Gardening

We eat the fruits, the leaves, the roots, and even the bark of many plants and trees. But why leave the flowers? Here’s a list of flowers you can eat and use in recipes big or small.

Squash blossoms are flowers of squash that are still growing. They spoil easily and are difficult to find fresh or at all, depending on where you live.

One of my favorite times to hang out in a garden is at night.  There’s a magical element there that isn’t necessarily present during the day. The beauty is less in-your-face and more subtle and nuanced.  For the night owls among you, consider building a moon garden! 

Wouldn’t it be nice to have fresh fruits, veggies, and herbs available right in your yard? If you embrace edible landscaping, you can enjoy this experience practically year-round and save money to boot. Veteran Edible Farmer Rosalind Creasy shares that while these types of gardens do require an initial investment of time and money, they offer significant savings on produce costs—for example, in 2008, the value of the vegetables she grew in a 100-square-foot garden totaled more than $675.

Shedding the overalls

Autumn is magical: The leaves start to change, the air cools, and crops shift in season. While you may miss the warmth of summer, fall welcomes many exciting new activities. From hay rides, to playing in the leaves, to many other ways to celebrate, fall can be quite fun. Don't let it pass you by: Make the absolute most of it! Here are four fun ways to welcome fall. The best part is they're all eco-friendly and involve nature.

For those of us with a penchant for a green thumb, the soil can become a rather moody and mysterious being that flips out of control and destroys our work. To really get the best produce, you have got to decode soil, piece by piece…

This is us:

We as a species evolved with the planet. The way we eat, the way our metabolic processes function, even the way our brains work in relation to our eco-cultural environment. The human race has a habit called anthropomorphism: to apply human characteristics to things that are not. At first glance this seems a little arrogant, certainly, an egocentrically asserted assumption, but…is it really? How can you shame a habit maintained by an entire species that just wants to understand.

This is an article on non-medicinal ways to combat the symptoms of depression and anxiety.  As always, if you’re having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 (in the U.S.), or your local mental health hotline.

Back to the Roots is a Bay Area company founded in 2009 by then college seniors Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora. They chose to decline corporate job offers and initiate their startup after enjoying learning how to grow mushrooms from coffee grounds.