Help the Environment and the Homeless

Hello,
My daughter, Catrina, and I are doing a project together to help out a few good causes and hopefully make a difference in our world.
We are encouraging everyone to both register to purchase and actually purchase some organic socks online from the Sierra Club (www.sierrasocks.com). You can register at any time your intention to buy the socks, then, on November 01, 2008, visit the website again to make the actual purchase. For each pair purchased, another pair will be donated to the National Coalition for the Homeless (www.nationalhomeless.org). When registering and/or making your purchase, please make mention of the fact that "Catrina Guenther" inspired you to do so. Please also send this email to all of your contacts in your address book, asking them to do the same.

By doing the above, we hope to achieve 3 objectives:
1) Provide warm socks to the homeless or those who might otherwise not be able to afford them
2) Help the environment, both by supporting the Sierra Club (whose mission is to "Explore, Enjoy and Protect" the planet) and by helping to eliminate some of the 5 billion or so pairs of synthetic socks that end up in landfills. Ten percent of the proceeds from the sock sales will benefit the Sierra Club directly.
3) Provide concrete evidence that one person has the power to evoke change. By tracking Catrina's name, we can see how many homeless people received socks as well as the amount of money benefiting the Sierra Cub (and ultimately, the environment). We can also infer how many nonbiodegradeable socks were prevented from ending up in landfills.

I hope to show Catrina that she can make a significant impact on her world by doing some very simple things. In addition to helping me gather email addresses, she is planning to make some fliers up describing the sock-a-thon on Nov. 01 and distributing them throughout our neighborhood and to local schools, community centers, etc. She is also looking up info on the Internet regarding important topics such as homelessness and the environment to better understand the issues and what can be done about them.

Thank you very much for your consideration and participation in this event. In today's world, we are constantly bombarded with things essentially out of our control -- war, bailouts, foreclosures, etc. Let's show our kids that good things happen as well.

So, please:
1. Register to buy a pair or more of earth-friendly socks at http://www.sierrasocks.com (or sierraclubsocks.com) referencing Catrina
2. Spread the word to your friends and family via email.
You'll get an email reminder if you've registered to order your socks on November 1, and help donate $ to the Sierra Club and socks to the National Coalition for the Homeless.
Please contact me if you have any questions.

Fondly,
Catrina Guenther and
Sharon Atma
SharonAtma@comcast.net

Homemade Peppermint Toothpaste

In response to the call to buy peppermint oil, one of my customers sent me to this website to see a recipe for homemade peppermint toothpaste that she likes--a great use for this local oil!

http://www.tammysrecipes.com/homemade_toothpaste

Help Save a Local Mint Farm

Most of you have already received my notice about this, but just in case we have some browsers the next few days...

Please visit getmint.com and purchase a bottle or two of peppermint oil by November 1st to help this family keep their farm from foreclosure! They have enough inventory to pay the bills...

This farm is in St Johns, MI, and you can view a video at the site above. Thanks!

Farmer-in-Chief by Michael Pollan

Thanks to LVL members yet again for keeping me in-the-know on food-related articles. This latest one that I linked to on the side (under Food in the News: Politics) is a letter to the future President-Elect written by the great Michael Pollan (Omnivore's Dilemma, Botany of Desire, etc) and printed in the NYT. It's quite long--if you click on the "print" button they provide, you'll get a more reader- and printer-friendly version. It also might not be a bad one to study up on to be able to throw some arguments around in your food discussions.

Here's a link here, too!

Farmer in Chief by Michael Pollan

Product Review: Leelanau Cultured Veggies Dilled Carrots

These sounded good and my family already loves their Ty's Spiced Beets.

These exceeded my expectations!! They are addictive. They are wafer thin slices of carrots which lend a beautiful color on your plate, with a bit of shredded cabbage mixed in and flecks of dill they are pleasing to the eye and make your tongue do a happy dance!! They have a wonderful sourness (like a pickle) from the natural fermentation but there is also a hint of sweetness from the carrots themselves that just go well together. They are great!! I eat them as a quick snack or on my plate with a sandwich, but really they are good with anything.

I think these are going to be my favorite!!

Lisa

Product Review: Creswick Farms Canadian Bacon

Melissa: What is that?
Me: Yummy Canadian Bacon. M'm!
Melissa: You don't expect me to eat that do you?
Me: *sigh* I guess not, but that'll leave more for me, so...

[sounds and smells of cooking emanate from the kitchen]

Melissa: Hey, that smells pretty good.
Me: Dinner's ready, guys!
...
Alex: Can I have some more of that bacon stuff?
Me: If you ask politely, you may.
Alex: Please?
...
Melissa: Will you pass me a small piece please?
Me: Sure, here.
...
Melissa: Pass the bacon, please?

And we ate it all.