These are a few of my favorite things...

I wanted to share 10 of my favorite things. These are things that keep me going day to day and help me live local!1. Roadside farm stands. So great for random fresh produce without needing to visit a farmers' market. I love that feeling of "discovering" a new stand as I drive along. I have a few favorites as well. There's a small farm stand on Gear Rd. off Rt. 125 in Rochester, NH that has a fun selection of fresh veggies and fruit. I've stocked up on rhubarb and asparagus in the past month!

Elf's Garden Center on Walnut St. will have local produce and they carry local meat, milk, eggs and more. More road side farm stand locations can be found here.

2. Paperback Swap. This is an economical way of "swapping" your used unwanted books for other books you want. I've received over 75 books, some which are amazing out of print cookbooks. I'd love for you to use me as a referral and if you list 10 books, you get a free credit to pick out your first book.

3. Peppermint Pick Me Up Soap from Jenness Farm. I'm just in love with this stuff. It's such a refreshing smell with a bit of exfoliating scrubbies. Jenness Farm has an amazing store filled with tons of goat milk products, from shampoo to bath soap to bug spray! Their products are available to purchase from their online store, at their store in Nottingham, or at the Portsmouth Farmers' Market.

4. Cookbooks! Here are some of my current favorites:

• The Hay Day Country Market Cookbook
• From Asparagus to Zucchini (bought at the North Berwick Farmers' Market)
• Greene on Greens (Paperback Swap find)
• Nourishing Traditions
• The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook
• The New Good Housekeeping Cookbook (Paperback Swap find)
• The Inn Cookbook by Igor Kropotkin (yard sale find)
• Yankee New England Cookbook (found at The Christmas Tree Shop)
• Ball Blue Book of Preserving (bought at Walmart)

5. Bloggy friends!

• Colleen at Penny-Wise People
• Amy at What Did She Do Today?
• Sarah at Seacoast Eat Local

6. Ariston Olive Oil Refill & Save program. Available at Calef's Country Store in Barrington, NH. $11.99 for the initial purchase and $8.99 for refills. I figure if I can't buy local olive oil then I can at least buy my olive oil locally!

7. Shaklee Vitalizer, Mighty Smarts, Incredivites and the Get Clean home products. For over 50 years, generations of families have counted on Shaklee to do what no other company can do quite the same—make products that are naturally safe AND proven effective. The vitamins are wonderful and the cleaning products can't be beat!

8. Hiking and taking walks in the area. We love Blue Job Mountain and Mt. Isinglass Recreational Area. The Mt. Isinglass Recreational Area is located on Rochester Neck Rd in Gonic and offers two looped trails with waterfall views and picnic areas. With the kids approaching ages 4 and 3, we're definitely looking forward to more outdoor time!

9. Yard sales. Great source of used book, kitchenware and other "junk" (as my husband would say)! Here's where I check for upcoming yard sales:

• Craigslist
• Classified Connection (half page booklet available in may local business around the seacoast, they will be online soon as well)
• Foster's

10. And my last favorite thing has to be YOU, my readers! You guys keep me going, learning and exploring the Seacoast to bring you the very best local recipes, events and sustainable living resources! So thank you for reading and visiting this blog and I hope you'll stick around! Any feedback is greatly appreciated (as are comments)!!
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Enjoy your weekend!

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Tackle It Tuesday: When Life Gives You Lemons...

Don't pucker! Over the (holiday) weekend, my fridge kindly decided it was done being a refrigerator. It didn't even ask me if I was good timing or not! Thankfully we think we know how we can fix it without buying a whole new appliance, but we did lose quite a bit of food in the process!

So while standing back and looking at the interior, I realized, the poor fridge really needed a thorough wipe down. So that's the chore I took on this Tuesday. Making lemonade from the lemons my fridge threw at me! And the husband was quite happy to have a clean fridge!
I was so excited to use my new "green" cleaner, Basic H2, from Shaklee. It offers me cleaning choices that are safe, powerful, green AND smart. I'm happy I don't have to choose if I should keep my house safe or the earth clean...I'm able to do both with these products. It worked wonderfully, look at that shine, all with no noxious odor AND my toddlers can help me wipe down the shelves without me having to worry about their health.

I am very impressed with the Get Clean products from Shaklee that I am now an Independent Shaklee Distributor. If you'd like to know more about the incredible Shaklee Opportunity, just send me an e-mail! Feel free to browse my website and consider purchasing some products from the Get Clean line and start ridding your house of the non-beneficial chemicals polluting you and your house.

Let me leave you with some thoughts to ponder...

Did you know?

• Over 90% of poison exposures happen at home.
• Common chlorine bleach is the #1 household chemical involved in poisoning.
• Organic pollutants, found in many common cleaners and even air fresheners, have levels 2 to 5 times higher inside your home than out.
• Common cleaners give off fumes that can potentially increase the risk of kids developing asthma, the most common chronic childhood disease.
• 1 in 13 school-aged children has asthma. Rates in children under five have increased more than 160% from 1980 –1994.
• If your home is anything like the average U.S. home, you generate more than 20 pounds of household hazardous waste each year (the EPA designates toilet cleaners, tub and tile cleaners, oven cleaners, and bleach as hazardous waste).

What are you going to do with this information?

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