So, I had two free passes to the Green Festival last weekend. I have been to so many of these over the years, but I figured lets go check it out and see if there is anything new. There were a variety of vendors, food, speakers, organizations and schwag. It is about the closest thing to a green mall. Wouldn’t that be a cool idea?! Sigh. Maybe some day the mall will just be green. For those of you have not been to such an event, below are some of the things that caught my eye:
Stuff to use…
1. Phytopod vertical growing container, 2. Leafware compostable plates from palm leaves, 3. Glob it on paint botanically crafted, 4. Planet Box stainless steel lunch container 5. Blue Lotus produce bags (At top of page), Photos taken from mentioned websites
Stuff to read…
My favorite bookstore, The Booksmith, as usual had all kinds of titles that have made it to my “must read someday” list. I snapped away as one looked even more interesting than the next. At a near by booth, Rosette Obeid, the author of Healthy Vegan Cooking, had her book on display. This cookbook had a number of good recipes and photos.
Stuff to learn…
I found a lot of cool information out at The Ecology Center located in Berkeley. They have amazing events coming up that we will try to add to our Dog Island Farm Events calender. Below is a video that Ecology Center member and ally Annie Leonard stars in.
“The ECOLOGY CENTER provides the public with reliable information, tools, hands-on training, referrals, strategies, infrastructure, and models for sustainable living. Our programs enable people to adopt practices that are environmentally and socially responsible. We run Berkeley’s residential curbside recycling program, the Berkeley Farmers’ Markets, Farm Fresh Choice food justice program, Terrain magazine,EcoHouse demonstration home and garden, the Ecology Center Store, and a variety of Information and Climate Change Action programs.”
I left the event with free copies of Natural Health, Living Crafts and Earth Island magazines, free samples of Manitoba Harvest Hemp Protein and some seed chips. I bought a Lotus rice cooker that I have been wanting to get for months. It is stainless steel without that non stick coating. These are harder to come by than one would think. You can also steam dumplings and tortillas on the top tray. They had an amazing deal at the festival so I had to get one. It ended up attracting so much attention. Everyone wanted to know where we got it. I am so excited to use it. This savings made it worth going to the festival let alone all the other great stuff I saw.
You found an interesting assortment of goodies. I love the Blue Lotus produce bags, and the compostable plates look like great picnic-ware. I'm also going to have to check out the 'Fresh Food From Small Spaces' book. Even with 7.5 acres here, we'd like to leave most of it intact, so we're trying to be every efficient with our food planting methods, and always curious to see what others have to say about that!
Dang I love to shop and I would have loved to come with you. You found some green goodies. I'm with you, I'd have been rooting about in the book stall for sure. Thanks for sharing! UDG
So glad you guys found it useful. I almost didn't write about it! If you find more great places with green shopping, let us know.