November 24, 2009
Posted by tressa eaton, November 24, 2009 at 2:00 PM
[Flickr: xybermatthew]
It might be too late to snag a Heritage turkey this year, but there are still plenty of last minute things you can do to make sure this year's Thanksgiving is your greenest yet.
1. Decorate with What What You've Got
[Flickr: StarMama]
Instead of investing in expensive, hothouse flowers that are shipped from around the globe, forage in your backyard for greenery, berries, and branches. Throw in some votive candles and some bright cloth (reusable!) napkins and you've got yourself a beautiful table.
More tips after the jump.
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Posted by tressa eaton, October 27, 2009 at 2:45 PM
[Flickr: uberculture]
Got a lot of land? Need to clean it of brush quickly? Forget the gas-guzzling bush hog or poisonous herbicides. Time for some eco-friendly vegetation management. Goats to the rescue!
In Seattle (where the state of Washington classifies the Himalayan blackberry bush as a Class C noxious weed) Tammy Dunakin's Rent-a-Ruminant team of 100 goats work as professional vegetation eradicators.
So what's so great about goats? (Besides the fact that cheese made from their milk is so tasty, of course)?
[Flickr: Kevin]
There are very few plants that goats will not eat. They've got four-chambered stomachs and are ready and willing to chow down on all types of invasive species, including ivy, nettle, holly, morning glory, knot weed, and scotch broom plants—but they'll still leave behind the good stuff, like woody growth.
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Posted by tressa eaton, October 13, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Coffee seedlings under a canopy of old leaves. [Flickr: jakeliefer]
With October here (and winter peeking around the corner) the harvest at local farmers' markets is leveling off. In many areas, summer CSAs are dropping off their final shares of the season. While the change in weather is making it harder to buy food from local and sustainable sources, it leaves us a perfect opportunity to celebrate Fair Trade Month.
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Posted by tressa eaton, October 6, 2009 at 5:00 PM
[Photograph: Lisa Moussalli]
This is my theory. You and all your foodie friends, the New York Times' Dining section, and the Washington Post's Home and Garden section can all call something a new food trend. Slate can even call it a bogus trend. But it's when a food trend lands on the front page of the business section that it's really gone mainstream.
The chickens have landed in our backyards and they're here to stay.
Everyone's got a reason for you to rush out to get some of these feathered friends for your own backyard: fresher free-range eggs, being closer to the source of your food, a sense of self-reliance, and free nitrogen-rich fertilizer. These are all legitimate answers, but if you want to take the step from applauding the efforts of others to taking care of your own little brood, you'll need more information than that.
Here, important steps you'll need to take before getting your own flock, after the jump.
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Posted by tressa eaton, September 22, 2009 at 5:30 PM
[Photograph: theogeo on Flickr]
Things are about to get competitive in the kitchen and it's not a Top Chef Quickfire challenge. It's time to start hypercooking.
Hypercooking is defined by The Food Section as "an environmentally conscious way of cooking that seeks to maximize the impact of the energy used during the cooking process."
Hypercooking is the kitchen version of hypermiling, in which drivers change they way they drive and use specific techniques to go as far as possible on a gallon of gas.
In the Big Green Cookbook Jackie Newgent offers hypercooking tips and recipes, such as one for cookies that finish baking in the residual heat of the oven.
Try these tips, after the jump, to save energy and maximize every last bit of energy you use.
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