The eco-LOCAL community has lost one of it's champions.

On Saturday, April 28 2012, Staffan "Steve" Rascher passed away after a long struggle with the affects of Lyme's Disease.

Steve's impact on the Maple industry is legend.  His devoted care of his beloved maple trees produced the World's Best Maple Syrup, year after year.  His methods and techniques represented the state-of-the art for evaporating maple sap.  It was his obsession to produce the best.  Steve was complicated man, and often misunderstood. He had an immense heart, but had difficulty expressing that love.   For those who loved him, his big bear hug was always the greeting.

The loss of this man is great.  The void that he left behind is huge.   We will miss you, Papa Bear.

Staffan Rascher, the original Treehugger

ALBANY, N.Y. – Complexions Spa for Beauty & Wellness in Albany, NY, plans to continue its commitment to “green” practices by celebrating Earth Day, Sunday, April 22, with its clients by giving away tree saplings all week.

This year marks the fourth consecutive year Complexions Spa has given away one-hundred tree saplings to its clients on Earth Day/Week to plant throughout the area. This makes for an impressive accomplishment; Complexions has now ‘sprinkled’ more than four-hundred tree saplings around the Capital Region. Each sapling comes with planting directions, as well as offers some simple “green” tips anybody can easily implement at home.

The tree sapling give-away is just one way Complexions gives back to the environment. As a Gold-Level LEED Certified spa they also use low-energy lighting, energy-efficient appliances, low-flow toilets/faucets, eco-friendly detergents and paper supplies, an energy recovery ventilator, and more. Complexions’ greenhouse gas savings is estimated at 56 tons annually ? equivalent to the level of CO2 emissions generated from the electricity use of nearly seven homes in one year. Additionally, Complexions saves an estimated more than $10,000 annually in their utility bills.

Complexions will soon boast opening its newly constructed addition at 221 Wolf Road in Colonie; also being built to LEED certified specifications. When completed, the expanded spa will comprise nearly 11,000 square-feet in total, with an expanded hair salon, professional make-up area, and reception/lounge area. An outdoor relaxation room with a water feature will also be added, which is a seemingly exclusive feature to any spa in this area.

“We like to think that every day at Complexions is Earth Day,” noted Denise Dubois, owner of Complexions. “We are extremely dedicated to a ‘green’ lifestyle, and hope other businesses are as well as there is so much we can do to help maintain a healthy environment that really does not take a lot of extra effort.”

Complexions wants everybody to celebrate Earth Day and recognize its importance so they are celebrating all week rather than just one day (April 22-28) with some specially priced services, not to mention the free sapling give-away (while supplies last).

For more information about Earth Day visit www.EarthDay.org.

You are invited to a casual educational tour of a sustainable home

Where: 11 Shallow Creek Road - Queensbury, NY 12804
When: Sunday April 22nd, 2012 Open 1pm-5pm

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Come see how the integration of passive solar design, natural materials and alternative energy systems makes this a sustainable home.

Saratoga Springs, NY, April 16, 2012—Cody’s Fresh Foods, HOME DELIVERED, SARATOGA SPRINGS. Cody’s Fresh Foods is proud to offer home and office delivery service of fresh organic produced delivered right to your door. Sign-up today and start receiving your weekly deliveries as early as April 21^st. Experience the difference of how good your produce can really taste. Check us out at www.codysfreshfoods.com.

There are no membership fees and you don’t have to sign-up for monthly or seasonable blocks at a time. Sign-up for weekly delivery, and when you want to stop or have a delivery put on hold just let us know. It’s as simple as that. Also experience the convenience of additional organic or local add-on items that you can be added to your weekly delivery at Cody’s Shop Online.

Cody's Fresh Foods Mission

To source and deliver the very best local and organic products on the planet. At realistic cost. Right to your door.

Belief & Practice

The best and freshest produce is not a luxury. We believe it is your right - at realistic prices. With Cody's Fresh Foods you can expect to pay the same or less than you would at your local Supermarket, but with some crucial differences...

One. We really do give you the best and the freshest. Our supply chain is not eight to ten days long plus several more days on the shelf. That's what you get at the supermarket. With Cody's it is three or four days at best from harvest to table.

Two. Fresh means something special to Cody's. When you get bananas at your supermarket, you may have noticed that they're greenish when you buy them, bright yellow by the time you get them home, and that they have black spots the next day. That's because they're not really fresh. They're picked green then artificially ripened (by gassing them) at the supermarket just before they go on the shelf. While the FDA endorses this practice, Cody's does not. We make sure your bananas were picked when it's time to pick them, and delivered in the next couple of days when they're ready to eat. That's what we mean by fresh. So you don't worry about black spots.

Three. There's the convenience of home delivery.

Four. Not to mention our stellar customization & customer service.

About the Founders

Brothers Kyle and Brandon Kommer co-founded Cody's Fresh Foods. Over the past few years both have become increasingly interested in how food is grown and distributed. What first caught their attention was the fact that the average American is exposed to 10-18 pesticide residues daily through consumption of milk, tap water, and produce. They quickly learned that by replacing their produce with organic or sustainably grown produce this number decreases drastically. The change was remarkable. Great food. Great prices. Better health. Despite the huge amount of organic or sustainably grown produce available, much of it can be hard to get from farm to table. Thus Cody's Fresh Foods was born. The company sources local, regional, and fair trade products, all of which are organic or sustainably grown and guaranteed fresh. They are competitively priced, and best of, all they are delivered right to your door. The objective has since become to find the very best organic or sustainably grown produce, and to make it available to everyone. The benefit? You eat better and you participate directly in the growing movement away from having your food and health controlled by private corporations that don't necessarily have your best interests in mind.

For those of you who love the music of Jerry Garcia and his solo project, The Jerry Garcia Band, you’ll be happy to know that there’s a local band that’s “Dead-icated” to recreating that unique sound and live experience.  Their growing fan base already knows, these guys are a show not to miss.  Guitarist Mik Bondy has built his own replica of Jerry’s custom Tiger guitar, and he’s got Jerry’s finger picking style down.  Add in Tom Lee’s classic Hammond organ, and female harmonies of Kat  Walkerson, with a solid rhythm section of Sean Sullivan on bass and Lance Comer on drums, and if you close your eyes, you’ll swear your at a JGB show.  The Garcia Project is keeping the vibe alive, and we are luck to have them right here in the Capital Region.  Eco-LOCAL caught  Mik Bondy on the phone recently to tell us about the project: