Seems like everyone we know, young and old, pines for the day when neighbors were more neighborly. These days, though, it seems that people don't have any idea what being neighborly might look like in practice. That's why we're so impressed with GOOD's new series on being neighborly, featuring tools and tips to help make your block feel like more than the place you park your home. Here's a taste:

• Meet your neighbors without seeming like a crazy person You're green—you know that look people can give you when they think you're being eco-weird. Fortunately, there are ways to meet your neighbors without coming off like a creep.
• Throw a block party Here's another way to meet the neighbors, and then some.
• Share your yard (or get your neighbors to share theirs) Why share? More space, lower bills, enough pooled cash to install that solar-powered hot tub or pool, a nicer view, a shared play area ...
• Start a community garden We're big fans of guerrilla gardening and urban gardens. Don't wait for someone else to start something; create a garden for your very own neighborhood.

We'll be keeping an eye on this ongoing series for more ideas on being good neighbors. (After all, we think GOOD makes good neighbors here on the 'net, ourselves.) What are your favorite ways to enjoy time with your neighbors?

(Photo credit:Art Institute of Portland)

Which is greener, frozen veggies or canned? After a little investigation, it turns out that this is one of those loaded questions like, "When did you stop beating your wife?"

Energy Use. If you just want to talk about the energy expended in making the packaging, preparing the food, and then storing/transporting it, there's no clear winner. Frozen food wins in the packaging-making department, but it takes more energy to can than freeze food. But if that food sits in your freezer (as opposed to on a pantry shelf), storing it uses more energy. The winner? According to Treehugger, it's pretty much a dead heat.

Now things get sticky.

What's in that can? For one thing, fewer nutrients. According to the FDA, a third to half of certain key vitamins are wiped out in the canning process. Then there's botulism. Bulging cans? Uh uh, back away slowly. And there's the question of the can itself: they're no longer seamed with lead, but many cans have a lining that includes Bisphenol-A.

Frozen food isn't exactly safe, either. The are major breakdowns in the safety of our food supply, as evidenced by the recent peanut butter salmonella outbreak, e.coli in the spinach, and the like. Salmonella? Turns out it's in frozen pot pies, too, though maybe you never heard about that. And frozen food makers would like to shift the burden of safety upon us, the consumer. Hey, it's so much easier that way! Simply direct us to "heat properly," cross your fingers, and you're golden. Problem is, we're not going to use an internal read thermometer to check the temperature of our pot pies and family-sized lasagnas and Hungry-Man Dinners. We expect frozen food to be sterile. Safe.

Best answer? Grow your own food. Invest in community-supported agriculture. Buy from local farmers. Those options don't work well for everyone, but the more we support them, the easier it will all be. But buy the best produce you can. And then get on the case of your elected officials, because a safe and nutritious food supply is a basic right we all can expect.

(Photo credit:stevendepolo, flickr)

NYT: http://bit.ly/107FRO

I'll be farming organically, to support my local pollinators, in my own backyard this year but would have loved an organic internship when I was at university.

Local to me--Cook College, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, operates on the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model. You can purchase "shares" in the farm–investing in student farming skills–and benefiting by receiving an edible weekly share of the harvest. What organic opportunities are local for you?

(Photo credit:flickr: judith meskill)

Each week, Super Eco rolls out new how-tos on topics ranging from pet care, to happiness, to saving water in your yard. 

So if you haven't yet availed yourself of this wonderful resource now is your chance.  

Here are our top 5 inspired, simple, helpful how-tos on gardening, just in time for Spring and Summer:

1. If you want to attract more songbirds to your garden (we also show you how to attract butterflies and bees)

2. If you want to grow herbs

3. If you want to start plants from seed

4. If you want to start a vegetable garden

5. If you want to know which gardening tools you'll need most

Stay tuned as our gardening experts share more of their experience and tips with you and please feel free to share yours with us.

And don't forget to join in our beautiful Spring Fling photo fun on Super Eco's flickr group.

(Photo credit:P.J. McAdie, flickr)

In the Christian tradition, the season of Lent is a time for discipline. For 40 days, from Ash Wednesday to Easter, Christians of various stripes give up something they love to deepen their spirituality—changing one’s lifestyle for an extended time is a good way of initiating a new habit or getting rid of a burdensome one. Even if the change isn’t permanent, it can restore a sense of moderation, power and thoughtfulness. And in a culture addicted to satisfying one's desires, learning the rewards of “enough” is a radical act.

Earth Month is a good time for a green Lent: 40 days of paying attention to our consumption and our impact on the Earth. What if we treated Earth Day as the beginning of a green Lenten period? Where each pledge to change one daily practice we know isn’t sustainable? Ultimately, we might return to our former habits, but we might also learn to use less or even do without.

Greenies have long understood that sacrifice is key when it comes to saving the Earth. And plenty of spiritual leaders have utilized Lent as an opportunity to introduce congregants to a lighter footstep.

(Photo credit:Margret Grebowicz)

You are getting a refund, right? (Oh wait, you did know this was Tax Day, didn't you? If not, there's still time...) And if you're like many of us, you've got a nice little chunk of your own hard earned money coming back to you pretty soon. Why not make an investment in planet Earth the eco way?

1. Micro lend. Even if you have just $25 to spare, you can change a life. Microfinance helps give people a much-needed boost who wouldn't get one any other way. By buying someone across the world a goat, or helping them get a fledgling business off the ground, you give them something they may not get anywhere else: hope. Try Kiva.org or Grameen Bank or even your local bank for information on how you can become a microinvestor.

2. Put your garden in. Haven't started growing your own food yet? This is a great time to start. And it's easier than you think. Start small and it'll grow!

3. Save the seeds. Got your own Victory Garden already started? Then donate to a seed bank to help protect the biodiversity of plant species from disappearing due to disease, GM crop invasion, or other disasters.

4. Green your clean. Ditch the chemicals once and for all (donate to a shelter instead of dumping down the drain) and assemble your green cleaning kit.

5. Get on two wheels. A bike is an investment that has more rewards than you can count. Soon you'll be evangelizing, too!

6. Join a CSA. Now's the time to become a member of a local farm providing you with a weekly box of delicious organic produce. Most family-sized shares spanning 18-22 weeks of the year cost in the neighborhood of $400, or about $20 a week, an awesome deal for eating so well.

7. Move closer to where you work. Maybe your refund is bigger than expected, in which case this makes an investment with huge returns. Not only will you save money in the long run, but your footstep on the planet will be a whole lot lighter.

Got a green idea for your refund this year?

(Photo credit:borman818, flickr)

Our front yard is a total mess. A foot back from the fence and its border of daffodils is a three-foot-deep hole that extends to the sidewalk that encircles the front porch. Passers-by ask, "are you making a pond? A swimming pool?" Nope. We're scooping in wood chips and compost to be a healthy, organic base for the crop of potatoes, carrots and corn we'll plant in a few weeks. We have a big back yard, but there never seems to be enough room for all the crops we'd like to plant.

I should make a yard sign: "As seen on TV." According to CBS News, and my local news too, more and more families are turning their manicured front yards into vegetable producers. CBS calls me "at the forefront of a fast-growing movement in these hard economic times: getting rid of the sacred front lawn and replacing it with the urban farm." Shellie Bailey-Shah from KATU News says we're part of the "lost generation"; our moms and grandmothers had gardens, but we never did.

Until now. A stroll through any neighborhood in Portland will reveal newly-installed raised garden boxes, or an apartment complex's shrubbery that's been torn out to plant lettuces and peas. In the yards of trend-setters, artichokes and sunflowers gone to seed are portents of a bountiful summer ahead. Calling lawns "wasteful, useless spaces," productive urban farmers can produce so much in a small space that they have extra to sell to restaurants and urban locavores. A friend has started a CSA, grown and harvested on a an empty lot in his neighborhood; another business in Portland sells produce from a network of backyards to co-ops, gourmet groceries and restaurant kitchens. Want to get your hands dirty in your own urban farm? Get going with our how-to start a vegetable garden.

(Photo credit:sarah gilbert)

After my first baby spit out every bit of baby food we tried to feed him in disgust, I started questioning the wisdom of the commercial baby food industry. By my third baby, I watched in amazement as he started munching on carrot greens poking out of the top of a farmer's market bag and decided to go ancient and just feed him whatever he picked out of his own accord (chopped, mushed, or peeled as appropriate). For Monroe, that means anything green, cooked any way; beans by the fingerful; and every kind of berry and stone fruit, bonus points for covering his whole body in the juice. When a friend asked how she should make her own baby food using the organic contents of her CSA box, I excitedly sent her some recipes and recommendations.

The first book I turned to was the Organic Baby & Toddler Cookbook: Easy Recipes for Natural Food. If you're looking for strained peas and dessicated instant oatmeal mush, it's not here. Instead of insisting that you just try one ingredient at a time, the book encourages mixing vegetables and fruits together, in delicious-sounding mashups like carrot, potato, peas and corn (sauté chopped carrot in olive oil; add chopped potatoes, peas, corn, and a little water; simmer for 15 minutes, then puree) and a fruit compote of apple, apricot, dried fig, cinnamon and raisins, simmered for five minutes and pureed. You could adapt several recipes in this book for the vegetables in your CSA box, following the developmental guidelines and tips Lizzie Vann provides.

The second book I recommended was Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. While Fallon certainly doesn't focus on baby food, she has a very dense chapter on feeding babies that reflects her general approach to food (which incorporates Weston A. Price's research on ancient cultures' eating habits). She suggests, for instance, feeding an egg yolk a day to babies, and avoiding grains entirely until the child is one or two years old. Fallon does recommend the "introduce one at a time" approach to adding vegetables and fruits, but suggests parents not add those foods until the baby is 10 months old. She also recommends mashing "carbohydrate foods," including potatoes, carrots, and turnips with butter, and avoid fruit juice entirely.

Using the approaches in these two books, an adventurous cook could adapt any number of recipes from cookbooks that include many simple seasonal vegetable-based recipes. A few I particularly like are Bistro Cooking by Patricia Wells; Fields of Greens by Anne Somerville; and Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair. After all, the difference between making baby food and making soup is usually only a matter of using a little less cooking liquid and adjusting the spice levels.

(Photo credit:sarah gilbert)

Carpooling is a great idea—but I don't work in an office. We see you nodding in agreement. "Yeahhh," you say, "I can't ride to work with anyone else, either! I just live so far out/have such irregular hours/need to use a car during the day ..." 

But wait a second. See this hook I'm holding up? It's the Carpool Hook—and we're not letting you off that easy. We're not going to quibble over the reasons you can't rideshare in to the office. It's ok; we believe you.

But the office is far from the only carpool destination in town. Even if you don't work at all, you can lighten your carbon footprint, save bucks and even have fun in the process when you share a ride with a neighbor.

• School Look beyond the minivan cavalcade at the elementary school. Let your wheels-less teen team up with friends for rides, and offer up the family chariot one or two days per week. It ain't sexy—but it beats the bus.
• The grocery store Grocery shopping would be a lot more fun with someone else around with whom you can share bulk purchases, swap recipes, chatter ... and carpool. (And that older neighbor who no longer drives? This is your chance to lend a hand.)
• CSAs and local farms Piling into the car for a regular run to a nearby CSA or local farm turns picking up fresh produce and food into a social event.
• The mall Yeah, we're not big on the rampant consumerism engendered by the local mall—but a well planned trip with a herd of your green homies can be a useful expenditure of gas, time and effort.
• The park Deserted parks are a bummer. Create your own crowd by carting the neighbors along, too.
• Thrift stores and garage sales Map out a route that includes coffee breaks and lunch, and make a day of it.
• Volunteer Ramp up enthusiasm and put a damper on excuses when you volunteer at a local charitable organization as a group.

(Photo credit:bradleypjohnson, flickr)

There are many healthy virtues associated with seasonal eating—foods harvested in the season you are in—using it as a means to align yourself with nature and keep your body healthy. Local Harvest is a wonderful resource for identifying seasonal foods in your area.

Spring is the time to focus on enjoying tender, leafy vegetables that flourish in the cool weather including swiss chard, spinach, romaine lettuce, green onions, parsley, cilantro and basil.

In Summer, stick with light, cooling foods. These foods include fruits like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and plums. It's also a great  time to enjoy vegetables like summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, corn and tomatoes.

Autumn is the time to consume more warming autumn harvest foods, including apples, pears, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, onions, and garlic. It is a wonderful time to emphasize warming spices and seasonings including ginger, peppercorns, and mustard seeds.

In Winter emphasize warming long storage vegetables like those enjoyed in Autumn. Remember the principle that foods taking longer to grow are generally more warming than foods that grow quickly. All of the animal foods fall into the warming category including fish, chicken, beef, lamb, eggs and dairy.

Foods consumed year round are grains and pulses (legumes), wheat, sorghum, millet, dried corn, rice, buckwheat, barley, oats, black beans, kidney beans, lima beans, green beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas, buckwheat and nuts.

Balance is the most important thing to remember when choosing any dietary path: don't forget to have some fun and to eat healthy foods that make you feel good.

The virtues of growing and eating locally in season are many; buying and consuming locally supports things like Spin Farming which advocates sustainable farming practices on very small plots of land and can be a very lucrative and eco-friendly alternative to consuming food that has a large commercial trucking carbon footprint.

According to The Hundred Mile Diet—which encourages eating foods that come from no further than 100 miles away—the idea is that everyone can find most of what they need close to home, and doing so allows consumers to support farmers in their community, serve the environment, and support their health at the same time.

Please note that the advice given above is only our opinion, based on experience, and is not meant to be either definitive or prescriptive. Thanks!

(Photo credit:NatalieMaynor on flickr)