In the last several years, many have dreamed about chucking city ways and living on the land as a small organic farmer. Here’s the story about Michael Paine, a man who went to college in the Bronx, then joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Lesotho to grow trees.

He concluded that growing food was more pertinent than forestry and when he came home he decided to be a family farmer. The bank wouldn’t lend him money to buy a farm, but based on his wife’s earnings they would lend money to buy a country estate.

It’s an inspiring story and while most of us won’t end up as small farmers, we can appreciate those who do.

Image Credit: cizauskas on Flickr.

We try to shop organic as much as we can, and sometimes organic produce is considerably pricier than conventional. When you pay a premium for organic food, you want to get your money’s worth! Before you throw those fruit and veggie scraps into the compost bin, check out these ways to use the bits and pieces that you’d normally toss.

Swiss Chard

Chard leaves are the star in lots of tasty veggie dishes, but after chopping up all of those greens, you’re left with a pile of stems. The stems, or ribs, are actually great in recipes, too! They’re crunchy and slightly tangy. You can treat them like celery or onions and add them to stir fries, casseroles, soups, and stews.

Celery Leaves

Margie, the woman who operates the local Atlanta CSA Vegetable Husband, has a great suggestion for the leaves on the top of celery. She adds them to soups and stews for a deep, celery flavor. Celery leaves also work really well in salads of both the greens- and mayonnaise-based varieties. Just chop them up finely and mix them right in to add a little kick!

Mushroom Stems

Many stuffed mushroom recipes call for chopping the stems right up into your filing mixture, but these tasty leftovers have more uses than just that! Once you remove the tough part at the very bottom of the stem, try adding them to everything from soups and casseroles to salad dressings. You can toss your dressing into a food processor with some mushroom stems and process until smooth to add a nice, earthy taste to your salads.

Citrus Peels

After peeling that orange or juicing a lemon, you can take advantage of the zest before composting the rest! Citrus zest is the dark-colored part of the skin, and it’s perfect for adding a citrusy flavor to baked goods. You can remove it using a paring knife or vegetable peeler. Just wrap the zest in wax paper and put it in a container in the freezer. It should last a couple of weeks.

Broth

Home made, organic vegetable broth is a great catch-all for your scraps! You can save veggie leavings - like onion and garlic peel, carrot ends, mushroom stems, and stems from fresh herbs and spices - in a container in the freezer. Once you have enough, just put them into a pot with enough water to cover and bring to a rolling boil. Lower the heat and simmer for an hour, then strain out the scraps. What’s left is a wholesome, tasty veggie broth that’s just as good as (if not better than) the store-bought sort!

Becky Striepe is an indie crafter living in Atlanta, GA with her husband, two cats, and her trusty sewing machine.

She runs a crafty business: Glue & Glitter, sewing handmade housewares from vintage and revamped materials. Her mission is to use existing materials in products that help folks reduce their impact without sacrificing style!

By Annie Scott, Tonic

At last, spring is upon us! Even if you’re cooped up in an office, it’s still fun to appreciate the springiness happening all around. Here are a few things to watch for as we head into the season of love, rebirth and much-needed warmth.

10 Signs that Spring has Sprung

1. No jackets.

This is a personal favorite of mine, especially since almost everyone in New York wears a boring black coat all winter. Suddenly, as spring arrives, the streets are filled with color and interesting outfits — and you can actually see what everyone is wearing! Some people take the “oh my LORD I don’t have to wear a coat!!” a little too far, though. Watch for shivering.

2. Spring smells.

One of the first signs of summer is that freshly-cut grass smell. In spring, it’s flowers. They’re everywhere; florists are starting to stock outside displays, men and women are carrying them around and if you’re lucky enough to be near some nice landscaping, they’re starting to bloom on their own. The other telltale scent? Barbecue. That meat-flavored smoke wafting through the air means it’s time to hit the deck — and start grilling.

3. People walking slower.

There are two reasons that people walk slower in the spring. One is that they’re not freezing, obviously. The other is that due to the not freezing, people are actually enjoying being outside again. They’re literally smelling the roses. Spring is a time for strolling.

4. Birds.

You’ll notice that you hear more than just the usual muffled pigeon sounds as you walk around outside. Birds start appearing everywhere in spring, and you may even catch a couple of randy ones chasing after each other. Brown-chicken-brown-cow!

5. You drop five pounds.

Sometimes, we don’t even notice it happening. We crave lighter foods when it’s warmer, so without even realizing it, you may have just gone on a diet of sorts. Not only that, but the good feelings of being outdoors will encourage you to exercise more. Five pounds may just fall right off you

6. Your body feels better.

Not only might you feel a bit lighter, but because you’re not all tense from being cold, your muscles will be more relaxed all day, and then at the end of the day, too. Give yourself an extra flexibility and muscle relaxation boost by hitting a few yoga classes. Yoga feels great in the spring.

7. You get more done.

The days are getting longer, and more hours of light means more hours of motivation. It’s so easy to quit running errands when it gets dark out. Now, you can keep on with your day until 7 p.m. or so before the sun sets. Not only that, but the bright, warm light early in the morning gets you out of bed faster. This phenomenon is part of why we have “spring cleaning.” We suddenly have time!

8. You hear music.

The good feeling of sunshine on your shoulders may bring songs into your head — or it may be that your local musicians are out on the street playing again. After relying on your iPod for tune-age all winter, you can finally unplug and listen to the music of your environment.

9. Buds are budding, sprouts are sprouting …

Keep an eye on that dormant tree outside your office window. In fact, consider photographing it daily to make an album of its progress — it’s fun. Also, a walk through the park through budding trees and other plants will remind you that this is the season of new beginnings and bolster your spirits. Get out there!

10. Love is in the air.

Everyone is suddenly better looking, no? Their faces aren’t scrunched up from the cold, you can see what they’re wearing, they’ve lost five pounds, the SAD blues are receding, our circulation is on the rise and the sunshine has our bodies manufacturing vitamin D by the jazzies. All this can lead to some pretty lusty thoughts about the people around you. Don’t feel guilty; it’s normal. Watch for the adorable PDAs as hands come our of pockets and lovers loll around having picnics and making lovey-dovey faces at each other. Better yet, find somebody to love up for yourself and give those randy birds some competition.

Tonic is a digital media company dedicated to promoting the good that happens around the world each day. We share the stories of people and organizations that are making a difference by inspiring good in themselves and others.

At Tonic, we also see ourselves as a service company — one that strives not only to inspire our readers, but to equip them with the resources to make a difference.

1. Fertilizer in Subway Sandwich Rolls

While chemical fertilizers inevitably make it into our produce in trace amounts, you would not expect it to be a common food additive. However, ammonium sulfate can be found inside many brands of bread, including Subway’s. The chemical provides nitrogen for the yeast, creating a more consistent product.

2. Beaver Anal Glands in Raspberry Candy

The anal glands of a beaver, conveniently euphemized as castoreum, are a common ingredient in perfumes and colognes but are also sometimes used to -- believe it or not -- enhance the flavor of raspberry candies and sweets.

3. Beef Fat in All Hostess Products

While this may not bother the most ardent omnivore, others are shocked to discover that their favorite childhood treats contain straight-up beef fat. The ingredient comes included a list of other oils that may or may not be used, so it is always a gamble! It is enough to make some of us want to go vegan.

4. Crushed Bugs as Red Food Coloring

After killing thousands at a time, the dried insects are boiled to produce a liquid solution that can be turned to a dye using a variety of treatments. Some people worry that the coloring -- often called carmine or carminic acid -- could be listed as a “natural color,” disguising the fact that there are bugs in the product.

5. Beetle Juice in Sprinkles and Candies

You know that shiny coating on candies like Skittles? Or the sprinkles on cupcakes and ice cream sundaes? Well, they get that glaze from the secretions of the female lac beetle. The substance is also known as shellac and commonly used as a wood varnish.

6. Sheep Secretions in Bubble Gum

The oils inside sheep’s wool are collected to create the goopy substance called lanolin. From there, it ends up in chewing gum (sometimes under the guise of “gum base”), but also is used to create vitamin D3 supplements.

7. Human Hair and/or Duck Feathers in Bread

What’s in your morning bagel? If you get it from Noah’s Bagels, it contains either human hair or duck feathers, and it’s your guess as to which. The substance, called L-cysteine or cystine, is used as a dough conditioner to produce a specific consistency. While artificial cysteine is available, it is cost prohibitive and mostly used to create kosher and halal products.

8. Coal Tar in Red-Colored Candy

Coal tar is listed as number 199 on the United Nations list of “dangerous goods,” but that doesn’t stop people from using it in food. The coloring Allura Red AC is derived from coal tar and is commonly found in red-colored candies, sodas and other sweets.

9. Calf Stomach in Many Cheeses

In the UK, all cheeses are labeled as either suitable or not suitable for vegetarians because in Britain -- and everywhere else — many cheeses are made using rennet, which is the fourth stomach of a young cow. In the United States and most other countries, people are left to guess about the stomach-content of their cheese.

10. Sand in Wendy’s Chili

Sand is hidden in Wendy’s chili as a name you might remember from high school chemistry class: silicon dioxide. Apparently they use sand as an “anti-caking agent,” perhaps to make sure the chili can last for days and days over a heater. Skip it, cook yourself a quick vegetarian meal instead this Thanksgiving.

Source: This article was originally published on WebEcoist.

Photo Credits: wkrantz, high hopes gardens

Food waste and food-soiled paper make up about 25 percent of a typical household’s waste. If you aren't into gardening, your probably don't have a compost pile out back and if you live where we live, food scrap recycling isn't an option yet. Most of us just toss our food scraps into the trash or down the garbage disposal.

However, in some places like Alameda County in California and Bellevue, Washington you can now recycle food waste and food-soiled paper, fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grinds and paper filters, tea bags, meat, cheese, bones, pizza boxes, paper plates and napkins in with the leaves and grass. San Francisco even has a mandatory composting and recycling ordinance in place.

In an article called Recycling Food Scraps in this month's issue of Time Magazine, Bryan Walsh writes:

Food to Fuel
Want fries with that fill up? With Pacific Biodiesel you can. Hawaii-based Pacific Biodiesel, Inc. converts recycled cooking oil into fuel that powers generators, commercial equipment, vehicles, and marine vessels. Biodiesel production diverts cooking oil from landfills, while its use reduces emissions of major greenhouse gases and substances such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, hazardous diesel particulates, and the acid-rain-causing sulfur dioxide.

Rockin' to Fight Hunger
Rock and Wrap It Up! (RWU) is a nonprofit program that arranges the collection and local donation of leftover food from rock concerts, sporting events, political rallies, and college and school cafeterias. There’s a lot of food leftover from these venues—as a rule, caterers prepare 10 to 15 percent more than they need for an event—and RWU makes it simple and satisfying to donate the leftovers.

Shopping for Change
Recycling food scraps is good for the environment and business! Supermarkets in Massachusetts are reducing, recovering, and recycling their food waste and saving money by participating in the state’s voluntary supermarket recycling certification program.

Food Scraps Go to the Animals
Don’t throw away your food waste! Barthold Recycling and Roll-Off Services picks up food scraps from commercial businesses and feeds the scraps to pigs and cattle.