liz's blog

I don't know about the rest of you, but I can tell you that we in the Midwest have had the snowiest, iciest, coldest winter in decades, and it's really gotten me thinking. Since I became a dog mom in January of 2002 I've heard that ice melt is bad for dogs. This has led me to always keep a mat at my front door and religiously take off my shoes the moment I enter the house.... read more

KFC came under a lot of fire earlier this spring when they released the Double Down, a nutritional nightmare of bacon and cheese sandwiched between two fried chicken breasts. However little respect KFC is showing for the human body, they are making strides in saving the planet.  

Reuse. Renew. Rejoice.... read more

KFC has introduced plans to package its sides in plastic containers that are both dishwasher and microwave safe. At this moment, company plans state that these containers will be available at stores across the US by late spring of 2011. Businesswire lauds KFC with being the first fast food corporation to provide consumers with reusable packaging, and KFC was granted a 2010 Greener Packaging Award.

My month as a localvore can best be summarized by the trip I took last Saturday to Shared Bounty CSA. I wrote about them earlier, when discussing the benefits of knowing where your food comes from, and was excited to receive an invitation to their open farm. Jim and Ramona had already harvested all they needed for themselves and local needs (Jim has delivered innumerable heads of cabbage to a local retirement home), and the first freeze had already come. In other words, what was left in the ground needed to go and go fast. 

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Shared Bounty Purple CauliflowerWhen we got out of the car, we were immediately welcomed by Jim and Ramona's dog. We met another family who experienced the first year of Shared Bounty CSA with us, and then headed to the field. Jim handed out bags and knives and told us we were welcome to anything we wanted. He briefly told us what was located where, and turned us loose. My family and the other who came out, though, didn't just come to pick food. We came to spend time with the folks who fed us so well for the past 20 weeks. Ramona went off with the other family, and we sidled up to Jim. As we walked the rows, he talked with us: about the food (even asking what we'd like to eat next year), about the farm, about growing up on a farm, about the season's rains, about the first frost, about the animals they keep, about anything and everything.

Do It Gorgeously... read more

Sophie Uliano's Do It Gorgeously: How to Make Less Toxic, Less Expensive, and More Beautiful Products struck my eye at the library yesterday. I'm a sucker for books that claim they can help me green my home front, but most of them leave me disappointed. I've checked out far too many of these books and wasted far too many hours flipping through their chapters on using recycling bins and turning out the lights when I leave the room. I mean, my generation has been learning about recycling and conservation since elementary school. We don't need any more Love Your Earth 101 lessons, folks.

This summer my family and I purchased a share in a CSA. Shared Bounty CSA, to be specific. The experience has been fabulous in more ways than I could have ever expected. In fact, I have multiple blog posts about them (and my culinary experiments from the summer) just waiting to be written. This week, though, I realized just how fortunate we have been to be part of the Shared Bounty family. 

Shared Bounty CSA... read more