Grow More of Your Food, Make More of Your Own Stuff

COMMUNITY NEWS

100 years ago individuals and families would grow and make much of what they consumed, unconsciously living in a very sustainable manner. Growandmake.com has a blog which helps heighten consumer awareness of what can be practically grown or made at home. We create videos and write educational posts and articles for simple at home projects which can help you to garden year round, make your own clothing, or fill your pantry and freezer with locally grown foods. For many families and individuals it's impractical to devote the time and energy required to growing and making their day to day needs, so for most we encourage an occasional project or simple lifestyle change.

For when you can't grow or make what you consume our editors also evaluate and review a range of products based on a 5 criteria rating system for sustainability. Since you're never sure if a manufacturer is 'green washing' their product claims, we look at the entire chain required to produce and ship the product from the manufacturer origin to your home. We first evaluate the value, to ensure that the product is not an over-priced for the return. Second, we evaluate the efficiency (only applies to products which help to lower resource consumption). Third we evaluate the Shipping and Packaging to determine if it's packaged in with recyclable or biodegradable products and shipped in minimal carbon footprint manner. Our fourth criteria is the manufacturing process and if it's sustainable, neutral or has a negative environmental outcome. The last criteria applied is, longevity, which is critical in promoting re-use and keeping landfill at a minimum. When we discover a product we really like the editor creates a video review, so that you can see it in action and hear what our editor's love about the product they've evaluated.

Grow and Make editors speak with manufacturers regularly to encourage the adoption of more sustainable practices, so that they can receive our endorsement and a more positive rating and review.

- Will

The Daily Green's Community News section is a forum for our audience to get the word out about issues that matter to them, enlist support, get help and advice, celebrate successes or share humor. The best submissions are personal (why I started this venture) short and to the point (400 words or so) and written in a style that speaks directly to the audience as peers (not like an ad or press release). E-mail submissions to news@thedailygreen.com and include "community news" in the subject line. Photos are also welcome, provided the submitter has rights to publish the image. Be sure to include credit and caption information.

Submissions to The Daily Green are subject to our Privacy and Terms of Use policies.

COMMENTS ()