Wine is one of my favorite treats. More and more we are hearing about the health benefits of wine. The recent rise in organic and sustainable farming on wineries is very encouraging to me. Traditional wineries use intensive farming methods to ensure a good crop. We are seeing more evidence that biodynamic, sustainable, and organic practices are creating a higher quality wine as well as better long-term, growing conditions for the wineries.
Here is a great graphic on how the wine industry is moving towards sustainable practices. Check with your local wine purveyor for some green wines available in your area.
Presented By Wine.com Purveyors of fine green Wines
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for which I was compensated. All opinions are my own and I only post information I feel my readers will find of value.
Continue reading…Green Wines Are All The Rage
Our house is in need of some work. We started noticing little things last year but we just haven’t had the time or money to fix them up. That hasn’t stopped me from imagining how I would improve our home if we could. I find myself on the HGTV website all the time looking for eco-friendly ways to improve our home and redecorate.
We have several projects we need to tackle. We want to use sustainable materials to put new siding on our house and add some solar panels for energy efficiency. Our long-time goal has been to have a run-off drainage system to collect rainwater for watering the garden. Most importantly, both of our bathrooms need overhauls because the previous owners took short cuts which have caused mold to build up. Black mold is a silent killer and causes all sorts of health problems. We really need to get
Continue reading…Home Improvements for Sustainable Living
Adding supplements to your diet is the new great way to get your nutritional requirements. If you aren’t fortunate to know your farmer, regularly buy organic or biodynamic foods or grow your own vegetables you need to be supplementing additional nutrients into your diet.
Nettle Infusion
Using supplements can be tricky because the supplement industry successfully lobbied against any regulations on their labeling. What does this mean for you? You have to research your sources and know the science behind the supplements you are using. For most of us researching supplement companies isn’t at the top of the priority list.
A whole food alternative to taking supplements is using nourishing herbal infusions. Infusions are made from steeping nutrient dense herbs in hot water for 4 or more hours. Like a strong tea. Specific herbs provide a powerhouse of nutrition to support the body in healing and realizing optimum health.
Here is
Continue reading…Nourishing Herbal Infusions: Nature’s Supplement
Moso Natural air purifier
Moso Natural offers a unique air purifier designed to remove unwanted odors, harmful pollutants, bacteria and allergens. Moso bags are made of 100% bamboo charcoal. The porous and absorbent nature of the bamboo charcoal removes odors and excess moisture to neutralize airborne mold spores.
There are many air purifiers on the market these days. Many of them contain chemicals and scents that cover up odors. With Moso bags, the charcoal actually absorbs the odors and filter them out of the air. Bamboo charcoal is non-toxic and safe to use around pets and children. The charcoal effectiveness lasts up to 2 years.
The bamboo charcoal is activated by the sun. Once a month it needs to be placed in direct sunlight to get the full effectiveness from the Moso bag. The charcoal is effective for up to two years. Once it loses it’s potency, the bamboo charcoal
Continue reading…Moso Natural :: #WinnerWonderland Sponsor Spotlight
If you have ever composted you know how annoying fruit flies can be. Fruit flies, also known as Drosophila melanogaster, congregate around decaying food. They love compost bins sitting on the counter waiting to be taken outside. As a long time composter I am used to these annoying little bugs. They don’t do much damage but they certainly are annoying when they are everywhere in your kitchen.
What you will need
Luckily there is an easy trap you can make from common tools in your kitchen. You will need:
A tall, skinny glass A bit of red wine, juice or vinegar A round piece of paper Tape Scissors
In the glass put a bit of the wine/juice/vinegar about halfway up. Cut the paper from the edge to the center of the circle. Roll the paper into a funnel and snip the end of the tip to create a funnel. Don’t make the
Continue reading…Fruit Fly Trap
We go through a lot of seltzer water in our house. It’s a bit shameful considering how conscientious we are about living sustainably, but when you have a favorite “food,” you do whatever it takes to get it, right? We don’t drink soda so “fizzy water” becomes a treat for the kids and my better half loves it.
When I got the opportunity to try out the SodaStream for a review I was dancing all around the house. Finally a sustainable way to make seltzer water in our home. As soon as it arrived I broke it out and we made one of the soda packets. I was a bit disappointed to find that most of the flavors were sweetened with Splenda. Not sure why Splenda is still on the market but that’s a different story. It is actually worse than using sugar if you can imagine that. So the first
Continue reading…I love my SodaStream!
Green Beans and Tomatoes, Oh My!
We are getting some great vegetables these days. Lots of tomatoes and the cucumbers just keep coming. I think my son is actually reaching his limit of cucumbers. He no longer insists on having only cucumbers for an entire meal. Good to know there will be some for the rest of us.
This week the share included:
Curly Kale Carrots Eggplant Cucumbers Tomatoes, Heirloom and Slicing Zucchini Onion Peppers Salad Greens Red Leaf Lettuce
U-pick
Herbs (Not shown) Sungold Tomatoes (can’t get enough of these) Green Beans
The kids just love going into the field and picking the tomatoes and green beans. Then we head over to the playground for a while. Going to the farm is such a treat.
Today’s cantaloupe sorbet recipe is from dinner with friends over the weekend. Two weeks ago I put up some over ripe cantaloupe in the freezer. It was a
Continue reading…Cantaloupe sorbet from the CSA
It has been a few weeks since I posted about our CSA share. We are still getting our weekly share but some how the article posts have been getting away from me. I decided rather than going back I would start from where I’m at right now.
Love those veggies
Tomatoes arrived in our CSA share this past week. I’m so excited as are my kids. U-pick included sungold tomatoes, hands down my favorite tomatoes, were ready. I think the kids ate as many as they picked.
Sungold Tomatoes
Green Beans
Then we went and picked green beans. So yummy. I make them by tossing them with olive oil and salt and roasting them in a 450 degree oven until they are browned. They work well on the grill too. We call them Green Bean French Fries and they don’t last very long in the bowl. I love
Continue reading…CSA share — Zucchini Fritters
CSA Vegetables from July 14, 2011
After being away on vacation it has taken some time to get back on track. I am finally getting caught up. The CSA share this week was full of wonderful root and squash vegetables. I love that we are moving form a share full of only greens and lettuces to these colorful sweet vegetables.
Our share included:
Zucchini Yellow Squash Beets Carrots Cucumbers New Onions Scallions Arugula Totsoi Red Kale Swiss Chard Lettuce
Purple, Lemon and Italian Basil
U-pick this week:
Purple Basil Lemon Basil Basil Parsley Flowers
By far the favorite vegetable of the week is the cucumbers. My son loves cucumbers. I think they trump everything but ice cream and popsicle. If I want him to eat I just need to mention we have cucumbers and he stops everything and comes running.
Parsley
This beautiful parsley bouquet wound
Continue reading…CSA share with Quinoa Tabouli (Gluten-Free)
CSA Vegetables 6/20/11
Because I have been doing CSAs for over ten years, I’m kind of used to the amount of food that we get each week. Since starting this blog series, I am blown away when I set up these photo shots and see everything laid out like this. There is so much food. We pay $25 a week for our share. I could NEVER get this much organic, local produce for $25 at a grocery store. I would even be hard pressed to get this much food at the farmer’s market for the same price either. It’s mind blowing.
So far this week we have had chard with tomato sauce, pea salad (see the recipe below), steamed greens over quinoa, beets with balsamic vinegar and greens cooked with bacon. The left over greens and bacon made a wonderful pita pizza with just a
Continue reading…CSA Bounty — Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Lemon and Scallion Vinaigrette

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