid of? And we've gotten rid of a ton of stuff, but everything we have, we use.

So it's a matter of figuring out and we've been doing this slowly but surely and it's getting so much better having a place for everything. And sometimes it's not the ideal place because you think, I don't want people to see this when they come over to my house, you know, that's it's unsightly. ⁓ you know, we have to get out of this mind frame.

of like you said of we're not living in a museum. This is a lived space. This is where you know we should flourish and feel at ease and be able to do everything that we want to do ⁓ as a family and you know in our home life and nobody should have to apologize for that and nobody should have to hide that. These are our dwellings where we live. They should be lived in.

Meara (12:50)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Great.

Yes, our home is very much lived in and we pick it up quite often throughout the day. we have the two elders who also help. We'll just pick up the broom and start, start brooming. But, we don't have, we have organization, but I feel like it's unorganized because we have so many kids and because we need to get so many things out, you know, at different points of the day. So our home is very well lived in very much well lived in, but, you know,

We're working on it and over time I think things will have a place. But also we rent, we don't own, ⁓ not yet. ⁓ So we just are kind of like, why take the time when we're actively searching for a home to move to? ⁓ So that's kind of a battle. We're very limited to what we can do. We can't add anything to the walls, we can't.

Maggie (14:04)
And you're limited to what you can do also.

Meara (14:15)
minus their shelves. ⁓ shh. Yeah, there's a lot we can't, like we can't paint and all that stuff. it's just, it's, it's whatever. It's okay. It's fine.

Maggie (14:19)
you

And that's one thing to remember is that it's not going to happen overnight. That's another thing that I struggled with very much is I just I kept working so hard every day to solve all of these problems. And, you know, and some days I'd feel like, OK, this is it. I did it. And then life would happen. And then you realize that, it's not working out.

Meara (14:32)
We'll get there.

this time.

Maggie (14:59)
And my husband, bless his heart, goes crazy because every time he comes home from work, the house is different. And I just, I just can't help myself because, you know, I see these problems that we have and I see the frustration on his face when he comes home and, things are chaotic. And I just, I just want to fix all of that and, you know, rearranging and, you know, reworking a problem is.

Meara (15:13)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Maggie (15:28)
You know, how I feel like I'm gonna get there. Yeah. But I have really started, and because of my husband, ⁓ I've really started to kind of just sit back and, you know, things will fix themselves out. It doesn't have to be done overnight. I don't have to slave away every single day, you know, trying to fix every single problem.

Meara (15:29)
Surprise!

Maggie (15:55)
Just, you know, take it one by one and eventually we'll get there.

Meara (16:00)
Yeah, organization is a huge struggle for me. So I have a hard time discussing organization because I feel like I'm the other half of, trust me, everyone who's listening, we are right there with you. Some maybe not, but it is a struggle, you know, but it's something to be worked on. ⁓ You know, ⁓ now we're going to talk about the modern world, bringing things into our homes that are silently disrupting our peace. ⁓

Maggie (16:03)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Meara (16:29)
So let's think about your air fresheners, those really amazing smelling plugins that you guys like, the re-diffusers and the store-bought candles. ⁓ Most of these are just a chemical cocktail. They end up affecting our moods, believe it or not, our kids' and our hormone health. These are big-time hormone disruptors. ⁓ Real cleanliness doesn't have to be a synthetic linen, you know? ⁓

Maggie (16:44)
Yes.

Meara (17:00)
We have to let our house breathe. We're big on opening windows as much as possible, as much as possible to let the stink out. You gotta let the stink out. I don't care if it's knees deep in the middle of summer and it's hot, open them early in the morning when you wake up, right before the sun comes up. And then in the evening, right when the sun sets for just a few hours. In the winter, we crack our windows and we leave them, yes.

Maggie (17:07)
Mm-hmm, that's two.

Yeah.

Just crack, yeah, crack the windows.

Meara (17:29)
my gosh, we have too many people in our home to be letting that stagnant air just sit in the house. We were not meant to live behind all these walls. We were meant to be in the nature. So open your windows.

Maggie (17:32)
Mm-hmm.

No.

Yes. And if you do want, if you do want a scent, I like a scent, essential oils, there are essential oil diffusers and not only do you get the nice lovely scent, but it does so much for your mental health and your physical health as well. All different essential oils. So do different things. Some will disinfect your air, like, ⁓ your lime and your

orange, your citrus based essential oils. Others just can help enhance the mood. Sandalwood, frankincense, those are really good for concentration and soothing. Yes, lavender is very soothing and also very, very therapeutic for your health. So

Meara (18:18)
Avender lemon.

Maggie (18:31)
These, you know, these can be great options because they, unlike your store bought air fresheners, they're not full of chemicals. ⁓ They're not disrupting your health and destroying your health. But the essential oils are, are benefiting you. They're, they're doing good for your health. let's talk about cleaners, Mira.

Meara (18:44)
Performance. ⁓

Yeah, they really are.

Well, before we move on to that, I do want to add a quick note. We have birds and you have to be for those who have birds or animals that are sensitive to the sense. You already know that using toxic, you know, sprays, aerosol sprays can kill your birds, but also specific oils can be very harmful. So there's only very limited oils that you can use with.

Maggie (19:08)
So.

Meara (19:23)
with birds, so I just wanted to get that out there real quick. ⁓ Yeah, also I wanted to add, when the sun is shining, we take our rugs outside to sanitize them in the sun. The creator gave us the ultimate disinfectant in those UV rays. And plus it smells amazing when you bring them back in. ⁓

Maggie (19:27)
That's a good point.

you

And

along with that sunshine, let that sun in your house because it will help disinfect your house. ⁓ With those UV rays, they're great at that. And you'll also up your vitamin D as well when you are near those windows. So let the sun in.

Meara (20:06)
Yeah,

well they do say that vitamin D isn't best absorbed through windows, it's best absorbed outside. But if you can't get outside, open the window and go near the sun.

Maggie (20:15)
Sure. And if your windows

are open.

Meara (20:21)
Yes, well, yeah, that's what I was just saying. Yeah. also those harsh blue tone, L E B bulbs, they keep our bodies in a state of constant stress. We swap them out for, they're a lot warmer, but they're traditional non LED bulbs. it always seems so much darker in the house, but I've noticed a huge difference in our, with our internal clocks. they almost automatically know when it's time to kind of start settling down in our house. so yeah.

Maggie (20:28)
Get rid of them.

That's important. We have started switching ours out. We do have some LEDs left, but slowly but surely we'll get there. And that's another thing too. You don't have to do all this overnight. You know, you do it as you can.

Meara (20:51)
Definitely start with that.

Maggie (21:09)
It's not reasonable for everybody, for most people, to just buy everything new and get rid of everything that you have. ⁓ You know, just take it step by step when you can change out your cleaning products, change out your cleaning products. I would say that's probably more important than your light bulbs. ⁓ And you know, when you can get around to changing out all of those, do so. Don't wait for them to die because they last forever. ⁓ You know, but when you have the extra money,

Meara (21:28)
Yeah.

Maggie (21:39)
To do it, do it.

Meara (21:42)
Yeah, I agree. Is that what you were wanting to say about the cleaning products?

Maggie (21:50)
⁓ no.

Meara (21:50)
You were asking me

that before I was talking about the rugs. Do you want to touch base on that real quick?

Maggie (21:53)
No, cleaning products.

This is a huge one for me. I despise cleaning products I have for a long time. I am extremely sensitive to cleaning products, to fragrances. ⁓

most most chemicals and I wish most people were because that is just you know that is a sign to me that this is bad news and to get away from it but most people aren't directly affected by these things like I am so let me just give you a few ⁓ statistics here about these cleaners the US poison control centers received 2.2 million exposure calls

per year with household cleaning products.

and nearly 47 % of those are children under five.

Meara (22:51)
That's wild.

Maggie (22:52)
It's insane not to mention all the cases of eye irritation or lung irritation. These chemicals over time, bleach is one of the absolute worst. They can lead you to getting cancer. So people think, you know, I'm eating right, I'm doing all these things right and I still end up with cancer or all these horrific, you know, health conditions.

Meara (22:55)
at us.

yeah.

Yeah.

huh.

Maggie (23:20)
it's

most likely coming from inside your home and it's most likely these these cleaners.

Meara (23:24)
Yeah.

Yeah.

I agree. I agree on that. We have swapped out our cleaning products as well. I make my own. do. My husband hates the smell, so I have to make sure it's really diluted. ⁓ We do vinegar and ⁓ we save our orange peels and use that. I would like to try ⁓ using pine, but I don't know if we have pine trees out front or if there's something else. So I haven't dabbled in that yet, but.

We do the orange and we do lemon. Lemon's my favorite. ⁓ It really kills that vinegar smell. We put it in a glass bottle and we leave it sit in the cupboard for three to four weeks and then we just clean our surfaces and countertops with it. So that's like one main cleaner that we use.

Maggie (24:13)
Mm-hmm. We use vinegar a lot too. I used to hate the smell of vinegar and now I love it I love it because I know what it does and It's cleaning and it's healthy and I can drink it and it's not gonna it's not gonna poison me In fact, you know vinegar is good for you. So

Meara (24:21)
cleaning.

Yeah. That does.

Yeah.

Maggie (24:35)
I we we do a lot of vinegar. I mix mine with essential oils. You can get pine essential oil with your pine essential oils and your other for evergreen essential oils. You just want to make sure you're careful just with contact with children. So if you're going to do cleaning, just make sure they're not around and you know, let some time pass.

Meara (24:35)
Yes.

I do. I do.

Yeah, I do have that on our affiliate or Amazon list the fur oil is on there and there is a note on there stating to be careful around children So if you're curious as to what these things are doing and you're like, I'm gonna go on here and not know what to do Then you'll see a little side note explaining to be cautious or what to mix it with so ⁓

Maggie (25:05)
Go ahead.

Mm-hmm.

you

Excuse

my timer, it's time to take my magnesium.

Meara (25:37)
Better get on the ball. ⁓ Real quick, let's touch base on one of the most beautiful ways to create a sanctuary in the house is bringing in the wild.

Maggie (25:38)
You

Yes, to rewild your home. This is, like I stated earlier, my most favorite thing about our home. ⁓ You know, why I don't mind the dirt and mud on my floors. We clean it up, but I, know.

I don't see it and go, my gosh, I got to clean this. It's, my gosh, there's a little bit of outside while I'm in here, you know, doing my chores or, or whatnot. and I do, and I need to get some, pictures up and going, but I've talked earlier in earlier episodes about my children. bring me feathers and flowers and rocks and fossils and all kinds of goodies that they find outside. Right now they're bringing me in dandelions and dead nettle and

Meara (26:13)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (26:35)
chickweed and they're like here mom here because we have them all over the yard and they're so excited about them and they like standing there watching me nibble on them because they're all edible and very good for you ⁓ but you know and it goes beyond that too like we're saying open your windows let the natural light in ⁓ house plants

Meara (26:38)
It's awesome.

You

Maggie (26:59)
Talking about all the toxins in your house, there are specific house plants that will get rid of those toxins. ⁓ Snake plant, peace lily. What else? Aloe vera.

Meara (27:07)
huh.

Pothos, ⁓

lungs of the home snake plants and are they pothos or pothos? I don't know the pronunciation of those.

Maggie (27:20)
I don't know.

I don't know. Doesn't matter.

Meara (27:24)
Well,

yeah, they absorb the CO2, produce oxygen and filter out the toxins like Maggie said. Yeah. So don't be afraid to embrace your own style, whether you are boho, old world Victorian, cottage or apothecary, let your home be your canvas. ⁓ I know in our home, like, like we said before, I'm very limited. ⁓ My husband does a lot of woodworking. So we have a lot of shelves and a lot of tables and you know, that

Maggie (27:29)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (27:53)
that he created himself. So that's our art right now. Omar. The world of Omar in our home.

Maggie (28:01)
I have some of those pieces as well and and I love them.

⁓ you know, and we talked about before, you know, not living in the museum, you know, in your house being lived in, but you can still, you can still decorate. You can still design your house. My house is, is wild, both, both nature wise and, ⁓ I have a very eclectic style and bless my husband because he just pretty much lets me do whatever I want. ⁓ and I've got tons of artwork up. ⁓

Meara (28:16)
sure.

Maggie (28:36)
I love art and you know he he complains about it all the time sarcastically. ⁓

Meara (28:43)
he buys

you pieces of art anyhow. That's love.

Maggie (28:46)
He does. He just got

me a Go-Gun print ⁓ for our anniversary and it's beautiful and it's huge. It's a 1970s print and I'm in love with it. so yeah, definitely, you know, decorate your home. It's your sanctuary. It's your place where you want to feel happy and you know, at home.

Meara (29:11)
Yeah, create meaningful areas.

Create meaningful areas, like a family picture or a dedicated space for those gifts and corners that reflect your soul.

Maggie (29:14)
Mm-hmm.

Yes, especially

for mothers because in those moments of chaos, you know, I have these areas all over my house, all over any little place I have, I make an area out of and, you know, you turn in frustration or just at any moment in time, I'm looking at, you know, a special place and it calms me down. And especially these areas where I have these gifts for my children.

Meara (29:23)
There you go.

Maggie (29:47)
I'm like, I can't be mad at you. I can't yell at you. Look at all these, you know, gifts of love that you've brought me over the years and it helps a lot.

Meara (29:56)
Yeah,

it does. So let's start small this week. Pick one silent disruptor to remove from your house. Maybe it's swapping a light bulb, opening the windows for 10 minutes, or dragging out your rug into the sun. Remember, you don't need a perfect schedule or a museum perfect house. You just need rhythm and a sanctuary that fits your family's unique energy. Focus on the flow, honor the sunlight, and create a home where everyone can truly thrive.

Maggie (30:17)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (30:23)
So to help you get started, have some goodies for you over on our Facebook community page. You can download our non-toxic swap list for detergents and cleaners, plus our guide to air cleaning plants. And for those of you looking for the exact brands we trust, don't forget we included the Amazon affiliate links to our favorite non-toxic essentials, along with the DIY recipe list for making your own laundry soap, the kind that will not clog your pipes or disrupt your hormones. All of those links are right below this episode.

on womenfolkrevival.com and on our Facebook page. Be sure to tune in next week as we step outside and dive even deeper into the garden and the homestead. We're getting into herbs, specifically focusing on exactly what's growing in your yard right now. What you may consider weeds are actually the creator's pharmacy right in your own backyard. So until then.

Maggie (31:14)
Stay rooted and stay wild.

Meara (31:17)
Stay wild.