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Fair Food Network – Grow the Good

Posted by html404 on May 6, 2011
in Food and Treats, Organic

Found this newsletter in my inbox and since the Fair Food Network is new to me, as it Oran Hesterman’s new book, I thought I’d share it with all of you.

Dear Friends,

As Oran’s wife, I want to share with you my excitement about the upcoming publication of his book, Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All. Over the past decades, I have experienced (first hand and daily!) his passionate commitment to transforming our broken food system, and I am remarkably proud of the many ways he has found to make an impact.

As a Professor of Agronomy and Extension Specialist at Michigan State University, he traveled the state working directly with farmers to create more sustainable farming systems. As a Program Director at the Kellogg Foundation, he traveled the country seeding the local good food movement with resources, ideas, and connections. Aware of the profound challenges inherent in redesigning the broken food system, he founded FairFood Network to address these issues, particularly in under-served communities, and continues to spread the fair food movement nationwide.

And all of his dedication, knowledge, experience and passion has been channeled into this book, Fair Food, which powerfully presents a blueprint for change and a roadmap for how to get us there.

I unabashedly recommend this book to you, knowing that it is truly a labor of love and devotion to the fair food future we all want for our children and future generations.

Best,
Lucinda Kurtz

Pre-Order the Book!
You can pre-order the book at your local book store or at Amazon.com

A Glimpse of What’s Inside
Check out Part 1 of a series of blogs based on the book atFairFoodNetwork.com – “From Conscious Consumer to Engaged Citizen”

Book Events in Your Town
Find out when Oran’s book tour will be in your town atwww.fairfoodbook.org/events

QUESTIONS?

If you have questions or want more information, contact us:
(734) 213-3999 or info@fairfoodnetwork.org.

FAIR FOOD NETWORK

Fair Food Network is a national nonprofit dedicated to building a more just and sustainable food system. FFN works at the intersection of food systems, sustainability, and social equity to guarantee access to healthy, fresh, and sustainably grown food, especially in underserved communities.

FFN implements model programs and brings the right people together to generate ideas, share resources, and promote policy changes to repair our food system.

To learn more about Fair Food Network, visit www.fairfoodnetwork.org.

You are receiving this email because you have either signed up to receive emails from Fair Food Network or are a friend of the organization.

Click here to unsubscribe

Our mailing address is:

Fair Food Network
205 E. Washington St. Suite B
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 213-3999

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bareMinerals Review

Posted by Brande on April 20, 2011
in Girl Stuff, Organic, Personal Care Products, Shopping

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

About the Product and Leslie Blodgett (Creator)

“We’re on a mission to change the way woman feel about their skin.”

“In developing a skincare line, we championed our expertise in minerals and their ability to energize skin cells in an entirely different way than conventionally done before. We use only the finest quality ingredients in our products – the purest, most beneficial minerals from the earth – to give you the results you desire without the use of harsh chemicals, preservatives or irritants.”

“It all began when Leslie Blodgett, Creator of bareMinerals, sought out a visionary in the field of organic agriculture with over four decades of experience. This farmer had unearthed a complex blend of essentials through a unique process, these minerals yield a densely rich concentrate capable of extraordinary skin-renewing benefits.”

“Clinical studies further validated the transformative efficacy of this soil: Faster cell renewal, reduced pore size, increased luminosity, softer, smoother, younger-looking skin. Today, this rare soil is our proprietary, 100% pure RareMinerals ActiveSoil Complex and the miracle ingredient in our groundbreaking bareMinerals skincare line. For the past decade, we’ve perfected the bareMinerals skincare formulas to combine the very best nature with science and modern technology so you can experience extraordinary results. Help prevent, treat, and protect with bareMinerals skincare – the all-in-one solutions to your skin’s needs.”

The product I received was the Skin Renewing Trio, 30 day Try Me Kit. The kit included a purifying facial cleanser, firming eye treatment, and purely nourishig facial moisturizer (combination skin).

Purifying Facial Cleanser: “This deep cleansing, hydrating formula removes makeup, dissolves impurities, and re-balances skin for a softer more luminous complexion.” The ingredients include pineapple, lychee & guava fruit enzymes, avacado oil, and pomegranate extract.

Firming Eye Treatment: “Restore firmness and reduce puffiness around the eye area with this breakthrough treatment to reveal younger looking eyes. The ingredients include vitamin E, soybean & sunflower seed oil and roman chamomile flower.

Purely Nourishig Moisturizer (combination skin): “Hydrate skin with this lightweight, yet remarkably effective moisturizer for iproved firmness, elasticity, radiance and skin texture”. Ingrediants include honeysuckle, rooibos (red tea), green tea, chamomile, coffee, licorice, vitamins A, B5, and E.

My Review

Just a background on my face. My chin, forehead and nose are more oily than my cheeks.

I’m always leary about trying new facial products. I had a bad experience with a very abrasive product. I’m old fashion when it comes to facial products. I normally use the blue tub of paste that starts with an “N” to deep clean my face.

I’ve been activity using the bareMineral products instead of my own now for about a week. I followed the directions on each bottle saying to cleanse or apply morning and at night. I found the bareMinerals purifying facial cleanser worked well on making my pore smaller and cleaned my face well. The firming eye treatment also worked well, my skin felt a little tighter in that area. And the purely nourishing moisturizer, I love it on my cheeks. However, I did notice that since my nose, chin, and forehead are normally oily. It seemed to make them look more oily than usual. But, still a great product.

The product box showed the ingredients, however the product bottles did not. Maybe it is because they are a trial sizes.

bareMineral products are available at QVC. I went on the QVC site to see what other products bareMinerals have and my search returned 155 products! And people seem to love all their products! Lots of 4 & 5 star ratings! To purchase these or any other bareMineral products you can call QVC at 1-888-345-5788 or visit www.qvc.com/bareescentuals

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Horizon Organic Milk

Posted by html404 on April 7, 2011
in Food and Treats, Health and Nutrition, Organic

Most of our family loves milk. Milk is a good source of Vitamin D and Calcium. It is good for us or at least we are taught that it is. We tend to buy milk that is on sale. We do try to avoid brands that contain hormones etc. Personally, I grew up on raw milk due to living in the country. I have fond memories of going to the farm with my mom to get milk out of the huge milk tank in the milk parlor in the milking barn. I would visit with the farmers, look in on the milking, visit the calves or just wait in the car. We knew our farmer. I won’t get into the raw vs. pasteurized milk debate here in this post, but if you are itching for a debate we can do that in the comment section. We could even debate the pasteurized vs. organic issue as well.

Speaking of organic, last month we received three coupons for a half gallon of Horizon® Organic Milk. Most of you probably already know that organic milk is produced without antibiotics, pesticides and from cows not given added growth hormones. Organic milk is also produced using cows who are treated humanly and who are grass fed or fed organic feed or hay (No GMOs!) during the winter. Much different than feedlot raised cattle. Horizon® Organic Milk is available in gallons and half gallons. What I did not know is that Horizon® is ultrapasteurized. Not sure that is a good thing, unfortunately. Nevertheless, purchasing milk from Horizon® supports over 600 individual organic farmers! Wow, I did not know that fact.

Our Review

We enjoyed Horizon® Organic Reduced Fat Milk very much. It had good flavor and tasted like milk. We drank it up in quick order. It came nicely packaged and we appreciated the coupons that bought us 1.5 gallons of milk. What more can we say? Milk is milk? (Let the debate in the comment section begin! Seriously, I’d love to hear where you all are on this topic.)

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A-Peeling Reuse

Posted by Brande on April 5, 2011
in All Natural Products, Articles, Books, Eco Friendly Products, Health, Health & Garden Tuesday, Organic, Saving Money

Leaving the grocery store the other day I picked up a free magazine called Natural Awakenings (March 2011) Edition. I found this article – “A-Peeling Reuse” by Jeff Yeager. It goes onto say…

“A rind is a terrible thing to waste,” says Jeff Yeager, who refers to himself as the ultimate cheapskate. Yeager has discovered multiple uses for produce rinds and ways to extract extended benefits before they land in the compost pile. Here are a few of his favorites, shared with us during a recent interview:

Cornhusks – Wrap fish and other seafood in fresh, dampened, sweet corn husks to grill and serve in husks.

Olive oil infusions – Add citrus peels to olive oil for flavor and to reinvigorate oil that’s getting old.

Savory Chicken – Stuff all kinds of fruit and veggie peels, inside a free-range chicken before roasting to give it extra flavor. Trimmings from onions, celery, citrus, apples garlic, etc., can be stuffed in the chicken cavity or sprinkled around the roasting pan. Once baked, the trimmings break down faster in the compost pile.

Hair Dye – Boil potato peels in water for about a half-hour, strain and let cool. Rinsing hair with this water after shampooig will gradually darken grey hair without any synthetic chemicals.

Shoeshine – Put a “split-shine” on leather shoes by polishing them with the slippery side of a banana peel.

Metal Polish – Lemon, lime, and other citrus rinds and pulp/juice are high in citric acid, which makes them great for polishing brass, cooper and other non-ferrous metals. Sprinkle on a little baking soda to hasten polishing (Ketchup works, too).

Seedling Pots – Scooped-out avocado shells make perfect biodegradable pots to start garden seedlings.

Note: Always thoroughly wash the rinds of produce that will be eaten or come into contact with food, even if it is organically grown.

Jeff Yeager is the author of The Cheapskate Next Door and The Ultimate Cheapskate’s road Map to True Riches.”

I went to Yeager’s website at www.ultimatecheapstake.com, and he’s really got great ideas. There’s one for egg shells, perfect since Easter is coming.

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Organic Toothpaste: An Alternative to Chemicals

Posted by html404 on March 8, 2011
in All Natural Products, Guest Post, Organic, Personal Care Products

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post. While we appreciate our guest writer’s submissions, this does not constitute endorsement or agreement to the opinions expressed in the articles featured.

by Sally

Brush your teeth! Mothers are constantly reminder their children to do this. Since the beginning of childhood, the emphasis on good dental hygiene is drilled into most kid’s minds, with the threat that if they do not follow this daily hygienic duty, their teeth will rot, fall out and they will be left toothless. Of course, no one wants that! Therefore, we obey and most people brush regularly, obtain dental insurance and get regular check-ups with the good intentions that they are preventing tooth decay, gum disease and providing a healthy service to their bodies. Moreover, most people never give thought to the fact that some toothpastes contains dangerous, harmful ingredients. After all, this is a product that must go into the mouth so it has to be safe, in all regards. Unfortunately, this is
not the case. Many popular brands of toothpaste contain ingredients that are harmful and carcinogenic.

Potentially Harmful Ingredients in Name Brand Toothpaste

Sodium Fluoride

When examining the ingredients on popular toothpaste labels, many only give one active ingredient, Sodium Fluoride, as an anti-cavity. This ingredient is classified as a toxin when ingested or inhaled in high doses. It is often used in cleaning products, psychiatric medications, anesthetics and in Sarin Nerve Gas. It was regularly added to the water in concentration camps during World War II to help keep the prisoners more compliant. It is also added to our public drinking water supply. Although it does work to help prevent cavities, it also can cause collagen to breakdown in muscles, skin, bones, kidneys and lungs and in lethal doses can affect the circulatory system and the heart.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

This ingredient is used in low doses for toothpaste and in larger doses for cleaning products, degreasers and soaps. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate has been shown to be associated with the development of mouth ulcers. Because of the harshness of this ingredient, it can damage oral tissue lining inside the mouth.

Hydrated Silica

This ingredient is added to many popular brands of toothpaste as a whitener. This ingredient works as an abrasive on the surface of teeth, which can harm the enamel causing a severe wearing down of this protective surface. Those who have receding gums, gum disease, sensitivity and tooth decay should avoid using toothpastes with this additive.

So, what is a person to do? After all, we cannot just stop brushing our teeth, unless we have some good dental insurance and don’t mind the sound of a drill. The best solution to this problem that many people have found is to switch to an organic toothpaste. Organic toothpastes contain safe, natural ingredients such as herbs and essential oils to fight bacteria, protect gums and freshen breath. There are a wide variety of these products to choose from today, which do not contain any harmful ingredients. Many
popular brands include Tom’s and Kiss My Face. Both of these can be purchased at Whole Foods Markets or Amazon. Using these products can provide the necessary tooth and gum hygiene to keep teeth and gums healthy, without the risks of causing harm to the body.

Sally is a dental hygienist and health expert who spends her free time traveling to local elementary schools teaching youngsters how to care for their teeth. After exploring dental insurance options as a new college graduate and as a single mom, she became passionate about preventative care in order to save money. After all, in this economy, it’s better to save now rather than pay later!