A slice of summer to get through the cold...

Local foods aren't all about fresh produce from your farmers market. Happy Girl Kitchen is bringing back the traditions of food preservation and PICKLING! 

They buy food from local farmers that they may not be able to sell at market because it's just too ripe to make it in wholesale shipping to markets far away, or it's too wierdly shaped, or just because they're the best cucumbers for pickling! 

I'm so lucky to see these guys at farmers markets all over the Bay Area. Look for your local picklers at your farmers market. And if you want to get inspired check out the Happy Girl Kitchen story you can even buy some for your Christmas presents. So. Good. 

The making of the gifts...

I hope to make use of my plant collecting for my Holiday crafting this year. Step one: photos...

Foliage...

...is cool. December is all about planting here in the fog belt. A trip to Building Resources and Flora Grubb has a little green going on in our urban jungle. Next stop--taking over the backyard for some serious veggie growing!!




PS tons of new trees on Irving between 6th and 7th! Go FUF!

Eating Less Meat Hits the Global Climate Conversation

Meat production on a corporate scale, is a huge emitter of greenhouse gases (not to mention a huge drain on our water supply here in CA). 

A lot of vegetarians and environmentalists alike have been talking about this on the fringes.  It's finally hit the discussion boards at global climate change talks. Check out this NYT article here. 

"Producing a pound of beef creates 11 times as much greenhouse gas emission as a pound of chicken and 100 times more than a pound of carrot."

Could I be 100% Organic?

A Doctor who ate nothing but organic food for three years reports he feels more energetic and gets sick less often on his all organic diet. A good read here.