Green Options

Have trouble getting up early on Saturday morning to get to the farmers market? Yeah, me too. And while more supermarkets are featuring more selections of local food on their shelves and in their stalls, there’s nothing quite like that straight-from-the-farm produce. What’s a late sleeper to do?

A new web service, Local Dirt, is out to make the connection between the local farmer and buyer more convenient. Say you’re looking for local peaches during the season. Local Dirt’s interface allows you to set search criteria based on location, product, and even venue (if you choose), and find a farmer from whom you can buy online. Sleep in on Saturday, get to the market late, and your peaches are still there… the service provides you with a purchase order to take to the vendor. Some of the farmers may even deliver…

If you frequent your local farmer’s market, being a crafty person that you are, you bring along your very own handmade bags to carry home your produce, right? Right. In fact no matter the market, I bet you have a handmade tote bag that is at hand to carry home your loot.

Well, what about the non crafty people? Should they be relegated to using plastic bags? What if everyone was given a free handmade bag to carry home their fresh produce instead of those plastic bags? And what if these bags were made out of fabric left overs such as outgrown t-shirts and scraps?

Bags for the People was formed in reaction to when Glenn Robinson would work at his local farmers market in Union Square in New York and hand out hundreds of hundreds of plastics bags every day. He would see people that would bring their own bags, but they would still rely on some plastic, too.

Having some free time on his hands Robinson used some old clothing to create bags that he then gave away at the farmers market to help curb plastic bag use. The simple idea was received very well and people thought they were being given a gift with their purchase. “People were so excited to get these bags,” Robinson said.

Confused by all the information regarding natural eating?  You’re not alone!

When you are out at the Farmer’s Market, get to know your farmer.  Ask pointed questions, find out if they have an open door policy (can you tour anytime), are they certified organic or do they go beyond organic (beyond organic is a philosophy that USDA organic isn’t enough).   If you are a meat eater, find local farmers and arrange direct meat purchase (our plan is every 3 months because we have decent storage space).  Some meats we find locally: tuna (which we can ourselves), bison, chicken, beef.  Prices average $3.00-$4.00/lb, so this also encourages us to use less meat.  For our family of 7 + 3 daycare kiddos, we have meat packaged in 1 lb sizes to ensure we don’t get meat crazy. :)  You can probably find local eggs at the farmers market, this usually saves you money and supports small, local farms.

Here are some tips to help you navigate healthier, local eating.

I’ve always loved the idea of foraging for food, but the idea of dying from a poisonous mushroom overdose has always put me off from plucking edibles from the ground for dinner. Luckily, you can often find a carefully selected array of wild and exotic mushrooms at grocery stores or farmers markets. Sometimes, when there’s potential for serious injury, I find it’s best to leave things up to the professionals.

I found this gorgeous array of exotic mushrooms at the Sporeboys stall at London’s beautiful Broadway Market. Mushrooms are easy to cook, good for you, and have a deliciously rich, almost meaty taste that’s a great vegetarian substitute. I made a simple sautéed mushroom mix with olive oil, herbs, and cheese that tasted great on toast as well as pasta. It could also top a number of other dishes that you’ve already got in your kitchen. It’s simple, versatile, and oh so tasty…and no fear of poison! What more could you ask for?

Here’s an easy way to cook your mushrooms and a number of ways to serve them too:

Is there anyone NOT sucked into the whirlwind of earth day hype? Is there anyone that isn’t thinking of how they can get their green on? Is anyone else feeling overwhelmed by it all?

Us Green Divas area all about easy does it! If we make earth day more of a lifestyle and simply start by making one green improvement from wherever we are on the big green super highway, sustainable living habits seem to sprout like hearty organic weeds and multiply. Before you know it, you’re talking local sustainable agriculture at your favorite new potluck dinner club!

I started with food. Yum.

The low-stress way of doing this, is to know you don’t have to do it ALL. Just pick one that resonates with you and start there. It should be fun and bring you some joy. This is NOT about adding stressful activities to your lifestyle, but adding some thoughtful and hopefully more meaningful activities to the things you already do anyway.

Most food eaten in the USA is produced on mega-farms, whether inside America’s borders or imported from large farming operations overseas. Within the US, 5% of farms actually deliver 75% of America’s agricultural produce.

I am obsessed with farms and farmers markets. People that read my work probably know that by now. Did I mention that I sometimes go to three different farmers markets in a single week? One of the things I love is that in addition to fruits and veggies, my local farmers markets have vendors selling milk and cheese, whole chickens, eggs of various types and sizes, pork and beef. I don’t eat most of that stuff, but I love that it is there and that it comes from local farms.

Soon, however, there may not be meat at farmers markets, or meat raised by small farmers, at all. That’s because of the roll out of the National Animal ID System (NAIS), requiring farmers to attach radio frequency identification ear tags on cattle, dairy cows, pigs and chickens.

With Thanksgiving around the corner and (slightly) cooler weather here in LA, my thoughts are turning to comfort food. From stuffing to squash, it all sounds good right now. What better way to enjoy the best that the season has to offer than joining in the movement of community-supported agriculture?

These farms, or CSAs, provide fresh produce, and sometimes meat and dairy. For a fee, you get baskets of fresh food once a week. One well-known CSA in LA is the Tierra Miguel Foundation, which drops off batches of organic produce at designated spots around town. All you do is swing by and pick it up. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can visit the North San Diego farm in person the first Saturday of each month. The farm is also a charitable foundation that supports education in sustainable agriculture.

The USDA (rather belatedly) began tracking farmers’ markets in 1994.  Although they’re still not very good at it (a check of their database shows exactly THREE in my hometown of Cincinnati which in reality hosts dozens every week) even with their limited knowledge of and connection with actual farmers (!) they’re seeing significant growth in number of farmers’ markets over the years.

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Outdoor bread ovens are nothing unusual in many parts of the world, but who’da thunk you could find them in Toronto? According to a recent article in The Star, farmers’ market bakers can turn out more than 200 loaves of fresh-baked bread using two ovens in Dufferin Grove Park, and fresh-bread proponents are seeking the city’s OK for [...]

[image via Jennifer Dickert]

Working local, seasonal foods into your diet is an easy and delicious way to reduce your carbon footprint. The average food item travels 1,500 miles to get to your plate. Local food uses far less gas to get from farm to table. On top of that, local food is usually fresher than something that’s traveled a long time and distance. If you hit your average grocery store chain it seems nearly impossible to stock up on local eats. With a few handy resources, though, it’s as easy as (organic, locally-grown apple) pie!