A Seed Distribution Fee? Seriously?

Originally published Nov 11, 2012

For every 2 Pack of CRESBI crates sold I was going to give a seed packet to a deserving big city elementary school in the Cincinnati area, which is just over the river about 25 minutes from Sun Sugar Farms.  When I called the state of Ohio to see if there was anything special I needed to do I was told that there would be a $40 fee for "seed distribution".  Are you SERIOUS?  You're going to charge me to donate my stuff to help your schools grow fun nutritious food that kids might like that would get them eating healthy?

So I'll be giving my extra sunflower, pumpkin and edamame seeds to Northern Kentucky places.  Last summer during the first week of the harvest we had only 40 pounds of edamame - not enough for Green Bean Delivery (which needs 80 minimum) and too much for Kremer's Marketand Raymond's Hong Kong Cafe.  So we donated it to Piner Elementary, a school in a rural community still recovering from a devastating tornado last year.  The kids' reaction to the new food was great and you can check out the video at www.edamameusa.com!

Can CRESBI crates save your marriage?

Originally published Oct 15, 2012

Tired of fighting over how HE tries to save time carrying all the grocery bags in at once but crushes the food and how SHE tries to save the environment by using those cheap reusable bags but it wastes money because they quickly fall apart?  The CRESBI crate system could be the answer to your marital troubles!  This durable, revolutionary system for carrying your groceries is smart, flexible, protects your food and saves you time at the store and at home.  Every system includes a custom strap that has an extra hook on it that can be used to connect to your grocery cart to keep the crates out of your way while shopping.  It fits and stacks in every type of cart out there and it even can be used at carousel type checkouts like at Meijer's and Wal-Mart by placing them where the plastic bags holders are.  It's recyclable and dishwasher safe and it just might really save your marriage!

Cheap Reusable Bags Are Worse Than Plastic Ones

Originally published Sep 15, 2012

So you've spent a couple bucks on the "reusable" canvas-y looking bags near the checkout aisle.  Then you forget it the next time you shop so you buy a couple more.   Everything seems fine until you use any one of these bags more than a couple times or for something more substantial than a short loaf of very soft bread.  Then they rip.  Now what?  If you throw it away it can take as long or longer than the plastic ones took to degrade.  Can you recycle it? Nope, not unless you have a #5 recycling center for polypropylene products.  Plastic #5 is the same type of plastic that bottle caps are made of and we all remember we're not supposed to leave those in the normal recycling bin, right?  The different plastics melt at different temperatures so they need to be recycled separately at most recycling facilities and the caps can become projectiles when the machines are crushing the plastics at the sorting facility. Although a few major cities now take both bottles and caps, as do some places like Aveda stores (http://www.aveda.com/index.tmpl) and Whole Foods (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/) accept these plastics for recycling, you can always go to http://search.earth911.com/ to find a #5 recycling center near you.  Or just buy a CRESBI crate.  It is a #5 plastic but it'll last a heck of a lot longer than the cheap "reusable" bags flooding the market and soon to be flooding the landfills.