An Earth Day Scavenger Hunt!

Get kids exploring the market, learning about fruits and veggies, and our farmers at the Market for Earth Day.

Write or draw the answer for a prize from our Info Booth!

1. Find a purple fruit or vegetable. Name it or draw it!
   
   
   

2. Find a green food that you have not tasted before.  Name it or draw it!
   
   
   

3. Find something that grows underground. Name it or draw it!
   
   
   

4. Ask a farmer what time they woke up this morning & how long it took them to get to the market. Answer in time or distance:
   * Fact: The average supermarket produce travels 1,500 miles!
   
   
   

5. What booth is the Take a Bag, Leave a Bag basket next to?  *Fact: 160,000 plastic bags are used globally every second!

Download the scavenger hunt here and print at home, or get one at the info tent!

Can Great Salsa Change the World?

If the sauce in question is Feel Good Salsa, the answer just might be yes.

Dina Feldman, chef and creator of Feel Good Salsa, makes mouth-watering, restaurant-worthy dips, but she’s not content to rest on the laurels of flavor alone. Dina wants her salsa to be good. Like, ontologically.

“I want to be the Patagonia of salsa!” says Dina. I want to prove that sustainability and profitability in business can coexist.” 

Her fledgling company is only nine months old, but it has already taken big steps to ensure a small carbon footprint. For starters, her salsas don't travel far.  Made in the South Bay, they are sold at Farmers’ Markets in Playa Vista and Costa Mesa. The produce is local too: grown between Riverside and Ventura: a 60-mile radius. This both limits their miles-to-market and provides sales for local farmers. 

“I don't haggle with them,” Dina says. “Whatever price they give me, that’s the price I want to pay.”

If sourcing is important, Dina also thinks about where her produce will end up. In an effort to reduce her production scraps, she took cilantro stems, something normally tossed out as food waste, and turned them into a delicious dip. 

“That’s been a huge hit because—obviously—it’s really awesome to use the entire cilantro.”

As for the onion skins, tomato cores, and pepper stems, the inevitable, inedible by products of salsa making, Dina composts them through the Bay Foundation’s “Table to Farm” composting program.

“We’ve [prevented] 200 pounds of food from going into the landfill,” she says with pride. 

Instead of waste, these scraps become soil-enriching compost for Los Angeles-area farms and school gardens. 

To Dina’s thinking, sustainability means carefully considering every step of production. The salsa is sold in biodegradable plastic containers. Dina’s market banner is made from recycled paper and eco-friendly ink, and her business cards are seed packets she made from recycled paper. 

“I’m looking to find biodegradable gloves,” she says of the food service gloves required by the health department. “Being in business, you're going to create a footprint,” she concedes. “It’s almost inevitable, but I’m really focusing on lowering the carbon footprint as much as possible.”

Many entrepreneurs assume that sustainability will hurt their bottom line, but Dina is convinced that the opposite is true. She believes her standards give eco-conscious customers the opportunity to choose sustainability—or as she puts it,  “vote with their dollars.” After watching customers flock to her stand, I think she’s right.

Feel Good Salsa flavors include (but are not limited to):

• roasted chili de arbol

• cactus pico de gallo

• peach salsa

• salsa verde

• cilantro sauce

And all are available to sample. Containers are five dollars each. You can cast your vote Saturdays from 9am-2pm at the SoCo Costa Mesa Farmers Market inside SOCO & The OC Mix. 

Aubrey Yarbrough is the Community Development Manager for Farmer Mark. Before moving to LA she ran her own organic farm and cooked on the garde manger station of the award winning Elements restaurant in Princeton, NJ. She has contributed poetry to New American Writing and prose to Edible Jersey.

10 Everyday Tips to Keep Our Planet Healthy

We can always use a friendly reminder that the earth is our home, and we should do everything we can to treat it as best we can. Below are 10 simple easy tips that you and your family can follow to help make the earth a healthier place.

1. Conserve Water- This is especially important in areas that are prone to drought. The little things count here – turn the sink off when brushing your teeth, take shorter showers, and forego the carwash.
2. Walk or Bike- Other than these options being a great form of exercise, staying off of the road helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions more than you’d think.
3. Recycle- By placing your plastic bottle in the correct container, you are helping to reduce pollution. Recycling goes beyond glass, paper and tinfoil. Don’t forget to properly recycle your used batteries, electronics, and hazardous waste to the appropriate recycling centers near you.
4. Compost- Composting is a great way to reduce the amount of solid waste your household produces each year, therefore taking up less space in landfills and providing great nutrients for your garden.
5. BYOB- Bring your own bag! When shopping at the farmers market, grocery store, or even the mall, it’s best to bring your own bag to reduce the use of plastic bags.
6. Go Paperless- By switching to electronic billing statements, you are reducing the amount of paper being used and savings trees.
7. Donate- Before throwing away clothing, shoes and household items, think if someone else could put it to use. It’s easy to donate these items to charitable organizations.
8. Clean Without Toxins- Swap out toxic, heavy duty cleaning supplies for “green” cleaning products. You can even save money and make your own by using household items like vinegar, lemon and baking soda!
9. Plant A Tree- Trees help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cleans pollution, and provides shade, so get out there and plant a tree. And if you don’t have space for a tree, simply plant smaller flowers!
10. Educate Yourself- Make a commitment to educate yourself about the environment and how you can protect it. Head to your local library, or join a local group. Even small changes help!