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Restaurants, Green Products Big Losers as Pessimistic Consumers Cut Back

Some 58% of Americans feel that the economy has reached a low point and nearly half (47%) think it will stay this way for a while, prompting spending cutbacks on nearly everything - from charitable contributions to dining out to beauty and grooming products, according to the November/December 2008 Insight Report from MarketTools, Inc.

The report, which focuses on US economic conditions and how they will affect spending in the coming months, foretells an economically turbulent holiday season and spending reductions for the longer term.

Green Products Stay on Store Shelves

From the July/August 1999 issue of Texas Gardener:

Bioponics: Organics Marry Hydroponics - Jody Bates

Would you like to have succulent, juicy tomatoes and an Italian herb garden ready for your next salad? Chris Freeman, a recent Masters of Agriculture graduate of Texas A&M University, has devised a unique system called "bioponics" that has all the advantages of hydroponics, yet is certified organic by the Texas Department of Agriculture.

If you are a commercial gardener, the organic stamp of approval can command higher prices in the marketplace, and bioponics assure crops with high aesthetic value and consumer appeal.

In this segment from an upcoming episode of Organic Living with the Hippy Gourmet, we visit with Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California!

The host interacts with puppies- and then meets with Caesar Estrada of Canine Confections and Happy Pet Bakery of San Francisco, to learn how to make yummy, organic and fully vegetarian doggy treats!

"Hippy Gourmet's Quick and Simple Cookbook for Healthy Eating" (Hachette USA) is now available wherever books are sold!

http://www.HippyGourmet.com
http://www.GuideDogs.com
http://www.CanineConfections.com

Seed and plant exchanges are simple and easy ways to get most - or even sometimes all - of the plants and seeds you want completely free. It takes a little work on your end, but if you like to try out a variety of different plants or you love starting new flowers and plants from seeds, then you should locate an exchange in your area or find someone using one of the online gardening forums.

In a plant or seed exchanges, when someone has extra flower and plant seeds, they offer to trade them for something else. Or you can offer to perform a service in exchange for someone sending you a plant or seeds that you can't find. Usually in the online forum, the post will state what kinds of seeds they have, and what kinds of seeds they're wanting to trade for.

If you have the seeds wanted, and you want what they're offering, you contact them and make arrangements to send your seeds to them in the mail, and they'll send theirs to you.

You should devote a section of your organic garden to herbs. Herbs are very common in lots of recipes. They complement the food we eat and are a good source of beneficial nutrients. Herbs are relatively easy to grow; thriving in most soil conditions with little fertilizer.

Herb plants are either annuals or perennials. Annuals grow only for a portion of the year or season and need to be replanted each year. Perennials grow year round for multiple seasons. Herbs grown in a container, will live all year, if brought indoors for the winter. In the garden, they will grow and bloom again after the winter.

Herbs will generally grow well when they receive more than 12 hours of sunlight (12-16 hours is a good range). You can grow herbs in a container indoors in addition to planting outside. It might be preferable to have the herbs indoors, in a location that will receive lots of light, so that you can easily snip the plants as you cook.