Green Options

Okay. This recipe may not be the healthiest most sustainable, seasonal, vegan dessert or even what most people would consider traditional holiday fare. However, it has become a regular christmas staple in our household and like most traditions, it has a story attached to it.

Nothing dramatic really, but about 15 years ago, I was experiencing one of those ‘blue’ christmases that Elvis sang about - all lonely and weepy and not much fun. My friends took turns trying to keep me from total despair and I found myself slumped on a stool in my dear friend Roberta’s kitchen a couple of days before christmas. I was a bit like a dry sack of flour so she put me to work as she was busily preparing her family’s favorite holiday dessert, strawberry squares.

Keep reading to get this delicious recipe . . .

I’m proud to be evolving into quite the eco-bag lady! I have amassed an amazing collection of various earth-friendly bags - canvas, bioplastic and organic cotton totes for shopping; a wonderfully useful computer bag made of recycled plastic bottles; and a couple of great purses that make a fashion statement while keeping all kinds of materials out of our landfills.

There are so many reasons to NOT use plastic or even paper bag for shopping and to adopt a few reusable bags to handle most shopping needs. There are also great reasons to buy some of these great funky stylish accessory bags that are made from recycled materials - keeping more non-biodegradable materials out of landfills.

The Eco-Bag Lady’s Picks for Best Eco-Bags of 2008

I have had the wonderful privilege to test many natural and organic skincare products over the last couple of years. If I had any illusions about how sensitive my skin really is, they are now shattered. I’ve had adverse reactions to some of the most ‘clean’ sounding products out there. So, as I’ve said before in previous posts on skincare reviews, I am like the canary in the coal mine - if there is anything even slightly off about a product, my skin will react - with blooming color usually!

I still can’t keep all the ‘good for me’ from ‘you DON’T want this on your skin’ ingredients straight. I start breaking out in a rash trying to pronounce the name of some of these ingredients - both natural and synthetic. So, if you are wanting a breakdown of the ingredients and what to use and what not to use, please don’t expect that kind of detail here. I’ll give you a couple of good links at the end of the post for better resources.

I do look for simple, organic ingredients that are put together with some consciousness, which perhaps is why I do well with stuff made from biodynamically grown herbs. It is easy for me - it is either clean or I break out, but I would encourage others who may have heartier skin to do additional homework on safe ingredients.
Meg’s Organic Skincare Favs for 2008

In addition to being a nut job, I am a nut lover. I really haven’t tasted a nut I didn’t like - even the peanut, which is technically a legume. I feel dreadfully sorry for those who have the dangerous nut allergy. My fiance has an allergy to chocolate, which I’m actually jealous of, but that’s for another post . . .

Some history about our hard-shelled friends
There is evidence that nuts have been around feeding us and our ancient ancestors since prehistoric times. The oldest evidence are some walnut remains which were found in Iraq and are thought to be over 50,000 years old!  

I got this English Retreads bag from one of my favorite green cyber-shopping spots, BuyGreen.com. I love BuyGreen.com because they do a fairly thorough evaluation of their products, reviewing and rating all aspects of a product’s sustainability.  This bag got 49 on its sustainability score (see the details of how this bag was rated).

This bag is very simple, compact and works for basics - small wallet, some makeup, keys and cell phone. While it doesn’t have all those organizational bells, whistles and zippers on the inside, it pays off in ‘feel good’ points.

Who would’ve thought to make something so cool from stinky used tires?

You don’t have to be an eco-fashionista to see that there is a new sustainable sub-industry evolving in the fashion world and on Madison Avenue. There are shoes made from ex-Jeep bits, a wide variety of styles of clothes made from bamboo, organic cotton and now soy fibers.
Historically, the clothing manufacturing industry has served as the poster child for bad ethical behavior and unsustainable business practices. From sweatshops and unfair trade to the questionable materials used and shipped thousands of miles before landing in Wal-Mart.
Well, we are a demanding lot. ‘We’, the collective consumers in the US primarily, want lots of clothes, we only want them for maybe a year before tossing them, and we don’t want to pay much for them either. Over the past 10 years we have developed a hankering for fast fashion. Similar to fast food, fast fashion is quick, cheap and considered virtually disposable.

Some eye-popping facts about the garment industry:

I had the opportunity to visit my very favorite food shopping spot - the Berkshire Coop Market. It is in Great Barrington Massachusettsand if you haven’t been to either Great Barrington or the Coop, I recommend planning a visit on your next trip in New England. I have to drive 150 miles to go shopping there, but I make the trek from time to time, under the guise of ‘visiting friends’, but there is always a trip to the Coop as a priority.

When I used to live up there in the 1980s and we were the experiential ‘green’ community, I not only became a member of this burgeoning food coop, I ended up as president of the Board of Directors for a year or so. I was young, energetic, enthusiastic and still unmarred by realities that can make a person cynical about such things.

Back then, the Coop was in the basement of an old granary. It was cold, damp and full of love (and spiders). We dreamed of a store where we could have a cafe and freshly baked products and room for lots of locally grown produce. I helped build up the membership significantly back then, but I moved away and left the dreaming to those left behind. I visited of course, but essentially lost track for quite a number of years.

Got another wonderful email from Willie Nelson today . . .

I really love and appreciate the work Willie Nelson is doing with Farm Aid and the letter he wrote to our new president elect, Barack Obama, which beautifully articulates the need to pay attention to family farmers. While there are so many urgent issues looming and competing for airspace for our new president, I can’t agree with Willie more that support of family and smaller local/regional farm systems is at the heart of the solution for many of the challenges that plague our country. 

Family farms and regional farming systems help reduce the food production carbon footprint in so many ways, not the least of which is that it travels less of a distance if it is supporting a defined regional area.

If you visit your local farm stands and farmer’s markets and have ever belonged to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program, you have come to respect if not love your local farmers - and for good reason!

Thank you Willie for continuing to make noise (and great music) on this issue!

Read Willie’s letter . . .

Author and food educator, Cynthia Lair and her family have fun sharing recipes and methods for cooking whole, sustainably produced and locally grown food through their informative and quirky Internet videos. Their website is CookusInterruptus.com.

Poor Cynthia starts every video happily offering us some nutritional details of whatever food she is preparing or just informing us about and just when she is warming up (pun intended) her husband or daughter rambles into the kitchen on some unrelated business. It is cute and speaks to the tagline of the site, ‘How to cook fresh local organic whole foods despite life’s interruptions.’

Cynthia offers us a versatile Quinoa salad . . . and we get to meet her husband Steve too!

Okay, first of all I have to point out that while my colleague, Rodney Pate is a phenomenal photographer and artist, this may be his one and only flawed photo . . . I’m not svelt, but I swear I’m not that fat!

But of course, it is really all about the bag . . . that part of the photo actually works extremely well.

I’m loving this bag that came from EcoBags.com (psssst, they’re having a sale!). It has become my de facto brief case that I stuff with all the various things I think I can’t live without during my long days at work.

This bag has a slightly sexy green message, which always makes life a little more interesting. But, what’s really interesting about this bag is that it is made from recycled cotton and it is not unreasonably priced @ $14.99.

Find this bag and others like it . . .