Say It Out Loud! I'm Green And I'm Conservative?

New Groups Make A Conservative Argument On Climate Change | WBUR & NPR
Good to see that greener living is being embraced by folks on both sides of the political spectrum. Guess folks are realizing that we only have one habitable planet.

Cool Green Jobs in Fair Trade

Fair Trade Resource Network » Fair Trade Jobs You know that I like to post cool green jobs on occassion. One of my volunteer activities is to work at a fair trade retail store called Ten Thousand Villages. How cool would it be to work fulltime in the fast growing and dynamic fair trade industry? Click on the link to see what's available.

RIPE! Fun at the Botanical Garden

This weekend marke the third annual RIPE! Food and Garden Festival at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. I decided  to embrace the autumnal chilly temperature and rain to check out the festival for the first time. I couldn't be a respectable green and garden blogger without making an appearance at such a wonderful festival, right? I had a great time, learned a lot and stumbled upon a few unexpected Black and Into Green treasures. Thought I would share some of what one can find at a botanical garden, for those of you that haven't crossed visiting such a wonderful green wonderland off of your bucket list. LOL! (These are only just a small sample of stimulating sights and scents you will find.)

Tons of unique and native plants

Hummingbird feeders

Stuffed animals by the boatload!

Gorgeous flowers - zinnias featured here.

Workshops and gardening classes. I attended a lecture on incorporating fruit in your front garden.



Goodies! These are cookies passed out at the workshop filled with current preserves. Yum.

Fanciful seasonal decor.

Delicious food at the cafe. This was served at the workshop. Salad with ground cherries. An easy to grow annual fruit to put in your garden.

Toys for kids of all ages. These are cutie little insect banks, for those of you that aren't into pigs.



Great gifts at the gift shop and lots of tea accessories for sipping in the garden!

Amazing cookbooks. I purchased this one today. Check out the book below that I found at a used book sale in the garden library. Great find! "Lil brown baby with sparkling eyes."

Lots of material on going green.
Great garden and natural themed accessories for your home. I want all of these lamps below!

Cute lil baby stuff!Edible landscaping ideas.

Cute seasonal decorating ideas.


Old school classics with new school themes.


Ipad accessories. LOL!

More decorating and landscaping ideas.

Goodwill.org: Five Back-to-School Trends You Can Find at Thrift Stores

Goodwill.org: Five Back-to-School Trends You Can Find at Thrift Stores

House Passes Mother of Anti-Environmental Bills Today

House Passes Mother of Anti-Environmental Bills Today

Secret Green Job: Guerilla Grafter

In San Francisco, a secret project bears fruit - Page 2 - latimes.com

Green Jobs, Red States: Cognitive Dissonance

Green jobs are growing the fastest in red and swing states | Cleantech News and Analysis

Cool Green Jobs: Environmental Attorney

Communities seek ways to override state control of oil and gas drilling boom - Local News Reading this article gave me a sense of hope in the ability of the everyday average citizen to retain some control over their environment, especially as my state has become the darling of the drilling and fracking industry. The legal profession is often derided for it's excesses and greed, but the attorneys that are fighting for a safe, clean and balanced future for all species should be exempt from this comtempt. Most are very bright and have many options in the legal field that pay significantly more in pure dollars, but find their reward in pursuing loftier outcomes. Now this is a cool green job. I haven't made any final decisions on natural gas drilling and fracking as I don't feel as informed on the issue as I should, but I do feel that drilling and fracking should be off limits in parks and minimized in neighborhoods, especially given concerns around earthquakes and water quality. Leave it to a group of mothers to say enough is enough and take a stand for their beliefs! I love it!

Local Farming Renaissance Takes Root in New York

Local Farming Renaissance Takes Root in New York

Community Garden: Welcome To My .004 Acres

This summer, I had the opportunity to lease my own little 5' by 7' plot of land for $10 from a non-profit that my city started for community gardening. I have been gardening in my mostly shady yard for many years, but have been limited to pots and a fig tree on my curbside garden. I have tried in vain to grow more edibles directly in the ground but with limited success, though I discovered that many of my perennial plantings are edible, much to my delight. I've always wanted to grow my own food, so I was delighted to start cultivating this summer. After many hours invested in reading my collection of gardening books and magazines, I purchased some tiny plants of kale, collards, tomatoes, zucchini, herbs and peppers. I also got some sunflower seeds as I lust after sunflowers, which I discovered love the sun, despise the shade. We are blessed in that our garden has a water hose, a shed stocked with tools and seed packets (none of my seeds grew) and a compost bin. It is very beautiful and has an arbor, fruit trees and roses. Oh yeah! We just have to do our part in keeping the area weeded and watering the common areas. Extra produce can be donated to the hunger center by placing in a drop off basket in the shed. The site was formerly a home that went down with the economy in 2008. Our city doesn't play when it comes to blighted buildings - it's going down. As the plants started to take off, I wasn't always sure of when or how to harvest the vegetables, but I figured it out and regularly use the kale, peppers and tomatoes in salads and stews. The master gardener assigned to our garden will have to tell me when it's time to harvest the onions. The city will host a harvest party for all of the area gardens. There will be music, cooking demonstrations and lots of stories to tell about surviving the drought and deer attacks. This fall we will be building a children's learning garden in our city's newest garden. As far as I'm concerned, all of the gardens are children's gardens as they bring out the sense of wonder, discovery and happiness that one feels witnessing a seed or tiny planting grow into something delicious! Now what to plant for fall and winter.....?

Being in my garden makes me happy and gives me a great sense of peace.

Front Entrance

Beautiful drought tolerant perennials line the front bed. The lady in the house next door is the unofficial sergeant of arms for the garden. Lol! I appreciate her diligence.

Apple trees inside of the garden add a nice touch.

A brickway and arbor welcome you to the garden.

Native flowers.

Garden beds are surrounded by stones and the soil is of EXCELLENT quality. This makes a HUGE difference.

Collards, grape tomatoes, dinosaur kale featured here.

Kale, the beautiful power food.

Collards and tomatoes. Collards taste sweeter after they have been hit by that first frost!

Indie Rose. Purchased these at the farmers market. Black and red when ripe. Smoky flavor.

Finally! Sunflowers!

If you haven't tasted a zebra tomato, you are missing out on some amazing flavor, baby!

Wow, I can't believe that I'm growing my own onions! Now what?

I got greedy and leased an adjacent plot to experiment with permaculture techniques. This is a zucchini plant. This plot will feature many perennial food plantings, strawberries, blueberries, herbs, rhubarb and asparagus.