We're #15! We're #15: Sierra Club Cool Schools

The Sierra Club just released their "Cool Schools" for 2o09 and UF ranked 15th -- Top twenty! Woohoo! Oh, wait, last year we were in the top 10 at #7. What the....?

The Cool Schools list ranks national universities for how eco they are. I can only imagine it is because Bernie Machen sacrificed the environment for being the Harvard of the South.

Push mower update

Just wanted to update on the fact that I really, really love the push mower we bought recently. I have already mowed the yard with it TWICE. In the whole time we had the power mower I think I may have mowed the yard with it once; it was just too loud and scary. The push mower is way quieter, and in many ways has been less of a pain in the butt. The old man and DJ are behind it, as well, which is a relief; DJ, however, does still want a riding mower. But, even if the old man decided that we needed another power mower, I would at least have the push mower for the times when I didn't want to wait for the old man to mow.

Goat Cheeze Pleeze: Glades Ridge Goat Dairy

"For Pet Consumption Only -- Not for Human Consumption" has to be one of the funniest jokes I've read on the buckets of yogurt and various cheeses I've seen circulating locally. Bren was the first to point it out to me, on some yogurt she had purchased from Shepard's Hill Farms. Apparently, if the dairy in question is not pasteurized, it's illegal to sell for humans to eat. But it's okay to give to your pet?

Glades Ridge Goat Dairy has started selling their goat cheese products at the Hwy 441 farmers market on Saturdays, and on their labels they make it clear that these things are not for human consumption. But their goat cheese is so tasty! I love to mix it up with fresh basil, oregano, sun-dried tomatoes, and drizzled with a ton of really high-quality olive oil.

My feeling is, if you want to purchase locally produced items, shouldn't you have a say as to what you want to put in your body? Peoples are always screaming about smaller government, so here you go! Wooo! I'm living la vida loca, baby!

Need-a-Bag Project Update 08.08.09: Dog Days of Summer Edition

Note: The Need-a-Bag? project was created to promote sustainable bagging at the Hwy 441 Alachua County Farmer's Market each Saturday morning. We supply reusable tote bags reclaimed from thrift stores and garage sales. The Need-a-Bag? project also utilizes old tank tops as tote bags by sewing up the bottoms (these are called t-totes). We invite you to read the other posts on the project by clicking the "Need-a-Bag? Project" label at the bottom of this post.

I've heard from a reliable source that there is nothing to eat at the farmers market except muscadine grapes and seminole pumpkins, now that summer has made the scene. I don't think that's entirely true, because I did see an eggplant, as well. Once again, however, I shied away from buying any veggies; I am starting to feel my cooking powers return, but more on that in another post.

Only a few short weeks ago and the farmers market was packed to the rafters with shoppers; now it's a ghost town. I think this happened around the same time last year, but I'm too lazy to check the posts from then.

The top photo is DG tenderly placing a Need-a-Bag? project label on a bag; it was supposed to be part of a photo essay on labeling bags, for any folks out there who might want to start their own Need-a-Bag? project franchise. Photo essays are so Nat Geo, though.

Anyway, there's no one at the farmers market now and so we can take something of a breather; DG will be taking this opportunity to high-tail it to Hawaii with her moms for a couple of weeks. I will be taking over for at least one of those weekends, having purchased three new totes at a garage sale. The next weekend, though, I'm dragging the fams to Disneyworld for one last fling before all hell breaks loose with 2nd grade and grad school. So, I don't know WHAT's going to happen with the project. I think this is the third time in the whole history of the Need-a-Bag? project that someone wasn't out there on a Saturday morning to hang bags. Crud.

Limited Edition Gator Tony Danza Underwear