Shout Out: Beez Kneez!

Check this out: The Beez Kneez. It sure is. Kristy Lynn, cyclists, beekeeper, and Minneapolitan delivers raw honey to your doorstep--dressed as a bee!

This is what she's got for you:

Clover/Basswood Honey

• 12 fl oz jar (1.12 pounds honey): $6
• 32 fl oz jar (3 pounds honey) : $15

Buckwheat Honey

• 12 fl oz jar (1.12 pounds honey): $7
• 32 fl oz jar (3 pounds honey): $18

Both are AMAZING! The bees work at the Bar Bell Bee Ranch in Squaw Lake, MN. The clover/basswood is sweet and smooth and the buckwheat (to quote a friend) is "farmy" and rich. Check out her website for pictures, info, pricing, and an order form. If you live in Minneapolis, she'll come to your door. If you don't, let me know and I can order you some. Our first order we were taking a much needed nap and missed her! I can't wait to see her buzzing by the next time with some more honey. I'm buying big jars next time!

By the way, I am done with the licensure part of grad school :)

Peace!

Fifty-One - Bulk Buying Paper through Eureka Recycling

Over the last couple of years in grad school, even with printing double sided and reading articles online when possible, we have used a lot of paper. Eureka Recycling has a biannual bulk buy of 100% post consumer recycled paper that is process chlorine-free available for discount from what you would pay anywhere else. You buy by the case (10 reams) and can split with households or keep it all yourself. We'll be splitting with a friend. This is posted early because you need to order by Thursday, April 7. There is also colored paper and paper with three-holed punched, and cardstock.

Forty-Eight - Bike Maintenance (and a side note on good rain gear)

Bike Maintenance Class at Sibley Bike Depot

Laura and I are currently taking a 4 week bike maintenance class at the Sibley Bike Depot. It's a nonprofit, volunteer-run bike co-op that offers various classes for those looking to be more independent bike owners. The course covers how to fix a flat and adjust derailers, brakes, gears and rims. The lovely thing about the class is that there are 9 mounts so you are welcome to bring you bike in (on Wednesdays as well for open bike repair night) and work on it while learning about bike mechanics. Laura and I are making 2011 the year we bike often, not just some of the time.

Our goal is to replace the car as much as possible and prove that we can get rid of our old bikes next year and get some decent ones. Laura and I got more involved in maintaining our bikes last summer but this class is solidifying our desire to truly understand how our bikes work. The wonderful thing about having a couple of old road bikes is that it provides us with ample opportunity to tinker with all the bike components without the fear of ruining the bike.

Safe travels!

Umbrellas and Rain Gear
Guthrie and I are using our REI dividend to get new rain gear -- jackets and umbrellas. Why am I posting it here? I read once a blog--TreeHugger? that having good rain gear makes you more green. You are more likely to bike and walk and take the bus if you are ready to face the elements. I also think that it will mean more hiking trips for the two of us since we often face rain when we try to go camping. :) I'm excited about our new umbrellas because they have the extra flap for wind to escape so you don't have the flipping-inside-out problem. Want options for eco-friendly umbrellas (though sans flap)? Click here.

Forty-Six - Minnesota Wines

This a bit of a cop out, but Guthrie and I are going to blog on our experience going to a wine tasting at a local Minnesota winery. We have a had a crazy week: my last week of student teaching and we have just hit a wall. We decided to hit the road, leave the kitties at home, and head to Winona for a night of relaxation at the Village House Inn.

The winery we visited was the Cannon River Winery in Cannon Falls, MN, about an hour southeast of the Twin Cities. For $7, we were able to try all of their wines they had available from grapes grown in Minnesota at their vineyard in Sogn Valley, 10 miles southwest of their store, which is located in downtown Cannon Falls. The staff is knowledgeable and the atmosphere is welcoming. They use hybrid Minnesota grape varsities like the St. Pepin, LaCrosse, and the Frontenac. They even have an apple wine made from honeycrisp apples and a honey mead made from 100% Minnesota honey. They are a part of the Three Rivers Wine Trail -- something we would like to explore more as we expand our palate for Minnesota (and Wisconsin) wines. For a listing of where to buy these wines in town, click here. You can also order wines online here. Our favorites were the soft, crisp Sogn Blanc and the smokey Minnesota Meritage. Cheers!

Fourty-Five - CSA!

Farmer Kate -- from her website

Sorry this is a few days overdue. Guthrie and I have been working hard doing our research, asking for recommendations, and seeking out friends to find the right CSA for us. We are choosing North Creek Community Farm in Prairie Farm, WI.

Community Support Agriculture (CSA) is growing in popularity as people are realizing the importance of knowing where our food comes from and supporting local farmers. What is a CSA? Here's the deal (from Local Harvest): a farmer offers a number of "shares" to the public. It's usually a box of produce, but some farms offer cheeses and meat and dried meals for over the winter. Consumers buy a membership or a subscription in order to receive these boxes of happiness each week throughout the farming season. Of course, paying a farmer is not a guarantee. You are making an investment in the farm, and what you receive sometimes depends more on the weather than on what the farmer has planned. Generally it's 15-18 weeks of produce in Minnesota. Most farmers deliver to multiple drop off sites--sometimes a store, sometimes someone's house. Our site is three blocks from our house--perfect. For more information or for starting your search on a CSA, take a look at the Local Harvest website.

What's included in our CSA? Tons!

• weekly fresh, organic vegetables
• a variety of fresh herbs
• bouquets of fresh flowers
• Weekly newsletter with seasonal recipes and tips
• invites to the farm and its seasonal festivals

I used the awesome list serve for connecting neighborhoods called e-democracy to put out an "ad" for a CSA buddy. We have connected with a family who live in PoHo and they are willing to share the share with us. This is also working out well because we will be able to to connect and meet another family in our neighborhood. It is not 100% official, still waiting for the deposit from the neighbor, but I wanted to post this. If it falls through, I promise, we have a back up. I'll keep you posted. Until then, we are optimistic and can't wait for the first drop off!

Peace!

Forty-Four - Shower Curtain Liner

Guthrie and I got a nylon shower curtain liner. According to the green year, most shower curtain liners are made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC). When heated (like from a hot shower) it can emit harmful cancer causing gases. Instead of breathing this in every time we take a shower, we have purchased a waterproof nylon liner that is machine washable.

Stay warm and safe at home!

Peace!

Forty-Three - Wine Corks

 

This is a special Valentine's Day post. When you purchase your wine, keep in mind the kind of cork it uses. Of course you can recycle the bottle, but what about the cork? I learned through the Cork Forest Conservation Alliance that cork trees are not cut down to harvest cork, and that you can recycle cork. I also learned that it takes more than 10 times the energy to make a screw cap over the cork cap, and it is lined with plastic (bpa?). Also, the plastic stoppers are made from petro-chemicals, where are not biodegradable and produce more than 10 times the greenhouse gases in its production. Guthrie and I are making a commitment to buy wine with natural cork. It's easy to tell if the bottle is a screw cap, but not so easy to know if the stopper is plastic or cork. However, we are making note of our favorite wines with natural cork and are going to stick with what we know. We are also collecting our corks and will bring them to Whole Foods for their recycling program partnered with Cork Reharvest. Cheers!

Peace!

Forty-Two - Greener Cookware

The cheap pots and pans laura and I have had for over the last 5 or 6 years have been beat up, scratched up, and, for a long time, have shown signs of teflon peeling as the non-stick coating gradually dissolves while under the duress of extreme heat. These pots and pans are made with a man-made material called polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) AKA Teflon, which has been shown to corrode and emit toxic vapors when under high heat over extened uses. Another man-made material, Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) or 'C8', has been used for many years to make pots and pans. A third substance used to create this cookware is petroleum which has America by the cojones to this day, even amongst growing sentiment against its use.

These materials have been lauded for their ability to repel oil, grease and water and, in general, make cooking easier for us. These materials have also been showing up in our bodies at greater amounts over the years especially over seas in countries that are using second-hand cookware at extreme heat for long periods of time. Dupont an avid user of PFOAs and PTFEs for a long time settled a class-action lawsuit with the Washington, WV community recently over abundance of PFOAs in the drinking water of the residents. This has led to 3 epidemiologists studying the level and impact of PFOAexposure on the health of Americans. The results of this ongoing study will be available this year.

Laura and I are green, no doubt about it. We want to know the story behind the goods we use; we want to know why a certain process is used and the materials used during that process to make products we buy. We are happy knowing that community members and epidemiologists are scrutinizing what we put into our bodies enough so that it is putting pressure on scientists to evaluate the materials used to making cookware more user-friendly while limiting the negative impacts to our health.

We are also pleased that the the handle of the 8" skillet is made of 70% recycled steel and the surface hard-anodized so it won't scratch. Plus, the skillet is versatile; it's oven safe up to 500 degrees which limits the amount of pans we use to cook and therefore have to wash, saving us time and energy.

Next up, we will be replacing our two large stock pots with one that is made from recylced materials.

Cheers!

Thirty-Three - Christmas Tree

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree! Guthrie and I have our first Christmas tree! We have been looking into this one for a long time. We first approached the debate as which is greener: a real tree you cut down year after year (and hardwood forests which store more CO2 are being cut down to put up pine tree farms) and dispose of or an artificial tree you buy about every ten years, reuse, and it made all of plastic (PVC) and are mostly made in China. Turns out, the former is more eco-friendly (if you replant it or recycle it and turn it into mulch. TreeHugger debates these two options. We went with neither! Instead, we opted for the tree that is living and stays living for hopefully a long, long time. We bought a pine tree in a pot for the house! It is a pretty looking house plant called a Norfolk Pine that is soft and fairly low-maintaince. You repot it every 3-4 years. We started with a little 3' one that was $30 from Linders. We figure this way we can grow into it. The tree is sturdy enough from some decorations for a month out of the year (just make sure the lights are cool and the ornaments are not too heavy!). 

Happy holidays and peace!

Update on Bulk Buying from 100 Days Without Oil

A great point was made in the 100 Days Without Oil -- when you buy something, you are also buying the container it comes it. When buying bulk, we reuse these containers and only buy them the one time. Each time after that, we are simply buying the product. Read on to get the explanation.

Recycling Update - Tom's of Maine!

We have been using Tom's of Maine toothpaste for awhile now, but we have always been throwing the tube away when we are done. Another benefit of using Tom's is that it does come in a recyclable metal tube. Just cut it open, rinse, recycle, and repeat!

Garage Sales & Car Rental - Two Unrelated Tips

Just a note - since it is garage sale season, make sure you go and check them out. Guthrie and I needed a little radio/CD player for the kitchen since we can't really hear the news while we're cooking. Stumbled upon one in working order for $2 and I found a wonderful house dress for $5. We also got our garden rake from a garage sale. Though we didn't find the TV antenna and someone else bought the desk chair out from under us, it was fun and a great way to keep things (that you need/want around the house) out of the landfill.

Also, Guthrie and I just had to rent out first car for our anniversary trip to Austin, TX. Though very liberal by Texas standards, they did just get their first train. We got the smallest car we could and are also trying to offset our carbon footprint through this program offered by Enterprise. Here's what they say at Enterprise:
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Greenhouse Gas Emissions Offset

Enterprise Rent-A-Car is pleased to offer you the opportunity to benefit the environment by offsetting greenhouse gas emissions generated by a rental vehicle.

For just $1.25 you can offset emissions produced by the average rental. The money will go to TerraPass to fund certified offset projects that work to remove carbon from the atmosphere.

What's more, we will match these customer contributions dollar-for-dollar up to $1 million dollars.

-----------------------------------------------

Peace!

Three - Farmers Markets

My new Saturday routine - bike with Guthrie to pick up Aaron, and then heading over to the Midtown Farmers Market. I love getting to know the people who grow my food and often times the farmers who contribute to the co-ops are there as well. Farmer's markets are really expanding making it an event--a full on shopping experience. This Saturday, Guthrie and I will arrive early and eat breakfast, have wonderful organic tea and coffee, buy our herbs and plants for the modest garden we will have this summer, and enjoy the people watching. Last week, Aaron went back and forth with a sheep farmer until he tossed Aaron a small package of lamb chops and told him to grill them up and come back to buy more once he realizes how yummy they are. Last night, I had lamb for the first time and felt wonderful about it knowing that I go visit the farmer tomorrow and tell him how it tasted. (Though I don't know if I will ever have lamb again--it's a lot like steak, and I just don't miss that).

There are too many to list -- but find the farmers market near you here.

Are you free on Tuesday afternoon, Saturday morning, or even Sunday morning for Kingfield? Let me know and I will join you!

Another thing that many people don't know is that you can use EBT/Food Stamps at farmers markets During the AmeriYears, I didn't even know this! It is also great because the system is set up to accept EBT as well as major credit cards like Visa and MasterCard. You buy tokens in $5 increments and use it like cash. The farmers will give you cash back if there is change.

Peace!

Two - Grocery Co-ops

When Guthrie and I lived in Atlanta, there was only one co-op in the entire metro area! Every time Guthrie and I would be back to visit, I would beg him to take me to the Wedge or the fabulous new Seward co-op, as that is where I get all of my power. I truly love my co-op. I do almost all of my shopping there -- no need for Rainbow or even Target. Sometimes it's hard to make greener more sustainable decisions with every purchase you make, but shopping at the co-op helps make the decisions easier. The products usually have a lower carbon footprint, are well labeled so you know if they are local, and are often organic and/or fair trade. Guthrie and I ran out to the Seward Co-op to become members there. As a former member of the Wedge, I am so happy to back supporting my co-op.

Choose one near you --

City Center Market - Cambridge

East Side Food Co-op - Minneapolis

Harvest Moon Co-op - Long Lake

Just Food Co-op - Northfield

Lakewinds Natural Foods - Minnetonka & Chanhassen

Linden Hills Co-op - Minneapolis

Mississippi Market - St. Paul

River Market Community Co-op - Stillwater

Seward Co-op Grocery & Deli - Minneapolis

St. Peter Food Co-op & Deli - St. Peter

Valley Natural Foods - Burnsville

The Wedge Co-op - Minneapolis

The membership is usually around $80 and you are purchase class C stock. Though if you find you don't like the co-op experience (who wouldn't?) you can always sell back your shares and get your money back. Though perks vary by co-op, you usually get coupons, perks like 10% off one purchase every three months, bulk items at a discount, a vote for the board, class discounts, newsletters, and access other fun member-only events.

For more information on your Minnesota co-ops, organic gardening tips, recipes, events, etc check out this website:  Twin Cities Food Co-ops

Let me know if you ever want to carpool to Seward! Happy shopping! Peace!

One - Blue Sky Guide

I am going to start with something easy. It's not really a "change" in my lifestyle, since I have done it before, but it is a change from my former Atlantian lifestyle. Guthrie & I have purchased our Blue Sky Guide; it's like a Happenings coupon book without the junk. It is your source to savings on eco-friendly purchases, restaurants with local / organic fare, and good common sense buys. Love it! In just a couple of coupons, the book has paid for itself. Plus, you learn about gems that you may not have even heard of.

You can find it at many eco-friendly-themed cafes as well as the co-ops. If not, you can purchase the Twin Cities guide here. Happy shopping!