Ditch the Plastic: DIY Knitted Shopping Bag

“Hey, check where’d you get that great shopping bag? Oh, it’s so cute. Can I touch it?” Did you ever carry a little puppy around? If so, strangers clamor for a touch and to oogle the precious pup. If you needed any more incentives for ditching the plastic bag, this DIY knitted bag will elicit the puppy effect at the grocery store, farmers market and food coop. Creator of the Monteagle Bag, Kay Gardiner from Mason-Dixon Knitting says, “One ‘eco’ thing about the Monteagle Bag is that it can be made in almost any linen or cotton yarn (including the cheap-but-tough dishcloth cotton brands), and it looks great made of several leftover colors. So it’s a way of using yarn that would otherwise be wasted or (shriek!) thrown into the landfill." CLICK HERE FOR MORE

3 Things I Want to Say About The Clinton Wedding

While I was on vacation, Chelsea Clinton got married in my hometown. I watched from afar and observed my beautiful village getting swept up in the media frenzy. My generally calm, cool and collected friends were awash with celeb-fever. Maybe I would have been too if I wasn’t so removed (thankfully) from all the action.

Here are 3 things I want to say about the wedding:

1. They got married in a remarkable estate that I have had the privilege to visit. I was invited for a meeting at Astor Courts this past spring and took these photos. I was awestruck by its majestic beauty. Many homes along the Hudson River are steeped in rich history and well preserved. Most have been updated in period styles laden with heavy decorative detailing. The current owner has taken the genteel roots of this home and paid homage to both its architecture and spectacular surroundings. Without being bland or overly muted, the space is saturated in neutrals. There is a dynamic juxtaposition of contrasting textures, fabrics, and shapes that is anything but stagnant. It’s a perfect backdrop for a wedding.

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This New York Timesarticle describes how the estate, designed by architect Stanford White, was brought back to life.

2. For whatever reason (and there is much speculation about Chelsea’s gluten-free, meet-free diet), the menu was vegan and the wedding claimed to be green. Wedding menus can run the gamut from roast beef to raw, but a vegan menu encompasses a lifestyle choice that obviously works for Chelsea and her new husband. Some may have found it limiting, but the couple's decision was respected. You've gotta love that.

3. I wish them all the best, and thank them for choosing my little town on the Hudson while I am far, far away from the hoopla (and paparazzi), enjoying the gifts of my own family, the sun and the sea.

Say “I Do” Sustainably: A-Z Eco-Wedding Guide

My nephew just got married (shown here with his beautiful bride and sisters). My sister-in-law called when he got engaged and in a mother of the groom frenzy, viagra buy asked me to send her everything I knew about creating a more sustainable wedding. Green weddings are not the norm, price and the statistics show that our planet pays a mighty price for wedding extravagance: “There are 2.5 million weddings a year in the United States, with an average of more than 150 guests each.  When you add up all of the stuff that goes into weddings - single-use bleached white dresses, chemically-treated imported flowers, toxic makeup and skin care products, mined gem-based jewelry, individual packets of rice...CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Honor System Farms: Feast or Famine

Every Sunday before we head out to stock up for the week at our local farmer’s market, cialis we stop at the farm at the end of our road. The farmer sells eggs, viagra 60mg vegetables, and assorted odds and ends. We bring back our empty egg crates and place them in the community basket. We take what we need and write down what groceries we took (so the farmer can keep track of what she needs to restock). The allotted few dollars is deposited in the cash can. If we happen to come at the end of the day, the cash can is brimming with bills. Visitors can clearly figure out the etiquette of the honor system.

The honor system is a philosophically driven way to sell goods that relies solely on the integrity of others. Farm stands use the honor system to keep costs down. Most would agree that honor system driven farms also provide a warm and welcoming feeling to its customers. Generally, if you treat someone with respect and trust, they will return the favor by being honest. Right?

In Vermont’s Addison County the farmers respond enthusiastically to the honor system, “Customers like that they can pull in, grab what they need, and go. When they come home at the end of the day in the summer, they’ll often find most of the vegetables gone and their till full, so they rush out to pick another round of fresh vegetables for the evening crowd.”

When I Googled “honor system farms,” there were many stories recounted like the one above, but there were a few sad stories that headlined like this: “Honor System Thefts Close Such and Such Farm.” One farmer in New Hampshire ran into this trouble. Retired from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, farmer Charlie Ireland planted six acres of vegetables and had been growing corn, tomatoes, beans and “you name it” behind his home and selling it from a stand out in front of his home for four years. But, he had to close his farm stand last summer because of theft. “Anywhere from 50 to a hundred bucks a day — all summer,” Ireland said was stolen from his farm stand, where passersby slipped cash into a box in exchange for his bumper crop.

Is the honor system alive and well in your neck of the woods? Does it work, or is it an easy target for thieves?

Read the original Care2 post with comments here.