Many years ago as a professional ballet dancer, I carried my ballet shoes in a string bag. My pointe shoes needed air after those long rehearsals. I remember shopping with a fellow dancer and watching her dump out her shoes in the car and then refill her mesh bag with apples and oranges.
My current string […]

On Tuesday, April 8th, The Mount Pleasant Farmers Market will reopen for their season. From 3 p.m. until dusk vendors will be selling their local goods in the field in front of Moultrie Middle School, off Coleman Boulevard. Local growers and farmers will be selling seasonal fruits and vegetables. Right now, we should […]

Boone Hall Farms U-Pick Strawberries is open! The Norman family is thrilled. The ride on the “bumpy” cart is a must, and I love to point out the labeled fruit and vegetable patches we pass. Then, arriving at the strawberry fields, we venture armed with pails (bring water bottle as well, it […]

Back in January, we asked a simple question: What was your top green resolution for 2008?
As the early votes came in, the energy-related choices were slightly ahead. But as time went on, the choice became clear — Charleston, you want to buy local food and products!
Out of 130 respondents, 20% of you resolved to purchase […]

A great way to reduce your environmental impact is to practice a sustainable lifestyle - and that includes eating locally. Our meals travel an average of 1500 miles, and that’s a whole lot of trucks, boxes, coolers, and packaging - we can’t keep that up forever.
We’ve got it good here in Charleston - long growing […]

No, this isn’t a local version of The Biggest Loser… It is an effort of a nonprofit that I volunteer with to ease hunger in the Lowcountry and discourage food waste.
The mission of Fields to Families is to help increase nutrition to the area hungry by coordinating distribution of fresh produce obtained from local gardens […]

Turning landfill-bound kitchen waste into rich gardening soil is a very sustainable practice, even in tiny suburban-sized doses. I love the idea of using free homemade soil to enrich the garden plot I’m using to grow some summer veggies, all while learning loads about biology, chemistry, and patience.
Composting is a green activity that’s a bit […]

If you’re trying to green up this decidedly orange holiday, walk right past those huge boxes of pumpkins at the grocery store and head out to Boone Hall Plantation. There you can pick a pumpkin right from the soil it was grown in, rather than right from the box it was shipped in. […]

As an occasional user of Evite.com, I receive monthly party “tips.” I usually send these straight to the trash – but this month, I’m going to recycle some of the ideas. Evite.com estimates it saves party planners millions of dollars in paper invitations and postage each month. So fittingly, the focus for this month’s […]

Earlier this year, I blogged about the Certified South Carolina Grown program that had just kicked off. It seems like a great way to help greenies like myself find and identify locally grown food. The problem is, I have yet to see one of these stickers out in the wild.
Have you seen a Certified […]

It’s no secret that munching on locally grown food can greatly reduce your impact on the environment. The average U.S. meal travels 1500 miles from source to plate, which causes an unnecessarily large carbon footprint because of all the transportation. Every time you buy something grown in the Charleston-area, you are choosing to eliminate your […]

If you’re looking for a tasty way to reduce your impact, try stocking up on food from local sources. Other than cutting back on meat consumption, this is the easiest way to green up your meals - and support local farmers. Treehugger.com says it best:
Buying seasonal, local food is a boon for the environment […]

Fields to Families announced today that its volunteers have coordinated the distribution of 19,383 pounds of fresh produce to recipient nonprofit agencies since the beginning of the year! And when more than 250,000 Lowcountry residents have a high risk of going hungry—with one of every four children at risk for hunger and malnutrition—every pound counts.
Field […]

Just like the rest of the green nation, I’m trying to figure out how to buy local produce. But it’s so hard to tell what comes from where. Finally, help’s on the way.
As covered by the Post & Courier, the state has just launched the Certified South Carolina Grown program to help consumers […]

South Carolina has the second highest percentage of hungry people in the nation, yet 27 percent of all food produced is thrown away.
It is the mission of the recently formed nonprofit organization Fields To Families to reduce that waste by coordinating distribution of surplus produce from local gardens and farms to local soup kitchens, shelters, […]

Strawberries have always been a guilty pleasure because they’re often shipped in from distant places like Guatemala, California, and occasionally Saturn. Buying produce out of season usually means a hefty carbon footprint because those little delectables are shipped here in the dead of Winter. But not here in Charleston during April and May.
Take […]