Greeneroo

Learn more about Climate Change from the perspective of a TROUT.  When I was living in Daly City, I dreamed of tropical paradises, and although I enjoyed the fog (it was so clean and sparkly and made the street noise quieter), I know climate change is not what I hoped for. Imagine being a trout, your living space is changing rapidly and you can’t move on, pack up and leave, or install a water temperature gauge. You have to try to stay alive…. Climate change from a trout’s eye view.

Now add the other factors that affect the streams, environmental disasters, oil spills in Louisianna, toxic runoff, loss of salt marshes, and you’ll be wishing you could live in a place where people thought about the earth.  Read SOS California’’s Native Fish Crisis.  (pdf)  If you care about Salmon or Steelhead….. read this well written report.  You do want to know.

Filoli Gardens has an extensive volunteer program and they offer great training too. There are amazing perks, which include getting to know one of the most beautiful homes and areas in California, watching the garden change over the year (it is different every time I go with something new blooming), participate in special events, attend special events just for volunteers, and meet great people with a passion for gardens and gardening.

If you have pulled you last weed but would like to be around a exquisite garden, if you wish you could pull some weeds but don’t have a garden  or are tired of talking to your plants, come join us. With 1200 volunteers and dozens of groups, we have something for everyone. We have a great time!!
Become a FiloliVolunteer today!  Contact Filoli Volunteers today!

Phone (650) 364-8300,  extension 300
Fax (650) 367-0724
Email volunteer@filoli.org

Related posts about Filoli: Wine and Roses, Volunteer Open House, Celebrating Films and Flowers, Spring Fling Arrives. These are great, but going there is better.

This ice cream is great, tasty, creamy, fresh! I got to taste it during a demo at Costco, and was so impressed. Laloo’s green commitment is phenomenal. The location of the happy goats and HQ is Petaluma. It naturally has less fat and lactose than cows milk and all the essential amino acids. Slow food is a priority, and they compost too, considering each step of production. They have invited us to all come and visit them at the Wednesday night Petaluma Farmer’s Market or other events.  Try Cajeta de Leche, froyo with a caramel swirl and Texas toffee bits, it will make you cry with happiness. Laloos is easy to find at the Bay Area stores (and throughout the US) below:

• Whole Food’s Market
• Mollie Stone’s
• Piazza’s Market (Palo Alto, San Mateo)
• Draeger’s Market
• Andronicos
• There is a store locator on the site, just plug in your zip code to find a store next to you

What better way to celebrate the end of the summer than a visit to the beautiful HIDDEN VILLA? 
WHEN: Sunday, August 29, 2010 from  5:30 to 7:30 pm. HV has been closed during the week for campers this summer. Now it is our chance to relax and enjoy. The cost is just $10 per car.

26870 Moody Rd
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
(650) 949-8641

This event features two incredible bands! Chelle & Friends will pump out their New Orleans sound and Orquesta d’Soul will inspire everyone to get up and dance with Latin rhythms! Bring a picnic and lawn chair or blanket. Hidden Villa fresh produce salads and sandwiches will be available for purchase. Parking is located at Foothill College in Lot #7. Shuttle bus service to Hidden Villa begins at 4:30 pm.

Advanced Registration is required.$10 per car. Limit of one car per household! Advance registration is required.
YOUR CONFIRMATION EMAIL SERVES AS YOUR PARKING PASS.
PLEASE PRINT IT OUT AND BRING IT WITH YOU TO THE CONCERT.

The slow food movement changed my life. I started paying attention to what I ate, and how I prepared it. It was no longer enough to eat organic, healthy food. If I was eating while driving, eating while distracted or jamming stuff in my mouth, I wasn’t meeting my goal to reach a new state of mind about FOOD.
So many years of slow food, helped me focus.
NOW… Enter Phase II.
I now have a pair of knives that I love, they help me complete the process, I know how to sharpen them, I take care of them. I can prepare my vegetables with ease and grace. Yes, this is “mind-blowing” to me. I never realized that the proper equipment is so essential.
Now, I am astonished at how I feel about my meals – the care and consideration of my food starts well before cooking. It starts at selecting, picking and cutting. I am using Japanese knives that are strong, beautiful and balanced and deadly sharp.

And here is the thrill, they are great tools because I SHARPEN THEM and because I KNOW HOW to use them. Cutting food is now a meditation, I am focused and really thinking about what I am doing.  (btw – I have the Ashi Home Set in case you want to know.)  Jonathan taught me and I’m learning a new way to cut, cook and eat.
For more information or to take the knife skills class I took, contact:
Jonathan D Broida
Japanese Knife Imports
310-570-2566
9154 Wilshire Blvd. Ste 550
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com/
jon@japaneseknifeimports.com

August 21, 2 hour class 9-11am
131 Camp Joy
Boulder Creek
campjoygardens.org          831-338-3651

They have many events and opportunities to learn more:  http://campjoygardens.org/events/eventscal.html

If you are looking for the varieties that you found in Grandma’s garden, take a trip to the Petaluma Seed Bank. They are a retail outlet for Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and company from the Ozarks. All the seeds carried at the Seed Bank are heirloom, some have been handed down by families.
You’ll know they are NOT Genetically Modified Organisms – GMOs-  in disguise!   There is a huge variety of more than a thousand vegetables and flower seeds too.
Call them at 707-509-5171 or go to their site, at rareseeds.com

Many Team lunch rooms have multiple refrigerators. Think about what capacity you need. Remove or combine refrigerators in your area that are underused. Set kitchen refrigerators, including freezer units, to the “normal” temperature setting. Place refrigerators six inches from the wall to allow ventilation.
Simple fix:

• Clean the coils in back.
• Organize the food by shelf
• Post a throw out day (don’t through out containers though, empty them, rinse, and leave in sink)
• Always buy “energy star” appliances to replace the old ones.

Since we are discussing the lunch room… Remove vending machines that are underused; they consume large amounts of electricity. Or you can give your vending machine a ‘make over” adding healthy popular snacks to the candy bar options. (juice, almonds, raisins, granola, trail mix, peanut butter and crackers, pita chips, for example).

I love chickens (they eat slugs), I love fresh eggs (they taste better), I love this decision (it’s about time!)

Chickens can now live “un-hassled” in unincorporated San Mateo County. Chickens in unincorporated San Mateo County can now legally come home to roost thanks to a unanimous board of supervisors vote Tuesday that permits homeowners to keep the birds in their backyards.  The unanimous vote, happened Tuesday July 27, congratulations to our supervisors for doing the right thing and not being “dumb clucks”!

The regulations approved by supervisors allow for up to six domestic poultry on parcels that are at least 2,500 square feet and up to 10 chickens and ducks on sites that are 7,500 square feet or larger.

The birds must be kept within property limits and housed in backyard coops no bigger than 100 square feet set back a minimum of eight feet from adjacent buildings. In addition, the sites must be “kept in a sanitary condition and free from offensive odors.”

The board asked county staff to report back within six months to discuss any poultry-related complaints. County Community Development Director Jim Eggemeyer told supervisors that, to date, the county has received “very few complaints and situations involving chickens.”

The effort to legalize poultry in unincorporated parts of the county began in 2009, when a neighbor complained about a couple in Emerald Hills, Jessica Holcombe and Vincent Van Gerven, who were keeping chickens, hens and two roosters on their property.

 

The full article appeared here: http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_15616769

Calafia is a GREAT local place, located in the Town and Country Shopping Center, near Trader Joes. Don’t think for one single second this is a “mall restaurant” or fast food…. YOU ARE IN FOR A TREAT. Calafia has healthy, tasty, innovative food with ambiance.

The menu includes the best ingredients and products around. Every effort is made to provide the freshest, tastiest food, Chef Charlie Ayers is committed to this.

I have had several meals at Calafia, they really make every effort to tell you how things are prepared and encourage questions. Of course, you can’t eat everything …. but each choice will be a good one. If it isn’t right, they want to know — so customer service is a big part of this restaurant.

Last time, I had the best Ahi Tuna I have ever eaten, tender, delicate flavor, light citrus sauce, fresh corn niblets, beautiful presentation. Many flavors in each bite, it was food to savor. I also wanted to try the pork (I don’t normally eat pork, but it is so popular, I need to find out for myself  since several pork dinners went past while I was eating.)

Next time, I’ll try:

Fiery Bottom BBQ Pork Bowl (GF) (DF)

Shredded pork shoulder, spicy BBQ sauce, sautéed spinach, yam sunnyside up quail egg, green onion, brown rice or quinoa pilaf: 12 

BEST OF PALO ALTO

the competition is stiff and Calafia really deserves this honor. Submit your ballot by July 11, 2010.

Location: El Camino / Embarcadero Rd, in Town and Country Shopping Center
855 El Camino Real # 130
Palo Alto, CA 94301-2335
(650) 322-9200

Cafe Hours:
On Weekdays: Lunch 11 am 4:30 pm M-F  |  Dinner 4:30 pm 9:00 pm M-F

On Weekends: Brunch 9:00 am 3:00 pm |  Dinner 3:00 pm 9:00 pm

Summer hours: Dinner extended to 9:30 pm fri & sat

Market Hours:
9 am – 8:30 pm 7 days a week