CT Green Scene

Hey, You Gonna Eat That?

Food waste composted into nutrient rich soil

By News Channel 8's Chris Velardi
Posted September 18, 2008
4:55 PM

Northford (WTNH) -- One company is collecting food waste and composting it into a nutrient rich soil to sell it to farmers around the state.

It's time for the weekly pick-up at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford. A truck is coming for a specific type of trash -- the 'food waste' from Choate's cafeteria.

"We measured it for a couple of meals and we said, okay, one meal was 170 pounds of food," Katrina Linthorst Homan, of Choate Rosemary Hall, said. "And what does that mean if it's all year long?"

It means the school throws out about a ton of food a week.

"For a lifetime, it's been trash," Andy Bozzuto, of Global Environmental Services, said. "But, to be quite honest with you, we could look at it as commodities in the mix -- that's all."

It is a commodity to Andy Bozzuto who's been in the trash business for 45 years.

His company -- Global Environmental Services -- picks up the food waste from schools like Choate, Yale University, and others. And, it takes it to a plant in New Milford where it's 'composted' -- turning the trash into a type of treasure.

It's becomes a nutrient-rich soil favored by organic farmers.

"Because of the food waste, that's composted and the process that they take to do it, it becomes high in nutrients," Bozzuto said.

So how does a guy who's been a lifelong trash hauler know so much about nutrient-rich soil? Why does he care so much? Well, it turns out that Bozzuto, and his brothers, also have a family farm.

Bozzuto says it's a better way of looking at trash -- recycling coming full-circle.

"We're pulling this food waste out of the waste stream. We're composting it into a product that's needed for the organic farming side of it," Bozzuto said. And, being a little more green in the process.

The New Milford company that composts the food waste is currently the only facility that is licensed to do that in Connecticut.

Beer Brewed by the Sun

If you enjoy a cold brew with your favorite meal yet want to do your part for the planet, there is a new "green" beer. The Lucky Labrador brewing company installed their solar panels in December of 2007 and began production of the Sun Beer in February of 2008. They are the first brewing company to use the sun in quite this manner. Unlike other companies like Sierra Nevada, who use the sun hitting photovoltaic panels to generate electricity, Lucky Lab's solar hot water system installed by Ra Energy , heats the brewpub's water.

Although Lucky Lab uses the sun for the brewing, they still use natural gas to create the final product. The finishing product is a light summer ale and was released in the summer of 2008.

Idbids: Ecologically Friendly Toys for Kids

Not only can you live greener, but you can also teach your children to lead more ecologically friendly lives with the new toy Idbids. The name is a play on the words iddy biddy, or rather small.

This correlates with the children (since they are iddy biddy) and taking iddy biddy steps to improve the environment. The toys are all made of 100% Egyptian cotton. There are three toys to choose from: Scout the Cloud, Waverly the water drop and Lola the flower. Each comes with a guidebook that is printed on recycled paper and offers a checklist of activities for the children to do to make the earth a cleaner place. The kit comes with:

1. 9" toy

2. Organic cotton cinch sack

3. Storybook and Field Guide printed on recycled paper with eco-friendly inks

4. Online reward program

5. Kit packaging is made from recycled and eco-friendly materials and includes paper doll cutouts and a playland insert

Idbids is located in Atlanta, but the toys can be purchased online and delivered to people in CT or NY as well as the rest of the United States. The toys were debuted in New York City during the 2008 toy fair.

Demand Grows for Farmers' Markets

Via CT Environmental Headlines
EVERTON BAILEY Jr.

Connecticut Post: 07/05/2008 11:23:52 PM EDT

With summer officially under way, the 2008 Connecticut Farmers Market season is yielding a bumper crop of new markets around the state — with more and more people demanding locally grown products in the face of rising food prices.

Rick Macsuga, marketing representative for the state Department of Agriculture, said there has been a significant increase in requests by towns and cities to offer farmers' markets.

"Town involvement has definitely increased over the years," he said. "Before, we would kind of have to reach out to towns in order to hold a farmers' market. But nowadays, more towns have been reaching out to us and demanding more and more farmers' markets.

"With more and more town support, it definitely makes this process a lot smoother and easier," he said.

Macsuga said 21 new farmers' markets will debut this season, bringing the total statewide to "a little over 100," with 320 farmers contributing fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy and other produce. However, farmers are not the only suppliers to these markets. Fishermen, bakers and florists also participate, adding variety to the markets.

The draw of the farmers' market is "the fact that it is local," Macsuga said, "that the money spent here stays here. There is less of a carbon footprint and the food travels less miles in order to get here."

Customers at the Fairfield Farmers Market at Greenfield Hills agreed.

"I like the whole ambiance of the farmers' market," said Fairfield resident Art Beagan.

Some just want to help support hometown goods. "I like the idea of buying local, homegrown products," said P.J. Calyne, of Fairfield, who was shopping with his wife, April, and two children, Abigail and Alexandra.

Others have another agenda.

"I like the cookies," said Abigail with a giggle.

Vendors say they most enjoy the one-on-one contact when dealing with buyers of their crops.

The Cow in the Living Room

A few months ago while I was surfing for events to post, I came across the CT Audubon Society's Annual Fundrasier. Dramatic images of soaring birds promoted this year's theme: Birds of Prey.

I glanced at the menu for the event: Chicken cacciatore.

I picked up the phone and did a quick survey of meat-eating friends and family. Did this strike them as odd?

I held back from posting about it: until I read the latest issue of E Magazine and saw the publisher of this Connecticut-based magazine may agree.

The Cow in the Living Room

By Doug Moss, Publisher E Magazine, Norwalk, CT

"I politely passed on the offer of a bison burger at a recent Ted Turner-hosted fundraising event I attended in New York City (no, I’m not a donor—we were invited as press). But I couldn’t resist a wisecrack and a wink to the server that it was only because I was full, having had a dog burger on the way over.

It is funny, though, how social and environmental change work. The bad news about meat has been plain as day and out in print for decades (the only new news is that we have now discovered that the industry is also warming the globe). Jim Mason’s Animal Factories (Three Rivers Press), written with Peter Singer and published in 1980, could be re-released today without a heckuva lot of updating. Mason traveled some 10,000 miles around North America with a photographer friend, documenting the horrific conditions on factory farms and what the industry meant for our health, the environment, world hunger challenges and animal welfare.

When the book came out, though, the press didn’t want to know about it. Neither did most of the environmental groups or, for that matter, many of the animal welfare groups that were content to focus on their puppies and kitties and charismatic wildlife, which raised a lot of money and sold a lot of wall calendars. Peter Singer’s seminal solo effort, Animal Liberation (Harper Perennial), published five years earlier in 1975, also fleshed out the topic, as have numerous books since—but it’s still steak and chicken for dinner 33 years later at many an environmental fundraiser.

Environmental leaders and advocates who resist change in this area need to realize that this is exactly how the world at large reacts when we come at them with our demands to properly recycle, eschew bottled water for tap, opt for the hybrid vehicle (or the bus or the bicycle), replace those incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents or use both sides of a sheet of (recycled) paper. It’s sometimes not easy to make changes to lifestyle habits that are so ingrained. But if those of us in the trenches are hammering the world at large to do so, we need to look at the poor choices we still make ourselves and do what we’re always telling others to do: change." Visit E Magazine to read more...

Markets Galore

By Chris Gallagher

Spring is nearly here, and it's time to get the garden ready.  Composting is key and here is a great resource from our fine state government.  For the stuff you can't grow on your own we are lucky enough to have a plethora of local farmers here in Connecticut and some great farmer's markets to choose from.

Fiddleheads in New London has a market every Saturday now, with another every Wednesday starting on March 26.  CitySeed in New Haven has kept their market open monthly throughout the winter and come May it's back to a weekly event.  On May 22 Billings Forge Farmer's Market will start up in Hartford and you will be able to find amazing produce and other local vendors on both Mondays and Thursdays. Fairfield Market is held every Saturday rain or shine, and often draws a few hundred people. Another cool market is the Oak Street Market in New Britain. It's urban and fun and has some of the best greens around. To locate the organic farmers markets near you, click here.

Of course the best thing about a market is the food: amazing greens, organic eggs, still-dirty potatoes and seafood dripping with salt water, all of which I want to rush home and devour.  There's more to it, though.  I love that it is such a neighborhoody event.  It is a great place to have random, interesting conversations, make new friends, learn a few things about what I'm eating, stroll the streets of my town, breathe the fresh air and reconnect with the community.

The dinner we craft in the evening is just the bonus.  We already feel great after a market day.

We Are What We Drink

By Kia Martinson-Wenzel

ESTOccasions

We all love a perfectly made cocktail, but the art of making homemade, fresh cocktails has almost disappeared. Today, most party-throwers stop by a supermarket, wine, or liquor store and pick up a mix. Sure, mixes have been a great time savers for the majority of us--and of course there are a few good ones out there that are made with 100% natural ingredients--but when you see high fructose corn syrup as a top ingredient, it's clear you aren’t having an authentic Cuban Mojito.

We think it's time to host a real cocktail party, with cocktails from scratch, using fresh, organic ingredients, which can even come from your own garden. Sound too time consuming? It's much easier than you think! And if you're really adventurous, you can turn your party into a learning experience for your guests and have them make the drinks along with you.

Spice things up with a Cuban Mojito

For this tasty cocktail, be sure the first frost is gone, and go plant yourself some organic mint. If you don’t have a garden, you can grow this fragrant herb in planters by your window. To make a Cuban Mojito, you will need mint, limes, club soda, good rum, and some organic cane sugar. Follow these directions for the Perfect Mojito.

Simple and quick Lemon Drops

They don't get much easier than this old time favorite. Just mix organic lemon juice, organic cane sugar, and some Square One Vodka. Like your cocktails sour and sweet? Margaritas, frozen or on the rocks, are made with organic lime juice, Triple Sec and Tequila. Sea salt along the rim makes a nice topper.

Stir it up with an organic Sangria

The weather is nice; consider making Sangria, with fresh local wines. Connecticut has plenty of vineyards to choose from, and the selection of organic wine companies is increasing. Companies like Organic Wine Company will ship their wines to you. Choose your favorite wine, and use fresh berries picked up from your local farmer’s, Steaz lemon lime soda and mix it up. This is a wonderful treat with any barbeque menu!

         

   

This week @ the market : music by Michael Greenberg Upon first hearing Michael Greenberg, we said "Wow!" Still an undergrad at the Berklee School of Music, Michael's songs display his talent for complex acoustic guitar work and thoughful lyrics. For a preview, visit Michael's site on myspace Ox Hollow Farm returns this week as does Woozie Wikfors from walkingwood (gads, that's a mouthful), for a schedule of vendors, you may download our March calendar by clicking here. Remember that the market is open rain or shine -and through snow too. Happy Saturday!

From Brownfield to Green Urban, Organic Farm

Oak Street in New Britain may seem a unique location for a working, organic farm that practices sustainable agriculture and produces fresh produce—and it is.

The nonprofit farm has been an urban revitalization success story since 1999, when organic farmers Tony Norris and Mike Kandefer made Urban Oaks Organic Farm a reality by mobilizing environmental clean-up funds, grants and volunteers to re-mediate the former Sandelli Greenhouse property and create a working city farm. The restoration of 15,000 square feet of greenhouses has allowed the farm to offer fresh greens and produce year-round.

Today, the presence of Urban Oaks is a positive force and a community place where city residents and students can learn about sustainable and environmentally friendly farming.

The farm supplies restaurants from Hartford to Stamford, and is open to the public on Fridays from 3 to 6 p.m. year-round, and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. through the end of October. Customers can pre-order via e-mail, or just stop by.

Contact:
225 Oak St. New Britain, CT
(860) 223-6200
Email: urbanoaks@earthlink.net

Hey! Who Ate the Organic Cookies?

Those of you who made it to February GreenDrinks at the Westport Arts Center probably got a chance to nibble on these tasty treats, donated by Connecticut resident, Candace De Felice.

Cookies by Candace LLC, a new bakery operating in New Preston, offers unique hand-decorated cookies made with fresh organic and traditional ingredients.  Cookies are available at gourmet shops or by special order.

“We strive to make a great-tasting cookie,“ says Candace De Felice, owner of Cookies by Candace LLC.  “The decoration and packaging just make it that much more special.”  Educated and trained as an architect, Candace relies on her drafting experience to create intricate patterns of frosting atop hand-baked cookies.    

“For years, I baked for school fundraisers and the cookies were always a big hit,” says Candace, “I derive so much joy from creating and baking cookies that I wanted to try it as a career.  It was a good decision for me because I have more flexibility in my schedule and it never really seems like work.”

Available for sale at the Pantry in Washington Depot, CT.  The collection includes cookies made with organic ingredients including: organic unbleached wheat flour, organic eggs, organic Madagascar vanilla, aluminum-free baking powder and fair-trade organic sugar.  Organic cookies are decorated with only natural food colorings made from black current and turmeric.   Whenever available, we use packaging that is 30% recycled and photodegradable.  Please visit our website www.cookiesbycandace.com, or call 203.266.4366