Articles Written by Julie Hancher

Whether you're getting a weekly share of your veggies from a CSA, farmer's market or grocery store, it's easy to end up with a stack of those veggie cartons. So what can you do with all those extra cardboard & plastic boxes and cartons? It's a perfect question for... Where Can I Wednesday?

Curious about cloth diapering? Look no further than Cloth, the new hotspot on East Passyunk in Philadelphia. Did you know an estimated 18 billion diapers are thrown into landfills every year? They take 500 years to decompose, are expensive... and disposable. Plus, some diapers contain dangerous chemicals dioxins, VOCs and possibly carcinogens. Do you want your precious baby in that? Angela and Shai Halperin recognized that parents new to cloth diapers often must buy online. As two working parents, they had a lot of online successes (and failures) with cloth diapers. Plus, the closest store was 30-40 minutes outside of Center City Philadelphia. They recognized the need more and more for a Cloth Diaper store. Cloth was born. I stopped by Cloth to talk with Angela about more about the store. Find out more, after the jump!

If you follow our Twitter page, you may have seen me praise the newest, bad-ass cafe around. Breezy's Cafe is a local treat located right in Point Breeze. Whether you're in the mood for a vegan, veggie or carnivorous treat, Breezy's Cafe offers a daily variety of sandwiches, salads & sides. Find out more about this Point Breeze's gem, from the background to delicious offerings!

Today is the day: Get out that extra change (if you didn't hoard tokens last week...) SEPTA fares increase. SEPTA has routine fare increases to raise revenue - their 2014 operating budget is $38 million short of the $1.3 billion. Hey, when you're the #1 large transit system in the country, you have to keep up your eco-friendly programs, large fleet & awesomeness somehow. Find out the new SEPTA fares & other changes, after the jump:

Whether you have a kick-ass CSA this year or are frequenting the Philly Farmers Markets, it's the time right now where leafy greens are a predominate portion of your foods. And if you're receiving CSA shares with loads of lettuce, you'll learn REAL quickly if you can preserve them or not. Considering this is my second go at a CSA and I still hadn't mastered the skills, it was important for me to figure it out. Here's 2 methods that will help preserve your leafy greens like lettuce, swiss chard, kale and more:

Sometimes it's the times when your plans fall through that lead to the ultimate serendipitous moments. Like when I ended up on a farm stay with cows, horses, goats and cats at Flint Hill Farms overnight. I’ll back it up… We wanted to be creative and find something to do outside of Philly that was besides the ‘norm’ of the shore, DC or NYC. Googling a variety of options for a B&B, there it was: Farm Stay. “Wait, wait. Like we can stay on a farm? Like overnight?” You can clearly guess who was immediately sold on the idea. I have no idea how I never thought to consider this possibility myself... How does a Farm Stay Work? And more info (and GOAT PICTURES), after the jump!

Greenworks Philadelphia 2013 progress report, which marks our progress against the ambitious Greenworks plan, has been officially released to the public. The 4th annual Greenworks progress report boasts that work on 95% of the original 166 initiatives is underway or complete. Greenwork's goal is to complete the initiatives by 2015, in order to infamously become America's Greenest City. 43 initiatives were completed as of 2013. Find out more about the Greenworks 2013 progress report, after the jump:

Happy First Day of Summer!! What’s a better excuse to fire up the ol grill than the official start of summer? You don’t have to only cook burgers & dogs… Create healthy meals with seafood, veggie kebobs, homemade veggie patties...

The Streets Department once again held the Philly Spring Cleanup Day this past April. I must admit, I wasn't as enthused as I was last year. The sixth annual city-wide collaboration returned to our previous hosting site at 8th & Poplar, and we had a few hiccups along the way: a few less participants as last year, a technical glitch that missed our site at the pickup center, and a forgotten printed form. Our cleanup team worked from 9 to 2, picking up everything from used water bottles to sweeping cigarette butts in the masses. One of our volunteers, the lovely Jessica, even joked that the Hurricanes 40s must have been pretty good since there were so many bottles laying around the field... Find out the benefits of cleaning Up Philly (year-round), after the jump...