Conservation 101: the Compete to Conserve Blog

photo credit: Glenn Loos-Austin

This November, as families across the U.S. prepare for the button-popping holiday known as Thanksgiving, a growing number will give thanks for belonging to a CSA. CSAs, short for community supported agriculture, allow consumers to purchase fresh, in-season produce directly from a farm.

This subscription-based arrangement cuts out the middlemen (distributors and grocery stores) and provides a dependable income for the farmers. In return, consumers receive weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly boxes of fruits and vegetables, usually organic and at a better price than what one would pay for comparable produce at the market.

Thankful for a Variety

Growers can also offer a diverse selection of produce, because subscriptions give them a guaranteed market. While a typical grocery store may offer organic apples and tomatoes, a CSA box could also contain difficult-to-find foods such as organic daikon, tomatillos, and chili peppers.

Thankful for the People Who Grow Our Food

CSA members say they also enjoy developing a personal relationship with the people who grow the food they eat. Most CSAs distribute newsletters or have blog detailing their plantings, harvests, and other interesting news on the farm.

Thankful All Year Long

Some CSAs run spring through fall, offering a bounty of seasonal produce. In California, most of the CSAs operate year-round, though members should prepare to get lots of kale and dark greens through the cooler winter months. Thanksgiving can be a real treat because of the amazing sweet potatoes, butternut and acorn squashes, and colorful potato varietals.

In my experience as a member of the Eatwell Farms CSA, summer was my favorite season because of the berry fruits and unusual variety watermelons. In the winter, I have to confess, many of my dark greens went toward making vegetable stock. Still, I appreciated the variety of local, seasonal vegetables it provided the family. Without it, I may have been tempted to buy more than one box of blueberries imported from Argentina in February.

More resources:

Search for a CSA near you:
http://www.localharvest.org/

Eatwell Farm blog:
http://www.eatwellfarm.typepad.com/

Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association:
http://www.biodynamics.com/csa.html

photo credit: patti haskins

Not all turkeys are created equally. And with Thanksgiving just around the corner, more and more retailers are answering the call for alternative holiday bird options. While Butterballs are the standard fare (not to mention perfectly delicious), an increasing number of turkey aficionados are favoring ancestors of the broad-breasted Tom.

Heritage Breeds, like Standard Bronzes, Narragansetts, and Bourbon Reds, are quietly gaining respect and market placement due to their exceptional flavor and biological diversity. According to the Heritage Turkey Foundation, “They are traditional ‘standard’ breeds of turkeys which have not been ‘industrialized’ for efficient factory production at the expense of flavor and the well-being of the turkeys.”

As industrialization took over the turkey industry, these heritage breeds became all but extinct. Meanwhile, the mass production of Broad-breasted whites developed a quick-to-fatten breed that cannot mate on its own, has difficulty walking, and must be slaughtered before it grows too big to carry its own weight.

The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and Slow Food have been working together to increase awareness and availability of the traditional heritage varieties. As a result, numerous retailers are offering heritage breeds for this holiday season. Since some require “pre-ordering,” you may want to hop on this option sooner rather than later. Or you could be sizing up the Butterball section in the coming weeks.

As one of the few All-American, nationally celebrated holidays, why not take the route of celebrating like our own ancestors—alongside a harvest of organic fall veggies, of course? To find a retailer that sells heritage breed turkeys near you, check out: http://heritageturkeyfoundation.org/

photo credit: Davichi

It’s not your imagination. You are getting less for your money. A new Consumer Reports reader survey found that a growing number of products are being downsized by manufacturers to cut costs (theirs not yours), while package sizes are remaining the same, and, in some cases, are growing.

Companies say customers prefer downsized products to price hikes. And Consumer Reports’ own survey suggests consumers are split, with half saying they prefer paying more to getting less. One thing is certain: more packaging means more waste–not just in terms of trash, but also greater quantities of raw materials, fuel, and energy consumed while producing and shipping larger containers.

Unfortunately, this common industry practice is more than just deceitful. It makes it even harder for the average consumer to follow the first and most important of the three conservation Rs: “reduce.”

A sampling of recently shrunk packages: Hershey’s special dark chocolate bar, Hellman’s mayonnaise, Iam’s cat food, Kellogg’s Froot Loops cereal, and Dial bar soap.

Read the full story at: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/food/news/2008/10/the-lowdown-on-downsized-products/overview/downsizing-ov.htm

photo credit: thadman

With the “slide” toward the holidays starting pretty much after Halloween, and with the economy as it is, many people are already budgeting or even shopping for the upcoming season. Now, perhaps more than ever, people are looking for gifts worth giving, especially for those “hard to buy for” people.

Add to the lack of ideas the fact that—for many of us—our parents, grandparents, or in-laws have expressed they no longer want “gifts.” They are busy clearing out and downsizing—sometimes even delivering boxes of stuff long since left behind, under the auspices of not being sure if we still want them.

For Christmas a couple of years ago, the in-laws drew the biggest blank for me. I was working steadily down the “list” of family and friends, jotting down gift ideas, and found myself skipping them on each pass. In trying to figure out what to give someone who didn’t want anything, I came across Heifer International. (Care of a flyer that somehow ended up in my mailbox—a rare case of welcomed direct mail.)

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photo credit: d70focus

Growing up literally half-a-mile from Salem, MA, I had mixed feelings regarding witches and witchcraft. On one hand, I had recurring nightmares of coming home from school and finding the Wicked Witch of the West at my house. (I could sometimes tell she was there because her car was parked out front—don’t ask.) On the other, I could barely contain my excitement when Laurie Cabot, the Official Witch of Salem, visited our elementary school. (It was pretty cool.) 

As a pre-teen I frequently saw Cabot walking toward her shop in Salem or around the Commons. And in high school, I was intrigued by, and notably accepting of, a classmate’s announcement that she planned to join Cabot’s circle.

With this “doctor’s kid” kind of knowledge into one branch of the ancient pagan religions, I should mention how misrepresented they are as a group, particularly in popular media. And yet, I must also confess that movies like The Craft and Practical Magic are hopeless guilty pleasures.

While we continue to be fascinated with them, pagans are trying to reclaim their holidays and traditions, as they live pretty ordinary lives. And this month we can celebrate with them.

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photo credit: Matt Callow

As pumpkin patches across the country hitch up their hayrides and welcome the harvest with visitors, eco-friendly sites are posting hints and tips to remind readers to choose and use their gourds wisely.

This isn’t going to be much different. In fact, in my search to find options of what you can do with pumpkins—aside from showing off your creative carving prowess—I found that many regions of the US and UK are promoting composting. Pumpkins in a landfill can produce weeds and, believe it or not, sprouts. Only to be covered with someone’s torn up sofa or old alarm clock.

Whether you put the post-holiday pumpkin into a curbside compost bin or into your home kit version, the gourd holds valuable nutrients that can make good fertilizer. In fact, one site even recommended that you just plant the jack-o-lantern shell into the garden, to decompose at will.

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photo credit: thebittenword.com

This week’s round-up focuses on the edible side of an eco-conscious lifestyle.  Chew on this:

1. Planet Green shared some inventive ways to reuse stale bread.
2. The Daily Green advised on foods that pregnant women should eat organic.
3. Eat. Drink. Better. gave tips on growing food anywhere with an organic grow box. 
4. Groovy Green taught us how to tap maple trees for syrup.
5. And last, my favorite of the week - Green Daily uncovered a weird scoop about a Swiss restaurant serving breast milk! 

photo credit: sutefani in orlando

My three-year-old is in the peak of her “Why?” phase. So when she asks why we have to turn off the water after washing our hands or brushing our teeth, I tell her that we don’t waste water. That, of course, prompts another “Why?” which gives me the chance to explain the interconnectedness of our consumption, the environment, and our own personal budget. (The answer, in case you were wondering, is because wasting isn’t good for the planet and because Mom can’t afford it.)

The same line of reasoning goes for food. That’s why I’m a major proponent of making a monthly menu and a grocery shopping list that I veer from only for fun treats that we consume right away. Since I began the menu/list plan, food rarely spoils in our home. I estimate I save about $25 a week (that’s $1,300 a year)–more if you consider what I’d spend eating out if I hadn’t bought wisely.

In an excellent article posted September 9, 2008, MainStreet.com takes this line of thinking one step further. Wasting food wastes more than food and money. It also wastes water:

“In the U.S., we throw away 30% of our food every year, according to the [Stockholm International Water Institute]. That wastes enough water to meet the needs of every household in North America for a year. It also wastes more than $48 billion a year, the report found.”

For the full MainStreet.com article and more money-saving tips, go here:
http://mainstreet.com/article/lifestyle/food-drink/save-money-food-help-save-world

photo credit: subewl

School is in session, and our family has gone from packing beach bags to packing lunches. Because one of my Compete to Conserve goals is to be more mindful of packaging waste, this seasonal switch has me obsessing over how much waste is created from just one child’s lunch. Add two adults, because we often pack our work lunches, and then multiply it by all the other packed lunches in the country and you’ve got a huge hunk of junk!

So how can you reduce packaging waste without driving yourself crazy? I don’t have an easy answer for that one. Convenience is what drives people to flock to disposable juice boxes and prepacked lunchables, not a villainous desire to destroy the planet. And many is the time that I long for their grab-and-go ease. That said, with a little planning and practice, packing a waste-free, or less wasteful, lunch can get easier.

Here are 5 things I do to make packing a waste-free lunch easier:

1. Make a monthly menu (1/2 hour at the onset saves me lots of time later).
2. Place plastic baggies and wrap in a hard to reach place to avoid temptation.
3. Assemble of stable of reusable, but replaceable (even the most mindful kids and adults occasionally lose things), containers, utensils, and cloth napkins (old washcloths or cut-up tees will do, too).
4. Pack fruit that doesn’t require packaging, such as apples, bananas, and oranges.
5. Go Ford-assembly-line style: Pack the same lunch for everyone in the family.

It’s definitely tempting to think that my kid’s lunch doesn’t make a difference, but then I remember that the New York State Department of Conservation says one child bringing a disposable lunch creates 67 pounds of trash a year.

If you are interested in packing waste-free lunches for your family, here are some more helpful resources:

San Mateo County’s Tips for a Waste Free Lunch at Home and at School
http://www.recycleworks.org/schools/lunch.html

“Back to School Lunch with Less Waste,” on Cheap Like Me
http://cheaplikeme.wordpress.com/2008/08/21/back-to-school-lunch-with-less-waste/

“Green Savings Tips for School Lunch,” on OrganicMania
http://organicmania.com/2008/04/02/green-savings-tip-for-school-lunch/

For those of you who read Green Cinematic Happenings Coming Your Way, posted on August 23rd, I have updates for you:

The title for FIELDS OF FUEL has been changed to FUEL.  The film will be released in Los Angeles on October 12th so look out for it!

Also, as a part of Slow Food Nation ‘08, Participant Media unveiled clips from the upcoming FOOD, Inc. To learn more, check out this report from The Daily Table.