Growing and trading sustainable foods

Because you want to cook sustainable dishes for your online baking courses, you'll have to look for local and organic ingredients.

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July 18, 2014 3 min read

Growing and buying local produce is easier than ever.Because you want to cook sustainable dishes for your Colorado baking courses, you’ll have to look for local and organic ingredients. While that task is easier now than it was in the past, it can still be a challenge. Fortunately, technology allows inventors to come up with creative ways of bringing together gardens and cooks. Using the Ripe Near Me website, you can turn your computer into a sustainable food magnet with a click of your mouse.

Connecting local growers
You might have an herb garden or grow tomatoes to keep your ingredients right on hand, but how often are you left with more than you need? If it’s frequent, you might want to swap some of your produce for ingredients you don’t have. Ripe Near Me is a website that connects growers using a database and GPS. When you log on, you can input your town to access a local map. The map is filled with pins that show exactly what food is growing where in your area. You can even filter out foods you don’t want, zeroing in on those you do.

Ripe Near Me allows you to create an account to further your garden exchange. Read reviews on growers, see how ripe produce is and make friends. You can swap with others, buy or sell from neighbors, or give away food, building a relationship. This site is basically a virtual foraging tool.

Best foods to grow at home
Ripe Near Me aims to develop urban gardening and sustainable eating. If you live in a metropolitan area and want to grow your own food to supply your love of cooking and baking, you should strategically choose your seeds. For example, you probably won’t get to grow wheat on your building’s rooftop or on your patio. However, you can grow herbs right in your kitchen or other plants on your balcony. Here are some foods you can grow at home today:

Lettuce: This plant is great for small spaces because it fits in any type of container. Consider filling a large vase with soil and lettuce seeds, and placing it on your balcony. As the lettuce grows, you’ll have a lovely decorative plant and, eventually, food to eat.

Peas: These tiny green vegetables grow on vines, making them great for small spaces. Consider getting a hanging pot that hooks to your balcony ceiling. The vines will climb up the supporting ropes. You can also plant it in a pot that has a tall stake. The peas will take up vertical space, not your limited horizontal areas.

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