Start Your Married Life with an
Eco-Friendly Wedding Unexpected Crops Agribusiness is Growing Tourists
Natural, Herbally Enhanced Cat Food for
Purrfect Contentment UP
Give It the Gas!
The Latest EV Innovation for Land, Sea, and Air
Cool Food
What to Eat When You’re Dying of Heat
A Chat with Ellen Ecker Ogden
WEEDS
Can’t Beat ‘Em ? Eat ‘Em !
! E E ER
M1 R M F SU 01 2
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A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Summer 2011
Contents
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Publisher’s Page History, Habits & Water Bottles . .................................4 Local Notes . .........................................................................5 Business - Growing Tourists ........................................ 10 Gardening A Chat with Ellen Ecker Ogden ............................... 13 Weed Control If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Eat ‘Em ..... 16 Lifestyle Tips for an Eco-Conscious Wedding....................... 17 Pets - Herbally Enhanced Cat Food ........................... 19 Electric Vehicle News West Hills Collision Center ........................................ 20 Electric Airplanes . ........................................................ 21 Electric Jetski ................................................................. 22 Health Skin is No Obstacle for BPA ....................................... 23 Stop Sneezing................................................................. 24 Food What to Eat When You’re Dying of Heat . ............. 25 Transportation - The Prius Effect............................... 27 Cartoon - Leah Wittenburg . ........................................ 27 Book Review - Creating Cohousing.......................... 29 Events .................................................................................. 30 Classifieds........................................................................... 30
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Green Living Journal
Publisher’s Page continued
P. O. Box 677, Cascade Locks, OR 97014 Publisher: Columbia River Press LLC PDX Editor: Gary Munkhoff 541.374.5454 gary@greenlivingjournal.com Advertising: Susan Place 541.374.5454 crads@greenlivingjournal.com Prepress/Graphics/Ad Production: Katie Cordrey iByte Company info@ibytecompany.com 509.493.1250 National Editor: Stephen Morris ed@greenlivingjournal.com Webmaster: Michael Potts Michael@thepublicpress.com Distribution : Ambling Bear, Portland Pedal Power Cover Photos: The following are used under licensing unless noted: Fireworks Flickr User barjack ; Cat & Pot Flickr User, Brit; Lavender Farm Flickr User Grace Fell Wedding Aisle Jani Lee (licensed underWikimedia Commons) Cartoon Credit: Leah Wittenberg Printed: with soy-based inks on Blue Heron recycled paper by Signature Graphics.
Be it bucking hay bales in southern Connecticut, trolling for salmon off the Oregon coast, or working in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, most of my jobs required the periodic intake of fluids for re-hydration, re-energizing or for just plain cooling off, yet there were rarely any water faucets, coffee pots, or food marts handy. Ah, but the clever folks at Thermos, Stanley and Coleman always seemed to have just the right container to meet the needs of any job. On several trips through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California I made use of an unusual water bag that you just didn’t see in the northern parts of the US. The Desert Brand canvas water bag was designed so that a small amount slowly seeped through the canvas and evaporated as you drove, cooling the remaining water inside the bag. In order to function properly it was hung on the outside of your car. These were seen on almost every auto that traveled the highways of the arid southwest in the ‘50s and served double duty: quench your thirst and/or refill your radiator. Back then most of the containers that faithfully served those whose jobs took them beyond handy watering holes had several qualities in common: they were reusable, they were durable and they were fairly expensive. This meant that at the end of each day you carried them back home, you washed them out and then the next morning you refilled them. And guess what? You didn’t see them littering the beaches, or the woods or the hay fields. They were investments, you needed them, and so you took care of them, just as you would any other tool used on the job. Then during the 1990’s, for some inexplicable reason, drinking water sold in disposable plastic bottles became socially fashionable. Seems as if everyone had decided that they were far too busy and far too affluent to be bothered taking that little extra effort needed to use a reusable container and actually fill it with tap water. A Grab & Go, Glug & Toss mentality swept over the land. There are places in this world where bottled water is no doubt a necessity, but that is not the situation in the USA.
The Columbia River edition of the Green Living Journal is published quarterly and 16,000 copies are distributed free of charge throughout the PortlandVancouver metro area. We encourage our readers to patronize our advertisers, but we are not responsible for any advertising claims. Subscriptions $9.95 per year. Copyright © 2011 Columbia River Press LLC The Green Living Journal Family is Proud to be a Member
Publisher’s Page History, Habits & Water Bottles By Gary Munkhoff In early 1946 when my dad returned home from the Philippines after the end of WWII, he brought with him a treasure trove of neat stuff to fire the imagination of a seven year old. All the right stuff was there for exploring the empty lots in our Long Island (NY) suburban neighborhood: knapsack, pup tent, canteen and mess kit. But the canteen was far and away my favorite, for with it, I was free to roam far beyond the limits of the “run home for a glass of water” range. This sturdy veteran of “The War” was to be my introduction to a wide array of containers needed to keep my body supplied with much needed liquid throughout my entire life. 4
A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Summer 2011
Local Notes The EcoDistricts Summit 2011 Returns to PSU
More on the PoSI and theEcoDistricts Initiative, Contact: Liz Hopkins 503.922.1661 lhopkins@pdxinstitute.org or visit: http://bit.ly/jzcscB
EV Celebration Day
Every summer the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association (OEVA) hosts an EV Awareness Day to draw the public’s attention to and promote the adoption of the electric vehicle (EV). This year it will be held in Pioneer Courthouse Square
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Consider these rather sobering statistics presented on www.droptheprop.info : • Americans purchase 50 billion water bottles a year of which 30 billion end up in landfills or as litter. • Making water bottles out of plastic takes more than 1.5 million barrels of oil, every year. That much oil could fuel 100,000 American cars for a year. • Each week 1 billion bottles of water are transported in the US. That equals 37,800 semi-trucks hauling water every week. The only bright spot in these disturbing figures is that sales are on the decline. Why have so many of us embraced this senseless habit when the vast majority of us are literally surrounded by drinking water available from the tap, drinking fountains or water coolers? It boils down to superb marketing by the likes of Coca Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestle combined with the American consumer’s lack of concern for the consequences of their actions. Interestingly, these are the very same reasons that also made cigarette smoking a socially fashionable habit in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s and caused so much human suffering. With so many challenging and complicated problems facing us all as we move into the 21st century, it is nice to know that at least the bottled water issue has a very simple solution.
The EcoDistricts Summit is returning to Portland State University on October 26-28, 2011, and will be hosted by the Portland Sustainability Institute. The EcoDistricts Summit is dedicated to neighborhood-scale sustainability innovation and brings together leading professionals and thought leaders from across North America and beyond, providing a forum to share best practices across a growing number of neighborhood sustainability projects. “The EcoDistricts Initiative is creating a living lab of innovation to test and institutionalize a range of best practices from district energy to green streets and behavior and choice,” says Rob Bennett, Executive Director of the Portland Sustainability Institute. “The Summit is an important part of our overall effort to learn from and connect with global professionals and policymakers.” The Portland Sustainability Institute (PoSI) develops next-generation sustainability solutions for cities. PoSI was founded in 2009 to systematically bring together business, higher education, nonprofit and municipal leaders to drive a set of catalytic initiatives for urban sustainability in the Portland metro region. PoSI works to implement big and game changing ideas that weave together community livability, ecological resiliency and broad-based prosperity.
Local Notes continued on Saturday July 9th from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM. This is Portland’s premiere plug-in transportation event. The squared is filled with electric vehicles ranging from low speed vehicles and bikes to electric drag racers and boats. This is your chance to talk to people that have lived with EVs for years as well as with those that have just joined the EV ranks. Oregon is a national leader in getting prepared for the coming wave of EVs that are due to hit the dealer’s showrooms in the next few years. So put the date on your calendar and come on down and see for yourself what’s new. Join the revolution.
Green Sports Alliance Summit
At the Green Sports Summit learn from “best in class” professional sports leaders about how they reduced their environmental impact and connect with others making a difference in sports. August 1-3, 2011, World Trade Center, 121 SW Salmon St, Portland, OR
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Electric Motorcycles to Race in Portland
The TTXGP eGrandPrix will be racing July 16-17 at Portland International Raceway. They will be racing along side the Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association (OMRRA). Azhar Hussain, CEO and founder of the TTXGP eGrandPrix commented “TTXGP is very excited to be in one of the most progressive cities in the US that is pushing the frontiers of an alternative energy vision.” Portland has successfully grown and attracted a large number of sustainable businesses and provides a perfect backdrop for TTXGP. Portland’s Mayor Sam Adams has been a long time proponent of sustainable industries. “I am very pleased to bring the TTXGP event to Portland,” said Mayor Adams. “The technology involved in these electric motorcycles and the speeds at which they travel are truly impressive. TTXGP has a worldwide following and hosting this event will showcase Portland, our commitment to electric vehicles and our commitment to build the world’s most sustainable city to a global audience. I look forward to seeing these bikes in action.” More: http://bit.ly/ebCAFt 6
The Green Sports Alliance is a non-profit organization with a mission to reduce the environmental impact of professional sports and to inspire fans to join us in these efforts. The founding members of the Alliance are from six different professional sports leagues—a collaboration that is unprecedented. The founding members include the Vancouver Canucks (NHL), the Seattle Storm (WNBA), the Seattle Mariners (MLB), the Seattle Seahawks (NFL), the Portland Trail Blazers (NBA) and the Seattle Sounders FC (MLS). The founding partners of the Alliance are the Natural Resources Defense Council, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Portland State Institute for Sustainable Solutions, Green Building Services, Coates Kokes, Green Bear Group, Lane Powell and Milepost Consulting. Over the past year, venue operators, sports marketing directors and environmental scientists have collaborated to exchange their real world experiences and create metrics that are meaningful and measurable. The information gathered from this collaboration is now available to members and partners not only to gain a better understanding of the impact sporting events have on the environment, but also to provide inspiration and a roadmap for teams and venues to make changes to reduce that impact. If you have a hand in the pro sports world, join them to share your insights, gain valuable strategies and resources and help them accelerate the innovative environmental initiatives underway in sports. More: http://bit.ly/geBjol
Green Living Journal Delivered To Your Company’s Lunch Room - Coffee Lounge
FREE - For More Information Contact susan @greenlivingjournal.com 541-374-5454
A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Summer 2011
Local Notes continued Portland Green Parenting Opens The Warehouse “The Warehouse”, a unique business in the Brooklyn neighborhood at 3434 SE Milwaukie Avenue is home to a collection of resources and services meant to connect, sustain, nourish and support families, our local food shed and the environment. The project started out in 2007 as
Local Notes continued workshops throughout the week. 5. Affordable event space for private and public gatherings. 6. Activities, including family friendly concerts, art classes, yoga sessions, and art exhibits.
Today the Warehouse includes: Contact Rebecca Andersson at 503-544-5196, or email 1. Warehouse Cafe, a WiFi equipped coffee shop. rebecca@portlandgreenparenting.com or go to In the growing season, May through September, Warehouse Café will host five Farm to Table Dinners http:// portlandgreenparenting.com featuring some of the best producers and growers that sell via Know Thy Food. 2. Know Thy Food, a year-round online farmers market and food buying club that harnesses the buying power of more than 450 Portland families to purchase affordable organic produce, milk, eggs, and meat from Northwest farms; organic dried goods from Northwest distributors, including honey, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, oils and spices; and much more. 3. Daisies and Dinos, a children and maternity resale and consignment shop 4. Be Academy, a nationally accredited, K-12 alternative to alternative schooling. Members are served with one-on-one instruction and collaborative 7 Columbia River PDX c Green Living Journal d No. 13 Summer 2011
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a meet-up group for mothers called Portland Green Parenting, in the home of founder Rebecca Andersson. “As the group grew, the needs of families with young children became clear. The moms who joined wanted healthy yet affordable foods, non-toxic baby goods, and to be more conscious about how we spend our money so that we tread more lightly on the Earth.”
Local Notes continued
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Ocean Power Technologies Awards Contracts in Oregon for Wave Energy Project
Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (“OPT” ), a leading wave energy technology company, is awarding four major new contracts to Oregon companies in connection with the manufacture of its PB150 PowerBuoy(R) wave energy generating device, and its deployment off the coast of Reedsport, Oregon. The new contracts, with the previously awarded contract to Oregon Iron Works (“OIW”) for the fabrication of the buoy’s steel structure, or spar, takes the total invested by OPT in the local economy to over $6 million, creating or saving up to 100 manufacturing and marine services jobs at the four companies and their suppliers. With these new contracts, OPT and Oregon are entering an exciting phase of Oregon’s initiative to be a world leader in the responsible development of wave energy. After the initial PowerBuoy is deployed and tested off the coast of Reedsport, expected later this year, OPT plans to construct the first commercial-scale wave power station in the US, consisting of up to nine additional PowerBuoys and grid connection infrastructure, subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals and additional funding. This wave energy array will be developed by Reedsport OPT Wave Park, LLC. More: http://bit.ly/jYVclM
John Day or Bust in an Electric Vehicle
Local Notes continued the internal combustion engines (ICE) that are now powering America’s fleet of personal vehicles with electric drive systems is the quickest and cheapest path to breaking our addiction to oil, cleaning up our air and stopping the flow of our dollars to OPEC. This adventure will coincide with the SolWest Fair that takes place the last weekend in July. Our goal is to promote the widespread adoption of the EV as a vehicle of utility and adventure as well as being good for the environment. This event is a collaboration between the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association, the SolWest Renewable Energy Fair, and the Green Living Journal.
Why John Day?
John Day is a little town in the middle of the desert of eastern Oregon settled in the late 1800’s by gold miners, ranchers, loggers, and mill workers. In other words, hardy, pioneer stock, and their spirit still dominates the town. A perfect setting for the pioneers of the EV age. Our point being that if you can drive an EV to John Day you can drive an EV just about anywhere. Plus their SolWest Fair is one of the longest running events of its kind in the west.
The right place and the right time.
John Day Or Bust is a call to action for all electric vehicle (EV) enthusiasts who support the vision that replacing 8
Let’s take a lesson from the history of the early days of the gasoline auto. Individuals and groups were constantly setting out on daunting trips across vast regions with poor to terrible roads, no gas stations and no repair shops. They did it and sold a nation on the ICE. http://bit.ly/j8GBk4
A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Summer 2011
RENEWABLE ENERGY TRAINING
Solar Energy International is celebrating 20 years of renewable energy training in 2011. Learn more about these courses and workshops, and many more, by visiting solarenergy.org. today.
Register at
solarenergy.org or call 970.963.8855
Online
FREE! RE101: Introduction to Renewable Energy In-person on Guemes Island, WA Ongoing
Oct. 10-15
PV101: Solar Electric Design and Installation (Grid-Direct)
Local Notes continued Kaady Car Wash Has Wind Turbine
During its 2011 Workshop Program, several of the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology’s more than 100 workshops will show participants how to use their creativity to live in a more eco-friendly way. Though the nonprofit organization has been committed to expanding the relationships between art, nature and humanity since 1970, many of this year’s classes are particularly focused on “green” topics like Permaculture, watershed restoration, and herbal medicine. The Sitka Center welcomes people of all abilities and backgrounds who want to explore their creative potential and their connections to the natural world. Located on the Oregon coast, near Cascade Head and the Salmon River estuary, the Sitka Center knows what an inspiration place can be and encourages their instructors to use the center’s setting as a teaching tool - or even a classroom. Classes of note include “Wild Watersheds of the Northwest Coast,” “Intro to Sustainable Home Landscaping,” “The Herbal Arts,” and “Nature as Teacher: Meeting the True Muse.” Those interested in learning more about these and other Sitka Center Workshops visit www.sitkacenter.org or to call 541.994.5485. Registration is now open to the public and enrollment is based on a first-come-first-serve basis.
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Spotted on NE Andresen Rd in Vancouver the other day: a wind turbine spinning in the breeze and busily generating electric power at the Kaady Car Wash facility. The turbine was purchased from and installed by Halo Renewable Energy of Portland and is capable of generating 3,800 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. This is not enough energy to power the entire car washing facility, but it does reduce the amount of power they have to purchase. From the company’s website: “Owner Chuck Kaady calls the wind power experiment the latest of many environmentally friendly, energy-efficient features that have long been part of the company’s advanced technology. These include computercontrolled water and electric power management, environmentally safe shampoos and cleaners, and the reclamation of all water used in the car washing process.” Says Mr. Kaady: “We want to continue to be on the leading edge of our industry in helping protect our planet.” It’s also a great show and tell demonstration sending out a constant reminder to all who see it as they pass by that here is a business taking steps to make a difference. More at http://bit.ly/j8K0Oy or see it for yourself at 2914 NE Andresen Rd..
Creativity “Goes Green” at the Sitka Center
Local Notes continued
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Oregon Introduces Cordless Chainsaw Oregon, the world’s leading manufacturer of saw chain and other accessories for chainsaws introduces the PowerNow 40V Max Cordless Tool System product line. First up is the 40V Max Chainsaw 14” Kit that delivers a smarter way to work: cleaner, quieter and free from the hassles of gasoline or corded power. Just charge the universal PowerNow battery system and you are always ready to go with no-fade, lithium-ion power. If you are fed up with breathing 2-cycle fumes, mixing gas and oil fuel and worrying about bothering your neighbors with your noisy saw in the morning, then this is the saw for you. The saw also features PowerSharp, an integrated saw chain sharpening system that allows the operator to sharpen the chain on the saw and on the job. http://www.oregonpowernowtools.com/
Business continued were completely wowed by the entire process. While it was hard work, it was also down-to-earth work.” And she means that literally. Flash forward: In addition to growing hay and raising sheep for market, Jones now runs a successful farm-stay program at her Leaping Lamb Farm in Alsea, northwest of Eugene. Guests travel from as far away as New York and Texas to stay on the farm for anywhere from a few days to an entire week. “I just had a mother and daughter out for the weekend,” she says. “They picked food from the garden and helped collect eggs from the coop.” But is it all work and no play? According to Jones, the trip can be as hands-on or as laid-back as a guest desires. “Sometimes people come out just to slow down and retreat,” she says, “to get away from the hustle and bustle … and maybe pick some blackberries.”
Tourism Trends
Scottie Jones is part of a growing movement of farmers looking to supplement their earnings. “In today’s world, 10 percent of the nation’s farms produce 90 percent of the food. How are small farms supposed to compete?” she says. In Jones’ case, nearly half of the income for the farm she
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Business continued and her husband run comes from tourism, making attracting guests a vital segment of their livelihood. Luckily, many farmers have found this new niche labeled “agritourism.” These rural landowners are drawing in visitors with their farm-related activities and retreats. They’ve developed myriad successful crowd-pleasers, ranging from dairy tours to “U-Pick” operations to farm stays like Jones’ program. In California alone, farmers and ranchers hosted more than 2.4 million agriculture tourists in 2008, according to a study by University of California researchers. In New York, Assemblyman Steve Englebright says agritourism is second only to milk as a source of income for farmers in the state. Jones says the reason for the growth is simple: More people are interested in how and where their food is grown. “We’ve seen a huge influx of farmers’ markets across the country,” she says. “People enjoy buying local products and helping to support local economies.” It could be a simple desire to return to nature. These unique vacations allow the city dweller a behind-the-scenes peek at country living, as well as an escape from urban life. Guests also gain a deeper sense of local culture. After all, why stay at a chain hotel when a family-run farm is right down the road?
Coast to Coast
Agritourism farms can be found stretching from coast to coast, and all places in between. Lan Mark Farms, in the bluegrass hills of central Kentucky, encourages tourists to meet the farm’s sheep, llamas and alpacas. The farm also offers a variety of workshops, including felted scarf making, crafting with wool and braided rug making. All of their products are naturally processed in a renovated 1910 barn. Agritourism is not limited to traditional agriculture. Tennessee’s Freshwater Pearl Museum and Farm is North America’s only freshwater pearl culturing operation. Guests have the opportunity to tour the farm, meet the farm manager and visit with a local diver.
Escaping City Life
While the industry is undoubtedly growing, the concept is nothing new. During the late 1800s, the wealthy often took vacations in the country to escape city life. One notable nature lover was President Theodore Roosevelt. He often traveled by train into the vast wilderness of the countryside and visited dozens of farms throughout his life. The culture of farming and vacationing, though, started to change during the 1950s as interstate travel became com-
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Business continued mon. Americans, eager for convenience, ignored the “road less traveled by” and vacationed instead at the motels along the highway. Consequently, visits to farms waned for the next few decades. Nowadays, American society has come full circle to its roots. As before, trips to the country are seen as refreshing and desirable. Despite its rich history, agritourism can still be overlooked by vacationers eager to leave the city. Jones is trying to change the public perception of small farms and bring visibility to agritourism. Through several grants from the state of Oregon, as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Jones runs Farmstay U.S. (www.FarmstayUS. com), a website devoted to highlighting programs across the country, as well as educating the public. One can find a wide variety of information on the site, from how to start a farm-stay program to what a guest can expect from a visit. In addition to the website, Jones participates in Oregon Country Trails, a grassroots organization of ranchers, farmers and recreation specialists who have opened their back porches, meadows and crafts to the public. This partner ship allows members to share resources for marketing and strategizing.
Agritourism vs. Agritainment
With this growing publicity, more people are beginning not only to take advantage of agritourism, but also to understand it. One important element is the distinction between agritourism and agritainment. Many define agritourism as the act of visiting working farms for education or active involvement in the day-to-day operations (like a farm stay). However, agritainment, some say, focuses more on the entertainment aspects. Activities falling under this category include hayrides, pumpkin patches, petting zoos and other amusements. Most often, though, farmers utilize a combination of the two to reach the maximum audience. 12
For example, the Maize Valley Market and Winery, in northeast Ohio, offers tours, festivals and a “Stomp the Grapes” half-marathon. Additionally, the “pumpkin canon” delights visitors each fall by blasting produce into the air. Owner Donna Vaughan says, “It is a tough world out there, and we hope to provide a place where people can set aside their troubles, catch their breath, enjoy the experience and build some memories.” Brett Herbst is one entrepreneur who has had success through his own specialized segment of agritainment. According to his website, Herbst set the Guinness record for the largest corn maze in 1999. Since then, his company, The MAiZE Inc. (www.TheMaize.com), has assisted with the planning and development of more than 1,800 mazes in the United States, Canada and Europe. It is the largest maze consulting company in the world, working with more than 225 locations. Herbst’s mazes have featured the likes of the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, famed zookeeper Jack Hanna and media mogul Oprah Winfrey. Whether you’re planning a family vacation or considering starting your own agritourism business, a wealth of information is available. Your state’s Department of Agriculture, as well as your local extension office, can provide details on grants, marketing strategies, local farms and more. Michelle Nowak, a small-farm supporter and author of the upcoming Farm Stay Handbook, Eastern USA, first fell in love with agritourism after studying farm stays in Italy. “It should be the right of every child to hear a rooster crow before sunrise, to pet a new spring lamb and to pull a radish from the ground,” she says. And according to the rising popularity of agritourism, America wholeheartedly agrees. Excerpted from GRIT, Celebrating Rural America Since 1882. To read more articles from GRIT, please visit Grit.com. Copyright 2011 by Ogden Publications Inc. (Credits & Info. Continued page 13)
A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Summer 2011
Gardening A Chat with Ellen Ecker Ogden
She doesn’t look like a legend. She looks more a combination of Tinkerbelle and the girl next door, with a few lines of wisdom thrown in. Yet when you trace the origins of the popular movements called “farm to table” or “localvore” the paths inevitably lead to the The Cook’s Garden seed catalogue that Ellen Ogden co-founded in 1984. The rest is history. She’s written a new book, “The Complete Kitchen Garden: An Inspired Collection of Garden Designs and 100 Seasonal Recipes” that brings much of her collected wisdom into a single volume. The ideal kitchen garden combines vegetables, flowers and herbs in delightful new ways, and in this book Ellen teaches you how to elevate your garden into from ordinary to extraordinary. Based on European style vegetable garden designs, or potagers, she provides a continued step-by-step guide Read more: http://www.ogdenpubs. to plan and plant a beautiful and com/Syndication/articles/Feature_ productive garden, Stories/5224.aspx#ixzz1GxOq1TTW then tells how to Editor’s Note: We found several make the most intriguing farm stay opportunities in with the results in the Portland-Vancouver area. More the kitchen. here http://www.farmstayus.com The gardens Columbia River PDX c Green Living Journal d No. 13 Summer 2011
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have familiar themes such as “The Salad Lover’s Garden,” “The Heirloom Maze Garden,” “The Children’s Garden,” and “The Family Garden.” This is a book that will resonate with new or experienced gardeners who can appreciate ornamental edibles, while developing an appetite for fresh, homegrown food. We interviewed Ellen during March, shortly after her new book had just been published, over a cup of herb tea in the sunny kitchen of her Vermont home: Green Living: Were you just born with a green thumb? Ellen: (laughs) I planted my first garden the first summer I moved to Vermont in 1980, with four sticks and a ball of twine, measuring out a large square, and removing a thick layer of rugged turf. I turned the stony Vermont soil with compost before planting long straight rows for basil, lettuce and beans. I would be lying if I said the garden thrived, but the thrill of harvesting my own food gave way to a larger garden the following year. As the garden grew, the harder it was to decide in the spring where to plant. That’s when I started doing the designs on paper first. Green Living: Tell us about the origins of The Cook’s Garden.
COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE
SUMMER
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& FALL
Gardening continued Ellen: It’s been 27 years this month since we mailed the first issue of The Cook’s Garden seed catalog to home gardeners. Originally, it was a two-page listing of lettuce and salad greens, only, based on hard to find European seed varieties that we imported from Switzerland, France, Italy and Holland. It was a simple statement against the larger seed catalogs that offered only flashy color photographs accompanied by standard hybrid varieties. Ours was printed with black soy ink on recycled paper; the artwork featured the elegant woodcuts of Mary Azarian and depicted our simple way of life that revolved around our organic farm and market garden. It was really the opposite of a Burpee catalog, which focused on color photographs, while our catalog required lots of reading to visualize the end product. We began to import hard to find European seed varieties in 2 kilo bags from Switzerland, France, Italy and Holland to grow in our market garden. That first winter we packaged seeds at the kitchen counter, books were removed from the book cases to hold seed bins and the living room was converted into a shipping warehouse. We were proud to offer the best tasting greens and herbs that were carefully tested everything in from our trial gardens. Since I was the “cook” it was my job to develop recipes to print in the catalog and 14
to provide incentive and encouragement for gardeners to try new and unfamiliar varieties. Green Living: What was the response to The Cook’s Garden? Ellen: Our catalog grew faster than we expected in spite of stiff competition from the established seed companies, and we found an audience who loved the flavorful and unusual varieties we offered and trusted us to introduce the very best since ” we grew it ourselves.” But it was hard to make a living on $1.50 packets of seed. Like all good things, times change and the catalog was sold to Park Seed in 1993. I continued working with them until it was sold to WA Burpee in 2003. Green Living: Is the catalog still going? Ellen: Yes, but this morning when I flipped the pages of the newest 2011 Cook’s Garden catalog, I was saddened that the heart and soul of our original catalog has clearly been lost. The photos are gorgeous yet the copy is stiff and the varieties are typical of choices made by a marketing department rather than a cook who loves to garden. The Cooks Garden sadly looks like just another WA Burpee catalog and is the total antithesis of what we first envisioned almost three decades ago. But they still focus on the best tasting
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Here’s how it works: • Bed One: High Nitrogen (N)—Leafy Greens: Lettuce, Kale, Mesclun, Arugula, Mustard, Cress, and Spinach • Bed Two: High Phosphorus (P)—Fruiting and Flowering Crops: Tomatoes, Summer and Winter Squash, Eggplant, Peppers, and Melons • Bed Three: High Potassium (K)—Root Crops: Onions, Garlic, Shallots, Radish, and Carrots • Bed Four: Cleansers and Builders (B)—Peas, Beans, Potatoes, and Corn Green Living: You make it sound simple. Ellen: I recently taught a vegetable garden design class
Gardening continued featuring the techniques from The Complete Kitchen Garden. I had expected the class to be full of new gardeners ready to learn basic skills such as sowing seed and turning compost. Instead, there were fifteen experienced gardeners who were seeking fresh ideas for how to reinvigorate their tired plots. We started with a visualization exercise to envision the kitchen garden of their dreams. This simple exercise allowed these gardeners to step out of their comfort zone of straight rows to picture kitchen gardens filled with waves of color that engaged all of their senses. The results were magical. Green Living: How about a few of your personal preferences? Ellen: I grow mostly salad greens and culinary herbs because I use them everyday in my cooking. I generally avoid space hogs such as zucchini or corn. My bush beans from last year were a total disaster since I never picked them – so those are out, too. This year, I am focused on lettuce and salad greens from Wild Garden Seeds, and heirlooms from Seed Savers Exchange. Simplicity is the key, and I encourage gardeners to keep their list of seeds limited and to grow 80% tried and true, and 20 % something new and different. Last year I grew a few quirky additions such as artichokes
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varieties for cooks who garden, and I am proud that the catalog is still alive after all these years. It is encouraging that more gardeners than ever are buying seeds to grow in their gardens. Green Living: Do you get your seeds from them? Ellen: No, this year I am buying from Solstice Seeds, a smaller, local supplier who offers varieties that are open pollinated and bred for the northeast and collected by hand. Green Living: Give us some tips for a beginning kitchen gardener. Ellen: There are really six easy steps that I outline in my book, but the most important element starts with the soil. Soil is one of the most important components to a successful garden. It is a living, breathing organism and provides the nourishment that allows roots, shoots, and fruits to mature. Most soils contain the basic elements that plants need to grow, but not always in the right proportions. A lot happens in the soil that we can’t even see. Understanding how all the elements work together in the soil will help you to build a natural blend of nutrients that will reward your plants—and you—with good health. Green Living: In your book you talk extensively about the importance of soil rotation. Can you give our readers the short course? Ellen: There is a design in my book called the Four Square Rotation garden. It combines classic design with the principles of organic gardening, to incorporate the basics of organic rotation. It makes it easy to follow a successful planting routine each year. The end result is healthy soil, healthy plants, and a harvest that is vitamin-rich and packed with flavor. Here’s the short course on the chemistry of plants and what they require in order to grow. Design your garden into four beds, and keep the plants grouped by their required nutrients, then rotate the beds each year to keep the soil healthy.
Gardening continued and Italian Treviso radicchio. I have my tried and true favorites, but it is always good to try something new, and they were magnificent.
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Gardening continued only 30. Hence, if you only use three kinds of weeds as part of your diet, you’ve probably increased your food choices by 10 percent. Purslane is a common garden weed rich in flavor and nutrients. Recognizing it’s appeal, many garden-seed catalogs now list purslane along with dandelion. Purslane prefers sunny spots in sandy, rich soil. It carpets the ground, rarely growing more than 5 inches high. The succulent, purplish-green leaves range from 1/2 inch to 2 inches long. The tender red stems bear tiny, 5-petaled yellow flowers at their tips. The whole plant is edible. Some purselane lovers have found that they can use one plant from June till August, just by snipping off the tips of the stems. Raw purslane has a pleasant crunch and is a good salad Weed Control: If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, green. An interesting purslane cole-slaw can be made Eat ‘Em by chopping up the raw leaves and stems, mixing with By Crow Miller chopped carrots and other raw vegetables, and blending with cole-slaw dressing. Purslane’s great taste, high level of Have you ever wondered why some plants make weeds nutrition, and low caloric content (the plant is 92 percent of themselves? It’s as if this wild vegetation prefers human water, similar to cabbage) make it perfect for sophisticated company to life in the pristine wilderness. Ironically, its health-conscious sorts. because many of these plants were naturalLike most of us Americans, dandelion ized many centuries ago by our ancestors Have you ever is an immigrant, brought here by the for food and medicine. I’ve been eating and wondered why earliest English settlers. It was considered enjoying beneficial weeds for over 20 years absolutely essential for survival and was some plants (in addition to more normal foods), for given an honored place in the kitchen their flavor, freshness, and nutritional value. make weeds of gardens of the day, providing food, By using weeds as food, you’ll realthemselves? medicine and wine. Because dandelion is ize a number of benefits: (1) You get an an effective diuretic, it has been used for early-spring harvest at a time when most kidney stones, weight loss, and edema. Its ability to cleanse gardens are just getting started; (2) You’ll increase the the system of toxic matter makes it valuable in clearing productivity of your garden; (3) Most homegrown food up disorders. Every part of the dandelion, with the excepsaves you money, but what could be better than free -- and tion of the seeds and flower stalks, is useful. Eat the young you only have to harvest; and (4) You’ll expand your own leaves in early spring, either raw or steamed. Dig up the culinary horizons. There are approximately 50,000 edible dandelion’s roots anytime, although they will be highest in plant species in the world, but the average American eats Ellen Ecker Ogden is a food and garden writer and kitchen garden design consultant. “The Complete Kitchen Garden” is published by Abrams Books and available in bookstores everywhere. To read her blog, or to order a signed copy, go to ellenogden.com
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nursery open by appointment
503.449.3694
Mosier, OR
humbleroots@gorge.net web.mac.com/humbleroots
Gardening continued
Reprinted with permission from Let’s Get Growing by syndicated columnist and agricultural consultant Crow Miller. P.O. Box 233, Austin, IN 47102
Tips for an Eco-Conscious Wedding By Lane’ Richards Weddings are a huge and expensive undertaking and can leave an even bigger footprint on the environment. More and more couples are looking for ways to be more environmentally friendly which can be difficult since weddings are typically associated with hyper-consumption and produce a great deal of waste. Invitations, decorations, food, travel, etc. the list is endless. Unfortunately, many items at a wedding only get used once and are tossed. By incorporating any number of these suggestions for an eco-conscious wedding, you’ll be doing your part to sustain the earth while being a role model for others.
Invitations and Paper
Cutting down on paper invitations is one of the easiest ways to make your wedding more eco-friendly. Opt for post-consumer recycled paper printed using soy ink, if possible. Also consider having guests RSVP online through your wedding website to save on postage, extra paper and printing. Want to eliminate paper all together? Why not go super-eco and send your invitations electronically through a site such as Glosite.com. Be sure to limit the amount of paper during the ceremony and reception as well. Instead of one printed program or menu per person, opt for a chalkboard instead which can be easily repurposed from any picture frame using chalkboard paint.
Flowers and Centerpieces
Flowers can travel thousands of miles from developing nations where harmful pesticide usage is the norm, so why not make a statement and try something a little less conventional? Potted herbs or an array of succulents or terrariums make for great centerpieces, as do old books and simple DIY pinwheels. Make bouquets and boutonnières from one-of-a-kind, hand crafted buttons or vintage brooches.
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nutrients in the fall. Boil them like parsnips. You can also use them as a caffeine-free coffee substitute, while enjoying dandelion’s health benefits. Chickweed is quite possibly the most common weed in the world. It, too, is a small plant, rarely reaching more than 5 inches in height. Weak-stemmed, it seems to spread out horizontally along the ground. It prefers rich soil, a little shelter, and cool weather. The whole plant, above ground, is edible raw or cooked. Raw, it has little flavor. For this reason, it is one of my favorite plants, because with its mild flavor and crunchy texture, I can use it just like lettuce, as the base for salads. It mixes well with any other more strongly flavored salad fixin’s such as watercress, radishes, and peppers. Cook chickweed just like spinach. Steamed, it even tastes like very mild spinach. As it cooks down quite a bit, use a lot. Because its flavor does not overpower other vegetables, it’s a good thing to add to the vegetable pot to stretch other greens. When you mow your lawn, does the scent of onion or garlic fill the air? Lucky you! There are a great many species of these two closely related herbs, but any plant that smells strongly of onion or garlic is onion or garlic and is edible. Dig the bulb up to see which one you have. Just like their domesticated relatives, onions will be layered and garlic will be made up of cloves. Don’t be fooled by their small size -- their flavor is often stronger than domesticated varieties. Use the green tops like chives or green onion tops. I hope these tidbits will inspire you to try eating some of the weeds in your backyard. They’ll add freshness, flavor, and variety to your diet, as well as increasing the productivity of your organic garden. Bon appetit!
Lifestyle
I love sniffing out the Green Living
Journal online
GreenLivingPDX.com
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Lifestyle continued Bring your centerpieces to life with bright colors of organic fruit which doubles as a snack for guests to nibble on. If you’re using candles, opt for soy or beeswax; they burn cleaner and use less soot than their paraffin counterparts. If you must have flowers, utilize locally grown flowers harvested in season or reach out to friends and neighbors who may be willing to donate a few of their own. They’ll be much cheaper and you’ll be supporting local business owners. Repurpose flowers by donating them to a local organization such as a hospital or senior care facility, giving them more than one life after the wedding.
Favors
If you feel wedding favors are necessary (I don’t), consider giving organic, fair trade chocolate, homemade jam or honey. Know your audience and think about what they’re apt to use and not waste. You may have good intentions, but what will really get used? Is that CD going to get listened to? Are seeds or a potted plant really going to get planted? Remember, not everyone has a green thumb.
your carbon footprint even more. Have a strict budget? Plan a potluck wedding and ask everyone to bring his or her favorite summer dish.
Gifts
If you really don’t need any gifts, don’t ask for them. No one said you must have a registry and think how much better you’ll feel for saving another toaster from heading to the landfill. Another alternative is to register with a charitable
GIVE A LEGACY. LEAVE A TREE.
Dress
Be original and make a statement in vintage, organic or sustainable materials. A dress can be custom made from a vintage slip and several other unworn dresses that are hanging in your closet. Design it so you can wear it again – you can’t get any more eco-friendly than that! Consider a preowned dress or rent one, and if you have no desire to keep the dress after the wedding, donate it to a charity that can sell it to create funds and perhaps save someone else from needing to purchase a new dress.
Need a lasting gift? Dedicate a Gift Tree in honor or memory of your loved one and restore a forest in our city.
Food and Catering
When possible, use a catering company that sources local, organic, seasonal ingredients to eliminate carbon miles. Minimize the amount of meat on the menu and decrease 18
www.FriendsofTrees.org/GiftTrees
A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Summer 2011
Lifestyle continued registry like the I Do Foundation that donates a percentage of the money spent on your gifts to a charity of your choice. Still thinking you want presents? Consider setting up a green wedding gift registry with a wish list of earth friendly products you’d like (recycled, locally produced, fair trade, etc.).
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
When planning your wedding, be sure as many of your wedding goods have been or can be recycled or used again. This includes plates, cutlery, linens and tablecloths, glassware, etc. (durable is preferred to “compostable”). Thrift stores can be great for items such as vintage, mismatched plates and other serving ware, or sheets which can easily be turned into napkins. Other miscellaneous items can be scouted via swaps, borrowed from friends and family or the neighborhood household goods libraries in North or North East Portland.
NE Portland household goods library is through Nurture / NE Home Goods Library: http://www.nurturepdx.org/share/ ne-home-goods-library/
Lane’ is a Master Recycler and Eco-Consultant in Portland. For more info go to: http://TheLivingGreenSolution.com Editor’s note: Botanica Floral Designs specializes in local, organic, fair trade and sustainably grown flowers for weddings, events, corporate accounts and other functions. http://www.botanicafloralpdx.com Petal Passion can provide bouquetsfrom her local garden in season. http://petalpassion.net
Pets Natural, Herbally Enhanced Cat Food By Lynn Alley I once knew a cat that ate nothing but ground raw meat. When I was a child, my neighborhood was filled with cats. Most of the cats existed on canned cat food. But not Bootsie Anderson. What possessed his “mom,” Millie, to feed Bootsie freshly ground raw meat, and raw meat alone, I can only imagine. I only know that Bootsie had the most spectacular glossy black coat I’ve ever seen, and he lived to a ripe old age without many of the ailments that felled the rest of our cats. Although Bootsie’s diet was highly unusual for that time, Millie was right on target. Today, a growing number of experts insist that a diet of raw or lightly cooked meat, close to what a cat might encounter in nature, is healthiest. My favorite cat expert is Anitra Frazier, author of The Natural Cat, a classic book on cat care first published in 1983. Today, she provides holistic nursing for geriatric cats and consults with clients worldwide over the telephone. (She frequently quotes her friend, Richard Pitcairn, D.V.M., Ph.D., one of the best-respected holistic vets in the country, with
whom she has worked closely for many years.) She believes a balanced kitty diet can be made by combining 4 parts raw or lightly cooked meat to 1 part veggies, but she emphasizes that there are certain vital nutrients that must also be added in supplement form to your homemade cat food.
Bare Bones of Kitty Nutrition: 1. Variety is important when making food for your cat. Rotating protein and carbohydrate sources will help cover
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North Portland household goods library is done through Preserve-n-Serve: http://preserveandserve.org/
Lifestyle continued
Pets continued all the bases from a nutritional standpoint. 2. Good sources of protein: human-grade raw ground round, chuck or sirloin; ground chicken or turkey (dark meat is best because of its higher fat content — cats have a higher requirement for fat than we humans do); and occasionally organ meats, all from animals raised without antibiotics or hormones. If you have misgivings about feeding your cat raw meat, then by all means, cook it lightly.
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3. Good sources of carbohydrates: any fruits or vegetables your cat enjoys, such as apples, blueberries, broccoli, asparagus, carrots, zucchini, green beans, collard greens, kale, finely chopped alfalfa sprouts, and roasted veggies like winter squash or yams. 4. Both cats and dogs have a very high requirement for calcium, so unless bones are ground up and included in their diets, they MUST have added calcium. Frazier recommends adding 1 teaspoon of powdered calcium to each pound of raw meat, and then working it in before you add the veggies or anything else. Also important: add a highquality kitty vitamin to your cat’s daily intake to make sure he gets all the nutrients he needs. 5. As for herbs, here are some that I have typically added to my cats’ diets over the years. Parsley straight out of my garden has been my mainstay. You can add herbs to your homemade food or use them to spice up a dull can of cat food. All should be finely minced and added just before serving or in the case of seeds, finely ground and sprinkled in tiny pinches over the top of food. • Parsley (my herb of choice for the tastiest cat food) • Cilantro (finely minced) • Seeds: psyllium, celery, dill, fennel, caraway Very finely powdered psyllium seed husks, added to or sprinkled over your kitty’s food in very minute quantities (use only a very small pinch), can go a long way to easing constipation. Just be sure to add extra water to the food as well. Put out 1/4 cup of the homemade cat food, refrigerating the rest of the batch in an airtight container. Bootsie never had it so good. Excerpted from The Herb Companion, a national magazine devoted to growing, cooking and healing with herbs. To read more articles from The Herb Companion magazine, please visit www.HerbCompanion.com or call (800) 456-5835 to subscribe. Copyright 2011 by Ogden Publications Inc. Read more: http://bit.ly/j3W3Bq 20
Electric Vehicle News West Hills Collision Center Invests in Electric Loaner Cars In what we can all hope will become a widespread practice, West Hills Collision Center has recently purchased an all electric Nissan Leaf which will be used as a loaner car for customers that are having their cars repaired at their shop. They have also ordered a second Leaf for the same purpose. As you can see from the photo, the car is conservatively, but obviously painted to advertise that here is an electric loaner from West Hills. Now if you’re having a problem trying to understand why a savvy business owner would invest in EVs that carry a premium price tag to be used as loaners, or worse yet, if you think this might be just another slick sales gimmick to put the spotlight on his business, then you need to take a closer look at the man behind this idea. Don Blazer is a passionate fan of the electric vehicle (EV). He owns a fleet of EVs that he has been using since 2004 at his West Hills Collision Center to give customers rides, pick up parts or run errands. He has, over the years, searched across the country to find and buy EVs that he could bring back to Oregon for sale to waiting customers. Also in 2004, Don parked his Chevrolet Tahoe (with only 40,000 miles on it) and has been driving an EV ever since. The Tahoe is still right where he parked it 7 years ago. He is an active member of the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association (OEVA) and promotes the adoption of the EV by showing his EVs at OEVA and other green community events. He also takes the time to contribute thoughtful and pointed comments on various EV forums on the Internet. Don is a passionate fan of the EV all right, but he is not a fanatic, nor is he an EVangelist. He is a thoughtful businessman, a concerned parent, and a worried citizen who has chosen to be an EV pioneer for all the right reasons. He is taking his hard earned money and investing it in what he feels to be the solution to reducing the toxins in the air that his family breathes, ending the flow of US dollars to OPEC, and increasing our country’s security by ending our dependence on foreign oil. So he drives EVs, he promotes EVs and now he is investing in EVs that will be used by customers, thereby giving them the chance to live with and drive for days at a time.
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A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Summer 2011
EV News continued
More about Don, his business and what else he is doing to make a difference at http://www.westhillscollision.com/ Photo courtesy Pat Conner of OEVA.org Where GLOBAL influences meets LOCAL living.
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Electric Airplanes With so many auto manufacturers bringing out electric models, this could well be the year of the electric car and it only gets better in the next few years. But, hold on now, there is also a revolution going on in the aviation world. That’s right, electric and hybrid airplanes are already Photo courtesy Flickr user, calebs in the air and more are on the way. Here are some links to learn more about this: http://www.electraflyer.com http://bit.ly/faMadI http://bit.ly/hYNe5w There are a lot more examples. Just Google “electric aircraft”.
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503/802/1041 1720 SW Fourth Ave / Portland, OR 97201
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He’s betting that a percentage of those folks will, at the end of their trial ownership, see the EV the same way he does and join the revolution. In doing this Don is risking well over $70,000 with the hope that people will appreciate the opportunity that has been given them and treat the EV with a lot more respect than the usual loaner receives. The car was first loaned out on May 3rd, to a Prius owner whose car was going to be in the shop for about a week. The next time you’re out in the 8300 block of SW Barbur Blvd. you might want to stop in and thank Don for his commitment to improving our world.
EV News continued Electric Jetski
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Jet skis are loud and can be a source of pollution in our waterways, but they don’t have to be that way. The First Electric Jetski is being developed by Barrett Taylor of ECOwatercraft, boasting speeds of 50mph and run times longer than some gasoline models. The goal at Electric Jetski. is to show that having fun and being environmentally responsible go hand in hand. EcoWatercraft is on a mission to reduce emissions and so their ECOs will be built in an American facility that is 100% powered with renewable energy. http://www.ecowatercraft.com/
Health Skin is No Obstacle for BPA by Katie Cordrey Bisphenol-A, also known as BPA, is an industrial chemical component of many widely-used items including plastics, resins, canned food linings, and paper goods. Studies have suggested that long-term or high-dose exposure to the organic, estrogen-like compound disrupts the body’s endocrine system and may be linked to cancer, heart disease, intestinal damage, reproductive problems, erectile dysfunction, diabetes, obesity, impaired neurodevelopment, and behavioral changes in children. BPA is a part of a thermal paper coating that acts as a color developer in small credit card and cash register receipt printers. According to a CBS news report, some receipts
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contain up to1,000 times the levels found in a can of food. Needless to say, cashiers get a lot of exposure to the simple organic molecule. After discovering that people who regularly handle cash register and credit card receipts have elevated levels of BPA in their urine - and presumably their bloodstreams, researchers at the Joint Research Unit for Xenobiotics at INRA-Toulouse have shown that BPA does not have to be ingested to enter the body: It can be absorbed through the skin. Daniel Zalko headed up the study that applied differeing amounts of BPA to freshly slaughtered pig’s ears then studied the cultures. Within three days, the chemical had migrated through the skin and would have entered the bloodstream of a living being. Similar tests conducted on healtly human abdominal skin donated through surgeries, replicated the results. Those concerned about casual exposure to BPA can check their receipts: • Wisconsin-based Appleton paper dropped BPA from its paper in 2006 and started using BPS (bisphenol sulfonate) in its place. The company
A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Summer 2011
Health continued makes about half the receipt paper used in the U.S. and now embeds it’s BPA-free thermal receipt paper with red rayon fibers. The red rayon, a recyclable cellulose fiber, indicates that the receipt paper is BPA free. • An online vendor has enlisted an unnamed supplier to help it offer BPA free thermal FSC-certified receipt paper made with 40% post industrial recycled fiber. It is printed on the reverse with “This establishment has chosen this BPA Free paper product for the safety of its customers, employees, and our environment.” There is no mention of what chemical replaces BPA in this product.
Editor’s Note: You can purchase Appleton BPA-free register receipt paper at The One Stop Sustainability Shop,1468 NE Alberta St. For More Information: Viable skin efficiently absorbs and metabolizes bisphenol A, Chemosphere, Volume 82, Issue 3, January 2011, Pages 424-430. doi10.1016/j.chemosphere.2010.09.058 http://bit.ly/m2bLz6 Transfer of bisphenol A from thermal printer paper to the skin Anal Bioanal Chem (2010) 398:571–576 DOI 10.1007/ s00216-010-3936-9 http://scr.bi/iZWSz1 Nation’s Largest Maker of Thermal Receipt Paper Does Not Use BPA http://bit.ly/iVbR5Y
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In response to concerns over BPA-laden receipts, many local businesses and institutions are discontinuing their use. The Multnomah County Library switched to the Appleton paper in December 2010 and will see a savings of about 14% because the paper is not only BPA free, it’s less expensive.
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Health continued Stop Sneezing Through Summer Time!
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By Heather Wickett Summer should be a time to enjoy the outdoors and breath in the fresh air. Thankfully there are some natural solutions that can help with the bothersome symptoms of allergies. The stinging nettle plant, or Urtica dioica, is found throughout the U.S. and Europe, and is a popular plant that herbalists use in alleviating allergy symptoms; in fact it has been used in Europe for over 2,000 years. Yes, this is the same species that causes severe burning skin irritations, caused by formic acid on the tiny hairs, by brushing up against the leaves on a nice hike during the summer. Even though the stinging nettle has these hurtful properties when encountered unexpectedly, it can also possess healing properties. By harvesting the plant and drying the leaves at the right time, the nettle makes a wonderful therapeutic tea or it can be taken in a capsule. Don’t worry about drinking a mouth full of stingers; the stinging qualities disappear when the plant is dried.
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The stinging nettle grows 2 to 4 feet in height and has a creeping root from which new shoots emerge. It grows well in moist shady spots, in woodlands, and along stream and riverbanks. During spring the young nettle shoots can be harvested and cooked. Nettles are most commonly used for hay fever and they relieve the common allergy symptoms of sneezing and itchy eyes. There are numerous other conditions that nettles have been used to treat including: prostate enlargement, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, asthma, bladder infection, bronchitis, bursitis, gingivitis, gout, hives, kidney stones, laryngitis, multiple sclerosis, PMS, sciatica, and even tendonitis! Stinging Nettle is also used topically to improve the appearance of the hair and is a great remedy to neutralize oily hair and dandruff. The stinging nettle has several great medicinal properties that provide the healing effect. It is stimulating on the kidneys and bladder and helps cleanse the body of toxins.
A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Summer 2011
Health continued The plant also improves the excretion of uric acid thereby reducing the symptoms of gout and arthritis. The leaves have diuretic properties and the root is used for the treatment of urinary retention caused by prostate enlargement.
Heat waves tend to have a way of killing appetites and making us feel too lazy to cook. Before succumbing to a freezie & popsicles diet, try out these energy-boosting, easy, oven-free meals and nutritional necessities.
Quinoa
This grain-like super food originates from the Spinach family, is gluten-free, low in calories and has all ten amino acids. Swimming with vitamins and essential nutrients, Quinoa is a versatile bowl of energy; you can eat it like rice, or mixed up in a salad.
Coconut Water
It has more electrolytes than Gatorade and is the ultimate source of energy and hydration. Basically like water if water was delicious and had super powers. It may not feature the convenience of coming from a tap, but it is available in most grocery and organic food stores, plus offers an amazing source of potassium.
Cold Soup
Sure there is gazpacho, but see what other cold soups you can stir up. My favorite is avocado. It’s always delicious and refreshing, particularly when it’s exceedingly hot outside.
VLT (veggies, lettuce and tomato)
Unless you feel like making some vegan bacon, the VLT is the ultimate summer sandwich. Refreshing, light and healthy. It takes literally a second to make and you can easily grow the lettuce and tomatoes in your garden (but will add to your sandwich-making time, obviously).
BBQ
The barbeque may be hot, but it takes a second to make corn on the cob, potatoes or grill some delicious portobello mushrooms. The fun part of barbequing is that it makes ev-
The Northwest School for Botanical Studies Classes with Christa Sinadinos
CLINICAL HERBALIST TRAINING PROGRAM Cultivating herbalists for over a decade
October 2011 - January 2012 Visit us at: www.herbaleducation.net Write us at: herbaleducation@gmail.com Or call our voicemail (707) 826-7762 Columbia River PDX c Green Living Journal d No. 13 Summer 2011
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Heather Wickett, Naturopathic Medicine Intern for Northwest Natural Medicine. Northwest Natural Medicine is a primary care family health clinic located in Milwaukie, Oregon. http://nwnaturalmedicine.com
What to Eat When You’re Dying of Heat! By Melanie Kozlan
Food
Food continued erything taste summery, so get creative with what you decide to grill. It’s best to always use a gas barbeque or charcoal made from recycled wood, since charcoal barbeques are slower and produce carbon monoxide.
Salad
Versatile and best of all, cold! Potato, macaroni, green, Caesar, Greek, or create your own with your favorite vegetables. To beat laziness and sun fatigue, it’s best to make a huge salad at the beginning of the week and resort back to it throughout the week.
Dixie Pasta and Greens www.greenlivingpdx.com
Serves 6 Depending upon what’s in season, use this recipe with kale, chicory, mustard greens, or any other green. Black-eyed peas can be replaced with Great Northern beans. Season to taste with hot pepper sauce, and you have a taste of the South. 6 ounces radiatore or other medium pasta 2 tsp. olive oil 1 green pepper, chopped 1 small onion, chopped 1 celery stalk, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 2 cups water or vegetable broth 2 Tbs. tomato paste 1 tsp. dried oregano leaves or 1 Tbs. chopped fresh oregano Freshly ground black pepper to taste 1 cup cooked black-eyed peas 1 bunch kale, mustard greens, or chicory 2-3 drops hot pepper sauce Cook pasta in plenty of boiling water until done but still firm to the bite (al dente). While pasta cooks, heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the pepper, onion, celery, and garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Add water, tomato paste, oregano, and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Stir in black-eyed peas, cover, and simmer over low heat 15 minutes.
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Slice greens and add to saucepan, cover, and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in drained pasta. Cook until heated through. Season to taste with hot pepper and serve. Per serving: 290 calories;15 g protein; 52 g carbohydrate; 3 g fat; 0 mg cholesterol; 19 mg sodium % calories from fat: 8%; from saturated fat: 1 % From “The Co-op Cookbook” by Rosemary Fifield (Chelsea Green Publishing) Melanie Kozlan is the Senior Content Director of FourGreenStepscom - the World’s largest Green marketplace! Four Green Steps is an excellent resource for environmental news, green living tips and vegetarian recipes. Four Green Steps also offers a free ecological curriculum used all around the world, as well as the web’s largest selection of eco-friendly products!
A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Summer 2011
Transportation The Prius Effect By Bryan Welch
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Executives at the Toyota Motor Company were wrong about the Prius. They seriously underestimated how popular it would be. When it appeared in 1997 the world’s first mass-produced gas-electric hybrid was not recognized as a serious challenge to the conventional internal-combustion engine. Its potential wasn’t clear, even to the people in charge of selling it. About 18,000 sold to Japanese drivers in 1997. A few more hit the Japanese streets in 1998 and 1999. On Earth Day 2000, Toyota announced that the car was on its way to the United States for the first time and the first American drivers stepped into their new hybrid cars in August that year. In the United States, the Prius was a sensation. Over the next five years, the only way to get a new Prius in North America was by ordering one in advance from a dealer. The waiting time for a new Prius extended to more than six months. Its popularity was not based on economic necessity. Gas was cheap. In 2000 regular gasoline sold for about $1.30 a gallon and inefficient sport-utility vehicles were in their heyday. Toyota called the first website for Prius buyers the “Pioneer Purchase” site. About 6,000 Americans signed up and got their hands on a Prius that first year, and about 20,000 sold worldwide, most of them in Japan. The next year, 2001, about 29,000 Priuses sold worldwide. By 2007 Toyota was selling 10 times that, 181,000 cars in the United States alone. And people kept putting their names on the waiting lists. The sales numbers would have been much higher if production had kept pace with demand. No other fuel-efficient car was nearly as successful. The Toyota Yaris, which gets 80 percent of the Prius fuel mileage and costs about half as much, sold half as many units in 2008. At 2008 fuel prices, you would have to drive your Prius at least 50,000 miles before fuel savings recovered the price difference. The Honda Civic Hybrid was a dud in comparison to the Prius. Although its price and fuel efficiency were comparable, the Civic Hybrid sold about 20 percent as many units. While Toyota sold 159,000 Priuses in the United States during 2008, Honda sold about 31,000 Civic Hybrids. The Civic’s fuel mileage, price, technology, reliability and overall quality were all comparable to the Prius’. The big difference between the two vehicles was their appearance. The Civic Hybrid looks like any other Civic, except that it has a little “Hybrid” emblem on its trunk lid. The Prius looks like, well, a Prius. It’s distinctive. Some call it funny-looking. It’s perfectly recognizable from half a mile away. So why would the Prius outsell the Civic Hybrid by a
factor of five to one? Because the Prius is cool. Its wonky design instantaneously became a symbol for environmental awareness and frugality. Driving a Prius projects the driver’s identity as a person who cares about the planet and enjoys new technology. The same could be said of the buyers of any hybrid, but the Prius design projects the driver’s identity more effectively. The Prius is conscientious and fun at the same time. So the Prius is cool. The Prius driver is, by association, both conscientious and fun. So the Prius driver is, by association, cool. The Prius also emphasized the fun of new technology. It featured a large computer screen where the driver, when backing up, could see a wide-angle view from the car’s rear bumper. The rest of the time Prius owners could use the same screen to watch elaborate animations illustrating the hybrid technology and reporting fuel efficiency. Watching Prius drivers you can get the sense that they are enjoying their cars in ways most of us don’t. I used to share my commuting schedule with a Prius owner whose driving style mystified me. He never drove the posted speed limit. Generally, he was slower than the traffic and his speed was erratic. One day, I would pass him driving 65 or 70. The next day he’d be dawdling along at 55. One day as I passed him I noticed he wasn’t looking at the road. He had his eyes trained on the center of his dashboard, at the Prius information
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Transportation continued screen. Then I thought I understood why he drove at varying, unusual speeds: He was tracking the car’s fuel efficiency and adjusting his pace to see if he could improve his fuel mileage. He was playing the Prius equivalent of a video game. My friend Fred drives a Prius. Fred is a retired school principal in his seventies. He’s politically conservative. He loves BMW motorcycles and he and his wife, Gladys, spend several weeks every year traveling on his immaculate touring bike. When they’re not traveling by motorcycle, they drive a Prius. When I was in the car with him, Fred demonstrated how the video camera automatically turned on when he put the Prius in reverse. He pointed out the car’s complete silence as it backed out of a parking space and maneuvered around the parking lot on electric power. We got out and he had me touch the cold exhaust pipe. Fred loves good technology. From his perspective, his car–like his motorcycle–was making a statement about great technology, not environmentalism or politics. Like million of other people from all walks of life, Fred thinks the Prius is cool. The history of the Prius illustrates an exciting phenomenon we might call the Prius Effect. When a new idea or a piece of technology ignites the human imagination it can spread rapidly. 28
At the dawn of the new millennium when 12-miles-pergallon sport-utility vehicles ruled the American road, a funny-looking little car with 14-inch wheels (they’ve increased wheel sizes since then) and a video screen in its dashboard suddenly became one of the most popular automobiles in the United States. Movie stars drove them. Soccer moms wanted them. Pundits up and down the political spectrum doubt society’s capacity to change. It makes us sound wise, I guess, to express skepticism. The Prius Effect suggests that consumers, in general, are more flexible and inventive than most pundits imagine. The Prius, and the Prius effect, demonstrate how a product can be more successful and have more impact if it answers our queries positively. It’s Beautiful. A bunch of consumers, 2 million or so worldwide, have found the Prius sufficiently beautiful to plunk down their hard-earned cash. It Creates Abundance. If the Prius uses, on average, twothirds the gasoline of an average car worldwide, then Priuses are preserving about 303 million gallons of gasoline each year. It’s Fair. Shoppers exercising their power of choice in a very competitive automotive industry have created the
A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Summer 2011
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Mother Earth News (MotherEarthNews.com) is the Original Guide to Living Wisely. Topics include organic gardening; do-it-yourself projects; cutting energy costs; using renewable energy; green home building; and rural living. Bryan Welch is publisher of Mother Earth. “Beautiful and Abundant” sells for $25.95 and is available through MotherEarthNews.com or at (800) 234-3368.
Book Review Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities By Kathryn McCamant & Charles Durrett A man’s home is his castle. But demographic and economic changes have turned our castles into islands. How can we regain the elements of the traditional village – family, cooperation, community and a sense of belonging – within the context of 21st century life? Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities is an in-depth exploration of a uniquely rewarding type of housing which is perfect for anyone who values their independence, but longs for
Book Review continued more connection with those around them. Written by the award-winning team that wrote the original “cohousing bible” and first brought cohousing to North America, this fully-illustrated manual combines nuts-and-bolts practical considerations and design ideas with extensive case studies of dozens of diverse communities in Europe and North America, Cohousing communities create unique opportunities for designing more sustainable lifestyles. Whether urban, suburban or rural; senior or inter-generational; retrofit or new, the authors show how the physical structures of cohousing communities lend themselves to a more efficient use of resources, and make everything from gardening to childcare to socializing easier. Creating Cohousing puts the “neighbor” back into “neighborhood”; and is an essential resource for anyone interested in more environmentally and socially sustainable living. Available from New Society Publishers: http://bit.ly/iWBelG
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Prius Effect and made the Prius a resounding success. It’s Contagious. The Prius is to cars what the Chuck Taylor is to footwear. For a decade it has embodied a wonky sense of cool. As long as we’re interested in transportation, efficient, innovative automobiles will demonstrate their value. As long as we’re interested in a healthy world, technology that preserves our habitat will change lives and markets.
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