tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32770085710955238152024-03-13T09:15:43.768-04:00GreenDivasGreen Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-13784167693478467412009-02-04T13:41:00.002-05:002009-02-04T13:46:15.799-05:00Green Divas Blog is Moving . . .Hi Green Diva Bloggers!<br /><br />We are slooooooowly migrating our content to our new URL - <a href="http://www.thegreendivas.com/">TheGreenDivas.com</a>. That site is also set up as a blog, but there are a couple of odd quirks we are working out. I've posted a few new posts there, but we aren't quite ready for full-scale launch.<br /><br />Please visit it, bookmark it and we hope to add all kinds of groovy features, including podcasts of our <a href="http://thegreendivas.com/?page_id=11">Green Diva Radio Shows</a>.<br /><br />Please check in here for updates and of course, until then . . .<br /><br /><strong><em><span style="color:#663366;">eat. blog. be merry!</span></em></strong><br />GD MegGreen Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-15426531918141358652009-01-22T13:34:00.002-05:002009-01-22T13:41:57.465-05:00Recipe - Salmon Marbella<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SXi8kduU6zI/AAAAAAAAAZc/r5cPQqxK3Us/s1600-h/chef+1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294188696614267698" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 194px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SXi8kduU6zI/AAAAAAAAAZc/r5cPQqxK3Us/s320/chef+1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Co-host of <a title="Green Divas Radio Show" href="http://www.homegrownradionj.com/DJs/shows/Green%20Divas.htm" target="_blank" jquery1232649188447="4">Green Divas Radio Show</a> and foodie mentor, Green Diva Jen turned me on to the <a title="silver palette cookbook" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0761145982/interactiveda921-20" target="_blank" jquery1232649188447="5">Silver Palate</a> recipe for Chicken Marbella last year. I’ve had this <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2009/01/19/green-divas-guide-to-delicious-living-salmon-marbella-recipe/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7749863">cookbook</a> forever, but I am not a huge fan of chicken, so I never tried this one.<br /><br />Okay, every recipe as a story, right? I have to give a hearty blog shout-out to Jenifer’s Aunt Elaine, who introduced this staple into their <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2009/01/19/green-divas-guide-to-delicious-living-salmon-marbella-recipe/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7743590">family’s</a> regular feast rotation years ago. I love Aunt Elaine for many reasons, but for introducing this recipe to Jen, I’m very grateful. Thanks Aunt Elaine.<br /><br />After customizing the recipe (more garlic - of course - less wine, added dried cherries and sundried tomatoes), I made it with the chicken last year and my family loved it. This recipe has a full and robust blend of flavors from a mess of garlic and oregano to the capers, prunes, wine and vinegar. I LOVE the sauce. I just wasn’t in love with the chicken.<br /><br />I started fantasizing about converting this for some type of fish. Here’s what I came up with . . . so far . . .<br /><br /><strong>GD Meg’s Salmon Marbella Recipe<br /></strong></div><div><em><strong>Ingredients<br /></strong>1 - 2 pounds salmon fillet (w/ skin on)<br />5 or 6 cloves garlic crushed<br />1/4 c. dried oregano<br />3/4 c. red wine vinegar<br />1/2 c. olive oil<br />1/2 - 1 c. pitted prunes<br />1/4 c. dried cherries<br />1/4 c. sundried tomatoes (un marinated)<br />1/2 c. pitted Spanish green olives<br />1/2 c. capers (with some of the juice)<br />4 - 5 bay leavessalt & pepper to taste<br />1 c. brown sugar<br />1/2 c. white wine<br />1/4 c. chopped cilantro<br /><br /></em><em><strong>Instructions<br /></strong>Mix together first 11 ingredients (everything but brown sugar, wine and cilantro) and get salmon marinating in the mix (we marinated for about an hour and it seemed to work).<br /><br />Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put salmon and marinate in large glass baking dish, then sprinkle the brown sugar on top of salmon and pour white wine around it.<br /><br />Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until the fattest part of the salmon is done in the middle.<br />Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with rice pilaf and maybe something green.<br /><br /></em><strong><span style="color:#663366;"><em>Eat. Blog. Be Merry!<br /><br /></em></span><span style="color:#000000;">GD Meg</span></strong></div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-54631656692927886802009-01-15T22:46:00.003-05:002009-01-15T22:52:15.935-05:00Tea Time with Terra Keramik<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SXAECKiEH_I/AAAAAAAAAZU/VSsS3_q-a38/s1600-h/cupakitty.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291733997393813490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 350px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 353px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SXAECKiEH_I/AAAAAAAAAZU/VSsS3_q-a38/s400/cupakitty.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Anyone who spends any time with me knows I don’t go for more than an hour during daylight hours without a cup of tea. So, any opportunity to test new tea-related products is very welcome.<br /><br />I received this beautiful blue mug from <a title="terra keramik" href="http://www.terrakeramik.com/" target="_blank" jquery1232077573218="4">Terra Keramik</a>, a socially and environmentally responsible ceramics manufacturer that uses renewable energy and energy efficient clays. Everything is designed and produced by Felix Volger, founder and creative director, who personally signs every piece in platinum. Apparently, the production of tableware can be seriously detrimental to the environment. Terra Keramik has gone to great lengths to minimize their impact on the environment. <a title="terra kermik sustainable manufacturing" href="http://www.terrakeramik.com/environment.php" target="_blank" jquery1232077573218="5">Read more about Terra Keramik’s sustainable manufacturing practices</a>.</div><br /><div><a href="http://www.terrakeramik.com/tea.php">The tea/coffee mug</a> in the picture above is indeed my very own, containing one of my very favorite green darjeeling teas from the <a title="the boston tea campaign" href="http://www.bostonteacampaign.com/" target="_blank" jquery1232077573218="6">Boston Tea Campaign</a>. I love their loose teas, but I couldn’t enjoy it without my biodegradable <a title="t-sac " href="http://www.englishteastore.com/tsac.html?gclid=CJb0wcv-i5gCFQw9GgodzR0iDA" target="_blank" jquery1232077573218="7">t-sacs</a>, which are essential to my loose tea ritual.<br />And yes, that is my cozy cat spooky snuggled on the pillow!<br /><br /><strong><em><span style="color:#663366;">eat. blog. be merry!</span></em></strong></div><div> </div><div>GD Meg</div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-33591391626074240552009-01-06T13:23:00.003-05:002009-01-06T13:39:37.517-05:00Green Divas Back on the Internet Airwaves<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SWOjIxl3CqI/AAAAAAAAAZM/bR-YqDBuZwk/s1600-h/RadioDivas1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288249758609509026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 295px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SWOjIxl3CqI/AAAAAAAAAZM/bR-YqDBuZwk/s400/RadioDivas1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Green Divas Meg & Jen are thrilled to announce their return to their Internet Radio home-away-from-home, <a href="http://www.homegrownradionj.com/">HomeGrownRadioNJ.com</a>. We'll be doing a weekly, one-hour show every Thursday evening from 7 - 8pm EST.<br /><br /><strong>Starting this Thursday, January 8!<br /></strong><br />Join us and hear some interesting bits, some musical bits, some funny bits and hopefully some informative bits about low-stress sustainable living. We are already lining up some awesome interviews from our local green heroes, to some very inspiring celebrity folks.<br /><br />Click in, log on, listen up!<br /><br /><div align="center"><strong><em><span style="color:#663366;">Happy HomeGrown Homecoming for the Green Divas!</span></em></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><em></em></strong> </div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-65676544967221621212009-01-05T12:56:00.002-05:002009-01-05T13:00:49.906-05:005 Reasons to go Nuts (or eat them anyway)<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SWJKrSqY4qI/AAAAAAAAAZE/wXvJlssfU7Q/s1600-h/nuts1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287871020090843810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 383px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 313px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SWJKrSqY4qI/AAAAAAAAAZE/wXvJlssfU7Q/s400/nuts1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>In addition to being a nut job, I am a nut lover. I really haven’t tasted a nut I didn’t like - even the peanut, which is technically a legume. I feel dreadfully sorry for those who have the dangerous nut allergy. My fiance has an allergy to chocolate, which I’m actually jealous of, but that’s for another post . . .<br /><br /><strong>Some history about our hard-shelled friends<br /></strong>There is evidence that nuts have been around feeding us and our ancient ancestors since prehistoric times. The oldest evidence are some walnut remains which were found in Iraq and are thought to be over 50,000 years old!<br /><br />The almond dates back to 3100-1100BC in the region around Turkey, Cyprus and Greece. By the way, did you know that almonds are related to peaches?<br /><br />Pine nuts have been providing powerful <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/12/11/green-divas-guide-to-delicious-living-5-good-reasons-to-go-nuts-or-eat-them-anyway/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7288752">nutrition</a> to those living in the ‘Great Basin’ region of the US for many thousands of years. According to <a title="pinenut.com history of the pine nut" href="http://www.pinenut.com/history.htm" target="_blank" jquery1231178097797="3">PineNut.com</a>, “Understand that the pine nut was to the people of the Great Basin what the buffalo was to the plains people.”<br /><br />Another popular nut (other than me with some of my friends) is the pistachio. These also have been getting cracked open and savored for thousands of years, dating back 7000 years or so to the Middle East. Long used along with almonds by travelers because of the compact, but potent nutritional value, this nut inspired some interesting legends, including one that says the Queen of Sheba declared it an exclusively ‘royal’ food, forbidding commoners to grow and <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/12/11/green-divas-guide-to-delicious-living-5-good-reasons-to-go-nuts-or-eat-them-anyway/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7735097">eat</a> it.<br /><br /><strong>5 Reasons to Love Nuts<br /></strong><br />1. Nutritional Power Food- <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/12/11/green-divas-guide-to-delicious-living-5-good-reasons-to-go-nuts-or-eat-them-anyway/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7735547">High in protein</a>, fiber, antioxidants and monosaturated fat (good fat) - good for the heart, lowering blood pressure AND reducing risk for type 2 diabetes.<br /><br />2. Weight Control - According to an article found in <a title="johns hopkins health alert - nuts" href="http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/alerts/nutrition_weight_control/JohnsHopkinsNutritionandWeightControlHealthAlert_1147-1.html" target="_blank" jquery1231178097797="4">Johns Hopkins Health Alert</a>, people who eat nuts are more likely to weigh less than those that don’t. (just remember moderation is key here)<br /><br />3. Easy, Awesome Snack Food - I like to roast my own favorites and mix them up with dried fruits to make a custom trail mix.<br /><br />4. Vegan and Raw Foodie Approved - If you are eating vegan or raw for reasons of <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/12/11/green-divas-guide-to-delicious-living-5-good-reasons-to-go-nuts-or-eat-them-anyway/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7735101">health</a>, ethics or to reduce your carbon stamp on the earth, nuts are essential. (but, I really don’t know about ‘locally’ grown in some regions - I think those of us in the north east would suffer a bit on this one) See my <a title="cashew yogurt recipe" href="http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/08/06/green-divas-guide-to-delicious-living-hearty-summer-salad-meals/" target="_blank" jquery1231178097797="5">cashew yogurt recipe</a>.<br /><br />5. Excellent Party Food- Tis the season, so get creative or keep it simple! (Just make sure to let your guests know in case someone has an allergy)<br /><br /><strong>Some nutty links:<br /></strong><a title="nutritional chart for nuts" href="http://www.nuthealth.org/nutrition/1oz.htm" target="_blank" jquery1231178097797="6">Detailed Nutritional Chart for Various Nuts</a><br /><a title="various nut recipes and nutritional details" href="http://www.eatingwell.com/eat_drink/fresh_inseason/go_nuts.html" target="_blank" jquery1231178097797="7">More Details on Various Nuts + Recipes</a><br /><a title="cranks nut roast" href="http://www.herballegacy.com/Nut_Roast.html" target="_blank" jquery1231178097797="8">My Favorite Nut Loaf Recipe (based on Crank’s cookbook)</a></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><strong><em><span style="color:#6600cc;">eat. blog. be merry!</span></em></strong></div><br /><div>GD Meg </div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-46206169724178759062008-12-29T14:37:00.003-05:002008-12-29T14:43:30.791-05:00Best Earth-Friendly Bags of 2008<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SVknWRIMgxI/AAAAAAAAAY8/4e8nNAtuLbc/s1600-h/ecobaglady.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285298901204370194" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SVknWRIMgxI/AAAAAAAAAY8/4e8nNAtuLbc/s400/ecobaglady.jpg" border="0" /></a>I’m proud to be evolving into quite the eco-bag lady! I have amassed an amazing collection of various earth-friendly bags - canvas, bioplastic and organic cotton totes for shopping; a wonderfully useful computer bag made of <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/12/19/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-eco-bag-ladys-best-of-08/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7527739">recycled</a> plastic bottles; and a couple of great purses that make a fashion statement while keeping all kinds of materials out of our landfills.<br /><br />There are so many reasons to NOT use plastic or even paper bags for shopping and to adopt a few reusable bags to handle most shopping needs. There are also great reasons to buy some of these great funky stylish accessory bags that are made from recycled materials - keeping more non-biodegradable materials out of landfills.<br /><br /><strong><em>The Eco-Bag Lady’s Picks for Best Eco-Bags of 2008<br /></em></strong><br />I have gotten so many bags as <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/12/19/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-eco-bag-ladys-best-of-08/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7630418">gifts</a>, for review and I have even purchased a couple! It is hard to pick only a few, but these represent ones that I’ve not only tested and liked, but use frequently or regularly:<br /><br /><strong>Save the Plastic Bottles</strong> -<strong> Save the World:</strong> <strong>Laptop Bag<br /></strong>In addition to using primarily a stainless steel water bottle these days, I did my part this year, by using a <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/12/19/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-eco-bag-ladys-best-of-08/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7710765">laptop</a> bag that is made from 100% recycled plastic bottles! <a title="act2 green smart website" href="http://www.act2greensmart.com/" target="_blank" jquery1230579411991="3">Act2 GreenSmart</a> has a Bottles 2 Bags line that is awesome. <a title="green diva review of bottles 2 bags" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/08/13/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-bottles-2-bags/" target="_blank" jquery1230579411991="4">Read my full review to get more details</a>.<br /><br /><strong>Eco-Bags for Style</strong><br /><a title="gg2g billboard bags" href="http://www.gg2g.com/" target="_blank" jquery1230579411991="5">gg2g</a> has kept literally thousands of pounds of billboard materials out of our landfills, while creating a variety of chic bags. <a title="green diva's review of various eco bags" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/05/22/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-eco-bags-for-fun-style-and-lots-of-re-use/" target="_blank" jquery1230579411991="6">More on gg2g and other cool bags</a>.<br /><br />My very cool and frequently in use English Retreads purse is a social lubricant. It is as useful for carrying stuff as it is interesting to discuss. <a title="green diva review of english retread purse" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/12/01/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-vintage-vinyl-makes-awesome-bags/" target="_blank" jquery1230579411991="7">Read my full review of this great bag</a>.<br /><br /><strong>Shopping in Good Conscience<br /></strong>EcoBags has a series of great ‘totes’ for shopping and hauling stuff (<a title="green divas review of eco bags" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/11/06/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-becoming-an-eco-bag-lady/" target="_blank" jquery1230579411991="8">read the review and see the awful picture of me</a>), but they have partnered with <a title="do something website" href="http://www.dosomething.org/" target="_blank" jquery1230579411991="9">DoSomething.org</a>, an <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/12/19/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-eco-bag-ladys-best-of-08/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7630576">organization</a> dedicated to empowering young people to take action in their communities, to create a great new bag - <a title="new yes we can will bag" href="http://www.ecobags.com/Resources/DoSomething;jsessionid=0a010b441f43d512236c121340f983bd8d366c3e2a4b.e3iKaNePch4Re34Pa38Ta38NbN50" target="_blank" jquery1230579411991="10">Yes We Can! Will! </a>It is on sale for the holidays.<br /><br />Oooooh, the <a title="good green bags" href="http://goodygreenbag.com/" target="_blank" jquery1230579411991="11">Goody Green Bag</a> is so cute! I’ve got Dottie and I love it. They fold up nice, neat and compact.<br /><br />So many great bags . . . so little shopping to do!<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#6600cc;"><em>eat. blog. be merry!<br /></em></span><span style="color:#000000;">GD Meg<br /><br /></span></strong><div></div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-85145281192330583992008-12-20T20:09:00.004-05:002008-12-20T20:14:38.208-05:00Best Organic Skincare of 2008<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SU2XeJZyh5I/AAAAAAAAAY0/jb6QezEbFTk/s1600-h/handandlotion1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282044482151417746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 375px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 245px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SU2XeJZyh5I/AAAAAAAAAY0/jb6QezEbFTk/s400/handandlotion1.jpg" border="0" /></a>I have had the wonderful privilege to test many natural and organic skincare products over the last couple of years. If I had any illusions about how sensitive my <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/12/15/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-megs-picks-for-best-organic-skincare/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7544706">skin</a> really is, they are now shattered. I’ve had adverse reactions to some of the most ‘clean’ sounding products out there. So, as I’ve said before in previous posts on skincare reviews, I am like the canary in the coal mine - if there is anything even slightly off about a product, my skin will react - with blooming color usually!<br /><br />I still can’t keep all the ‘good for me’ from ‘you DON’T want this on your skin’ ingredients straight. I start breaking out in a rash trying to pronounce the name of some of these ingredients - both natural and synthetic. So, if you are wanting a breakdown of the ingredients and what to use and what not to use, please don’t expect that kind of detail here. I’ll give you a couple of good links at the end of the post for better resources.<br /><br />I do look for simple, organic ingredients that are put together with some consciousness, which perhaps is why I do well with stuff made from biodynamically grown herbs. It is easy for me - it is either clean or I break out, but I would encourage others who may have heartier skin to do additional <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/12/15/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-megs-picks-for-best-organic-skincare/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7630643">homework</a> on safe ingredients.<br /><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;">Meg’s Organic Skincare Favs for 2008<br /></span></em></strong><br /><strong>Facial Cleanser<br /></strong>Right now and for quite a while, my one and only is <a title="beyond organic skincare cleanser" href="http://www.beyondskincare.co.uk/Organic_and_Natural_Facial_Products/Organic_Natural_Detoxifying_Cleanser" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="3">Beyond Organic Skincare’s Natural Detoxifying Cleanser</a>. It is a new experience in face washing - smooth, gentle. I always want to sigh when I’m done. They are one of the biodynamic farmer-based companies I really love, based in England.<br /><br /><strong>Facial Hydration<br /></strong>Instead of using traditional ‘toner’ on my face, I’ve learned to use a gentle misting spray and so far, my very favorite are the <a title="healing hydration mists" href="http://www.restingintheriver.com/comersus/store/comersus_listCategoriesAndProducts.asp?idCategory=33" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="4">Healing Hydration Mists</a> from actress Marsha Mason’s biodynamic herb farm in New <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/12/15/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-megs-picks-for-best-organic-skincare/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7364867">Mexico</a>, <a title="resting in the river website" href="http://www.restingintheriver.com/home_noFlash.asp" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="5">Resting in the River</a>. I had the opportunity to speak with <a title="Green Diva interview with Marsha Mason" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/07/15/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-marsha-mason-actress-biodynamic-farmer-uses-spiritual-agriculture-to-make-organic-skincare-products/" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="6">Ms. Mason - read or watch the interview</a>!<br /><br /><strong>Facial Firming<br /></strong>I wouldn’t have necessarily tried this on my own, but the folks at <a title="mod skin labs website" href="http://www.modskinlabs.com/" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="7">Mod Skin Labs</a> sent it to me and I fell in love with it - <a title="mod skin - face sculpt serum" href="http://www.modskinlabs.com/serum.html" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="8">Face Sculpt Serum Excalibur DMAE & Blue Green Algea</a>. I guess I’m in denial that I may be at an age where stuff like this can be helpful! I know there are similar products out there, but I have avoided them, because there seems to be a lot of harsh synthetic materials in them. Mod Skin is very clean.<br /><br /><strong>Facial Moisturizing<br /></strong>For daily use, I’ve gotten very comfortable with <a title="beyond organics moisturizing day cream" href="http://www.beyondskincare.co.uk/Organic_and_Natural_Facial_Products/Organic_Day_Cream" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="9">Beyond Organic’s Organic Moisturizing Day Cream</a>. Leaves my face feeling like soft, silky velvet. This is one of those products that can destroy my face, but Beyond Organics is so clear, I’ll keep using this one as long as possible!<br /><br /><strong>Body Wash<br /></strong>Can’t say enough good things about <a title="shea terra organics black soap" href="http://www.sheaterraorganics.com/product/66.html" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="10">Shea Terra Organic’s African Lemongrass Indigenous Black Soap Elixir</a>. Well, it is a mouthful - who needs to say more? Honestly, it is a unique and divine experience. I don’t usually use body wash, other than my wonderful handmade soap from my local bee lady, but this soap made by the <a title="yoruba tribe " href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_people" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="11">Yoruba Tribe</a> of West Africa is exotic and amazing.<br /><br /><strong>Body Scrub<br /></strong>Still on the Shea Terra Organics binge, their <a title="mango shea butter dead sea salt scrub" href="http://www.sheaterraorganics.com/product/23.html" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="12">Miombo Mango Dead Sea Shea Butter Salt Scrub</a> is going to become a regular fixture in my shower/bath.<br /><br /><strong>Body Butter<br /></strong><a title="Marsha Mason" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsha_Mason" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="13">Marsha Mason</a> has created an amazing formula with her <a title="Marsha Masons Healing body butter" href="http://restingintheriver.com/comersus/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=3137" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="14">Healing Body butter</a> from <a title="resting in the river website" href="http://www.restingintheriver.com/home_noFlash.asp" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="15">Resting in the River</a>. Among the organic ingredients (including shea butter of course) is <a title="splianthes flower" href="http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/spilanthes.html" target="_blank" jquery1229821711937="16">spilanthes flower</a>, which has some amazing properties. Ms. Mason is among the few using it in her organic <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/12/15/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-megs-picks-for-best-organic-skincare/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7544690">skincare</a> lines.<br /><br /><strong><em><span style="color:#6600cc;">eat. blog. be merry!</span></em></strong>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-8858088206627801132008-12-15T11:58:00.004-05:002008-12-15T12:12:10.388-05:00Green Gorilla Inspires Kids to Go GreenThe groovy animated kids in this series are fun, musical and informative. With the help of their mysterious <a href="http://www.greengorilla.com/">Green Gorilla </a>friend, they fight global climate change one issue at a time. This particular episode blows the lid of the topic of so-called 'clean coal'.<br /><br />A great way to open up a dialog with kids about some of the complex issues they will inherit and be responsible for all too soon.<br /><br /><embed style="WIDTH: 417px; HEIGHT: 417px" src="http://blip.tv/play/xx3fk2QA" width="417" height="217" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed><br /><br />Share this fun message with kids of all ages!<br /><br /><strong><em><span style="color:#6600cc;">eat. blog. be merry! </span></em></strong><br /><p><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="color:#000000;">GD Meg</span></p></span><strong><br /></strong>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-33902678966573866022008-12-11T13:58:00.004-05:002008-12-11T14:05:17.518-05:00Taking Rubber Off the Road & Making it Fashionable!<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SUFkLfouFXI/AAAAAAAAAYs/BswreJJ3Mj0/s1600-h/L1000789.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278610386888562034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SUFkLfouFXI/AAAAAAAAAYs/BswreJJ3Mj0/s400/L1000789.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>Yes. That is an image of me . . .<br /><br /><div>I got this <a title="englishretreads.com" href="http://www.englishretreads.com/" target="_blank" jquery1229021773750="3">English Retreads</a> bag from one of my favorite green <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">cyber</span>-shopping spots, <a title="buygreen.com" href="http://www.buygreen.com/" target="_blank" jquery1229021773750="4"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">BuyGreen</span>.com</a>. I love <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">BuyGreen</span>.com because they do a fairly thorough evaluation of their products, reviewing and rating all aspects of a product’s <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/12/01/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-vintage-vinyl-makes-awesome-bags/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7366934">sustainability</a>. This bag got 49 on its sustainability score (<a title="english retreads rating on buygreen.com" href="http://www.buygreenstandards.com/detail/ENRT00001.pdf" target="_blank" jquery1229021773750="5">see the details of how this bag was rated</a>).<br /><br />This bag is very simple, compact and works for basics - small wallet, some makeup, keys and <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/12/01/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-vintage-vinyl-makes-awesome-bags/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7372968">cell phone</a>. While it <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">doesn</span>’t have all those organizational bells, whistles and zippers on the inside, it pays off in ‘feel good’ points.</div><div><br />Who would’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">ve</span> thought to make something so cool from stinky used tires?<br /></div><div>Heather English, founder of English Retreads, came up with the idea while floating in an inner tube down a river in Colorado (all great ideas come from pure, relaxing moments like Heather’s!). Heather was and presumably still is a devoted vegan and wanted to find a great purse that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">didn</span>’t involve leather. Taking the seemingly endless supply of tire inner tubes that plague our landfills and turning them into useful and stylish items is a brilliant stroke of <a class="iAs" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal! important; FONT-SIZE: 100%! important; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px! important; COLOR: darkgreen! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent! important; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/12/01/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-vintage-vinyl-makes-awesome-bags/#" target="_blank" itxtdid="7366999">recycling</a> creativity.<br /><br />In the 2 or 3 months I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">ve</span> been using this bag, I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">ve</span> had some pretty interesting conversations with strangers. WARNING: Don’t wear this bag if you don’t want to meet people! Actually, a few of my friends have already been inspired to <a title="purchase english retread bags at buygreen.com" href="http://www.buygreen.com/bagsandpurses.aspx" target="_blank" jquery1229021773750="6">purchase bags by English Retreads</a>!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.buygreen.com/bagsandpurses.aspx">This particular bag </a>- good for holiday gift perhaps?<br /><br />Look for my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">eco</span>-bag lady review of my favorite bags of 2008 coming later this month!</div><br /><div><strong><em><span style="color:#6600cc;">eat. blog. be merry!</span></em></strong></div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-40252239161829811492008-11-28T09:04:00.003-05:002008-11-28T09:16:42.422-05:00Eco-Fashion Standards - the Answer to Fast Fashion<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SS_87DWY8tI/AAAAAAAAAYk/p7ImMx-XWsQ/s1600-h/buygreenblouse.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273711780115837650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SS_87DWY8tI/AAAAAAAAAYk/p7ImMx-XWsQ/s400/buygreenblouse.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><p>You don’t have to be an eco-fashionista to see that there is a new sustainable sub-industry evolving in the fashion world and on Madison Avenue. There are shoes made from ex-Jeep bits, a wide variety of styles of clothes made from bamboo, organic cotton and now soy fibers.<br /><br />Historically, the clothing manufacturing industry has served as the poster child for bad ethical behavior and unsustainable business practices. From sweatshops and unfair trade to the questionable materials used and shipped thousands of miles before landing in Wal-Mart.<br /><br />Well, we are a demanding lot. ‘We’, the collective consumers in the US primarily, want lots of clothes, we only want them for maybe a year before tossing them, and we don’t want to pay much for them either. Over the past 10 years we have developed a hankering for fast fashion. Similar to fast food, fast fashion is quick, cheap and considered virtually disposable.<br />Some eye-popping facts about the garment industry:<br /><br />According to the USDA, cotton is responsible for 25% of all the pesticides used in the US.<br /><br />Due to the high demand and highly negative environmental impact of polyester and other synthetic textile production, the EPA under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act has classified textile manufacturing facilities as ‘hazardous waste generators’.<br /><br />According to the UN Commodity Trade Statistics database,<br /><br />Chinese manufactured clothing accounts for 30% of the global apparel exports. I don’t have the statistics on how much of that comes to the US, but I bet it is a large percentage of that 30% and folks, that is a long carbon footprint. Not to mention that China does not have the same standards for industrial pollution we do . . . or for fair working conditions . . .<br /><br />Pietra Rivoli, a professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, surmised in her book The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, that each year Americans buy 1 billion pieces of clothing made in China – that’s almost 4 items for each American!<br /><br />The US National Labor Committee reports that some Chinese garment workers earn 12 – 18 cents per hour and work in dangerous and unhealthy conditions.<br /><br />There is no way in a 500-word article to report all the various resources drained, toxins unleashed and how big and bad the giant carbon footprint of the industrial method to deliver fast fashion actually is. I’ll ask that you trust me on this or suggest doing further research on the topic. I’m more interested in talking about some of the innovators helping to make a dent of change in this industrial beast.<br /><br /><strong><em>There are solutions!</em></strong><br /><br /><strong>Recycle. Reuse!<br /></strong>First of all, not enough can be said for the benefit of discovering your local consignment shop. My daughters and I have always been shameless used clothing lovers. Two clever moms created a booming franchise business called <a href="http://www.milkmoneylove.com/" jquery1227881104031="3">Milk Money</a>, which offers used children’s clothing. It started as a way to create a solution for their own desire to share clothing with other mothers in their community and they ended up making a very chic environment within their stores that mothers and children enjoy lingering in.<br /><br /><strong>Buy Local<br /></strong>Most of our clothes do a lot of travelling, which is not so good for the global carbon footprint. Whenever possible, find locally/regionally manufactured clothing. This may take a little homework, but some Internet sleuthing coupled with visits to small clothing stores may yield some interesting finds.<br /><br /><strong>Know Where Your Garment Has Been<br /></strong>As I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, there is an increased demand for more sustainable clothing and there are thousands of innovators and entrepreneurs taking up the call to create eco-chic clothing that costs less in environmental and human terms. Maybe not so much less in terms of dollars, but as with any commodity, as the supply increases to meet the demand, the pricing will come down. Meanwhile, I’d rather have fewer garments that are thoughtfully made than a closet full of fast fashion.<br /><br />Two notable companies have created transparency in their manufacturing chains and offer consumers a way to track the origins of their garment and its trip to their closet or drawer. There are probably many following suit, but these are ones that I have direct experience with in terms of reviewing their product and tracing the trail of the clothes they sent me:<br /><br />· <a href="http://www.icebreaker.com/site/index.html" jquery1227881104031="4">Icebreakers</a> – Icebreaker CEO Jeremy Moon says sustainability has been a non-negotiable part of the company’s core philosophy since it was founded in 1994. Since then, Icebreaker has emerged as an innovator in merino-based outdoor layering systems, claiming to be the first apparel company in the world to source merino direct from growers. Icebreaker CEO Jeremy Moon says sustainability has been a non-negotiable part of the company’s core philosophy since it was founded in 1994. Since then, Icebreaker has emerged as an innovator in merino-based outdoor layering systems, claiming to be the first apparel company in the world to source merino direct from growers. (read my review of the <a href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/08/12/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-track-the-origin-of-your-clothing-through-baacoding/" jquery1227881104031="5">Icebreaker hoodie and the Baacode</a>)<br /><br />· <a href="http://www.bernardofashions.com/pages/3_women_green.html" jquery1227881104031="6">Bernardo Green</a> – Bernardo Fashions has developed a sustainable clothing line, called Bernardo Green, which is an eco-friendly suede collection made of biodegradable materials. One of the things Bernardo Fashion is known for is being the innovator of washable suede. Bernardo sticks primarily to outerwear. Bernardo Green offers a ‘code’ which allows trackability of the garment and its entire journey. (reach my review of the awesome <a href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/09/15/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-sustainable-washable-suede-lux-eco-fashion/" jquery1227881104031="7">Bernardo Green suede jacket</a>)Green Standards?<br /><br />As I review more and more ‘green’ products these days, I’m kind of baffled that there isn’t more of a standardized rating system. I googled ‘green product standards’ and I found the <a title="green seal - green product standards" href="http://www.greenseal.org/" target="_blank" jquery1227881104031="8">Green Seal</a> of course, which is great for paper products and cleaners. The <a title="EPA list of environmental standards for products" href="http://yosemite1.epa.gov/oppt/eppstand2.nsf" target="_blank" jquery1227881104031="9">EPA</a> even has a database for information on environmental products and services - if you go there and you can figure out what the standards are and actually find product lists, please let me know! It’s a little confusing.<br /><br /><a title="buygreen.com - standards" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1#1" target="_blank" jquery1227881104031="10">BuyGreen.com</a> seems to have a rating system that works. It is a flexible system and offers an opportunity to become more educated about certain types of products and their inherent characteristics in terms of their basic product life cycle. It lends itself well to clothing products.<br />The four main categories are designed to rate a product from ‘cradle to grave’ and represent a product’s ‘basic lifecycle’. The categories used are: <a title="buygreen.com source material standards" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1#1" target="_blank" jquery1227881104031="11">source material</a>, <a title="buygreen.com manufacturing standards" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1#2" target="_blank" jquery1227881104031="12">manufacturing</a>, <a title="buygreen.com use standards" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1#3" target="_blank" jquery1227881104031="13">use</a>, and <a title="buygreen.com disposal standards" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1#4" target="_blank" jquery1227881104031="14">disposal</a>. Every product offered on their website uses a rating box, which has all four of these categories represented by an icon. If the product meets or exceeds that category’s requirements, it will be displayed in color. If not, it is there, but in grey.<br /><br />There is also a number rating for overall green attributes 1 - not so many: 100 - lots of good green attributes.<br /><br />You can see an example of this on the image [at the top of this post]. Note that this hemp blouse, has a fairly good rating.</p><p><strong><span style="color:#6600cc;"><em>eat. blog. be merry!<br /><br /></em></span><span style="color:#000000;">GD Meg</span></strong></p>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-25588285105876722402008-11-17T12:08:00.004-05:002008-11-17T12:13:48.916-05:00the Power of Pomegranates<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SSGmCRGoMWI/AAAAAAAAAYc/YBsss01iiOo/s1600-h/pomegranate3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269675596881342818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 225px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SSGmCRGoMWI/AAAAAAAAAYc/YBsss01iiOo/s400/pomegranate3.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><p>I’ve always been thoroughly fascinated with this fruit. The texture and cool demeanor of these seeds makes it almost impossible not to want to pinch them between your fingers and find ways to play with them. These complex little gems sometimes remind me of candy and other times of great colored corn kernels.<br /><br />This ancient Medditeranean and Middle-Eastern fruit was the legend of Greek myths for its health benefits and Chinese medical practitioners recognize the juice for its help in promoting longevity. Western science has been catching up for the past few years with hundreds of <a title="health benefits of pomegranates" href="http://nutrition.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=nutrition&cdn=health&tm=34&gps=457_351_1276_801&f=00&tt=12&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov./entrez/query.fcgi%3Fdb%3DPubMed" target="_blank" jquery1226941618250="3">studies on the health benefits of the pomegranate</a>. The seeds, also known in more technical nutritional/botanical circles as ‘arils’ are packed with antioxidants.<br /><br /><strong>Nutritional qualities and potential health benefits . . .<br /></strong><br />While some studies are still underway, pomegranate (or juice of) has been credited with preventing or inhibiting prostate and breast cancer; reducing several key heart disease risk factors; assisting in blood sugar challenges, including diabetes; protection against rheumatoid arthritis; and I have seen it referenced stringently at least once that it helps with erectile dysfunction. While that last one causes a few ponderous and probably silly thoughts, the most fascinating one to me is that it may inhibit the bacteria that causes dental plaque! I spend a lot of extra time with my favorite dental hygienist because I seem to have excessive plaque buildup, and if pomegranate juice can spare me even a few minutes in the chair, I’m paying attention!<br /><br />Pomegranates are now being touted as one of the hot new “super foods” that both tastes good and is good for you. Nutritional research confirms that pomegranates contain minerals such as calcium, potassium, and iron, plus compounds known as phytonutrients. The powerful antioxidants in the fruit also help slow down that crazy aging process and can destroy almost twice as many free radicals as red wine and seven times as many as green tea. Here’s one benefit that along with the dental thing makes me want to eat these magical fruits every day - some researchers suggest that the crunchy seeds help flush fats from the digestive tract.<br /><br /><strong>What you probably didn’t know about pomeganates . . .<br /></strong><br /><em>pomegranates are used for natural dyeing<br /><br />pomegranates are the official logo of many cities in Turkey<br /><br />the pomegranate is one of the main symbols of Armenia representing fertility, marriage and abundance<br /><br />the pomegranate is a powerful religious symbol showing up in Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions<br /></em><br />The pomegranate growers in California have a nice website loaded with facts and <a title="pomegranate recipes" href="http://pomegranates.org/recipes.html" target="_blank" jquery1226941618250="4">pomegranate recipes</a>. Honestly, I haven’t cooked with pomegranate in long enough that I can’t pull anything out of the memory banks. I was inspired to write this post because I’ve been seeing a lot about the amazing benefits of this fruit - and it is attached to this season, although it is most certainly NOT a regional food for those of us in the north east!<br /><br />After reading and researching all this, I’m going to change that. I’ll get back to you with a good Green Diva tested recipe soon.<br /><br /><strong><em><span style="color:#663366;">eat. blog. be merry!</span></em></strong></p><p><span style="color:#000000;"><em>GD Meg</em></span></p>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-86767750266226173682008-11-10T16:08:00.005-05:002008-11-10T16:31:57.864-05:00Willie Nelson's Letter to Barack Obama - Save Sustainable Family Farms<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SRil8qMKkOI/AAAAAAAAAYU/Xopon_wv0Xs/s1600-h/POSTCARD_HDR_FARMAID.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267142225745842402" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 90px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SRil8qMKkOI/AAAAAAAAAYU/Xopon_wv0Xs/s400/POSTCARD_HDR_FARMAID.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Got another wonderful email from Willie Nelson last week . . .<br /></div><br /><div>I really love and appreciate the work Willie Nelson is doing with Farm Aid and the letter he wrote to our new president-elect, Barack Obama, which beautifully articulates the need to pay attention to family farmers. While there are so many urgent issues looming and competing for airspace for our new president, I can’t agree with Willie more that support of family and smaller local/regional farm systems can be part of the solution for many of the challenges that plague our country.<br /></div><div>Family farms and regional farming systems help reduce the food production carbon footprint in so many ways, not the least of which is that it travels less of a distance if it is supporting a defined regional area.<br /></div><br /><div>If you visit your local farm stands and farmer’s markets and have ever belonged to a <a title="Green Divas Guide to Delicious Living - community supported agriculture" href="http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/07/10/green-divas-guide-to-delicious-living-community-supported-agriculture/" target="_blank" jquery1226351419735="3">CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)</a> program, you have come to respect if not love your local farmers - and for good reason!<br /></div><br /><div>Thank you Willie for continuing to make noise (and great music) on this issue!<br /></div><br /><div><strong><em>Willie’s letter . . .<br /></em></strong></div><br /><div>Dear President-elect Barack Obama,<br /></div><br /><div>As President of Farm Aid, I’d like to take this opportunity to whole-heartedly congratulate you on your historic victory. I’d also like to offer you every resource that Farm Aid has available to assist you in creating a new farm and food policy that supports a sustainable family farm system of agriculture.</div><div><br />I started Farm Aid in 1985 when family farmers were being forced off their land as a result of federal policy that paved the way for industrial agriculture. This shift replaced independent family farmers with factory farms that have wreaked havoc on our communities, our environment and our public health.</div><div><br />There is broad agreement that our farm and food system needs to be drastically reworked<a href="http://eatdrinkbetter.com/wp-admin/redir.asp?lid=0&newsite=http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=apJNK3OFIjKQL8L&s=cnLPLUOvEeIHIVOwFoG&m=nwJ0LcPYLrIdE" target="_BLANK" jquery1226351419735="4">…</a></div><div><br /><a href="http://eatdrinkbetter.com/wp-admin/redir.asp?lid=0&newsite=http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=diKTLcPRKmJXIiK&s=cnLPLUOvEeIHIVOwFoG&m=nwJ0LcPYLrIdE" target="_BLANK" jquery1226351419735="5">Please click here to read the rest of Willie’s letter to President-Elect Obama</a>.</div><br /><div>Thank you Willie and thank you Mr. President-Elect!</div><br /><div><strong><em><span style="color:#663366;">eat. blog. be merry!</span></em></strong></div><br /><div>GD Meg</div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-64292240305388497402008-10-29T14:19:00.002-04:002008-10-29T14:25:35.434-04:00Ron Howard for Obama<div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SQipiRlaZ-I/AAAAAAAAAYE/-UFNh-a_m1A/s1600-h/andy+and+opie.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262642570883393506" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 318px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SQipiRlaZ-I/AAAAAAAAAYE/-UFNh-a_m1A/s400/andy+and+opie.jpg" border="0" /></a>Go Opie and Andy! </div><div> </div><div>Ron Howard visits some familiar TV characters to help make a great pitch for Obama. </div><div> </div><div>I could feel old for being familiar with these guys, but Ron Howard is still older (and balder) than me. He is much cooler than me, but not sure what the Fonz has to say about that!</div><div> </div><div><a href="http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d/ron-howards-call-to-action-from-ron-howard-and-henry-winkler">Watch this hysterical, but poignant video </a>and watch Ron reach into the past to help create hope in the future.<br /></div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SQipoOtUeZI/AAAAAAAAAYM/kR8NvmNsqco/s1600-h/fonz-richie_1014590c.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262642673190467986" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 250px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SQipoOtUeZI/AAAAAAAAAYM/kR8NvmNsqco/s400/fonz-richie_1014590c.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div> </div><div><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong><em>eat. vote. be merry!</em></strong></span></div><div><strong><em><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></em></strong> </div><div>GD Meg</div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-3132775044539423432008-10-28T12:38:00.002-04:002008-10-28T12:42:35.724-04:00Brook There - Eco-Fashion from Maine<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SQdAnupzG9I/AAAAAAAAAX8/unuKM26zI9g/s1600-h/teal_bluec.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262245740888136658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 292px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SQdAnupzG9I/AAAAAAAAAX8/unuKM26zI9g/s400/teal_bluec.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/files/2008/10/teal_bluec.jpg" jquery1225211906475="2"></a>I am so in love with this ‘tubeshirt’ from <a title="brookthere.com" href="http://www.brookthere.com/" target="_blank" jquery1225211906475="3">Brook There</a>! I’ve been really wanting to shift my wardrobe to more natural and sustainable and sustainably manufactured clothes. While I have had access to some of the latest eco-fashion trends, this is the first time I’ve tried bamboo.<br /><a title="bamboo wiki" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo" target="_blank" jquery1225211906475="4">Bamboo</a> is an amazing textile source. I found these bamboo towels that start out in a small, dry poker-chip sized package - add water and they become soft, versatile towels for kitchen, bathroom, travel, whatever! the Go! Towel was my first introduction to the wonders of <a title="Go! towels" href="http://www.luxebamboo.com/" target="_blank" jquery1225211906475="5">bamboo fibers</a>. I was and remain very impressed with the towels, but had not, until now tried any clothing.<br /><br />I’ve been blessed with one of these tubeshirts and I am stunned by the softness and the hang of the fabric! I want one in every color - and maybe 2 in black. The best part may be the little reinforced (by cute polka-dotted satiny fabric) thumb holes.<br /><br />The wonder of bamboo is that unlike many other synthetic fabrics it will biodegrade. This is unfortunate for me and I live in terror of this shirt biodegrading before I’m done with it. I have a tendency to love some of my non-biodegradable clothing to shreds!<br /><br />Brook There is based in Maine and all their design and production is done there. Maybe that brisk, fresh northern New England air is infused in this garment. Maybe that is part of what I love about it. Perhaps it brings back the breezy memories of summers in Maine. Okay, enough about me, Brook There is all about local, sustainable and ethical practices and reassure us that no one is abused in the production of their clothing.<br /><br />Other great sustainable fabrics that they use are organic cotton, soy (which is also very intriguing and I have to try that next!) and organic wool.<br /><br />There is definitely a freshness and simplicity to the designs and a refreshing newness. These are clothes to feel great about.<br /><br /><strong><em>eat. blog. be merry!</em></strong></div><br /><div>GD Meg</div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-31855927474566655702008-10-24T20:23:00.004-04:002008-10-24T20:28:56.270-04:00Great Green Tomato Salsa<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SQJnNSaFH2I/AAAAAAAAAX0/W6EvJi2X-eQ/s1600-h/greentomatoes.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260880792699346786" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 265px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SQJnNSaFH2I/AAAAAAAAAX0/W6EvJi2X-eQ/s400/greentomatoes.jpg" border="0" /></a>Went to Princeton again this past Sunday to indulge in a wonderful communal meal with the <a title="suppers for sobriety" href="http://www.suppersforsobriety.org/" target="_blank" jquery1224894172750="3">Suppers For</a> . . . people. It was <a title="suppers for sobriety" href="http://www.suppersforsobriety.org/" target="_blank" jquery1224894172750="4">Supers for Sobriety</a>, but the spectrum of people interested in participating goes beyond recovery from alcoholism, so the group is a diverse range of people who need to learn more about how food affects their depression or blood sugar challenges, people who are in OA (Overeaters Anonymous) who are looking for something more. In any case, we are all foodies and just love to cook it, talk about it, learn about it and of course eat it.<br /><br />Our host, Dor had a cornucopia of mostly locally harvested foods. Walking in the kitchen door, I passed a bucket of green tomatoes on the porch. As cooking assignments were doled out, Kay and I were elected to create a green tomato salsa to go with the black-eyed peas and brown rice, hearty vegetable and chicken soup and turnip slaw.<br /><br /><em><strong>Here’s what we came up with . . .<br /><br /></strong>Ingredients<br /></em><br /><em>NOTE: we have a wonderful time preparing these meals and always say, “we should write this down so we can make sure we can share the recipe.” But, we never do. I remember what we used, but may not have all amounts entirely accurate. Luckily, this is one of those recipes that is so easy to adjust and adapt to personal preferences. Have fun with it!<br /><br />3 - 4 Green Tomatoes (chopped finely)<br />2 - 3 Peppers (a variety of colors and ‘heats’ also depends on preference, chopped finely)<br />1/2 medium Red Onion (chopped finely)<br />2 - 3 Cloves Garlic (crushed)<br />1 T. Cilantro (chopped)<br />1 T. Parsley (chopped)<br />1 Lime (juice)<br />1/4 C. Ume Plum Vinegar<br />Salt & Ground Pepper to taste<br />Agave or Stevia to taste<br /></em><br />If it is possible to mix all the ingredients and let it sit for at least a 1/2 hour before serving, all the wonderful flavors marinate and blend nicely.<br /><br />This salsa was so delicious. Everyone was slopping spoonfuls in their soups. I enjoyed it with my black-eyed peas and rice. I’ll share those recipes as we transcribe our memories from the other night!<br /><br />Found a nice article that offes some interesting facts about green tomatoes and a host of recipes - <a title="we love green tomatoes" href="http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2008/09/we_love_green_tomatoes.html" target="_blank" jquery1224894172750="5">We Love Green Tomatoes</a>.<br /><br />PS<br />I went home and picked all the green tomatoes clinging to my dying tomato plants! More green tomatoe salsa coming up!<br /><br /><strong><em>eat. blog. be merry!<br /><br /></em></strong>GD Meg<br /><div></div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-42030522152410180792008-10-14T11:11:00.003-04:002008-10-14T11:15:35.057-04:00Sustainable Rod Stewart?<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257028251603884322" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SPS3V4cK2SI/AAAAAAAAAXs/dkn9IW4gU-I/s400/mandala-bowl1.jpg" border="0" />I did a post recently about <a title="buygreen.com" href="http://www.buygreen.com/" target="_blank" jquery1223997236464="3">BuyGreen.com</a>, which has a great <a title="green divas guide to sustainable standards" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/09/24/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-green-standards-for-eco-style-stuff/" target="_blank" jquery1223997236464="4">sustainable standards system</a>. While researching the site, I fell in love with these awesome <a title="mandala bowls on buygreen.com" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=741" target="_blank" jquery1223997236464="5">Mandala Bowls</a>! The one you see above is my very own photographed by my digital imagery sidekick and video guru, Zack Wozniak, who sidelines as a TV producer in NY when he isn’t working a Green Diva gig.<br />The top image is the inside of the bowl, and the bottom image is the bottom, which as you can seen was an old <a title="rod stewart" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Stewart" target="_blank" jquery1223997236464="6">Rod Stewart</a> LP!<br /><br />These beautiful bowls are made from old vinyl albums. This is recycled music at its best - if someone comes up with something we can make from those ancient 8 tracks or soon to be useless cassett tapes, that might trump this. The wonderful mandala designs are painted in acrylic on recycled vinyl records then heat-sculpted to make these awesome bowls. If I could figure out how to heat sculpt these things, I would make use of the 300 albums rotting away in my garage! Of course, this would require me to be a good, creative painter/designer . . . oh well. Thanks to artist <a title="christine claringbold" href="http://home.comcast.net/~s.doolittle/EyePopArt2/About_The_Artist.htm" target="_blank" jquery1223997236464="7">Christine Claringbold</a>, untalented folks like me can still get their hands on these great bowls (and other items made from albums as well)!<br /><br />Could make nice, colorful, interesting and green holiday gift . . . See <a title="buygreen.com manadala bowl" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=741" target="_blank" jquery1223997236464="8">BuyGreen.com’s sustainability rating</a> and order one!Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-36702035579288442842008-10-07T21:16:00.005-04:002008-10-07T21:49:20.349-04:00Gloria Steinem's Enlightened View of Sarah Palin<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SOwPDRsDuWI/AAAAAAAAARo/f5sHHWP1m6w/s1600-h/SP1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254591414196746594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SOwPDRsDuWI/AAAAAAAAARo/f5sHHWP1m6w/s400/SP1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>If you haven't seen the powerhouse <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-steinem4-2008sep04,0,1290251.story">Op-Ed by Gloria Steinem about Sarah Palin</a> that was published in the <em>Los Angeles Times</em> last month, I highly recommend taking a few minutes to familiarize yourself with Ms. Steinem's POV. She passionately articulates what so many of us have wanted to say. Thank you Gloria! </div><br /><div>If you are a woman or love one (or several, whatever), I hope you will consider carefully how damaging the gun-toting Gov. and her 'maverick' boss could be to women's rights and reproductive rights among other vital issues of course. </div><br /><div>The next president will likely have to make a <a href="http://www.supremecourtus.gov/">Supreme Court</a> appointment.<br /><br /></div><div>I've heard too many educated, smart women say that they don't believe Roe v. Wade would ever be overturned or 'oh, McCain would never do that'. I want to scream, 'REALLY!?!? Do you have any idea what the agenda for the GOP is for reproductive issues?' Please visit the <a href="http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/95b18512-d5b6-456e-90a2-12028d71df58.htm">McCain/Palin agenda on 'Human Dignity & the Sanctity of Life'</a> and read the first line! (hint - it is at the top of their agenda to overturn Roe v. Wade). Make no mistake, overturning Roe v. Wade is only the beginning.<br /><br />There are many huge issues at stake in this particular election, but this is one I personally feel strongly about.<br /><br />Whatever you do, make sure you exercise your rights and participate in this crazy flawed democracy - vote, and bring a friend or two or a hundred!<br /><br /><strong><em>eat. blog. be merry!</em></strong></div><div>GD Meg</div><div></div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-5595024352933975252008-10-03T15:31:00.004-04:002008-10-03T15:41:57.975-04:00Luscious Organic Mod.Skin Care<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SOZ1SYkA1XI/AAAAAAAAARg/32pRzC8-9Ds/s1600-h/ModSkin.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253014974065857906" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SOZ1SYkA1XI/AAAAAAAAARg/32pRzC8-9Ds/s400/ModSkin.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div>I have extremely <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">sensitive</span> skin, so I am very careful when offering to test skin care products. When I read about <a title="mod.skin organic skin care website" href="http://www.modskinlabs.com/index.html" target="_blank" jquery1223062481763="3">Mod.Skin</a>, I was cautiously optimistic and excited about the prospect of a line that seems so clean. Of course I was also skeptical because I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ve</span> tried some that say such wonderful things on their packaging and in their promo materials that it is easy to be enthusiastic until my skin rebels in a show of random blotchy rashes or better yet, zits. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">ick</span>. I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">ve</span> gotten these results from some of the best-promoted ‘organic’ natural skin care products touted out there. I won’t <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">diss</span> them here because part of it is probably my <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">extraordinarily</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">sensitive</span> skin. I think I’m a perfect skin care product tester - like a canary in a coal mine - if it <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">isn</span>’t really squeaky clean, my skin will react to it. So far, only a couple of products have kept this canary’s face rash/zit free and Mod.Skin is one of them.<br /><br /><strong><em>Under My Skin<br /></em></strong>I’m still pretty ignorant about the various ingredients that I’m supposed to know about - which ones are okay, which ones are not, which ones are controversial. Heck, I can’t even pronounce most of them, which makes my mental retention of them and their intended uses and/or abuses almost impossible to remember. (perhaps this explains why I’m not a scientist, but a common ordinary, garden variety writer.)<br /><br />Mod.Skin has a very ‘green diva meg’ friendly (which means a baboon could understand it) page about <a title="mod.skin skin care ingredient knowledge" href="http://www.modskinlabs.com/ingredient.html" target="_blank" jquery1223062481763="4">skin care ingredient knowledge</a>, which I found helpful. They take a very holistic, simple, natural and practical approach and avoid synthetic ingredients while using nutritional-type ingredients to feed our skin. I was particularly validated in my resistance to sunscreens (even having had a wee bout of skin cancer already) and liked their philosophy, which includes staying out of the sun during peak hours and wearing hats rather than slathering on potentially harmful sunscreens on our faces.<br /><br /><strong><em>My Experience with Mod.Skin</em></strong><br />I was offered two products to play with - the Samurai Scrub and the Face Sculpt Serum. As I said, I was cautious and skeptical, but decided to give it a try and if I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">didn</span>’t break out in the first week, I figured I would go for two and see how things progressed from there. I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">ve</span> been using these products for about a month now and I intend to keep going! The scrub has a wonderful texture and consistency. It reminds me of when you are mixing room-temperature butter with sugar. I definitely wanted to taste it - but I restrained myself. I have used the scrub a couple of times and it is very refreshing and not too harsh when used with water even for my wimpy skin. The serum I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">ve</span> been using every day and am quite addicted to it. I had been using a wonderful moisturizer made from honey from my local bee lady, but this firms things up and keeps me moist without anything else! And NO rash or breakouts!<br /><br />There are many other wonderful attributes to this skin care line, including the philosophy of the founder, <a title="raffaele ruberto" href="http://www.modskinlabs.com/founder.html" target="_blank" jquery1223062481763="5"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Raffaele</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Ruberto</span></a>. </div><br /><div>I highly recommend giving these products a try!</div><br /><div><em><strong>eat. blog. be merry!<br /></strong></em>GD Meg</div></div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-91396082210191988692008-10-01T21:20:00.004-04:002008-10-01T21:29:01.488-04:00Sustainable Sunday Dinners - 1<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SOQiE0-fOjI/AAAAAAAAARQ/rP8bsqX3GT8/s1600-h/roastedveggies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252360531756399154" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SOQiE0-fOjI/AAAAAAAAARQ/rP8bsqX3GT8/s400/roastedveggies.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Not sure about you, but while I love cooking I don’t always have time during the week to cook full meals and I really try to minimize the prepared foods and the take outs/ins.<br /><br />Over the years, I’ve devised a few meals that make for a great Sunday family feast and also can sustain at least one other meal throughout the week.<br /><br />My kids are the ultimate test of any recipe’s sustainability in our household, so when I find one that is nutritious, seasonal and more local than not, AND my kids will eat it not only once, but possibly twice (or more if it can be made into other tasty dishes, which this one can), it is worth recording it.<br /><br />One that has developed into our Fall and Winter favorite is <strong><em>roasted chicken with roasted vegetables</em></strong> . . .<br /><br />It makes the whole house smell delicious and the leftover meat makes a great chicken salad or if I save the carcass, the base of my infamous healing chicken soup. I’m sure you have your own favorite roast chicken roast leftover recipes (unless of course you are a vegan, in which case you might appreciate the roasted veggie part of this recipe best).<br /><br /><em><strong>Ingredients<br /></strong>organic, free-ranging, as local as you can get it chicken<br />roasting potatoes<br />mushrooms<br />whole garlic cloves<br />parsnips<br />leeks<br />brussel sprouts<br />butternut squash carrots<br />(whatever roasting veggies you like best!)<br />olive oil<br />butter<br />sea salt<br />fresh ground pepper</em><br /><br /><em><strong>Instructions<br /></strong><br /><strong>For Chicken</strong></em><br />Preheat oven to 350° and put rack in center of oven. Rinse the little bugger inside and out (remember to thank it for its sacrifice while trying not to be too grossed out by the whole scene – my beloved Wayne takes care of this for me – thank God!) and remove neck and other icky bits in the bag. Pat it dry and place in a roasting pan. Rub butter all over the naked beast. Salt & pepper liberally. Surround the chicken with the vegetables (instructions below) not too much so they don’t cook well – don’t worry, you will be using an additional pan for more veggies too. Tent with foil (for first half hour only) and place in oven. The rule of thumb I use is 20 minutes per pound and/or when a thermometer jammed in the thick of the thigh is 175° - 180°.<br /><br />NOTE: Make sure you un-tent at least a half hour before it is due to be finished and then, baste it pretty regularly to get a nice golden brown, delicious skin.<br /><br /><strong><em>For Veggies</em></strong><br />Wash, scrape and dry everything accordingly. Chop into smaller size chunks – no bigger than about 1-inch square. I usually half or quarter the mushrooms. Peel and nip off the ends of the garlic, but keep them whole so those that have an adverse reaction to these delicious treats can enjoy the flavor as it mixes with the other veggies without too much intestinal trauma. The amounts of which veggies you use is really a personal choice. But, I usually end up with 4 – 6 cups of chopped veggies in a nice large mixing bowl. Pour in some olive oil – enough to cover everything, but not too much. Salt & pepper to taste and mix it all up. Put some around and even in the chicken and get an additional pan (large glass baking pan works for me) and arrange them in almost a single layer if possible. Spray it with olive oil spray and bake along side or in rack beneath the chicken.<br /><br />NOTE: Don’t leave extra veggie pan in oven for much more than 1 hour as they can get too over cooked. We usually serve this with a brown rice pilaf.<br /><br />WARNING: there is never enough veggies! So, if you are able to, make another pan of them.</div><div> </div><div><strong><em>eat. blog. be merry!</em></strong></div><div>GD Meg</div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-62675230595754895232008-09-28T14:55:00.009-04:002008-09-29T14:04:48.602-04:00CALLING ALL GREEN DIVAS!<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SN_XG3KaSTI/AAAAAAAAARI/ptf7E9Nx6GY/s1600-h/GreenDiva1.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5251152203424090418" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SN_XG3KaSTI/AAAAAAAAARI/ptf7E9Nx6GY/s400/GreenDiva1.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Jen and I would like to invite our green diva friends to jump into the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">blogsphere</span> here with us. Because we still hear from so many of you and you all have such great ideas, we want to use this blog as a forum to create an ongoing conversation about how we can live the low-stress green lifestyle and have fun together doing it.<br /><br /><br />We are taking a NO-stress approach and hope you will jump in and let us know how you are, what you are up to and help us get this conversation going. Write about any aspect of sustainable or green living - and what area of our lives is NOT touched by this crazy, conscious way of being?<br /><br /><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;">Be a Green Diva guest blogger, and blog about:</span></em></strong><br /><br /><ul><li>food (recipes, your favorite farm market, growing it, sustainable agriculture issues, etc.)</li><br /><li>family (whatever shape it takes - kids both young and everlasting)</li><br /><li><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">eco</span>-fashion </li><br /><li><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">eco</span>-style in general</li><br /><li><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">eco</span>-home </li><br /><li>sustainable & socially responsible business</li><br /><li>alternative energy</li><br /><li>buying local</li><br /><li>getting creative</li><br /><li>cool fuels (if you understand <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">biodiesel</span>, please share more with us!)</li><br /><li>new transportation (hybrids, electric, cars)</li><br /><li>musings on simply living</li><br /><li>humor</li><br /><li>politics (yes, let's not be shy about this)</li></ul><p>Our traffic is increasing and we encourage the use of social networking media. If we get this thing cranking, we can start selling serious advertising and everyone will get a piece of that pie<br /><br />Blog posts should be between 300 - 500 words. Try to include relevant links. Send one <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">JPEG</span> image to go with your blog. Let us know how you want your name to appear and if you want your email or website to be listed in your signature.<br /><br />Write me @ <a href="mailto:megan@sustainablegreendivas.com">megan@sustainablegreendivas.com</a> if you are interested in being a Green Diva blogger. </p><p><strong><em><span style="color:#663366;">Eat. Blog. Be Merry!</span></em></strong></p><p>GD Meg</p>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-66935265371311500492008-09-25T21:07:00.008-04:002008-09-25T22:29:00.266-04:00Week-Ender: Sustainable News Highlights<span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><br />Farmy News . . .<br /><br /></strong><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SNxDYbDQBzI/AAAAAAAAARA/Fbz8LgLjKSw/s1600-h/FarmAid08.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250145352464467762" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 102px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 94px" height="138" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SNxDYbDQBzI/AAAAAAAAARA/Fbz8LgLjKSw/s320/FarmAid08.jpg" width="148" border="0" /></a></span> <span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><a href="http://www.farmaid.org/site/c.qlI5IhNVJsE/b.4496947/?msource=Sept08News&tr=y&auid=4051669"><strong><span style="font-size:100%;">Check out Farm Aid 2008!</span></strong></a></span><br />Didn't get there this year. If you didn't either, we can watch it any time from our computers anytime!<br /><em>FarmAid.org</em><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/organic-valley-introduces-whipped-version-of-its-celebrated-butter,555749.shtml">Organic Valley Whips it Up<br /></a></strong>Organic Valley offers tubs of their awesome whipped butter. Yum! Met my local Organic Valley farmers last year - I love their butter. Who are your regional Organic Valley Farmers?<br /><em>The Earth Times</em><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>News Close to Home - Mine Anyway . . .<br /><br /></strong><strong><a href="http://www.nbc40.net/view_story.php?id=6956"><span style="font-size:100%;">Corzine May be First to Install Offshore Wind Turbines<br /></span></a></strong></span>The gov is ready to launch a pilot to install dozens of turbines 'down the shore'.<br /><em>NBC40.net</em><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>International Green News. . .<br /><br /></strong><span style="color:#009900;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><a href="http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog2/2008/09/25/boeing-uop-air-france-virgin-klm-wwf-nrdc-others-form-sustainable-aviation-fuel-users-group/"><span style="font-size:100%;">What do Boeing, Virgin, UOP Honeywell, The World Wildlife Fund and the NRDC all have in common?<br /></span></a></strong><span style="font-size:100%;">These and other powerhouse organizations form a sustainable aviation fuel user group. </span></span></span></span><br /><span style="color:#009900;"><span style="color:#000000;"><em>Biofuels Digest<br /></em><br /><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/25/content_10111157.htm"><strong>Chinese officials push for more sustainable manufacturing<br /></strong></a></span></span><span style="color:#009900;"><span style="color:#000000;"><em>xinhuanet.com<br /><br /></em><strong><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpBVdfFQVD3HIBJtkOjcadhOa1qw">News from Paris is that Japanese textile manufacturers are benefiting from the eco-fashion boom</a><br /></strong><em>AFP</em></span></span><br /><br /><strong><em>Eat. Blog. Be Merry!<br /></em></strong>GD MegGreen Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-11057491873097469192008-09-25T15:54:00.002-04:002008-09-25T15:56:26.263-04:00A Nobel Peace Prize for Pete Seeger<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SNvszzdO4AI/AAAAAAAAAQo/KUg4dzyPQyA/s1600-h/PS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250050165360746498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SNvszzdO4AI/AAAAAAAAAQo/KUg4dzyPQyA/s400/PS.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Wow. We could use a healthy dose of Pete Seeger right about now. After watching the wonderful documentary about him, <a title="pete seeger documentary - the power of song" href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/pete-seeger/the-power-of-song/50/" target="_blank" jquery1222372337616="3"><em>Pete Seeger: The Power of Song</em></a>, for the 4th or 5th time, I still felt a powerful mix of emotions - inspired, empowered and lazy primarily. I cry every single time I watch it. Mostly because I see how one simple, steadfast man could keep his vision of hope clear and unadulterated by his own ego and the threat of the imposing world and in the end, his simple messages, songs and way of being is one of the most powerful examples of being true to yourself, your inner ideals and the song we all inherently carry.<br /><br />Watching an 84 year old Pete Seeger on stage singing with passion alongside Arlo Guthrie and his son-in-law or standing in the cold protesting the war, or making maple syrup at his home in the woods of NY state, or singing with a classroom of children, or cleaning up the river . . . All of it beautiful. All of it incredibly inspiring. All of it makes me feel like I should get busy - after all I’m already nearly halfway to his age. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!<br /><br />There is a movement afoot to nominate this peaceful singing activist for a Nobel Peace Prize. I would love to see his life be illuminated for more people to see how powerful one person can be without big money or glamour to spin.<br /><br />You can sign the <a title="petition to nominate pete seeger for a nobel peace prize" href="http://www.petitionthem.com/default.asp?sect=detail&pet=3774" target="_blank" jquery1222372337616="4">petition to nomiate Pete Seeger for a Nobel Peace Prize</a> on <a title="nobel peace prize for pete website" href="http://www.nobelprize4pete.org/prize.html" target="_blank" jquery1222372337616="5">NobelPrize4Pete.org</a> and learn more about the tremendous support behind this beautiful idea.<br /><br /><strong><em>Eat. Blog. Be Merry!</em></strong></div><br /><div><strong>GD Meg</strong></div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-14702576416453782152008-09-25T15:04:00.003-04:002008-09-25T15:49:09.689-04:00Green Standards for Eco-Style Stuff<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SNvh6z44E5I/AAAAAAAAAQg/Ggt2ffYufDM/s1600-h/buygreenblouse.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250038191107871634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SNvh6z44E5I/AAAAAAAAAQg/Ggt2ffYufDM/s400/buygreenblouse.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>As I review more and more ‘green’ products these days, I’m kind of baffled that there isn’t more of a standardized rating system. I googled ‘green product standards’ and I found the <a title="green seal - green product standards" href="http://www.greenseal.org/" target="_blank" jquery1222369558959="3">Green Seal</a> of course, which is great for paper products and cleaners. The <a title="EPA list of environmental standards for products" href="http://yosemite1.epa.gov/oppt/eppstand2.nsf" target="_blank" jquery1222369558959="4">EPA</a> even has a database for information on environmental products and services - if you go there and you can figure out what the standards are and actually find product lists, please let me know! It’s a little confusing.<br /><br />What about standards for all the wonderful eco-style stuff? What about clothing manufacturing, which by the way is traditionally a pretty harsh industry on the environment? What about other textile products, great green designed kitchen gadgets, and what about all those awesome accessories - green bags/purses, belts, jewelry, shoes!?!<br /><br />I found one promising standard system . . . <a title="buygreen.com - standards" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1#1" target="_blank" jquery1222369558959="5">BuyGreen.com</a> seems to have a rating system that works. It is a flexible system and offers an opportunity to become more educated about certain types of products and their inherent characteristics in terms of their basic product life cycle. It also seems to lend itself well across a very diverse range of products from clothing, to toys and yes, accessories! They even offer office products.<br /><br />The four main categories are designed to rate a product from ‘cradle to grave’ and represent a product’s ‘basic lifecycle’. The categories used are: <a title="buygreen.com source material standards" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1#1" target="_blank" jquery1222369558959="6">source material</a>, <a title="buygreen.com manufacturing standards" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1#2" target="_blank" jquery1222369558959="7">manufacturing</a>, <a title="buygreen.com use standards" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1#3" target="_blank" jquery1222369558959="8">use</a>, and <a title="buygreen.com disposal standards" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1#4" target="_blank" jquery1222369558959="9">disposal</a>. Every product offered on their website uses a rating box, which has all four of these categories represented by an icon. If the product meets or exceeds that categories requirements, it will be displayed in color. If not, it is there, but in grey.<br /><br />There is also a number rating for overall green attributes 1 - not so many: 100 - lots of good green attributes.<br /><br />You can see an example of this on the image at the top of this post. Note that this hemp blouse has a fairly good rating. The ‘use’ icon is not highlighted. Not really sure what that is about exactly. But, if you want to learn more, you can go to their extremely informative <a title="buygreen.com - standards page" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1" target="_blank" jquery1222369558959="10">standards page</a> and understand what their rationale is.<br /><br />I’ve seen some very rudimentary attempts to rate products, but this one is by far the most detailed and perhaps most useful one I’ve come across. Go <a title="buygreen.com" href="http://www.buygreen.com/index.asp" target="_blank" jquery1222369558959="11">BuyGreen.com</a>!</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><strong><em>Eat. Blog. Be Merry!<br /></em></strong>GD Meg</div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-90581319155126260432008-09-23T08:15:00.003-04:002008-09-25T15:57:14.526-04:00Stylisth, Sustainable Suede<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SNje83rRLMI/AAAAAAAAAQY/wgzZ1Mo1Tz8/s1600-h/Green-Jacket-1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249190503019261122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SNje83rRLMI/AAAAAAAAAQY/wgzZ1Mo1Tz8/s400/Green-Jacket-1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>This is the real thing. And while some might argue that any use of leather is not within the bounds of sustainable living, I’m going to put that debate aside and address my experience with this fine jacket.<br /></div><br /><div>I’m not a fashionista, wasn’t before this wonderful eco-fashion revolution and I seriously doubt anyone would label me such now. However, I have my own somewhat colorful sense of style at times and find that the key elements to my fashion sense are about what makes me look good and feel good - comfort is king or queen as it were.<br /><br />Perhaps it is because I’m at an age or a place in my life where I am less self-conscious and hate to put on anything that makes me feel like I should sit up straight, suck in the gut or be careful not to raise my arms or make any sudden twists. I also am someone who hates to have stiff, scratchy, hard or inflexible clothing restricting me. I love soft, mobile clothes that really make you forget you are wearing them.<br /><br />Bernardo Fashions has developed a sustainable clothing line, called <a title="bernardo green" href="http://www.bernardofashions.com/pages/3_women_green.html" target="_blank" jquery1222172232546="3">Bernardo Green</a>, which is an eco-friendly suede collection made of biodegradable materials. One of the things Bernardo Fashion is known for is being the innovator of washable suede. Bernardo sticks primarily to outerwear.<br /><br />I LOVE this jacket. It is very similar to one I lost about 12 years ago and have been mourning ever since. It is soft, comfortable, flexible and features a good cut and great details.<br />The tags are not only biodegradable and made of recycled materials, but are embedded with poppy seeds! Also, of importance is the tracking ‘code’ used to trace the origins and manufacturing process involved in producing the garment.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><strong><em>Transparency in Manufacturing</em></strong></div><br /><div>Similar to my recent adventure with <a title="green diva icebreaker - baacode story" href="http://feelgoodstyle.com/2008/08/12/green-divas-guide-to-fresh-style-track-the-origin-of-your-clothing-through-baacoding/" target="_blank" jquery1222172232546="4">Icebreaker’s Baacode</a>, which offers a transparent view of the entire manufacturing process of a garment - back to the sheep in New Zealand that shed wool for the cool (or warm) merino hoodie, Bernardo Green offers a similar ‘code’ which allows trackability of the garment and its entire journey. In the case of my jacket, it involved the origin of the raw materials, which was kind of whacky - Hormel - yes, <a title="hormel - spam" href="http://www.squirrelscope.com/" target="_blank" jquery1222172232546="5">SPAM</a>! Aside from the unbelievably silly Monty Python tune rambling through my brain . . . Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam . . . Spam, wonderful Spam . . . my first instinct was to see this as icky and incongruous with where I WANTED this garment to come from. However, with some brief contemplation, I was glad to know that the leather bits that weren’t being consumed (by who, I dare not think) were being utilized.<br /><br />All bad Spam jokes aside, it was interesting to learn about how the suede fabric was produced in the tannery in Slovenia and what makes it Eco-Vel washable material. This jacket has burned a bit of carbon in travel as the materials started in the Hormel plant in Minnesota, went to Slovenia for eco-tanning (?), then off to China for production, and finally back to US for distribution (<a title="Nordstrom" href="http://shop.nordstrom.com/C/2375500/0~2375500" target="_blank" jquery1222172232546="6">Nordstrom’s</a> is one retail outlet). I know it helps keep the cost down, but there’s got to be a better way.<br /><br />However, all that written, I have to give them credit for being willing to open up their entire manufacturing chain. While it isn’t perfect, Bernardo Green’s efforts are a big improvement on an industry that needs to start somewhere to move towards more sustainable practices. Go Bernardo.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><strong><em>Eat. Blog. Be Merry!<br /></em>GD Meg</strong></div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3277008571095523815.post-61430571251099284582008-09-11T13:38:00.004-04:002008-09-11T13:46:02.807-04:00Find the Source of Your Cloth Fiber Through Baacoding<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SMlZOlurkjI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/HhCDfTWOojI/s1600-h/icebreakerhoodie.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244821348230599218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5ZjmWZv1Oy4/SMlZOlurkjI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/HhCDfTWOojI/s400/icebreakerhoodie.jpg" border="0" /></a>This is a follow-up post to one I did a couple of weeks ago about an innovative sustainable outdoor clothing company in New Zealand - <a title="icebreaker website" href="http://www.icebreaker.com/" target="_blank" jquery1221154893964="3">Icebreaker</a>- and their clever Baacode, which helps owners of their garments to track down where the fibers from the garment came from. It is a little ‘meet your sheep’ thing.<br /><br />I was so excited to get my ‘Quantum Hood’ midweight outer layer from New Zealand. No. That is not a picture of me in the coveted hoodie. I’m not quite as intense (or young) as this svelte model here.<br /><br />I couldn’t wait to meet my little merino friends who endured shearing and I suppose quite a breeze for a little while for the sake of this amazing hoodie. It was remarkably ‘high-tech’ and smooth - not what you would expect when you see the farm and pictures of the family who runs it and of course the woolly beasts themselves.<br /><strong><br />Meet my sheep!<br /></strong>My groovy sweatshirt came from a farm called <a title="irishman creek station" href="http://www.icebreaker.com/site/baacode/trace.html?baacode=B60E044B1" target="_blank" jquery1221154893964="4">Irishman Creek Station in South Island, New Zealand</a>. This of course is utterly perfect as I am of Scots/Irish decent and if you read about this farm and the family that started it, you’ll see.<br /><br />I was nervous because I am HIGHLY allergic to wool - IN ANY FORM. But, they convinced me their merino was amazing and smooth and non-irritating. I went with an outer layer just in case. I wore it with a short sleeved t-shirt underneath for a day and it was slightly irritating, but not so much that I took it off, which is saying a lot. Usually, I have to remove it immediately. The shape of it, the hardware, the awesome thumb-hook holes make this a very stylish and high-tech version of the good ole hoodie that after all these years is still a favorite and staple in my comfort clothing collection. I’m not ready for merino socks or undershirts yet, but for anyone that is NOT highly allergic, I am jealous. Check them out!<br /><br /><em><strong>“Baa-ram-ewe, baa-ram-ewe.To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true.<br />Sheep be true. Baa-ram-ewe” </strong>Sheep, Babe (1995)<br /><div></em></div><br /><div>Eat. Blog. Be Merry!</div><br /><div>GD Meg</div>Green Divashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18235909181859734826noreply@blogger.com0