RuMe Reusable Bag GIVEAWAY

Even the lightest of greenies are starting to bring their own bags to the supermarket, and saving millions of pounds of waste each year. But even with the best of intentions, many of us leave our bags at home, in the car....anywhere but in the store with us! With so many types of reusable bags out there, choosing the right system for you can be daunting. I'd like to share with you why RuMe reusable bags are my personal favorites!

• The Ease: Compact & simple to fold up into my purse. After I unload my market goods, groceries, or shopping exploits from the bag(s), I simply fold it up and return it to my purse. When I used plastic bags, I emptied them and stuck them in a designated spot for recycling. Now the spot is in my purse....and my cabinets are free of clutter!

• The Design: Specifically the square designed seams. These make the bags easy to stand up, which makes your bagger like you. Other reusable bags can be slippery and annoying for baggers who are used to a system....which has led to me being left to bag myself! Never happens with my RuMe Bags





• The Size: HUGE! You can take 3 and get an average size grocery cart into them. I'm not kidding...I've done it! They are also great at farmer's markets because they are water-proof and easily fit over your shoulder for easy carrying.




• The Style: Who wants to walk into the mall or Target with a $2 grocery-store branded bag? RuMe bags are so cute, they move beyond the grocery store, and replace ALL one-time use bags! Not to mention many of the styles are masculine...your man will thank you!




• The Options: If you don't need a bag as big, buy the Mini! Same style, durability and design...just mini! Great for packing lunch, going to the library, the gym, wherever!

There are really more reasons why this is my go to bag constantly, but I'll stop here! Actually, I'm not stopping, I'm giving away 3 of these bags to celebrate Earth Day! To enter, leave a comment about what one green thing you've resisted doing, and why. For an extra entry, subscribe the the MamaGoesGreen newsletter. And lastly, Twitter about it, and let me know! Do it before April 23rd, I'm choosing the winners on the 24th. Have fun!

TAKE 10% off ALL ITEMS

SKOY Winners

The winners have been chosen and contacted! Keep your eye out for another giveaway this week!

SKOY is here!

Hello, my name is Sara and I am a dish rag addict. I fully admit that I have an obsession with avoiding paper towels. Maybe some of you can relate. It started as a frugal thing, I hated the extra dollars they added to my grocery bill, but then I realized how much waste they created. But lets be honest....a traditional rag doesn't always get the job done quite as neatly as the paper towels did. Not to mention how icky they get after just one use....getting a whiff of a stinky dishrag is the worst! We got a chance to try out SKOY, and I am officially in love! I had to order some immediately to offer on MamaGoesGreen!




I've been using my SKOY for about a month now, and as other moms must imagine, I have had PLENTY of opportunities to test out the durability and effectiveness. Dried up egg, jelly, peanut butter, and various unidentifiable messes are all tackled efficiently with the SKOY cloth. And just a quick rinse and ring, and the SKOY will be ready for its next use. I've had one in use for a month, and it has held up to the dishwasher every night, and just now needs to be replaced. At this price, these will save you money from the start!

SKOY is eco-friendly because they are 100% biodegradable, and made from a unique blend of cotton and wood-pulp cellulose. They are manufactured in Germany, in a facility that makes every effort to be as eco-friendly as possible. Independent tests have shown this to completely break down in compost within 5 weeks. All of the colors and inks are made using water based materials.

In celebration of EARTH DAY 2009, we will be featuring 1-2 products that we love per week, and doing giveaways for each of them! SKOY starts off the festivities, with a total of 3 winners! Here is how to enter:

1. Leave me a comment about how you are trying to cut down your waste
2. Twitter @Mamagoesgreen about this giveaway
3. Visit http://www.mamagoesgreen.com/ and tell me what you'd love to see the next giveaway about
4. Subscribe to this blog
5. Become a Facebook fan

3 winners will be chosen on April 10th, 12pm EST. Be sure to leave your email address so you can be reached. Have fun!

Joel Salatin - Ballet of the Pasture

The auditorium is abuzz with the bubbling excitement of a beehive. The lights dim ever so slightly and the buzz slowly turns into a low hum. I scan the audience and see that the number of college students, worn farmers, and families are roughly in proportion. It impresses me that so many different groups have come together to learn about the same thing. Joel Salatin is here, and we are hungry for his point of view.

POLYFACE FARMS

Salatin is the farmer of Polyface Farms, featured and made notorious by Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. Self-described as a "Christian Libertarian Environmentalist Lunatic", he's here tonight, at Appalachian State University, to present his lecture "Ballet of the Pasture". With a witty delivery, and first class pictures, we take a virtual tour of Polyface Farms, where "plant-animal symbiosis heals the landscape, the community, and the eater." Truly this common sense approach to farming and animal husbandry shouldn't be so revolutionary....but sadly it is! Huge, corporate agro-business has taken over the global market, and we've been suckered into thinking bigger is better and more efficient. But it has instead given us sub-par food, a disconnect from our own communities, and rampant disease. However, "it's not enought to say NO to what we don't like-we must say YES to the good, " according to Salatin.

POLYFACE FARMS

What is our food culture as a whole in this country? There are stories of corporate greed, polluted environments, mad cow disease, salmonella outbreaks, genetically modified organisms, and bankrupt farmers by the hour. Can this be normal? Can it be normal for the average community to import 95% of its food? Can it be normal that the average hamburger has meat from 400 cows in it?! Joel put it poetically when he said, "If we think in our cleverness we can outbid nature-nature bats last." We don't have a relationship with our food, instead Salatin describes it as a "one-night stand of prostitution."

POLYFACE FARMS

There is another model. A local, sustainable and noble model. It is a model relationally oriented and ecologically healing. The land, and animals are not creatures that are just to be manipulated however we please. Instead, Salatin offers a different point of view, celebrating "the pigness of the pig." When we let the animals do work they enjoy, we fully honor and respect them. As Micheal Pollan puts it: "The pigs on Polyface Farm have a happy life, and one bad day." The cows rotate grazing fields, the chickens follow behind them picking out bugs and parasites, whilst leaving ecologically sound fertilizer, and the Ballet of the Pasture is played out. Instead of exploiting our resources, we instead steward them, and preserve them for future generations. Ecology and Economy are not at odds-we can have both. Polyface Farms provides food for 1,500 families, 10 retail outlets, and 30 restaurants through on-farm sales and metropolitan buying clubs. The yields per acre are up to 4 times that of current farming practices. You tell me what makes more sense.

There will be more and more farmers willing to change their models, and even new entreprenuers entering the scene, if we support our local food structure. The corporate power influences the top....and is only concerned about keeping the status quo. Salatin warns that as this movement gains ground, there is an equal push back from the opposite side of the fence. He encourages us who care about our food, our health and our land, to be vigilant and build our local food system faster. Local, grassroots efforts will create successful innovation. Let's do what's right...build relationships with your food and in turn with your community.

Update on Mountaintop Removal

And then I read this, and feel hope.
Read more about mountaintop removal at www.ilovemountains.org.
Despite your politics, I think most Americans agree that we need to be looking for renewable energy sources that work and can sustain us while keeping our communities clean. This is a good step in the right direction.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Book Discussion

I can't recommend this book enough! Written by best-selling author, Barbara Kingsolver, it documents a year of local eating. I live in the same county as the author, and couldn't wait to pick up this book to get some tips that would certainly apply to my local eating options. I was surprised at the quick pace of this book, and how it pulled me in and kept me reading. Peppered with country anecdotes, and sobering statistics, AVM is a book that will likely change the way you eat. Every chapter is followed with numerous recipes, that keep me going back throughout the growing season for inspiration. After reading through it once, I am now enjoying reading it for a second time for the Sound Mind, Sound Mom Book forum hosted by Simple Mom. I do hope you'll join the book forum, and read this groundbreaking novel!