The Perfect Autumn Lunch

The first ripe tomatoes of the year...

...with homemade almond pesto and fresh mozzarella.

Better than Money

A good conversation is worth its weight in gold, but it's not easy to buy chai with one. Earlier this month, we muses met to discuss creative alternatives to the current financial system. Here are some of the things we came up with:

Bitcoins: Peer-to-peer electronic currency. Find out more by clicking here.

Life Dollars: A cooperative economy with members around the world. Read more here.

Community Exchange System: Public domain money created by its users. More here.


Seattle Barter Network: Direct and organized local trading. More here.


Seattle Freecycle: Dedicated to reusing everything possible. More here.

Seattle Transpartisan Alliance: A movement to create local transportation. More here.

Washington State Investment Trust: Join a state-owned and -run bank. More here.

Silver Coins: More here.