In the mean time, here are a few tips to help you cut back on your organic shopping bill.

#1 – Eat in season – if you do anything at all do this. Eating in season is not only a pleasure to all your senses – tomatoes taste like tomatoes, strawberries are a delight and potatoes are fantastic – but it also makes food shopping more economical.

Buying foods in season will be more reasonable than paying for pricier foods which need to be transported from other countries. Not only will this step save you money but you’ll also be helping the environment.

#2 – Plant your own – you don’t need a whole lot of space or the ability to plant a full vegetable garden. While the idea of being self sufficient is fantastic, not everyone can do it. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t cut costs and eat healthy organic product from your own backyard. The trick here is to keep it simple.

Start by planting easy to grow fruits and vegetables that will give you a good amount of food for very little cost. Good ones are organic lettuce leaves of all varieties (these are easy to grow in the summer and will save you tons of money to their supermarket alternatives), carrots, potatoes, onions, cabbage, broccoli, runner beans, tomatoes, strawberries, peppers and herbs of all sorts.

All the above are pretty easy for even the most novice gardener to grow and don’t require too much space. By planting just a few useful crops you can eat delicious organic produce in season and save money.

#3 – Visit the farmer’s market – more and more farmer’s markets seem to be cropping up all over. But you don’t need to visit the fancy ones to get great fruit and veg. Seek out the most humble local small farmers which still use responsible, traditional farming methods. You’ll get great food at great prices and help the local economy.

Note: Many small farmers take great care to not use pesticides or unnatural farming methods but are not registered organic farmers – this takes a great deal of time and money and many small farmers just can’t do it. But just because they are not registered organic farmers doesn’t mean they don’t produce healthy crops. Speak to your local farmer about their farming methods. And keep in mind at certain times local responsibly produced food is a better option to organic produce flown in from another country.

Here’s how to do it:

#1 – Get the ingredients together. You will need:

2 ½ cups flour (sifted)
2 ½ cups sugar
1/3 cup pure 100% natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups water
½ ounce baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

#2 – Preheat oven to 350F.

#3 – In a large bowl sift together the flour, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda.

#4 – Add the sugar, oil, vanilla and water. Mix all ingredients together well. You can also use an electric mixer for a minute or two.

#5 – Pour into a lightly oiled 9 x 13 inch pan and bake in the preheated oven 45 minutes to one hour – or until you insert a knife or toothpick into the cake and it comes out clean. Tip: When checking if the cake is ready open the oven door very slowly to avoid the cake “plopping” and loosing height.

#6 – Turn to wire rack until fully cooled and enjoyed.

Serve and enjoy as is or if you prefer make a luscious icing using soya butter and cocoa power. Place 1 cup of softened soya butter and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder in a large bowl. Mix with an electric mixer for a few minutes until light and fluffy and spread on cooled cake. Enjoy!

What is Composting?

Composting is essentially decomposing. The leaves that collect in the corner of your yard decompose. If you facilitate the process, then it’s called composting. Composting involves mixing your yard and household organic waste, like food scraps, in a container and providing conditions that encourage or facilitate decomposition.

Why Compost?

Composting is a very environmentally friendly practice. It reduces the amount of garbage we toss into landfills by 20-30% and as we get closer and closer to running out of space, composting becomes more and more important.

In addition to making space in the landfills, composting provides you with a source of chemical free fertilizer, which you can use for gardening and soil conditioner.

Materials to Get Started

To begin composting you’ll need a few things to get started. You can find many of these items at your local hardware or gardening store. You can also buy home composting kits only. These kits come with everything you need and provide a relatively stink free composting experience.

You’ll need a compost bin. The materials will be decomposing here so if you’re keeping the compost in your home, you’ll want a lid as well.

You’ll also need a pitchfork to turn and mix the compost daily.

Finally, you’ll need to find the right place to put your compost. You can create a pile outside in a well-drained area or you can place it in a warm, dark location inside your home.

But what about the actual compost? Can you toss anything in there? Are there right and wrong ingredients? The answer is yes, the ideal compost recipe includes:

* 1 Part Greens – include grass clippings, kitchen scraps including eggshells and coffee grounds. (Avoid using any meat, fat, grease, oils, dairy products, bones, or animal droppings in your compost.)
* 25 Parts Browns – include dried leaves, straw, wood chips, paper bags and drier lint.
* Water – Keep the pile moist but not soaking
* Air
* And time

Turn the ingredients every day for about two weeks. In two weeks time you should have a powerful pile of compost to place in your garden, household plants or flowerbeds. Happy composting!

Here’s how:

#1 – Build a barrier – If your vegetables and fruit are planted in raised beds this is quite easy. Simply attach a barrier that the slugs won’t cross and get into the border. The best material to use is a strip of copper all around the sides of your borders. Slugs don’t like copper and so it will be difficult for them to enter.

#2 – Make it bumpy – Slugs don’t like bumpy or rough texture as it is difficult for them to crawl on it. Add crushed egg shells or spiky pieces of pebbles around your vegetables to make this task difficult. Grit used for feeding chickens is also a great alternative. Mulch is not good as slugs are attracted to rotten decomposing material. But cocoa shells are a good alternative which slugs don’t seem to like. Be aware, however, that cocoa shells are toxic to dogs.

#3 – Build a trap – You can purchase pre-made traps at the garden center or cheaply and simply make your own. Place small plastic tubs (a bottom of a cut plastic cup will do) in your vegetable patch. Fill these traps with beer. As the slugs crawl up the traps they will fall in the beer and drown.

#4 – Use your hands – This is by far the most time consuming way of removing slugs but if all else fails it’s good to catch them at dusk (this is when they tend to be out) and remove them one by one from your plants.

#5 – Keep It natural – Another great way to get rid of slugs is by increasing the wildlife in your garden. Wild birds love to eat slugs. Put up birdfeeders and food around the garden to attract wild birds which will in turn keep the slug population low.

#1 Manure

Okay so it may seem odd or perhaps distasteful to begin by talking about waste, however, manure on large industrial farms is nothing more than pollution. It’s a health risk that runs into our water supply and contaminates the land for miles around. However, smaller farms that produce organic meat use the manure to fertilize soil, the same soil they’re using to grow the grass and food for their animals. They’re sustainable farms that manage their resources in the most environmentally friendly way possible.

#2 Less chemical pollution and contamination

Organic farms do not use synthetic pesticides and fertilizers on the food they feed their animals nor on the land they’re raised on. This means not only are the animals, and those who subsequently consume them, saved from ingesting these chemicals, the land isn’t contaminated with them. Our soil and water supply remain healthier.

#3 Diversity

Nature thrives on diversity. If it didn’t, there wouldn’t be more than 1 million types of bugs. Large industrial farms typically raise one or two species of cow, pig or chicken however smaller organic farms typically raise a variety.

#4 Resource Conservation

Industrial farms consume vast amounts of resources to keep their farms running. They go through thousands of gallons of water each day and the processes to automate the processes consume large amounts of electricity and fuel. Not to mention the cost of fuel to distribute the grain and feed for the animals.

However, organic farms typically use about 70 percent less energy than industrial farms. They’re about sustainability and renewable resources, not mass production, and are therefore generally more aware of their environmental impact.

#5 Sustaining Your Local Economy

When you buy local and organically grown meat, you’re generally supporting your local farmers. These same farmers employ local residents and you contribute to the overall quality of life for your neighbors. Not to mention that you’re buying food that is typically fresher and healthier for you and your family.

#6 No Antibiotics or Added Hormones

Industrial farms argue that they have to inject their animals with antibiotics to keep them healthy and they have to inject them with hormones to increase meat production. However, what happens to those antibiotics and hormones? We consume them and then flush them into our waste treatment facilities where they become part of our water supply and our soil. The environmental and health effects are only now being realized.

#7 Ethical Treatment Of Animals

Now it’s true that the end result for the animal is essentially the same. Unless we’re talking about dairy cows or chicken eggs, most livestock ends up on someone’s dinner plate. However, many argue that we’re all simply a collection of energy. Whether we’re a bug on a flower, a chicken pecking at her feed or a parent making dinner for their family – we’re all energy. And when this energy is treated well, it affects us all in a positive manner.

#8 Support one, support them all

The dollar, and the consumer holding the dollar, has a mighty voice. If you purchase organic meats, you’re helping to demonstrate to larger industrial farms what you want. They will in turn, eventually adopt more environmentally sound practices or go out of business. Money talks and business owners and farmers listen.

#9 Offspring

One great thing about organic farms is that they tend to be smaller. Smaller farms are more sustainable and thus more profitable. However this means they cannot house or care for large numbers of animals. What to do with the babies? Offspring are often sold to other small farm owners thus spreading the diversity of livestock and helping other small farmers start and grow their businesses.

#10 Better Green Practices Everywhere

Believe it or not, as we change our behavior it affects others. If you make a conscious decision to buy organic meat you’re not only affecting the farmer who raises the livestock and the folks they employ, you’re also bettering the environment. However, your influence reaches far beyond that. Your decision to buy organic meat is probably something you’ll talk about, even if only to one person. Like a random act of kindness, your decision will have the same positive effect. You’ll touch lives and others will in turn make the same decision to buy organic meat. The end result…a better environment, better farming practices, and better health for everyone.