My new obsession: Farmer's Markets

I know, I know...many of you are like...Farmer's Markets...seriously?  Don't you have cooler things to be obsessed with?

For whatever reason in years past, Farmer's Market's were very intimidating to me. I didn't know what to expect, so in usual Amber fashion, that means anxiety and usually decision to not go.  Well, I decided to start small by checking out a farm stand and then I graduated to the Farmer's markets this June as they opened.  Starting small on the journey to do new things...

And now I'm in love.  I love the wonderfully fresh produce.  I've been eating more veggies than ever - even some I had thought I started to dislike in recent years.  I'm saving money, getting to talk to farmers.  I bring Gianna so she sees it and experiences it.

For any of my local followers...(do I even have any?), a great resource:
http://www.nectfarmersmarket.org/

Some of my favorites I've gotten this year:

Wayne's Organic Garden - (Ironically right down the road, but only available via CSA or the farmer's market)
- Organic Rainbow Swiss Chard - Best I've ever had!
- Organic Cucumbers
- Organic peppers
- Organic squash

Betsy's Stand (another local farm stand you can go to to buy stuff)
- Broccoli - BEST I'VE EVER HAD - I actually went and asked for more...but alas, the damn hot weather killed it all...and now I'm craving it yet again.
- They also sell beef, but I have yet to try it.

I continue to go to the farm stand I originated - Campbell's Farm Stand
I get my beef there - ground beef.  Locally raised, free range, hormone free - wonderfully delicious and priced very well.
Got asparagus there and I now have a new fondness for asparagus.
Bacon - oh, wonderful bacon that doesn't contain all the other garbage.  So tasty!

I've been amazed at how wonderful this food all tastes and I'm loving my weekly trips to supplement what I'm growing in my garden  It's also wonderful to get out of the house, out in nature and talk to the farmers.  I'm spending my money locally.  So many positives.  I'm really starting to love getting out in my community and doing more locally.

So I encourage you to check out a local farmer's market...don't be intimidated like I was...the trip is TOTALLY worth it.

~a

PS - and you find some of the best cookies there - G and I get an oatmeal raisin cookie each week.. :)

Green living for a green day - Happy St. Patrick's day!

Been a few days since I've posted - needed to go off-duty for a few days and relax a bit, but now I'm feeling better.

So it's St. Patrick's day and all around me I see green - as in the color.  As I've been continuing to read my Happy Baby book that I mentioned in my last post I'm realizing more and more small things I can do to be "a darker shade of green" as the book refers to levels of eco-consciousness.

My focus of late has been on the reducing and reusing part of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.  We recycle a lot, so I thought that reducing would be a great next step - if I'm using less to begin with, less to recycle, and less to end up in the trash. 

Some of the things I've been doing more and more lately:
- Storing/microwaving leftovers in glass containers vs. plastic.  It's taken me a bit to get used to using glass containers (stupid, stupid, stupid me!) - they are more expensive, heavier, breakable, and get hot with the food as you heat it up.  I'm trying to increase my usage of glass over plastic more and more but I'm getting better and better.

- Drinking beverages out of reusable containers.  I have a water bottle at work - it's more the other stuff I drink at work that I'm bad about (COFFEE), but the way I see it - every time I use my thermal cup it's one less cup used.  So I'm still working on this, but getting better. 

Speaking of which - I HATE when I go to a coffee shop and order an iced beverage and they put a styrofoam cup around my plastic cup (I should be bringing my own cup here too - I know, I know! - Work in progress).

- Buying goods in bulk and then breaking them up at home - meat is a great example here.  I love the "big buy" packs - they tend to be cheaper and I can come home and freeze them in the portion size that works for me.

- Storing food appropriately so we discard less.  I've really been working on this a lot lately - I HATE HATE HATE throwing away food.  Luckily we have a dog, so stuff we don't eat, I tend to give him as a treat/reward to go in his crate.  (Note here so alarm bells aren't going off - I am careful what I give him, so no onions, grapes, animal bones, etc. that are potentially toxic/hazardous to his health)

I've also been making sure to store boxed goods with zip ties or clips to keep the air out of the bag so they don't get stale.



I'm sure there's a lot more things I'm doing, but for now, those are just a few items that I can think of.  What types of things do you do to be more eco-friendly and to live more sustainably?  Let me know, I'm always looking for more options (besides the standard using energy star appliances, CFL or LED bulbs, turning off lights, cleaners, cosmetics, etc.).  I'm trying to look at the things we do frequently, but tend to take for granted or overlook.

So on this wonderful day of green celebration, hopefully you'll take a moment to decide to take one more step to become a darker shade of green.

~A

Summer is here (Green Gardening)

Yep, you heard it here first, you can ignore your calendars - Summer is here. How do I know? Well, I picked a nice, juicy, ripe, red strawberry out of my garden yesterday. And in my silly, nostalgic weirdness, I planned to take a picture to post the evidence here. However, the wonderful scent and beauty of an organically grown strawberry beckoned to me so I ate it first. And it was good - not just good, but delicious. The best strawberry I've had since last September when I ate the last strawberry out of my garden.

Depending on where you live, Green gardening can be a lot of extra work. Luckily for me, it's just been a little extra work and making the right choices.

Building materials:
We built four raised garden beds last year. We decided on raised beds for the weed control since we've watched our neighbors struggle with weeds for years. For weeks I stressed over what material to build them out of - untreated lumber would rot and cause us to have to buy new boards every few years; treated lumber leaches chemicals into the ground and thus the fruit. We ultimately settled on composite boards - the best of both worlds. We got a great deal of them from a local building supply company who had just 8 fascia boards left and were considering throwing them out since it wasn't enough for a big job or so they thought - perfect for our four 8X4 beds that were twelve inches deep.

Soil:
Next I had to fill the beds. Again, I stressed. My original plan was to dig it out of our soil since we had awesome soil, but unfortunately that proved extremely difficult and then I would have had to fill the hole afterwards. So I contacted a local man who had screened loam from a local construction job. Perfect for me. Cheaper and better than buying bags and bags from the store. So we had that delivered and it was very rich and nice soil. I did however put some soil from our yard in the beds mainly because I wanted worms in there so I did dig a few holes and put them in there when I found them.

Plants:
You have two choices here - buy plants and plant seeds. If you want to do green gardening going the plant route, make sure to buy from local places. Not only will you save the environment unnecessary transportation carbon, but you'll also have locally grown plants that will be hardier and better suited to survive in your region. I opt to plant from seeds because its cheaper and for me a little more fulfilling. I'd love to buy local seeds, but I haven't found any suppliers yet so I opt to buy them at a local chain to support the local economy (or at least that's what I tell myself) verses a Wal-mart. I also try to buy organic seeds when I can, but don't get to see many of them. This year I bought three varieties of green beans, okra, zucchini, organic yellow squash, watermelons, peppers, and pumpkins. I have strawberries from last year.

Tending:
Here's where the extra layer of difficulty can come in. If you want to garden the green way, you have to be careful what you put into the soil and on the plants. I opted not to use anything for pest care or fertilizer last year. To pump up my soil this year, I bought some compost instead of getting chemical laden fertilizers. I want to make my own, but need to get a compost bin first so I bought a few bags. I avoid pesticides. Another benefit of the raised beds is that they keep out a lot of pests. The few times I saw pests on the plants, I removed them and smashed the bugs myself verses using chemicals.

Rewards:
So why garden yourself? Well, not only will it save you money if you grow the items you eat, but you can control what's on the produce. Additionally, I've found that my produce tastes so much better. It reminds me of the taste of items from the garden from my childhood. That strawberry I ate - so flavorful (unlike the ones you buy in the store). Finally, you have the produce at the peak of freshness.

I'm looking forward to continuing gardening for years to come and to share in it with my baby girl so she can learn about it and enjoy the bounty of it along with me.

The wonder of cloth napkins and dish towels....

As another foray into going green, I've been trying to reduce the amount of paper products we use in the house. I'm not game to going toilet paper free like some folks, but I have reduced my TP usage. However, paper towels and napkins was one area I felt like I could make a huge dent.

So, I hung up towels in the kitchens and bathrooms to use when drying hands and for wiping small spills, etc. That helped quite a bit and Joe didn't seem to mind a bit. I actually find that the towels are better at drying anyway and don't dry out or hurt my hands. Then, when I do laundry each week, I throw them in with the wash. No harm no foul and all is good.

Cloth napkins was my next step to using less paper products. I picked up some at Job Lot - three packs of four for a grand total cost of $6 - yep, cost me $2 per pack of 4. I took a long time figuring out what style to get - I didn't want something that was really nice looking so people wouldn't want to use them and I didn't want something plain and white so stains would show. I ended up with a cotton/poly blend mocha color that works nicely. I definitely could have easily made some out of spare rags or old clothes, but I kind of wanted some nicer looking ones. I put them in the napkin holder next to the paper towels. Joe took a little while longer to adapt to this one and he continued to grab paper towels (instead of napkins since I ran out and didn't buy more) to use as paper towels. It helps when I hand him one with his meals, and he'll use it fine, but still seems to grab for the paper first. I'll win him over yet eventually.

However, the strangest thing happens when other people come over to the house. Friends, family, whoever. If you give them a cloth napkin with their meal it's like they are afraid to use them and spoil them or something. We put them out with Christmas dinner and so few people actually used their napkins. Then we had friends over the other night and had pizza and they kept asking if it was okay to use the napkins and then when dinner was done what they should do with them - I think someone even asked if they should throw them away. I kept saying, it's fine, just leave them there and I'll put them in the wash. They were all concerned about the grease stains and I kept saying it was fine.

So strange that we have this stigma with cloth napkins and products that are easy substitutions for paper products. You go to a fancy restaurant and they have cloth napkins there? So why not use normal cloth napkins at home? Enjoy the 'luxury' of it - and while you're at it, save the earth a few trees at a time!

Green Eggs & Ham (aka Green Eating)

So instead of writing about more ecofriendly cosmetics next, I figured I'd take my first trip into the land of more ecofriendly eating habits and share what I know and have learned so far. This has been a more challenging area for me to fully commit to and even though a lot of fellow 'greenies' tend to recommend this as one of the first things to do when becoming more earth-conscious, it's definitely been a struggle for me. On the good side, there's a whole spectrum of choices you can make to green your eating habits and even the smallest of steps is a big step in the right direction.

The steps basically result in smaller carbon foot prints or lower chemical impact. What's so bad about the chemicals you ask? Well, the chemicals can have an affect on the environment in many ways as we hear about every day on the news. In addition to that though, chemicals even in small doses have been found to cause lasting damage to human health, especially during fetal development and early childhood development. So now we all know why this has become increasingly important to me.

• Eat more locally produced/grown and in season foods -Depending on where you live, this could be extremely easy or somewhat challenging. Even if you live in a less temperate area, there is still probably at least a short growing season. Eating foods that are grown locally and in season is very earth friendly. It saves foods from otherwise having to be packaged, preserved, and shipped all across the world. This means a much smaller carbon footprint and very likely that the foods have much fewer chemicals on the food that could leach into the environment or into your body. This includes fruits, veggies, and meats.
  
  Not only is this better for the environment, but it could also save you some money. These foods and you'll likely find that these foods taste better. These are likely the same foods you'll see on weekly special in the produce section of your grocery store during the growing season. In many areas of the US this includes squashes, green beans, tomatoes, corn, peppers, strawberries, apples, okra, eggplant and other similar produce items during the summer and parts of the fall. Because these products are in abundance during their in season time, they'll be on sale and will likely taste the freshest. With the increased popularity of farmers markets and CSAs you can likely find a farm in your area where you can support your local economy and likely find farmers that practice sustainable farming practices that results in better standards for the environment and better tasting food. I'll talk more about CSAs at another point, but these are definitely a great option to look into.


• Organic Foods - Organic foods have specific standards and practices that must be followed for items to be classified as organic. These products are grown sustainably and don't have harmful pesticides and chemicals on them. They also are not genetically modified and if you ever had produce straight from a garden and remember the taste of it, you'll likely recognize organic produce as having that familiar very wonderful and aromatic taste that a lot of your regular veggies don't have. With that said, many times you'll find that organic veggies and fruits are more expensive than your conventional produce. This is because the organic certification costs farmers money to obtain and the sustainable and ecofriendly processes they follow tend to be more costly to maintain.
  
  With that said, there are two options I'd recommend following if you are like me and don't have an unlimited food shopping budget. Consider locally grown produce and talk to the farmers. Many of them grow their products using organic methods, but haven't obtained certification due to the cost of doing so. Therefore you are getting local, organic products (which is essentially the best of both worlds for you and our environment) without the higher cost associated with it.
  
  If you aren't fortunate enough to have local farms near you or their hours of operation don't match up with your schedule, consider buying organic produce for only the top 'dirty dozen' products first and the clean 15 last. See http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php for a handy wallet guide you can print out.
  
  Basically, the top most pesticide ridden products (meaning the most chemicals are used during the growing process and/or the chemicals are absorbed more into the produce) are in order: 1) Peaches 2) Apples 3) Bell Peppers 4) Celery 5) Nectarine 6) Strawberries 7) Cherries 8) Kale 9) Lettuce 10) Imported Grapes 11) Carrots 12) Pears. So if you enjoy these foods, buy these in organic as your first step towards eating Green. Also consider growing these yourself if you can in a sustainable manner. I started growing strawberries last year and I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful they tasted - they actually tasted like I remember strawberries from my childhood garden tasting and I remembered why I enjoyed them so much. I also want to grow my own apples and peaches, but for now I've been buying them from a local farm that practices sustainable growing methods. If you grow them yourself or talk to the farmers who do grow them, you can know exactly what pesticides and chemicals are on your products.
  
  The top 15 clean products (meaning that fewer chemicals are used and the chemicals leach into them the least during the growing process) that you should switch to organic last are in order: 1) Onion 2) Avocado 3) Sweet Corn 4) Pineapple 5) Mango 6) Asparagus 7) Sweet Peas 8) Kiwi 9) Cabbage 10) Eggplant 11) Papaya 12) Watermelon 13) Broccoli 14) Tomato and 15) Sweet Potato.
  
• Eat less processed food. When grocery shopping, this means staying on the perimeters of the store. When you look at boxed and packaged goods, the more items you can't pronounce the worse it is for you typically. I was amazed to find out the canned goods I'd been eating for so long were actually not very good for me. The cans are lined with BPA - yep the same stuff that was in the plastic scares - to prevent rusting. Plus most of them have a lot of salt and other chemicals in them. Simply switching to frozen or glass jarred versions of your canned goods is a great way to eat better for yourself and your family.
  
  This one is a more difficult one for me because while I can easily make some of the boxed goods without processed materials (such as home made mac n cheese) it's way more convenient and quicker to fix from a box. Especially after working 8-10 hour days and when you aren't feeling good (like being 9 months pregnant for instance) fixing something a box is much easier and can be much cheaper than shredding cheese, boiling pasta, making sauce, etc. So do what you can here, but keep in mind it's better for you and your family to avoid these foods as much as possible.

So that's my advice for taking the first few steps towards eating healthier. If you are lucky, you'll have a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's near you so you can buy more ecofriendly and healthy versions of these foods without having to worry much. Unfortunately for me, I don't have any very close by, so I'm frequently left having to make the best choices with the resources I have.

As I learn more and have more time, I'll go more in depth into other options you can take as you evolve further into your new found green and crunchy lifestyle.

~Amber