Ken Lewis is serious about his coffee. He has to be. He’s a partner and Chief Marketing Officer at Sun Coffee Roasters in Plainville, CT, a triple bottom line company just as dedicated to satisfying taste buds as it is to people, planet and profits. Sun imports the highest quality, organic Fair Trade coffee from all over the world, and then custom blends it for colleges, universities, wholesale suppliers and retailers including Stop ‘n Shop, Whole Foods and Big Y.

According to industry statistics, despite a recession the North American organic coffee market grew to $1.4 billion in sales in 2009, topping growth in the conventional coffee market and making it the most valuable imported organic product on the continent.

Sun Coffee Roasters is currently one of a handful of roasters in the country using a 100% Made in the USA, state of the art, energy-efficient roaster that incorporates computing technology designed to perfectly roast made-to-order blends for each customer, every time. Once roasted, the coffee beans are cooled, then either left whole or ground, packaged into brick or fractional packaging using environmentally friendly packaging film with a nitro valve to ensure freshness. Sun’s just in time inventory system is designed to get coffee to their customers within days of roasting to ensure a premium cup of coffee by the end consumer. According to Ken, coffee will begin to lose its freshness 12 days after being packaged.

Sun ships coffee in single pot fractional packaging bi-weekly to coffee distribution specialists who provide point of sale services to restaurants, hotels, coffee shops and business offices in the form of delivery, equipment and servicing. Ken stressed that these specialists help ensure the freshest and highest quality product for the end consumer.

Colleges and universities, however, constitute the bulk of their business and Sun offers a comprehensive program exclusive to this market that creates three different revenue streams for the school- margin on the coffee sold on campus, licensing fees, and a scholarship program - plus marketing and promotional support.  Under this private label program, colleges and universities create a custom label for their coffee that’s branded with their school’s logo and color scheme, enabling them to highlight their commitment to the organic Fair Trade movement. Sun Coffee Roasters not only pays the college a royalty for using the college name and logo on the label, but also donates a percentage of every pound of Sun Coffee Roasters coffee sold on campus to a university-controlled scholarship fund to promote sustainable living.

Sun works with schools to create point of sale collateral to promote organic Fair Trade coffee via education. An easel at the point of sale might talk about the organic Fair Trade movement and how it helps farmers move out of vicious cycles of poverty. Realizing that the economics of coffee, from bean to cup, would make great discussion in class, and furthering their commitment to encouraging dialog and education about sustainability, Sun Coffee Roasters is working on creating a Fair Trade curriculum for colleges  and universities in coordination with The Smithsonian Institute, TransFair USA, Utz Certified and ELAN Organic the program.  According to Ken, “coffee is one of the most highly traded commodities yet four multinational companies control 60% of the market. While prices have stagnated over the last 70 years, a cup of conventional coffee now sells for 10 times the price paid to farmers.”

Online at Sun Coffee Roasters’ University, students are invited to join their “Wake Up Your Campus” campaign. Here, students are empowered and rewarded for becoming a brand ambassador for Sun Coffee Roasters at their school and leading the charge to get students to sign a petition aimed at convincing school officials to offer Sun Coffee Roasters coffees on campus.

But how does it taste you ask? A recent, very professionally organized and run blind tasting of five organic French roasts published on Grist.com evoked some great responses from tasters including “It’s the only one I’d drink.” The panelists concluded that “freshly roasted stuff is best. So, if you are able and lucky, find yourself a small, local roaster.” Fellow coffee aficionados, consider ourselves lucky to have an organic Fair Trade roaster right in our state.

Find Sun Coffee Roasters online at www.suncoffeeroasters.com and on Facebook and Twitter. Ken Lewis, partner and Chief Marketing Officer, can be reached at 860-517-8163.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kate Ebbott

Trainer’s Table

203-984-1628

info@trainerstable.com

LOCAL CAMPERS CONNECT WITH LOCAL FOOD

May 27, 2010 Fairfield County, CT — Trainer’s Table, LLC has teamed up with Fairfield’s Unquowa School and their chef, Peter Gorman, to initiate a food delivery program for campers this summer.  Chef Peter is nationally recognized for the highly successful transformation of The Unquowa School’s  meals and wellness program. This summer, area families have the option to subscribe to a delicious, organic, cost effective weekly lunch and snack service delivered to their camper in lieu of a brown bag lunch.

The food for the lunches is sourced from local farmers and prepared daily in the Unquowa School’s licensed NUT FREE kitchen.

Meals are available for pick up at the Unquowa School or delivered onsite (with a minimum of 20 orders) in individual, reusable BPA free, leak proof containers with each camper’s name on it. The containers are easily stackable and streamlined for efficient cold storage.

In addition to their regular offerings, Trainer’s Table will also endeavor to provide options for vegetarians and campers with food allergies.

Trainer’s Table’s partners Amy Kalafa, Alex Gunuey and Kate Ebbott are local parents with a long history in the combined fields of food education, environmental sustainability, athletic performance, holistic health and wellness.  Their mantra is real food for real performance. Trainer’s Table incorporates sustainable practices throughout the operation.

To sign up a camper or to learn more about the pilot program, contact info@trainerstable.com.

# # #

Amy Kalafa

amy@angrymoms.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Roger Ludlowe Middle School Garden Sass- Plant Sale

SATURDAY, MAY 22^ND, Fairfield, CT

FROM 10:00-2:00 RAIN OR SHINE

RLMS FRONT PARKING LOT 689 UNQUOWA ROAD

(IN THE EVENT OF RAIN RLMS GYM)

Heirloom Tomatoes and Vegetables, Annuals and PerenniaIs, Herbs, Fruit Trees & Ornamental Shrubs, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries and Rhubarb will be available for purchase

FOOD, LIVE MUSIC, AND GARDEN SYMPOSIUM

Roger Ludlowe Middle School will be hosting their First Annual Garden Sass & Plant Sale next Saturday. A Garden Sass is a Yankee term for the home garden. Three farm vendors with ties to our community will be selling seedlings - Maple Row growers in Easton, Moorefield Herb Farm in Trumbull, and Daffodil Hill Growers in Southbury.

We will hold a Garden Symposium, provide live music and offer local fare to fortify our shoppers as they purchase the best of what Connecticut Growers have to offer. Goatboy Soap will supply gardeners with wonderful soaps to use before and after gardening.

Michelle Flashman and Amie Hall will give a tour of the RLMS Garden Square Foot Garden and answer questions. They will be selling seedlings they have grown themselves. The Operation Hope Community Garden will be also be selling vegetable seedlings and will be on hand to share the success of their garden.

CONTACT: Kate Carroll at tenlittlelines@yahoo.com

by Eileen Weber

Joining the ranks of other Fairfield schools, North Stratfield Elementary School has planted a new garden. On a recent breezy spring day, students gathered together to break ground on what would become the site of an edible schoolyard garden full of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. The following Saturday, the scout troop constructed the two raised beds that will support the plantings.

Since Mill Hill Kindergarten teacher Dan Smith started the first one in 2004, school gardens have been popping up all over town. In 2006, Roger Sherman Elementary School incorporated their organic garden into their curriculum with the help of Annelise McCay, a staunch advocate for school lunch nutrition. As a self-proclaimed foot soldier for organic school gardens, McCay has been partly responsible for gardens spreading like wildfire among the elementary schools.

But along the way, McCay gained a partner in crime. Amie Guyette Hall, a certified holistic health counselor and founder of her own business, From Your Inside Out, heard about what McCay was doing with the school gardens and has been working with the town middle schools. In the last six years, eleven of the sixteen schools in town either already have built a school garden or are in the process of building one.

Because of that, Hall and McCay are spearheading a new community organization. Modeled after the Westport Green Village Initiative (GVI) and a sister group to Ridgefield GVI, the Fairfield GVI will support all the school gardens as their first attainable goal in making the town green. “It’s an important message we’re sending,” said Hall. “This is where we are starting because we can realize that goal.”

And that’s where North Stratfield comes in. As the most recent member of a grassroots movement to introduce Fairfield’s agricultural ancestry to school children, they have planted the seeds and are watching them grow. And to McCay, that agricultural ancestry is a key element to their education.

Years ago, Fairfield had over 200 working farms. Today, we have one. And that farm’s lease will be up in less than four years. It will be anybody’s guess as to what will happen with the land. That’s one of the reasons McCay thinks gardening is so important.

“Fairfield has lost its agricultural roots,” said McCay. “One by one, farms have disappeared. I find it heartbreaking.”

Fortunately for North Stratfield, the parents, teachers, and administration, specifically the school’s principal Deborah Jackson, share that energy. Anika Knox, co-chair for the school’s garden, said everyone involved has been very enthusiastic. “What’s not to love about it? It’s a garden!” she said. “And my son loved it! Anything that gets him dirty, he likes.”

Knox said the kids started their planting on a “growing” cart-or traveling dirt, as she called it-with potting soil and newspaper cups. They worked with sunflower, cucumber, eggplant, and nasturtium seeds. Over the summer they hope to plant corn, squash, beans, and onions. Lettuce will be planted  in the early fall. With plans to schedule maintenance over the summer, this will give the kids the opportunity to see the garden in three seasons.

The hope is that with support and regular maintenance the garden will not only thrive, but eventually be used to support the greater community. “The first stage will be to grow the garden for the school,” said Knox. “But ultimately, we’d love to donate to shelters, like Connecticut Food Bank or Operation Hope, or some of the elder communities in our area.”

Knox also said another goal will be a Seed-to-Table initiative to get the food from the garden into the cafeteria. For Leann Ratner, whose two sons Ben and Zachary helped in the garden with their scout troop, the kids’ reaction to the garden shows what an impact it has made. “My son Ben, who is in first grade, couldn’t wait to tell me they planted eggplant. I hate eggplant,” she said jokingly. “He came in and said, ‘Mom, guess what we planted? It’s your favorite!’”

Ratner said this kind of project is appealing to all age groups. No matter the grade in school, all the kids seemed excited at the idea of seeing things actually sprouting. Part of what feeds that enthusiasm is a supportive community. “If you ask for something,” said Ratner, “someone always steps up and says ‘I can do that!’”

The garden has not only had community support but financial support as well. In the fall, they received an ACT (Adults and Children Together) Grant of $400. That money went to purchasing organic compost, tools, hoses, and other gardening equipment. This spring, they received an in-kind donation of $500 from Whole Foods Market in Westport. The donation included seeds, herbs, and some tasty snacks to give the kids a little break from all their hard work.

Aimee O’Brien, who co-chairs with Knox, doesn’t think the hard work should discourage other schools from their own garden projects. “It’s not as hard as people think,” she said. “Folks are really willing to help out. Building relationships is key to a successful garden.”

She also said no matter what way you look at it, gardens bring adults and children together. Fairfield GVI hopes to accomplish that one garden at a time. At the same time, each school garden brings the parents, teachers, and students together. Apparently, vegetables aren’t the only things that grow in a garden.

If you’ve never been to the Weston farmers’ market, there are two new compelling reasons to stop in one Saturday between 9 am and noon: new vendors Judy Morris, a backyard chicken enthusiast and 17-year veteran of Martha Stewart Living, offers custom coops and advice on chicken keeping through her company Coop D’Etat; and Chef Jeff of Skinny Pines LLC, a portable brick oven caterer, is serving handmade pizza featuring locally grown toppings.

The market reopens on June 12 for its twenty-second year and is held at the Weston Historical Society at 104 Weston Road. Every week will offer something special for kids - arts and crafts, live animals, and a fire truck and baby chickens on opening day.

Market Vendors:

Coop D’Etat, custom coops and chicken keeping advice

Skinny Pines LLC, handmade, brick even pizzas featuring locally grown topping.

Wave Hill Bread, award-winning artisan bread

Walding Field Farm, organic greens, tomatoes and more

Warrup’s Farm,  maple syrup, eggs and more

Jeremiah Farms, produce and plants

Michelin’as Bakery, baked goods and coffee

Aspetuck Apple Barn, apple cider donuts

Maureen Fay, fresh cut flowers

Anita Design, handmade linens, wine holders, etc.

Win two nights in Maine, a GE Energy Star appliance (up to $500.00 in value, shipping incl.)

a bike,  a family pass to a Bpt.Blue Fish home game & many more prizes!!!.

FREE Admission! Town of Ffld. canvas shopping bag.

Plenty of Free Parking
SAT, MAY 8, 2010 from 10:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.
@ Fairfield Warde High School, 755 Melville Ave., Fairfield

Learn about…state of the art, clean and renewable alternative energy choices, conservation, our environment, organic and sustainable methods of gardening, cleaning, and safe organic products and services, etc.

Recycle… Old sneakers, batteries, eyeglasses, hearing aids, cell phones, wire hangers, and even clean pairs of socks and unmatched socks.

Enjoy… Free samples, face painting, arts & crafts, kid’s wood construction projects with Home Depot w planting wStudent Exhibits.

See… “Trashy Fashions“ A combined elementary & high school student fashion show using recycled materials. A “Green” Auto show

Hear… Experts discuss current & future trends in automotive transportation.  What’s up with healthy eating, gardening, etc.?

Taste…Fantastic food by Catch a Healthy Habit  and Chef Jeff’s portable wood-fired brick oven. Indulge yourself!  Try kettled corn!

Sing along with… the Mill River Band w Lisa Furman & Friends w Roger Ludlowe Middle School (RLMS) Chamber Choir w Fairfield House Band

Meet … 80+ exhibitors

Schedule

* Please see posted information at the event for most up to date information*

10:15 OPENING CEREMONY by Fairfield’s First Selectman Ken Flatto in the Courtyard.

LECTURE SCHEDULE

Lecture Room:

10:30   An Organic Teaching Farm in Fairfield ?

Pam Jones/Jody Eisemann

11:30   Local Food Panel Discussion

Moderated by Analiese Paik, Founder Fairfield Green Food Guide

Guest Panelists:

• Schools gardens - Annelise McCay & Amie Hall,
• Organic gardening - Nick Mancini
• Community Garden - Eric Frisk
• School Food - Michelle McCabe
• CSAs & Food Coops - Sarah Bollman
• Town Farm - Jody Eisemann and Pam Jones

2:00     Bees into Battle Win Baum

3:00     Organic Gardening Simplified Nick Mancini

Court Yard (Lecture Room if weather is inclement):

1:00       Future of Transportation - a panel discussion.

Moderator -  Jim Motavalli

Sure to be an exciting and informative panel discussion on our current transportation behaviors and the prescription for the future for attaining sustainability in the way we should choose to move ourselves, and the alternatives that will available to us.  Be sure to attend this engaging discussion by our panel of transportation experts.

Cooking Room :

Ongoing demos begin at 10 am. Stop in any time! Follow the signs to the cooking area

Coordinator and Speaker - Amie Hall

11:00    Sustainable Eating

11:30    The Green Lunch Box

1:30    Square Foot Gardening in the Curriculum

2:30    Square Foot Gardening - The Basics

10:00 am- 4:00 pm - Earth Food Tour, Self Guided, Ongoing.  Visit 5 interactive family friendly stations that will expand your food knowledge and build comfort in your kitchen. Topics include Glorious Greens, Great Grains, The Mighty Bean, Flour Power and The Green Lunch Box.

ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULE

Time               Court Yard

10:45                   Mike Dougherty & the All Star Energy Band

11:15                     Save our Trees-Reading by Persephone  Ocasio

Trashy Fashions

11:45                     Drumming Circle

12:30                     Trashy Fashions

2:00                       Drumming Circle

2:45                       Mike Dougherty & the All Star Energy Band

Main Entrance (Outside)

Solar Powered Music

11:15 -2:00         Lisa Furman Band

2:00                       FFld House Band

2:45 - 3:45           Lisa Furman Band

Lecture Series Speakers:

Pam Jones and Jody Eisemann, former Westporters, re-met as Fairfield residents and found they had numerous interests in common, including the preservation and restoration of their local environment. Both of them believe that the earth is facing an unparalleled environmental crisis of resources, out of control pollution and most importantly the safety and security of our food sources. Pam and Jody believe that learning to grow your own food is a simple solution to lowering the area’s carbon footprint, accessing really healthy food and is real security for people everywhere. They have spent the past year pursuing the idea of creating a town owned organic teaching farm as a way to help create a sustainable future for our town and our children.

Analiese Paik is a local/sustainable food advocate and founder of the Fairfield Green Food Guide, an online consumer resource for finding local and sustainably grown food and connecting with the green food community. Launched in January 2009, fairfieldgreenfoodguide.com features a blog, database of green food resources, event calendar and e-newsletter that empower consumers to eat fresh, local and sustainable food in Fairfield County. Analiese organizes documentary food film events to benefit not-for-profits, and is a regular monthly guest on News Channel 8’s Good Morning Connecticut show.

Win Baum, Fairfield Backyard Beekeeper, is back this year and will talk about the perils honeybees and fellow pollinators, like bats and butterflies, are facing from chemical pesticides and other man-made foes. Win and his wife, Stefanie, have been keeping bees in their backyard Fairfield apiary since 1992.  Win’s experience with honeybees and other pollinators is sure to be informative and useful for gardeners of all types.

Nick Mancini will show you how to maintain a trouble free garden through good sanitation, crop selection, proper fertilization and Organic pest management. Nick is a Certified Master Gardener from the Cooperative Extension System of the University of Connecticut, specializing in organic vegetables, fruits and brambles, and past head Master Gardener of Vegetables and Tree Fruit at Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford, Connecticut. He teaches organic gardening at Norwalk Community College’s Extended Studies program and the Kathryn Croaning Child Development Laboratory School where they have developed an organic garden. Nick also teaches Organic Gardening at the Westport Continuing Education, Fairfield Continuing Education, Northeast Organic Farmers Association and lectures in garden clubs, horticultural societies and libraries throughout Connecticut and neighboring states.

Amie Hall - Amie Guyette Hall, is a certified health coach, Square Foot Gardening teacher and Founder of Fairfield’s Middle School Gardens.  Amie has helped our foods teachers develop a whole foods based curriculum. She connects children and families to their food, their community and the land through educational workshops and wellness programs in our schools and at a local farm.

For more information visit: fairfieldearthday.org or call (203) 256-3010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fairfield, CT - On Thursday, April 29, 2010, at 3:35 pm, North Stratfield School (NSS) will hold a Ground Breaking Ceremony for its raised garden bed plots.  Members of the school’s Brownie and Girl Scout troops will work together to measure and dig out the grass for the two plots.  Inspired by the success of Roger Sherman and Mill Hill Elementary Schools, the NSS PTA leadership, with the support of Principal Deborah Jackson, prioritized the project of creating a school vegetable garden of its own.  NSS parents and former educators, Anika Knox and Aimee O’Brien, are the co-chairs of the Garden Committee.

The goal for the garden is to inspire students, teachers, and the North Stratfield community with a hands-on connection to the food cycle, the natural environment, and the physical benefits of gardening.  The Groundbreaking Ceremony will be the first of many activities related to the garden that will bring the school community together to achieve this goal.  Seed planting by all first graders will take place Friday morning.  On the following day, Saturday, May 1^st from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, members of NSS Boy Scout Troop 95 will be constructing the raised garden bed frames.

Knox and O’Brien received an A.C.T. Grant of $400 from the town of Fairfield in the fall.  A.C.T. stands for Adults and Children Together.  Fairfield Green Food Guide founder and NSS parent, Analiese Paik, arranged for an additional contribution from Whole Foods Market (WFM) in Westport equaling $500 worth of in-kind donations of seeds, seedlings and healthy snacks and refreshments for the volunteers involved in the establishment of the NSS school vegetable garden.  Katie Cole from WFM will be in attendance.

“Even before Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution show came about, I was determined that my children were going to know what foods came from which plants,” stated O’Brien, a former NSS 5^th grade teacher and mother of three.  “I am proud to be a part of this exciting school community effort.”  Knox, the experienced gardener of the two, received her graduate degree in developmental psychology and worked with pre-school children in Head Start programs, finding links between gardening and positive behavior.  She added, “The possibilities for learning from the garden are endless.  We are happy to provide the garden as a resource for teachers in whatever way they may envision.”

Currently, three elementary schools and two of the middle schools have established gardens.  North Stratfield School is among a number of schools in the district that have begun plans this school year to establish vegetable gardens.

#  #  #

For more information, contact:

Aimee O’Brien, (203) 610-5090, dancinaimeeg@yahoo.com

If you are a resident of the town of Fairfield, please take a quick moment to sign this petition questing a review of the district’s school lunch program. If you’ve participated in change.org petitions before, this goes super quick. Just login and your information auto populates in the fields. We need your votes to send a strong message to our Board of Education and school administration that it’s time for Fairfield to take the quality of our school food seriously. What better way to start than assessing the current food service program in light of the latest nutrition research and recommendations for children?

Sign the petition

This petition is a declaration of support from the citizens of Fairfield to ask the Board of Education and the School Administration to explore healthier, unprocessed food options to serve for lunch.  We are asking for an independent review of our current system with the long-term goal of phasing out processed, heavily refined foods and integrating as much in the way of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole muscle meats, and whole grains as possible. While the support of people around the world is very much appreciated, we need signatures from Fairfield CT residents only.  Many thanks!!

Petition Text:

Petition to Review the School Lunch Program in Fairfield, CT

Greetings,

We the undersigned believe it is time to reevaluate the Fairfield School lunch program.

We believe that students should be fed a lunch free of processed foods and made with whole food ingredients, featuring fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains.

We believe that improving the school lunch directly and positively impacts students’ ability to learn.

We believe that our Health and Family and Consumer Science curriculum should be reflected in a school lunch program that features the healthful, nutritious food choices taught to our students.

We believe the epidemic of obesity in our children can be addressed by serving a healthy lunch.

We ask the Board of Education to appoint a special task force, consisting of members of the community and experts in the field, as well as members of the Board of Education and the Administration. The charge of this body would be to present options with financials that would allow Fairfield to embrace a better way of feeding our children.

Sign the petition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Amie Guyette Hall

E-mail: amieghall@aol.com

Phone: 203-256-0426

Fax: 203-256-0323

April Declared National Gardening Month at Roger Ludlowe Middle School at 3 pm on April 5^th

Where does your food come from? That’s a question Roger Ludlowe Middle School (RLMS) students have been asked by Amie Guyette Hall, Founder and Director of From Your Inside Out, a health counseling practice located in Fairfield, CT. Their response was to take part in building an organic vegetable garden. In recognition of that effort, Fairfield’s First Selectman Ken Flatto will attend a ribbon cutting on Monday, April 5^th in the school’s garden. The cutting will be a kick-off event in declaring April National Gardening Month and a celebration recognizing the outstanding gardening efforts of student gardeners across the district. All community members are welcome to participate in the excitement!

A lot of hard work went in to planning the Square Foot Garden (www.squarefootgardening.com), now in its second growing season. RLMS’s Jeff Iwanicki and Scott Morris of Fairfield Woods Middle School, both Tech Ed teachers, have been instrumental in the physical construction of the raised bed boxes guiding students during and after school in practical application of woodworking skills. But even more effort has been put into growing gardens across Fairfield. Flagship efforts for organic school gardens started a few years ago. Roger Sherman Elementary, spearheaded by Annelise McCay, sparked the interest. They have successfully integrated their garden as a teaching tool for nearly six years.

But they are not alone. Since then, the idea has spread like wildfire. A number of community schools have implemented a garden as part of their curriculum. “I support these outdoor classrooms as they present unlimited learning opportunities for our students,” said RLMS Principal Glenn Mackno.

And that’s where Amie Guyette Hall comes in. Ms. Hall has been very active in our schools the past few years. She continues to support these projects working diligently to involve students and to bring them together across the district. She believes that connecting children and families to their food, their community and the land is essential to the health and happiness that we all want. School gardens are a big piece of making that happen.

About Amie Hall

Ms. Hall supports individuals and families in achieving health and lifestyle goals while living a passionate life. Her unique approach to wellness combines food counseling with lifestyle coaching and offers nutrition and cooking education through workshops, as well as one-on-one and group health programs that are geared to meet the unique needs and goals of each individual, of all ages.

For more information, contact Amie Guyette Hall at amieghall@aol.com. [www.fromyourinsideout.com]

Sometimes very small changes in how we run our kitchens can translate into tremendous savings over time - both for our pocketbooks and the environment. Isn’t it time you gave your kitchen a little green update? Every day more than 20 million sandwich bags from school lunches go into landfills in the US. 3 Green Moms thought this was wasteful so they invented Lunch Skins, an eco-chic, reusable, and dishwasher- safe alternative to disposable plastic sandwich and snack bags.

Hand-sewn in the US, Lunch Skins come in a variety of attractive, child-friendly patterns that include animals and fruits. According to the manufacturer’s web site, “these reusable, colorful cloth pouches are made from a high quality, moisture-proof German fabric used worldwide in the food industry. These bags are food safe, extremely durable, grease-proof and can even be thrown in the dishwasher.” We’ve been using these bags every day in my house for about a year and they’re still in great condition, even after being run through the dishwasher. I love that they are lead, Bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalate-free.

Make Every Day Earth Day by replacing your plastic sandwich and snack bags with reusable Lunch Skins. 3greenmoms is offering my readers 10 percent off any online order through May 15. Just use coupon code FGFGED10 in the comments field to receive this offer. This socially conscious company donates one percent of online sales profits to the C&O Canal Trust, an organization formed to protect and restore the historic C&O Canal near our nation’s capital. See www.canaltrust.org for more information.

Going green at your school, business or organization? If you’re interested in a green fundraiser, 3 greenmoms has a fantastic program that allows you to co-brand their bags with your logo with a minimum order of 50 bags. Visit their fundraising page for more information.