CSA (aka bringing the Farmers' Market to you)

Community Supported Agriculture = the best way for busy people to get local, fresh, organic produce into their kitchen. If you're anything like me, sometimes motivating to go to the Farmers' Market on a dreary Sunday morning is a little more than you're up for. However, if you join a CSA, the Farmers' Market comes to you. That's right...according to LocalHarvest.org the definition of a CSA is as follows: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.

Eric and I have recently joined a CSA called Eating with the Seasons here in the Bay Area. Now, every Thursday (starting in December) we'll get an extra small box (6 types of produce for $17) of super fresh fruits and veggies delivered from the farm to a pick-up location a few blocks from our house. In addition, we can add extras like eggs, granola, and olive oil if we choose. Quite a deal, right?

And CSAs are so hot right now. In fact, my friends Jillian and Christina recently started an awesome blog called Farm and a Frying Pan that was inspired by the huge amounts of unusual vegetables brought to them by their CSA (think kale, celery root, and leeks). They are learning how to cook and eat these fabulous local, sustainable items, and with their blog, they are sharing their adventures with all of us. As they put it, "this blog is our attempt at uncovering what you can really do when you have access to a FARM and a FRYING PAN."

If you need additional recipes for out-of-the-ordinary vegetables, there are plenty of great vegetarian cookbooks out there. The Everything Vegetarian Cookbook is one great example, and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest is another. Happy veggie cooking!

Aaaaaand, I'm Back

Hi readers!

As promised, it's the end of October, and I'm back and ready to blog my organic cotton socks off. A lot of really exciting stuff has been happening since I've last posted, so I should probably begin by catching you up. First of all, I spent my late summer/early fall doing quite a bit of very cool field work in exotic places of the world like Anniston, AL (burros); Marietta, OH; and Kalamazoo, MI (big bass).

While the field work was fun (great people) and interesting, I have known for a while now that my time at my current company was growing short, AND low and behold, I got a new job last week! Yep, I'm going to work for a cleantech company that may or may not make an electric sports car. It's a big move, but I'm really excited about it. Inside sales/cars/clean technology (i.e. my new position) is quuuuite a bit different than ecological field work, so I have a lot to learn...which is kind of the point in the whole switching-careers thing.

Finally, because of friendships with great people in high places, YBG is going to be part of a test program with Overstock.com to increase its social media outlets. This means that I'll be blogging about and noting cool, green, and inexpensive products that can make your life more sustainable. Like I said, exciting things are afoot!

Keepin' it YBG,
Dale

A Brief Sabbatical

Hi loyal readers,

I wanted to jot a quick post to let you know that I haven't forsaken you and YBG. I am in the middle of an epic stint of fall field work, and 13 hours days in the field aren't terribly conducive to blogging (...or bill paying or calls to friends and family or QT with your dog). I will be back at a desk and regular working hours by the end of October, I hope, so if you can be patient with me until then, I greatly appreciate it.

Until then, keep thinking YBG!
Dale

Climate change and wildfires

An interesting and relevant tidbit from Earth2tech:

Climate Change and Cali Wildfires: “To the average person a 1-degree rise in average spring and summer temperatures may not seem like much. But for residents of the western United States—including California, which is fighting at least eight fires right now—it could mean a staggering increase in the extent and cost of fires.” — Climate Progress

Saison...review to come

Because I'm battling through a mild, wine-induced hangover from my incredible dinner at Saison last night while trying to catch up in the office after a week of field work in Ohio, my review of last night's amazing meal will have to wait another 24 hours or so. But, until then, you can at least check out our menu. It was worth every penny.

LocalHarvest

Question: What's one way to eat like a king, save money, and be green all at the same time?

Answer: Dust off your pots and pans and cook the amazing food you bought this weekend at your local farmers' market.

Check out LocalHarvest.org to find a farmers' market near you, and spend your Sunday morning tasting the wares of local farmers while mingling with your neighbors. The food is guaranteed to be fresh and local, and because many farmers' markets remove the middle man from the equation, you're getting the best of the nearby farms for much less than you would at the grocery store. The salsa you make from the $5/15 lb bag of tomatillos you bought will taste WAY better than the store-bought brand, and I bet you'll have a lot of free fun making it as well.

Time to rethink your shampoo

This is quite an eye-opening article from Salon about the ingredients in our shampoos. In a nutshell, the article claims that there are only 3 necessary ingredients in any hair cleaning product, and everything else in your shampoo is unnecessary or even toxic. The author even finishes his article by stating that he uses Sunlight Dish Detergent to wash his hair...it has only 4 ingredients, and he uses 1/10th of the volume that regular shampoo requires. He states that one bottle of detergent will last him a year...compared to $8 a bottle for Pantene ProV and the like (that only last a month or two). If you're not down with using dish detergent on your head, consider Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap (and Hair Rinse). They're made for use on your body but lack most of the extraneous ingredients, and since you dilute them, they last forever.

No Brainer

Libraries, people! Libraries!

It's books for free. What else is there to say? Sure you have to give them back in the end, but how many books do you read more than once anyway? Save trees, save money...go get a library card.

Also, the excuse that "they never have what I'm looking for" is no longer valid. Most libraries now allow online book reservation, and you are notified by email when your request shows up at your local branch. I picked up two last night that were available a mere five days after I posted my requests (though a third is going to take a while to show up, but it's a new release). In the meantime, I'll keep myself busy with less popular but equally as satisfying oldies but goodies.

Splurge Alert

Sometimes it's worth blowing your well-earned cash on something special, and on August 30th, I will be spending mine on a fabulous dinner at Saison with Eric. Saison is a new restaurant located in the Mission that "is a place where one can come and dine on the finest local bounty and where wines are poured with the same care as a Michelin starred restaurant yet be totally at ease in a casual environment. We have decided that we should remove the unnecessary frou-frou and provide what is most important to us in a dining experience." The food is all local and organic, as are the wines. I'm SO excited, and a review will definitely be posted on the 31st (I'll be in a food coma until at least Monday).

And actually, compared to what we would pay for a similarly amazing meal at almost any other highfalutin restaurant here in SF, $90 for a four course meal with wine paring is a straight-up deal.

GoodGuide: Your Guide to What's Good

I happened upon a great new website today, GoodGuide.com. The story of how I happened upon it will have to wait, but the effect that GoodGuide can have on your life should not. According to the NYT, Newsweek, and may other sources, GoodGuide provides the world's largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home...FREE! Using criteria tied to three overarching performance areas (health, environmental, and social), GoodGuide assigns scores to consumer products, deeming them good, iffy, and/or bad choices based on their criteria. The results can be surprising. For instance, who would have guessed that a Kashi cereal would be at the bottom of the cold cereals list, while plain Cheerios are near the top (the complete list is here). See, you're already learning things... So next time you're thinking about changing shampoos or buying your nephew a present, you can look at GoodGuide to assess the impacts of the products you're about to buy. You might rethink that Nerf Rocket Pass you were eying.