Every Monday we like to hook you up with free stickers! This week we wanted to showcase our friends over at Surfaid International.
To win free Surfaid stickers please leave a comment below for our friends at Surfaid and we’ll pass it along to them. 15 comments will be picked at random to win free stickers. Contest ends May 16th 2011. Please use valid email.
It is six months since a relatively small earthquake in the Indian Ocean generated the tsunami wave that swept across the Mentawai Islands, destroying villages and killing more than 500 people on 25 October last year. SurfAid launched an immediate emergency response, and within 24 hours had started to dispatch aid to the islands. Over the course of the next two weeks we sent more than 14,000 non-food items, six tonnes of rice and tens of thousands of packs of noodles and cans of fish. Our marine capabilities, and knowledge of the Mentawai Islands, were the key to our ability to access stricken communities.
Within two weeks of the tsunami we had finished the emergency response and started the first round of the subsequent Emergency Recovery Program, and we have been working on that ever since. Since December we have been engaged in the second phase of the Emergency Recovery Program, the long-term recovery that will take many years to implement. We continue to focus on community health, and have extended our ability to cover affected communities by engaging a respected local NGO as a formal implementation partner. This is a major step up for YRSM (Yayasan Reimar Schefold Mentawai), it represents a partnership that is good for both parties. We can cover many more communities and YRSM can access our implementation model, training and support. Together we will do much more than either party could do individually. The community health project (called P4B, Proyek Pencegahan Penyakit Pasca Bencana) has just commenced.
April 16, 2011- Earth Day 2011 came early this year for the community of Orange County when our friends over at The Ecology Center hosted an amazing event. The Ecology Center, in San Juan Capistrano, is an exciting educational center, whose purpose is to engage the entire family in fun, hands-on activities that teach practical, environmental solutions at the household and community level. With the help of volunteers, and support from local businesses like Killer Dana, Armstrong Gardens and many more the event was a huge success.
Killer Dana helped co-sponsor the Earth Day with raffle donations, a free stuff lesson and a seed ball making workshop! We also launched our new co-op Community Card for anyone who signed up for a 2011 Ecology Center membership. The Community Card offers year round discounted shopping in our Dana Point store, with 5% of all sales going back to the Ecology Center! What’s not to love about that!
The event was loaded with educational workshops such as gorilla style gardening (making seed balls), home made lotion (beeswax & olive oil), kite making and cool free drinks from Sambazon and Guayaki Yerba Mate. There was also a large selection of edible plants for sale, terrarium kits, local made marmalade and jellies (De Nada Limonada) and more! If you missed this year’s event don’t worry, The Ecology Center offers monthsly workshops for everyone in the community to enjoy.
Organic farming and surfing have more in common then you think. Enjoy this video from our friends over at Billabong and learn all about the relationship between Billabong, Anvil and Texas Organic Cotton Farmers. Their is hope for a cleaner tomorrow.
Come one come all and join us at the Ecology Center this Saturday to celebrate an early Earth Day! We are sponsoring the Seed Ball making workshop so swing by our table and say hi!
The Ecology Center, in San Juan Capistrano, is an exciting new educational center, whose purpose is to engage the entire family in fun, hands-on activities that teach practical, environmental solutions at the household and community level.
While every day is Earth Day at The Ecology Center, on April 16th our friends are opening their doors to the community for a special celebration. Bring your family and friends for a full day of eco-education fun!
All-day offerings - 10:30 – 4:00
The Eco Shop
Including: worm bins, greywater kits, terrariums, rainbarrels, and more!
Plant Sale
Organic Seedling/Seeds
The Ecology Center, in San Juan Capistrano, is an exciting new educational center, whose purpose is to engage the entire family in fun, hands-on activities that teach practical, environmental solutions at the household and community level. Check out there featured blog of the week:
Saturday, March 19th was The Ecology Center’s monthly Backyard Skills workshop at the Center for Living Peace in Irvine. Participants were lucky to learn about designing an edible garden from Jonathan Davis of Fullerton Arboretum. Jonathan is a Biologist at the Arboretum and is responsible for an 11,000 square foot garden he started himself in 2008.
This is the perfect time of year to start that edible garden you have been talking about and with Jonathan’s help it couldn’t be easier! Also, Saturday, April 16th, The Ecology Center will be celebrating their favorite day of the year, Earth Day! Among many other activities, the annual organic seedling sale will be in full swing. All seedlings were started at The Ecology Center from seed by their many volunteers. This will be the day to stock up on organic, heirloom vegetable starts so that your garden will thrive this spring and summer.
Jonathan outlined the steps to start an edible garden but emphasized the importance of jumping right in, getting you hands dirty and simply planting something.
Steps to Building a Garden:
1. Education
2. Start a compost pile
3. Select a sunny spot
4. Prepare site/kill lawn
5. Amend soil if necessary
-Compost is best
-Aged manure and other composted organic amendments are also beneficial
-Organic mulches can be later turned-in
-pH adjustments only if necessary
6. Plan and plant
7. Maintain – Weed, feed, water and harvest
-Water deeply and less frequently
-Regular light feedings
-Constantly add to garden and experiment
-Monitor and manage pest populations
Some Considerations for Garden Design:
-Microclimates
-Adequate and efficient spacing
-Diverse and complimentary planting
-Separate same/similar crops
-Rotate crops
-Incorporate fruit and other perennials
What to plant this Spring and Summer:
-Squash, cucumber, melon
-Tomato, pepper, eggplant
-Beans
-Corn, sunflower
-Heat-tolerant greens
The Ecology Center
32701 Alipaz St.
San Juan Capistrano, 92675
949.443.4223
Every Monday we like to pimp your ride with free stickers! This week we want to give out some of your shop stickers from our Dana Point store.
To enter to win free stickers please tell us about a surf or water related charity that you think is rad! We love Surfrider, SurfAid and some of the other big guys but we’d love to hear about some new causes that we’ve never heard of… 20 comments will be picked at random to win free stickers. Contest ends April 11th 2011.
Posted by Kacee ON March 31, 2011 • Causes • Comment
The Ecology Center, in San Juan Capistrano, is an exciting new educational center, whose purpose is to engage the entire family in fun, hands-on activities that teach practical, environmental solutions at the household and community level. Check out there featured blog of the week:
There’s a lot to love about grass-fed beef. And I learned it all from a former vendor at the San Juan Capistrano Downtown Farmers’ Market.
First off, grass fed beef is delicious. Second, the entire production system is far healthier for the cow, the cow consumer and the planet than is the system for typical commercial meats. And while a vegetarian diet puts the least stress on Earth’s resources, meat eaters can still show the planet love by seeking out sources of local, grass-fed beef.
On the typical commercial feed lot (it’s a lot, not a pasture), cows feast on a species-incorrect diet of corn, soy, grains and hormones. This diet is cheap, and the addition of hormones beefs them up way faster than any grass-fed diet, resulting in an average slaughter age of 2.
Unfortunately, as the cow consumers, we ingest traces of the often pesticide-treated corn, soy and grain and, yes, the hormones, too. Grass-fed-cow consumers, on the other hand, enjoy the large amounts of vitamins A and E and the naturally occurring omega-3s that the grass so kindly passes onto the cow.
A cow grazing on grass as Mother Nature intended is part of a natural, closed-loop system. The cows mow the grass down—keeping overactive species in check sans pesticides—and then poop out manure to replenish the field.
If you already knew the benefits of grass-fed beef, then you’ve probably been looking into purchasing some for you and yours. For most people, finding a local source isn’t easy.
San Juan residents, on the other hand, can get their fix at the nearby Laguna Hills and UC Irvine farmers’ markets. In the past, it was available at the San Juan Farmers’ Market, which is where I met F.J. myself.
He’s a local cattleman who raises his herd in Trabuco Canyon just 10 miles north east of San Juan. Fitzpatrick is incredibly knowledgeable and easy to talk to. He was patient with all of my questions, even though all of answers are already in this video for In Search of Good Food, which is readily available for viewing on his website.
If you’ve yet to enjoy your first morsel of grass-fed sirloin steak, here’s a warning: This beef looks, smells and tastes different than commercial sirloin, and you can’t cook it like commercial sirloin. Get it right and you’ll slice into a tender, flavor-rich steak. Get it wrong and you’ll be lucky to slice into it at all. Not to worry! I asked Fitzpatrick about preparation. With a smile, he handed me his business card; this recipe is printed on the back:
Pull the boiler rack out of the oven. Preheat oven to 240 degrees. Place steak onto the broiler rack and poke a few holes into it with a knife. Spread 1 tsp of butter and ½ tsp of crushed garlic on top. Sprinkle steak with ½ tsp each of your favorite herbs, salt and pepper. Place the steak in the oven. Check the steak after 20-30 minutes. At 40 minutes, the steak will be rare.
The Ecology Center
32701 Alipaz St.
San Juan Capistrano, 92675
949.443.4223
We’d love to introduce the softer side of Volcom that some of you may not know. Our Brand of the Month is dedicated to giving back to the world and community at large with their V.Co-logical program, thier Giveback Series, 1% for the Planet and many other programs. Sit back and enjoy some awesome Q&A with our friends over at Volcom.
1. What strides has Volcom taken in response to the growing movement of eco-conscious consumerism? Can you tell us about your relationship with The Ecology Center of San Juan?
Our most recent stride is the recently formed Department of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility. It’s being headed by a 14+ year company veteran, Derek Sabori, and we’re behind it one hundred percent. We know how important Sustainability is on so many levels, and we’ve got a laundry list of things we’re going to tackle and launch.
We’ve been partners with The Ecology Center from their inception. Evan Marks, the Founder and Executive Director, came to us with the concept, and the blueprints and it was love at first sight! We’re so happy with the progress they’ve made and are energized by the programming and outreach they’re doing in the community. Financially, we continue to support them by way of our 1% for the Planet membership.
2. Are there any specific social issues that Volcom holds near and dear to it’s heart?
We have our Give Back Series which is focused on supporting People-focused initiatives. It’s a nice balance to the V.Co-logical and 1% for the Planet side of the program and we’ve been privileged to build relationships with Talk About Curing Autism (TACA), Boarding for Breast Cancer (B4BC), Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii, Mauli Ola, Krochet Kids international, Pipeline to a Cure and now Life Rolls On.
The program is one where we team up with a non-profit organization, doing great work in the community, and offer co-branded/marketed product with a portion of the proceeds going directly to them. Our aim is to advocate for them, bring awareness to the work they’re doing and to contribute financially to them.
3. Can you tell us a little bit about your Featured Artists Series and how it was started?
Volcom has been running the Featured Artist Series since 1995 with the intention of exposing relatively unknown artists, as well as working with established artist, for the sake of providing interesting product to people who can appreciate creative diversity.
4. What charity does the earnings of Coco Ho’s boardshort go to and what’s the story behind it?
Coco was adamant about Giving Back with her V.Co-Operative short and we were happy to help make that happen. Coco’s passionate about helping kids and so it was an easy call to have Coco’s boardshort benefit Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii. While a portion of the proceeds are going directly to the program there, Coco is dedicating 50 hours of her time to one of the local clubhouses there. There’s a great blog post on her first visits there here at aliamanubgch.blogspot.com
5. Can you tell us about what Let the Kids Ride Free is?
“Let the Kids Ride Free” is a grass roots effort that has infiltrated local, regional, and international areas with FREE surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding contests. These events are for kids of all ages to express their talent, gain contest experience, have a good time, eat for FREE, and walk away with a ton of FREE product after a day of competing.
The purpose of the “Let the Kids Ride Free” concept is to create a unique environment, not a typical contest, but more like a gathering. It is where people can come together and hang out, without all the fees, rules, stipulations, and the lack of camaraderie of a normal event. They are about giving back to local communities and making it possible for kids without sponsors or the money to compete. Kids will be able to express their talent at a local and national level and will push the next generation to become something better than the last. Yet another first brought to you by your friends at Volcom who remember to “Let the Kids Ride Free”.
Like we said earlier, there are just too many good things that Volcom is doing for us to talk about in one blog. But hopefully this gave you a peek into some of their amazing programs and you have a new found respect for the company. I know I do.
Big thanks to Volcom for being so rad!
Posted by Kacee ON March 25, 2011 • Causes • Comment
The Ecology Center, in San Juan Capistrano, is an exciting new educational center, whose purpose is to engage the entire family in fun, hands-on activities that teach practical, environmental solutions at the household and community level. Check out there featured blog of the week:
According to the 2010 “Edibles Gardening Trends Report” published by the Garden Writers Association Foundation, 7.7 million American households planted a vegetable garden for the first time in 2009. With planting season nearly upon us, nurseries and hardware stores are abuzz with gardening enthusiasts planning this year’s crop.
So what’s stopping you from growing your own healthy edibles? No yard? No time? No problem! You’ve still got what it takes to kitchen garden. Using only simple tools—and not a speck of soil—kitchen gardeners are harvesting broccoli, kale, onion, radish, sesame, mung beans, fenugreek, quinoa and more!
Kitchen gardeners grow seeds, nuts and grain using a process called sprouting, or soaking—draining and rinsing seeds at regular intervals until they, well, sprout. During the soaking step, the seed’s enzyme inhibitors are removed, leaving the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients they contain more ready to be assimilated into our bodies. Health benefits of enzyme-and fiber-rich-sprouted vegetables include improved lipid profiles, reduced blood pressure and anti-aging effects for the skin.
All you need is a wide-mouth mason jar (you’ll find a 12-pack of these at your local hardware store for $15), a bit of mesh screen and a rubber band. While the screen and rubber band combo will work just fine, you might consider investing in a sprouting lid, because it’s designed specifically for the task at hand.
Tools and materials:
1 wide-mouth mason jar, at least quart-size
Cheesecloth or nylon mesh screening and a rubber band
In lieu of the mesh and rubber-band setup, buy a sprouting lid (available at Nutricity for just $1.19)
Seeds, choose one per jar (all available at San Juan’s Farm to Market):
4 tbs alfalfa or sesame seeds
1 cup lentils
1/2 cup mung beans
Note: you are not limited to these seeds, nuts or grains. In fact, we’re going to use almonds as an example here.
Directions:
Place 1/2 cup of raw, whole, unshelled almonds into your mason jar. Quick tip: Smaller seeds should just about cover the bottom of the jar. Larger seeds should take up about 1/4 of the jar.
Cover the jar with the screen of your choice, and secure with twine or a rubber band.
Fill the jar halfway with water and allow almonds to soak for 10-12 hours. Quick tip: Small seeds or nuts should soak for six hours, large seeds or nuts for 12.
Turn the jar over to drain off water.
Rinse and drain the almonds twice daily, filling the jar until it overflows, then draining each time. Designating a time once in the morning and once in the evening will ensure you don’t miss a rinse.
Between each rinsing, place the jar upside down and at a 45-degree angle, allowing excess water to drain. A dish-drying rack is a good place to prop the jar up. Cover the jar with a towel to keep out of direct sunlight.
Harvest your sprouted almonds after a few days.
When are you done? Almonds sprout internally, so when a small bulge has formed on their sides, they’ve sprouted! It’s also wise to sample an almond after each rinse. After sprouting, an almond tastes fluffier, almost buttery, with a faint almond after-taste. You’ll want to eat the sprouted almonds within two days of sprouting. That is, if they last that long.
Once you get the hang of it, you’ll want to mix up your sprouting tools. You can also use a mesh bag to sprout. With one small and one large bag (those shown are from French Basketeer), you can sprout pretty much any size seed, nut or grain.
The Ecology Center
32701 Alipaz St.
San Juan Capistrano, 92675
949.443.4223
Ask not what your Brand of the Month can do for you, but what you can do for your Brand of the Month & Planet! LEAF, the Leaders of Environmental Action Films contest, is calling on all California high school students! All you have to do is create a ECOmmercial before March 31st! What’s an ECOmmercial? It’s a 30 or 60 second public service announcement on any eco topic of your choice. Build a good one and you’re up for a chance to win some great prizes! Check out some of the videos on the entry page.
Even if you’re not a California High School student, you can participate by viewing and “Liking” those that you appreciate the most. We’ll be announcing the winners at the end of April, so stay tuned!
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