Grow Your Own Gourmet Mushrooms

As the trend towards living in high density housing has become the norm, most of us are not able to have much of a flower garden let alone grow vegetables, yet we crave fresh, sustainable food choices.

Founded in 2009 by two friends during their last semester at UC Berkeley, Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora, were inspired to turn waste into wages after a lecture about potentially growing gourmet mushrooms entirely on recycled coffee grounds. After successfully producing a bucket of mushrooms in the fraternity kitchen, Back to the Roots was born.

The Back to the Roots grow-at-home mushroom kit allows you to produce up to 1.5 pounds of Oyster Mushrooms in a box in your kitchen - all in 10 days. Each self-contained "garden" will produce multiple crops (at least 2 but sometimes up to 4) and all you have to do is open the box, mist it twice a day (mister included) and enjoy. The soil inside is made from 100% recycled coffee grounds so it's safe and sustainable. Take a look at this infograph that shows the sustainable cycle:
 

We discovered the Mushroom Garden at Well Seasoned in Langley for $29.99.

CONTEST ALERT!
One lucky reader will win a Back to the Roots Mushroom Kit from Well Seasoned. To enter, post a comment on this editorial. Winner will be announced on Friday, May 11th.

Posted under Eco-Friendly • Food & Wine • Daily Stimuli •

Cuppow!

One of the best things about publishing Stimuli Magazine is the creative ideas and products that we find every day and today is no different. Have you ever looked at a canning jar and thought that it would make a great travel mug if only you could cover the lid?

While it sounds like a word inside a comic book, the Cuppow is actually one of those "Why didn't we think of this before" ideas. Made of heat resistant glass, the Cuppow turns a simple canning jar into a travel mug. Shaped like a typical to-go cup lid, the Cuppow fits onto the top of the canning jar and creates a perfect seal so your beverage doesn't leak while you're on the go. This simple, eco-friendly item is the ideal alternative to filling our landfills with disposable cups.

The Cuppow is available online for only $7.99 each. The downside is that shipping is $9.00, however, if you buy several at once - they make great gifts - then the shipping is much easier to swallow. Oops..pardon the pun!

Posted under Eco-Friendly • Great Gifts • Daily Stimuli •

Water in Earth Friendly Style with a Rain Barrel

Stimulista take heart. It may be raining again today but we're positive that sunny weather is just around the corner; the kind of sunny weather that ushers in lawn and garden watering restrictions. Now's the time to start collecting that rain water and storing it up for future use.

Rain barrels are an earth friendly watering option for your garden. We like the "Castilla" rain barrel shown here. With a 50 gallon capacity, the barrel is equipped with a planter top, screen, hose and spigot. The contemporary yet rustic shape and colour blends in to your outdoor decor and the 20 year warranty ensures you'll be watering in eco-friendly style for decades.

The Castilla rain barrel is available at Rona stores for $119.00. You can check out other rain barrel styles online.

Posted under Eco-Friendly • Home & Garden • Daily Stimuli •

Buy a Watch and WEwood will Plant a Tree

There may be one or two of us here at Stimuli that have a bit of a watch obsession, so we were very excited to discover a new line of watches that are not only trendy, but make a difference to the environment.

WEwood time pieces were first designed in Florence, Italy by a gentlemen who loves shoes along with two eco-smart entrepreneurs with a love of the environment; each of whom wanted to bring "sophisticated sustainability" to the marketplace.

Lighter than air, WEwood watches are constructed using genuine woods including Maple, Blackwood, Mahogany and Indian Rosewood along with state-of-the-art Miyota movements for the internal working parts.  Now for the "feel good" part of purchasing a WEwood watch: with every watch purchased, the company and their partner, American Forests, plants a tree to keep our world happy and healthy.

WEwood time pieces are available at MUSE Social Fashion House in Morgan Crossing. Prices range from $120 - $150.

Posted under Eco-Friendly • Fashion • Daily Stimuli •

Bamboo Facial Cleansing Cloths

Listen up Stimulistas. No matter how exhausted you are, you MUST remove your makeup before falling into bed. Your skin needs to breathe and you need to clean the oil and pigment from your pores to prevent acne issues. We know, we know…it's just seems like to much some nights which is why facial cleanser cloths are so amazing.

We like the Kaia Bamboo Cloths; they contain gentle ingredients to cleanse and remove dirt and makeup without stinging or burning. No rinsing required! Each cloth is made from 100% natural, biodegradable bamboo (great for the environment) and contains no alcohol, fragrance, parabens or sulfates. Each package contains 30 cloths so you'll have a month's supply and you can use both sides of the cloth - one side for eye makeup and lipstick and the other side for your facial makeup. 

As is the case with most items that are good for the environment and a more healthy option for our bodies, Kaia Bamboo Facial Cleanser Cloths are more pricey than the brands available at the drug stores. You can buy Kaia at Canadian online retailer goneshopping.ca for $20.99 per package.

Posted under Makeup & Beauty • Eco-Friendly • Daily Stimuli •