simple.green.organic.happy.

Category: Make a Difference: Community & Calls to Action

  • Listen Up, Philly! Eat Local Year Round: Philly Farm and Food Fest

    Listen Up, Philly! Eat Local Year Round: Philly Farm and Food Fest

     

    farmers market stuff

     

    We are indeed much more than what we eat,

    but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.

    -Adelle Davis

    I posted this over on our local family-centric blog but wanted to share here too. I’m wicked excited about this event!

    The Philly Farm & Food Fest promises to be an inspiration to buying local all year round, but I’m hoping to find local sources of flour so I can really take my summer eat local challenges one step further. I also love getting to know the people behind the local companies that I support.

    When:

    Sunday, April 1st from 11am -4pm (exclusive wholesale buyers’ reception from 4:30-6pm)

    Where:

    Pennsylvania Convention Center Annex Hall G

    What:

    This kid-friendly inaugural event is a collaboration between Fair Food and PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) and features:

    • over 100 local farmers, food producers, artisanal food businesses and other providers of sustainable goods and services from across our region: check out the full list of exhibitors here.
    • samples and sales of locally made products like “zip code” honey, cheeses, cured meats, jams, small batch ice creams, organic flour, baked goods
    • workshops on seed saving, hands-on seed planting skills, the ABCs of beekeeping, a guided tasting to artisan cheeses, and a healthy foods scavenger hunt for kids

    Why:

    It’s so important to know where your food comes from, and to support local businesses (keeping dollars in our area). An event like this not only helps you recognize and support local farmers and producers, but introduces you to the people behind the businesses. Remember when businesses meant people you could trust? Plus, a great opportunity to educate the kids about how food gets from farm to table.

    Tickets:

    General admission tickets are $15 in advance for adults or $20 at the door, children 12 and under are free. Group discounts are available for advance purchase only on the website; group of 15 or more pays only $10 per ticket. (I think I’ve got a group of about 20 area bloggers meeting up for this!)

    Find out about local CSAs and farmers markets, and bring your reusable bags for shopping.

    Like Philly Farm and Food Fest on Facebook and follow @PhillyFarmFest on Twitter for more updates 🙂

     

     

  • Save the Sage-Grouse

    Save the Sage-Grouse

     

    Apparently if you live in the western region of the US you can go out and see these in the wild.

    I only get to see the greater sage-grouse on nature documentaries and YouTube, but I love the damn things. They are evidence the the gods have a charming sense of humor.

    Drilling, urbanization and other factors are causing habitat fragmentation that’s threatening the survival of the greater sage-grouse— please, just take a moment to add your name to a petition asking that this bird’s wild spaces be protected. It really just takes a second.

    It is estimated that at one time there were nearly 2 million greater sage-grouse occupying the 13 western states that comprised its range. Today, the USFWS estimates that that number has declined between 69 and 99 percent.

    It’s not just about the sage-grouse, of course. It’s about every animal that thrives in the brush.

    But especially an animal that has a courting ritual that involves bouncing their (vocal) sacs. Reminiscent of the Philly Phanatic, I think 🙂

     

     

  • Take Action Against SOPA

    Take Action Against SOPA

    PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

    I HEARTILY ACCEPT the motto,
    ‘That government is best which governs least.’

    But, to speak practically and as a citizen,
    unlike those who call themselves no-government men,
    I ask for, not at once no government,
    but at once a better government.

    Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

    Float around the internet today and you’ll find many sites, big and small, blacked out in protest of SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act). We also have problems with PIPA (Protect IP Act).

    These bills if passed into law could have a profound affect on the internet as we know it: in essence they are leash-laws, muzzles on our First Amendment rights.

    I’m not one for silence and so I’m asking you to read the proposed SOPA bill.

    Then this post, which does a better job than I would in breaking down why SOPA is dangerous for you.

    And then DO SOMETHING about it. Call. If you’re not into talking into human beings (I’m not) call after business hours and leave a message.

    Write letters.

    Write emails. Personal ones carry more weight than just hitting send on those form ones, but form ones work if that’s all the time you’re willing to give.

    This post helps you with the whos and wheres to call and write.

    If you don’t do something, you have no right to complain. And if this goes through, you might not have the free internet as a venue for complaining anymore, anyway.