There’s a new shop in Grass Valley called Green Light that specializes in recycled and repurposed furniture, lighting and accessories.  All of the items in the shops are upcycled, ranging from Further bath products (recycled glycerin from biofuel distillation process) to unique light fixtures made from scraps destined for the landfill.  Keep an eye out on their Facebook page for news on their grand opening.  Green Light is open 12-6 every day but Wednesday and located at 257 Colfax Ave in the old gas station building.

© 2013 InnSide Nevada City

Contributed by Amanda Thibodeau

Now that spring is here, many folks in this area are starting to think about planting a garden.  Our climate in the foothills of the Sierras is a little challenging to work in, but luckily we have a host of resources for the gardener and farmer alike.  Today, the focus of the blog is on Sierra Seed Cooperative.  Boasting over 100 varieties from 8 local farms, Sierra Seed Co-op is our very own local seed source.  They also do workshops and are working with The Felix Gillet Insitute to provide heritage fruit trees.  They have been working for several years on regionally adapted heritage seed varieties that do well in our area, which is so important in this time of changing climate and unpredictable weather.  There are a myriad of reasons to choose locally adapted seeds- community relisiency, independence- and of course … Read More »

Have you been into Save Our Ailing Planet (SOAP)?  Located behind SPD at 104 Argall Way the shop specializes in bulk eco-friendly cleaners, soaps, shampoos and more.  The Outside Inn has been using the Shikai shampoo and conditioner, Biokleen laundry detergent and a variety of other eco-friendly bulk cleaning products for years.  But did you know you can go into SOAP and make your own bath salts, shower scrubs or spritzers?  The staff is happy to set up the ingredients and walk you through the process, make one or a dozen, either purchase one of their many glass jars or bring in your own and buy the ingredients by weight.  I made a shower scrub with Pacific sea salt, Himalayan pink salt, sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, jojoba oil and coconut oil and … Read More »

Food Love Project is part of Living Lands Agrarian Network and set up on the Burton Homestead in partnership with the Bear Yuba Land Trust.  I stopped by to say hi and ended up helping harvest the last of snap peas and went home with an arm load of lettuce, radishes, chard and all the remaining peas.  Amanda and Katie were hard at work harvesting food for the food bank lunch when I arrived, but took time to show me around and educate me on the proper way to pick snap peas.  Food Love Project does a lot of education, from field trips to  upcoming summer camps.  If you child, between the age of 5-11 is looking for a fun summer camp in July click here for more info.  Want to learn more information about Living Lands … Read More »

Welcome to week six of the Outside Inn’s local gift giving guide.  This week we’ve got a number of goodies to give the special person on your list who’s looking to get pampered this holiday season.  Within Nevada City and Grass Valley you have got lots of options, whether it’s soap, lotions, massage or a facial.  Yuba Blue in downtown Grass Valley offers a wide range of products, including Bert’s Bees and Camille Beckman.  J.J. Jackson’s in Nevada City has a number of body care products, either bath salts from Thyme’s or Pacifica soaps. Another pamper goodie to try is local company Frontier Angel Soap, stop by a number of area merchants to try some of their eco-friendly products.  S.O.A.P in Nevada City gives you eco-friendly products, but also the opportunity to bring your own container and stock up on Shikai body washes and … Read More »

Looking for something to do on a Saturday morning in Nevada City?  Stop by the Nevada City Farmers Market, open from 8:30am to 12:30 mid June through mid November.  Fresh veggies from Mountain Bounty Farm, Dinner Bell Farms, Riverhill Farms, Four Frog Farms and Living Lands Agrarian Network, to name a few.  Other items to fill your reusable SANDbag could be fruit from Pearson Family Orchard, baked treats from Flour Garden, raw and vegan granola bars from Next Level Foods, Ercolini Cheese, Sierra d’Oro olive oil.  When the shopping wears you out grab a Soul Kitchen crepe and sit down at one of the tables in front of the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce and listen to the live music while your child gets their face painted.

Grass Valley Grains is a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for grains.  Reed Hamilton’s one man farming operation mills wheat, oats, rye, barley, dry beans, and flour corn.  His monthly pick-ups could include any flour, cornmeal, polenta, ground oatmeal, cracked grain, or baking mixes. His products can be found in a number of local restaurants, including Ike’s Quarter Cafe, New Moon Cafe and Flour Garden Bakery.

Ike loves Grass Valley Grains because “everything is fresh.”  They use a number of products in their restaurant, but Ike says his favorite is probably “the cornmeal.”  He loves the flavor and the variety of the yellow, red, white and blue cornmeal.  Peter at New Moon’s personal choice is the white polenta.

The Outside Inn product test crew decided to try out the muffin mix and they were a huge hit in our household.  Sign up for your monthly … Read More »

The Outside Inn has been a part of the California Green Lodging Program since 2009, and we’ve done a lot of small things to make a difference for the environment, from recycling to line drying our linens in the warmer months.  We also use soap dispensers in all of our rooms with fabulous eco-friendly products.  We recently decided to do some product testing with some of the earth friendly cleaning products available at S.O.A.P (Save Our Ailing Planet) and see if we could continue to improve our overall green status.  Today I stopped by S.O.A.P and refilled some empty containers and stocked up on some fabulous eco-friendly cleaning products (BioKleen, KDGold, Shower Kleener and Super Pine).

Living Wild: Gardening, Cooking and Healing with Native Plants of the Sierra Nevada by Alicia Funk and Karin Kaufman had a well attended book signing event at Mowen Solinksy Gallery last week.  The local authors were on hand to answer questions, sign books and sample some of the delicious goodies from a few select recipes from the book.  My personal favorite was the gourmet sorbet, hand crafted by the good folks at Treats, with Douglass Fir tips.  If you’re curious to learn more about this book, you can either order a copy online or stop by the Outside Inn and purchase a book.  100% of the profits from Living Wild will be donated to environmental and cultural preservation in the Sierra Nevada.

S.O.A.P (Save Our Ailing Planet) in Nevada City offers a unique, eco-friendly option for soaps, bath salts, shampoos and more.  Bring in your own container and choose from some amazing products.  Lori Largent, owner of the shop, says that they have far surpassed their goal of refillable containers, having filled over 3000 bottles in the last year.  The Outside Inn embraced the California Green Lodging Program in 2009 and said goodbye to traditional bars of soaps and small plastic containers of shampoo and conditioner.  Now each room at the Inn has a soap dispenser filled with S.O.A.P’s fabulous goodies, Kiss my Face white peach soap, Shikai Natural Shampoo and Shikai Tea Tree Conditioner.  Stop by S.O.A.P at 104 Argall Way in Nevada City, they’re open Monday-Friday 10-6 and Saturdays 11-4.