There are several true and fast ways to preserve your fruits and vegetables. One of the easiest methods is water-bath canning, which anyone can do at home.

Having an enormous bounty this year, I needed to preserve my excess. You can also use local produce or a pick-your-own if you do not have a garden. After looking through my favorite and family recipes for the garden items I had, I decided to water-bath can my abundance.

Since I haven’t done this process in about ten years, I called experts and reread several ancient cookbooks that have been passed down for generations. I also went to the library to research any time-savers or updated tips, and to my surprise, there was hardly any information on water bath canning! So, I decided to write this series for anyone interested. …read more of Water-Bath Canning Simplified: Methods, Recipes and Tools for the Newbie or Pro here

You might ask why you would spend a weekend preserving food, it seems so time consuming and difficult. Well, the perks are unbeatable; Save money, eat healthier, impress your guests when entertaining while being less stressed to do so because you have pre-made gourmet items at hand, have great gifts to give, create memories and extend traditions to your children and grandchildren, shorten your preparation time for holiday meals and what’s best is that you made it yourself. You can even have a get together or canning party to make or swap items. The choices we make can change the world.

This article will give you an overall understanding of both methods; pressure cooker canning and water-bath canning.

For people with memories of Grandma’s pantry it is heartwarming seeing rows of homemade piccalilli, tomato sauce, soups and spreads in your cupboard. …read more of Canning Preservation Methods Expanded: Two Ways To Use At Home here

You are what you eat. Problem is, it’s hard to know what you’re eating these days – not to mention where it came from. That’s why we have to get smarter about what we’re putting in our bodies if we want to stay healthy.

Luckily, It’s not that hard to eat better: you just have to pay attention to what you eat! A good diet has many benefits: Choosing foods that are good for your body can help you live longer and avoid health problems, and it can help protect the planet.

Below, we’ve compiled a short list of the best ways to eat healthy and save money doing it – all while curbing the environmental impact of your diet. …read more of 4 Simple Steps to Healthy Eating here

It’s probably not news to anyone that pesticides have been shown to have carcinogenic and other adverse health effects on humans and that organic produce is the best choice for people and for the planet.

Mounting evidence confirms that many commonly used pesticides can suppress the normal immune system response to invading bacteria, viruses, parasites and tumors.¹ The immune system is the body’s first line of defense and weakening its response can increase the incidence of disease.

A study by the National Cancer Institute identified pesticides as a likely cause of elevated rates of several forms of cancer among farmers². Farmers are at higher risk for certain cancers, such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, skin melanomas, multiple myeloma, leukemia, and cancers of the lip, stomach, prostate and brain. Exposures to a number of pesticides have been linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, while exposure to insecticides has been associated with leukemia, multiple myeloma and brain cancer³. …read more of Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce here

When I was a little boy growing up in New York City I became aware of the environment, and our planets health, because of a television ad which depicted an elderly, wise looking American Indian canoeing through trash strew rivers and watching highway drivers throwing trash out of their windows. It closed with a tear running down his face. I was just a boy but I will never forget the image, and I’ll bet I am not alone.

At our farm in Connecticut we have grown vegetables organically, with no chemical sprays of any kind, for twenty years. Our farming was directly related to how we felt about the environment and a chemical free world we wished for future generations. It seemed “alternative” back then but today terms like organic, local, and green, are pretty much understood for what they are.

This year our farm will help celebrate Earth Day in three different forums. …read more of Earth Day 2009 here