Natural and Sustainable

The best way to change for a greener lifestyle is to eat more fruits and vegetables and it’s a healthy way for the body, as well. The Environmental Working Group estimates that you can significantly reduce your family’s exposure to pesticides, chemicals and other harmful toxins by as much as 90 percent by going organic. There is a category known as “the dirty dozen” that every family should eat organic anyway. Pesticides are used in great amount on these 12 fruits and vegetables and it’s a great practice to get into by taking a list of these foods when you grocery shop.

The Dirty Dozen:
• Apples
• Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Cherries
• Imported Grapes
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• Pears
• Potatoes
• Raspberries
• Spinach
• Strawberries

Try this recipe to help get more veggies in you and your family’s diet.
Veggie Quesadillas
Serves: 4

1/2 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup cooked corn
1 cup refried beans
4 taco-size whole wheat tortillas
1 cup grated Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup steamed vegetables such as spinach, squash, zucchini, etc.
Salt and pepper to taste

Steam the bell pepper with 1/4 cup water in a large saucepan with a lid for 2 minutes. Add the corn and other vegetables, and refried beans, cooking on low until heated.

Arrange the filling on 2 tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Cover with remaining tortillas.

Arrange quesadillas on a nonstick baking sheet and bake at 400°F or until tortillas are golden, about 12 to 15 minutes.

To find out other ways to eat more “green” visit Earthly Eating here at 451 Press.

Also check out Local Harvest to find the “greenest” farms around in your own area.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Save water in more ways than one.
1. Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth to save 50 gallons a week per person.
2. Keep a water pitcher in the refrigerator instead of letting the faucet run.
3. Cut your showers to about five minutes or even less.

For a holiday brunch that helps nourish the planet, add these items to your grocery list:

• Wild American Shirmp: About 90% of shrimp sold in the U.S. is imported from countries with lax-or even no-existent-environemntal regulations for wild fisheries and farms. For more sustainable shrimp, choose one of the wild-caught American brands.

• Cage-Free Eggs: Look for local eggs labeled, “cage-free”, which certifies that they are not sourced from hens confined in battery cages-possibly “the most abused animals in all agribusiness”.

• Local Artisanal Cheese: Handcrafted from the purest and finest of ingredients, artisanal cheese let you support small-scale farms in the most indulgent manner. Find local cheesemakers at Local Harvest.

• Fair Trade Cocoa: Buying fair trade cocoa ensures that the farmers receive a fair price for their harvest, a crucial step toward ending poverty in developing mations. For a listing of stores and companies that offer fair trade cocoa visit Trans Fair USA.

• CSA-Sourced Produce: By subscribing to a CSA (which stands for “cummunity Supported Agriculture”), you will receive a weekly or montly basket of fruit and veggies straight from a local farm. Go to Local Harvest or Green People to find a CSA near you.

**Looking for gifts for the electronic-minded individual? Then over at Web Dev Notes, Deceth, has some great ideas for you. One suggestion is the 2MB memory card, by Kingston Technologies. Read more about the gifts by clicking here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Eat only sustainably harvested fish to help protect the health of the oven. Go to Oceans Alive to learn more.

This past summer I checked out Ridgeway Farms up in Turner, Oregon on their Visitors Day, September 8th. This farm had just begun and offered the best apples that I have ever tasted. The farm is owned by Terri Barczak or Toni Rogers and everything grown on this land at the farm is natural and all-organic. I found out about Ridgeway Farms through Local Harvest. And even though I live in quite a small town, where the isn’t much going on as far as events and businesses listing under Local Harvest, I was grateful to receive an email on a company that is now in my area caring about the environment as much as I do. Ridgeway Farms is located on the Turner exit off I5 north. They were tucked back from the road and it did take us a few moments to realize where they were located. My first impression was “this is quite a small farm, and sort of difficult to find.” But, once inside the gate, I realized Ridgeway Farms was much more than just a small farm.

They offer fruits in the variety of: McIntosh apples, Fuji apples, Yellow Delicious apples, and green apples, Sekel and Comice pears, Misty, Blue Crop, Duke, Patriot, Bridgett blueberries, Caroline raspberries and vine ripened kiwi.

They offer vegetables in the variety of: Yellow crookneck, papaya and delicata squash, jack-o-lantern pumpkins, Russet, yellow Finn, red and purple potatoes, Peacevine, Brandywine, Stupice, Legend, Willamette, Current, Oregon Spring Bush tomatoes, Tuscan, Wild Red, Wild Garden kale, amaranth, Bibb, Red Sails, and Black Seeded lettuce, Avon, Melody, Mountain, Bloomsdale spinach, Purple Top turnips, Walla Walla, Spanish and Evergreen Bunching onions, Sunder and Danver carrots, Sumter and Straight Eight cucumber, shallots, California Wonder sweet peppers and Ring-o-Fire cayenne, jalapeno, New Mexico Joe E. Parker and Aci Sivri hot peppers.

They grow herbs in the variety of: Cilantro, basil, tarragon, mint, chives and parsley.

With knowing that Ridgeway Farms offers organic growing practices, it is one reason I am so happy to have visited their farm and partake in the benefits of a natural grower that shares passionate thoughts about the environment, as myself. While I was there learning about their growing practices I was also told that the demand is greater than their product. They are growing organic apples during the summer months and they never meet their own orders completely before the colder weather hits. If you are interested in trying some Ridgeway Farm apples or other organic produce, be sure and call now and place your order before the demand. For wholesale orders contact Ridgeway Farms at: 503-881-9346 or email at: ridgeway_farms@hotmail.com .

If you would like to see what farms, nurseries, markets, and growers are in your own area that offer organic, natural growing practices then log onto Local Harvest. You can even sign up for their email service that will contact you anytime a farm, grower, market, etc. is doing any type of public offering. This is how I became aware of Ridgeway Farms and if I hadn’t logged onto Local Harvest I would never have known that there was a great little farm that grows organic produce just outside my own town.

**Cruise over to YouTube Digger here at 451 Press and bid farewell to JM. She can still be found on other blogs on this site, but jump over there and leave her a parting comment. Read her farewell note here.(JM-You were a great writer for YouTube Digger and I am sad to see you leave that blog.)**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Seal up your house this winter to prevent heat loss. It’s always a great idea to seal up your home, shop, garage or even your attic to prevent this energy loss in the winter months, but it also helps out with less energy waste in the summer when you run you airconditioner as well.