This is simply an amazing story.  An entire city in Belgium is now going vegetarian one day a week.  All civil servants and public officials have elected to go veg one day a week to reduce their carbon footprint.  Eventually they plan to roll this out to the schools in September.  Great job Ghent, you set the example for others to follow.  Bravo!

read the story on BBC

Thank you to our long time friend and wannaveg supporter, Cary Canning for sending us the good news.

Step 8- This compost is almost ready.  It’s time to get the worms out of it and let the remaining worms “finish” off the job and eat whatever is left in the bin.

Step 9- To coax your worms out of the castings, push all the contents of your bin over to one side.  On the other side we’ll lay down some fresh bedding.  Follow steps 3-6 above for one side.  In about a month or so, all your worms will finish off whatever food scraps are left in the castings and move over to the other side where the fresh bedding and food is.   After that, you can remove the castings and use them to fertilize your plants or make worm “tea” for liquid fertilizer.

And it’s as simple as that.  Don’t worry about not knowing everything at first, or making mistakes.  It’s really simple to do and if you stick with it through one cycle, you’ll be a master!  You’re now on your way to the wonderful world of vermi-composting.  Congratulations!

Here’s a materials list of items you will need.

• 2 “Rubbermaid” type containers.  18 gallons is about the perfect size.  Larger or smaller work well also.
• A bunch of newspapers
• 2 — 2×4, cut to fit into one of the containers
• 1 pound of worms, obviously, (red wigglers are the best for this) do a quick search on the Internet for someone that sells them near you.  They run about $20-$25 for the pound and that’s all you will ever need to buy.
• About 1 pound of food scraps
• 1 drill
• 1 bucket of water

Step 1- Drill some drainage holes through one of the bins (20 should be good).  Try to drill the holes about the same size as the larger worms.  This will allow excess water to drain down into the bottom (drainage) bin as well as create air holes for air to get into the bin.

Step 2- Cut your 2×4 to fit inside of the lower bin.  Now put the first bin (the one with the holes) inside of this bin creating a “nested” worm bin.  This bin is a drainage bin for catching any excess liquid from the main bin.    If there is liquid in this bin, just pour it on your plants…it’s called “worm tea” and makes for excellent fertilizer.  Don’t worry about over fertilizing your plants with this either.  Worm castings are very gentle on plant roots.

Step 3- Line the bottom of your bin with whole newspapers, paper bags, cardboard or any other natural material such as burlap, hemp, etc to create a temporary barrier to keep the worms from going through the drainage holes.  I say temporary because eventually all the bedding and linings will be eaten by the worms.

Step 4- Shred up a bunch on newspaper about an inch or so wide.  Dunk it I the bucket of water, ring it out and throw it in the bin.  Fluff up the newspaper. This is the bedding for the worms.  You’ll want about 4-6 inches of bedding in the bin.

Step 5- Now place your worms on top of the bedding.

Step 6- Now place your food scraps on top of the worms.

Step 7- Shred some newspaper again, but this time don’t wet it.  This is the covering for the bin.  Shred up enough to fill the bin to the top.

That’s it!  Your bin is done.  Congratulations!
Some Helpful Tips:

1. Remember, go easy on the food at first.  It’s very easy to overfeed the worms and although it won’t cause them any harm, the bin my start to smell or attract fruit flies.  Check on the worms every 4-5 days to make sure they are doing ok and the food is being eaten (start adding more food).  Don’t be afraid to continue to throw your scraps away for awhile, or you can freeze them in a container and thaw them out for later.  In time your bin will be able to eat more as the population gets larger.
2. When the “covering layer” newspaper gets damp, just turn the damp paper up to the top of the bin and the dry paper down to bottom of the bin.  This will allow it to dry out.
3. If the bedding and covering layer still seems too wet, you can also open the lid or take it off for awhile to allow it to dry out.  I actually rarely cover my bins completely in the garage.  Sometimes the opposite happens and my bin will be too dry.  To combat this, I’ll just put the cover on tightly and wait a couple of days.  The moisture will build back up inside.
4. As the bedding gets eaten, I like to gently “turn” the bin contents over to aerate it.
5. To feed the worms, simply lift up the covering layer and place the scraps on top.  Re-cover with the layer of newspapers.  Alternatively, I prefer to dig down a bit into the bedding and place the scrape into a “hole” I create.  This helps to get the food to the worms a bit faster.
6. You should rarely, if ever, have to add water to moisten the bin.  But if the bin is a bit dry, feel free to throw some in.  The perfect consistency should be thoroughly damp, not dry or soaking.
7. Pickup some rubber dishwashing gloves to make dealing with the worms a cleaner process.

Click here for the exciting conclusion of the worm bin series…the harvest!

Q:  What do I feed my worms?
A:  Almost any whole, uncooked, food waste.  Here are some examples:

• Apple peels and cores
• Carrot peels
• Celery
• Egg shells
• Banana peels
• Lettuce stumps
• Pepper stems
• Herbs
• Bread
• Tea bags
• Coffee grounds
• I think you get it

Q:  Ok, so what can I NOT feed my worms?
A:  This is actually a bit easier to answer.  Worms can eat a ton of stuff, but there are a few things that you should not feed them, either because they take a long time to break down or are too acidic or harmful to the worms.
These items include:

• Citrus peels or citrus fruit
• Meats, fish, tofu, beans or other proteins
• Cooked or prepared foods
• Dairy
• Onions
• Fruit rinds (watermelon, cantelope, etc)
• Anything with cooking oils on it, like salad dressings
• That’s about it!

Q:  What temperature do my worms like to live?
A:  About the same temperature you and I like to live in.  Avoid placing their bin in direct sunlight or cold temperatures.  I keep my bin in my garage, but other people I know put their bins under their kitchen sink or on their covered patio.  Just remember if you’re uncomfortable with the temperature, they are also.

Q:  How many worms do I need?
A:  Good question.  About 1 lbs should get you started, that’s about 500 worms.  Worms do three things:  eat, poop and make more worms.  In about two or three months, you’ll have double or triple that amount of worms in your bin!  Oh and don’t worry, they won’t overpopulate the bin.  After your first compost harvest, you can share some of your worms with friends and help them get their own bin started!

Q:  How do I keep pest such as fruit flies and other insects from filling up the bin?
A:  Although fruit flies won’t hurt anything they can be annoying.  Try to bury the food under the newspaper, this usually keeps the pests at bay.  For ants and other crawling insects, a little petroleum jelly under the edge of the bin should stop them in their tracks.  Although, I have really never seen any ants in my bin.

Q:  When can I harvest the bin for all of the castings (worm poop)?
A:  Usually the bin is ready to be harvested in four of five months.  See instructions on how to separate the worms from the castings (in the final part).

Q:  I live in an apartment and don’t have any plants, what should I do with all the castings?
A:  Well you can give them to your friends or you can “guerilla” compost in planters where you live.  The trees and other plants will love you for it.

Q:  Can I add grass, leaves and other yard clippings to the bin?
A:  Very sparingly.  The newspapers serve as the “browns” and the food serve as the “greens” in our little micro-world.   Too much yard waste can overwhelm the worms and start to rot before they can eat it all.  If you have a lot of yard waste, you may want to consider starting a traditional compost heap and use the worm castings to augment that compost.  They go very nicely together and will create wonderful nutrients for your yard.

Q:  What about vacation?  Does someone need to watch the bin while I’m gone?
A:  The bin can sustain itself for about 3 weeks without needing any attention.

Q:  The bin is a little smelly, what should I do?
A:  This is usually caused by over feeding or the lack of air.  So, just reduce one and increase the other.

Q:  Ok, this sounds like tons of hard work.
A:  Hard work is not…but it is some work.  I would plan to devote 20 or so minutes a week to maintaining the bin.  Most of this is spent feeding and “turning” the bin over to help aerate the compost.  Like almost anything, the more experience you get the easier it becomes.  I find it relaxing and enjoyable!

Q:  I have more questions.
A:  Google, Yahoo, MSN is your friend.  Do a quick search, there is a wealth of information out there.  Also, feel free to contact me!

Click here for part 3…we’ll start to build our own bin!

So you want to be a worm farmer!  What’s that, no…you don’t?  Oh come on, what about all the free fertilizer and sparkling worm personalities? Kinda seriously, worms make for quiet, low maintenance and symbiotic pets.

Ok, well ‘pets’ may be stretching it, but vermi-composting (composting using worms) is a great way to reduce the amount of food waste you throw away and in return they will give you some fantastic, nutrient rich compost (castings). Did you know that food waste makes up about 12 percent of the total waste stream in the US? Now we can all take this simple step to reduce our environmental impact and our vegetables and other plants will love us for it. Plus…it’s fun!

When it comes to giving your worms a home, you have lots of options. There are all kinds of pre-fabricated bins out there and some municipalities will either give you a bin or subsidize one for you. I personally prefer to make my own bin because it’s easy and cheap to do. One other cool thing about keeping a worm bin…it doesn’t matter if you live in an apartment or a castle, there is a bin size sure to fit whatever space you have available.

Ok, I know what you’re saying. “I don’t want some stinky garbage can full of worms in my house…” and I don’t blame you! Believe it or not, your worm bin should not smell bad at all. In fact if it does smell bad, there is something wrong with it (we’ll talk about this later). The bin does have a pleasant “earthy” aroma similar to what you smell in a forest. It’s very tolerable and unobtrusive.

To recap: starting a worm bin will reduce food waste, create great fertilizer and make you the life of the party. There are no downsides to it!

Click here for Part 2…commonly asked questions

These come to us via IdealBite (if you don’t subscribe, I highly recommend it).

• The Cove – part whodunit, part eco-educational movie about a team of activists who set out to save fish and dolphins off the coast of Japan. Opens Jul. 31.
• Battle for Terra - stars like Danny Glover, Luke Wilson, and Evan Rachel Wood lend their voices to this animated adventure movie; plays in 3D in some areas. Opens May 1.
• Earth – the cinematographers behind the Planet Earth series bring you a beautifully shot, feature-length film about three animal families – elephants, polar bears, and humpback whales. Opens Apr. 22.
• Food Inc. – unveils the sometimes dirty politics of the food industry; features experts like Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma) and Eric Schloseer (Fast Food Nation). Now in limited release.
• Fuel – slick docu on new energy sources, featuring interviews with eco-thinkers like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and eco-celebs like Julia Roberts. Now in limited release.
• The Age of Stupid – faux documentary-style drama about a less-than-cheery dude who in the year 2055 looks back over the past few decades of climate change. Premieres in May.

Happy Earth Day everyone!  If you check any of these out, please let me know.  I’m personally looking forward to The Age of Stupid and Food, Inc.
As always, do Mother Earth a favor and give going vegetarian one day a week a shot!

If everyone in the US went vegetarian just one day a week, the results would be staggering, according to Kathy Freston from the Huffington Post. And I couldn’t agree more. This has been the message and reason for wannaveg.com . Thanks for putting “if everyone did it” numbers together for us Kathy.

From HuffingtonPost.

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:

● 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;

● 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;

● 70 million gallons of gas–enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;

● 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;

● 33 tons of antibiotics.

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent:

● Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France;

● 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages;

● 4.5 million tons of animal excrement;

● Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant.

Take a look at Kathy’s full article to learn more.

EARTHLINGS is a feature length documentary about humanity’s absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called “non-human providers.” The film is narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR) and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby .

Check out the website here earthlings.com/

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anyway here’s an interesting viewpoint on the “Happy Meat” phenomenon that is gaining much popularity meat eaters. It’s an intriguing debate on whether it is possible for everyone to eat the same quantity of meat if the animals are raised in a sustainable manner.

You can find the article at alternet.org

On a personal note, having an opportunity to work on this campaign has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. The San Diego APRL team was organized, committed and effective, and I’ve never seen anything like it! Also, the Humane Society of the United States gave everything they had to this campaign; it was clear that defeat was simply not an option!

On the heels of such an exciting 36 hours, one issue I want to stress is that we don’t need ballot initiatives to help animals. Going forward, we have an opportunity to make humane decisions in our daily lives by buying animal products (including cage free eggs) raised by reputable farmers. If we, as consumers, use our buying power to create a demand for more humane food, then producers will gladly oblige us with a supply. It may cost a couple dollars more at first, but as this movement continues to become more mainstream; prices will fall.  Besides…being cheap is not an excuse for animal cruelty.

So when you’re at your polling location tomorrow, please remember to vote YES on PROP 2!

On Wednesday we had the pleasure of being able to show off the wannaveg booth at the annual Sony Electronics Environmental Expo.  The booth was quite a hit!  We had a raffle to win one of two vegetarian cookbooks.  We also had vegetarian starter kits and all kinds of information on going veg one day a week.  However, I’d say most people stopped by for the tofu teriyaki bites and the chocolate, peanut butter, banana bread samples we were giving out.  We figured about 400 people stopped by for a veg snack and we were happy to see them.

The show also featured Sony’s “green” initiatives and products, a whole host of hybrid cars (and a Smart car) and a bunch of other environmental related vendors showing off their stuff.

The vegetarian lunch option included a portobello mushroom burger (all the veggies were locally grown) and pasta salad.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a few hours on a beautiful San Diego day.  Thanks to Sony for letting us participate in the expo.

Even if you’re not a vegetarian or never plan on becoming one, reducing your intake of meat will make big impacts on your health, the health of the planet and the lives of animals worldwide.

NAVS has a specific page dedicated to non-vegetarians.  Since our mission at wannaveg is to encourage meat-eaters to go vegetarian one day a week, I thought it would be good to list their ideas.

•	Eat meat-free for the day or throughout the month
•	Learn how a vegetarian diet can benefit you personally
•	Try the meatless options available at local restaurants and eateries
•	Discuss vegetarianism with your interested friends, family and co-workers
•	Host a meatless meal or potluck for your friends
•	Eat meatless meals on a regular basis

To find out more information on World Vegetarian Day/Month, check out NAVS webite.  There you can find out how to organize an event, attend an event or just go it alone.  No matter what your decision, try going veg for the month of October!  It’s easier and tastier than ever to adopt a veg diet…even one day a week.

Now that it’s going to be on the ballot, we are moving to the next step of the campaign; raising public awareness. In order to do this, Californians for Humane Farms and the Humane Society of the United States will create and run a television advertising campaign to educate voters about choosing a more compassionate way of raising animals for food.

So this leads me to the benefit dinner. Megan prepared an amazing meal for everyone. A couple dishes that stand out in my mind were the Turmeric Lo-Mein with Thai Tofu, the Thai Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing and for desert, the Vegan Peanut Butter-Banana Chocolate Chip Bread. For libations the Sangria was a huge hit.

The generosity of our friends was incredible, in total they donated $1,700 $1750 to help the campaign. A huge thank you to everyone that supported this initiative and donated.

If you are just now finding out about this and want to provide your support (even if you’re not a California resident), please do so today at www.humanecalifornia.org – you can sign up to host your own house party, endorse the initiative as a local business owner and of course, make a donation to help the campaign.

Sure, we can wait around for technology and governments to get it together and “save us,” but by the time that happens, there probably won’t be much worth saving (including ourselves).  So let’s do our part, let all of US “get it together” and start making a positive change with our own lives…and let’s pass that change on to others.  Spread the message that caring for our planet isn’t just for “environmentalists,” it is for everyone who calls this planet home.

So…the kids and I talked about a couple of simple (but important) things that Pollen pointed out in his article: Growing your own garden and going vegetarian one day a week (eating less meat). They were enthusiastic and really knew a lot about both topics. It was refreshing to see that many of them were already growing their own fruits and vegetables at home. The students understood that having a garden symbolized more than just growing food. They knew that it saves money, brings neighbors closer, produces less greenhouse gases, creates less waste, increases independence, it’s good excercise, and the list goes on.

This was the first time I’ve ever spoken to an audience (nevermind, young students) about these topics, but I felt it went very well. The kids were great participants in the conversation and I was shocked at how much they already knew about the environment and food. I left the school feeling encouraged that the next generation are more aware of their actions and will hopefully be good stewards to this planet.

Thank you Creekside Elementary for giving me the opportunity to speak with you.

“We suggest that dietary shift can be a more effective means of lowering an average household’s food-related climate footprint than ‘buying local,’” the researchers write. “Shifting less than one day per week’s worth of calories from red meat and dairy products to chicken, fish, eggs, or a vegetable-based diet achieves more greenhouse-gas reduction than buying all locally sourced food.”

However, it’s important to note that buying food from local sources still significantly reduces food related greenhouse gases. By combining these two methods together (cutting out the red meat and buying locally) you will make a big difference in your “food footprint.”

Read more about it here.

Get you coupon, great recipes and other info at http://www.vegcooking.com

A report released yesterday by Trust for America’s Health concluded that “the safety of food in the United States is in a state of crisis.”  Well I’m not sure if this is new news or old news, but it’s targeted news that  highlights the huge shortcomings of several federal agencies charged with keeping our food safe.

In other news a report issued by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health criticized our current animal agriculture practices in the US.  Apparently, sticking thousands of animals together in cramped quarters in their own waste spreads disease?  Also, it’s been determined that injecting them full of hormones and antibiotics right before they hit the food supply probably isn’t that great for them…or the folks that eat them. (wow, I am really laying on the sarcasm here).

Read more about it here.

But, we still need your help. The “opposition” will be mounting a formidable campaign with ridiculous claims of higher food prices, hurting small farmers and other silly things. They have lots of money to spend and will be advertising heavily. Please contribute to Californian’s for Humane Farms by either volunteering time, throwing a fund raising party and/or donating money. Any time or money that you can spare will make a difference!

Although this measure has a modest impact on helping factory farmed animals…it happens to be the largest initiative of its kind in the United States, ever! When this passes in California other states will follow and soon the lives of ALL factory farmed animals will be just a little bit better.

So remember, no one is asking that you stop eating meat (although it’d be a lot cooler if you did). All we are asking for is that before that pork chop or chicken wing makes it to your plate, the animal that provided it was able to stand up, turn around and lie down comfortably. Pretty simple stuff.

http://humanecalifornia.org/

Help more pigs be happy like this guy!

Hi all, I know it’s been a long time since my last post. I am picking it up again (but probably not on a daily basis as I don’t have enough time). With that said, if you are a resident in California there is a great petition being circulated to help alleviate the suffering of many factory farmed animals. Your help and “John Hancock” is needed!

Californians for Humane Farms must collect 650,000 signatures to place a measure on the California ballot to prevent cruelty to calves raised for veal, pigs during pregnancy and egg-laying hens. We must collect these signatures and submit them for verification by the end of February 2008. We have just 7 weeks left! Join thousands of volunteers and collect signatures from registered California voters all over California.

Even if you can’t volunteer to gather signatures, please sign the petition yourself and get your friends and family to do so as well. More information can be found at http://humanecalifornia.org/ or by clicking on the pig on the sidebar. ->>

Meg and I gather signatures at Kobey’s Swap Meet here in San Diego on Sunday afternoons. If you’re in the area, stop on by to sign it (if we’re not there, others will also be volunteering and happy to take your signature).

If you want to view some photos of what types of cages this measure will do away with, click here.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

From CAFO Hell

The purpose of this blog is to document residential living near some of New York’s industrial dairy farms. These “farms” are called CAFO’s (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) which confine hundreds and sometimes thousands of dairy cows packed together on a small tract of land. They store massive amounts of cow excrement in football field sized ponds referred to as “lagoons.” The manure is liquefied and trucked out to be spread on the fields, often close to residential housing. Contaminated run-off and extremly poor air quality are the results. Garbage flies and mosquitos reproduce in vast numbers. Property values plummet. Oppostion to this type of industrial agriculture is mounting nationwide. Stay tuned for more photos in the coming months.

Back in 2001, the UK had an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease. This disease is highly contagious and can be fatal (however, rarely) to hoofed animals like pigs, cows, sheep, etc. Around 2,000 cases of the disease had been reported in the UK countryside and by the end of the “containment” around 7,000,000 sheep and cattle were killed in a psuedo-successful attempt to halt the disease.

Well, it appears the attempt to halt the disease wasn’t so successful. The disease has resurfaced and since last Friday about 200 cattle have been culled on two farms and the UK government has banned the movement of all livestock across Britain.

From Wikipedia:

Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease have resulted in the slaughter of millions of animals, despite this being a frequently non-fatal disease. The destruction of animals is primarily to prevent the disease from spreading throughout herds intended for human consumption or producing milk. Due to international efforts to eradicate the disease, infection would also lead to trade bans being imposed on affected countries. Critics of current policies to cull infected herds argue that the financial imperative needs to be balanced against the killing of many animals, especially when a significant proportion of infected animals, most notably those producing milk, would recover from infection and live normal lives.

Gordon Nixon saw enormous suffering caused by foot-and-mouth when he was a slaughterman in the north-east of England during the 2001 epidemic. Read about his story hear. Farmers are extremely worried about this epidemic repeating itself.

More information:

What is Foot and Mouth Disease (bbc news)
A Farmer’s Story (bbc news)
Current Outbreak Linked to Lab (bbc news)
2007 UK Outbreak (wikipedia)

About EWG

The Environmental Working Group is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to using the power of information to protect human health and the environment. To learn more about we what do—and the many issues like farm subsidies, cosmetics, tap water, organics, and non-stick chemicals that we research

View the database here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Humane Meat: A Contradiction in Terms- huge numbers of compassionate people have joined the ranks of the vegetarians. Some, however, have looked instead to meat from animals treated less badly, which they call “humane meat.” This raises three questions. First, is there such a thing as truly “humane meat”? Second, would consuming only humane meat satisfy the demands of ethical living? And third, do we, as individuals, have good reason to promote “humane meat” rather than vegetarianism? (huffingtonpost)

Even Kenyans Are Effected by Our Food Bill- As the United States Congress debates an omnibus farm bill, it is considering a small change that advocates say could make a big difference to the world’s hungriest people: allowing the federal government to buy some food in Africa to feed the famished, rather than shipping it all overseas from America. (NY Times)

A Factory Farm Near You- This is a good editorial from the NY Times and it includes a link that shows an interactive map of factory farms throughout the US…..Once upon a time, only a decade or so, it wasn’t hard to know where factory hog farms were because they were nearly all in North Carolina. But since those days, the practice of crowding together huge concentrations of animals — hogs, poultry, dairy cows, beef cattle — in the interests of supposed efficiency has spread around the country. (NY Times)

The Localvore’s Dilemma-  Sometimes buying local food helps in the battle against climate change. Sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes, it’s just too confusing to decide. (The Boston Globe)

Internet Junk Food- Brands such as McDonald’s, Starburst, Haribo and Skittles are using the Internet to target children now that new rules from the media regulator Ofcom have made it difficult to advertise during children’s television. (Guardian Unlimited)

I woke up this morning, powered on my computer and found today’s story staring right at me on the MSN homepage (I know, pretty boring of me to have MSN as my homepage, especially because I don’t use anything Microsoft on my home computer…but I like MSN!). It’s rare that this happens. This article from MSN money explores the financial benefits of adopting a vegetarian diet. Even if you adopt it one day a week!

The article explores how much cheaper vegetarian proteins are compared to meat.

Most of the staples of a vegetarian diet are cheap. In fact, most of the world’s people eat a mostly vegetarian diet made up of inexpensive commodities such as beans, rice and corn. If you drop red meat, poultry and fish from your diet, you’ll find plant proteins cheaper than the equivalent amount of animal protein.

Here are a few practical tips on how to save money with a vegetarian or mostly vegetarian diet:

• If you include an occasional piece of flesh (of whatever kind) in your diet, try to limit yourself to four or five ounces, which is about the size of a deck of cards.
• If you want to buy private life insurance, wait until you’ve been on a vegetarian diet long enough to improve your key health indicators (body mass index, cholesterol, etc.). It could save you thousands of dollars when an insurer reviews the results of your physical.
• Buy vegetable protein in bulk. Dried beans, rice, oatmeal and other similar commodities last a long time if properly stored, and they are far cheaper in larger quantities.
• If you get discouraged by the blandness of a vegetarian diet, buy cookbooks that explore Indian, Malaysian, Chinese or South American cuisines. Mixing novel spices and ingredients may perk up your taste buds and make the transition easier.
• If you can’t afford or prefer not to buy organic produce, remember that most experts think the nutritional benefits of eating conventionally grown fruits and vegetables outweigh the possible negative effects of pesticide residues.

Read the whole article at MSN Money.

Also on MSN…Is a Vegetarian Diet Healthier?

For that “out of sight” compost bin, consider putting it under your kitchen sink. It won’t smell and it’s a convenient place to throw your food scraps (instead of down the disposal). These compost bins can range anywhere from a small Rubbermaid container to a large backyard corral.

Starting a bin is easy and you can find one fit into almost any space you have available. Check out this video for more information. Also, a quick search on a the net will provide some good resources on how to get started.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Vegan and Vegetarian Products Guide

And the meat recall saga continues. The latest suspect is canned meat- that delicious concoction of parts you might not normally eat, sodium, preservatives, and most recently, botulism.

Castleberry’s Food Co., the culinary artists behind Hot Dog Chili Sauce, Barbecued Beef and Beef Stew in a can, has announced a voluntary recall involving 80 types of stew, chili, hash and other products after two confirmed and two potential botulism cases broke out in the U.S. in consumers having eaten the hot dog chili sauce products.

Symptoms of botulism include difficulty in walking and swallowing and impaired vision and speech. From there it leads to convulsions and paralysis of the respiratory muscles then suffocation and death. Sounds great to me….bring on the canned meat, swallowing is over rated anyway!

Oh, and by the way, watch out for your pets! The recall has been extended to cover four canned Natural Balance pet food products, co-packed by Castleberry’s.

Read (one of the many) full articles: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1645935,00.html

Link to Castleberry’s website: http://www.castleberrys.com/news_productrecall.asp