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I am delighted to hear that Oprah talked about Food, inc. on her show this week. I mean really, with a voice like that behind the slowfood movement… perhaps the U.S. consumers will perk up and listen? Oprah is responsible for bringing many lot’s of topics to the forefront of our minds. Who didn’t read the Kite Runner? Did anyone pay attention to Rachael Ray before Oprah endorsed her? Heck, even to some extent Oprah introduced us to Obama, didn’t she?

On the heels of the post I wrote last week, I must say that I am delighted to hear that others are thinking about the same subject. (Thank you Oprah!) Perhaps we are on the cusp of making real change in the way that the American government subsidizes farming and how American’s (and let’s face it mom’s who do the grocery shopping) are thinking about the food that they eat.

On another note… do you remember why I have not been cooking lately? Well, I finally pulled the trigger. I ordered myself a Le Crueset French Oven! It’s the first of three pans I will order to stock our kitchen. I figured this was the most versatile of the three. Heck, I can do everything from boil eggs to bake a cake in it! After much hunting for the very best price on the internet, I realized there are a lot of stores who mark up the price to give you the perception of a deal when they sell it to you for less. So instead, I went to Sur La Table who recently released an exclusive color that I adore. It’s called Cassis. Pretty, no?

Here’s a question: Did you watch Oprah’s show about Food, inc. and the slowfood movement? Did it change how you think about the food you eat?

It’s a little scary… announcing one of your New Years Resolutions for all the blog world to read. It’s crazy to me that I didn’t announce my intentions back in Mid-December when I started down this road. It took nearly a month of “trying it out” to decide I’d tell you. So far, so good. So I decided to tell you what I know so far.

all images via Goldilocks Finds Manhattan

As part of making 2010 less sucktastic than ‘09, I made the commitment to a primarily plant-based diet. It’s not so much about being a vegetarian, but more about being in touch where my food is coming from. I know for a fact when I eat whole foods (with origins that are clear to me, that don’t have preservatives, and that are not packed with sugar) that I sleep better, I am more alert and I feel more energetic. To be more specific, I am not eating anything out of a box, that has had a face, or that doesn’t come from the outside perimeter of the grocery store.

I can say that this is a fact because from 1993-2000 I lived as a strict vegetarian, I had several stints as a vegan, and also mixed in short periods of time as a lacto-ovo vegetarian. Believe me, I was very in touch with every morsel that passed through my lips.

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Remember when I blogged about reusing your glass jars? Check out this simple, eco-chic, sparkly centerpiece.  Great for holidays or just dinner at home with the hubs.

{photo by me}

Fill mason jars with some soy candles and you’re done! What’s your go-to centerpiece?

Much love,

-B

As you may or may not know, my husband and I are currently living in a tiny 2-bedroom apartment (shared with our two cats, Mike and Butters).  We have no outdoor space, save for our tiny patio and lil’ windowboxes, which don’t provide us with much gardening opportunity.

As someone who grew up in a home with lots of garden space and a little “plot” of my own, it’s heartbreaking for me to not have a bit of dirt.  Thus, it’s become our goal in the next year to have a truly viable spot of land on which we can grow things.  Along these lines, I was reading the WSJ yesterday (no, this is not a habit of mine, though it probably should be) and stumbled upon an article on composting.

{Photo via greenbudget}

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The perfect Saturday morning in Omaha includes a visit to one of two popular Farmer’s Markets. This past weekend my parents came to visit, and I made sure to carve out time for us to check out the local produce and meat at the market in the Village Pointe parking lot. Granted, it’s not as extensive as, say, the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market in San Francisco, but it’s a great way to support local farmers and spend some time outside when the weather is cooperating. I think my parents were impressed by the friendliness of the farmers selling their good and at the sheer variety of vegetables. We filled an Envirosax with ingredients for homemade salsa, eggplant parmesean and assorted grilled vegetables–plus a beautiful zinnia for a mini vase that sits on my living room table.

Are you lucky enough to have a Farmer’s Market in your town?

(photos by me)

Photo from P.J.McAdie’s Flickr

There are so many uses for a glass jar: storing leftovers, using as vases, or even lining up empty on a windowsill to show off.   Save your pasta sauce jars, jam and jelly jars, and other glass bottles.  It’s like your own home has become its own little recycling center!

It can also be a fun weekend activity to troll the antique and flea markets for old jars to add a bit of personality to your collection–I’ve found cool chemistry beakers, old mason jars, and even old Vapor Rub jars.

Here’s the trick to getting the sticky labels off: Wash in warm water, and peel off as much of the label you can.  Apply your run-of-the-mill hair conditioner to the remainder of the label, let soak for about half an hour, and scrub off with a course sponge.

Enjoy!

Much love,

-B

Sometimes, there’s nothing quite as nice as a clean, fresh house that smells bright and lovely.

{Image via ApartmentTherapy}

However, getting there isn’t always so easy.  And with all the cleaning products available today, it’s almost impossible to choose one that doesn’t smell overly strong, is effective, affordable, and not harmful for the environment.  Well get ready for this…a whole slew of all-natural cleaning possibilities with just a handful of good, old-fashioned products.

I’ve been using these “recipes” for the last few years.  I was motivated to find an alternative all-purpose cleaner after cleaning my bathtub one day, inhaling a few too many fumes, and deciding that it just was NOT healthy to have that floating around the air in my home!  I’ve found that the biggest hurdle to using these types of cleaners was that they didn’t have that Clorox-y clean smell that we’re all used to associating with “clean.”  If you choose to try any of these recipes and encounter the same problem, try adding a drop or two of eucalyptus or tea tree oil to make it smell more fresh and bright!

Without further ado…you will need: (to clean your ENTIRE HOUSE!)
-Baking Soda
-Borax (found in your grocery store’s laundry detergent aisle
-Tea tree oil
-Lemon oil
-Lemons or lemon juice
-Toothpaste (paste, not gel; with no tartar control or whitening properties)
-Table salt
-Distilled white vinegar
-Castile Soap

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This is one of those posts that I can’t believe I’m writing.  Cleaning products?  Really?  Cleaning products?

Yes, yes, I freakin’ pink-puffy-heart a cleaning product.  There.  I said it.

The website for Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Aromatheraputic Household Cleaners says that Mrs. Meyer’s products make cleaning your home “fresh, fun, and fragrant.”  Now, I don’t know about the “fun” part, but these wholly organic cleansers do make scrub-a-dub-dubbing a bit more enjoyable with their fabulous scents and aesthetically pleasing packaging.  Eco-friendly cleaning never felt so good!

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via Dwell Magazine

I love the following about this 400 square foot barn-turned-house: exterior siding, extra deep window sills, concrete floors, and exterior living space.
I hate the following: the couch two feet from the dining room table, the six inch sink.

Could you live in a space this modern (or this small?)

This is the second year that my husband and I have had a little vegetable garden in the back yard, and tomatoes are one of our favorite things to grow.  One problem is that the plants get very large and need to be staked or put in the support cages to keep them upright, so every time we saw the “Topsy Turvy” commercial on TV we thought it sounded like a great idea!

This year, we decided to give growing tomatoes upside down a try.  But instead of ordering a plastic green bag to plant our tomato plant in, we decided to build our own.

(You’ll notice the more traditional tomato cage around another tomato plant in the background… we were hedging our bets in case the upside down tomato growing didn’t work.)

What makes a “topsy turvy” is a planter with a hole in the bottom, large enough for the plant to fit through, and a hole or opening on top for water.  You then hang it up either with a hook onto a patio or a shepherd’s hook in the garden (as you see above).  Tomatoes are very resiliant and hardy plants, and will start to grow back upwards towards the sun which doesn’t affect them at all.  All you need to do is make sure they have enough water!

We took a wire hanging planter with coco mat lining and cut a hole in the bottom of the coco matting.

We gently fed the green part of the plant through the hole from the inside of the planter, leaving the roots inside, and filled with potting soil.  We then covered it with a little mulch to help retain moisture, and, voila!  Our own topsy turvy planter!  And I might add, I think it looks nicer than the original.

Ours:

Theirs:

So far, so good with our little experiment!  In fact, my husband swears that this tomato plant is doing better than the others – it even has its first blooms!

The cost of this will depend on where you buy your supplies.  We bought our planter and shephard’s hook at Big Lots, and probably spent about $10 to $15 for both, which is not a huge savings over the original Topsy Turvy, but we both think it looks nicer in our garden, and if we don’t re-use the planter for tomatoes next year, we can use it like a regular hanging planter again.