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A great new website, Local Dirt (www.localdirt.com/), is a place that brings sellers and buyers of local food together.  Here in Los Angeles, I’m spoiled by Farmers Markets that happen all over the city, multiple times a week. So as a test, I used my hometown zip code from NY. Voila! A ton of Farmers Markets close by.  

A viable question that people often have about the local movement is – ‘where do I start,’ and, ‘how are local products doable during winter months?’ …Start at Local Dirt, type in your zip, and see what pops up. While your local Farmers Markets typically won’t have summer fruits like strawberries in the fall and winter, you’ll find some other interesting produce/products.

The best part of buying local foods is the interesting stuff you discover. I’ve cooked some amazing, unexpected dishes with stuff I find there that I’ve never cooked before (gigantic eggplants, varieties of peppers I’ve never heard of, kale, new types of mushrooms, etc…). If you go to your local Farmers Market this weekend, pick up a butternut squash and make “Rebecca’s Butternut Squash Soup” featured on the site. Have fun!

I looked in my closet yesterday and realized I had some old, now dinosour-like electronics (remember how big the first generation ipods were?) Anyway, now that ipods, laptops, cell phones and other electronics have been on the market for a long time (that old ipod was purchased 5 years ago already!), there’s a lot of waste. People need a solution for throwing out their old electronics responsibly.

This is where ecoATM comes in, a company that has created an ‘eCycling’ station for pricing and buy-back of used consumer electronics and mobile phones for trade-in/trade-up and recycling. While ecoATM won’t give you cash for an old device, it will offer money off something in the store it’s installed in, or let you choose from various gift cards. eco ATM’s are expected to roll out in stores in San Diego (where they’re based), Boston, Dallas and Seattle.

Check out this smart company here: http://www.ecoatm.com/

All right, I’m on a bit of a local kick this week. I’m just feeling really inspired by the whole movement, which is not only about what you eat, but what you wear. When I found out about jeans company Raleigh Denim, I had to blog about them. They’re a North Carolina company whose jeans are 98 percent local, including of course, the thread and denim, which is produced within 200 miles of its workshop.

To produce the denim, the company uses the Cone Mills’ White Oak Plant, a 100-year-old local mill that weaves the fabric on the only original shuttle looms still working in the U.S. today. Pretty cool. All of Raleigh Denim’s design, pattern-making, cutting, sewing, washing and finishing are done by hand in the company’s Raleigh workshop (the designer prefers to incorporate traditional construction methods and vintage sewing machines).

Raleigh Denim jeans are now carried in major retail stores across the US, including Barneys New York and Steven Alan, and are becoming really popular. They’re priced from roughly $215 to $285. On the expensive side? Yes. But in my opinion, its worth investing in companies with positive and ethical business practices.

Check out Raleigh Denim’s site to find stores in your area that carry them: http://www.raleighdenim.com/

I first learned about Zipcar when I was a college student in Boston. I always spotted Zipcar spaces with a cool little Mini Cooper or VW in it. I’m sure you’ve heard about this company, but in case you haven’t, Zipcar started ‘community cars’ for people living in urban areas that don’t own a car. Sign up for a membership, and with a wave of your ‘zipcard,’ you’ve got access to Zipcars around the world. So cool. And now they’re all over the place: they’ve now grown to 325,000 members and 6,500 vehicles in the United States and Britain

Zipcar’s latest smart idea? Last week, the company announced that two dozen Subaru Imprezas and Outbacks in Seattle and Portland have been fitted with complimentary bike racks for autumn. Several dozen other Zipcars now include free passes to state and national parks –  perfect for urban areas that are within close proximity to nature.

Also, Apple now has a new iphone app that will allow users of Zipcar’s car-sharing service to use their iPhones to find, reserve and unlock vehicles. I love companies that are doing smart things.

Check them out: http://www.zipcar.com/

There was this quote from a Grateful Dead song, “One man gathers what another man spills” (which I, um, had as a bumper sticker on my car in High School during my faux-hippie days). When referring to men, Charlotte from Sex and The City once said, “One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure.”  But can real trash be turned into treasure? 

TerraCycle is this cool company that believes it can.

I learned that 99% of what you buy will be in the garbage in 1 year. Most stuff can’t be recycled. So TerraCycle recycles garbage and turns it into cool products you can buy (using little to no energy, btw).  Oh, and they’ll donate money to your favorite charity in exchange for you sending in your trash…seriously. Brilliant!

Check out their site and start saving wrappers: http://www.terracycle.net/

My dog Teo is, without a doubt, a major source of happiness and stress-release for me. All he wants to do is hang out with me, run around and eat. Such a nice, simple canine life. I’ve dedicated a ‘pet’ section to my blog – like many pet owners, I believe that Teo is a part of a healthy lifestyle because he makes me so happy (and chilled-out).

Okay, I’m not a big drinker, but I am a fan of do-it-yourself (DIY) stuff, things that are organic, and hostessing. As a follow-up to my “Green-up your bar” post, I found this recipe for creating your own organic “Tea cocktail,” which involves infusing vodka with tea.  This are a new spin on classic cocktails…I can’t wait to serve these to my friends next time I have people over.  And while I believe in eating as clean as possible, I also believe in moderation and having fun…you’ve gotta have a drink every now and again.

So, here’s what you’ll need to create organic tea cocktails:

• Organic vodka (Square One makes organic vodka. If you can’t find it or don’t feel like looking, just use a high-quality convential kind like Kettle One or Grey Goose).
• Organic limes
• 6 tea bags (the kind called for in the recipe below calls for “Moroccan Mint.” Stash makes an excellent Moroccan Mint tea, although it’s not organic. You might want to try Trader Joe’s as well – they have a ton of reasonably priced organic teas)

Infusing instructions:

1. Infuse an entire 750ml bottle of vodka with 6 teabags, by steeping the tea bags for 4 to 6 hours or overnight. You might want to pour the vodka into a jar or container that will allow you to easily remove the teabags after steeping. (If you want to use a lesser amount of vodka, pour 1/3 of the bottle of vodka into in a jar or with two teabags. )

2. Swirl the jar occasionally: You will see the infusion happening (If you want to use loose tea, the equivalent is one teaspoon of tea for each teabag).

Moroccan Mint-tea Cocktail

For a very light and refreshing cocktail, try this Cuban mojito style drink, using vodka instead of rum and Moroccan mint flavors instead of traditional mint.

Ingredients

• 2 ounces vodka infused with Moroccan Mint Tea
• 2 oz. Trader Joe’s Organic Limeade
• Juice of 1 lime
• ½ ounce organic agave nectar (just bought a 12 oz bottle at Trader Joe’s for only $2.99, it’s in the honey section)
• 3 mint leaves, minced
• Club soda

Directions

1. Infuse vodka with 6 teabags per instructions above.

2. Put all ingredients except club soda in a shaker with crushed ice.  Shake vigorously for 15 seconds. 

3. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Fill to top with club soda, stir and garnish with a mint sprig.

Enjoy your homemade tea cocktail!

There’s nothing like a nice Bloody Mary at brunch on a Sunday. The only thing that could top a plain Bloody Mary would be an organic one. I came across ECO BAR, a company that specializes in organic cocktails. One of their certified “ECOBARtenders” will bartend your house party, birthday celebration, and even your wedding! They’ll come bearing all organic ingredients for cocktails, as well as organic beer and wine.  

I give this cool start-up company a lot of credit for offering people an alternative, greener way to throw a party. I read about this idea that everything we purchase is like a ‘vote.’  If you buy organic, you’re voting for it, and in turn, increasing demand for it. I’d like to see organic cocktails at mainstream bars – and supporting companies at ECO BAR starts to make that happen.

Check out their website and drink greener: www.eco-bar.net

I went to Seattle this past weekend, and had an absolute blast. Pike Place Market really stood out to me: it’s such a cool little community of artists, local business owners, farmers and fishermen. The selection of local products was so expansive – it reminded me of multiple LA  Farmer’s Markets rolled into a gigantic one.

What I was even more impressed with about Seattle is that local restaurant owners – from reasonably priced regular restaurants to fancy expensive places,  take pride in using products from the Pike Place Market. The foodie community in Seattle really supports their market, which I think is incredibly cool.

So I started thinking more about local produce and all of the benefits that go along with it:  the positive environmental effects, supporting local businesses, fresher, better tasting food, and the list could go on and on.

I bought this book at Left Bank Books (a unique, ‘lefty’ bookstore in Seattle that I discovered on Lonely Planet) called Cook Food: a manualfesto for easy, healthy, local eating. This will give you all of the basics of local eating in an easy, digestible format – along with some great recipes. It’s not about doing a complete overhaul, but integrating local food into your life gradually.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress of ‘going local.’

Colleges have rankings based on class size, majors, location…and lots of other factors that attract (or deter) kids from going. For me, it was all about location. For today’s college kids, the environment plays a role in their decision, with two-thirds of college applicants say a school’s green record would influence their enrollment decision. I hope businesses are taking note and realizing the importance of going green.

The Sierra magazine has just released its third annual list off what it calls “the most eco-enlightened colleges.” Scores were assigned in efficiency, energy, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management and administration.  Here are the top 10 green schools: