10 Reasons To Eat Local

Looking for a reason to get on the "eat local" bandwagon? Here's 10:

1. Local food tastes better! Why? Because it hasn't traveled as far and is fresher, also the food is picked when ripe.

2. Local food is better for you! Why? The closer your food is to the original source (ie the ground) the less time it took to get to you, and the less nutrients it lost en route.

3. Local food preserves genetic diversity! Why? Small farms often grow a variety of foods to provide a long harvest season.

4. Local food is safer! Why? Your local farmers aren't anonymous like the big companies are.

5. Local food supports local families! Why? Because you cut out more of the middlemen and keep local family farms in biz.

6. Local food builds communities! Why? Because you get to know your farmer, honoring a time honored tradition between farmer and consumer.

7. Local food preserves open spaces! Why? Think about it, the more farms you have locally the less industrial space is taken away from nature.

8. Local food keeps taxes down! Why? Farms give more in tax money than they take in services, so be keeping your farms close by you keep the tax dollars available for other things.

9. Local food benefits the environment and local wildlife! Why? Smaller farms tend to be better environmental stewards, they keep the soil fertile instead of stripping it of all nutrients. Also less travel for the produce means less emissions into the air.

10. Local food is an investment in the future! Why? By supporting local farms, you help keep them in business, ensuring their future success.

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Where Does Your Milk Come From? (Besides Cows)

I'm constantly on the hunt for the words GRASS FED. If I could I'd only drink dairy from grass fed cows. This as many of you may know is very hard to accomplish. Grass fed milk is the easiest of all dairy items to find, and I am lucky to find it at my local health food store less than a block away. Cheese, sour cream, yogurt etc, not so easy. Also, I'd love to know what farm made my products! Hard to do! Well, maybe not anymore...

My sister sent me this great site where you can source your milk, that is of course if you're not sure where it comes from already....

Plug in the plant code and voila!

Scour your fridge and check out this site.

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H&M Does It Green

Just when I thought I was off shopping for a little while ( I just stocked up on a few summer essentials) H&M goes and debuts it's new eco-friendly line, and it's actually tres chic!

All pieces are made with organic or recycled materials. I am lusting after a jacket myself. Hopefully when I make my way there on Saturday it won't be completely pilfered.

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Leave it A Jar

Many of you know of my hankering for jars, I collect great shaped ones I see, I save way more than I will ever need and I'm always trying to come up with new uses for them. Let's review, I use them to store my qtips, cotton balls, loose candy, drinking glasses, vases, bulk food storage, candles...the list goes on. Now that I have a baby and am making my own baby food I'm using my cute small jar collection even more!

I recently stumbled upon this great site which sells the more darling jars and I knew I had to share. They also have kits for jar labeling! I think I might be in trouble. The site is Burgon & Ball and they've got a ton more amazing things I've gotta check out, but these jars stopped me dead in my tracks, I think I like the Delicious Jam jar one most of all.

Uh oh, I just discovered they sell their own line of skincare, I'm in trouble now for sure.

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Shift Your Habit

I was sent this great book, Shift Your Habit by Elizabeth Rogers to review. At first I thought, oh here's yet another book on going green with all the typical suggestions. But once I opened it I realized how much information was packed into this book and how worth a read it really was.

Instead of just telling you what the change, this book offers real data, real statistics on why the change matters. Not only do you find out how shifting your habits changes things for the planet you also find out how these changes help you financially. Which at this time in our lives couldn't be more relevant.

Here are some of my favorite ways to shift my habits from the book:

Make you own baby food
Save up to $1,500 per year. Juliette has only been eating solid food for about a week, and we've been making all of her food. I've already noticed how much less pricey it is for me to make it. We bought a huge bag of organic sweet potatoes from Trader Joe's for under $4.00 and she's had at least 5 meals already with it and I cooked up the rest and have frozen about 7 portions for later use. Whereas 1 jar of Earth's Best Baby Food is $1.20 at my local store.

Buy a laptop instead of a desktop computer
Save up to $45 in your electricity bill each year, and conserve roughly 450 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Buy a multivitamin instead of individuals
Save up to $350 per year plus you conserve the production energy used to generate additional supplements and containers

This book just came out yesterday, so don't hesitate to snag a copy for yourself at you local bookstore! I'll be sure to post tons tips from the book too.

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Hurry 40% off won't last!

Have a baby? Know a baby? Know someone expecting a baby? You must go to Pure and Little and stock up on a few goodies at 40% off. The entire site is 40% off right now! Only til tomorrow, so get to it!

I scored a few California Baby items we use and a new set of my favorite Under the Nile Burp clothes. As we enter into solid foods, I know they'll come in handy.

Thanks Michele for passing along the savings!

The Meatrix!

I watched this video a few years ago and thought it was time to share it with my readers...



For more great information check out their site!