Freshen Your Shoe Closet

Does your shoe closet smell like a closet full of fresh sun dried linen? If it does, can you tell me your chemical free secret? As for my shoe closet, home to teenage boys shoes, gym socks and a myriad of other untouchables, ours smells nothing less then a garbage pit.
Sure I can sprinkle baking soda, and it helps a bit. I could hang some air fresheners, but really they are all chemical laden also. Since our shoe closet is also our coat closet, I wanted to choose something with a more pleasant odor. Here is what we did.

We hung two oranges with cloves in our closet. Yes, I did sprinkle odor killing baking soda in those shoes and make a rule that all wet, including sweaty, items must be left outside to air out. As we do in our refrigerator when we have garlicky leftovers, I placed a small bowl of baking soda in the corner.

This green idea, has helped out tremendously and even our guests have commented on the fresh smells coming from the front closet.