With all the goals, obligations and tasks we have to complete in our daily lives, keeping true to sustainable lifestyles can be hard. Whether you’ve been committed to living more sustainably for years, or you’re relatively new to the idea, there are always plenty of new tips and tricks to learn that can help make your goals much easier to attain.

Living a sustainable lifestyle doesn’t have to be hard! Sure, sometimes it requires doing more work, but in the end, the investment of time and money is well worth the outcome. Check out these tips for how to stretch your time and money without compromising your lifestyle!

With the autumn rapidly dwindling into short and cold winter days (sometimes inundated with snow), you may find yourself wondering how you’re going to get your farm-fresh produce. Happily, many areas have winter markets where you can find your favorite veggies and other produce into December and into the new year. As the first installment, here’s a list for New England.

I’ve always found freshly baked bread is comfort food of the highest order. There is something reassuring about the aroma of baking bread as it fills my kitchen and floats through the rest of my home. If I make a loaf early in the morning, I can almost guarantee that it will be devoured before the end of the day (with a little help from some little mouths in my house). And because I think about these thins, I began to wonder if I could find local flour to for my bread baking. After all I can find vegetables, fruits, eggs, dairy, and honey, could I do the same for flour? As it turns out the answer is, yes.

Getting raw milk is a little bit like trying to get marijuana in this country: it’s legal in some states, and a lot of people will give you wary looks if you talk about it too much in public. In the states where it is illegal, most authorities don’t go to too much trouble to stop you using it, but every now and then a reliable supplier will suddenly go out of business for no good reason. You need weird excuses and reasons to purchase it legally. In Florida, for example, raw milk is only sold for consumption by pets, and I know there are a lot of real food enthusiasts down there whose dogs and cats are apparently living well on rich, unpasteurized milk.

The early sunset shadows, cast by the mountains to the west, spread across the city of Boulder, Colorado, bringing with them thoughts of dinner. Idyllic Boulder, with its youthful spirit, adventurous tendencies, and environmental awareness, is the perfect spot for the conscientious diner. The city is full of choices, from college friendly fast-food to health conscious fine-dining, and even a milk and cookies specialty restaurant! With so many choices available, how does one choose? How would you choose? If sustainable, locally sourced food is on your mind, then have your feet carry you across the glowing historic downtown area and through the doors of The Kitchen.

Clearbrook Golf Club in Saugatuck, Michigan, has a vision: Chef Jeff Kudrna is taking a new approach to their menu with local, organic, and seasonal selections that emphasize sustainable and naturally raised products, sourced locally whenever feasible.

On Thursday, July 29th, Farm to Table dining takes a distinctly urban direction when Great Performances brings fresh-picked bounty to its Hudson Square back door. The renowned caterer will collaborate with neighbor City Winery to create an outdoor dining experience highlighted by local food and wines.

This week my CSA share included lettuce, kale, arugula, bok choy, and spinach. That’s a lot of greens for a single gal to eat. But not a leaf will go to waste. Here are my tips for making the most of all that green goodness.

This month, in addition to care-taking a large yard with vegetable garden, and a dozen young fruit trees, I’m also feeding, watering and daily collecting eggs from 11 laying hens and 2 laying ducks.

Let’s play a word association game. I’ll say a word and you say the first thing that comes to your mind.

The word is… diner.