viva verde

A friend of mine Joel Robinson was in the Orange County Register today because his Wildlife Federation Certified backyard has been under attack by his neighbors.

(Joel in his yard- photo from Register)

I guess some of his neighbors are very anti-what-is supposed-to-be-growing-in-California because, “he’s received anonymous, threatening notes and even had some of his plants killed with herbicide. He says the situation in the neighborhood has become so tense he is thinking of moving away. ” Neighbors have actually defaced signs he has had posted ON HIS PROPERTY saying Wildlife Habitat.

Reading some of the comments from those against Joel (let me guess, from the neighbors), many said that they are for the “green” but not for his landscaping…some have even threatened to destroy his yard and call the city to intervene. UGGG!

here are my suggestions to those on Joel’s block:

1. prioritize people: there are so many other things that are more important….like the election, world hunger, the olympics, crime/graffiti, the dishes…heck anything is more important.

2. for probably the billionth time on this blog: southern California, if not the entire state is having a serious water crisis!

3. people need to remember that this is what was growing here before we imposed our tropical, British, high-water BS lawns that do nothing more than make us think we are somewhere other than Southern CA.

4. landscaping: yes you may not like it but hey, i dont like that you decided to grow yellow roses rather than red. and hey, i told you to to trim that hedge in the shape of an egg, not a square! your lawn, your taste.

perhaps i am bitter, living in Irvine, yes the city that says it is green that fined me for my own native yard, but we have a bogus HOA so they have an excuse.

if you agree with Joel and the use of natives, i urge everyone that reads this post to call the City of Orange City Council and demand that they not only protect Joel, but our future water supplies by encouraging people to grow more natives.

Mayor (714) 744-2200 Council (714) 744-2211

A few months ago at my friend Paige’s b-day party, i happened to meet one of the publishers of the new Edible LA publication that is coming out soon.

This is part of a number of regional publications from The Edible Communities Publications which:

“ creates editorially rich, community-based, local-foods publications in distinct culinary regions throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Through our publications, supporting websites, and events, we connect consumers with family farmers, growers, chefs, and food artisans of all kinds. ”

I was pretty excited about this, i have had a year-old copy of the Edible Brooklyn in the store’s bathroom…keep reading it over and over and love the photography.

  Well, guess what?  Just got the LA version here a few days ago.  This is a quarterly publication, but i think we will be selling it…already have had a ton of compliments.

(yes!)

Came home last night from a long night catering for Avanti Cafe and was catching up on the Olympics when I saw a commercial for something that made me pretty pissed-off:

SC Johnson’s new “greenlist” certification.

Guess who is in charge of granting this label to SC Johnson products that, “will help consumers identify products that are environmentally responsible and deliver the performance excellence they trust and expect from SC Johnson.”

SC Johnson of course!

Part of this advertisement was also a visual of the SC Johnson products that they were associating with the “greenlist” label.

(basically they showed these products and others like Ple*ge, Ra*d, Glad* air fresheners…yes you name it name-brand products that we have been seeing for years)

This makes me sick. They haven’t even changed the labels of the products! How stupid do they think we are (i would assume pretty stupid to pull this off). From what i have found SCJ have devised this program back in 2001; funny that we never hear of it until the beginning of 2008.

As part of my on-going efforts to help with the marketing of the large corps that try to greenwash the public i have created a a new logo for them:

please BAN all SC Johnson products!

and please support the companies that have been creating non-toxic cleaning products as 100% of their business!

LA Time Home section (one of the top things i look forward to during the week besides Food section), had this awesome article about how to transform the basic IKEA varde wall shelf and give it some personality.

(the piece in question and one of the results)

I love me some IKEA. It is a great, low-cost alternative for eco-friendly living…now i am NOT SAYING THEY ARE THE BEST, but i do suggest them to help with expenses when people want to make changes because not all of us are Leonardo Dicaprio .

link to video

This awesome customer came in yesterday and gave me a coupon for Ecover cleaning products.

I know i sound lame, but i have never dealt with a coupon. does Ecover pay me back for the money I took off the product….how does this work??

anyways, here’s a link for the coupons and go for it. up to $1.75 off!!

because we have been making some big changes in our store, i decided (well more like had to) redecorate and design some of the displays in the store.

had these old wine cases in storage and with a little help from the drill and stud-finder, made a totally cute new product display, green goes well with natural wood colors!

(lovin’ the new Baby Section!)

took the old branches in the small space off and mounted them on the wall, took some old magazines and layered them to make large butterflies and attached them.

(this is a great party decoration idea that is easy for kids to do!)

the back space is almost finished with the major layout. i transfered some of the decorative items from the front and created a warmer area with lighting and Peace Lilies (they take out a TON of bad air!) and aloe.

i still have to figure out product and the work-station of the space…guess what i will be doing at 5am!

OMG  big-time!!!

Just got the word that we are going to the first US convention for Slow Food-Slow Food Nation 2008!!!

In case you don’t know: Slow Food is a way of living and a world-wide organization committed to celebrating, preserving and education of food.  Basically the opposite of Fast Food-something Good, Clean and Fair!

Already signed up for the Food Pavilion and lectures by awesome food types like, Alice Waters, Eric Schlosser and so many others that have contributed to the “eat fair-eat local-eat organic” movement…and all of them in one place with tasty olive oils, wines and the BEST in eating…..if you can go, PLEASE GO!

if not, i will be posting about the activities through this blog.