CathyM Weight Loss & Health Blog

About a month ago, I got a little spring fever and the urge to improve my garden, upgrade the soil and grow some more asparagus (had some for many years, but never quite enough spears for a meal). I thought that composting with earth worms and adding them to the garden might improve my soil. I had it a little wrong but I think it’s going to work anyway. I bought some red wigglers and then reading as much as I could, realized that they will probably not do well in our dry soil here. But they do well in a worm composter and since we eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, we have the perfect food for them along with newspaper and cardboard which is also in plentiful supply.

So I got my worms and made them a temporary home in a bucket with holes, most newspaper and cardboard, some soil and veggies. The worms didn’t look too active at first but within a few days, they were moving about. I added food from time to time and they really dug into a cooked artichoke heart (the good part of course eaten by us humans). I may need to pre-cook and grind up my scraps a little more before feeding them to the worms.

Since we’re in California and it gets hot in the summer, I was concerned about my home made bucket being too small and too hot and not conducive to the long term longevity of my worms. After a few weeks of contemplation, I decided to spring for a Worm Factory 360. It’s the newest model from Nature’s Footprint and with its convenient set up and air flow, I think it might work in our hot summer days. And what a nice coincidence that it arrived on Earth Day! It’s set up now and the worms are in their new home and I’ve got lots of veggie & fruit garbage for them to eat.

I do think that wanting to grow worms seems a little wierd but wanting to have a healthy garden and do something for the environment is not and I am hopeful that I will accomplish both. I’ll check in later and let you know how it goes.

I purchased the new Earth Pan II cookware last month and they arrived on Earth Day. How appropriate! I had been using a much more expensive non stick set with diamond protection and a lifetime guarantee that well, didn’t come close to lasting a lifetime. I wanted something new and if it didn’t last a lifetime, at least I won’t have to worry about digesting teflon.

I was pleased to find the Earth Pan cookware that had everything I wanted and more – good price, great colors, non stick surface, eco friendly and handles that are not hot to the touch.

Right now the 10 piece Earth Pan II by Farberware is $149.99 at Amazon. The 10 piece set includes 6 pans and 4 lids – a stock pot, 2 skillets, 1 saute pan, and 2 saucepans. Amazon has both espresso and terra cotta. I went with amazon because of the color and free shipping. As you can see from the picture, the terra cotta pans are lovely in my kitchen.

I didn’t just buy this cookware because of the beauty, the eco friendly, healthy non-stick properties are important to me as well. The surface is an innovative SandFlow nonstick surface that contains no PTFEs or PFOAs. I did not research this topic extensively, I took their word for it. Non-stick cooking pans are also healthy because many things can be cooked with less oil.

Another important criteria for me is to have handles that don’t get hot. I don’t know why some expensive cookware does not have this feature. I used Revereware for years and other cookware with plastic handles. The Earth Pans have the newer silicone handles and they are the best. Comfortable to hold and no heat. The pans are also dishwasher safe but that wasn’t a big factor for me. I usually hand wash my pans.

Here’s where to find the best deals the Earth Pans:

Amazon: Earth Pan II by Farberware 10-Piece Cookware Sets

Cookware.com: Earth Pans

Cooking.com:
EarthPan 10-pc. Nonstick EarthPan II Cookware Set, Terracotta

Happy, healthy cooking!