There’s a “usual suspects” list of must-see Chicago attractions that get thrown around quite a bit. Whether it’s the Bean, Wrigley Field, Navy Pier, or any number of obligatory things to do while you’re in the Windy City. Your mileage might vary on these endeavors, but Chicago is also becoming a destination for travelers who want to “live like a local.” The stellar food, nightlife, and music scenes are becoming major draws of Chicago. One thing that doesn’t get talked about enough is Chicago as an eco-friendly travel destination.

While it may resemble a concrete jungle as much as any urban metropolis, Chicago has made significant strides in recent years toward becoming an eco-friendly city. City officials have been prioritizing sustainability and environmental initiatives for decades, and you’ll find that an eco-friendly trip to Chicago is very doable.

The biggest thing that Chicago has going for it is its extensive public transportation network. The famous “L” train system serves most parts of the city, and bus routes cover almost the entire city. If the weather is great (big if), Chicago is also very bike-friendly. Chicago’s restaurant scene has fully embraced vegan food and sustainability efforts, so it’s easy to find a plant-based meal in just about every neighborhood. There are also plenty of environmentally-conscious activities and attractions to visit during your trip.

One of the best ways to reduce carbon emissions is to get around on foot or on a bike. If you’ll be propelling yourself around the city, you won’t want to have to lug your bags around all day. Luckily, it’s easy to find convenient luggage storage in Chicago, where you can drop the bags off while you explore the best of the Windy City’s eco-friendly offerings.

Best ways to get around Chicago

While Chicago is a fairly drivable city compared to New York or Los Angeles, there are plenty of sustainable ways to navigate the city. Here are a few:

Public transportation
Chicago has one of the most extensive public transportation systems in the country. Operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), there are train lines and bus routes that cover almost the entire city’s geographical footprint.

Most of the popular tourist and business districts are directly served by the “L” train system, which is all routed through “the loop” downtown. CTA bus routes cover the rest of the city and are a very affordable way to get around.

Cycling

Chicago is (almost to a fault) very flat, making it an easy city to navigate on two wheels. In recent years, Chicago has developed a robust cycling infrastructure of designated bike lanes and trails throughout the city.

Divvy, Chicago’s bike-sharing program, is an extremely popular method of transport. During the summer, you can’t miss the thousands of blue bikes being pedaled all over town. This is a great way to get around quickly and conveniently while limiting emissions.

Walking
Chicago’s neighborhoods are pedestrian-friendly and easy to navigate, and it’s generally the quickest way to get around buzzy tourist hotspots and popular nightlife destinations. Depending on your itinerary, you should be able to take the train or a bus to most places and cover the rest of your trip on foot.

Electric scooters
Electric scooters have become VERY popular in Chicago as an eco-friendly mode of transportation. Lime is the most popular service where you can rent an e-scooter to get to and from popular brunch spots and explore neighborhoods.

Vegan restaurants and bars

The windy city may be primarily associated with hot dogs and herculean portions of pizza, but Chicago has a solid vegan restaurant scene. Eating an entirely plant-based diet is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint and minimize animal cruelty. Here are a few notable options for eating vegan while you’re in town:

The Chicago Diner
A beloved institution, The Chicago Diner has been serving up vegan versions of diner classics since 1983. From classic burgers (that you can’t tell are vegan) to hearty brunch scrambles, this menu offers familiar favorites without the guilt.

Handlebar
This laid-back hipster hangout in Wicker Park offers an extensive menu of vegan comfort food. Their seitan wings and vegan mac ‘n’ cheese are both famous among locals, and this cozy spot is an awesome place to have a few drinks as well. During the summer, their back patio is one of the hottest tables in town.

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant
While not exclusively vegan, Uptown’s Demera offers a wide range of vegan-friendly options that showcase the incredible flavors of Ethiopian cuisine. This authentic neighborhood spot features lentil stews, vegetable curries, and injera (fermented flatbread), all of which fit into a plant-based diet.

Bad Hunter
Located in the incredibly lively West Loop neighborhood, Bad Hunter has a vegetable-based menu of inventive modern dishes. The menu isn’t entirely vegan, but there are plenty of options, and they’re known for delicious craft cocktails and natural wine.

Sustainable activities in Chicago

With a stunning lakefront and plenty of parks, there are plenty of ec-friendly things to do during your trip to Chicago. You just have to know where to look!

Explore the city by bike

Chicago’s incredible lakefront trail offers amazing views of the skyline along with beautiful Lake Michigan. If you want to see the whole lakefront, you can pedal your way up and down in less than an hour. There is also the 606 trail that runs through uber-trendy neighborhoods like Wicker Park and Logan Square.

Garfield Park Conservatory
Located on the city’s West Side, the Garfield Park Conservatory is one of the most underrated attractions in the city. The Conservatory’s greenhouses are filled to the brim with lush greenery and exotic plants from around the world. There are various themed gardens and a serene atmosphere to enjoy. During the winter, the humid greenhouses will bring you back to life!

Take a kayak tour instead of a boat tour
The Chicago Architecture Tour is one of the obligatory tourist attractions that come highly recommended. While it’s a solid activity, a greener option would be renting a kayak and exploring the Chicago River without a carbon footprint.

Support local farmers’ markets
Many of Chicago’s neighborhoods host a farmers’ market on weekends. If you want to stock up on local goods and buy supplies for a picnic, head to popular pop-ups like the Green City Market or Logan Square Farmers Market. Even if you don’t buy anything, the people-watching is too good to pass up.

This post was written in collaboration with Bounce luggage storage.  

Like this content? Want to see more guest posts? Please drop a note in the comments to recommend new topics or contributors we should be collaborating with. 

The blog went live last week, but since every day is Earth Day around here, I’m sharing it with you now. Read on for some great tips from sustainability bloggers around the web, including yours truly.  

P.S. most of these tips are relevant for everyone, even if you don’t live in an apartment, so don’t let the title fool you into skipping this great read. 

Switching to greener alternatives is a great way to live a sustainable life, especially with Earth Day approaching. There are many ways to be environmentally cautious while living in an apartment.

Most apartment complexes offer compost and recycling bins and there are many alternatives to things you use every day. To help you get started, we reached out to green experts to share their tips on how to live a sustainable lifestyle in an apartment. So whether you’re trying to live a more environmentally friendly life in your  apartment in Boulder, CO, or your studio in New York, NY, read on to see what they had to say.

1) Ways to recycle when your apartment doesn’t offer the service

About 20 billion plastic water bottles wind up in landfills each year or are incinerated. Recycling those plastic bottles and aluminum cans helps the environment, and in some states like California, put some cashback in your pocket. Some apartment complexes don’t have separate recycling available for the residents so recyclable items end up in the trash and ultimately, in the landfills. Here are a few ways to recycle if your apartment complex doesn’t offer to recycle.

1. Contact companies to pick up your cans and bottles from your door.
2. Walk your recyclables down separately if your building has a designated recycling room.
3. Ask friends who have access to curbside recycling if you could bring the recycling with them.
4. Bring your recycling to a drop point or recycling center.
5. Ask your landlord to get curbside recycling or set up a recycling area and get signatures from other people in your building.
6. Bring it to work and use the office recycling pick up.

– Recycle From Home

2) Be conscientious of where you live

Transportation has a big environmental impact, so choosing where to live can be a really important moment in your sustainability journey; it’s your opportunity to design a life where you can walk and bike more and drive less. Here’s a fun exercise I like to use when shopping for a new house or apartment:

1. Grab a map and draw dots on the map to mark the places you need to visit often (for example, your work, the kids’ schools, your favorite grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, the public library – whatever is most important to you). Hopefully, these are clustered in one area of the map. If not, start with the most important cluster and repeat this exercise multiple times.
2. Use a string and a pencil to draw two circles, with your cluster of dots at the center; one that represents 1 mile and another that represents 3 miles; you should, of course, choose distances that feel right to you and your walking/biking lifestyle. If public transportation is an option, draw a third circle to represent your reasonable commute on public transportation.
3. These circles represent the best areas for you to live. If you had to do this for multiple clusters, look for overlapping circles that will allow you to live in one place, yet walk, bike, or take public transportation to your most important/frequent destinations.

 – Carbon Free Family

3) Planning is a crucial part of a sustainable lifestyle

There are so many fantastic tips for reducing food waste from adding kitchen rolls to your bags of salad leaves extending their freshness by up to 4 days to keeping your spring onions in a glass of water and placing them near your kitchen window – this allows you to clip them as you need them and have them grow back in between. But the most important thing is ‘Planning’, plan your meals for the week in advance of going shopping. Then check what food you currently have and after that only buy what you need for the planned meals. Lastly, the freezer is your friend. If you have too much food, freeze it instead of letting it go to waste. – Foodie Save

4) Composting companies can aid you on your journey

Managing your own composting system in an apartment can be difficult. Some companies provide a 5-gallon bucket with an easy-to-remove, but tight sealing lid for you to store your food scraps, and can even empty it for you. – Circle Compost 

5) Simple switches can make a big difference

We believe you don’t have to switch up your entire life to live more sustainably in an apartment. Simple swaps like replacing your shower head for a water-saving version, switching out your soap products for low/zero waste alternatives, or starting a worm composting bin on your patio for your food waste can all make apartment living a little greener. By being informed consumers and utilizing our purchasing power in sustainable ways, we can co-create a healthier, more abundant planet. – Heal the Planet

6) Use reusable food wraps to preserve leftovers

Use reusable food wraps for long-lasting produce. Learn veggie revival tips, recipes that preserve or celebrate seasonal favorites, and how to cultivate a scrappy kitchen ecosystem that alchemizes trash into treasure – like turning a freezer full of peels into stock, excess herbs into pesto, leftover berries, and kale into smoothie cubes, the last of this-n-that into salad dressing. Whatever your imagination dreams up to rise to the challenge of no leaf left behind. – Z Wraps

7) Be mindful of your surroundings and ‘unplug’

We believe living a more sustainable life means being more aware of the entire energy ecosystem around you, and making little decisions that can have a big impact. This can be as simple as ‘unplugging’ literally and figuratively. For example, designate a special time of each day (or week) and commit to shutting off smartphones, computers, and the TV to enjoy some low-tech time out. Shutting down over time adds up. Chargers, even without being attached to a phone or device, still draw between 0.1 and 0.5 watts per hour.  – Pink Energy

8) Keep your compost and plants bug-free

We understand that keeping things sustainable and hassle-free isn’t always easy, so take advantage of their simple sustainable solutions to common problems: Pest products can tackle fruit flies for those kitchen composters out there.  – Aunt Fannie’s

9) Switch to eco-friendly kitchen accessories 

Each of us has a moral responsibility to be environmentally friendly by reducing waste and conserving our planet’s precious resources. One simple solution is to get rid of the single-use plastic products and switch to compostable products in your kitchen. You can start by using eco-friendly dinnerware such as plant-based cups, plates, straws, and cutlery composting help break down organic materials and turn them into rich soil, without harming the environment with chemicals or filling up the landfills. – Greenchain Compostables

10) See if your building provides EV charging equipment

Your apartment is a reflection of you, like your commitment to a sustainable lifestyle and your decision to drive an electric vehicle. Make a statement by living where that commitment is shared by your fellow residents and building owners too. Look for EV charging equipment and talk to the building management about valuable utility incentives and potential carbon credits for adding charging. – Tracy K. Price, CEO of Qmerit.

11) Reduce your plastic waste with biodegradable bags

We feel one of the best ways to live a sustainable apartment life is to reduce your plastic waste by looking for re-usable plastic products or non-plastic products, recycle what can’t be reused, look for products with the least amount of wasteful packaging, and supporting companies with a sustainable environmental mission. And when you do throw away garbage use biodegradable bags. – BagUps

12) Be an eco-conscious consumer

Limited space in apartment living can be a real struggle. For anyone pursuing a sustainable lifestyle, my advice is to adopt the mindset of an eco-conscious consumer. This mindset begins by minimizing your possessions. It’s easier to get organized when you get back to the basics, plus life gets simpler. You would be amazed how uncluttered the mind can become just by decluttering the physical space surrounding you. Next, when shopping and acquiring new possessions, commit to donating one or two items for every new thing you bring into your space. This mindset will help you choose quality over quantity and think before buying. – ECO CRATES of America

13) Support renewable energy 

Whether you rent or own an apartment, anyone can easily reduce their carbon footprint by supporting renewable energy from sources that replenish themselves naturally — like wind, water, sun, or forests. There can be affordable ways to reduce your environmental impact. In states like Maine, you are able to support renewable energy by matching your electricity use with no-emission 100% Maine-made clean energy. – Maine Green Power

Which of these is most eye-opening for you? Is one of your favorite tips missing from the list? Share your feedback in the comments!

A few years ago, I bought a bunch of flannel fabric in adorable holiday prints and sewed up a whole pile of reusable gift bags. This year, I’m honored that my tutorial was selected to be included in the winter edition of the Simple Living Collection!

The Simple Living Collection is a digital bundle of resources to help you settle into a slow and intentional life, reconnecting with each other and nature, and embracing this magical wintery time of rest. There are 70+ tutorials, recipes, ebooks, stories and other activities from more than 50 contributors, just like me. It’s on sale for $25 until Monday, December 13th. Available for immediate download, the PDF is yours to keep and revisit year after year for inspiration. If you’re interested, you can buy your copy here!

The Collection is divided into seven different sections to help families build their own slow-living resource binder. Grow, Raise, Create, Nourish, Healthy Home, Wildcraft, and Family. I’m so excited to share a few of my favorites from each section with you!

This is my favorite section, full of seasonal and holiday crafts! Simple ones that will make for a joyful hour with the kiddos and longer projects to sink deeply into on a slow and quiet morning by the fire. My favorites include:

• Salt dough ornaments from Heather Turner @thehomespun.mom
• Felted fingerless gloves from Emma-Lisa McGee @ourhomeonthehill
• Evergreen dish tutorial from Tara Rondinelli @littlepinelearners
• Natural winter village from Naomi Noyes @ninos.and.nature
• Winter solstice garland from Angela Ruggles @the.nature.atelier
• and MY reusable gift bags!

These three sections combine so nicely to help you feed your family with simple healthy food (hello, micro greens! and I think the extracts make perfect gifts) and sweet treats for your holiday special occasions. My favorites include:

• Homemade extracts from Christy Rucker @christyrucker
• Skillet star bread from Cassandra Evans @northwoodsfolk
• Cardamom sourdough cinnamon rolls from Tess Czulinski @naturally_tess_
• Microgreens made easy from Joey Hodlmair @destinationmommy
• Shiitake log tutorial from Roxanne Ahern @happyholistichomestead
• Winter chicken care from Ashley Comer @slowlivinghomestead

Last, but certainly not least, here are a few of my favorites from the healthy home, family, and wildcraft sections of the Collection. The family section, especially, has lots of fun stories, games, and activities to play with your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, or visiting friends with kids during this winter season. There’s plenty here to keep you all entertained!

• Wool dryer balls from Harmonie O’Loughlin @florasfeastbotanicals
• Seasonal simmer pot recipe from Kaila Addis @wildmamarising.ct
• Sustainable gift wrapping (no sewing required!) from Ashley Comer @slowlivinghomestead
• Winter Solstice Guide from Jessie Lehson @wineberryadventurescouts
• Birdseed ornaments from Mari Johnson @bellamartinelli
• Winter puppets from Millie Hernandez @forest.roads

These are only a sampling of the phenomenal work put in by all of the wonderful contributors in this community effort! I’m so excited to be a part of it. The Collection is on sale for $25 until Monday, December 13th and you can get your copy here!

I struggled for a few minutes with the fact that the kits come in plastic bags, but like everything else, I’m embracing a #progressnotperfection attitude and looking for ways to eliminate the plastic bag in the future.

I’m growing oyster mushrooms using a grow kit from Mycophile’s Garden. They’re a mushroom farm located in Southwest Michigan and such a gift! I bought my first kit through West Michigan Farm Link (an awesome source for local food that I discovered this winter as I was trying to buy from more local farmers, even during the Michigan winter), but now they’re at my farmers market (and in Kalamazoo, Fulton Street, Grand Haven, St. Joe and others all over southwest Michigan), so I can easily restock. They also sell mushrooms by the pound, so you can pick some up tomorrow morning and make this salad for lunch! 

I paid $20 for my oyster mushroom kit and have already harvested 3 pounds of mushrooms! And mine is currently fruiting for the third time right now. It’s the little things like this that bring me so much joy! The kit comes with growing instructions and I’m shocked at how easy it has been to grow these beautiful and delicious oyster mushrooms.

I’m trying to branch out and find new recipes (so please send me your favorites in the comments or by email carbonfreefamily@gmail.com), but it’s hard to try new things when this warm mushroom salad is SO. DAMN. DELICIOUS! I made a disappointing mushroom pizza (with the homegrown oyster mushrooms) a couple of weeks ago and Robbie summed it up well when he said, “I mean this pizza is pretty good, but I’m comparing it to that amazing salad and I want the salad instead.”

I usually make the salad with oyster mushrooms and they’re still my favorite by far, but I’ve tried it with shiitakes and lions mane too and it was pretty good too. If you try it with other varietals, please come back and tell me about it!

Recipe
(makes lunch/dinner salads for two or three people, more if you’re serving it as a side)

This recipe is adapted from Jamie Geller
Download a printable PDF of this recipe here

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 to 1 pound mushrooms, cleaned and torn into pieces
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 cups salad greens (arugula works really nicely)
• salt + pepper

Instructions

I can’t wait for you to come back and tell me how your mushrooms are growing! And if you like this salad! And if you tried it with other kinds of mushrooms! 

According to the calculator, my goods footprint is pretty much nonexistent, but I firmly believe there’s always room for improvement. The goods category includes all the “stuff” in our lives… clothes, kitchen gadgets, books, magazines, home decor, basically anything you buy thats’s not food.

I’ve spent the last few years really focused on not buying stuff I don’t need. Call it minimalism. Call it sustainability. Call it slow living (because in retrospect, I’m shocked at how much time and energy I used to spend shopping). Whatever you want to call it, it makes me happy.

• Buy used clothes. So one of my goals is to simply keep up the good habits I’ve worked so hard to create. Not to let culture sway me back into habits that don’t serve me well. In 2020, I didn’t buy any new clothes (only used, and in full disclosure I did buy myself a new bra after my old one broke and my amazing mother bought me new undies and socks as gifts). I promise to post more about my capsule wardrobe strategies and the wide-ranging benefits of buying used in an upcoming blog post, so if you have specific questions, please drop them in the comments below!

• No online shopping. This year, I’m adding a second shopping related goal: to only buy {clothes + everything else} from local stores. I’m excited to put my dollars into my community and the individual people who own/run small businesses here. Sure, I might have to get creative and/or wait a day or two longer to get something, but I think creativity and patience are two GREAT skills to cultivate! This means I’m going to be asking for your advice (local friends, I’m looking at you here) for local places to buy the random things I need throughout the year.

How do you influence your friends, family, community, and elected officials? It’s fine if the answer is “I’ve never really thought about that”; my space is always a judgement free zone. The last category of my eco-footprint is “services”. Services include all of the infrastructure (mostly government) that supports your life, but isn’t within your direct control (think, roads, train tracks, bridges, police, fire, etc). This category invites us to think about the ways we influence the world around us.

While the environmental impact of these are not directly controlled by my actions (at least not compared to the car I choose to drive or the food I choose to eat), I firmly believe that we can and should influence them. This right here is why I publicly talk about my sustainability journey. This is why @carbonfreefamily exists! When I started Carbon Free Family in 2018, my goals was to talk about the joy, laughter, fun, and calm I find in a more sustainable life and hope that my story helps you find more a more sustainable version of yourself and your life.

To continue my sharing journey in 2021 and support your personal sustainability growth, I’m excited to keep working to build this amazing community of people and resources, collectively committed to living a more sustainable life. I will be building more of these resources and community space:

• Digitally on Instagram, Facebook, and www.CarbonFreeFamily.com. Follow me on whichever is your preferred platform to stay in touch and involved!
• Through community presentations and workshops (online and someday soon in person again)
• In person gatherings, like the clothing swaps and mending parties I started hosting in early 2020. I can’t wait to gather with you again soon!

Sign up for my email list to get updates when a new blog post or event is posted!

Self care isn’t a category in the environmental footprint calculator, but self care is critically important for us all! We have to take care of ourselves before we can take care of the community and the planet. So, while this is the last set of goals I’m sharing with you, it might be the most important.

My early morning routine includes stretching, meditation, and coffee. I will continue to make quiet time with myself a priority. Every day.

2021 will be my third year participating in the 52 Hike Challenge (this is a great program with really great resources, especially for beginner hikers, so if you’re interested in learning more I highly recommend following to link to their website). My weekly time in nature continues to bring me such joy, connectedness (with nature and the humans that come along), and health. This year, as a bit of an added challenge, I’m going to try to visit as many different trails/parks as possible. I’m not fully committing to 52 different trails (because I’m so very fortunate to live near the White Pine Trail and some days I just don’t want to drive anywhere), but I am excited in intentionally explore new pockets of nature.

2021 will be my second full year participating in the 52 Days Unplugged challenge (again, to learn more, please visit the link or look for the #52daysunplugged posts on my Instagram and Facebook). I still struggle to have a healthy relationship with my phone, but weekly phone free days have opened my eyes to the addiction (and I don’t use that word lightly). This year, I’m going to continue to have at least one screen free day per week. Additionally, I’m going to focus on bringing screen free moments into my daily life, working to use my phone with intention (vs mindless scrolling or addictive pickups) each day.

WHEW! Now that I’ve written it all down, that feels like a lot to work on in just one year. And I feel compelled to talk about giving ourselves grace when setting our goals and working on them throughout the year. My goals are mine; your goals are yours. Our goals won’t look the same, just like our lives don’t look exactly the same. We’re all at a different place in our personal sustainability journey. Some habits take longer to break than others (for example, it took me 3 whole years to fully build my bike to work habit. Seriously, three years of walking out into my garage each morning and talking myself into hopping on that bike instead of the car). Additionally, my goals are made up, they only exist to serve me, to make my life better. If mid-way through the year, I realize a goal isn’t serving me in the way I intended, I LET IT GO! I encourage you to give yourself the same grace and flexibility.

My annual goal setting, much like my life, is a slow and reflective process. I like to calculate my environmental footprint (see my blog post last week for more information), reflect on last years’ progress and this year’s biggest opportunities.

I’m excited to take you on a journey of my 2021 intentions. I’ve organized them to coincide with the areas highlighted by the environmental footprint calculator and in order of my biggest to smallest opportunity to reduce my impacts: transportation, food, shelter, goods, and services.

Transportation remains my biggest opportunity. So, this year, I have the following goals:

• No flights – In 2020, we committed to no flights and found adventure nearby (see last week’s blog for more details). We explored our home state of Michigan and had wonderful family adventure (yes, even in the midst of the pandemic). I love travel, but I know how impactful my flights are. In 2021, we’re going to remain focused on nearby adventures, expanding our radius to include longer car rides this year… we’ve got a date with the smoky mountains for spring break! My long term solution will include offsetting the emissions from our family vacations, so please send me your recommendations if you’ve purchased offsets.

• Become a one car family again – In 2020, we bought a 100% electric vehicle (again, see last week’s blog for more details). We’ve been a one car family for several years, but it’s taken us months to fully embrace our new Tesla and be ready to give up our trusty old ‘08 Honda Fit. This is mostly because Robbie has dirty hobbies like hunting and woodworking and we had to figure out a way to haul messy things in our “fancy new car”. A few weeks ago, we installed a trailer hitch on the Tessy, so we’re finally ready to let Honda go and return to being a one car family. I can’t tell you how excited I am to never buy gasoline again!

My food is wildly important to me as I work to fully align my life with my values. And it’s my second biggest opportunity to impact my footprint. I also find the food category to be a stubborn one… meaning, its hard to see the impact (via a lower environmental footprint in the calculator) from the changes I’ve made (one more time, see last week’s blog for more on this). But that’s not going to stop me from leaning in to the joyous parts of my food journey! This year, I have only one food-related goal:

Eat local food, even in winter.

I’m proud of my summertime foodprint (that is, the environmental footprint of my food), but during the winter in Michigan I struggle to find locally grown, unpackaged food. So, I’m going to focus on this goal especially hard in the next couple of months (February through May) until my own backyard vegetable starts to produce and my local farmers market starts up again.

Here’s where YOU can help!

Michigan friends – please comment below with your favorite winter farm shares, farmers markets, and other resources you have for local food (that are available right now!) so I can build a robust list of farmers to support during these cold winter months. I promise to explore your recommendations and share my adventure, with details and recommendations, in an upcoming blog post.

Non-Michigan friends – please share your strategies and recommendations too! I have followers all over the world and we can always learn from your strategies!

This year I’ve realized how very important it is for my home to be a place of peace, relaxation, and comfort. A place that calms my nerves, supports connected time with my family, and gives my soul space to Just Be Here. It’s not surprising that my 2021 goals include a few to make my home more cozy (and energy efficient) and less cluttered. I love it when the connections between minimalism and sustainability are clear like this.

• Declutter one room per month. Less stuff means less cleaning, less things to break, less things to repair, and more time with my family.

• Install insulated blinds everywhere. Cozy spaces in my home encourage all of us to slow down, sit down, play together and take the time for meaningful connection. Last year, we installed these blinds in most of the windows on the first floor of our home. Even I was shocked at how much warmer I felt in these better insulated spaces. And even better, we could see on our nest thermostat that the furnace was running less often, saving energy, carbon emissions and our hard earned money!

Alright! We’re halfway through my 2021 intentions and this feels like a good spot to take a break. I’ll be back next week with my goad related to goods, services, and self care (self care isn’t part of the footprint calculator, but I’ve added it. I firmly believe that we have to take care of ourselves before we can take care of the community and the planet).

Intentional living takes time. Sometimes the process is (intentionally) slow. If you’re still thinking about 2021 and what you might want to work on, I’m right here with you and for you. Drop your thoughts and questions in the comments. I’d love to hear about your goals, even if they’re still a “work in progress”.

It’s summer and when the weather gets warm I quickly become obsessed with my garden (where I grow herbs, vegetables, and fruit), the farmers market, UPick, local roadside stands, foraging in the woods, and buying in bulk to can and freeze all of this gloriously delicious local produce so I can continue to eat it all year long.

What do you love most about local food? Add your voice to this conversation in the comments below!

Because of this obsession, I’ve created a couple of free workshops to help you incorporate more local food into your life. In these workshops, you’ll find videos, checklists, recipes, and a downloadable ebook so you can access all of the resources offline at your convenience.

• Eat More Local Food
• Preserve Local Food for Eating All Year Long

Eating more local food is fun, nutritious, and builds resiliency in both ourselves and our community (by creating strong local food systems that can financially support farmers making a decent living).

The average produce in America travels 1,500 miles from the farm to your plate. This is the most commonly referenced statistic (and its explored in great detail in this Slate article), but I’ve seen this number as high as 5,120 miles! All of this transportation causes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contributes to global warming.

In addition to reducing these GHG emissions, eating local has the following benefits to you and your community:

• Fun adventures for you and your family – my kids LOVE picking berries. They LOVE eating fresh raw corn on the cob that was picked only hours earlier by a local farmer and placed on a tiny little farm stand in their front yard. They LOVE picking cherry tomatoes from “their garden” and popping them straight into their mouth, juice squishing out the sides as they laugh out loud. They LOVE foraging in the woods for mushrooms, wild berries, and ramps for hours on end. Robbie and I LOVE experiencing each and every one of these adventures with them.

• Building a stronger community – I try to support local, small businesses whenever possible and local farmers are no exception! Did you know that $68 of every $100 spent at a local independent store is reinvested in the community versus $43 with a larger retailer? Plus, I enjoy knowing my farmer. I enjoy talking with them about their products and their life. I enjoy spending my hard earned money on a person.

• More nutritious food – smaller farmers often grow more interesting and nutritious varietals and the speed to market means there are more vitamins and nutrients in your food.

Produce at farmers markets is often picked ripe and sold within a day. That translates into fresher, more nutritious food because the vitamins and other nutrients haven’t had time to break down, says Lauri Wright, Ph.D., R.D.N, assistant professor of nutrition at the University of North Florida. (click to access full article)

• Less chemicals – There are lots of different ways farmers choose to use less chemicals and communicate about this when selling their produce (including USDA certified organic, organically grown, and no-spray). One of the things I love most about the farmers market and farm stores is the fact that I can talk directly with the farmer to understand their farming practices and personal beliefs. Many local farmers will invite you to visit their farm and learn all about this… all you have to do is ask!

While you’re busy incorporating more local food into your diet, you’re probably naturally getting the benefits of unprocessed and unpackaged foods too. Both of these have big benefits to you!

Why unprocessed?

Additional resources (like water, energy, and associated fossil fuels for cooking), are required to turn fresh fruits, vegetables, and animal products into processed foods.

In addition to the environmental reasons to eat more unprocessed food, there are lots of potential health benefits. Diets including Clean Eating, Paleo, and Whole30 all encourage more fresh foods and less processed because the processing removes important fiber, vitamins, and nutrients while adding unhealthy ingredients like salt, sugar, and other complicated additives to preserve them or make them tastier. For additional reading, I recommend this article from Vox and this one from Harvard Health Publishing.

Why unpackaged?

Packaging is necessary when food is being transported long distances, but not so much within local food systems. I see packaging as waste that requires additional storage and effort to recycle/dispose. You’ll be surprised at the joy you might find in the extra space and time you have when you have less waste to manage in your life. There’s a whole lesson in the Eat More Local Food course designed to help you quickly and easily build your own waste free shopping kit. This kit is useful for any shopping you do, including your local grocery store.

If you’re interested in help finding more local food, please check out my Eat More Local Food course. It’s designed for you to work at your own pace through a series of lessons. Each lesson will take you less than 15 minutes and is designed to help you quickly and easily get more local food onto your plate, right now!

Why are you excited to eat more local food? Please add your thoughts, recommendations and questions in the comments!