Vegan bake sale to benefit Animal Place!

Vegan baked goods are fantastic! Just take a gander at my vegan baked good recipes and you’ll see that omitting the eggs and dairy from your recipes not only decreases environmental impact and cruelty but is also darn tasty! This is a great way to give back while indulging in delicious baked goodies.

Tuesday June 23rd —
Sunflower Farmer’s Market, (Southern & McClintock) 12pm – 6pm
Friday June 26th —
Sunflower Farmer’s Market, (Southern & McClintock) 12pm – 6pm
Saturday June 27th —
Changing Hands Bookstore, (Guadalupe & McClintock) 9:30am – 5:30pm

Contact mollyandritar1st@aol.com for more info or visit the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale website.

Take the pledge to shop local June 19th thru July 5th and help keep independent business alive in Arizona! Why support local business?

• For every two jobs national retailers bring to a community, three jobs are lost as a result of local businesses closing down.
• When you shop locally-owned businesses, your money is re-circulated over and over and creates up to 75% more tax revenue to our community and state.
• Independent businesses raise the standard of living in your community because they take their profits and buy products and services from other local businesses, thus creating more and more tax revenues needed for the community to thrive.
• Millions of dollars of tax revenue subsidies handed to chains by financially-starved local governments drain even more tax revenue from our community and state.
• Blighted empty shopping areas are created in your community when chain stores re-locate to a more lucrative shopping center, or leave altogether. Literally hundreds of big stores are abandoned each year across the United States.
• Independent businesses are unique enterprises that contribute to the character of our community by offering a more diverse selections of goods and services.
• Independent businesses provide meaningful service with a personal touch. It matters to them that you are satisfied and will come back again.
• Carefully planned predatory pricing practices have allowed national chains to establish virtual monopolies as they drive local competition out of business. And then they raise their prices.

Check out Local First Arizona’s site for more information about this event.

image by manohard on flickr

Repower America is the clean energy plan supported by Al Gore with the goal to “repower” the US with 100% clean electricity within 10 years. They are reaching out to Arizonans at noon on June 10th so check out the info on this event:

We’re building our campaign here in Arizona because it’s a crucial time to show our elected officials our support for clean energy.

That’s why I’m pleased to invite you to join fellow Repower Arizona members and staff for a kickoff Repower Arizona Roundtable in Phoenix. We will discuss how clean energy legislation will help Arizona, and how you can get involved to support clean energy in the weeks ahead.

Here are the details:

Repower Arizona Roundtable
Burton Barr Library, Lecture Hall
1221 N. Central Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85004

Wednesday, June 10th
12:00 PM

RSVP Now.

The opposition has been working hard to push their misinformation and lies about clean energy.

We need your help to make sure your neighbors know the truth, so that our elected officials see the strong support for clean energy in Arizona.

Will you join us in Phoenix on Wednesday?

>>Yes, I’ll be there.

>>Sorry, I can’t make it, but I still want to help fight misinformation here in Arizona.

I have cut back on my spending a lot lately, I don’t know many people who haven’t. It still seems that most of our money goes toward eating out or groceries. Eating out feels like a reward, a little luxury that makes hard times easier. Those little luxuries are really helpful right now though eating out is often hard on your wallet and your waist line. One thing you can do is to hire a personal chef. While on your own this may seem like a silly suggestion, when you put a few families together it really starts to make financial and eco-sense. If you have a few close neighbors who are trying to eat better but just don’t have the time or know-how this might be perfect for you. I posted about Ripe Personal Chef’s services previously as an idea for Valentines’ but Chef Stephanie has a new service for group-rates. She specializes in highly nutritious, healthy meals, vegetarian, or even vegan. Click here to read more.

image from Kevin Dooley on flickr

We’ve had such nice weather these last few days! The air smells of creosote and the temperatures have lightened up. Our garden is really soaking it up and is super happy. These pictures were taken about a week or two ago and it feels like things have nearly doubled in size, especially the squash. I wish we had a rainwater harvesting system set up but at least we have done a few things like planting in low areas and making little berms around plants so they can retain the water they get. Happy Memorial Day weekend, everybody! Lets hope for more rain.